Hidden antiunitary symmetry behind “accidental” degeneracy and its protection of degeneracy

The mean fixation time is often not accurate for describing the timescales of fixation probabilities of evolutionary games taking place on complex networks. We simulate the game dynamics on top of complex network topologies and approximate the fixation time distributions using a mean-field approach. We assume that there are two absorbing states. Numerically, we show that the mean fixation time is sufficient in characterizing the evolutionary timescales when network structures are close to the well-mixing condition. In contrast, the mean fixation time shows large inaccuracies when networks become sparse. The approximation accuracy is determined by the network structure, and hence by the suitability of the mean-field approach. The numerical results show good agreement with the theoretical predictions.

     

Vibronic Structures of the Ground and Excited Singlet Electronic States of Dimethylnaphthalenes Cooled in a Supersonic Jet

Abstract

Fluorescence excitation and dispersed fluorescence spectra of jet-cooled naphthalene and 2,6-, 2,7-dimethylnaphthalenes have been measured. The frequencies of optical active vibrations in the ground and first excited singlet states have been determined. The new technique for calculation of planar vibration frequencies of polycyclic benzenoid hydrocarbons in the excited electronic states has been developed. The vibration frequencies in the ground and first excited singlet states of these molecules were calculated using the developed technique and the Ohno's model. The interpretation of vibronic spectral lines based on the comparison of the calculated and experimental data was made. The calculation rms errors for the vibration frequencies in the ground electronic states of the investigated molecules do not exceed 20 cm^?1 and are approximately 1.5 times higher for excited states without additional adjustment of parameters for individual molecules.     

Passive structural health monitoring of a high-speed naval ship from ambient vibrations

Previous studies have used the cross-correlation of ambient vibrations (CAV) technique to estimate the impulse response (or Green's function) between passive sensors for passive imaging purposes in various engineering applications. The technique (CAV) relies on extracting deterministic coherent time signatures from the noise cross-correlation function computed between passive sensors, without the use of controlled active sources. Provided that the ambient structure-borne noise field remains stable, these resulting coherent waveforms obtained from CAV can then be used for structural monitoring even if they differ from the actual impulse response between the passive sensors. This article presents experimental CAV results using low-frequency random vibration data (<50 Hz) collected on an all-aluminum naval vessel (the HSV-2 Swift) operating at high speed (up to 40 knots) during high sea states. The primary excitation sources were strong wave impact loadings and rotating machinery vibrations. The consistency of the CAV results is established by extracting similar coherent arrivals from ambient vibrations between the pairs of strain gages, symmetrically located across the ship's centerline. The influence of the ship's operating conditions on the stability of the peak coherent arrival time, during the 7 days trial, is also discussed.     

On the search for time variation in the fine-structure constant: Ab initio calculation of HfF+

A technique based on the relativistic pseudopotential method is proposed to calculate the derivative of the electronic vibrational level energy with respect to the fine-structure constant α for heavy-element compounds. The effect of a small change in α on the frequency of a transition between the vibrational levels of the ground and first excited states of the molecular cation HfF⁺ is calculated. This information is necessary to prepare experiments aimed at determining the time variation in the fine-structure constant.

     

时变分析的时间尺度谱方法

文章介绍时变分析的时间尺度谱方法及其在X射线天文学中的应用.时间尺度谱方法包括时域功率谱、时域时延谱以及w谱等,是一种直接应用在时域上的多尺度分析手段.相对于传统方法,时间尺度谱能更客观灵敏地反映物理实质,有效地抑制噪声干扰,在高背景低统计性的X射线天文观测中得到了很好的应用.     

