Effect of Temperature and Comonomer Content on Thermal Behavior and Crystallization Property of the Propylene–Ethylene Random Copolymers

The effects of ethylene units content and crystallization temperature on the conformations, and the thermal and crystallization behavior were investigated by a combination of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The characterization of FTIR spectroscopy proves that the longer helical conformation sequences of the propylene–ethylene random (PER) samples decrease, whereas the shorter helical conformation sequences increase with the increase in ethylene units content. The increase of the shorter helical conformation sequences is favorable for the formation of the γ-phase in the crystals. A group of broad endothermic peaks can be seen clearly in the DSC curves of PER copolymers, which may be associated with the melting of mixtures of the α- and γ-forms in the crystals. The melting point, crystallization temperature, and crystallinity degree of the PER copolymers decrease with the increase in ethylene units contents. Three typical melting peaks of the PER copolymers crystallized isothermally between 80°C and 130°C were observed. The two higher melting peaks result from melting of the α- and γ-phase in the crystals, whereas the materials crystallized on quenching give the lowest peak. The WAXD results confirm that the PER copolymers crystallize from the melt, as mixtures of α and γ forms, in a wide temperature range. The critical number ζ_lim of the crystallizable units for the α-form increases with the increase in crystallization temperature for PER copolymers, which is favorable for the formation of the γ phases. The amount of γ-form increases with the increase in crystallization temperature at the expense of its α component, then reaches a maximum value at the crystallization temperature of 115°C, and finally decreases with further increase in the crystallization temperature.     

Nonisothermal Crystallization Behavior of Polypropylene Grafted Silane and Styrene Using γ-Ray Irradiation

Polypropylene grafted silane and styrene (named PP-g-Si/St in this article) was successfully prepared by radical graft polymerization initiated by γ-ray irradiation. The influence of total absorbed dose on the graft ratio of vinyltrimethoxysilane onto PP and the melt flow rate (MFR) of the PP-g-Si/St product were studied. The effect of graft ratios of vinyltrimethoxysilane on the melting point and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PP-g-Si/St was investigated by the method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With increasing vinyltrimethoxysilane and styrene (used as viscosity modifier and free radical source) grafted on PP, the melting point of PP-g-Si/St became lower. Several different analysis methods, including those of Avrami, Jeziorny, and Mo and colleagues, were employed to describe the nonisothermal crystallization process of the grafted samples. The results indicate that the peak temperature of crystallization of PP-g-Si/St sample was lower than that of virgin PP. Crystallization kinetics revealed that the rates of nucleation and growth were affected differently by the graft ratio of vinyltrimethoxysilane onto PP. The activation energy was calculated on the basis of the method of Kissinger, and the values were 253.6 and 215.7 kJ/mol for virgin PP and PP-g-Si/St, respectively.     

Autaptic modulation-induced neuronal electrical activities and wave propagation on network under electromagnetic induction

Based on an improved HR neuron model, the effects of electrical and chemical autapses on the firing activities of single neurons are studied, and the wave propagation in forward feedback neural network is also discussed by considering autapstic regulation under different intensities of electromagnetic induction. It is found that the electrical activities of single neuron can be changed by exerting excitatory or inhibitory of electrical and chemical autapses. With different feedback gains of electromagnetic induction current, membrane potential shows the oscillatory solutions and steady states. Under the condition of different autapse or electromagnetic induction, the propagation of electrical activities caused by the central neuron is transformed in the forward feedback network. Moreover, the spatial synchronization of the network will be changed by choosing different coupling intensities and feedback gains. It is proved that the electrical and chemical autapses play a significant role in firing modes of single neuron and the wave propagation of the forward feedback networks under the electromagnetic induction.     

Reactor modeling of magnetically enhanced capacitive RF discharge

Magnetic and collisional effects on capacitive radio frequency (RF) discharges for magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) are investigated. Using simplified plasma and sheath models, a collisional magnetic-sheath equation that governs the sheath dynamics under a de magnetic field crossed with a sinusoidal RF electric field is obtained. The sheath equation includes global effects of the bulk plasma. Together with the power-balance equation and the particle-conservation equation, the sheath equation is used to extract a circuit model and predict the electrical behavior of MERIE reactors. Numerical results on the plasma density and the power in MERIE reactors agree well with reported experimental results and the circuit model describes the repeated discharge properties well     

Y2SiO5:Tb phosphor particles prepared from colloidal and aqueous solutions by spray pyrolysis

