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Worldwide adoption of fourth-generation wireless (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) smartphones and the actual transition to fifth-generation wireless(5G) is the main driving engine for semiconductor industry. 5G is expected to reach high data rate speeds (1 Gbps) and low latency (

The purpose of this paper was to study the relationship between dental caries damage and markers of phosphocalcic metabolism in children with severe diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by perinatal hypoxia. To highlight the impact of metabolic disorders on the susceptibility to dental caries of children with severe CNS disease, were studied the biochemical markers of redox processes, bone and phosphocalcic metabolism in blood serum and oral fluid (OF). The study found a chronic disorder of redox processes, phosphocalcic metabolism at the macro and local level that significantly influences the degree of dental caries of children with severe CNS pathology confirms by: increased lactate level and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity; reduced thermolabile alkaline phosphatase (TLAP) activity in the blood serum and OF, as well as a statistically significant increase in tartrate–resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity in the blood serum as the statistically significant decrease, below the norm, of the level of Ca, Mg and vitamin D3 in the blood serum as well as the significant reduction of the Ca/Pi ratio in OF. Conclusions: the detection in children with CNS diseases caused by perinatal hypoxia of important caries risk factors and indicators of aggressive evolution of DC such as increased concentration of anaerobic glycolysis products and disorders of phosphocalcic metabolism, requires the deepening of interdisciplinary studies and the complex approach in the planning of preventive measures, developed by multipurpose teams of specialists.

En la última década, la relevancia creciente de diversos factores geopolíticos en las decisiones económicas está introduciendo tensiones en el actual marco de relaciones internacionales multilaterales. Más recientemente, la invasión de Ucrania ha revelado de forma clara cómo la elevada interconexión económica y financiera de la Unión Europea (UE) con el resto del mundo puede conllevar vulnerabilidades. En este artículo se analizan estas interdependencias, y se discute el papel que pueden jugar las políticas económicas para mitigar las vulnerabilidades derivadas de estas.

The Romanian Carpathians are an important part of Europe’s mountain areas, the actual pattern of forest cover reflecting a long history of land-use practices and management. In the present work, we analyse the recent changes (1945–2018) in the upper forest cover along the 37 mountain units using old topographic maps and Sentinel-2A high-resolution satellite images in order to quantify several spatial indicators related to the upper forest cover and upper forest limit changes. In order to understand the regional variation, we have tested the correlations between the location of the upper forest limit, the local topography and the geographical position. Furthermore, with a view to evaluate the upper forest limit change according to its potential climatic limit, the 10 °C July isotherm was estimated based on WorldClim climate data. In addition, the situations inside and outside the major protected areas were also analysed and discussed so as to assess the possible regional differences as related to human effects. The results revealed a continued downward shift in the mountain areas located below the 1600 m a.l.s., but significant advancement above these values, indicating regional differences in land-use intensity and land management. This study is aimed to increase further knowledge as to the upper forest limit in the European mountains and to provide a baseline for modelling future potential change according to the environmental and anthropogenic variability in the area.

In order to ensure the efficient management of radioactive waste in the form of tritiated light water and tritiated heavy water with low tritium and/or deuterium concentration, Institute for Cryoge...

The National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies (ICSI Rm. Valcea) was established in 1970 as a research entity with the main goal of developing a heavy wate...

Whether they are based on fusion (JET, ITER, DEMO) or fission (e.g., CANDU type) or are cooled using molted salts [molten salt reactors (MSRs)], nuclear reactors generate significant amounts of was...

