Quantized-states-based adaptive control against unknown slippage effects of uncertain mobile robots with input and state quantization

An adaptive tracking design strategy based on quantized state feedback is developed for uncertain nonholonomic mobile robots with unknown wheel slippage effects. All state variables and control torques are assumed to be quantized by the state and input quantizers, respectively, in a network control environment. Thus, the quantized state feedback information is only available for the tracking control design. An approximation-based adaptive controller using quantized states is recursively designed to ensure the robust adaptive tracking against unknown wheel slippage effects where the quantized-states-based adaptive mechanism is derived to compensate for unknown wheel slippage effects, system nonlinearities, and quantization errors. The boundedness of the quantization errors and estimated parameters in the closed-loop system is analyzed by presenting some theoretical lemmas. Based on these lemmas, we prove the uniform ultimate boundedness of closed-loop signals and the convergence of the trajectory tracking error in the presence of wheel slippage effects. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the resulting tracking scheme.     

基于应变梯度理论的微尺度蜂窝等效模量计算方法

本文提出了一种新的能够计及尺度效应的微纳米蜂窝等效模量的计算方法。将一种单参数应变梯度理论引入到本构方程当中,并基于能量等效原理推导了蜂窝面内等效模量地计算公式。算例分析表明,本文方法能够有效地计及尺度效应对蜂窝等效模量的影响。尺度效应与胞壁厚度和长度的值都有关,当胞壁厚度较小时,尺度效应显著,本文方法预测的模量会明显高于传统方法;而当胞壁厚度较大时,尺度效应变得微弱乃至可以忽略不计。但如果胞壁的长度/厚度比很大,则面内等效模量会趋近于0,此时是否考虑尺度效应意义不大。     

Degradation mechanisms for a-InGaZnO thin-film transistors functioning under simultaneous DC gate and drain biases

Degradation of a-InGaZnO thin-film transistors working under simultaneous DC gate and drain bias stress is investigated, and the corresponding degradation mechanism is proposed and verified. The maximum degradation occurs under the bias stress condition that makes the electric field and electron concentration relatively high at the same time. Trapping of hot electrons in the etching-stop layer under the extended drain electrode is proven to be the underlying mechanism. The observed degradation phenomena, including distortion in the transfer curve on a logarithmic scale and two-slope dependence on gate bias on a linear scale, current crowding in the output curve, and smaller degradation in transfer curves measured under large drain bias, can all be well explained with the proposed degradation mechanism.     

自然界中的硒及其生物学效应

硒是第4周期第ⅥA族元素，除了具有非金属性外，还有部分金属性。其在地壳中的含量为0.05~0.09 mg/kg，自然界中存在广泛但分布不均。硒是人体和动物必需的微量元素，具有重要的生理生化功能，过量的硒及其化合物有较强毒性，而且硒的适宜剂量范围很窄。本文简单介绍了自然界中硒的存在、硒的生物学效应及其分子基础，以纪念元素周期律发现150周年。     

A zinc(Ⅱ) MOF based on secondary building units of infinite wavy-shaped chain exhibiting obvious luminescent sense effects

A new metal-organic framework (MOF),{[Zn_7 (BPS)_4 (OH)_6 (H_2O)_2]·5 H_2O]_n}(1), (H_2 BPS=4,4′-bibenzoic acid-2,2′-sulfone), based on a wavy and infinite chain-shaped secondary building units, has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and further confirmed by PXRD, TGA and IR spectrum. The solid-state emission spectra reveal that compound 1 presents strong luminescence emission bands at room temperature. The fluorescent properties of compound 1 in diverse organic solvents indicated that 1 has palpable luminescent sense effects for DMF and DMAC.     

Insights into Allosteric Control of Human Blood Group A and B Glycosyltransferases from Dynamic NMR

Human blood group A and B glycosyltransferases (GTA, GTB) are retaining glycosyltransferases, requiring a catalytic mechanism that conserves the anomeric configuration of the hexopyranose moiety of the donor substrate (UDP-GalNAc, UDP-Gal). Previous studies have shown that GTA and GTB cycle through structurally distinct states during catalysis. Here, we link binding and release of substrates, substrate-analogs, and products to transitions between open, semi-closed, and closed states of the enzymes. Methyl TROSY based titration experiments in combination with zz-exchange experiments uncover dramatic changes of binding kinetics associated with allosteric interactions between donor-type and acceptor-type ligands. Taken together, this highlights how allosteric control of on- and off-rates correlates with conformational changes, driving catalysis to completion.     

Possible Routes for Efficient Thermo-Electric Energy Conversion in a Molecular Junction

In the context of designing an efficient thermoelectric energy-conversion device at nanoscale level, we suggest several important tuning parameters to enhance the performance of thermoelectric converters. We consider a simple molecular junction, which is always helpful to understand the basic mechanisms in a deeper way, where a benzene molecule is coupled to two external baths having unequal temperatures. The key component responsible for achieving better performance is associated with the asymmetric nature of transmission function, and in the present work, we show that it can be implemented in different ways by regulating the physical parameters involving the system. Employing a tight-binding framework we calculate electrical and thermal conductances, thermopower, and figure of merit (FOM) by using Landauer integrals, and thoroughly examine the critical roles played by molecule-to-lead (ML) interface geometry, magnetic field, chemical substituent group, ML coupling, and the direct coupling between the two leads. Our results show that a reasonably large FOM (≫1) can be obtained and lead to a possibility of regulating the efficiency by selectively tuning the physical parameters. We believe that the present analysis will enhance the understanding of designing efficient thermoelectric devices, and can be verified in a laboratory.     

“Through-Space” Relativistic Effects on NMR Chemical Shifts of Pyridinium Halide Ionic Liquids

We have investigated, using two-component relativistic density functional theory (DFT) at ZORA-SO-BP86 and ZORA-SO-PBE0 level, the occurrence of relativistic effects on the ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N NMR chemical shifts of 1-methylpyridinium halides [MP][X] and 1-butyl-3-methylpyridinium trihalides [BMP][X₃] ionic liquids (ILs) (X=Cl, Br, I) as a result of a non-covalent interaction with the heavy anions. Our results indicate a sizeable deshielding effect in ion pairs when the anion is I⁻ and I₃⁻. A smaller, though nonzero, effect is observed also with bromine while chlorine based anions do not produce an appreciable relativistic shift. The chemical shift of the carbon atoms of the aromatic ring shows an inverse halogen dependence that has been rationalized based on the little C-2s orbital contribution to the σ-type interaction between the cation and anion. This is the first detailed account and systematic theoretical investigation of a relativistic heavy atom effect on the NMR chemical shifts of light atoms in the absence of covalent bonds. Our work paves the way and suggests the direction for an experimental investigation of such elusive signatures of ion pairing in ILs.     

Optical Trapping with Focused Surface Waves

Near-field optical trapping can be realized with focused evanescent waves that are excited at the water–glass interface due to the total internal reflection, or with focused plasmonic waves excited on the water–gold interface. Herein, the performance of these two kinds of near-field optical trapping techniques is compared using the same optical microscope configuration. Experimental results show that only a single-micron polystyrene bead can be trapped by the focused evanescent waves, whereas many beads are simultaneously attracted to the center of the excited region by focused plasmonic waves. This difference in trapping behavior is analyzed from the electric field intensity distributions of these two kinds of focused surface waves and the difference in trapping behavior is attributed to photothermal effects due to the light absorption by the gold film.