A Review on 1-D Nanomaterials: Scaling-Up with Gas-Phase Synthesis

Nanowire-like materials exhibit distinctive properties comprising optical polarisation, waveguiding, and hydrophobic channelling, amongst many other useful phenomena. Such 1-D derived anisotropy can be further enhanced by arranging many similar nanowires into a coherent matrix, known as an array superstructure. Manufacture of nanowire arrays can be scaled-up considerably through judicious use of gas-phase methods. Historically, the gas-phase approach however has been extensively used for the bulk and rapid synthesis of isotropic 0-D nanomaterials such as carbon black and silica. The primary goal of this review is to document recent developments, applications, and capabilities in gas-phase synthesis methods of nanowire arrays. Secondly, we elucidate the design and use of the gas-phase synthesis approach; and finally, remaining challenges and needs are addressed to advance this field.     

Detection of Unfolded Cellular Proteins Using Nanochannel Arrays with Probe-Functionalized Outer Surfaces

Nanochannel technology has emerged as a powerful tool for label-free and highly sensitive detection of protein folding/unfolding status. However, utilizing the inner walls of a nanochannel array may cause multiple events even for proteins with the same conformation, posing challenges for accurate identification. Herein, we present a platform to detect unfolded proteins through electrical and optical signals using nanochannel arrays with outer-surface probes. The detection principle relies on the specific binding between the maleimide groups in outer-surface probes and the protein cysteine thiols that induce changes in the ionic current and fluorescence intensity responses of the nanochannel array. By taking advantage of this mechanism, the platform has the ability to differentiate folded and unfolded state of proteins based on the exposure of a single cysteine thiol group. The integration of these two signals enhances the reliability and sensitivity of the identification of unfolded protein states and enables the distinction between normal cells and Huntington's disease mutant cells. This study provides an effective approach for the precise analysis of proteins with distinct conformations and holds promise for facilitating the diagnoses of protein conformation-related diseases.     

Vortex shedding and vorticity fluxes in the wake of cylinders within a random array

This work investigates the impact of the background turbulence generated by randomly placed cylinders on the vortex shedding regime and the mechanisms associated to vorticity fluxes. The goals are achieved by exploring velocity databases acquired with a two-dimensional particle image velocimetry system in two types of turbulent flow experiments: flow around a single infinite cylinder and flow within random array of infinite cylinders. Formation lengths, power spectral density functions and vortex distributions are employed to discuss the vortex shedding regime. The effects of background turbulence and vorticity cancellation, due to opposite sign vorticity, on the vorticity fluxes are discussed. The results show that the background turbulence reduces the formation length and consequently increase the shedding frequency. The stronger decay of longitudinal vorticity flux in denser arrays is not accompanied by an increase of the lateral flux of vorticity. Furthermore, it was concluded that the decay of longitudinal vorticity flux is mainly caused by the vorticity cancellation due to the vorticity of opposite sign of close downstream cylinders.     

A transmit/receive volume strip array and its mode mixing theory in MRI

MRI is increasingly moving towards higher magnetic field, prompting the need for multi-port transmit/receive RF coil arrays to overcome high-frequency limitations such as penetration depth and dielectric resonance effects. In this work, an arbitrary n-element transmit/receive volume strip array (VSA) and an associated mixing mode theory are described to understand the behavior of a multiple-port cyclic symmetrical VSA in both the physical port space and the complementary mode space; the relations between the two spaces are explicitly formulated. The advantage of mode-space analysis is that an arbitrary n x n impedance matrix which describes any VSA in port space can be diagonalized to a diagonal n x n matrix; thus an analytical solution of Kirchhoff's laws for the VSA becomes manageable when n is large. Based on such an analytical solution, we can (a) generate excitation profile of any desired mixed mode during transmission by manipulating external power sources without the need of physically tuning VSA to the mixed mode; (b) identify the sensitivity profiles of the complementary mode distributions during reception, which were unknown in quadrature and decoupled coils. Many predictions are rigidly verified by extensive test measurements from network analyzer and by MR imaging experiments.     

Signal-to-noise ratio comparison of phased-array vs. implantable coil for rat spinal cord MRI

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance and practicality issues of a four-element phased-array coil and an implantable coil system were compared for rat spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7 T. MRI scans of the rat spinal cord at T10 were acquired from eight rats over a 3 week period using both coil systems, with and without laminectomy. The results demonstrate that both the phased array and the implantable coil systems are feasible options for rat spinal cord imaging at 7 T, with both systems providing adequate SNR for 100-mum spatial resolution at reasonable imaging times. The implantable coils provided significantly higher SNR, as compared to the phased array (average SNR gain of 5.3x between the laminectomy groups and 2.5x between the nonlaminectomy groups). The implantable coil system should be used if maximal SNR is critical, whereas the phased array is a good choice for its ease of use and lesser invasiveness.     

RS码仿真与基于RiBM算法的硬件实现

分析了里德-所罗门码（RS码）的误码率性能,提出了一种基于RiBM算法的RS（15,9）译码器。该译码器采用流水线结构,通过RiBM算法求解关键方程,在此基础上将高斯加性白噪声（AWGN）引入光纤模拟大气激光通信系统,并在现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）平台上完成了测试。测试结果表明：提出的译码器译码速率达到1.11 Gbit/s,为Altera IP核的3.54倍。RiBM算法具有硬件复杂度低、关键路径延时短的优点,能满足系统译码的要求。     

无线激光通信协议的设计(英文)

研究了无线激光通信(FSO)与传统激光通信的区别,编制了一套FSO物理层收发协议。采用现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)完成收发机与外部电路的数据通信,利用先入先出(FIFO)存储器完成收发协议与外部系统的接口。设计的物理层收发协议主要完成发送数据的编码、串行化以及接收数据的解串行化和解码。仿真实验结果表明:设计的收发协议可实现在40 Mbps通信速率下的稳定工作,证明了该收发协议设计的可行性。     

Combination of chromatographic and chemometric methods to study the interactions between DNA strands

This work describes the combination of size-exclusion chromatography and chemometric resolution methods to study the formation of complex DNA structures from individual strands. This combined procedure has been applied to two different experimental data. Firstly, the formation of an intermolecular Watson–Crick duplex structure formed by the individual unstructured strands. Secondly, the competition between the intermolecular Watson–Crick duplex and intramolecular quadruplex structures formed by two sequences found in the hTERT gene has been studied.     

Investigations of Linearly Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings for Time-Steered Array Antennas

The use of linearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings as dispersive delay line elements in optical true time-delay beamformers is investigated. Two different dispersive prism beamforming architectures are considered as is their impact on the grating specifications. Microwave double-sideband and single-sideband characterization is carried out on gratings suitable for both architectures with an emphasis on the group delay ripple of single and cascaded gratings. Results indicate that commercially available gratings are suitable for beamforming applications.     

基于FPGA的千兆以太网光纤转换器的设计

根据实际高清晰度LED大屏幕显示器远距离的传输需求,为了解决千兆以太网5类非屏蔽双绞线最长100米传输距离的瓶颈问题,选用了传输距离较远的光纤取代原有的5类非屏蔽双绞线。出于成本考虑,不改变原有发送与接收系统结构,设计了一种千兆以太网光纤转换器,通过基于FPGA的光纤端和千兆以太网端数据格式的转换及控制模块的设计,实现了以太网双绞线和光纤两种介质间的相互转换。将该转换器应用于高清晰度LED显示屏的实时数字视频传输系统中,取得了良好的效果,实现了远达10千米的实时数字视频传输,满足了未来一段时期内用户的需求,达到了设计的预期目标。