Forest-cover dynamics is of wide concern due to its role in climate change, biodiversity losses, water balance and land degradation, as well as social and economic development. Hence, exploring land-use/cover dynamic is important in order to improve our understanding of the causes of forest-cover change and to detect the future trend. Furthermore, projecting a future land-use/cover pattern can help identifying potential areas where forest-cover change will occur in the future and the potential consequences of these processes in order to improve land-use planning and policies. Similar to other East European countries, Romania is experiencing rapid land-use/cover changes after the breakdown of socialism; a clear trend was registered by deforestation, which reflects the consequences of a continuous forests dynamics and little environmental care. Consequently, this study, carried out in order to analyse the potential future cover-change, resulted in the land-use/cover scenario (2007–2050) simulated using CLUE-S (the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent) modelling framework, applied to development regions in Romania. Overall, the model results in different spatial patterns of land-use/cover change, projecting a slight increase in the forest-cover area of about 82,000 ha. Furthermore, the model simulated widespread deforestation, mainly in relation to agricultural land expansion. The area under the curve (AUC) for the relative operating characteristic (ROC) and the Kappa simulation (KSimulation) were used to assess the predictive power of the determinant factors included and to evaluate the spatial performance of the model. The obtained ROC/AUC values (0.83–0.88) indicate the great power of the determinant factors to explain the forest-cover pattern in the area. Furthermore, the KSimulation scores (0.69–0.79) highlight the potential of the CLUE-S model to simulate future forest-cover change in relation to the other land-use/cover categories. The results can provide useful inputs for effective forest resource management and environmental policies. Moreover, the spatial data obtained can contribute to exploring future potential environmental implications (e.g. assessing landslide and flood hazard scenarios, forest biomass dynamics and their impact on carbon allocation, or the impact of forest-cover change on ecosystem services).

In this paper we assess the irrigation water use in the Danube Basin, highlight its complexity, identify future challenges and show the relevance for a basin-wide integrative irrigation management plan as part of a more holistic and coherent resource policy. In this sense, we base our integrative regional assessments of the water-food-energy nexus on insights from an extensive review and scientific synthesis of the Danube Basin and region, experimental field studies on irrigation and agricultural water consumption, current irrigation related policies and strategies in most of the Danube countries, and regulatory frameworks on resources at European Union level. We show that a basin-wide integrative approach to water use calls for the evaluation of resource use trade-offs, resonates with the need for transdisciplinary research in addressing nexus challenges and supports integrative resource management policies within which irrigation water use represents an inherent part. In this respect, we propose a transdisciplinary research framework on sustainable irrigation water use in the Danube Basin. The findings were summarized into four interconnected problem areas in the Danube Basin, which directly or indirectly relate to irrigation strategies and resource policies: prospective water scarcity and Danube water connectedness, agricultural droughts, present and future level of potential yields, and science based proactive decision-making.

The hydrogen isotopes separation plants have special requests related to safety operation and avoidance of radiological fluid leakage and explosion conditions. For the LPCE, part of the ICSI Rm.Valcea “Experimental Pilot Plant for Tritium and Deuterium Separation”, the process transformation from a laboratory setup into a semi-industrial plant, as well as migration from a local control to an automatically controlled process involves complex activities. The objective of these activities is to identify the functions and sub-functions that must be performed by the equipment configuration in order to satisfy the requirements for operating in safety conditions. That involves monitoring and acquisition of the process parameters, complex parameter control, as well as specific calculation for each control loop from the plant, according to the process requirements (temperatures, flows, pressures). The system developed and described in the present paper is based on a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) platform which contains: network communication, PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller) and HMI (Human Machine Interface). The control of process parameters has been done using the functions from the embedded programmable code of the PLC’s which allows having independent or combinations of PID components: proportional/integrator/derivative. Choosing the right control scheme and tuning PID loops corrects behavior of the system, improves the performance and leads to a safe operation of the LPCE process.

The tritium removal facility (CTRF-Romania) technical project was completed. The applied technology is Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange combined with Cryogenic Distillation. As this facility will have a lifetime of at least 40 years, research into the development of mixed catalytic package for the LPCE continues, especially for this purpose, but also for others related to fusion technology would be useful too. The new catalytic package consists in Pt/C/PTFE hydrophobic catalyst, integrated into a B7 structured hydrophilic packing, after an elaborate arrangement. This mixed package is suitable for use in installation with high throughput and low pressure drop. To determine the separation performance of the new package, a laboratory installation consisting of a LPCE glass column to visualize the flow was developed. The paper presents the first stage of experiments in conditions similar to the CTRF project, to determine separation performance at the transfer of deuterium. Performance is determined by correlating the profile of isotopic concentrations on the gaseous phase by process simulation with that determined from isotopic measurements performed on QMS, at 5 sampling points along the LPCE column. The data shows that using this package in the LPCE columns at CTRF increases the design margin by another 10%.

