Hierarchical microstructures with high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures possessing different orientations created by femtosecond laser ablation of silicon in liquids

High spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures(HSFLs)on silicon substrates are often developed on flat surfaces at low fluences near ablation threshold of 0.1 J/cm2,seldom on microstructures or microgrooves at relatively higher fluences above 1 J/cm^2.This work aims to enrich the variety of HSFLs-containing hierarchical microstructures,by femtosecond laser(pulse duration:457 fs,wavelength:1045 nm,and repetition rate:100 kHz)in liquids(water and acetone)at laser fluence of 1.7 J/cm^2.The period of Si-HSFLs in the range of 110–200 nm is independent of the scanning speeds(0.1,0.5,1 and 2 mm/s),line intervals(5,15 and 20μm)of scanning lines and scanning directions(perpendicular or parallel to light polarization direction).It is interestingly found that besides normal HSFLs whose orientations are perpendicular to the direction of light polarization,both clockwise or anticlockwise randomly tilted HSFLs with a maximal deviation angle of 50°as compared to those of normal HSFLSs are found on the microstructures with height gradients.Raman spectra and SEM characterization jointly clarify that surface melting and nanocapillary waves play important roles in the formation of Si-HSFLs.The fact that no HSFLs are produced by laser ablation in air indicates that moderate melting facilitated with ultrafast liquid cooling is beneficial for the formation of HSFLs by LALs.On the basis of our findings and previous reports,a synergistic formation mechanism for HSFLs at high fluence was proposed and discussed,including thermal melting with the concomitance of ultrafast cooling in liquids,transformation of the molten layers into ripples and nanotips by surface plasmon polaritons(SPP)and second-harmonic generation(SHG),and modulation of Si-HSFLs direction by both nanocapillary waves and the localized electric field coming from the excited large Si particles.

A tunable passive mixer for SAW-less front-end with reconfigurable voltage conversion gain and intermediate frequency bandwidth

An adjustable mixer for surface acoustic wave( SAW)-less radio frequency( RF) front-end is presented in this paper. Through changing the bias voltage,the presented mixer with reconfigurable voltage conversion gain( VCG) is suitable for multi-mode multi-standard( MMMS) applications. An equivalent local oscillator( LO) frequency-tunable high-Q band-pass filter( BPF) at low noise amplifier( LNA) output is used to reject the out-of-band interference signals. Base-band( BB) capacitor of the mixer is variable to obtain 15 kinds of intermediate frequency( IF) bandwidth( BW). The proposed passive mixer with LNA is implemented in TSMC 0. 18μm RF CMOS process and operates from 0. 5 to 2. 5 GHz with measured maximum out-of-band rejection larger than 40 d B. The measured VCG of the front-end can be changed from 5 to 17 d B; the maximum input intercept point( IIP3) is0 d Bm and the minimum noise figure( NF) is 3. 7 d B. The chip occupies an area of 0. 44 mm^2 including pads.

Enhanced Wideband Frequency Estimation via FFT: Leveraging Polynomial Interpolation and Array Indexing

Accurate frequency estimation in a wideband digital receiver using the FFT algorithm encounters challenges, such as spectral leakage resulting from the FFT’s assumption of signal periodicity. High-resolution FFTs pose computational demands, and estimating non-integer multiples of frequency resolution proves exceptionally challenging. This paper introduces two novel methods for enhanced frequency precision: polynomial interpolation and array indexing, comparing their results with super-resolution and scalloping loss. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in contemporary radar systems, with array indexing providing the best frequency estimation despite utilizing maximum hardware resources. The paper demonstrates a trade-off between accurate frequency estimation and hardware resources when comparing polynomial interpolation and array indexing.

Kautz Function Based Continuous-Time Model Predictive Controller for Load Frequency Control in a Multi-Area Power System

A continuous-time Model Predictive Controller was proposed using Kautz function in order to improve the performance of Load Frequency Control(LFC).A dynamic model of an interconnected power system was used for Model Predictive Controller(MPC)design.MPC predicts the future trajectory of the dynamic model by calculating the optimal closed loop feedback gain matrix.In this paper,the optimal closed loop feedback gain matrix was calculated using Kautz function.Being an Orthonormal Basis Function(OBF),Kautz function has an advantage of solving complex pole-based nonlinear system.Genetic Algorithm(GA)was applied to optimally tune the Kautz function-based MPC.A constraint based on phase plane analysis was implemented with the cost function in order to improve the robustness of the Kautz function-based MPC.The proposed method was simulated with three area interconnected power system and the efficiency of the proposed method was measured and exhibited by comparing with conventional Proportional and Integral(PI)controller and Linear Quadratic Regulation(LQR).

