Patterns and Symmetries in the Visual Cortex and in Natural Images

As borders between different entities, lines are an important element of natural images. Indeed, the neurons of the mammalian visual cortex are tuned to respond best to lines of a given orientation. This preferred orientation varies continuously across most of the cortex, but also has vortex-like singularities known as pinwheels. In attempting to describe such patterns of orientation preference, we are led to consider underlying rotation symmetries: Oriented segments in natural images tend to be collinear; neurons are more likely to be connected if their preferred orientations are aligned to their topographic separation. These are indications of a reduced symmetry requiring joint rotations of both orientation preference and the underlying topography. This is verified by direct statistical tests in both natural images and in cortical maps. Using the statistics of natural scenes we construct filters that are best suited to extracting information from such images, and find qualitative similarities to mammalian vision. PACS84.35+i 89.70.+c 87.57.Nk     

Abnormal adsorption behavior of dimethyl disulfide on gold surfaces

Adsorption of dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) on gold colloidal nanoparticle surfaces has been examined to check its binding mechanism. Differently from previous results, DMDS molecules adsorbed on the gold surface at high concentration showed the S–S stretching band at 500 cm⁻¹ in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra, which indicates the presence of intact adsorption of DMDS molecules. However, it was found that the S–S bond of disulfides was easily cleaved on the gold surface at low concentration. These behaviors were not observed for diethyl disulfide (DEDS) or diphenyl disulfide (DPDS). Our results indicate that DMDS molecules with the shortest alkyl chains on the gold surface can be inserted into self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) without the S–S bond cleavage during self-assembly due to insufficient lateral van der Waals interaction and the low adsorption activity of disulfides, whereas DEDS with longer alkyl chains or DPDS with the weak disulfide bond dissociation energy would not. These unusual DMDS adsorption behaviors were examined by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We also compared the bonding dissociation energy of the S–S bonds of various disulfides by means of a density functional theory (DFT) calculation.     

Effects of post-annealing on the structural and nanomechanical properties of Ga-doped ZnO thin films deposited on glass substrate by rf-magnetron sputtering

In this study, the effects of post-annealing on the structure, surface morphology and nanomechanical properties of ZnO thin films doped with a nominal concentration of 3 at.% Ga (ZnO:Ga) are investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation techniques. The ZnO:Ga thin films were deposited on the glass substrates at room temperature by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Results revealed that the as-deposited ZnO:Ga thin films were polycrystalline albeit the low deposition temperature. Post-annealing carried out at 300, 400 and 500 °C, respectively, has resulted in progressive increase in both the average grain size and the surface roughness of the ZnO:Ga thin film, in addition to the improved thin films crystallinity. Moreover, the hardness and Young's modulus of ZnO:Ga thin films are measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter operated with the continuous contact stiffness measurements (CSM) option. The hardness and Young's modulus of ZnO:Ga thin films increased as the annealing temperature increased from 300 to 500 °C, with the best results being obtained at 500 °C.     

High power efficiency in single layer blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

High efficiency single layer blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) without any charge transport layer were developed. A mixed host of spirobifluorene based phosphine oxide (SPPO13) and 1, 1-bis[(di-4-tolylamino)phenyl]cyclohexane (TAPC) was used as the host in the emitting layer. A high maximum external quantum efficiency of 15.8% and a quantum efficiency of 8.6% at 1000 cd/m² were achieved in the single-layer blue PHOLEDs without any charge transport layer. The maximum power efficiency and power efficiency at 1000 cd/m² were 31.4 and 16.9 lm/W, respectively.     

Influence of ligands on the photoluminescent properties of Eu in europium β-diketonate/PMMA-doped systems

Three kinds of europium β-diketonates Eu(DBM)₃, Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ (DBM: Dibenzoylmethane; BA: 1-Benzoylacetone; TTA: Thenoyltrifluoroacetone) were doped in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The doped systems were studied by using photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, emission decay experiments and X-ray diffractometry. Eu(III) ions in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems have two distinct symmetric sites and the emission band changes greatly with the compositions. Eu(III) in the Eu(BA)₃/PMMA systems gives only one symmetric site in the doped systems and the emission band changes slightly with the compositions. Although two distinct symmetric sites of Eu(III) can be distinguished in the doped systems of Eu(TTA)₃/PMMA, the two sites have similar ⁵D₀ lifetimes and the luminescent spectra almost do not change with the compositions. XRD reveals that crystallites were formed in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems that have different crystalline structure from that of the chelate, and Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ exist in amorphous state in the doped systems. The difference between the PL properties and structures of the doped systems for the three kinds of chelates should be attributed to different interactions between the chelate molecules and between the chelate and PMMA.     

Modification of Nuclear Decay Constant in the Finite Space

Hyperfine Interactions - The decay constants of nuclei are calculated based on the Cheon's idea, namely, the population of nuclear excited state can be modified by the mechanism that the...     

Origin of the thermoreversible fcc-bcc transition in block copolymer solutions

The thermoreversible fcc-bcc transition in concentrated block copolymer micellar solutions is shown to be driven by decreases in the aggregation number as the solvent penetrates the core, leading to a softer intermicelle potential. Small-angle neutron scattering measurements in a dilute solution are used to quantify the temperature-dependent micellar characteristics. The observed phase boundary is in excellent agreement with recent simulations of highly branched star polymers.     

Effects of device resolution on three-dimensional integral imaging

We present the effects of a finite number of pixels in elemental images on the resolution and the depth of focus in three-dimensional integral imaging (II). We show that the number of pixels in elemental images determines not only the lateral resolution but also the depth resolution. The minimum number of pixels required in each elemental image is calculated to avoid depth-of-focus degradation. We evaluate how II system performance degrades as the number of pixels in each elemental image changes. The product of the depth of focus and the lateral resolution squared is used as the performance metric.