A New Method for Separation of Hydrophobic Au Nanoparticles in the Reversal Micelle

In this article, a new method which not only can separate hydrophobic Au nanoparticles (NPs), but also obtain highly monodisperse NPs is discussed. A self‐made device of two same burettes, one of which was inserted into the other, was used for separating the nanoparticles by washing the reversal micelle. The effects of separation were characterized and analyzed by micrograph of transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV‐vis spectra, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and energy dispersive x‐ray analysis (EDX). It has been shown that, the smaller nanoparticles are, the easier they are to stay at the reversal micelle and the narrower the sizes are. This method can be applied to synthesize highly monodisperse Au NPs.     

基于泰勒级数及温度因子的卡尔曼滤波模型在链子崖危岩体变形预测中的应用

考虑到链子崖危岩体的变形受温度的影响较为明显,为此,将链子崖危岩体的变形看作时间和温度的函数,利用泰勒级数建立链子崖危岩体的变形与时间和温度的函数关系,并将泰勒级数的余项及时间变化的二次方和温度变化的二次方的系数的变化量看作数学期望为0的动态噪声,建立卡尔曼滤波模型,并用于链子崖危岩体变形的预测预报.实例计算表明,模型的拟合效果和预测效果较好.     

Chaos-enhanced accelerated particle swarm optimization

There are more than two dozen variants of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms in the literature. Recently, a new variant, called accelerated PSO (APSO), shows some extra advantages in convergence for global search. In the present study, we will introduce chaos into the APSO in order to further enhance its global search ability. Firstly, detailed studies are carried out on benchmark problems with twelve different chaotic maps to find out the most efficient one. Then the chaotic APSO (CAPSO) will be compared with some other chaotic PSO algorithms presented in the literature. The performance of the CAPSO algorithm is also validated using three engineering problems. The results show that the CAPSO with an appropriate chaotic map can clearly outperform standard APSO, with very good performance in comparison with other algorithms and in application to a complex problem.     

Power spectrum in the MIM waveguide with single tooth-structure and nano-structure detection

The paper proposes the metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguides with different tooth-shapes (rectangle-tooth and triangle-tooth) and calculates the corresponding power spectrums by discrete Fourier transform. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation results show that the spectrum transformations reveal the significant differences in the two structures with the same tooth-depth, such as amplitudes, amplitudes difference and spacing of the two peaks. The study will be useful in waveform modulation in the communication wavelength. Furthermore, the spectrum may also be used to detect different nanostructures based on the corresponding transformations.     

Towards understanding the carbon trapping mechanism in copper by investigating the carbon-vacancy interaction

We propose a vacancy trapping mechanism for carbon-vacancy (C-V) complex formation in copper (Cu) according to the first-principles calculations of the energetics and kinetics of C-V interaction. Vacancy reduces charge density in its vicinity to induce C nucleation. A monovacancy is capable of trapping as many as four C atoms to form CnV (n=1,2,3,4) complexes. A single C atom prefers to interact with neighboring Cu at a vacancy with a trapping energy of 0.21 eV. With multiple C atoms added, they are preferred to bind with each other to form covalent-like bonds despite of the metallic Cu environment. For the CnV complexes, C2V is the major one due to its lowest average trapping energy (1.31 eV). Kinetically, the formation of the CnV complexes can be ascribed to the vacancy mechanism due to the lower activation energy barrier and the larger diffusion coefficient of vacancy than those of the interstitial C.     

The complete synchronization of Morris–Lecar neurons influenced by noise

The influence of noise on the complete synchronization in a Morris–Lecar (ML) model neuronal system is studied in this work. Two individual ML neurons with different initial conditions can discharge completely synchronously when the noise intensity is large enough, and for a smaller reversal potential (V _Ca), the uncoupled neuronal system could be induced to a complete synchronization state under smaller noise intensity. Two coupled ML neurons could be synchronized under very small noise intensity even in the case of weak coupling, the synchronization characteristics of the two coupled neurons are discussed by analyzing the Similarity Function (S(0)) of their membrane potentials, which proves that noise can promote the complete synchronization. The critical noise intensity (D _j ) to induce complete synchronization in coupled ML neurons will decrease with the increase of V _Ca. This result is helpful to study the synchronization and the code of a neural system.     

Microcalorimetric study of the effect of artesunate on the growth metabolism of mitochondria isolated from rat liver

In this study, the metabolic thermogenic curves of mitochondria isolated from rat liver tissue were drawn, and the effects of artesunate on metabolic activity of mitochondria were studied using TAM Air Isothermal Microcalorimeter. After isolation from the rat liver, mitochondria still have metabolic activity and can live for a week with appropriate nutrients. With the addition of artesunate (7.5 μM/mL), the metabolic activity of mitochondria was completely lost at this concentration. From the thermogenic curves, we obtained the thermokinetic equations under different conditions: T _max = 2512.24 + 1761.53c, R = 0.9375; and Tlag (min) = 707.26 + 285.17c, R = 0.9846. The results showed that artesunate was a mitochondria-targeted drug having obvious effects on mitochondrial metabolism.