A near infrared waveguide photodetector in Si-based ternary Si₁−x−yGexCy alloy was demonstrated for 0.85~1.06 µm wavelength fiber-optic interconnection system applications. Two sets of detectors with active absorption layer compositions of Si₀.₇₉Ge₀.₂C₀.₀₁ and Si₀.₇₀Ge₀.₂₈C₀.₀₂ were designed. The active absorption layer has a thickness of 120~450 nm. The external quantum efficiency can reach ~3% with a cut-off wavelength of around 1.2 µm. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The major aim of this thesis is to analyze the impact of structural change of exports and technology level on the international competitiveness. In order to analyze international competitiveness, export market shares are used. The empirical analysis suggested in this thesis includes two steps. In the first step, constant market share analysis is conducted to understand the causes of changes in export market shares from one period to another and in the second step a difference generalized method of moments model is proposed for 44 manufacturing sectors, which are classified with respect to their technology intensities, over 2003- 2008 period. The results are highly sensitive to the technology intensity of sectors.

The flexible substrate was fabricated by BaTi4O9 mixed with O-Cresol Novolac Epoxy, polyether imide or surface active agents. The electrical and physical characteristic measured had been finished. The dielectric property influence of substrate was changed from percentage of BaTi4O9. The dielectric constant model was used by Jayasundere and Smith equation (J. S. eq.) and Lichtenecker equation (L. eq.) The study of crystalline grain, orientation and phase transfer temperature was used by SEM, XRD, and DSC, respectively. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent of the composite was measured using an HP4294A impedance analyzer. The TM mode calculated by resonate frequency of the composite was measured using an HP4156C network analyzer. The dielectric constant was obtained to TM mode at high frequency. The result was showed that dielectric constant at low frequency of BaTi4O9, OCN Epoxy and PEI are 57, 5.8 and 3.65, respectively. OCN Epoxy is better than PEI of electrical characteristic. However, OCN Epoxy is not flexible. For this reason, the PEI was focused on electrical property at high frequency. The BaTi4O9 exhibited a dielectric constant of 39 at frequency during 3~10 GHz. The dielectric constant was measured of 10 at frequency during 2~16 GHz with 70 wt% PEI composite. The dielectric constant is higher than FR-4 substrate to 6.4 of the composite. The low dielectric constant is obtaining to reduce stuffing.

The code division multiple access (CDMA) system implemented by the direct-sequence (DS) spread spectrum (SS) technique is one of the most promising multiplexing technologies for the wireless communications services. The SS communication adopts a technique of using much wider bandwidth necessary to transmit the information over the channel, and has been proposed for third generation broadband wireless access. The capacity and performance of the DS-CDMA system are mainly limited by the multiple access interference (MAI) and the inter-symbol-interference (ISI) caused by the multipath-fading channel. To circumvent the above-mentioned problems many adaptive multiuser detectors, for instance the minimum mean square error (MMSE) and the minimum output energy (MOE) criteria, subject to certain constraints, have been proposed. Since the LCMV criterion is the linearly constrained (LC) version of MOE, it is high sensitivity to the channel mismatch caused by the unreliable estimation. In order to deal with this problem, the LC constant modulus (LCCM) criterion was considered to avoid capturing the interfering user instead of the desired user when the power of interfering user is much higher than the desired user. In this thesis, based on the Min/Max criterion we propose a novel blind LCCM recursive least-square (RLS) algorithm, with the generalized side-lobe canceller (GSC) structure, named as the CM GSC-RLS algorithm, to effectively alleviate the effect of MAI and ISI for DS-CDMA receiver, for time-varying channel. Due to the variation of channel at the receiver, the desired user amplitude or power is not available and has to be estimated. To solve this problem, we propose a simple scheme to estimate the parameter of constant modulus, adaptively, associated with the CM GSC-RLS algorithm. With the new proposed algorithm, the amplitude variation of desired user, due to changing characteristics of channel, can be tracked, effectively. Thus, better performance achievement, in terms of output signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and bit error rate (BER), over the conventional GSC-RLS algorithms can be expected.

