Bimodal Nanoparticle Size Distributions Produced by Laser Ablation of Microparticles in Aerosols

Silver nanoparticles were produced by laser ablation of a continuously flowing aerosol of microparticles in nitrogen at varying laser fluences. Transmission electron micrographs were analyzed to determine the effect of laser fluence on the nanoparticle size distribution. These distributions exhibited bimodality with a large number of particles in a mode at small sizes (3–6-nm) and a second, less populated mode at larger sizes (11–16-nm). Both modes shifted to larger sizes with increasing laser fluence, with the small size mode shifting by 35% and the larger size mode by 25% over a fluence range of 0.3–4.2-J/cm². Size histograms for each mode were found to be well represented by log-normal distributions. The distribution of mass displayed a striking shift from the large to the small size mode with increasing laser fluence. These results are discussed in terms of a model of nanoparticle formation from two distinct laser–solid interactions. Initially, laser vaporization of material from the surface leads to condensation of nanoparticles in the ambient gas. Material evaporation occurs until the plasma breakdown threshold of the microparticles is reached, generating a shock wave that propagates through the remaining material. Rapid condensation of the vapor in the low-pressure region occurs behind the traveling shock wave. Measurement of particle size distributions versus gas pressure in the ablation region, as well as, versus microparticle feedstock size confirmed the assignment of the larger size mode to surface-vaporization and the smaller size mode to shock-formed nanoparticles.     

粗大误差的灰色判别方法及其应用

介绍一种基于灰色系统理论的粗大误差判别方法。该方法对于数据少或分布规律不明的情况能给出准确的结果。以核磁共振稳态吸收实验中磁场强度与励磁电流的线性拟合为例,使用灰色判别方法进行粗大误差的判定和对比,说明该方法在物理实验异常值剔除中的高效性和实用性。     

基于Storm的城市消防联网远程监控系统的实时数据处理应用

针对城市消防联网远程监控系统中实时信息数据逐渐增长而引出的大数据问题,传统的消防系统无法实时、高效地处理消防实时数据的问题,提出了一种基于云计算和Storm实时数据处理系统的解决方案;对于开源的Storm框架进行需求和性能分析,实现对其技术架构上的改进,并结合消防系统的特点,提出一套高实时性、高可扩展性的消防联网监控中心的数据实时处理的体系架构,同时也进行了云计算平台的搭建,利用心跳检测机制保证各个监控单位的实时性连接;研究表明,基于云计算和Storm平台架构完全适用于消防联网监控中心的实时消防数据的处理,具有高效性、高可靠性、性能显著等特性。     

基于飞行载荷的大数据实测方法研究

飞行载荷实测是全面、定量评定飞机结构强度的必要环节,在飞行试验中起着至关重要的作用。传统的有人机、小型机载荷标定需要评测的参数仅需要数十个或几十个关键参数,实时采集系统通道量较小,实时监控系统服务器压力较小。随着航空工业的飞速发展,大型机、无人机等需要评定的参数量急速上升到数百个,而采集通道成为瓶颈,传统的测量方法难以满足需求。针对飞行载荷实测的海量参数难以测试问题,文章提出了一种通道复用的方案,良好的解决了海量数据难以实时测量问题。经验证,该方案可良好的运用在各种型号的飞行载荷海量数据实测中。     

Molecular orientation of thiol-derivatized tetraphenylporphyrin on gold studied by XPS and NEXAFS

Tetraphenylporphyrins bearing four linkers consisting of thioacetyl-functionalized carbon chains were immobilized on a gold surface via thiolate-gold bonds using two different preparation routes. The structure of these molecular layers was characterized in detail with synchrotron radiation based core-level spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The results show that the geometry of the molecular layers and the number of linkers that bind to the gold surface depends on the preparation schemes. The deprotection of the linkers through removal of the terminal acetyl group before the molecular adsorption (deprotected systems) resulted in porphyrins bound to the gold surface with on the average three linkers, their normal axis being tilted ∼38° with respect to the surface normal. On the other hand, porphyrin layers prepared directly with the acetyl group still in place on the linkers (protected systems) are made of molecules bound to the gold surface via two linkers on the average. The resulting orientation is more upright, with the normal axis of the porphyrin plane tilted ∼50° with respect to the surface normal. Moreover, NEXAFS measurements revealed that the acetyl deprotected porphyrin layers have a higher degree of ordering than the protected systems.     

