A new method for characterizing patterns of neural spike trains and its application

A method for characterizing and identifying firing patterns of neural spike trains is presented. Based on the time evolution of a neural spike train, the counting process is constructed as a time-dependent stair-like function. Three characteristic variables defined at sequential moments, including two formal derivatives and the integration of the counting process, are introduced to reflect the temporal patterns of a spike train. The reconstruction of a spike train with these variables verify the validity of this method. And a model of cold receptor is used as an example to investigate the temporal patterns under different temperature conditions. The most important contribution of our method is that it not only can reflect the features of spike train patterns clearly by using their geometrical properties, but also it can reflect the trait of time, especially the change of bursting of spike train. So it is a useful complementarity to conventional method of averaging.     

聚酞菁硅氧烷多晶型现象的HREM观察

把酞菁硅二醇单体置于440℃、1Pa的动态真空下,升华到新的NaCl单晶体的(100)解理面上,使之聚合并外延生成薄膜晶体,也用事先聚合好的聚酞菁硅氧烷作升华源制备了这类薄膜晶体。发现分子链垂直于薄膜平面。并用HREM观察了其多晶型现象。其中β-晶型为四方晶系,a=1.4nm,c=0.66nm,z=2;α-晶型属正交晶系,a=1.4nm,b=2.8nm,c=0.66nm,z=4;γ-晶型属正交晶系,a=1.4nm,b=5.6nm,c=0.66nm,z=8;θ-晶型为正交晶系,a=1.4nm,b=5.6nm,c=0.66nm,z=8。     

耀州窑青瓷白色中间层和化妆土的微观结构

采用体视显微镜和偏光显微镜,对比观察了耀州窑北宋青瓷白色中间层和唐代、五代青瓷化妆土之间的微观结构.结果显示,在体视显微镜下中间层和化妆土层均为白色薄层,但在偏光显微镜下明显可见化妆土层,未见中间层.并探讨了这些现象与二者的化学组成和形成机理的关系.     

Identification and control of nonlinear systems by a dissimilation particle swarm optimization-based Elman neural network

In this paper, we first present a learning algorithm for dynamic recurrent Elman neural networks based on a dissimilation particle swarm optimization. The proposed algorithm computes concurrently both the evolution of network structure, weights, initial inputs of the context units, and self-feedback coefficient of the modified Elman network. Thereafter, we introduce and discuss a novel control method based on the proposed algorithm. More specifically, a dynamic identifier is constructed to perform speed identification and a controller is designed to perform speed control for Ultrasonic Motors (USM). Numerical experiments show that the novel identifier and controller based on the proposed algorithm can both achieve higher convergence precision and speed than other state-of-the-art algorithms. In particular, our experiments show that the identifier can approximate the USM's nonlinear input–output mapping accurately. The effectiveness of the controller is verified using different kinds of speeds of constant, step, and sinusoidal types. Besides, a preliminary examination on a randomly perturbation also shows the robust characteristics of the two proposed models.     

Mixed-ligand complexes with trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene terminal and different aromatic polycarboxyl linkers: Synergistic modulation of metallosupramolecular architectures via coordinative and secondary interactions

A series of Co^II, Ni^II, and Cu^II complexes with trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) and various polycarboxyl co-ligands have been prepared under general condition and characterized by IR, elemental analysis, and TG-DTA techniques. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicates that these complexes display multifarious binuclear, 1-D, and 2-D coordination motifs in virtue of the bridging polycarboxyl building blocks, in which the bpe ligand uniformly adopts the unidentate coordination by using its 4-pyridyl group. Remarkably, higher-dimensional extended networks are further formed with the aid of additional secondary interactions based on bpe (such as H-bonding and π–π stacking). These results demonstrate that bpe is a reliable bifunctional tecton to construct diverse supramolecular architectures via synergistic effect of multiple intermolecular interactions.     

