Transient phenomena associated with forward biased silicon p +-n-n + structures at 4.2K show remarkable similarities with biological neurons. The devices play a role similar to the two-terminal switching elements in Hodgkin-Huxley equivalent circuit diagrams. The devices provide simpler and more realistic neuron emulation than transistors or op-amps. They have such low power and current require...

In this paper, an auxiliary methodology called the creative mechanism design is introduced into the innovation of gripping devices for prosthetic hands. This methodology is a systematic approach based on modification of existing devices for the generation of all possible topological structures of mechanisms and mechanical devices. An existing gripping device (Teh Lin ATG-5F prosthetic hand) con...

A new method is described for surface modification of ITO with an electroactive organic monolayer. This procedure was done to enhance hole injection in an electronic device and involves sequential formation of a monolayer of a pi-conjugated organic semiconductor on the indium tin oxide (ITO) surface followed by doping with a strong electron acceptor. The semiconductor monolayer is covalently bo...

This paper presents an investigation into the viability of a new route for the fabrication of titanium-based MEMS RF switches for harsh environment applications. Titanium’s intrinsic toughness and corrosion resistance suggest that it would be highly suitable for such applications and recently developed titanium micromachining technologies now make exploration of this potential possible. Two des...

The electronic properties of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are critically dependent on both QD size and surface chemistry. Modification of quantum confinement provides control of the QD bandgap, while ligand-induced surface dipoles present a hitherto underutilized means of control over the absolute energy levels of QDs within electronic devices. Here, we show that the energy levels of lead sulfi...

Exploiting a controllable technique for red and blue shifting of quantum well’s bandgap energy, we have fabricated LED sources accessing a wide frequency spectrum along with all-optical intensity modulator devices. . We demonstrate bandgap tuning of InGaAsP multiple quantum well structures by utilizing an impurity free vacancy diffusion technique. Substantial modification of the bandgap energy ...

Wide-gap semiconductors have received significant attention for their advantages over existing semiconductors in energy-efficient power devices. To realize stable and reliable wide-gap semiconductor devices, the basic physical properties, such as the electric properties on the surface and at the interface, should be revealed. Here, we report visualization of terahertz (THz) emission from the su...

Traditional visits to environments interesting from a cultural point of view are based on technologies that do not pennit flexibility and modification to the visit itself on the basis of the visitors' profile. Software agents running on personal mobile devices can overcome such limitations and lead to achieve personalised visits. The innovative technology based on mobile agents seems to well fi...

As secondary storage devices increase in capacity and decrease in cost, current DBMS design philosophies become less adequate for addressing the demands to be imposed by very large database environments. Future dabase management systems must be designed to allow dynamic optimization of the I/O overhead, while providing more sophisticated applications involving increasingly complex data relation...

The performance of interfaces is affected by human factors, which vary from one person to another, and by the inherent characteristics of the various devices involved. A set of techniques has been studied in order to improve the efficiency and efficacy of input interface devices. These techniques are based on the modification of the motor scaling factor, a transformation similar to the known Co...