卫星平台高光谱复杂运动成像伪互相关退化仿真研究

针对具有推扫机制的狭缝体制成像光谱仪受卫星平台俯仰、侧滚、偏航等复杂运动的影响,导致光谱数据精度降低的问题,在成像光谱仪运动成像光谱微分动态成像退化仿真方法的基础上,提出基于点扩散矩阵的光谱退化理论。按照八邻域掺杂模型,考虑卫星平台运动的时变性,不同目标像元的点扩散矩阵不同,符合伪互相关运算的概念,因此提出运动成像的伪互相关光谱退化理论。其中,点扩散矩阵由星上POS数据运用微分像移理论计算八邻域掺杂像元的平均掺杂比得到,在用模拟POS数据曲线仿真计算点扩散矩阵时,发现依据掺杂影响的大小,点扩散矩阵可以简化以便减小运算量。明确阐述光谱运动成像的伪互相关退化理论的表述和计算方法,对退化仿真和计算的结果从图像维和光谱维分别进行了定性和定量的效果评价,并使用结构相似度参数展示了退化图像与原始图像的相似性。运动成像的伪互相关光谱退化理论完善了已有的基于卫星平台复杂运动的光谱数据退化问题,仿真结果表明此种退化理论完全适用于解决卫星平台复杂运动条件下的光谱数据退化问题。     

Improving motion estimation by accounting for local image distortion

Cardiac elastography is a useful diagnostic technique for detection of heart function abnormalities, based on analysis of echocardiograms. The analysis of the regional heart motion allows assessing the extent of myocardial ischemia and infarction. In this paper, a new two-stage algorithm for cardiac motion estimation is proposed, where the data is taken from a sequence of 2D echocardiograms. The method combines the advantages of block-matching and optical flow techniques. The first stage employs a standard block-matching algorithm (sum of absolute differences) to provide a displacement estimate with accuracy of up to one pixel. At the second stage, this estimate is corrected by estimating the parameters of a local image transform within a test window. The parameters of the image transform are estimated in the least-square sense. In order to account for typical heart motions, like contraction/expansion, translation and rotation, a local affine model is assumed within the test window. The accuracy of the new algorithm is evaluated using a sequence of 500 grayscale B-mode images, which are generated as distorted, but known copies of an original ROI, taken from a real echocardiogram. The accuracy of the motion estimation is expressed in terms of errors: maximum absolute error, root-mean-square error, average error and standard deviation. The errors of the proposed algorithm are compared with these of the known block-matching technique with cross-correlation and interpolation in the sub-pixel space. Statistical analysis of the errors shows that the proposed algorithm provides more accurate estimates of the heart motion than the cross-correlation technique with interpolation in the sub-pixel space.     

Improving motion estimation by accounting for local image distortion

Cardiac elastography is a useful diagnostic technique for detection of heart function abnormalities, based on analysis of echocardiograms. The analysis of the regional heart motion allows assessing the extent of myocardial ischemia and infarction. In this paper, a new two-stage algorithm for cardiac motion estimation is proposed, where the data is taken from a sequence of 2D echocardiograms. The method combines the advantages of block-matching and optical flow techniques. The first stage employs a standard block-matching algorithm (sum of absolute differences) to provide a displacement estimate with accuracy of up to one pixel. At the second stage, this estimate is corrected by estimating the parameters of a local image transform within a test window. The parameters of the image transform are estimated in the least-square sense. In order to account for typical heart motions, like contraction/expansion, translation and rotation, a local affine model is assumed within the test window. The accuracy of the new algorithm is evaluated using a sequence of 500 grayscale B-mode images, which are generated as distorted, but known copies of an original ROI, taken from a real echocardiogram. The accuracy of the motion estimation is expressed in terms of errors: maximum absolute error, root-mean-square error, average error and standard deviation. The errors of the proposed algorithm are compared with these of the known block-matching technique with cross-correlation and interpolation in the sub-pixel space. Statistical analysis of the errors shows that the proposed algorithm provides more accurate estimates of the heart motion than the cross-correlation technique with interpolation in the sub-pixel space.     

