One-step synthesis of Fe3O4@C/reduced-graphite oxide nanocomposites for high-performance lithium ion batteries

In this paper, we propose a facile one-step strategy to prepare Fe₃O₄@amorphous carbon/reduced graphite oxide nanocomposites (FCRGs) under hydrothermal conditions. A transmission electron microscopy image has shown that the as-formed Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles coated with a layer of amorphous carbon are wrapped by reduced graphite oxide (r-GO) sheets. The diameter of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles is less than 50 nm. N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms indicate that the specific surface area of FCRG is 31.6 m²/g with porous structure. FCRG exhibits improved cycling stability and rate performances as a potential anode material for high-performance lithium ion batteries.     

Automated eigensystem realisation algorithm for operational modal analysis

The eigensystem realisation algorithm (ERA) is one of the most popular methods in civil engineering applications for estimating modal parameters. Three issues have been addressed in the paper: spurious mode elimination, estimating the energy relationship between different modes, and automatic analysis of the stabilisation diagram. On spurious mode elimination, a new criterion, modal similarity index (MSI) is proposed to measure the reliability of the modes obtained by ERA. On estimating the energy relationship between different modes, the mode energy level (MEL) was introduced to measure the energy contribution of each mode, which can be used to indicate the dominant mode. On automatic analysis of the stabilisation diagram, an automation of the mode selection process based on a hierarchical clustering algorithm was developed. An experimental example of the parameter estimation for the Chaotianmen bridge model in Chongqing, China, is presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.     

A maximum-efficiency-first multi-path route selection strategy for optical burst switching networks

In this paper, the impact of a path selection on other existing paths in optical burst switching (OBS) networks is studied by analyzing the contention among different traffic streams and the interaction between the route selection and traffic load balance. The results show that there exists a mutual reinforcement interaction among the traffic load of a path, the path burst loss ratio and the contention ability of the path when burst loss ratio based multi-path selection strategies are adopted, which may increase the unbalance of traffic and lead to severe congestion further. A maximum-efficiency-first multi-path selection strategy, which considers the performance of the burst flows and the impact of a path selection on existing OBS paths at the same time by a combined metric of route efficiency, is proposed to maximize the utility of the burst flows and minimize the increment of lost throughput on the path. The performance of the proposed multi-path selection strategy is evaluated through simulation. The results show that the presented strategy obviously outperforms the least burst loss ratio strategy and shortest path first strategy in terms of the burst loss ratio in the practical unbalanced background traffic, especially when the network is heavily loaded.     

Luminescent properties of La2LiTaO6:Mn4+ and its application as red emission LEDs phosphor

A novel phosphor, Mn⁴⁺ doped La₂LiTaO₆, was developed by solid-state reaction method. The luminescent spectra and emission efficiencies of La₂LiTaO₆:Mn _x ⁴⁺ (x = 0.001, 0.003, 0.005 and 0.01) were discussed. The effects of co-doped charge compensation ions, M = Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, were investigated, respectively. The excitation spectra indicated that La₂LiTaO₆:Mn⁴⁺ could be effectively excited by both NUV light and blue light. The emission spectra of the phosphor exhibit a broadband ranging from 670 to 720 nm with the maximum at about 709 nm in deep red region. The co-doping of Mg²⁺ could significantly improve the luminescent properties of La₂LiTaO₆:Mn⁴⁺. Thus, phosphor La₂LiTaO₆:Mn⁴⁺, Mg²⁺ can serve as a key component to improve color rendering of blue-chip white-LEDs.     

Production and Storage of Energy with One-Dimensional Semiconductor Nanostructures

This article outlines state-of-the-art energy technologies, including production and storage, available to us through semiconductor nanomaterials. The nanostructure growth processes have been illustrated in detail, with emphasis on the latest developments in hierarchical and radial-composition modulated nanostructures. On the energy efficiency and generation part, light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics, photoelectrochemistry, thermoelectric, and fuel cells have been discussed. In the energy storage part, supercapacitors and lithium batteries have been discussed.     

