Synthesis and Characterization of Gold/Alanine Nanocomposites with Potential Properties for Medical Application as Radiation Sensors

Radiation dose assessment is essential for several medical treatments and diagnostic procedures. In this context, nanotechnology has been used in the development of improved radiation sensors, with higher sensitivity as well as smaller sizes and energy dependence. This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of gold/alanine nanocomposites with varying mass percentage of gold, for application as radiation sensors. Alanine is an excellent stabilizing agent for gold nanoparticles because the size of the nanoparticles does not augment with increasing mass percentage of gold, as evidenced by UV-vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction patterns suggest that the alanine crystalline orientation undergoes alterations upon the addition of gold nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that there is interaction between the gold nanoparticles and the amine group of the alanine molecules, which may be the reason for the enhanced stability of the nanocomposite. The application of the nanocomposites as radiation detectors was evaluated by the electron spin resonance technique. The sensitivity is improved almost 3 times in the case of the nanocomposite containing 3% (w/w) gold, so it can be easily tuned by changing the amount of gold nanoparticles in the nanocomposites, without the size of the nanoparticles influencing the radiation absorption. In conclusion, the featured properties, such as homogeneity, nanoparticle size stability, and enhanced sensitivity, make these nanocomposites potential candidates for the construction of small-sized radiation sensors with tunable sensitivity for application in several medical procedures.

Optical chemical sensors using polythiophene derivatives as active layer for detection of volatile organic compounds

Several studies on polythiophene gas sensors, based mainly on electrochemical and gravimetric principles can be found in the literature. However, other principles of gas detection, such as optical and thermal, are still little studied. Optical sensing is suitable for remote detection and offers great versatility at low cost. Here,we report on the use of thin films of seven polythiophene derivatives as active layer in optical sensors for the detection of six volatile organic compounds (n-hexane, toluene, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, dichloromethane and methanol) and water vapor, in concentration range of 500-30,000 ppm. The results showed that it is possible to use different polythiophene derivatives to differentiate VOCs by optical sensing. Differentiation can be performed based on the presence or not of response to an analyte and the sensitivity value of the sensors for the analytes. Another important feature is the lack of the effect of humidity on the response of most films, which could be a major drawback in the application of these sensors. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A complete CMOS UWB timed-array transmitter with a 3D Vivaldi antenna array for electronic high-resolution beam spatial scanning

We present a new Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Timed- Array Transmitter System with Beamforming capability for high-resolution remote acquisition of vital signals. The system consists of four identical channels, where each is formed of a serial topology with three modules: programmable delay circuit (PDC or τ), a novel UWB 5th Gaussian Derivative order pulse generator circuit (PG), and a planar Vivaldi antenna. The circuit was designed using 0.18μm CMOS standard process and the planar antenna array was designed with filmconductor on Rogers RO3206 substrate. Spice simulations results showed the pulse generation with 104 mVpp amplitude and 500 ps width. The power consumption is 543 μW, and energy consumption 0.27 pJ per pulse using a 2V power supply at a pulse repetition rate (PRR) of 100 MHz. Electromagnetic simulations results, using CST Microwave (MW) Studio 2011, showed the main lobe radiation with a gain maximum of 13.2 dB, 35.5º x 36.7º angular width, and a beam steering between 17º and -11º for azimuthal (θ) angles and 17º and -18º for elevation (φ) angles at the center frequency of 6 GHz

Diseño de un Amplificador de Bajo Ruido de Ultra Banda Ancha para un Receptor de UWB en CMOS 0.35 μm

Presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "Diseño de un Amplificador de Bajo Ruido de Ultra Banda Ancha para un Receptor de UWB en CMOS 0.35 μm"

Diseño, medida y verificación de un mezclador en CMOS 0.35 um para un receptor basado en el estándar IEEE 802.11a

Proyecto y presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "Diseño, medida y verificación de un mezclador en CMOS 0.35 um para un receptor basado en el estándar IEEE 802.11a"

Diseño de un mezclador pasivo en CMOS 0.35 um para un receptor basado en el estándar IEE802.11a

Memoria y presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "Diseño de un mezclador pasivo en CMOS 0.35 um para un receptor basado en el estándar IEE802.11a"

Diseño de un amplificador operacional totalmente integrado CMOS que funcione como driver para cargas capacitivas elevadas

Presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "Diseño de un Amplificador Operacional totalmente integrado CMOS que funcione como driver para cargas capacitivas elevadas"

Diseño de un convertidor de corriente en tecnología CMOS 0.35

Proyecto y presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "Diseño de un convertidor de corriente en tecnología CMOS 0.35"

Diseño del Amplificador de Bajo Ruido y del Mezclador para un Receptor de UWB en CMOS 0.18um

Especialidad: Sistemas electrónicos

Diseño de un mezclador basado en convertidores de corriente en tecnología CMOS 0.18UM

Proyecto y presentación del Proyecto Fin de Carrera titulado "DISEÑO DE UN MEZCLADOR BASADO EN CONVERTIDORES DE CORRIENTE EN TECNOLOGÍA CMOS 0.18UM"

Diseño de un filtro integrado sintonizable en tecnología CMOS 0.35μm

Especialidad: Sistemas Electrónicos

CMOS RF front-end receivers for DVB-SH

Programa de doctorado: Ingeniería de Telecomunicación Avanzada.

On the use of simple geometric descriptors provided by RGB-D sensors for re-identification

[EN]The re-identification problem has been commonly accomplished using appearance features based on salient points and color information. In this paper, we focus on the possibilities that simple geometric features obtained from depth images captured with RGB-D cameras may offer for the task, particularly working under severe illumination conditions. The results achieved for different sets of simple geometric features extracted in a top-view setup seem to provide useful descriptors for the re-identification task, which can be integrated in an ambient intelligent environment as part of a sensor network.