Development of a universal stress sensor for graphene and carbon fibres

Carbon fibres are a significant volume fraction of modern structural airframes. Embedded into polymer matrices, they provide significant strength and stiffness gains by unit weight compared with competing structural materials. Here we use the Raman G peak to assess the response of carbon fibres to the application of strain, with reference to the response of graphene itself. Our data highlight the predominance of the in-plane graphene properties in all graphitic structures examined. A universal master plot relating the G peak strain sensitivity to tensile modulus of all types of carbon fibres, as well as graphene, is presented. We derive a universal value of - average - phonon shift rate with axial stress of around -5ω0 -1 (cm -1 Mpa-1), where ω0 is the G peak position at zero stress for both graphene and carbon fibre with annular morphology. The use of this for stress measurements in a variety of applications is discussed. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Modelling cognitive impairment to improve universal access

The purpose of this study is to develop a model of cognitive impairment to help designers consider the range of issues which affect the lives of people living with such impairment. A series of interviews with experts of cognitive impairment was conducted to describe and assess the links between specific medical conditions, including learning disability, specific learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders, traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia, and the types of cognitive impairment associated with them. The results reveal some of the most prevalent and serious types of impairment, which - when transformed into design guidance - will help designers make mainstream products more inclusive also for people with cognitive impairment. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Universal access and assistive technology

This book contains the proceedings of the first Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT), incorporating the fourth Cambridge Workshop on Rehabilitation Robotics, held in Cambridge, England in March 2002.

Steady-state modelling of the universal exhaust gas oxygen (UEGO) sensor

The universal exhaust gas oxygen (UEGO) sensor is a well-established device which was developed for the measurement of relative air fuel ratio in internal combustion engines. There is, however, little information available which allows for the prediction of the UEGO's behaviour when exposed to arbitrary gas mixtures, pressures and temperatures. Here we present a steady-state model for the sensor, based on a solution of the Stefan-Maxwell equation, and which includes a momentum balance. The response of the sensor is dominated by a diffusion barrier, which controls the rate of diffusion of gas species between the exhaust and a cavity. Determination of the diffusion barrier characteristics, especially the mean pore size, porosity and tortuosity, is essential for the purposes of modelling, and a measurement technique based on identification of the sensor pressure giving zero temperature sensitivity is shown to be a convenient method of achieving this. The model, suitably calibrated, is shown to make good predictions of sensor behaviour for large variations of pressure, temperature and gas composition. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Smart universal multiple-valued logic gates by transferring single electrons

This paper proposes smart universal multiple-valued (MV) logic gates by transferring single electrons (SEs). The logic gates are based on MOSFET based SE turnstiles that can accurately transfer SEs with high speed at high temperature. The number of electrons transferred per cycle by the SE turnstile is a quantized function of its gate voltage, and this characteristic is fully exploited to compactly finish MV logic operations. First, we build arbitrary MV literal gates by using pairs of SE turnstiles. Then, we propose universal MV logic-to-value conversion gates and MV analog-digital conversion circuits. We propose a SPICE model to describe the behavior of the MOSFET based SE turnstile. We simulate the performances of the proposed gates. The MV logic gates have small number of transistors and low power dissipations.

Compact universal logic gates realized using quantization of current in nanodevices

This paper proposes novel universal logic gates using the current quantization characteristics of nanodevices. In nanodevices like the electron waveguide (EW) and single-electron (SE) turnstile, the channel current is a staircase quantized function of its control voltage. We use this unique characteristic to compactly realize Boolean functions. First we present the concept of the periodic-threshold threshold logic gate (PTTG), and we build a compact PTTG using EW and SE turnstiles. We show that an arbitrary three-input Boolean function can be realized with a single PTTG, and an arbitrary four-input Boolean function can be realized by using two PTTGs. We then use one PTTG to build a universal programmable two-input logic gate which can be used to realize all two-input Boolean functions. We also build a programmable three-input logic gate by using one PTTG. Compared with linear threshold logic gates, with the PTTG one can build digital circuits more compactly. The proposed PTTGs are promising for future smart nanoscale digital system use.