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Dry cask storage is one of two storage methods approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for spent fuel after removal from reactor cores. Dry casks consist of a stainless steel canister enclosed in a concrete overpack to contain the hazardous radioactive spent fuel rods and provide radiation shielding. Monitoring spent fuel storage casks is desired to ensure the safe containment of the enclosed spent fuel, but is very difficult due to the related harsh temperature and radiation environment. The sensors and associated electronics to monitor temperature, pressure, and/or radiation need to survive high temperatures and radiation doses for extended time periods. For this reason, there is a severe need for radiation-hardened electrical systems that survive well beyond the existing capabilities of commercially available radiation-rated electronic components, which have primarily been developed for space applications. Junction-gate field-effect transistor (JFET) devices are inherently radiation hardened [exceeding 100 Mrad (Si)]. When JFETs are used as building blocks for sensing and communication electronics (i.e., oscillators, amplifiers, filters, and mixers), inherently radiation-hardened circuits can be achieved. To this end, JFET-based radiation-hardened electronics interfacing with cask-embedded sensors capable of driving modulated sensor signals through a stainless steel barrier were designed and tested at a dose rate of approximately 500 krad/h (Si) to beyond a 200-Mrad (Si) total ionizing dose. After 200 Mrad (Si), the sensor and communication circuit signals were correctly decoded at the receiver despite oscillator drift. The results from this experiment demonstrate the potential for creating more complex radiation-hardened JFET-based electrical systems for nuclear environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents methods for realizing photodiodes with independent spectral response in a standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit process. Controls of photodiodes; Components of external quantum efficiency of a photodetector; Spectographic information.

Background: Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a fetal defect comprising an incomplete diaphragm and the herniation of abdominal organs into the chest cavity that interfere with fetal pulmonary development. Though the most promising treatment for CDH is via interventional fetoscopic tracheal occlusion (TO) surgery in-utero, it has produced mixed results due to the static nature of the inserted occlusion. We hypothesize that a suitable noninvasively-actuatable, cyclic-release tracheal occlusion device can be developed to enable dynamic tracheal occlusion (dTO) implementation. Objective: To conduct an in-vitro proof-of-concept investigation of the construction of thermo-responsive polymer valves designed for targeted activation within a physiologically realizable temperature range as a first step towards potential development of a noninvasively-actuatable implantable device to facilitate dynamic tracheal occlusion (dTO) therapy. Methods: Six thermo-responsive polymer valves, with a critical solution temperature slightly higher than normal physiological body temperature of 37°C, were fabricated using a copolymer of n-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and dimethylacrylamide (DMAA). Three of the valves underwent ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization while the other three served as controls for EtO-processing compatibility testing. Thermal response actuation of the valves and their steady-state flow performances were evaluated using water and caprine amniotic fluid. Results: All six valves consisting of 0.3-mole fraction of DMAA were tested for thermal actuation of caprine amniotic fluid flow at temperatures ranging from 30–44°C. They all exhibited initiation of valve actuation opening at ~40°C with full completion at ~44°C. The overall average coefficient of variation (CV) for the day-to-day flow performance of the valves tested was less than 12%. Based on a Student t-test, there was no significant difference in the operational characteristics for the EtO processed versus the non-EtO processed valves tested. Conclusions: We successfully fabricated and demonstrated physiological realizable temperature range operation of thermo-responsive polymer valves in-vitro and their suitability for standard EtO sterilization processing, a prerequisite for future in-vivo surgical implantation testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver transplants have their highest technical failure rate in the first two weeks following surgery. Currently, there are limited devices for continuous, real-time monitoring of the graft. In this work, a three wavelengths system is presented that combines near-infrared spectroscopy and photoplethysmography with a processing method that can uniquely measure and separate the venous and arterial oxygen contributions. This strategy allows for the quantification of tissue oxygen consumption used to study hepatic metabolic activity and to relate it to tissue stress. The sensor is battery operated and communicates wirelessly with a data acquisition computer which provides the possibility of implantation provided sufficient miniaturization. In two in vivo porcine studies, the sensor tracked perfusion changes in hepatic tissue during vascular occlusions with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.135 mL/min/g of tissue. We show the possibility of using the pulsatile wave to measure the arterial oxygen saturation similar to pulse oximetry. The signal is also used to extract the venous oxygen saturation from the direct current (DC) levels. Arterial and venous oxygen saturation changes were measured with an RMSE of 2.19% and 1.39% respectively when no vascular occlusions were induced. This error increased to 2.82% and 3.83% when vascular occlusions were induced during hypoxia. These errors are similar to the resolution of a commercial oximetry catheter used as a reference. This work is the first realization of a wireless optical sensor for continuous monitoring of hepatic hemodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact model for SiC Power MOSFETs is presented. The model features a physical description of the channel current and internal capacitances and has been validated for dc, CV, and switching characteristics with measured data from a 1200-V, 20-A SiC power MOSFET in a temperature range of 25°C to 225°C. The peculiar variation of on-state resistance with temperature for SiC power MOSFETs has also been demonstrated through measurements and accounted for in the developed model. In order to improve the user experience with the model, a new datasheet driven parameter extraction strategy has been presented which requires only data available in device datasheets, to enable quick parameter extraction for off-the-shelf devices. Excellent agreement is shown between measurement and simulation using the presented model over the entire temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a photospectrometer realized in a standard complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor process. Use of masks and fabrication steps inherent to the process; Composition of the spectrometer; Proportionality of outputs with input optical power; Resolution of the Gaussian input spectra in a restricted solution space.