This paper presents control architecture of Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) process from Pilot Plant for Tritium and Deuterium Separation (PESTD) ICSI Rm. Valcea, as part of plant control and safety strategy. The PESTD control system has been built on distributed control and SCADA, in order to achieve the facility's goal to detritiate heavy water, protecting the personnel, the public and the environment. The architecture of control system combined with hardware configuration and software applications avoid process control interruption and keep it within safety limits. This new system is realized as response to updated requirements for PESTD related to process configuration and safety requirements (related to tritium and hydrogen) considering applicable norms and laws of the Romanian Regulatory Body for nuclear activities. The work done to implement these requirements has been complex, especially due to the particularity of the existing situation. The experience gained during development of LPCE process control was used to complete control system of PESTD and manage the ongoing changes that characterize a research facility. The approach used in LPCE process can be considered for other similar facilities, with differences and particularities resulting from the applicable local legislation.

Purpose This paper aims to identify campus greening initiatives on a sample of universities in Romania reflected in the university curricula, the behavioral patterns of students and teachers, the administrative actions that carry out empirical investigation of students/teachers/management staff perception on campus greening (based on self-administered questionnaires); detect the way campus greening initiatives are promoted/made visible; and identify the gaps and needs of the universities under scrutiny in terms of campus greening initiatives. Design/methodology/approach The current research relies on two major components reviewing campus greening-related activities and initiatives, as reflected in the scientific literature and university curricula (empirical and quantitative assessment) and inquiring selected universities’ about the campus greening programs they unfold through questionnaire surveys (qualitative assessment). Findings Generally, sustainability topics (e.g. environmental protection, waste management and sustainable development) are largely addressed and, to some extent, applied in faculties dealing with earth sciences (e.g. geography, ecology) and technical sciences (e.g. environmental engineering). This can be explained by the traditional theoretical background of the first, and the experimental-oriented profile of the latter, which supports the development of innovative technologies (green technologies). However, there is a need to better undertake and promote greening initiatives for most of the higher education institutions in Romania. Some spatial (between institutions throughout Romania) and structural (according to the profile of the institutions) disparities are visible. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study might be the small number of universities providing a positive feedback to the questionnaire survey and the degree of subjectivity of some of the answers, directly linked with the professional background and issue awareness of the persons who answered the questions. Practical implications The findings can be useful to the university managers to better orient their actions toward campus greening, increasing their knowledge and awareness toward sustainability-related actions. Originality/value This is the first attempt reporting in the literature to analyze the campus greening initiatives to a large number of universities in Romania based on a common approach, identifying the main gaps and challenges in this process.

The coatings used for biological applications can be made from metals, polymers, ceramics or can be composite coatings, co-deposited or layered (hybrid or sandwich coatings. Currently, a new challenge for scientific researchers is to combine the superior properties of metals and the properties of bioactive materials. Many researches have focused on the development of techniques for coating or depositing bioactive materials on metal substrates to improve the mechanical, tribological and biomedical properties of implants.The most commonly used coating techniques are: direct electrocathodic deposition (ECD), pulse electrocathodic deposition (PED), electrophoretic deposition (EPD), plasma electrochemical oxidation (PEO) or micro-arc oxidation (MAO), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma vapor deposition (PVD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and more.

As Cloud-Edge architectures are becoming more and more popular, due to their improvement on the battery life of the IoT devices and the high availability of data from the Cloud, this approach also creates new problems. As data gathered from the Edge has to be transferred to the Cloud in order to be processed, the result will be a decreased responsiveness of the system. Also, devices might have to process data by themselves, as the Cloud could be unreachable at random moments in time, resulting in a reduction in battery life. Therefore, we propose an architecture that solves these problems, by introducing an intermediate layer, called Fog, which uses a task scheduling algorithm to send data received from Edge to another device that has enough resources and the required hardware and software to complete the task. In addition, the architecture is based on microservices, hence improving scalability and flexibility. In the performance analysis, we used different values to find the best node that should receive the data for processing. In addition, we compared the microservice based architecture with a monolithic one in order to see how the throughput and responsiveness of the system are affected.

We analyze the mechanisms through which bank and sovereign distress feed into each other, using a large sample of emerging market economies over three decades. After defining “twin crises” as events where bank crises and sovereign defaults combine, and further distinguishing between those bank crises that end up in sovereign defaults and vice versa, we study what differentiates “single” and “twin” events. Using an event analysis methodology, we document systematic differences between “single” and “twin” crises across various dimensions including the balance sheet interconnection between banks and the sovereign, banking sector characteristics, the state of public finances, the macroeconomic environment and financial openness. The importance of these characteristics in shaping the transmission of stress between banks and sovereigns is confirmed by two alternative discrete-variable multivariate approaches. We also show that “twin” crises themselves are heterogeneous events: taking into account the actual time sequence of crises that compose “twin” episodes is important for understanding their channels of transmission and economic consequences. These findings inform the flourishing theoretical literature on the mechanisms surrounding feedback loops of sovereign and bank stress.

