Electro-hydrodynamic fabrication of ZnO-based dye sensitized solar cells

The electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) technique has been successfully applied for manufacturing ZnO photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Porous structure of ZnO film after calcinations was beneficial to the absorption of dye and infiltration of electrolyte. By using ionic liquid as an electrolyte, a high short-circuit photocurrent density of 12.1 mA/cm² was attained and the overall photo-to-electric energy conversion efficiency (η) was 3.4% under an AM-1.5 illumination at 100 mW/cm². At the same time, the influence factors on the solar cell performance, such as the concentrations of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) during EHD process and light intensity were discussed. PACS 81.07.Bc; 84.60.Jt; 81.15.Rs     

Synchronization and coherent combining of two pulsed fiber lasers

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for coherent combining of pulsed fiber lasers.A new method for generating synchronous pulsed fiber lasers by direct phase modulation is proposed and investigated.It is shown that phase modulated mutually coupled laser array can be a steady synchronous pulsed fiber laser source.The synchronous pulsed fiber lasers are coherently combined with an invariable phase difference of π in adjacent lasers.Neither active phase control nor polarization control is taken in our experiment.     

Protonation state and free energy calculation of HIV-1 protease–inhibitor complex based on electrostatic polarisation effect

The protonation states of catalytic Asp25/25′ residues remarkably affect the binding mechanism of the HIV-1 protease–inhibitor complex. Here we report a molecular dynamics simulation study, which includes electrostatic polarisation effect, to investigate the influence of Asp25/25′ protonation states upon the binding free energy of the HIV-1 protease and a C₂-symmetric inhibitor. Good agreements are obtained on inhibitor structure, hydrogen bond network, and binding free energy between our theoretical calculations and the experimental data. The calculations show that the Asp25 residue is deprotonated, and the Asp25′ residue is protonated. Our results reveal that the Asp25/25′ residues can have different protonation states when binding to different inhibitors although the protease and the inhibitors have the same symmetry. This study offers some insights into understanding the protonation state of HIV-1 protease–inhibitor complex, which could be helpful in designing new inhibitor molecules.     

Snap-through piezoelectric energy harvesting

Snap-through mechanism is employed to harvest electricity from random vibration through piezoelectricity. The random excitation is assumed to be Gaussian white noise. The snap-through piezoelectric energy harvester possesses the bistability. For small-amplitude vibration in a potential well, the Ito stochastic differential equation of the electromechanical coupling system is derived from the Taylor approximation at a stable equilibrium point. The method of the moment differential equations is applied to determine the statistical moments of the displacement response and the output voltage. The effects of the system parameters on the output voltage and the output power are examined. The approximate analytical outcomes are qualitatively and quantitatively supported by the numerical simulations. For large-amplitude interwell motion, the effects of the parameters on the output voltage and the output power are numerically investigated. Nonlinearity produced by the snap-through improves energy harvesting so that the snap-through piezoelectric energy harvester can outperform the linear energy harvester in the similar size under Gaussian white noise excitations.     

Semi-supervised Discriminant Analysis and Sparse Representation-based self-training for Face Recognition

In this paper, we consider the problem of automatic face recognition with limited manually labeled training data. We propose a new semi-supervised self-training approach which is used to automatically augment the manually labeled training set with new unlabeled data. Semi-supervised Discriminant Analysis is used in each iteration of self-training for discriminative dimensionality reduction by making use of both labeled and unlabeled training data. Sparse representation is applied for classification. Experimental results on four independent databases show that our algorithm outperforms other face recognition methods under 3 different configurations, namely transductive, semi-supervised and single training image.     

A study on small-world brain functional networks altered by postherpetic neuralgia

Understanding the effect of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) pain on brain activity is important for clinical strategies. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to relate PHN pain to small-world properties of brain functional networks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to construct functional brain networks of the subjects during the resting state. Sixteen patients with PHN pain and 16 (8 males, 8 females for both groups) age-matched controls were studied. The PHN patients exhibited decreased local efficiency along with non-significant changes of global efficiency in comparison with the healthy controls. Moreover, regional nodal efficiency was found to be significantly affected by PHN pain in the areas related to sense (postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus and thalamus), memory/affective processes (parahippocampal gyrus) and emotional activities (putamen). Significant correlation (p < 0.05) was also found between the nodal efficiency of putamen and pain intensity in PHN patients. Our results suggest that PHN modulates the local efficiency, and the small-world properties of brain networks may have potentials to objectively evaluate pain information in clinic.     

Improved method for loss measurements in planar waveguides

A method employing an isosceles prism and a right-angle one is developed for loss measurement in planar waveguides. During the measuring process, the isosceles prism is fixed and the right-angle prism fixed on the waveguide slides by following the waveguide. Only by adjusting the gap thickness we can realize the loss measurement in planar waveguides. The method is demonstrated with an Ag/Na ion-exchanged waveguide fabricated on BK7 glass from AgNO₃ melt diluted with NaNO₃ (mass ratio 1:9), with the condition of 4 h and . The experimental results show that the method has the advantages on convenient operation, accurate results and no required end polishing.     

Single-frequency terahertz source pumped by Q-switched fiber lasers based on difference-frequency generation in GaSe crystal

We demonstrate a unique terahertz (THz) source that is compact, utilizes recently developed all-fiber Q-switched lasers, and is based on difference-frequency generation in a GaSe crystal. A single piezo simultaneously Q switched the two fiber lasers by using stress-induced birefringence, to achieve the temporal overlap of pulses from the two fiber lasers. These correlated pulses then combine in the GaSe crystal to produce coherent and highly monochromatic THz pulses. The peak power for this THz source can reach 0.53 mW, corresponding to an average power of 0.43 microW and a conversion efficiency of 4.75 x 10(-7). The estimated linewidth of this THz source can be as narrow as approximately 35 MHz or 1.17 x 10(-3) cm(-1).     

Yb∶Y_3Al_5O_(12)晶体晶格振动光谱的研究

采用提拉法生长Y3Al5O12(YAG)晶体和Yb3 掺杂原子数分数分别为5%,10%,15%,20%,25%,50%和100%的Yb∶Y3Al5O12(Yb∶YAG)晶体。系统表征和分析了Yb3 掺杂浓度对拉曼光谱的影响。随着Yb3 掺杂浓度的增加,晶体的振动模式没有明显的变化,晶体结构没有改变;在370 cm-1和785 cm-1附近,振动吸收峰的半峰全宽逐渐增大。分析得出,Yb3 掺杂浓度对晶体的晶格、对称性、荧光寿命均有影响,从而可能影响到晶体的光谱和激光性能。     

用电子探针对广西金牙微细粒金矿金赋存状态的研究

微细粒金赋存状态的研究，对搞清此类金矿的成因，指导这类金矿的勘探、开采和选冶有着重要意义，本文报道了用电子探针对广西金牙微细粒金矿的矿石进行了观察分析，首次在金牙金矿床含金矿化物表面发现了含铂汞金矿、汞金矿、铂金太航自然金，并确定出它们的尺度。