Wavelet-based edge correlation incorporated iterative reconstruction for undersampled MRI

Undersampling k-space is an effective way to decrease acquisition time for MRI. However, aliasing artifacts introduced by undersampling may blur the edges of magnetic resonance images, which often contain important information for clinical diagnosis. Moreover, k-space data is often contaminated by the noise signals of unknown intensity. To better preserve the edge features while suppressing the aliasing artifacts and noises, we present a new wavelet-based algorithm for undersampled MRI reconstruction. The algorithm solves the image reconstruction as a standard optimization problem including a ?₂ data fidelity term and ?₁ sparsity regularization term. Rather than manually setting the regularization parameter for the ?₁ term, which is directly related to the threshold, an automatic estimated threshold adaptive to noise intensity is introduced in our proposed algorithm. In addition, a prior matrix based on edge correlation in wavelet domain is incorporated into the regularization term. Compared with nonlinear conjugate gradient descent algorithm, iterative shrinkage/thresholding algorithm, fast iterative soft-thresholding algorithm and the iterative thresholding algorithm using exponentially decreasing threshold, the proposed algorithm yields reconstructions with better edge recovery and noise suppression.     

Diagnostic value of nonlinear optical signals from collagen matrix in the detection of epithelial precancer

During precancer development in epithelium, neoplastic cells remodel the underlying stroma, for example, the basement membrane, capillaries, fibroblasts, and extracellular matrix. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the nonlinear optical signals from the collagen matrix in stroma and the progression of early epithelial carcinogenesis. Two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) signals were measured from the stroma of hamster oral cheek pouch in vivo. We found that three features, including the intensity ratio of TPEF over SHG, the spatial frequency distribution, and the texture feature of SHG images, provide the quantitative identification of epithelial precancer at different pathologic stages. We demonstrated that the combination of all three features by using a support vector machine algorithm can significantly improve the accuracy in the detection of epithelial precancer.     

Protein‐Affinitive Polydopamine Nanoparticles as an Efficient Surface Modification Strategy for Versatile Porous Scaffolds Enhancing Tissue Regeneration

Porous scaffolds for tissue regeneration are often functionalized with extracellular matrix proteins to enhance surface/cell interactions and tissue regeneration. However, continuous coatings produced by commonly used surface modification strategies may preclude cells from contacting and sensing the chemical and physical cues of the scaffold. Here, it is shown that polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA‐NPs) tightly adhere on various scaffolds to form nanostructures, and the coverage can be finely tuned. Furthermore, the PDA‐NPs have good affinity to a variety of proteins and peptides. Thus, the PDA‐NPs act as an anchor to immobilize signal biomolecules on scaffolds, and consequently promote cell activity and tissue regeneration. β‐Tricalcium phosphate (TCP) scaffolds decorated with PDA‐NPs demonstrate excellent osteoinductivity and bone‐regeneration performance due to the protein affinity of PDA‐NPs and the intrinsic bioactive characteristics of TCP scaffolds. In summary, PDA‐NPs with excellent affinity for protein adhesion represent a versatile platform to modify porous scaffolds while not compromising the biological functions of the scaffolds, and might have potential applications in tissue regeneration.     

Magnetically‐Confined Fe‐Mn Bimetallic Oxide Encapsulation as an Efficient and Recoverable Adsorbent for Arsenic(III) Removal

Synthesis of bimetallic‐oxide‐encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles is still significantly challenging and has rarely been attempted previously, due to the effects of lattice mismatch, weak chemical interactions and variances in growth rates between different components, as well as the difficulty in process control for uniform co‐deposition. In the present work, Fe‐Mn bimetallic oxide (FMBO) nanoplatelet encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles (Mag‐FeMn) are prepared by controlled engineering of the interparticle coupling of Fe₃O₄ and FMBO, with its multifunctional capabilities highlighted in terms of the potentially superior As(III) sequestration and convenient recoverability. Multiple characterization techniques are employed to examine the derived morphologies and to accurately resolve both compositionally and magnetically the hierarchical structure in detail. The synthesized magnetic composites retain highly porous structure with the main components of Fe₂O₃, FeOOH, Fe₃O₄, and Mn₃O₄. Mag‐FeMn exhibits a quite competitive high capacity for As(III) capture (56.1 mg g^–1), whereby As(III) oxidation coupled with synchronous sorption contributes to the improved performance. The unique heterostructure of FMBO encapsulation with an embedded magnetic core would be applicable to help with rational synthesis of other bimetallic oxide encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles, and definitely shows promise for the development of new nanotechnology enabled approaches for adsorption‐based water purification.     

