Distance rendering and perception of nearby virtual sound sources with a near-field filter model

Headphone rendering of nearby virtual sound sources represents to date an open issue in 3-D audio, due to a number of technical challenges and temporal requirements involved in the measurement of individual Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). In order to tackle this problem, we propose a filter model of near-field effects based on the Distance Variation Function (Kan et al., 2009). Thanks to its simple structure and low order, the model can be applied to any far-field virtual auditory display to yield a realistic and computationally efficient near-field compensation of spectral and binaural effects. The model is subjectively evaluated in two psychophysical experiments where the relative distance of pairs of virtually rendered sound sources is judged. Results show that even though sound intensity overshadows subtler near-field effects when it is available as a cue for distance, the model is capable of offering relative distance information of near lateral virtual sources when intensity cues are removed. Furthermore, performances of the model in relative distance rendering are compared to those of alternative near-field rendering methods available in the literature.     

Biodegradable PLGA-b-PEG polymeric nanoparticles: synthesis, properties, and nanomedical applications as drug delivery system

Liquid sodium containing titanium nanoparticles (LSnanop) of 10-nm diameter was prepared by dispersing titanium nanoparticles (2 at.% Ti) into liquid sodium with the addition of stirring and ultrasonic sound wave. The titanium nanoparticles themselves were prepared by the vapor deposition method. This new liquid metal, LSnanop, shows a remarkable stability due to the Brownian motion of nanoparticles in liquid sodium medium. In addition, the difference of measured heat of reaction to water between this LSnanop and liquid sodium indicates the existence of cohesive energy between the liquid sodium medium and dispersed titanium nanoparticles. The origin of the cohesive energy, which serves to stabilize this new liquid metal, was explained by the model of screened nanoparticles in liquid sodium. In this model, negatively charged nanoparticles with transferred electrons from liquid sodium are surrounded by the positively charged screening shell, which may inhibit the gathering of nanoparticles by the ??Coulombic repulsion coating.?? The atomic volume of LSnanop shows the shrinkage from the linear law, which also suggests the existence of cohesive energy. The viscosity of LSnanop is almost the same as that of liquid sodium. This behavior was explained by the Einstein equation. The surface tension of LSnanop is 17?% larger than that of liquid sodium. The cohesive energy and the negative adsorption may be responsible to this increase. Titanium nanoparticles in liquid sodium seem to be free from the Coulomb fission. This new liquid metal containing nanoparticles suggests the possibility to prepare various stable suspensions with new properties.     

X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy process optimization for characterization of trace contamination elements for extreme ultraviolet resist outgassing study

X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used for elemental identification and quantification in a number of fields, and the optimization of XPS performance can help in making better use of the limited XPS tool availability. In the field of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, one of the requirements is having a clean vacuum environment to minimize contamination of the EUV optics. EUV resist outgassing is viewed as one of the main issues that could affect the vacuum environment. There is a program underway to measure the relative contamination rates from different resists following the ASML (provider of lithography systems) approved protocols for witness plate testing. One of the key steps is the XPS measurement of residue on the optics after cleaning. The role of XPS in quantification of species that adhere to the ruthenium‐coated silicon witness plate sample is discussed. The various XPS tool parameters like the pass energy and source setting were optimized for our application of witness plate analysis. The statistics of our XPS tool were studied, and combined with the fundamental XPS equations, a simple mathematical model was developed to optimize the number of scans for the various elements of interest in our witness plate study. Using the optimized number of scans, the acquisition time to measure the contaminant elements to a precision better than 0.1 at.% was minimized. The model devised in the paper can be adapted to other XPS measurements requiring different levels of precision. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Facile Fabrication of Zirconia Modified Screen‐Printed Carbon Electrodes for Electrochemical Sensing of Phosphate

We report here a facile method to immobilize zirconia nanoparticles on a disposable screen‐printed carbon electrode (designated as ZrO₂‐SPCE) for phosphate sensor application. Simply by ultrasonicating a bare SPCE in a ZrO₂ slurry, ZrO₂ nanoparticles can be immobilized effectively on the electrode surface as verified by surface characterization evidences. Using ferricyanide as a redox probe, an increase in the charge transfer resistance (R_ct) of ferricyanide upon adsorption of phosphate on ZrO₂ is used for the determination of phosphate. This ZrO₂‐SPCE phosphate sensor shows a wide linear range up to 1 mM and a detection limit of 1.69 µM (S/N=3). Practical applicability of the ZrO₂‐SPCE is demonstrated by detecting phosphate content in human blood samples.     

