The application of World Class Manufacturing(WCM) practises is very important for manufacturing enterprises to improve their performance and achieve competitive advantages. This research use the data of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey(IMSS) in 2009 as samples to reveal the relationship between WCM practises and enterprise performance and to discover the effect of different countries on the above-mentioned relationship, based on hierarchy regression analysis method. The results show that WCM practises is positively related with enterprise performance, besides, the positive influence of SCM on enterprise performance in developing countries is greater than that in developed countries.

Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between World Class Manufacturing Practises and Enterprise Performance: Comparing Developing Countries with Developed Countries

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Unlocking the Power of Nanopores: Recent Advances in Biosensing Applications and Analog Front-End

In this paper, we review our recent works about optical domain modulation modulated microwave signal generation. A multi-format switchable microwave signal generator using a single dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator is proposed and demonstrated. By changing the modulation state of the modulator, background-free amplitude shift keying (ASK), phase shift keying (PSK), and frequency shift keying (FSK) microwave signals can be generated. The background-free arbitrarily PSK microwave signals can be transmitted over long distances without power degradation. This work holds great promise for multifunctional radar and communication systems.

Multi-Format switchable microwave signal generation based on optical domain modulation

Bio-sensors connect the biological world with electronic devices, widely used in biomedical applications. The combination of microelectronic and medical technologies makes biomedical diagnosis more rapid, accurate, and efficient. In this article, the current-mode biosensing front-end integrated circuits (ICs) for nanopore-based DNA sequencing are reviewed and analyzed, aiming to present their operation theories, advantages, limitations, and performances including gain, bandwidth, noise, and power consumption. Because biological information and external interference are contained in extremely weak sensing current, usually at the pA or nA level, it is challenging to accurately detect and restore the desired signals. Based on the requirements of DNA sequencing, this paper shows three circuit topologies of biosensing front-end, namely, discrete-time, continuous-time, and current-to-frequency conversion types. This paper also makes an introduction to the current-mode sensor array for DNA sequencing. To better review and evaluate the research of the state-of-the-art, the most relevant published works are summarized and compared. The review and analysis would help the researchers be familiar with the requirements, constraints, and methods for current-mode biosensing front-end IC designs for nanopore-based DNA sequencing.

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A review and analysis of current-mode biosensing front-end ICs for nanopore-based DNA sequencing

This paper presents a low power ΣΔ modulator for a low power microsensor application. The ΣΔ modulator adopts second-order single loop topology with input feed-forward path. An asynchronous 4-bit successive approximation (SAR) quanztizer is employed to digitize the analog input. Inherent summation of SAR quantizer is utilized as analog summation. The switched operational amplifier is used in first integrator to reduced power consumption. The modulator, simulated at the transistor level using 0.13-μm CMOS technology, obtains a peak SNDR of 93 dB over an input signal of 5 kHz and simulation power consumption is 340 μW from 1-V supply.

A Low-Power ΣΔ Modulator Using Asynchronous SAR Quantizer for Sensor Application

A photonic multi-format background-free binarily modulated microwave signal generator using a single dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator is proposed and demonstrated. The proposed generator features good reconfiguration and switchability. By simply adjusting the direct current biases of the modulator, amplitude shift keying (ASK), phase shift keying (PSK) and frequency-shift keying (FSK) microwave signals can be generated. Benefiting from the complementary intensity modulation, there is no residual baseband modulated signal in the generated binarily modulated signals. The system does not involve any optical or electrical filters, which ensures good tunability of the generator. By changing the frequency of the driven microwave carrier and bit rate of the electrical coded signal, the frequency and rate of the generated multi-format signals can be adjusted accordingly. The multi-format switchable signal generator has great potential in multi-functional communication and radar systems.

Single-modulator Based Multi-Format Switchable Signal Generator Without Background Noise

This paper presents a 4-channel neural stimulation integrated circuit design with exponential current output. Using exponentially decaying current output for neural stimulation, the excessive headroom voltage of the output stage can be eliminated and the power efficiency of the stimulator can be improved. In this work, the exponential current generation circuit is improved to realize longer duration for stimulation pulse. In addition, a charge balancing technique is used to minimize the residual charge during stimulation. The stimulator IC is implemented in a 180-nm CMOS process, occupying a core area of 1.93 mm2, The simulation results show that maximum power efficiency of the output stage reaches 90% and the maximum stimulation duration has been increased by 3 times compared to previous work. The results also show that the short-time pulse insertion circuit for charge balancing can maintain the electrode voltage within a safe range $(\mathbf{V}_{\mathbf{ref}}\pm 50\mathbf{mV})$, and the maximum residual charge in a single cycle is only 84 pC.

A 4-Channel Neural Stimulation IC Design with Charge Balancing and Exponential Current Output

The new generation power line carrier communication system adopts dual-mode communication mode, which supports both power line wired transmission and wireless transmission (Power line communication, PLC) [1]. The wireless channel adopts 470MHZ - 510MHZ to realize the long-distance transmission of data, and uses wireless transmission when the power line wired transmission is not smooth, and successfully realizes the power line communication of electric meters. However, in wireless communication, it is vulnerable to serious clutter interference. In order to improve the quality of communication, a method to reduce the noise of power line carrier communication is proposed, and a set of AGC algorithms applied in self-developed power line carrier communication is designed by using digital-analog hybrid automatic gain control with the method of average energy calculation, which can reduce the interference of noise signals in power line carrier communication, and the programming and corresponding timing analysis are carried out in FPGA, and through the RF The results show that the signal noise intensity can be effectively reduced when the signal with higher energy is input.

Pei Yuan Wan

Papers

A review and analysis of current-mode biosensing front-end ICs for nanopore-based DNA sequencing

A Low-Power ΣΔ Modulator Using Asynchronous SAR Quantizer for Sensor Application

Single-modulator Based Multi-Format Switchable Signal Generator Without Background Noise

A 4-Channel Neural Stimulation IC Design with Charge Balancing and Exponential Current Output

Design and Implementation Of Automatic Gain Control Algorithm In Power Line Communication