A simple method to measure 13CH2 heteronuclear dipolar cross-correlation spectral densities

Here, we report a method to simultaneously determine CH2 cross-correlation spectral densities and T1 relaxation times in the laboratory and rotating frames. To accomplish this, we have employed an indirect approach that is based on measurement of differences in relaxation rates acquired with and without cross-correlation terms. The new method, which can be employed using multidimensional NMR and standard relaxation pulse sequences, is validated experimentally by investigation of a selectively 13C-enriched hexadecapeptide and the uniformly 13C-enriched immunoglobulin-binding domain of streptococcal protein G (GB1). Use of this approach makes determination of CH2 cross-correlation spectral densities in uniformly 13C-enriched proteins now routine and provides novel information concerning their internal motions.     

A 2D strain estimator with numerical optimization method for soft-tissue elastography

Elastography is a bioelasticity-based imaging modality which has been proved to be a potential evaluation tool to detect the tissue abnormalities. Conventional method for elastography is to estimate the displacement based on cross-correlation technique firstly, then strain profile is calculated as the gradient of the displacement. The main problem of this method arises from the fact that the cross-correlation between pre- and post-compression signals will be decreased because of the signal’s compression-to-deformation. It may constrain the estimation of the displacement. Numerical optimization, as an efficient tool to estimate the non-rigid deformation in image registration, has its potential to achieve the elastogram. This paper incorporates the idea of image registration into elastography and proposes a radio frenquency (RF) signal registration strain estimator based on the minimization of a cost function using numerical optimization method with Powell algorithm (NOMPA). To evaluate the proposed scheme, the simulation data with a hard inclusion embedded in the homogeneous background is produced for analysis. NOMPA can obtain the displacement profiles and strain profiles simultaneously. When compared with the cross-correlation based method, NOMPA presents better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, 32.6 ± 1.5 dB vs. 23.8 ± 1.1 dB) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR, 28.8 ± 1.8 dB vs. 21.7 ± 0.9 dB) in axial normal strain estimation. The in vitro experiment of porcine liver with ethanol-induced lesion is also studied. The statistic results of SNR and CNR indicate that strain profiles by NOMPA performs better anti-noise and target detectability than that by cross-correlation based method. Though NOMPA carry a heavier computational burden than cross-correlation based method, it may be an useful method to obtain 2D strains in elastography.     

Estimation of the lowest limit of 1/f noise in semiconductor materials

A lowest limit of 1/f noise in semiconductor materials has not yet been reported; we do not even know if such a lowest limit exists. 1/f noise in semiconductors has recently been brought into relation with 1/f noise in quantum dots and other materials. These materials exhibit on-off states which are power-law distributed over a wide range of timescales. We transfer such findings to semiconductors, assuming that the g-r process is also controlled by such on-off states. As a result, we obtain 1/f noise which can be expressed as Hooge's relation. Based on the intermittent g-r process, we estimate the lowest limit of 1/f noise in semiconductor materials. We show that this limit is inversely proportional to the dopant concentration; to detect the lowest limit of 1/f noise, the number of centers should be as small as possible. We also find a smooth dependence of 1/f noise and g-r noise on time.     