Since 1990, a series of fundamental political and socioeconomic transformations in Romania have led to important structural and functional changes in the land use/cover system. This paper aims to assess the past land use/cover dynamics during the period 1990–2006 and to simulate future changes (2007–2050) to identify the main land use/cover change processes and their potential environmental and land management implications. The simulation was carried out using the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent (CLUE-S) model with the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) database and several biophysical and socioeconomic explanatory variables associated with the current land use/cover pattern. Using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method and cross-classification maps, statistical and spatial validation was assessed to evaluate the performance of the predicted data. The predicted map could represent a useful tool for monitoring and quantifying spatial and temporal land use/cover changes at national and particularly regional level, in order to adopt appropriate land use planning and environmental policy in line with sustainable development principles. In addition, the results could be used for further analyses to examine the consequences of land use/cover changes on landscape diversity and biodiversity, the interaction between land use/cover changes and natural hazards, or the implications for ecosystem services.

Introduction Obesity has become a prevalent pathology, especially in the developed world, being associated with the activation of numerous pathophysiologic mechanisms which may lead to cardiovascular diseases. Objective Our study aimed at assessing cardiac function in a rat model of heart failure and obesity. Methods Sprague-Dawley male rats (wild type, WT) and transgenic rats overexpressing β3-adrenergic receptors in endothelial cells (TGβ3) were either fed with standard diet (WT + SD, n = 12; TGβ3 + SD, n = 12) or with hypercaloric diet (SD + HD, n = 12; TGβ3 + HD, n = 12). For 35 weeks body-weight (BW), systolic blood pressure (SBP), echocardiographic structural and functional parameters were monitored. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was also performed. Results HD induced an increase in BW in HD groups (∼10.08% for WT and ∼10.45% for TGβ3) since week 10 (W10), trend maintained until the end of the study. Regardless of WT or TGβ3 status, SBP (mmHg) was significantly increased by HD (∼12%), as measured at W35. Also, in the HD groups, hyperglycemia during OGTT was observed, suggesting insulinoresistance. Starting with W25, a decrease in early-to-late filing ratio (E/A ratio) in TGβ3 + HD vs. TGβ3 + SD was observed (0.97 ± 0.04 vs. 1.11 ± 0.07), while for WT + HD vs. WT + SD, reduction occurred at W35 (0.99 ± 0.06 vs. 1.25 ± 0.05). E’/A’ ratio followed the same trend, at W25: TGβ3 + HD vs. TGβ3 + SD (0.93 ± 0.05 vs. 1.07 ± 0.05), at W35: WT + HD vs. WT + SD (0.99 ± 0.06 vs. 1.19 ± 0.04). At W35, no significant change was registered in ejection fraction (%) between all groups (∼63%), suggesting no systolic dysfunction at this timepoint. Conclusions HD increased BW, SBP and glycemia. Alteration of diastolic function occurs at around W35 in obese WT rats, whereas in obese TGβ3 rats diastolic function alteration occurred earlier (W25).

This paper summarises the outcome of an analysis of stablecoins undertaken by the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force. At the time of writing, the stablecoin debate lacks a common taxonomy and unambiguous terminology. This paper applies a definition that distinguishes stablecoins from existing forms of currencies – regardless of the technology used – and characterises stablecoin arrangements based on the functions they fulfil. This approach emphasises the role of technology-neutral regulation in preventing arbitrage, as well as comprehensive Eurosystem oversight, irrespective of stablecoins’ regulatory status. Against this background, this paper assesses stablecoins’ implications for the euro area based on three scenarios for the uptake of stablecoins: (i) as a crypto-assets accessory function; (ii) as a new payment method; and (iii) as an alternative store of value. While the first scenario is merely the continuation of the current state of the market and, thus far, has not posed concerns for the financial sector and/or central bank tasks, stablecoins of the type envisaged in the second scenario may reach a scale such that financial stability risks can become material, and the safety and efficiency of the payment system may be affected. The third scenario is both the least plausible and the most relevant from a monetary policy perspective. The paper concludes that the Eurosystem relies on appropriate regulation, oversight, and supervision to manage the implications of stablecoins (and the risks that stem from them) on its mandate and tasks under plausible scenarios. The Eurosystem continues monitoring the evolution of the stablecoin market and stands ready to respond to rapid changes in all possible scenarios.