The objective of this thesis is to develop high dielectric constant nanoparticle dispersion for switchable aircraft antenna systems. Two steps were designed to achieve the objective. First, obtain high dielectric, high aspect ratio nanoparticles and disperse them in dielectric oil medium. Second, manipulate the particle-oil dispersion using an external alternating current (AC) electric field to increase the effective dielectric constant. In order to obtain high dielectric dispersions, different sizes and shapes of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanoparticles were purchased and measured. However, after a number of experiments detailed in the thesis, it was found that none of the commercially available nanoparticles could satisfy our requirements for a minimum effective dielectric constant. Thus, to achieve the goals above, we synthesized high aspect ratio BaTiO3 nanowires with BaC2O4 and TiO2 powders as precursors using a molten salt method. The as-synthesized BaTiO3 nanowires were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping. The nanowires have a diameter ranging from 100 nm to 300 nm, and their lengths range from 1.5 micrometers to 5 micrometers. Mechanical stirring and bath sonication were used to obtain even colloidal dispersions. Different concentrations of BaTiO3 nanoparticles well dispersed in the oil medium were successfully manipulated using AC electric field. To monitor the change in microstructure of BaTiO3 nanoparticles, optical microscopy was used to observe the alignment of particles in the sample under the applied electric field. Various parameters including the magnitude, frequency, and duration of the electric field, and the concentration of BaTiO3 nanoparticles were investigated to achieve the optimal alignment of nanoparticles. The experimental results were validated by theoretical analysis using Maxwell-Garnett mixing rule. It was demonstrated that the effective dielectric constant of the colloidal dispersions would increase with the increase of the magnitude, frequency and duration of applied electric field. Synthesized BaTiO3 nanowire-based dispersions exhibit significant enhancement of the effective dielectric constant compared to other colloidal materials. The effective dielectric constant of 5 wt percent BaTiO3-oil dispersions could reach up to 10 when aligned at 1000 V/mm electric field at 1 kHz frequency for 1 hour.

We consider the multi-user MIMO broadcast channel with M single-antenna users and N transmit antennas under the constraint that each antenna emits signals having constant envelope (CE). The motivation for this is that CE signals facilitate the use of power-efficient RF power amplifiers. Analytical and numerical results show that, under certain mild conditions on the channel gains, for a fixed M, an array gain is achievable even under the stringent per-antenna CE constraint. Essentially, for a fixed M, at sufficiently large N the total transmitted power can be reduced with increasing N while maintaining a fixed information rate to each user. Simulations for the i.i.d. Rayleigh fading channel show that the total transmit power can be reduced linearly with increasing N (i.e., an O(N) array gain). We also propose a precoding scheme which finds near-optimal CE signals to be transmitted, and has O(MN) complexity. Also, in terms of the total transmit power required to achieve a fixed desired information sum-rate, despite the stringent per-antenna CE constraint, the proposed CE precoding scheme performs close to the sum-capacity achieving scheme for an average-only total transmit power constrained channel. / <p>Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)||ELLIIT||Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation||Center for Industrial Information Technology at ISY, Linkoping University (CENIIT)||</p>

