Using of Digital Demodulation of Multiharmonic Overmodulated EPR Signals to Improve EPR Oximetry Reliability

Overmodulation of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) lines is routinely used in EPR oximetry in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and thus to improve the accuracy with which the line width of a spin probe can be measured. For a known probe type, the line width is easily translated into the oxygen partial pressure. A standard EPR spectrometer uses the analog phase-sensitive detection (PSD) to demodulate the EPR signal. PSD imposes the restriction that only one spectrum is measured at a time, which is normally the first-harmonic EPR line. Information about EPR signals centered at the other harmonics of the modulation frequency is irreversibly destroyed by PSD. The question is raised whether this information can be utilized for EPR oximetry, for overmodulation enhances the second- and the other harmonic spectra, so that they approach the first-harmonic spectrum in intensity. To find an answer, numerical simulation and experimental measurements have been conducted. The experiment required modification of the detection scheme, so that all EPR-related information in the overmodulated signal is preserved. This permits measuring of the multiharmonic EPR spectrum, which when fitted to a set of the corresponding theoretical lines produces more accurate results in comparison with the standard overmodulation method.     

Dark matter and cosmic acceleration from Wesson’s IMT

In the present work a procedure is build up, that allows obtaining dark matter (DM) and cosmic acceleration in our 4D universe embedded in a 5D manifold. Both, DM and the factor causing cosmic acceleration, as well ordinary matter are induced in the 4D space-time by a warped, but empty from matter, 5D bulk. The procedure is carried out in the framework of the Weyl–Dirac version (Israelit, Found Phys 35:1725, 2005; Israelit, Found Phys 35:1769, 2005) of Paul Wesson’s Induced Matter Theory (Wesson, Space-time matter, 1999) enriched by Rosen’s approach (Found Phys 12:213, 1982). Considering chaotically oriented Weyl vector fields, which exist in microscopic cells, we obtain cold dark matter (CDM) consisting of weylons, massive bosons having spin 1. Assuming homogeneity and isotropy at large scale we derive cosmological equations in which luminous matter, CDM and dark energy may be considered separately. Making in the given procedure use of present observational data one can develop a model of the Universe with conventional matter, DM and cosmic acceleration, induced by the 5D bulk.     

Extrinsic multiecho phase-contrast SSFP: evaluation on cardiac output measurements

Multiecho phase-contrast steady-state free precession (PC-SSFP) is a recently introduced sequence for flow quantification. In this multiecho approach, a phase reference and a velocity-encoded readout were acquired at different echo times after a single excitation. In this study, the sequence is validated in vitro for stationary flow. Subsequently, the sequence was evaluated on cardiac output measurements in vivo for through-plane flow in comparison to regular single gradient echo velocity quantification [phase-contrast spoiled gradient echo (PC-GE)]. In vitro results agreed with regular flow meters (RMS 0.1 cm/s). Cardiac output measurements with multiecho PC-SSFP on 10 healthy subjects gave on average the same results as the standard PC-GE. However, the limits of repeatability of PC-SSFP were significantly larger than those of PC-GE (2 l/min and 0.5 l/min, respectively, P=.001). The multiecho approach introduced some specific problems in vivo. The difference in echo times made the velocity maps sensitive for water-fat shifts and B(0)-drifts, which in turn made velocity offset correction problematic. Also, the addition of a single bipolar gradient cancelled the flow compensated nature of the SSFP sequence. In combination with the prolonged TR, this resulted in flow artifacts caused by high and pulsatile through-plane flow, affecting repeatability. Given the significantly lower repeatability of PC-SSFP, cardiac output in turn is less reliable, thus impairing the use of multiecho PC-SSFP.     

Effect of Ag nanoparticle addition and ultrasonic treatment on a stable TiO2 nanofluid

Nanoparticles, when homogeneously dispersed in a base fluid, e.g. water, ethylene glycol etc. are commonly known as nanofluids. Nanofluids have gained attention in the scientific community for their enhanced thermal properties. One of the major problems in using nanofluids as a heat transfer medium for commercial applications is that, in most of the closed circuit industrial cooling processes, the cooling fluid has to be replaced after several cycles of cooling operation because of an increased presence of contaminants. If nanofluids were used as a coolant, it would be very hard to separate the nanoparticles from the waste fluid. The present work is aimed at the separation and recycling of nanoparticles from fluid waste by means of quick settling of titanium dioxide nanoparticles using silver nanoparticles along with ultrasonic treatment. It is observed that with increasing silver concentration and time of ultrasonication, the stability of the dispersion decreases. There is a value for both the silver concentration and ultrasonication time above which the settling time decreases drastically.     

