Light‐ and Solvent‐Controlled Self‐Assembly Behavior of Spiropyran–Polyoxometalate–Alkyl Hybrid Molecules

A molecular photochromic spiropyran–polyoxometalate–alkyl organic–inorganic hybrid has been synthesized and fully characterized. The reversible switching of the hydrophobic spiropyran fragment to the hydrophilic merocyanine one can be easily achieved under light irradiation at different wavelengths. This switch changes the amphiphilic feature of the hybrid, leading to a light‐controlled self‐assembly behavior in solution. It has been shown that the hybrid can reversibly self‐assemble into vesicles in polar solvents and irreversibly into reverse vesicles in non‐polar solvents. The sizes of the vesicles and the reverse vesicles are both tunable by the polarity of the solvent, with the hydrophobic interactions being the main driving force.     

Speaker Identification in a Shouted Talking Environment Based on Novel Third-Order Circular Suprasegmental Hidden Markov Models

It is well known that speaker identification yields very high performance in a neutral talking environment; on the other hand, the performance has been sharply declined in a shouted talking environment. This work aims at proposing, implementing, and evaluating novel third-order circular suprasegmental hidden Markov models (CSPHMM3s) to improve the low performance of text-independent speaker identification in a shouted talking environment. CSPHMM3s possess combined characteristics of: Circular Hidden Markov models, third-order hidden Markov models (HMM3s), and suprasegmental hidden Markov models (SPHMMs). Our results show that CSPHMM3s are superior to each of: first-order left-to-right suprasegmental hidden Markov models (LTRSPHMM1s), second-order left-to-right suprasegmental hidden Markov models (LTRSPHMM2s), third-order left-to-right suprasegmental hidden Markov models (LTRSPHMM3s), first-order circular suprasegmental hidden Markov models (CSPHMM1s), and second-order circular suprasegmental hidden Markov models (CSPHMM2s) in a shouted talking environment. Using our collected speech database, average speaker identification performance in a shouted talking environment based on LTRSPHMM1s, LTRSPHMM2s, LTRSPHMM3s, CSPHMM1s, CSPHMM2s, and CSPHMM3s is 74.6, 78.4, 81.7, 78.7, 83.4, and 85.8 %, respectively. Speaker identification performance that has been achieved based on CSPHMM3s is close to that attained based on subjective assessment by human listeners.     

Gold‐Coated Fe3O4 Nanoroses with Five Unique Functions for Cancer Cell Targeting,Imaging, and Therapy

The development of nanomaterials that combine diagnostic and therapeutic functions within a single nanoplatform is extremely important for molecular medicine. Molecular imaging with simultaneous diagnosis and therapy will provide the multimodality needed for accurate diagnosis and targeted therapy. Here, gold‐coated iron oxide (Fe₃O₄@Au) nanoroses with five distinct functions are demonstrated, integrating aptamer‐based targeting, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical imaging, photothermal therapy. and chemotherapy into one single probe. The inner Fe₃O₄ core functions as an MRI agent, while the photothermal effect is achieved through near‐infrared absorption by the gold shell, causing a rapid rise in temperature and also resulting in a facilitated release of the anticancer drug doxorubicin carried by the nanoroses. Where the doxorubicin is released, it is monitored by its fluorescence. Aptamers immobilized on the surfaces of the nanoroses enable efficient and selective drug delivery, imaging, and photothermal effect with high specificity. The five‐function‐embedded nanoroses show great advantages in multimodality.     

Improvement of the stopband spurious window for a dual-mode dielectric resonator filter by new coupling technique

This paper presents a new design technique for two configurations of a dual-mode filter using a dielectric loaded cavity operating at 1.95 GHz. The dielectric puck in the proposed filter was floated in the middle of a cylindrical metal cavity with short circuits on the side walls and holes through the ceramic from the side face. These holes allowed the insertion of coupling probes which did not affect the unloaded quality factor or the spurious window. The inline structure fourth pole Chebyshev dual mode filter offers a 870 MHz suppression window while the planar configuration was 710 MHz from the resonance frequency and the operation bandwidth of 54 MHz. The volume reduction ratio was eight times larger compared with a coaxial filter of the same Q factor.     

Inverse Operators, q-Fractional Integrals, and q-Bernoulli Polynomials

We introduce operators of q-fractional integration through inverses of the Askey–Wilson operator and use them to introduce a q-fractional calculus. We establish the semigroup property for fractional integrals and fractional derivatives. We study properties of the kernel of q-fractional integral and show how they give rise to a q-analogue of Bernoulli polynomials, which are now polynomials of two variables, x and y. As q→1 the polynomials become polynomials in x−y, a convolution kernel in one variable. We also evaluate explicitly a related kernel of a right inverse of the Askey–Wilson operator on an L² space weighted by the weight function of the Askey–Wilson polynomials.     

CAD latches onto new techniques for analog ICs

Design techniques for low-power, nondigital nonmicrowave circuits are presented. The major objectives in improving analog CAD are described. The current status of CAD for analog circuits is discussed, and interesting trends are examined. An approach to CAD-compatible analog design is discussed. These designs also apply to mixed analog/digital VLSI design environments, particularly to circuits used in signal processing     

Colour error reduction in video systems

The problems of achieving color fidelity in video systems are reviewed. Usually a correction matrix is appropriate for one illumination environment, but not necessarily others. A wide range of situations is examined, and, by use of 16 test colors, a matrix can be derived which gives good colorimetry for each. However, as the signal/noise ratio may be degraded, a matrix may be derived which gives a good compromise between noise performance and accurate color rendition. Some color environments are similar, so that ultimately only eight correction matrices are necessary. The noise performance, in terms of the display signal/noise ratio, is determined, and it is shown to be modified by about 1.5 dB for most situations. It is expected that this concept will lead to fully compensating color video cameras     

Identification of region of attraction for global optimization problem using interval symmetric operator

In this paper, some of the experience of the interval arithmetic methods for obtaining and locating the region of attraction of a global optimizer of a real continuous function f defined on a compact set D of is described.     

Prüfer Rings with Involution

The concept of a Prüfer ring is studied in the case of rings with involution such that it coincides with the corresponding notion in the case of commutative rings.