Improvement in a-plane GaN crystalline quality using wet etching method

Nonpolar （1120） GaN films are grown on the etched a-plane GaN substrates via metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. High-resolution X-ray diffraction analysis shows great decreases in the full width at half maximum of the samples grown on etched substrates compared with those of the sample without etching, both on-axis and off-axis, indicating the reduced dislocation densities and improved crystalline quality of these samples. The spatial mapping of the E2 （high） phonon mode demonstrates the smaller line width with a black background in the wing region, which testifies the reduced dislocation densities and enhanced crystalline quality of the epitaxial lateral overgrowth areas. Raman scattering spectra of the E2 （high） peaks exhibit in-plane compressive stress for all the overgrowth samples, and the E2 （high） peaks of samples grown on etched substrates shift toward the lower frequency range, indicating the relaxations of in-plane stress in these GaN films. Furthermore, room temperature photoluminescence measurement demonstrates a significant decrease in the yellow-band emission intensity of a-plane GaN grown on etched templates, which also illustrates the better optical properties of these samples.     

Monitoring of distributed defects on HSM spindle bearings

The High Speed Machining (HSM) spindle is one of the most critical bearing applications, because it requires both high speed and high power in order to obtain high quality and productivity. Therefore, bearing condition monitoring is important. Firstly, this paper presents a real and typical spindle life example. The vibration signals and their evolution are discussed in relation to the bearing failures that have been observed after the spindle disassembly. Cleavage notably occurred on the ceramic balls of the hybrid ball bearing. Damaged balls and their chippings then damaged uniformly the rings raceways on the whole circumference. As a consequence, a noise component increases in vibration signal due to the worsening of the ball-race contact during the rolling process. In a second section, the noise component produced by bearing condition is studied and characterized. The frequency spectrum distribution is briefly discussed in relation to a signal model. It is demonstrated by Pearson’s test that the distribution follows a Gaussian law all along the spindle life. Besides, it evolves with bearing condition. Thus, a new criterion, called SBN (Spindle Bearing Noise), is proposed for the monitoring of the uniformly distributed defect. A specific monitoring device was also developed in order to collect real industrial data during the spindle lifetime. Vibration signals are used in order to evaluate the criterion relevancy by comparison with the current best practices. The analyses through three required conditions for bearing condition monitoring and based on three spindles signals, have shown some good results.     

The effects of air temperature and humidity on the acoustic design of voice alarm systems on underground stations

Sound attenuation of air due to climatic conditions is often assumed to be constant and/or negligible in the electro acoustic design of voice alarm (VA) systems. However, air attenuation variations can be significant in large underground spaces and particularly as the frequency increases to the mid to high frequencies which are the most relevant to speech intelligibility. This investigation evaluates and quantifies the impact of the variability of the most influential climatic parameters, air temperature and relative humidity, on the performance of VA systems in underground stations. Computer simulations were employed to predict the effect of varying these climatic parameters on key performance metrics. Results demonstrated a significant increase in the values of reverberation time parameters with both temperature and humidity, at frequencies critical for speech intelligibility. Consequently the values of speech intelligibility related metrics decreased with rising temperatures and humidity. Hence, the study shows how ignoring temperature and humidity effects can lead to calculation errors in the design of VA systems. These errors could cause over-specification of the absorption required of surface materials, and the inaccurate prediction of acoustic and speech intelligibility related parameters.     

Acoustic-based damage detection method

Most of the structural health monitoring (SHM) methods is either based on vibration-based and contact acoustic emission (AE) techniques. Both vibration-based and acoustic emission techniques require attaching transducers to structure. In many applications, such as those involving hot structural materials for thermal protection purposes or in rotating machines, non-contact measurements would be preferred because the operating environment is prohibitive leading to potential damage in contact sensors or their attachments. In this paper, a new non-contact, acoustic-based damage detection method is proposed and tested with an objective that the proposed method is able to detect the location and extend of damage accurately. The proposed acoustic-based damage detection method is a direct method. In this proposed method, changes in vibro-acoustics flexibility matrices of the damage and health structure are used to predict the location and extend of damage in the structure. A case study involving actual measured date for the case of a fixed–fixed plate structure is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results have shown that the proposed acoustic-based damage detection method can be used to detect the location and extend of the damage accurately.     