Non-Thermal Radio Frequency Stimulation Inhibits the Tryptophan Synthase Beta Subunit in the Algae <i>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</i>

To demonstrate the ability of the Nativis signal transduction technology (Butters et al. 2014) to modulate the expression of algae mRNA and protein, we tested if we can alter specific enzyme levels in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We inhibited the synthesis of the enzyme tryptophan synthase beta subunit (MAA7) by applying the signal derived from a published siRNA (Zhao et al. 2009). With lower levels of MAA7, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can grow in the presence of the prodrug 5-Fluoroindole (5-FI), because less 5-Fluoroin-dole can be converted to the toxic 5-Fluoro-L-tryptophan (5-FT). We find a 24% (&plusmn;5%) increase of growth with the signal versus no signal. To see if that effect was due to the reduction of the amount of mRNA encoding MAA7, we used Real-Time Quantitative PCR (RT-QPCR) to measure the levels of MAA7 mRNA. To normalize the MAA7 mRNA level, we compared them to the levels of a mRNA that is not affected by the signal (G protein beta subunit-like polypeptide, Cblp). Two conditions increase the effectiveness of the signal. One can either treat the cell cultures during the logarithmic growth phase (starting the cultures at density of 0.104 OD at 750 nm). Or one can treat the cultures at a later stage of the logarithmic growth, but treating them for a longer time (8.7% versus 3.5% of the culture time). Under these conditions we found around a 50% decrease in the mRNA levels for MAA7. Treating the cultures at the earlier growth phase or at a later growth phase is less effective, with only a 20% effect.

High-Precision Doppler Frequency Estimation Based Positioning Using OTFS Modulations by Red and Blue Frequency Shift Discriminator

Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space(OTFS) modulation is expected to provide high-speed and ultra-reliable communications for emerging mobile applications, including low-orbit satellite communications. Using the Doppler frequency for positioning is a promising research direction on communication and navigation integration. To tackle the high Doppler frequency and low signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) in satellite communication, this paper proposes a Red and Blue Frequency Shift Discriminator(RBFSD) based on the pseudo-noise(PN) sequence.The paper derives that the cross-correlation function on the Doppler domain exhibits the characteristic of a Sinc function. Therefore, it applies modulation onto the Delay-Doppler domain using PN sequence and adjusts Doppler frequency estimation by red-shifting or blue-shifting. Simulation results show that the performance of Doppler frequency estimation is close to the Cramér-Rao Lower Bound when the SNR is greater than -15dB. The proposed algorithm is about 1/D times less complex than the existing PN pilot sequence algorithm, where D is the resolution of the fractional Doppler.

Optical frequency comb technology: from ground to space

Optical frequency combs,as powerful tools for precision spectroscopy and research into optical frequency standards,have driven continuous progress and significant breakthroughs in applications such as time-frequency transfer,measurement of fundamental physical constants,and high-precision ranging,achieving a series of milestone results in ground-based environments.With the continuous maturation and evolution of femtosecond lasers and related technologies,optical frequency combs are moving from ground-based applications to astronomical and space-based applications,playing an increasingly important role in atomic clocks,exoplanet observations,gravitational wave measurements,and other areas.This paper,focusing on astronomical and space-based applications,reviews research progress on astronomical frequency combs,optical clock time-frequency networks,gravitational waves,dark matter measurement,dual-comb large-scale absolute ranging,and high-resolution atmospheric spectroscopy.With enhanced performance and their gradual application in the field of space-based research,optical frequency combs will undoubtedly provide more powerful support for astronomical science and cosmic exploration in the future.