One of the main research directions of our institute is represented by the hydrogen isotopes separation process. The research conducted at ICSI during the last 30 years and particularly those related to the Pilot Plant currently being developed at our institute, allowed us to lead a large project at Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant – the designing of a Detritiation Facility (CTRF). The CTRF design was complex and requested sustained efforts from all participants – ICSI led a team of design companies from Romania and Canada. CTRF main sections are Water Detritiation System (WDS) where actually run the detritiation process of the heavy water and Cryogenic Distillation where tritium is extracted from gas stream, followed by retention on metal getter beds. The WDS design was based on the liquid catalytic exchange process and includes also a deuterium make-up system, water purification (degasser) and a gas stream drying unit. This work is focused on the presentation of the WDS final stage design.

The global smartphone shipments has reached more than 1.4 billion units each year and is one of the main driving engine behind semiconductor industry. The transition from 3G/4G to 5G is expected to bring higher data rates, low latency and new user applications in areas such as traffic safety, control and industrial application. These new applications will require faster multi-connectivity for smartphones and other 5G wireless devices. The progress in power computing for 4G/5G modems and applications processors has been possible due to lower features CMOS nodes such as 7nm/14nm FinFET and the use of ARM processor architectures. These provide also digital signal processing and digital calibration for RF circuitry. 5G will require more RF bandwidth and due to this reason many RF, analogue, switch and acoustic filter blocks are integrated with other components in multiple RF front end modules. This paper presents RF front end architectures for LTE 5G with new elements which will provide faster access and low latency. Circuit details and measurements are also presented for 5G n7/n41 bands.

Worldwide adoption of 3G/4G smartphones for more than 5 billion of people has been one of the main driving engine behind semiconductor industry. 5G is expected to bring higher data capacity, low latency and new RF hardware enhancements which will open the market for new application where our smartphones will be a conduit. CMOS lower features nodes as FinFET 7nm/14nm CMOS allow the computational power and lower power consumption required for the use of digital signal processing and RF digital calibration which are essential for 4G/5G modem and application processor technology. The goal of having a single die for the entire 4G/5G functionality has faded away to a more realistic partitioning where many RF and analogue blocks are integrated with other components such as RF acoustic filters in multiple RF front-endmodules. This paper presents RF front end architectures which will be part of 5G smartphones together with circuit and measurement details.

The explosive growth and adoption of smartphones provides access to voice and data for billions of people worldwide today and connected devices are expect to reach 5.6 billion in 2020. This growth has been and continues to be the engine for semiconductor industry due to required computational power of CMOS technology in lower feature nodes as FinFet 7nm/14nm for application processors, modems and transceivers. The adoption of 5G will bring higher data capacity and low latency using sub-6GHz bands and mmWave spectrum, with the first expected to be deployed in next generation 5G smartphones. This 5G evolution will open up new applications where our phones will be a conduit for massive amounts of data. With lower feature nodes for RF CMOS there is an increased usage of digital signal processing (DSP) and RF digital calibration which are part of modern modem technology. 5G requires more RF bands, so there is a clear shift in terms of what parts of the RF systems are portioned in advanced CMOS nodes and what RF and analogue blocks are integrated with other components such as acoustic duplexers and filters in multiple RF front-end-modules (RF FEMs). This paper proposes a low cost RF partitioning and architecture which will be part of 5G RF FEMs. This paper also presents some design/measurement results and explains how these modules can be integrated into a complex 4G/5G system RF front end (RFFE) for mobile applications.

The growing demand for high data rate cellular systems has pushed the adoption of 4G/5G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) which uses high peak-to-average power (PAPR) modulation schemes. 5G will bring high data capacity and low latency using the sub-6 GHz and mm-wave spectrum. The increased adoption of powerful worldwide smart phones has been in part possible due to increase of CMOS technology in lower feature nodes as FinFET 7 nm/14 nm. This has made possible the adoption of “old” techniques such as envelope tracking (ET) into smart phones. The ET technique was mentioned back in 1952 by Leonard R. Kahn who introduced a related technique, envelope elimination and restoration (EER). Envelope tracking improves the linearity and efficiency RF for power amplifiers, typically the most power-hungry components in a wireless transmitter. With explosive band proliferation as well as the use of carrier aggregation (CA) and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques, the research area of improving the cost, size, and the performance of the RF transmit solution is very active.