Effect of incommensurate potential on the resonant tunneling through Majorana bound states on the topological superconductor chains

We study the transport through the Kitaev chain with incommensurate potentials coupled to two normal leads by the numerical operator method. We find a quantized linear conductance of e ² / h, which is independent to the disorder strength and the gate voltage in a wide range, signaling the Majorana bound states. While the incommensurate potential suppresses the current at finite voltage bias, and then narrows the linear response regime of the I-V curve which exhibits two plateaus corresponding to the superconducting gap and the band edge, respectively. The linear conductance abruptly drops to zero as the disorder strength reaches the critical value 2g _s + 2Δ with Δ the p-wave pairing amplitude and g _s the hopping between neighbor sites, corresponding to the transition from the topological superconducting phase to the Anderson localized phase. Changing the gate voltage also causes an abrupt drop of the linear conductance by driving the chain into the topologically trivial superconducting phase, whose I-V curve exhibits an exponential shape.     

Multi-focus image fusion based on robust principal component analysis and pulse-coupled neural network

Multi-focus image fusion combines multiple source images with different focus points into one image, so that the resulting image appears all in-focus. In order to improve the accuracy of focused region detection and fusion quality, a novel multi-focus image fusion scheme based on robust principal component analysis (RPCA) and pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) is proposed. In this method, registered source images are decomposed into principal component matrices and sparse matrices with RPCA decomposition. The local sparse features computed from the sparse matrix construct a composite feature space to represent the important information from the source images, which become inputs to PCNN to motivate the PCNN neurons. The focused regions of the source images are detected by the firing maps of PCNN and are integrated to construct the final, fused image. Experimental results demonstrate that the superiority of the proposed scheme over existing methods and highlight the expediency and suitability of the proposed method.     

A false color image fusion method based on multi-resolution color transfer in normalization YCBCR space

In this paper, a false color image fusion method for merging visible and infrared images is proposed. Firstly, the source images and reference image are decomposed respectively by Laplacian pyramid transform. Then the grayscale fused image and the difference images between the normalized source images are assigned to construct YC_BC_R components. In the color transfer step, all the three channels of the color space in each decomposition level are processed with the statistic color mapping according to the color characteristics of the corresponding sub-images of the reference image. Color transfer is designed based on the multi-resolution scheme in order to significantly improve the detailed information of the final image, and to reduce excessive saturation phenomenon to have a comparatively natural color appearance compared with the classical global-coloring algorithm. Moreover, the differencing operation between the normalized source images not only provides inter-sensor contrast to make popping the potential targets but also weakens the influence of the ambient illumination variety to a certain degree. Finally, the fused results and several metrics for evaluation of fused images subjectively and objectively illustrate that the proposed color image fusion algorithm can yield a more complete mental representation of the perceived scene, resulting in better situational awareness.     

基于相关性的医学图像插值算法

鉴于医学图像层间插值是图像三维重建的关键环节,它直接影响人体组织器官三维重建结果的准确性;为克服以往医学图像插值方法低效率,边缘模糊的缺陷,提出了一种新的医学图像插值算法;该方法利用人体断层扫描数据中体素相关性和组织相关性,对人体组织进行分类,采用以不同的方式对不同类别的点进行插值,并对这些点进行校验;实验结果表明,该算法在插值图像的精度以及时间上比现有的同类插值算法有了很大的改善,图像边缘更加清晰,能有效地应用于三维重建。     

Effects of an AlN passivation layer on the microstructure and electronic properties of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Effects of an AlN passivation layer on the microstructure and electronic properties of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were investigated by X-ray diffraction and Hall effect measurements. AlN passivation induced an additional compressive stress in an AlGaN barrier layer instead of an additional tensile stress induced by Si₃N₄ passivation. The change of strain after passivation contributes in a relatively small proportion to the variation of the carrier concentration in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures compared with the contribution from passivation of surface traps. The results from Hall effect measurements show that the AlN passivation layer has a better effect on passivation of deep levels than the Si₃N₄ film and also results in a remarkable increase in mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas. PACS 73.40.Kp; 71.55.Eq; 81.65.Rv; 81.05.Ea; 61.05.cp