QPSK DS-CDMA System over Rayleigh Channel with a Randomly-Varying Frequency Narrow-Band Interference: Frequency Tracking Analysis

This paper analyses frequency tracking characteristics of a complex-coefficient adaptive infinite-impulse response (IIR) notch filter used for suppression of narrow-band interference (NBI) with a randomly-varying frequency in a quadriphase shift keying (QPSK) modulated direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) communication system. The QPSK DS-CDMA signals are transmitted over a frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading channel. The analysis is based on a first-order real-coefficient difference equation with respect to steady-state instantaneous frequency tracking error from which a closed-form expression that relates frequency tracking mean square error (MSE) with number of DS-CDMA active users and NBI power is obtained. Closed-form expressions for optimum notch bandwidth coefficient and step size constant that minimize the frequency tracking MSE are also derived. Computer simulations are included to substantiate the accuracy of the analyses.

A Novel Device for Real-Time Monitoring of High Frequency Phenomena in CENELEC PLC Band

This paper proposes the design and development of a novel, portable and low-cost intelligent electronic device (IED) for real-time monitoring of high frequency phenomena in CENELEC PLC band. A high speed floating-point digital signal processor (DSP) along with 4 MSPS analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is used to develop the intelligent electronic device. An optimized algorithm to process the analog signal in real-time and to extract the meaningful result using signal processing techniques has been implemented on the device. A laboratory environment has setup with all the necessary equipment including the development of the load model to evaluate the performance of the IED. Smart meter and concentrator is also connected to the low voltage (LV) network to monitor the PLC communication using the IED. The device has been tested in the laboratory and it has produced very promising results for time domain as well as frequency domain analysis. Those results imply that the IED is fully capable of monitoring high frequency disturbances in CENELEC PLC band.

Analysis of OSA Syndrome from PPG Signal Using CART-PSO Classifier with Time Domain and Frequency Domain Features

Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA)is a respiratory syndrome that occurs due to insufficient airflow through the respiratory or respiratory arrest while sleeping and sometimes due to the reduced oxygen saturation.The aim of this paper is to analyze the respiratory signal of a person to detect the Normal Breathing Activity and the Sleep Apnea(SA)activity.In the proposed method,the time domain and frequency domain features of respiration signal obtained from the PPG device are extracted.These features are applied to the Classification and Regression Tree(CART)-Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)classifier which classifies the signal into normal breathing signal and sleep apnea signal.The proposed method is validated to measure the performance metrics like sensitivity,specificity,accuracy and F1 score by applying time domain and frequency domain features separately.Additionally,the performance of the CART-PSO(CPSO)classification algorithm is evaluated through comparing its measures with existing classification algorithms.Concurrently,the effect of the PSO algorithm in the classifier is validated by varying the parameters of PSO.

Dynamic design of a nonlinear energy sink with NiTiNOL-steel wire ropes based on nonlinear output frequency response functions

A novel vibration isolation device called the nonlinear energy sink(NES)with NiTiNOL-steel wire ropes(NiTi-ST)is applied to a whole-spacecraft system.The NiTi-ST is used to describe the damping of the NES,which is coupled with the modified Bouc-Wen model of hysteresis.The NES with NiTi-ST vibration reduction principle uses the irreversibility of targeted energy transfer(TET)to concentrate the energy locally on the nonlinear oscillator,and then dissipates it through damping in the NES with NiTi-ST.The generalized vibration transmissibility,obtained by the root mean square treatment of the harmonic response of the nonlinear output frequency response functions(NOFRFs),is first used as the evaluation index to analyze the whole-spacecraft system in the future.An optimization analysis of the impact of system responses is performed using different parameters of NES with NiTi-ST based on the transmissibility of NOFRFs.Finally,the effects of vibration suppression by varying the parameters of NiTi-ST are analyzed from the perspective of energy absorption.The results indicate that NES with NiTi-ST can reduce excessive vibration of the whole-spacecraft system,without changing its natural frequency.Moreover,the NES with NiTi-ST can be directly used in practical engineering applications.

VARIABLE CUTOFF FREQUENCY NONLINEAR DIGITAL FILTERS: I-ONE-DIMENSION

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PIC-MF-based Iterative Receiver for Multiuser Space Frequency Block Coding Systems

A novel low-complexity iterative receiver for multiuser space frequency block coding (SFBC) system was proposed in this paper. Unlike the conventional linear minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector, which requires matrix inversion at each iteration, the soft-in soft-out (SISO) detector is simply a parallel interference cancellation (PIC)-matched filter (MF) operation. The probability density function (PDF) of PIC-MF detector output is approximated as Gaussian, whose variance is calculated with a priori information fed back from the channel decoder. With this approximation, the log likelihood ratios (LLRs) of transmitted bits are under-estimated. Then the LLRs are multiplied by a constant factor to achieve a performance gain. The constant factor is optimized according to extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart of the SISO detector. Simulation results show that the proposed iterative receiver can significantly improve the system performance and converge to the matched filter bound (MFB) with low computational complexity at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs).

