Field emission characteristics of thin-metal-coated nano-sheet carbon films

Nano-sheet carbon films (NSCFs) coated with very thin (≈5-nm-thick) metal layers were fabricated on Si wafer chips by means of quartz-tube-type microwave-plasma chemical-vapour-deposition method with hydrogen-methane gas mixture and an electron beam evaporation method. Field emission (FE) current densities obtained at a macroscopic average electric field, E, of ≈10 V/μm changed from 13 mA/cm² for NSCF with no coated metal to 1.7, 0.7 and 30 mA/cm² for Ti-, Al- and Au-coated NSCFs, respectively, while the threshold E varied from 4.4 V/μm for the former one to 5.3, 5.4 and 2.0 V/μm for the corresponding latter ones, respectively. As the FE currents of Au-coated NSCFs tended to be saturated in a higher E region, compared to those of NSCFs with no coated metal, no simple Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) model is applicable. A modified F-N model considering statistic effects of the FE tip structures and a space-charge-limited-current effect is successfully applied to an explanation for the FE data observed in the low and high E regions.     

Intravascular 3.0 T MRI Using an Imaging-Guidewire: a Feasibility Study in Swine

This study was to validate the feasibility of using a magnetic resonance imaging-guidewire (MRIG) for intravascular 3.0 T MR imaging of deep-seated arterial walls of large animals. The functionality of a 0.032-in. MRIG was evaluated and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was calculated. Then, MRI of ten iliofemoral arteries of six pigs was acquired by MRIG and surface coil. The difference in the SNRs of the arterial walls between different coils was compared. Histology examined the potential thermal injuries of the imaged vessels. The MRIG functioned with the 3.0 T MR scanner. The average SNR of the arterial walls was significantly higher with the MRIG than with the surface coils (76.22 ± 34.76 vs. 12.63 ± 4.25, P < 0.01). Histology showed no evidence of thermal injuries at the vessel walls. This study validated the feasibility of generating intravascular 3.0 T MRI of deep-seated arterial walls in large animals, which should facilitate the translation of this technique from 1.5 to 3.0 T MR scanner.     

Controlled release of ketorolac through nanocomposite films of hydrogel and LDH nanoparticles

A novel nanocomposite film for sustained release of anionic ophthalmic drugs through a double-control process has been examined in this study. The film, made as a drug-loaded contact lens, consists principally of a polymer hydrogel of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), in whose matrix MgAl-layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH) nanoparticles intercalated with the anionic drug are well dispersed. Such nanocomposite films (hydrogel-LDH-drug) contained 0.6–0.8 mg of MgAl-LDH and 0.08–0.09 mg of the ophthalmic drug (ketorolac) in 1.0 g of hydrogel. MgAl-drug-LDH nanoparticles were prepared with the hydrodynamic particle size of 40–200 nm. TEM images show that these nanoparticles are evenly dispersed in the hydrogel matrix. In vitro release tests of hydrogel-LDH-drug in pH 7.4 PBS solution at 32 °C indicate a sustained release profile of the loaded drug for 1 week. The drug release undergoes a rapid initial burst and then a monotonically decreasing rate up to 168 h. The initial burst release is determined by the film thickness and the polymerization conditions, but the following release rate is very similar, with the effective diffusion coefficient being nearly constant (3.0 × 10⁻¹² m²/s). The drug release from the films is mechanistically attributed to anionic exchange and the subsequent diffusion in the hydrogel matrix.     

用激光法测量凹透镜焦距的探究

结合简单的几何原理,根据激光光源的特性提出了一种简便测量凹透镜焦距的新方法.     

降低轴流风机噪声的两种方法

本文对轴流风机的噪声源进行了理论和实验分析,对降低风机噪声的方法进行了总结。在此基础上,研究了降低风机噪声的两种新方法——叶片不等距分布方法和叶片穿孔方法。理论分析和实验结果表明,这两种方法为降低轴流风机噪声提供了新的途径。     

The accuracy evaluation method of baseline estimation algorithms in energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrum analysis

In energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (EDXRF), many baseline estimation algorithms have been proposed for the accurate characteristic peak area. However, the true value of the characteristic peak area of measured spectrum is unknown and cannot be used to evaluate the accuracy of the baseline estimation algorithms. In this article, an assessment method was proposed based on Monte Carlo simulation, which can obtain the characteristic peak area, and evaluate the accuracy of the baseline estimation algorithms directly. Meanwhile, the accuracy and practicality of four baseline estimation algorithms were evaluated by the assessment method, which include statistics-sensitive nonlinear iterative peak-clipping (SINP), fast Fourier transform (FFT), adaptive iteratively reweighted penalized least squares (AirPLS), and automated iterative moving averaging (AIMA). Comparing the relative error of the characteristic peak area, AirPLS gave the best performance for baseline estimation in EDXRF.     

Photothermal deflection measurement of effective gas diffusion coefficient of a porous medium

In this work, an effective gas diffusion coefficient of a porous medium was measured using photothermal deflection (PD) technique. An in-house made Loschmidt diffusion cell with a photothermal-deflection probe were employed to measure the effective gas diffusion coefficient of a gas diffusion layer (GDL) with a porosity ε ≈ 0.7. The concentration evolutions of CO₂ in O₂ with and without the GDL were measured, respectively, using a transverse normal PD technique. The concentration variations were used to deduce the gas diffusion coefficients in the presence and absence of the GDL by solving mass diffusion equations. The effective gas diffusion coefficient of the GDL was calculated from the diffusion coefficients using a model of an equivalent resistance to diffusion and found to be 4.39 × 10^-6 m²s^-1, demonstrating that PD technique can be employed to determine the effective gas diffusion coefficient of a porous medium.     

Dynamic vertical interaction of a foundation–soil system generated by seismic waves

Based on Biot's dynamic poroelastic theory, a foundation–soil interaction model is established to investigate the vertical vibrations of a rigid circular foundation on poroelastic soil excited by incident plane waves, including the fast P waves and SV waves. Scattering waves caused by the foundation and fluid–solid coupling due to the pore water in the soil are also considered in the model. The solution of the vertical vibrations of the foundation subjected to seismic waves are obtained by solving two sets of dual integral equations derived from the mixed boundary-value conditions. The different vertical vibrations of foundation rest on elastic and saturated half-space are compared. The influences of incident angle, permeability of soil and foundation mass on the vertical vibrations of the foundation are then discussed. The results show that resonant phenomenon of the foundation is observed at certain excitation frequencies; the effects of the pore water on the foundation vertical vibrations are significant. In addition, significant differences are found when the foundation is excited by P waves and SV waves, respectively.     

Virtual topology design scheme with energy efficiency for IP over elastic optical networks

The rapid growth of the Internet raises the importance of resource planning of Internet protocol（IP） over elastic optical networks（EONs）, which is a challenging task due to more complex and obscure physical constraints of it. Compared with network cost, the power consumption may eventually become the barrier to the expansion of the Internet. We present an energy-efficient virtual topology design（VTD） scheme for IP over EON. We explicitly explain and analyze the mixed integer linear programming model and the heuristic algorithm for this scheme. Numerical results show that the proposed VTD scheme can significantly save power consumption.