Current and frequency modulation characteristics for continuous-wave quantum cascade lasers at 9.06 μm

We report the characteristics of current induced frequency modulation (FM) for two continuous-wave quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) at 9.06 μm. Both the frequency tuning rate and the phase shift between intensity modulation and FM are measured at different modulation frequencies from 10 Hz to 200 kHz. The frequency tuning rate of the QCLs depends on both the modulation frequency and amplitude. The tested QCL has been used to detect ambient water vapor with wavelength modulation spectroscopy for validation with a numerical model.     

Temperature Dependence of the Proton Overhauser DNP Enhancements on Aqueous Solutions of Fremy’s Salt Measured in a Magnetic Field of 9.2?T

The temperature dependence of the water-proton dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhancement from Fremy’s salt nitroxide radicals was measured in a magnetic field of 9.2?T (corresponding to 260?GHz microwave (MW) and 392?MHz NMR frequencies) in the temperature range of 15–65?°C. The temperature could be determined directly from the proton NMR line shift of the sample. Very high DNP enhancements of ?38 (signal integral) or ?81 (peak intensity) could be achieved with a high-power gyrotron MW source. The experimental findings are compared with classical Overhauser theory for liquids, which is based on the translational and rotational motion of the molecules and with molecular dynamics calculations of the coupling factor.     

Modeling elasticity in crystal growth

A new model of crystal growth is presented that describes the phenomena on atomic length and diffusive time scales. The former incorporates elastic and plastic deformation in a natural manner, and the latter enables access to time scales much larger than conventional atomic methods. The model is shown to be consistent with the predictions of Read and Shockley for grain boundary energy, and Matthews and Blakeslee for misfit dislocations in epitaxial growth.     

Constructing Locally Connected Non-Computable Julia Sets

A locally connected quadratic Siegel Julia set has a simple explicit topological model. Such a set is computable if there exists an algorithm to draw it on a computer screen with an arbitrary resolution. We constructively produce parameter values for Siegel quadratics for which the Julia sets are non-computable, yet locally connected. This research was partially conducted during the period the first author was employed by the Clay Mathematics Institute as a Liftoff Fellow. The second author’s research is supported by NSERC operating grant.     

聚合物及其混合物的太赫兹介电性质测定与分析方法

聚合物材料因其对太赫兹波的高透过率以及良好的塑形能力在太赫兹研究中扮演了重要的角色,由于材料的介电特性直接关系着折射率、极化率等重要性质,不同的应用场合通常需要材料呈现出特殊的太赫兹介电响应,一方面可以选取不同的聚合物材料,另一方面可以通过多种聚合物的混合实现材料介电性质的调制。聚合物材料合理的选取和设计建立在材料太赫兹介电精确表征之上,然而利用太赫兹时域光谱系统(THz-TDS)对聚合物材料进行透射式太赫兹介电表征时,材料内部空气孔隙的存在会影响表征结果的复现性,同时也会影响共混聚合物介电性质的分析和预测。因此以Landau, Lifshitz, Looyenga(LLL)模型为基础提出了考虑空气影响的介电分析模型,并选取了在太赫兹研究中广泛使用的聚合物材料聚乙烯(PE)和聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)对模型的有效性和稳定性加以验证,展开了两种材料单质和混合物两方面的介电分析。在太赫兹波透射样品之后的相位变化信息中提取出样品的介电常数,同一种物质制备的样片间太赫兹介电谱存在明显差异,使用包含气隙影响的LLL模型处理实验数据后,样品介电常数中空气的介电影响被移除,从而得到了两种材料的本征介电常数,在此基础上,使用测得的本征介电常数和混合物样品中两种材料的体积占比信息代入包含气隙影响的LLL模型计算得到了不同配比混合物的太赫兹介电常数的模拟值,并与THz-TDS实验获取的实验值进行了对比。利用所提出的有效介质模型,聚乙烯和聚四氟乙烯在10～40 cm-1波段内移除空气影响后的平均介电常数为2.315±0.003（±0.13%）和2.109±0.003（±0.14%）,在不同重量、不同厚度的单组份样品间模型测定的聚合物介电常数保持了良好的重复性,在对混合物的太赫兹介电性质测定与分析中,利用模型计算的混合物介电常数模拟值与THz-TDS测定的介电常数实验值保持了高度线性相关,其相关系数为0.964 3,全局相对误差为1.08%,体现了模型的可靠性。提出的介电分析模型可以扩展到更多的高分子材料单质及其混合物的太赫兹介电性质表征中,对太赫兹波段的共混聚合物材料设计具有参考价值。     

Collective behavior of stabilized reaction-diffusion waves

Stabilized wave segments in the photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction are directionally controlled with intensity gradients in the applied illumination. The constant-velocity waves behave like self-propelled particles, and multiple waves interact via an applied interaction potential. Alignment arises from the intrinsic properties of the interacting waves, leading to processional and rotational behavior.