Traumatic injury resulting in hemorrhage is a prevalent cause of death worldwide. The current standard of care for trauma patients is to restore hemostasis by controlling bleeding and administering intravenous volume resuscitation. Adequate resuscitation to restore tissue blood flow and oxygenation is critical within the first hours following admission to assess severity and avoid complications. However, current clinical methods for guiding resuscitation are not sensitive or specific enough to adequately understand the patient condition. To better address the shortcomings of the current methods, an approach to monitor intestinal perfusion and oxygenation using a multiwavelength (470, 560, and 630 nm) optical sensor has been developed based on photo-plethysmography and reflectance spectroscopy. Specifically, two sensors were developed using three wavelengths to measure relative changes in the small intestine. Using vessel occlusion, systemic changes in oxygenation input, and induction of hemorrhagic shock, the capabilities and sensitivity of the sensor were explored in vivo. Pulsatile and nonpulsatile components of the red, blue, and green wavelength signals were analyzed for all three protocols (occlusion, systemic oxygenation changes, and shock) and were shown to differentiate perfusion and oxygenation changes in the jejunum. The blue and green signals produced better correlation to perfusion changes during occlusion and shock, while the red and blue signals, using a new correlation algorithm, produced better data for assessing changes in oxygenation induced both systemically and locally during shock. The conventional modulation ratio method was found to be an ineffective measure of oxygenation in the intestine due to noise and an algorithm was developed based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. The method utilized the difference in phase between two different wavelength signals to assess oxygen content. A combination of measures from the three wavelengths provided verification of oxygenation and perfusion states, and showed promise for the development of a clinical monitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a highly accurate dose control circuit (DCC) for the emission of a desired number of electrons from vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) in a massively parallel maskless e-beam lithography system. The parasitic components within the VACNF device cause a premature termination of the electron emission, resulting in underexposure of the photoresist. In this paper, we compensate for the effects of the parasitic components and noise while reducing the area of the chip and achieving a precise count of emitted electrons from the VACNFs to obtain the optimum dose for the e-beam lithography. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, an adaptive filtering algorithm to separate signals due to perfusion and oxygenation has been developed using an 810-nm source, in addition to 660-nm and 940-nm sources, as an internal reference due to its limited oxygen sensitivity. The newly developed algorithm was tested using Monte Carlo simulated data to prove the effectiveness of the 810-nm reference and adaptive algorithm. Following the simulation, an in vitro model was developed to test the algorithm that used a blood flow through system wrapped with tissue. The system had the ability to isolate the effects of perfusion and oxygenation and the algorithm accurately captured the changes in these signals with reliable consistency. Using the serosal surface of the swine jejunum, in vivo data was also taken to analyze the algorithms response to fluctuating perfusion levels like that seen in hemorrhaging or failing transplants. The algorithm was able to extract the perfusion information from the oxygenation information in this in vivo study. Overall, it was shown that an adaptive filtering algorithm using an 810-nm reference has provided a means to separate oxygenation and perfusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In designing an implantable sensor for perfusion monitoring of transplant organs the ability of the sensor to gather perfusion information with limited power consumption and in near real time is paramount The following work was performed to provide a processing method that is able to predict perfusion and oxygenation change within the blood flowing through a transplanted organ. For this application, an autocorrelation-based algorithm was used to reduce the acquisition time required for fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis while retaining the accuracy inherent to FFT analysis. In order to provide data proving that the developed method is able to predict perfusion as accurately as FFT two experiments were developed isolating both periodic and quasi-periodic cardiac frequencies. It was shown that the autocorrelation-based method was able to perform comparably with FFT (limited to a sampling frequency of 300 Hz) and maintain accuracy down to acquisition times as low as 4 s in length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A custom simulation tool that combines HSPICE and MATLAB to enable time-domain noise analysis is reported. The simulation technique is based on computing the statistics of a random process by ensemble averaging and is applicable to both linear time-invariant (LTI) and linear time-variant (LTV) systems. MATLAB is used to generate a set of representative noise signals, which are imported into LISPICE for simulation. Once the simulations are complete the results are read back into MATLAB and ensemble statistics are calculated. The MATLAB-generated noise signals have a user-defined white-noise floor and flicker-noise corner frequency and thus are suitable for modeling a wide variety of electronic components, including CMOS transistors and resistors. Simulation results of the time-dependent output noise of a gated integrator and the timing resolution of a gated integrator/comparator detector are presented to highlight both the utility and the versatility of the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A battery-operated portable synchronous luminescence spectrofluorometer was developed for on-site analysis of groundwater or hazardous waste sites. The instrument is capable of either emission, excitation, or synchronous fluorescence measurements. The instrument is suited for trace analysis of important pollutants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, creosotes, and polychlorinated biphenyls in complex mixtures. The ability to perform synchronous luminescence measurements on these samples can reduce the complexity of fluorescence spectra and help in rapid field site characterization. A description of the instrumental components is given and an evaluation of the instrument using anthracene and several oil samples is provided to illustrate the usefulness of the instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wavelet-based signal processing technique was employed to improve an implantable blood perfusion monitoring system. Data was acquired from both in vitro and in viva sources: a perfusion model and the proximal jejunum of an adult pig. Results showed that wavelet analysis could isolate perfusion signals from raw, periodic, in vitro data as well as fast Fourier transform (FFT) methods. However, for the quasi-periodic in vivo data segments, wavelet analysis provided more consistent results than the FFT analysis for data segments of 50, 10, and 5 s in length. Wavelet analysis has thus been shown to require less data points for quasi-periodic data than FFT analysis making it a good choice for an indwelling perfusion monitor where power consumption and reaction time are paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]