Uptake of transferrin-conjugated quantum dots in single living cells

We study the uptake and distribution of transferrin （Tf）-conjugated CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots （QDs） in single living HeLa cells with both fluorescence confocal microscopy and three-dimensional （3D） reconstruction technique. By increasing the co-incubation time or the dosage of QDs-Tf, we find that the uptake of QDs-Tf bioconjugates in the cells increases correspondingly, but with different uptake rates. Additionally, the distribution of QDs-Tf, in single live HeLa cells is time dependent. To our knowledge, this is the first study on quantitatively analyzing the uptake and distribution of bioconjugated QDs in single living cells. Such QDs nanoplatform can be further modified for developing biomedical evaluation tool in cancer diagnosis and targeted drug delivery.     

Propagation factors of Hermite–Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution function, an analytical formulae for the propagation factors (M²-factors) of coherent and partially coherent one-dimensional Hermite–Gaussian beams in a turbulent atmosphere are derived. Evolution properties of the M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam in a turbulent atmosphere are studied numerically in detail. Our results show that the M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam increases upon propagation in a turbulent atmosphere. The M²-factor of the Hermite–Gaussian beam with larger beam order (or lower coherence) increases slower that of the Hermite–Gaussian beam with smaller beam order (or higher coherence) in a turbulent atmosphere, which means that the Hermite–Gaussian beam with a larger beam order and lower coherence is less affected by a turbulent atmosphere. Our results will be useful in long-distance free-space optical communications.     

Effect of mesoporous carbon containing binary conductive additives in lithium ion batteries on the electrochemical performance of the LiCoO2 composite cathodes

Binary conductive additives (BCA), formed by sonication of mesoporous carbon (MC) and acetylene black (AB), were used as conductive additives to improve the electrochemical performance of a LiCoO₂ composite cathode. The electrochemical performance of the LiCoO₂ composite cathode dispersed with BCA was investigated. The results showed that the electrochemical performance (including the discharge capacity, the discharge voltage and the total internal resistance) of a BCA loaded LiCoO₂ composite cathode was better than that of a cathode loaded with AB. The possible mechanism is that the MC in BCA can adsorb and retain electrolyte solution, which allows an intimate contact between the lithium ions and the cathode active material LiCoO₂ due to its large mesopore specific surface area. A simplified model was also proposed.     

The Initial Reactions of H3PO4 and NaH2PO4Supported on Silica: A Joint Experimental and Theoretical Study

利用XRD、TG、DRIFTS、31P MAS NMR和密度泛函理论研究了浸渍法制备的硅胶负载型磷酸和磷酸二氢钠催化剂,阐明了催化剂制备过程中生成的初始缩合产物和其反应机理. 光谱试验结果显示,在二氧化硅负载的磷酸上,除了聚磷酸外,还有硅磷酸盐的存在;在二氧化硅负载的磷酸二氢钠上,仅发现聚磷酸钠存在. 密度泛函模拟结果也证明,磷酸与二氧化硅表面硅羟基之间的反应在缩合反应的初始阶段比其自身的二聚反应更为有利. 但是在硅胶负载的磷酸二氢钠上,磷酸二氢钠的二聚和三聚是缩合反应初始阶段的主要反应.     

A new approach to detecting weak signal in strong noise based on chaos system control

In this paper, a chaos system and proportional differential control are both used to detect the frequency of an unknown signal. In traditional methods the useful signal is obtained through the Duffing equation or other chaotic oscillators. But these methods are too complex because of using a lot of chaos oscillators. In this paper a new method is presented that uses the R?ssler equation and proportional differential control to detect a weak signal frequency. Substituting the detected signal frequency into the R?ssler equation leads the R?ssler phase state to be considerably changed. The chaos state can be controlled through the proportional differential method. Through its phase diagram and spectrum analysis, the unknown frequency is obtained. The simulation results verify that the presented method is feasible and that the detection accuracy is higher than those of other methods.     

Generation of millimeter-wave sub-carrier optical pulse by using cascaded all-pass cavities

A novel scheme is proposed to transform an ultra-short optical pulse to a millimeter-wave frequencymodulated pulse by using the cascaded all-pass cavities （APCs）. The envelope waveform of the generated pulse train is calculated, showing effective improvement by APC cascading. The extinction ratio is analyzed with different input pulses, different cavity reflectivities, and different cascading numbers. It is shown that the cascading does not introduce much effect on the extinction ratio. Two designs by using Gires-Tournois cavity and waveguide ring resonators are proposed to realize the cascaded APC.