Interval arithmetic in Ruby
Besides making obvious a possible loss of precision during floating point calculations, interval arithmetic provides not-so-conventional methods for a variety of computational applications.
The open-source Ruby package I wrote implements an interval system in the extended real set that is closed under arithmetic operations. Correct rounding ensures that the operations are inclusion-wise monotonic.
Continue reading ...An External Rasterizer in Mathematica
In a recent post, Jan Korvink was battling to obtain a “precise” Raster[] of some Graphics[] objects. My suggestion is to use an external rasterizer and have the procedure of exporting from Mathematica, converting, and re-importing into Mathematica, fully automatized. GhostScript and ImageMagick are two popular sets of command-line utilities that are available for Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X, among others.
Continue reading ...More Journal Papers
Two new papers have been recently published. One, by M. Graf, D. Barrettino, S. Taschini, C. Hagleitner, A. Hierlemann, and H. Baltes, appeared on Analytical Chemistry:
Metal oxide-based monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor gas sensor microsystem.
A fully integrated gas sensor microsystem is presented, which comprises for the first time a micro hot plate as well as advanced analog and digital circuitry on a single chip. [...]
The other, by F. Heer, W. Franks, A. Blau, S. Taschini, C. Ziegler, A. Hierlemann and H. Baltes appeared on Biosensors and Bioelectronics:
CMOS Microelectrode array for the monitoring of electrogenic cells.
Signal degradation and an array size dictated by the number of available interconnects are the two main limitations inherent to standalone microelectrode arrays (MEAs). A new biochip consisting of an array of microelectrodes with fully-integrated analog and digital circuitry realized in an industrial CMOS process addresses these issues. [...]
Full bibliographical information in my list of publications.
Language Classification
Suppose that you run a company receiving enquiries by e-mail in several languages and you would like them to be automatically sorted and forwarded to the people that can handle them. Suppose that you want to restrict your searches only to the documents in a certain language. Suppose that you want to apply some dictionary-based algorithms to a text written in a language not known in advance. Then you might find a tool for language classification useful.
Continue reading ...ISCAS 2004
A paper by F. Heer, W. Franks, I. McKay, S. Taschini, A. Hierlemann, H. Baltes, will be presented in Vancouver, Canada, at the 2004 IEEE International Symposium On Circuits and Systems.
CMOS microelectrode array for extracellular stimulation and recording of electrogenic cells
An extracellular monolithic recording system fabricated in an industrial CMOS-technology combined with post-CMOS processing is presented. The chip comprises 16 platinum electrodes each equipped with stimulation and signal-conditioning circuitry. The micro-electrode array (MEA) is realized in a shifted-electrode design where the passivation is a 1.6 micrometer stack of alternating Si3N4 and SiO2 required for effective chip protection. The electrode and its adjacent circuitry (which includes a stimulation buffer and a readout band-pass filter) form a modular unit that is repeated in a 4 by 4 structure. Simultaneous recording and stimulation is possible at all electrodes at any time throughout the measurement. The system architecture includes multiplexers and A/D converters for each row and a digital control unit that scans the array and provides a digital interface with the outside world.
New Paper Presented at ISSCC
A new paper by D. Barrettino, M. Graf, S. Hafizovic, S. Taschini, C. Hagleitner, A.Hierlemann, H.Baltes has been presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco:
A single-chip CMOS micro-hotplate array for hazardous gas detection and material characterization
A single-chip microsystem for the detection and discrimination of hazardous gases and solid-state material characterization is presented.The circuit features three micro-hotplates, and each requires mixed-signal circuitry.The microsystem is fabricated in industrial 0.8µm CMOS technology with post-CMOS micromachining. The power efficiency of the microhotplate is 10°C/mW and represents a 60% improvement.
Swiss Technology Award 2004
The work carried out at the Physical Electronics Laboratory of the ETH Zurich by a team composed by Andreas Hierlemann, Markus Graf, Diego Barrettino and Stefano Taschini (from left to right in the picture below) has been awarded the Swiss Technology Award 2004 for Nature and Environment. The Microchemical Gas-Analysis System (dubbed McGAS) brings together integrated electronic circuits, MEMS structures and material science into a single-chip solution for gas-sensing applications.
Continue reading ...