Transport Polymerization of Gaseous Intermediates and Polymer Crystals Growth

Man is always enchanted with discoveries of new and better ways of making things. Even after more than a hundred years of synthetic chemistry, scientists are today still as enthusiastic as ever looking for “novel” reactions and “novel” syntheses. One of the great achievements of the last decade was the development and usage of “intermediates” for syntheses. Knowing the extensive applications [1-4] of these intermediates in modern synthetic chemistry, it is, however, surprising to find that only few groups of these intermediates have been used in polymer syntheses. For instance [5], even though there are radical polymerizations and polymerizations involving carbanions and carbonium ions, there are practically no polymer syntheses using benzynes [2], carbenes [3], or nitrenes [4].     

Quantitative fingerprinting by headspace—Two-dimensional comprehensive gas chromatography–mass spectrometry of solid matrices: Some challenging aspects of the exhaustive assessment of food volatiles

The study proposes an investigation strategy that simultaneously provides detailed profiling and quantitative fingerprinting of food volatiles, through a “comprehensive” analytical platform that includes sample preparation by Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME), separation by two-dimensional comprehensive gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection (GC × GC–MS) and data processing using advanced fingerprinting approaches.     

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,Photophysical and Electrochemical Properties of rac‐6,13‐Dihydro‐6,13‐methanopentacene

The title compound, rac‐6,13‐dihydro‐6,13‐methanopentacene ( 1 ), has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT‐IR, ¹H NMR, UV‐Vis, HRMS spectra, cyclic voltammetry and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The crystal belongs to orthorhombic, space group P2₁2₁2₁, with Z = 4 and cell dimensions a = 6.0185(4), b = 8.1914(6), c = 31.4080(19) Å. In the crystal structure, two types of intermolecular C–H···π hydrogen bonds are observed, and further stabilize the crystal structure. Its photophysical and electrochemical properties and complementary density functional theory (DFT) calculations are reported.     

Disilicon Complexes with Two Hexacoordinate Si Atoms: Paddlewheel‐Shaped Isomers with (ClN4)Si?Si(S4Cl) and (ClN2S2)Si?Si(S2N2Cl) Skeletons

The reaction of 1‐methyl‐3‐trimethylsilylimidazoline‐2‐thione with hexachlorodisilane proceeds toward substitution of four of the disilane Cl atoms during the formation of disilicon complexes with two neighboring hexacoordinate Si atoms. The N,S‐bidentate methimazolide moieties adopt a buttressing role, thus forming paddlewheel‐shaped complexes of the type ClSi(μ‐mt)₄SiCl (mt=methimazolyl). Most interestingly, three isomers (i.e., with (ClN₄)Si? Si(S₄Cl), (ClN₃S)Si? Si(S₃NCl), and (ClN₂S₂)Si? Si(S₂N₂Cl) skeletons as so‐called (4,0), (3,1), and cis‐(2,2) paddlewheels) were detected in solution by using ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopic analysis. Two of these isomers could be isolated as crystalline solids, thus allowing their molecular structures to be analyzed by using X‐ray diffraction studies. In accord with time‐dependent NMR spectroscopy, computational analyses proved the cis‐(2,2) isomer with a (ClN₂S₂)Si? Si(S₂N₂Cl) skeleton to be the most stable. The compounds presented herein are the first examples of crystallographically evidenced disilicon complexes with two Si? Si‐bonded octahedrally coordinated Si atoms and representatives of the still scarcely explored class of Si coordination compounds with sulfur donor atoms.