In a wireless system, the frequency-reconfigurable RF components are highly desired because one such component can replace multiple RF components to reduce the size, cost, and weight. Typically, the reconfigurable RF components are realized using capacitive varactors, PIN diodes, or MEMS switches. Most of these RF switches are expensive, rigid, and need tedious soldering steps, which are not suitable for futuristic flexible and wearable applications. Therefore, there is a need to have a solution for low cost, flexible, and easy to integrate RF switches. All the above-mentioned issues can be alleviated if these switches can be simply printed at the place of interest. In this work, we have demonstrated vanadium dioxide (VO2) based RF switches that have been realized through additive manufacturing technologies (inkjet printing and screen printing), which dramatically brings the cost down to a few cents. Also, no soldering or additional attachment step is required as the switch can be simply printed on the RF component. The printed VO2 switches are configured in two types (shunt configuration and series configuration) where both types have been characterized with two activation mechanisms (thermal activation and electrical activation) up to 40 GHz. The measured insertion loss of 1-3 dB, isolation of 20-30 dB, and switching speed of 400 ns are comparable to other non-printed and expensive RF switches. As an application for the printed VO2 switches, a fully printed frequency reconfigurable filter has also been designed in this work. An open-ended dual-mode resonator with meandered loadings has been co-designed with the VO2 switches, resulting in a compact filter with decent insertion loss of 2.6 dB at both switchable frequency bands (4 GHz and 3.75 GHz). Moreover, the filter is flexible and highly immune to the bending effect, which is essential for wearable applications. Finally, a multi-parameter (switch thickness, width, length, temperature) model has been established using a customized artificial neural network (ANN) to achieve a faster simulation speed. The optimized model’s average error and correlation coefficient are only 0.0003 and 0.9905, respectively, which both indicate the model’s high accuracy.

Broadband wireless communication systems demand power-efficient analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in the GHz and medium resolution regime. While high-speed architectures such as the flash and pipelined ADCs are capable of GHz operations, their high-power consumption reduces their attractiveness for mobile applications. On the other hand, the successive-approximation-register (SAR) ADC has an excellent power efficiency, but its slow speed has traditionally limited it to MHz applications. This dissertation puts forth several novel techniques to significantly increase the speed and power efficiency of the SAR architecture and demonstrates them in a low-power 10-GHz SAR ADC suitable for broadband wireless communications. The proposed 8-bit, 10-GHz, 8× time-interleaved SAR ADC utilizes a constant-matching DAC with symmetrically grouped unit finger capacitors to maximize speed by reducing the total DAC capacitance to 32 fF and minimizing the bottom plate parasitic capacitance. The capacitance reduction also saves power as both the DAC size and the driving logic size are reduced. An optimized asynchronous comparator loop and smaller driver logic push the single channel speed of the SAR ADC to 1.25 GHz, thus minimizing the total number of timeinterleaved channels to 8 to reach 10 GHz. A dual-path bootstrapped switch improves the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of the sampling by creating an auxiliary path to drive the non-linear N-well capacitance apart from the main signal path. Using these techniques, the ADC achieves a measured signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SNDR) and SFDR of 36.9 dB and 59 dB, respectively with a Nyquist input while consuming 21 mW of power. The ADC demonstrates a record-breaking figure-of-merit of 37 fJ/conv.-step, which is more than 2× better than the next best published design, among reported ADCs of similar speeds and resolutions.

This thesis is a corpus and narrative-based description of how the lexical aspect of predicates with the switch reference same subject (SS) suffix -ʃa affects the meaning of utterances in Pastaza Kichwa (PK), a Quechuan dialect spoken in Amazonian Ecuador. The main purpose of this thesis is to describe how verb chains that use -ʃa are affected by lexical aspect. The secondary purpose is to compare these uses with current grammars, and determine whether there are more uses than are currently proposed in the most recent grammar of PK. The most recent grammar of PK lists the functions of the coreference -ʃa as being indicative of simultaneous and sequential actions (Nuckolls & Swanson, 2020). I argue that not only does the lexical aspect of predicates in a -ʃa verb chain determine simultaneity and sequentiality, but there is a third category of habitual action that is at least partially determined by the lexical aspect of -ʃa verb chains. After introducing the concept of switch reference, I introduce the concept of lexical aspect. From there I discuss my methodology and analysis, which is based on Van Valin’s (2006) tests and categories of lexical aspect. My analysis is composed of text examples from the Quechua Realwords (QRW) corpus (Nuckolls, 2021), and a PK narrative about Noah and the Flood. These are supplemented by examples from the Corpus of Pastaza Kichwa (CoPK) compiled by Rice (2018). These examples are used to demonstrate the lexical aspect of each verb in a -ʃa verb chain.