Accuracy of speech transmission index predictions based on the reverberation time and signal-to-noise ratio

This paper examines the accuracy of the speech transmission index (STI) calculated from the reverberation time (T) and signal-to-noise ratio (L_SN) of enclosed spaces. Differences between measured and predicted STIs have been analysed in two rooms (reverberant vs. absorbent), for a wide range of absorption conditions and signal-to-noise ratios (sixteen tests). The STI was measured using maximum length sequence analysis and predictions were calculated using either measured or predicted values of T and L_SN, the latter assuming diffuse sound field conditions. The results obtained for all the conditions tested showed that STI predictions based on T and L_SN tend to underestimate the STI, with differences between measured and predicted STIs always lower than 0.1 (on a 0.0–1.0 scale), and on average lower than 0.06. According to previous research, these differences are noticeable and therefore non-negligible, as 0.03 is the just noticeable difference in STI. The use of either measured or predicted values of T and L_SN provided similar STI predictions (i.e. non-noticeable changes), with differences between predictions that are on average lower than 0.03 for the absorbent room, and lower than 0.01 for the reverberant room.     

Image quality assessment in multiband DCT domain based on SSIM

The performance of image quality assessment method based on SSIM (structural similarity) is better than the PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio), but the assessment effects of SSIM is poor for seriously blurred image, therefore, the model that combined HVS (human visual sensitivity) and SSIM was established. The basic idea is based on the human eye's sensitivity to different frequency distortion image, the image is two-dimensional discrete cosine transform frequency component into low, mid, high-frequency component, to obtain the frequency component of light, contrast and structural information, using Pearson coefficient for weight and sum processing to the sub-image according to frequency bands of different sensitive degree, finally, get the sharpness of the image. Through nonlinear regression analysis of objective assessment and DMOS, experiments showed that this method was closer to human perception than SSIM and GSSIM for serious blurred distortion image. At the same time, compared to conventional algorithm MAE (mean absolute error), MSE (mean square error) and PSNR, this model was more consistent with human visual characteristics.     

Ultrasonic monitoring of malolactic fermentation in red wines

The progress of malolactic fermentation in red wines has been monitored by using ultrasonic techniques. The evolution of ultrasonic velocity of a tone burst 1 MHz longitudinal wave was measured, analyzed and compared to those parameters of oenological interest obtained simultaneously by analytical methods. Semi-industrial tanks were used during measurements pretending to be in real industrial conditions. Results showed that the ultrasonic velocity mainly changes as a result of the conversion by lactic acid bacteria of malic acid into lactic acid and CO₂. Overall, the present study has demonstrated the potential of the ultrasonic technique in monitoring the malolactic fermentation process.     

Intracellular lectins are involved in quality control of glycoproteins

Glycoprotein quality control is categorized into three kinds of reactions; the folding of nascent glycoproteins, ER-associated degradation of misfolded or unassembled glycoproteins, and transport and sorting of correctly folded glycoproteins. In all three processes, N-glycans on the glycoproteins are used as tags that are recognized by intracellular lectins. We analyzed the functions of these intracellular lectins and their sugar-binding specificities. The results clearly showed that the A, B, and C-arms of high mannose-type glycans participate in the folding, transport and sorting, and degradation, respectively, of newly synthesized peptides. After correctly folded glycoproteins are transported to the Golgi apparatus, N-glycans are trimmed into Man₃GlcNAc₂ and then rebuilt into various complex-type glycans in the Golgi, resulting in the addition of diverse sugar structures that allow glycoproteins to play various roles outside of the cells.     

大流量河道的水质荧光指纹变化

荧光光谱因与水样一一对应而被称为"水质荧光指纹",越来越多地被用于水环境监测。研究了大流量河道A河的水质荧光指纹特征及变化。结果表明,该河的三维荧光光谱中含有三个典型的荧光峰,分别在230/340,280/320和250/450nm附近,而三个峰的强度变化很大,而且有突变的现象。同期的CODMn没有明显变化。研究表明,荧光指纹很适合显示大流量水体的水质变化,且可以弥补常规参数不能反映成分变化的不足,是水质预警的好工具。     

基于红外光谱环类锻件内壁状态监测方法研究

考虑到环类锻件内壁状态对于保证工业的生产安全具有重要作用, 而基于红外光谱的测温方法可以大大提高测温精度, 因此研究基于红外光谱的环类锻件内壁状态监测方法具有重要的意义。为了实时掌握环类锻件的内壁状态, 提出一种红外光谱环类锻件内壁状态监测方法。首先利用红外光谱构建了三级FP型LCTF的测温系统, 通过获取锻件表面辐射的两个单一光谱运用红外双色测温原理实现锻件表面温度的测量。相比传统的测温方法大大提高了锻件表面的测温精度。其次在拉普拉斯导热微分方程的基础上, 运用分离变量法建立了环类锻件内壁状态监测模型;结合红外光谱测温系统测量的温度数据和锻件自身参数信息, 实现了环类锻件的内壁状态监测;最后通过仿真实验验证了所提出方法的可行性, 实现了环类锻件的内壁状态监测, 为保证环类锻件的正常运行提供了理论依据。