Study on Variation of Fitting Goodness of Relation Between Earthquake Frequency and Magnitude before Moderately Strong Earthquakes (Ms≥5.0)

In this paper,characteristics of spatial and temporal variation of linear fitting goodness before some moderately strong earthquakes(Ms≥5.0)in the eastern part of China(east of longitude 180)are studied according to the famous Gutenberg-Richter’s relation expressed as lgN=a-bM,by using the moderate and small events that occurred in and around the source area.The results show that the linear goodness of fitting varies abnormally prior to these moderately strong earthquakes.In the early stage of the earthquake preparatory process,distribution of the energy released through small events in and around the source area is isostatic and the fitting goodness approximates 1,while the distribution of the energy turns to be isostatic before moderately strong earthquakes,leading to the obvious decrease of the linear goodness of fitting.This phenomenon could be a medium term anomaly and a medium term criterion for moderately strong earthquake prediction.

Effect of ultra-low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on dysphagia in elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction and quality of life

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of ultra-low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on dysphagia in elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction and its impact on quality of life.Methods:60 elderly patients with dysphagia caused by acute cerebral infarction were randomly divided into rTMS group and control group,30 cases in each group.Both groups received routine drug therapy and swallowing function training.rTMS group was additionally treated by ultra-low frequency(10mHZ)repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for 14 days.The changes of NIHSS score andADL score and NSE serum level and Wa Tian drinking water experiment and Fujishima Ichiro dysphagia scale score and SWAL-QOL score and SF-36 score were observed between the two groups before and after treatment.The clinical effect was evaluated by Wa Tian drinking water experiment.Results:After treatment,The clinical effective rate in rTMS group was significantly higher compared with that in the control group(P<0.05),NIHSS score and serum NSE level were significantly lower compared with the control group(P<0.05),ADL score and Fujishima Ichiro dysphagia score and SWAL-QOL score and SF-36 scores were significantly higher compared with the control group(P<0.05).After treatment,SF-36 total score(or SWAL-QOL Score)was negatively correlated with NSE serum level and NIHSS score,which was positively correlated with ADL score and Fujishima Ichiro dysphagia scale score score.Conclusion:Ultra-low frequency rTMS therapy can reduce NSE level,effectively improve dysphagia in elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction and significantly improve the elderly patients'life quality.

The ~3.6 to 3.7 M Paucity in Global Earthquake Frequency: Potential Coupling to Zero Point Fluctuation Force and Quantum Energies

There has been protracted historical evidence of a relative paucity in the distribution frequency of global earthquakes within the M = 3.5 to 4.0 range. We observed a similar phenomenon for all recently recorded earthquakes from January 2009 through August 2013. Frequency distributions with increments of M = 0.1 verified the trough of the diminished incidence to be between M = 3.6 and 3.7 with an abrupt increase between M = 3.9 and 4.0. The calculated equivalent photon wavelength for the energies associated with M = 3.6 approaches Planck’s Length while the related time increment is the cutoff frequency for the Zero Point Fluctuation force coupled to gravity. The conspicuous congruence between Planck’s time and length and the lower than expected frequency based upon Gaussian assumptions of distribution for the discrete band of energy associated with this magnitude range of earthquakes suggests a conduit may exist between intrinsic features of Planck space-time and geophysical processes. The existence of such a connection would encourage alternative explanations for sun-seismic activities as due to solar instabilities. Instead, it may reflect influence upon both from alterations in the structure of space being traversed by the solar system as it moves through the galaxy.