Characterization of semi-permeable films promotes the systematic selection of membranes and process design. When acquiring the diffusive and sorption properties of gas transport in non-porous membranes, the time lag method is considered the conventional method of characterization. The time lag method involves monitoring the transient accumulation of species due to permeation on a fixed volume present in a downstream reservoir. In the thesis at hand, an alternative approach to the time lag technique is proposed, termed as the short cut method. The short cut method appoints the use of a two reservoir system, where the species decay in the upstream face of the membrane is monitored, in combination with the accumulation on the downstream end. The early and short time determination of membrane properties is done by monitoring the inflow and outflow flux profiles, including their respective analytical formulas. The newly proposed method was revealed to have estimated the properties at 1/10 the required time it takes for the classical time lag method, which also includes a better abidance to the required boundary conditions. A novel design of the upstream reservoir, consisting of a reference and working volume, is revealed, which includes instructional use, and the mechanics involved with its operation. Transient pressure decay profiles are successfully obtained when the reference and working volumes consisted of only tubing. However when tanks were included in the volumes, large errors in the decay were observed, in particular due to a non-instantaneous equilibration of the pressure during the start up. This hypothesis was further re-enforced by examining different upstream tank-based configurations. iii In the end, a validated numerical model was constructed for the purpose of simulating the two reservoir gas permeation system. A modified form of the finite differences scheme is utilized, in order to account for a concentration-dependent diffusivity of penetrants within the membrane. Permeation behavior in a composite membrane system was disclosed, which provided a new perspective in analyzing the errors associated with the practical aspect of the system.

The 87Rb-86Sr system is a widely used long-lived isotope geochronometer. 87Rb, the naturally occurring radioactive isotope of Rb, undergoes beta-decay to stable 87Sr with a half-life of approximately 50 Ga. Decay of 87Rb to 87Sr results in variable 87Sr/86Sr in minerals with different Rb/Sr, and measurement of 87Rb/86Sr and 87Sr/86Sr allows for the determination of the age of the rock. Accurate ages depend both on the quality of the isotopic analysis and on the accuracy of the 87Rb decay constant, lambda87. Although the currently accepted value for lambda87 of 1.42 × 10-11a-1 has been in use for over 30 years, there is growing evidence that it is not accurate. Recent attempts to refine lambda87 and its precision have not reached a consensus. This thesis describes a new experiment to measure lambda87 by 87Sr accumulation over a period of about 30 years, and the preparation of a 84-86Sr double-spike in conjunction with that experiment. Radiogenic 87Sr produced in aliquots of a RbClO4 salt was measured by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry. An average of 31 measurements yields a value of 1.398 ± 0.003 × 10-11a-1 . This requires a substantial revision from the previously accepted decay constant and makes Rb-Sr ages calculated with it 1.5% older. A Rb-Sr and U-Pb isotopic chronometry study was carried out on thirteen ordinary chondrites – the most common type of meteorite, the origin and history of which are still unclear. Some meteorites appear disturbed, possibly by recent shock during breakup of the parent body, whereas others yielded accurate and precise U-Pb and Pb-Pb ages. For example, L5 Elenovka yielded distinct ages for silicates (4555 Ma) and phosphates (4535 Ma), allowing the cooling rate of this meteorite from approximately 1055 K to 759 K to be constrained to 15 ± 3 K/Ma. Rb-Sr yielded less precise ages than U-Pb, but using the new decay constant allows accurate comparison between the two methods. This study creates a firm foundation for future studies in thermal history of chondrites and terrestrial metamorphic complexes using Rb-Sr together with other isotopic chronometers.

No description available.

<p>Certification of energy wheel effectiveness by a selected international laboratory for many types and sizes of wheel produced by each manufacturer has proven to be very expensive and has been prone to large uncertainties. This research uses a new, low-cost, transient method to predict the effectiveness using only data obtained from transient measurements.</p><p>In this thesis, an analytical model is presented for predicting the effectiveness of rotating energy wheels using only the characteristics measured on the same non-rotating wheels exposed to a step change in temperature and humidity. A relationship between the step response and the periodic response of an energy wheel is developed using first order linear system design theory. This allows the effectiveness of an energy wheel to be predicted when the characteristics of a step response are known. The effectiveness correlations and uncertainty bounds for sensible and latent effectiveness of energy wheels determined from transient measurements are thus presented.</p><p>The experimental transient testing method and experimental verification of the effectiveness model for several different wheels are also presented in this thesis. The results obtained from the new effectiveness model are shown to agree, within uncertainty bounds, with the results obtained from the standard steady state experimental testing method and numerical simulations.</p>