Green-emitting Y₂SiO₅:Tb phosphor particles with fine size, spherical shape, filled morphology, high crystallinity, and good brightness were synthesized by a spray pyrolysis process. The effect of silicon precursor type on the morphology, crystal structure, crystallinity, and photoluminescence efficiency of Y₂SiO₅:Tb phosphor particles was investigated. The particles prepared from an artificial colloidal solution obtained by dispersing fumed silica particles had a pure monoclinic X2 crystalline phase, which is more appropriate for application to displays, after post-treatment at 1300 °C. On the other hand, the particles prepared from 100% tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) reagent had an X2 phase and small amounts of X1 and impurity phases such as Y₂Si₂O₇ and Y_4.67Si₃O₁₃ due to the phase-segregation characteristics of the TEOS precursor. The photoluminescence characteristics of Y₂SiO₅:Tb phosphor particles were strongly affected by the silicon source used. The photoluminescence intensities increased with the fumed silica/TEOS ratio. The particles prepared from 100% fumed silica showed the maximum photoluminescence intensity, which is 22% higher than that of particles prepared from 100% TEOS. PACS 81.20.Rg; 78.55.Hx; 78.40.Ha; 81.05.Hd; 81.40.Tv     

Optimum beamformer in correlated source environments

A new method for overcoming signal cancellation problems due to correlated interferences which occur in a minimum variance distortionless response beamformer is proposed. Instead of decorrelating the correlated interferences, the coherently combining signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (CC-SINR) beamformer regards them as replicas of the desired signal and coherently combines them with the desired signal. This method uses an eigenvector constraint that suppresses only noise and uncorrelated interferences but retains the desired signal and correlated interferences. The CC-SINR beamformer does not require any preliminary information on correlated interferences. The signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the proposed beamformer output was compared to that of a conventional SINR beamformer when correlated interference, uncorrelated interference, and white noise exist. In addition, various key parameters that affect the performance of the beamformer, such as signal-to-noise ratio, uncorrelated interference-to-noise ratio, angular separation between signals, attenuation factor, phase delay of correlated interference, and the number of sensors were analyzed. All of the experimental results were in good agreement with the analytical results.     

Development of sound measurement systems for auditory functional magnetic resonance imaging

Auditory functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) requires quantification of sound stimuli in the magnetic environment and adequate isolation of background noise. We report the development of two novel sound measurement systems that accurately measure the sound intensity inside the ear, which can simultaneously provide the similar or greater amount of scanner- noise protection than ear-muffs. First, we placed a 2.6 x 2.6-mm microphone in an insert phone that was connected to a headphone [microphone-integrated, foam-tipped insert-phone with a headphone (MIHP)]. This attenuated scanner noise by 37.8+/-4.6 dB, a level better than the reference amount obtained using earmuffs. The nonmetallic optical microphone was integrated with a headphone [optical microphone in a headphone (OMHP)] and it effectively detected the change of sound intensity caused by variable compression on the cushions of the headphone. Wearing the OMHP reduced the noise by 28.5+/-5.9 dB and did not affect echoplanar magnetic resonance images. We also performed an auditory fMRI study using the MIHP system and presented increase in the auditory cortical activation following 10-dB increment in the intensity of sound stimulation. These two newly developed sound measurement systems successfully achieved the accurate quantification of sound stimuli with maintaining the similar level of noise protection of wearing earmuffs in the auditory fMRI experiment.     

Theoretical study of photon emission from single quantum dot emitter coupled to surface plasmons

Motivated by the recent pioneering advances on nanoscale plasmonics and also nanophotonics technology based on the surface plasmons (SPs), in this work, we give a master equation model in the Lindblad form and investigate the quantum optical properties of single quantum dot (QD) emitter coupled to the SPs of a metallic nanowire. Our main results demonstrate the QD luminescence results of photon emission show three distinctive regimes depending on the distance between QD and metallic nanowire, which elucidates a crossover passing from being metallic dissipative for much smaller emitter-nanowire distances to surface plasmon (SP) emission for larger separations at the vicinity of plasmonic metallic nanowire. Besides, our results also indicate that, for both the resonant case and the detuning case, through measuring QD emitter luminescence spectra and second-order correlation functions, the information about the QD emitter coupling to the SPs of the dissipative metallic nanowire can be extracted. This theoretical study will serve as an introduction to understanding the nanoplasmonic imaging spectroscopy and pave a new way to realize the quantum information devices.