The domestication of taurine cattle initiated ~10 000 years ago in the Near East from a wild aurochs (Bos primigenius) population followed by their dispersal through migration of agriculturalists to Europe. Although gene flow from wild aurochs still present at the time of this early dispersion is still debated, some of the extant primitive cattle populations are believed to possess the aurochs-like primitive features. In this study, we use genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms to assess relationship, admixture patterns and demographic history of an ancient aurochs sample and European cattle populations, several of which have primitive features and are suitable for extensive management. The principal component analysis, the model-based clustering and a distance-based network analysis support previous works suggesting different histories for north-western and southern European cattle. Population admixture analysis indicates a zebu gene flow in the Balkan and Italian Podolic cattle populations. Our analysis supports the previous report of gene flow between British and Irish primitive cattle populations and local aurochs. In addition, we show evidence of aurochs gene flow in the Iberian cattle populations indicating wide geographical distribution of the aurochs. Runs of homozygosity (ROH) reveal that demographic processes like genetic isolation and breed formation have contributed to genomic variations of European cattle populations. The ROH also indicate recent inbreeding in southern European cattle populations. We conclude that in addition to factors such as ancient human migrations, isolation by distance and cross-breeding, gene flow between domestic and wild-cattle populations also has shaped genomic composition of European cattle populations.Heredity advance online publication, 28 September 2016; doi:10.1038/hdy.2016.79.

It is generally accepted that catchment sediment yield ( SY , t km − 2 y − 1 ) can be strongly influenced by landsliding. Nevertheless, due to data requirements, only few studies investigated this effect at a regional scale. The objective of this study is therefore to explore the potential of a landslide susceptibility map for explaining the spatial variation of SY in Romania. We selected 133 catchments in Romania for which SY was measured during a period of at least 10 years. For each catchment, we derived a variety of proxies that potentially explain SY , including several indicators of landslide occurrence. The latter were derived from a published landslide susceptibility map. Results show that SY is significantly correlated with mean landslide susceptibility ( r 2 = 0.30). Estimates of average sheet and rill erosion rates showed a much weaker correlation with SY ( r 2 = 0.06). Further analyses showed that the strong correlation between SY and landslide susceptibility is mainly attributed to regional variations in lithology and seismicity. Especially the latter may play a crucial role in understanding denudation rates at regional scales, e.g. by facilitating the occurrence of landslides. Using landslide proxies that also account for sediment connectivity did not result in stronger correlations. Overall, our results show that landslide susceptibility maps can be a highly useful tool to predict SY at regional scales, provided that they incorporate all relevant factors.

A 234–261-GHz signal source with record 7.2-dBm output power at 240 GHz and −105 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10-MHz offset is reported. Fabricated in a production 55-nm SiGe BiCMOS process with HBT ${f}_{\mathrm {T}}/{f}_{\mathrm {MAX}}$ of 330/350 GHz, the circuit includes a 120-GHz fundamental frequency VCO with 1.2-V AMOS varactors, a broadband MOS-HBT cascode LO tree driving a divide-by-128 chain, and a doubler with a record drain efficiency of 11.9%. The total power consumption of the signal source is 386 mW resulting in a DC-to-RF efficiency of 1.3%. A detailed discussion of the candidate LO-tree and doubler topologies and of the design methodology, which capitalizes on the MOS-HBT cascode and unique features of the 55-nm SiGe BiCMOS process, is provided.

Cryogenic distillation (CD) of hydrogen in combination with Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) or Combined Electrolytic Catalytic Exchange (CECE) process is used for tritium removal/recovery from tritiated water. Tritiated water is being obtained after long time operation of CANDU reactors, or in case of ITER mainly by the Detritiation System (DS). The cryogenic distillation system (CDS) used to remove/recover tritium from a hydrogen stream consists of a cascade of cryogenic distillation columns and a refrigeration unit which provides the cooling capacity for the condensers of CD columns. The columns, together with the condensers and the process heat-exchangers are accommodated in a vacuumed cold box. In the particularly case of the ICIT Plant, the cryogenic distillation cascade consists of four columns with diameters between 100–7 mm and it has been designed to process up to 10 mc/h of tritiated deuterium. This paper will present the steps undertaken for construction and commissioning of a pilot plant for tritium removal/recovery by cryogenic distillation of hydrogen. The paper will show besides preliminary data obtained during commissioning, also general characteristics of the plant and its equipments.

Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) as front-end process and Cryogenic Distillation (CD) as back-end process are key processes in detritiation of heavy water used in Cernavoda CANDU-type Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) from Romania as neutron moderator and in the primary heat transfer system. Same technology is used in the Water Detritiation System (WDS) of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) from Cadarache, France, in order to recover tritium from moderately tritiated water. The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed overview of the current status for the front-end of the ICSI pilot plant, LPCE and purification systems, including all process components. Additionally, the paper will present the results of the non-radiological commissioning of the actual LPCE. The tests were made using protium and deuterium in order to have the confirmation of fully availability for all systems, to verify the operability in manual and automate mode for all sequences involved by start-up, normal operation and safe shut-down of the installation. The principal results consist in the safety and operability design confirmation. Secondly we present the mass transfer data of LPCE column equipped with catalytic package COMPACK C–P 001 consisting of the structured B7 stainless steel packing manufactured and patented by ICSI and a Pt/C/PTFE hydrophobic catalyst at the commissioning low concentration heavy water tests.

Isotopes separation technologies are used in both Tritium Removal Facilities associated with CANDU reactors (to remove tritium from heavy water) and fusion applications (eq. ITER Isotope Separation System) to recover and enrich tritium for further operation. The expertise gained during design, manufacturing, building, commissioning and operation of the Cryogenic Distillation System (CDS) with proprietary four column design built at ICSI Rm. Valcea, could be applied for various tritium recovery applications, regardless of the type of front-end process used, Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange or Combined Electrolysis and Catalytic Exchange. Cryogenic Distillation feed is a mixture of hydrogen isotopes which presents hazards in operation (explosion and tritium contamination), therefore the CDS of PESTD was designed to meet industrial and nuclear applicable standards. In this paper we present an overview of the CDS focusing on the process control and safety approach which meet specific conditions of Romanian codes and standards required for operation. However, specific information may be used later as reference for design consideration for other CDS. The cryogenic distillation process from ICSI Rm. Valcea is designed as four columns cascade inside a cold-box which acts as second barrier against hydrogen release and thermal insulation. The CDS process control is based on a Programmable Automation Controller (PACs), a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and specific low temperature field equipment and devices. The control room operator supervises the process using a specific designed Human Machine Interface (HMI) which permits to monitor process parameters, alarms acknowledgment and acts to adjust the process or override normal PACs control.

The research area of improving the cost, performance and the size of RF transmit solution for 4G/5G is very active with many developments. 5G will bring high data capacity and low latency using sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum, with the first deployment using sub-6GHz bands. The increased adoption of powerful worldwide mobile devices has been in made possible due to increased computational power of CMOS technology in lower feature nodes as FinFet 7nm/14nm. This has also made it possible to essentially enhance RF CMOS through digital signal processing (DSP) and digital calibration which are part of the modem and application processor. Despite this progress, there is a shift in terms of what parts of the RF system are portioned in advanced CMOS nodes and what blocks are left and integrated together with other analogue and RF blocks in a front-end module (FEM). This paper proposes a solution for this partitioning for lower cost and size with high linearity performance and a new envelope tracking system for high power 5G LTE sub 6 GHz. This paper presents also how these modules integrate into a full 4G/5G system RF front end (RFFE) for mobile applications.

Envelope tracking (ET) linearizability of a power amplifier (PA) is studied in this paper. ET linearization can be explained as the cancellation between two intermodulation distortion (IMD) components [1], [2]. The phase difference θ 0 between the two IMD components is identified as the criterion of ET linearizability. The IMD improvement by incorporating ET module with PA can be analytically calculated in terms of $\theta_{0}$ Excellent agreement between the prediction and measurement is achieved. Determination of $\theta_{0}$ using three-tone measurement is proposed and demonstrated. ET linearizability is an inherent feature of a standalone PA itself, and can be quantitatively predicted before incorporating an ET module.