Patterning on single crystalline silicon by laser scanning and alkaline etching

The applicability of laser processing for small-lot micro-electromechanical system devices is discussed in this paper. This simple process could replace conventional complex processes designed with mass production in mind. Ablation, protrusions or surface modification is revealed to occur by argon ion laser scanning into silicon. Which of them occurs depends on the laser power. It is found that the protrusions are covered by a thin layer of oxide; however, oxidation of the modified surface is not established even though some results suggest it. Surface modification is more applicable to surface patterning than coarse protrusion is because the laser-modified surface can be used as a mask in KOH etching to make sharp patterns. The applicability of this method is indicated by demonstrating pattern width control, patterning over a large area and the fabrication of a 16-bit linear scale.     

The neural correlates of calculation ability in children: an fMRI study

Most studies investigating mental numerical processing involve adult participants and little is known about the functioning of these systems in children. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of numeracy and the influence of age on these correlates with a group of adults and a group of third graders who had average to above average mathematical ability. Participants performed simple and complex versions of exact and approximate calculation tasks while in the magnet. Like adults, children activated a network of brain regions in the frontal and parietal lobes during the calculation tasks, and they recruited additional brain regions for the more complex versions of the tasks. However, direct comparisons between adults and children revealed significant differences in level of activation across all tasks. In particular, patterns of activation in the parietal lobe were significantly different as a function of age. Findings support previous claims that the parietal lobe becomes more specialized for arithmetic tasks with age.     

基于图像分离块操作的快速模板匹配跟踪算法

传统的模板匹配跟踪算法存在运算量大和实时性差的缺陷,限制了它的应用范围。针对这一问题,在已有的基于位置预测相关跟踪算法的基础上,提出了利用图像分离块操作对相关跟踪算法进行改进,进一步减少相关跟踪算法的计算量,以满足系统的实时性要求。对改进算法进行了模拟仿真实验验证。仿真结果表明：该改进算法不仅在很大程度上减少了计算量,提高了跟踪系统的实时性,而且能够有效地减少随机噪声的影响,使得跟踪更加快速准确。     

Evaluation and optimization of fMRI single-subject processing pipelines with NPAIRS and second-level CVA

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis, although the univariate general linear model (GLM) is currently the dominant approach to brain activation detection, there is growing interest in multivariate approaches such as principal component analysis, canonical variate analysis (CVA), independent component analysis and cluster analysis, which have the potential to reveal neural networks and functional connectivity in the brain. To understand the effect of processing options on performance of multivariate model-based fMRI processing pipelines with real fMRI data, we investigated the impact of commonly used fMRI preprocessing steps and optimized the associated multivariate CVA-based, single-subject processing pipelines with the NPAIRS (nonparametric prediction, activation, influence and reproducibility resampling) performance metrics [prediction accuracy and statistical parametric image (SPI) reproducibility] on the Fiswidgets platform. We also compared the single-subject SPIs of univariate GLM with multivariate CVA-based processing pipelines from SPM, FSL.FEAT, NPAIRS.GLM and NPAIRS.CVA software packages (or modules) using a novel second-level CVA. We found that for the block-design data, (a) slice timing correction and global intensity normalization have little consistent impact on the fMRI processing pipeline, but spatial smoothing, temporal detrending or high-pass filtering, and motion correction significantly improved pipeline performance across all subjects; (b) the combined optimization of spatial smoothing, temporal detrending and CVA model parameters on average improved between-subject reproducibility; and (c) the most important pipeline choices include univariate or multivariate statistical models and spatial smoothing. This study suggests that considering options other than simply using GLM with a fixed spatial filter may be of critical importance in determining activation patterns in BOLD fMRI studies.     

Influence of age and sex on aortic distensibility assessed by MRI in healthy subjects

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is particularly well adapted to the evaluation of aortic distensibility. The calculation of this parameter, based on the change in vessel cross-sectional area per unit change in blood pressure, requires precise delineation of the aortic wall on a series of cine-MR images. Firstly, the study consisted in validating a new automatic method to assess aortic elasticity. Secondly, aortic distensibility was studied for the ascending and descending thoracic aortas in 26 healthy subjects. Two homogeneous groups were available to evaluate the influence of sex and age (with an age limit value of 35 years). The automatic postprocessing method proved to be robust and reliable enough to automatically determine aortic distensibility, even on artefacted images. In the 26 healthy volunteers, a marked decrease in distensibility appears with age, although this decrease is only significant for the ascending aorta (8.97±2.69 10⁻³ mmHg⁻¹ vs. 5.97±2.02 10⁻³ mmHg⁻¹). Women have a higher aortic distensibility than men but only significantly at the level of the descending aorta (7.20±1.61 10⁻³ mmHg⁻¹ vs. 5.05±2.40 10⁻³ mmHg⁻¹). Through our automatic contouring method, the aortic distensibility from routine cine-MRI has been studied on a healthy subject population providing reference values of aortic stiffness. The aortic distensibility calculation shows that age and sex are causes of aortic stiffness variations in healthy subjects.