This thesis emphasizes the significance of readers’ emotional engagement with characters in the process of reading novels which, in turn, plays a critical role in the reflective moral transformation of the reader. It approaches the analysis of the relationship between emotions, literature and ethics from the perspective of the perceptual theory of emotions. My claim is that our imaginative engagements with narrative fictions, and particularly realist novels, by triggering a critical reflection process through the arousal of our emotions, might prove to be a morally transformative experience. Reflective moral transformation is defined as a deepening of one’s moral understanding that often involves a shift in one’s perspective that comes about as a result of a critical reflection of one’s existing moral beliefs. As such, it entails a willingness to scrutinize one’s moral beliefs and to improve one’s moral understanding. I put forward here a model that will satisfactorily explain how engagement with realist novels can serve to morally transform ourselves.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18179号 / 医博第3899号 / 新制||医||1004(附属図書館) / 31037 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 清水 章, 教授 岩井 一宏, 教授 生田 宏一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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This dissertation explores the semantics and syntax of switch-reference (SR). It makes novel generalizations about the phenomenon based on two empirical sources: A broad, cross-linguistic survey of descriptive reports, and semantic fieldwork that narrowly targets the Kiowa language of Oklahoma. It shows that previous attempts at formalizing switch-reference cannot work, and offers a new theory of switch-reference that derives the facts through effects that emerge from the interaction between the syntax and the semantics. The empirical investigation results in four major findings: First, SR is introduced by its own head, instead of being parasitic to T or C. Second, switch-reference can track Austinian topic situations. Third, it must track topic situations when it is found with coordination, and it cannot do so with intensional embedded clauses. Finally, generalizations or theories based solely on the syntax are not able to account for these facts. These findings are explained by analyzing switch-reference as a pronominal head in the extended verbal projection of the embedded clause. This head introduces a relation of identity or non-identity between two arguments. One of these is in the dominant clause, the other is the highest indexed constituent in the sister of the SR head. The arguments are selected indirectly, through binding structures that are interpreted as lambda-abstraction. The clausemate argument is bound by the SR head; the properties of feature valuation derive the height constraint. The pronoun introduced by the SR head is bound by the connective. Binding by the connective results in the interpretation of the SR-marked clause as a property. This property is then ascribed to an argument in the dominant clause. This theory accounts for the generalizations, and makes fruitful predictions about other aspects of switch-reference, notably when it tracks non-referential subjects. This dissertation improves our understanding of switch-reference, of situation semantics, and of reference-tracking in general. It ties reference-tracking to contextual restriction by use of topic situations, which are anaphoric pronouns used to restrict sentential interpretation. It provides the first solid evidence of morphology sensitive to situations. In addition, the theory of switch-reference proposed here relies on independently-motivated mechanisms in the grammar. This reliance links switch-reference to other mechanisms of co-reference from inside an embedded clause, and finds a solid place for switch-reference in linguistic theory.

Diagnostics are critical tools to assist in the identification of pathogens, the assessment of medical conditions, and helping to inform therapeutic decisions. Nevertheless, commonly used molecular diagnostics often require sophisticated instruments and skilled technicians, and therefore can only be done in centralized, well-equipped laboratories, which leads to long turnaround times, increased costs, and limited accessibility. These limitations have motivated the development of rapid, low-cost, decentralized diagnostics that are more widely accessible, affordable, and suitable for point-of-care applications. Synthetic biology, by creating rationally designed biological components that can sense disease markers, provides innovative and promising diagnostic solutions to achieve highly sensitive and specific detection for targets of interest, while at the same time being time- and cost-efficient, field-deployable, and shelf-stable. This dissertation focuses on the development of novel biosensing elements and their diagnostic applications. First, I introduce the methods for the computational design of riboregulators using automated algorithms. Followed by that, I describe the development, optimization, and applications of toehold-switch-based platforms for the detection of coccidioides, noroviruses, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2). Next, I introduce the development of an ultra-specific riboregulator system termed single-nucleotide specific programmable riboregulators (SNIPRs) and their use for detecting different variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2. It is shown that riboregulators can be ideal solutions for various pathogen diagnostics with comparable accuracy and reduced cost. Lastly, I describe the use of peptide reporters derived from split protein systems to detect gene mutations. By incorporating peptide reporters into amplification primers, detection can be achieved by a quick isothermal amplification step and cell-free gene expression. Together, this research brings advancements in diagnostics based on riboregulators and cell-free systems that will increase the accessibility of these essential healthcare tools.

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