Effect of molecular weight of macro‐iniferter on electro‐optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films prepared by iniferter polymerization

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared by a devised method, in which photo‐polymerization induced phase separation in a mixtures of a macro‐iniferter, methyl acrylater, and liquid crystal. The morphology of the obtained PDLC films was examined on a polarized optical microscopy, and the effect of molecular weight of MIs on the electro‐optical properties was deliberately investigated. Decreasing the molecular weight of MIs in the films led to formation of larger liquid crystal droplets and a lower V_th values. V_sat increased and the memory effect decreased because of the increased interface anchoring strength induced by the higher molecular weight of polymer matrices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1530–1534, 2009     

Synchronously synthesizing and immobilizing porphyrins on crosslinked polystyrene microspheres and preliminary study on catalytic activity of supported metalloporphyrins

A novel method for immobilizing porphyrins as well as metalloporphyrins (MPs) on polymeric supports was found, and it is the way to synchronously synthesize and immobilize porphyrins on polymeric microspheres. By using 4‐hydroxybenzaldehyde (HBA)‐bound crosslinked polystyrene (CPS) microspheres, pyrrole, and benzaldehyde in a solution as co‐reactants and through the Adler's reaction between solid–liquid phases, it was successfully realized to simultaneously synthesize and immobilize phenyl porphyrin (PP) on CPS microspheres, resulting in PP‐supported microspheres PP–CPS. With the same method, substituted PPs, 4‐chlorophenyl porphyrin (CPP) and 4‐nitrophenyl porphyrin (NPP), were also successfully immobilized on CPS microspheres by using substituted benzaldehydes, 4‐chlorobenzaldehyde and 4‐nitrobenzaldehyde, as one reactant in the solution, respectively, and other two porphyrin‐supported microspheres, CPP–CPS and NPP–CPS, were obtained. The effects of various factors on the process of synchronously synthesizing and immobilizing porphyrins on CPS microspheres were mainly studied. Further, the coordination reaction of cobalt salt with PP–CPS as well as CPP–CPS and NPP–CPS was conducted, forming three solid catalysts, CoPP–CPS, CoCPP–CPS, and CoNPP–CPS. The catalytic properties of these catalysts in the catalytic oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone by dioxygen were preliminarily examined. The experimental results indicate that the Adler's reaction between solid–liquid phases, namely the reaction between HBA‐bound CPS microspheres and pyrrole as well as free benzaldehyde or analogs in the solution can favorably be carried out. For this process, the fitting protonic acid catalyst is p‐nitrobenzoic acid and appropriate solvent is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). By comparison, the process of preparing CPP–CPS microspheres is easier to be carried out. The obtained three solid catalysts can effectively catalyze the oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone by dioxygen. In comparison, the catalytic activity of CoNPP–CPS is the highest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation on the interaction between C16TAB and NaCMC in semidilute aqueous solution based on rheological measurement

The rheological behavior of unentangled and entangled semidilute solution of anionic polyelectrolyte sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC) containing cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (C₁₆TAB) was investigated. The results reveal that the rheological properties of these semidilute NaCMC solutions depend on the amount of C₁₆TAB added. In the unentangled semidilute NaCMC solution (0.5 g/L), the viscosity decreases with the increase of C₁₆TAB amount in the low surfactant concentration region (below the critical aggregation concentration, CAC). However, in high surfactant concentrations (above CAC), the viscosity decreases sharply with the increase in C₁₆TAB amount. It is found that viscosity change of NaCMC solution could be described using Colby’s model when surfactant concentrations are between CAC and saturated concentration (C_s), suggesting that no inter-polymer interaction exists between C₁₆TAB and NaCMC in the unentangled semidilute solution. However, for the entangled semidilute NaCMC solution (5 g/L), the addition of C₁₆TAB leads to an increase in viscosity. Meanwhile, the solution exhibits an enhanced shear thinning behavior due to adding more C₁₆TAB than 1 mM. The viscosity increase is ascribed to the physical cross linking of surfactant micelles with NaCMC chains. Furthermore, it is suggested that the enhanced shear thinning behavior results from weak interaction between NaCMC chains and C₁₆TAB micelles.     

Systems of equilibrium problems with applications to new variants of Ekeland’s variational principle,fixed point theorems and parametric optimization problems

In this paper, we first establish some existence theorems of systems of generalized vector equilibrium problems. From these results, we obtain new variants of Ekeland’s variational principle in a Hausdorff t.v.s., a minimax theorem and minimization theorems. Some applications to the existence theorem of systems of semi-infinite problem, a variant of flower petal theorem and a generalization of Schauder’s fixed point theorem are also given.