Directional Filter, Local Frequency Estimate and Algebraic Inversion of Differential Equation of Psoas Major Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can visualize the shear wave propagation of in vivo tissues, which can be mapped into viscoelastic properties. No study has measured the biomechanical properties of the PM muscle in vivo using MRE. In this study, we evaluated stiffness values calculated by local frequency estimate (LFE) and algebraic inversion of differential equation (AIDE) in PM-MRE. The PM muscles of 17 healthy male volunteers were scanned in supine position by MRE. The Laplacian-based estimate (LBE) phase wrapped image data were filtered by gaussian-bandpass filter (GBF), and by both directional and GBF. LFE (MREWave) and AIDE wave inversion methods were used to calculate the respective elastograms. The wave interferences were removed by directional filtering, and smooth wave fields were obtained. The stiffness values calculated by LFE of non-DF images were 1.39 ± 0.25 kPa and 1.33 ± 0.22 kPa for right and left PM respectively, whereas for DF images, they were 1.26 ± 0.20 kPa for right PM and 1.18 ± 0.28 kPa for left PM. The stiffness values calculated by AIDE of non-DF images were 0.78 ± 0.10 kPa and 0.78 ± 0.13 kPa for right and left PM respectively, whereas for DF images, they were 0.73 ± 0.12 kPa for right PM and 0.74 ± 0.11 kPa for left PM. There was no statistically significant difference in mean values of stiffness with/without applying directional filter whereas there was a statistically significant difference in mean values of stiffness between LFE and AIDE. Both LFE and AIDE could be used for psoas major MR Elastography.

Primary frequency control considering communication delay for grid-connected offshore wind power systems

Offshore wind farms are becoming increasingly distant from onshore centralized control centers,and the communication delays between them inevitably introduce time delays in the measurement signal of the primary frequency control.This causes a deterioration in the performance of the primary frequency control and,in some cases,may even result in frequency instability within the power system.Therefore,a frequency response model that incorporates communication delays was established for power systems that integrate offshore wind power.The Padéapproximation was used to model the time delays,and a linearized frequency response model of the power system was derived to investigate the frequency stability under different time delays.The influences of the wind power proportion and frequency control parameters on the system frequency stability were explored.In addition,a Smith delay compensation control strategy was devised to mitigate the effects of communication delays on the system frequency dynamics.Finally,a power system incorporating offshore wind power was constructed using the MATLAB/Simulink platform.The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed delay compensation control strategy.

Design of Sharp 2D Multiplier-Less Circularly Symmetric FIR Filter Using Harmony Search Algorithm and Frequency Transformation

In this paper, we present a novel and efficient method for the design of a sharp, two dimensional (2D) wideband, circularly symmetric, FIR filter. First of all, a sharp one dimensional (1D) infinite precision FIR filter is designed using the Frequency Response Masking (FRM) technique. This filter is converted into a multiplier-less filter by representing it in the Canonic Signed Digit (CSD) space. The design of the FRM filter in the CSD space calls for the use of a discrete optimization technique. To this end, a new optimization approach is proposed using a modified Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA). HSA is modified in such a way that, in every exploitation and exploration phase, the candidate solutions turns out to be integers. The 1D FRM multiplier-less filter, is in turn transformed to the 2D equivalent using the recently proposed multiplier-less transformations namely, T1 and T2. These transformations are successful in generating circular contours even for wideband filters. Since multipliers are the most power consuming elements in a 2D filter, the multiplier-less realization calls for reduced power consumption as well as computation time. Significant reduction in the computational complexity and computation time are the highlights of our proposed design technique. Besides, the proposed discrete optimization using modified HSA can be used to solve optimization problems in other engineering disciplines, where the search space consists of integers.

Computationally Efficient MUSIC-Based Algorithm for Joint Direction of Arrival (DOA) and Doppler Frequency Estimation in Monostatic MIMO Radar

The problem of joint direction of arrival (DOA) and Doppler frequency estimation in monostatic multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar is studied and a computationally efficient multiple signal classification (CE-MUSIC) algorithm is proposed.Conventional MUSIC algorithm for joint DOA and Doppler frequency estimation requires a large computational cost due to the two dimensional (2D) spectral peak searching.Aiming at this shortcoming,the proposed CE-MUSIC algorithm firstly uses a reduced-dimension transformation to reduce the subspace dimension and then obtains the estimates of DOA and Doppler frequency with only one-dimensional (1D) search.The proposed CE-MUSIC algorithm has much lower computational complexity and very close estimation performance when compared to conventional 2D-MUSIC algorithm.Furthermore,it outperforms estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT) algorithm.Meanwhile,the mean squared error (MSE) and Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) of joint DOA and Doppler frequency estimation are derived.Detailed simulation results illustrate the validity and improvement of the proposed algorithm.