With explosive band proliferation as well the use of carrier aggregation (CA), multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques and 5G, research in the area of improving the cost, performance and the size of RF transmit solutions is very active with many developments over the past few years. The proliferation of worldwide smartphones has been in part possible due to increase computational power of CMOS technology in lower feature nodes as 7nm/14nm. This has also made it possible to enhance RF CMOS through digital signal processing (DSP) and digital calibration. Despite this progress there is a shift in terms of what parts of the RF system are portioned in advanced CMOS nodes and what blocks are left and integrated together with other analogue and RF blocks in a front-end module (FEM). This paper proposes a solution for this partitioning for lower cost and size and with high linearity performance and low noise which is mandatory for new 4G/5G multimode multiband (MMBA) FEM module. A 2.3GHz – 2.7GHz broadband CMOS FDD/TDD LTE Band 7, 38, 40 and 41 power amplifier (PA) fully integrated with a fast envelope tracker (ET) on a single $0.18\mu\mathrm{m}$ CMOS die is presented, as well a method to integrate with a 4G/5G FEM. The CMOS PA and the tracker achieve a 37% overall efficiency for 26.5dBm and −39dBc ACLR1. This paper also presents how this module integrates into a full 4G/5G FEM for mobile applications.

A distributed power digital-to-analog converter (DAC) architecture with multi-level segmentation is proposed. Due to its large output voltage swing, it can be used as a large swing arbitrary waveform generator suitable for a variety of wireline, fiber optic, and instrumentation applications. A proof-of-concept 56-GS/s 6-bit implementation with most significant bits (MSBs) and least significant bits (LSBs) segmentation and full-rate clock was manufactured in a production 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The circuit features 14 independent data bits—seven for the three MSBs and seven for the three LSBs—each running at up to at least 44 Gb/s. The measured saturated output power and bandwidth are 17 dBm and 45 GHz, respectively. An output swing of 3.4 ${\hbox{V}}_{\rm pp}$ per side is observed in 50- $\Omega$ loads. Spectral measurements demonstrate multi-bit modulation at carrier frequencies as high as 56 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, this marks the highest output-bandwidth highest voltage-swing current-steering DAC in silicon.

The recent decades have brought a new concept, namely the digital communication, which allows information to travel at a much more rapid rate and promotional messages (video, audio or simple texts) to be perceived in real time in different parts of the world. In the online environment, interactivity is the key term, the user being the one who sets up an online profile according to which he gets personalized messages. Thus, the organizations can more easily interact with customers, allocating budgets much lower than those used for traditional media. Therefore, SMEs have a real opportunity to promote themselves in a more efficient manner, at low cost and globally, the Internet offering them the possibility of becoming known among consumers from other states than their home country. In this context, the paper's main objective was the analysis of online advertising market in Europe and also the identification of the main results arising from the implementation of the SMEs promotion campaigns in the virtual environment. The results showed the huge potential of the Internet in terms of online advertising and the main tools that can be used successfully in the efforts of attracting and making customers loyal.

This paper presents the design and measurements of a LTE multimode power amplifier module with integrated AC coupling fast envelope tracking with a DC tracking loop. The HBT power amplifier is integrated in the same module with the 0.18μm CMOS PA controller and fast tracker. The power output is 28dBm for an −40dBc ACLR1 with 44% efficiency for LTE 10MHz, Band 17, at 710MHz with excellent noise performance −121.9dBm/Hz at 30MHz offset.

Envelope tracking (ET) linearization can be explained as the cancellation between two kinds of intermodulation distortions (IMD) [1]. A novel shaping function for ET linearization can thus be constructed by balancing the two IMDs. A dynamic approach of shaping function extraction, called slope tuning, is proposed and demonstrated in this study. Significant linearity improvements in a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power amplifier are experimentally achieved with extracted shaping function for both two-tone and long-term evolution (LTE) signals.

The objective of this study was to explore the safety and efficacy of a potential new treatment method that utilizes a non-invasive application of ultrasound energy to induce exocytosis of insulin from pancreatic beta cells. We employed carbon-fiber amperometry and finite-element modeling in our studies.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disease that has reached epidemic proportions. Current pharmacological treatments of this disease include many side effects which can result in complications. We have previously shown that ultrasound is capable of stimulating insulin release from pancreatic beta cells in a safe and effective manner. The aim of this work is to study the role of calcium (Ca2+) dynamics in ultrasound-mediated insulin release from pancreatic beta cells.

This paper presents a design methodology of millimeter-wave circuits that are insensitive to process, voltage, and temperature variations. Instead of using conventional direct sensing, the authors propose an indirect sensing method with Bayesian fusion, which simplifies the sensors and allows more adaptive circuit loops to be integrated.