单发太赫兹时域光谱技术

太赫兹时域光谱技术(THz-TDS)广泛应用于材料、生物医学、化学、药学、安检等诸多领域。传统扫描式THz-TDS技术需要通过改变探测光延时逐点扫描并重构时域信号,仅适合于具有较高重复频率且稳定的太赫兹辐射源情形下的样品探测。在低重复频率或涨落较大的太赫兹辐射源情形下和不可逆过程中样品的探测,扫描式THz-TDS不再适用,需要使用单发THz-TDS技术,单发THz-TDS技术原则上仅需要一个激光脉冲就可以获取一个完整的太赫兹时域脉冲波形。介绍几种主要的单发THz-TDS探测技术,这些技术都利用了电光晶体的泡克尔斯效应,通过测量探测光的某个物理量的变化来提取太赫兹信号。根据探测方法不同可分为光谱编码、空间编码和互相关等技术。在光谱编码技术中,探测光不同频率成分在时间上发生分离,不同时间成分分别被太赫兹脉冲不同时刻电场调制,通过测量探测光各个频率被太赫兹脉冲调制前后的光谱的变化提取太赫兹脉冲波形。该方法光路简单,测量结果直观,有较高的信噪比,但其时间分辨率较低,且被测太赫兹信号容易产生失真。为提高被测信号的时间分辨率,有人提出了空间编码技术,即不同位置探测光分别被太赫兹脉冲不同时刻电场调制,通过测量探测光各个位置太赫兹脉冲调制前后的光强变化提取太赫兹脉冲波形。根据不同空间展开方法可分为一维空间编码技术和二维空间编码技术。空间编码技术中虽然有较高的时间分辨率,但由于探测光在空间展开能量分散使得其信噪比相对较低。此外,还有一种较高时间分辨率的技术即互相关技术,可分为共线互相关和非共线互相关技术。在非共线互相关技术中,被太赫兹脉冲调制的激光啁啾脉冲与短脉冲互相关作用产生二次谐波,通过太赫兹脉冲调制前后二次谐波空间分布变化来提取太赫兹信号;在共线互相关技术中被太赫兹脉冲调制的啁啾脉冲与短脉冲共线入射到光谱仪,通过干涉条纹提取太赫兹信号,该技术提高了时间分辨率和信噪比,但光路布置复杂,不能进行实时监测。回顾了这几种单发THz-TDS探测技术的发展历程,综述探测技术的原理、实验方案和测量结果,并讨论了这些探测技术的优势和不足。     

USING THE CROSS-CORRELATION TECHNIQUE TO EXTRACT MODAL PARAMETERS ON RESPONSE-ONLY DATA

Modal parameter identification is used to identify those parameters of the model which describe the dynamic properties of a vibration system. Classical modal parameter extractions usually require measurements of both the input force and the resulting response in laboratory conditions. However, when large-scale operational structures are subjected to random and unmeasured forces such as wind, waves, or aerodynamics, modal parameters estimation must base itself on response-only data. Over the past years, many time-domain modal parameter identification techniques from output-only have been proposed. Among them, the natural excitation technique (NExT) has been a very powerful tool for the modal analysis of structures excited in operating environment. This issue reviews the theoretical development of natural excitation technique (NExT), which uses the cross-correlation functions of measured responses coupling with conventional time-domain parameter extraction under the assumption of white-noise random inputs. Then a frequency-domain poly reference modal identification scheme by coupling the cross-correlation technique with conventional frequency-domain poly reference modal parameter extraction is presented. It uses cross-power spectral density functions instead of frequency response functions and auto- and cross-correlation functions instead of impulse response functions to estimate modal parameters from response-only data. An experiment using an airplane model is performed to investigate the effectiveness of the cross-correlation technique coupled with frequency-domain poly reference modal identification scheme.     

X-ray absorption study of Cu,Zn SOD under high pressure

Abstract

We have investigated Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase (Cu, Zn SOD) metal sites at high pressure using X-ray absorption. XAS (X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy) gives information on local structure and it is particularly suited to metal site investigation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that protein conformational states have been investigated using the high pressure XAS technique. Cu, Zn SOD catalyses the dismutation of toxic oxygen radicals produced in cells; this reaction occurs at the copper metal site. Structural changes around the copper, induced by pressure, can be directly related to protein substates. Their characterisation is thus important in the understanding of protein activity.

The high-pressure device was a Paris-Edinburgh large volume cell.

Experiments were performed on lyophilised Cu, Zn SOD between 0 and 48 kbar at the copper and zinc K-edges. The two metal local atomic environments have a different behaviour as pressure increases: copper exhibits a more flexible environment; on the contrary, zinc shows small structural modifications. We have identified a state, formed between 3 and 8 kbar, which is stable up to 48 kbar.     

Performance of OCDMA systems with new spectral direct detection (SDD) technique using enhanced double weight (EDW) code

This paper investigates the performance of enhanced double weight (EDW) code for spectral-amplitude-coding OCDMA (SAC-OCDMA) system using a newly proposed spectral direct detection (SDD) technique. EDW is the enhanced version of double weight (DW) code that possesses ideal cross-correlation properties and weight which can be any odd number greater than one. The theoretical and simulation results show that the proposed new spectral direct detection technique improves the performance compared to the conventional complementary subtraction technique.     

Limitation of Color Samples for Spectral Estimation from Sensor Responses in Fine Art Painting

A new technique is proposed to improve the way of selecting samples used to estimate spectral reflectance from sensor responses in multi-band images. This technique limits the samples of reflectance spectra based on the spectral reflectance estimated by the conventional estimation method, and estimates it again using the limited samples. Vector angle and distance among reflectance spectra as the criteria for the limitation can be applied to improve the estimation of reflectance spectra.     

Design of fast state observers using a backstepping-like approach with application to synchronization of chaotic systems

A simple technique is introduced to build fast state observers for chaotic systems when only a scalar time series of the output is available. This technique relies on using a backstepping-like approach via introducing new virtual states that can be observed using the drive-response synchronization mechanism. The proposed dynamic structure of the virtual states allows for employing control parameters that can adjust the convergence rate of the observed states. In addition, these control parameters can be used to improve the transient performance of the response system to accommodate small and large variations of the initial conditions, thus achieving superior performance to conventional synchronization techniques. Simple Lyapunov functions are used to estimate the range of the control parameters that guarantees stable operation of the proposed technique. Three benchmark chaotic systems are considered for illustration; namely, the Lorenz, Chua, and Rossler systems. The conflict between stability and agility of the states observer is analyzed and a simple tuning mechanism is introduced. Implementation of the proposed technique in both analog and digital forms is also addressed and experimental results are reported ensuring feasibility and real-time applicability. Finally, advantages and limitations are discussed and a comparison with conventional synchronization methods is investigated.     

Spectral restoration from low signal-to-noise,distorted NMR signals: application to hyphenated capillary electrophoresis-NMR

In capillary electrophoresis separations coupled to NMR signal detection using small solenoidal coils, electrophoretic currents cause substantial distortion in the NMR spectral linewidths and peak heights, distortions which cannot be fully counteracted through shimming. The NMR spectra also have a low signal-to-noise ratio due to the small amounts of material, typically <1nmol, associated with such microseparations. This study proposes a two-step, signal processing method to restore spectral lines from the distorted NMR spectrum. First, a reference signal is acquired to estimate the broadening function, as a combination of several Lorentzian functions, using a gradient descent method. Then multi-resolution wavelet analysis is applied to the distorted spectrum to determine an initial estimate of the frequencies of the spectral lines. Convergence to the final spectrum, a second set of Lorentzians, involves deconvolution with the estimated broadening function using a gradient descent method. Experimental CE-NMR data show that considerable improvements in spectral quality are possible using this approach, although fine splittings can not be resolved if the broadening function is large.     

Theoretical study of structural and energy parameters of the van der Waals complex of the Li<Superscript>+</Superscript> cation with the N<Subscript>2</Subscript> molecule

The three-dimensional vibrational problem for the isolated van der Waals complex formed by the Li⁺ cation with the N₂ molecule is solved by the variational method. The potential energy and dipole moment surfaces are calculated using different basis sets of atomic functions and different approaches for taking electron correlation into account. The anharmonic effects caused by the interaction of vibrational degrees of freedom of the complex are consistently considered for the first time. The energy levels of three-dimensional vibrational states are determined. The frequency shift of the N₂ molecule vibration upon complexation and the fundamental transition intensity for this vibration in the complex are calculated. The frequencies and intensities for a number of spectral transitions between the states associated with excitation of low-frequency modes are determined. The average values of geometrical parameters and their variances are calculated for the ground state and excited vibrational states of the complex.