Functional magnetic resonance imaging reference phantom

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used to pinpoint active brain areas. Changes in neuronal activity modulate the local blood oxygenation level, and the associated modulation of the magnetic field homogeneity can be detected with magnetic resonance imaging. Thus, the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI indirectly measures neuronal activity. Similar modulation of magnetic field homogeneity was here elicited by other means to generate a BOLD-like change in a new phantom constructed to provide reference activations during fMRI. Magnetic inhomogeneities were produced by applying current to coils located near the phantom containing 1.5 ml of Gd-doped water. The signal-to-noise ratio of the images, produced by gradient-recalled echo-planar imaging, varied between 104 and 107 at a selected voxel when the field was and was not inhomogenized, respectively. The contrast of signals between homogeneous and inhomogeneous conditions was generally stable, except in 3% of time points. During the periods of greatest deviations an observable change would have been detected in a simultaneously measured BOLD signal. Such changes could result from the imaging method or occur through glitches in hardware or alterations in the measurement environment. With identical measurement setups, the phantom could allow comparing intersession or intersubject brain activations.     

A phase field model for vesicle–substrate adhesion

In this paper, a phase field model is developed for vesicle adhesion involving complex substrate and vesicle geometries. The model takes into account an adhesion potential that depends on the distance of vesicle to the substrate. A variational problem is solved in a 3D computational domain by minimizing the contribution of bending elastic energy and the adhesion energy under the constraints of total surface area and volume, described via a phase function. An adaptive finite element method is used to efficiently compute the numerical solutions of the model. The computational results are validated through comparison of several axisymmetric shapes with the sharp-interface ODE solution. Moreover, we compute shapes for non-axisymmetric situations to support the observation that concave substrates favor adhesion.     

Coupling coefficients evaluation of a directional coupler using gain guided and index antiguided fibers

In this paper, we have investigated the mutual and self coupling characteristics of directional couplers using two individual gain guided and index antiguided fibers, which can deliver robust single mode operation with large mode area, respectively owing to the combined adequately large gain coefficients in the core; Some interesting and distinguishing properties from conventional index guided fiber couplers are obtained that: The variations of coupling coefficients are complex-valued and spatially damping oscillated, but not exponential-like decreasing as conventional index guided couplers.     

Density functional theory study of surface catalysis and adsorption on several elements in Group I-B and VIII

This review deals with the high-throughput field in surface catalysis and adsorption. Special focus is placed on advanced methods for knowledge discovery such as density functional theory (DFT) simulations. An inventory of successful cases on several elements in Group I-B and VIII is reported, including the relevant data and knowledge management, which are very important in chemical industry, fuel cell, and environment protection, for both scientific and economical reasons.      

The correspondence between Casimir pressure and energy in one-dimensional field models

We propose a method of calculation of Casimir pressure using the Green function for one-dimensional case. This method yields the renormalized pressure if an external field is absent, otherwise it permits us to calculate the dependence of pressure at one boundary on the other boundary’s coordinate. The calculated pressure permits one to obtain the Casimir energy for the systems under consideration.     

Nucleon aPF2 Superfluid Pairing Gap in Asymmetry Nuclear Matter

The 3 P F2 superfluidity of neutron and proton is investigated in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter within the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach and the BCS theory by adopting the Argonne V14 and the Argonne V18 nucleonnucleon interactions. We find that pairing gaps in the 3PF2 channel predicted by adopting the AV14 interaction are much larger than those by the AV18 interaction. As the isospin-asymmetry increases, the neutron 3 pF2 superfluidity is found to increase rapidly, whereas the proton one turns out to decrease and may even vanish at high enough asymmetries. As a consequence, the neutron 3pF2 superfluidity is much stronger than the proton one at high asymmetries and it predominates over the proton one in dense neutron-rich matter.     

核磁共振实验最佳信号的获得

通过分析各个实验参数对核磁共振信号的影响,提出并实现了最佳信号获得的方法。实验表明,对信号影响较大的因素主要有三个,即磁场强度、样品质量和扫描电压。而这三个参数中尤以磁场强度对信号的影响最为显著。     

Wall shear stress and near-wall convective transport: Comparisons with vascular remodelling in a peripheral graft anastomosis

Fluid dynamic properties of blood flow are implicated in cardiovascular diseases. The interaction between the blood flow and the wall occurs through the direct transmission of forces, and through the dominating influence of the flow on convective transport processes. Controlled, in vitro testing in simple geometric configurations has provided much data on the cellular-level responses of the vascular walls to flow, but a complete, mechanistic explanation of the pathogenic process is lacking. In the interim, mapping the association between local haemodynamics and the vascular response is important to improve understanding of the disease process and may be of use for prognosis. Moreover, establishing the haemodynamic environment in the regions of disease provides data on flow conditions to guide investigations of cellular-level responses.     

Spectroscopy Study on Cobalt EDTA Complexes

The photoacoustic spectra of Co(H2EDTA)·3H20, Ca[Co(EDTA)H20]·4H20, Sr[Co(HEDTA)H20]2·4H20, Ba[Co(HEDTA)H20]2·4H20 complexes crystal are determined in the region of 300–800nm. In these spectra, the separations of absorption bands observed at 510nm and 650nm, the peak widths of 510nm band are variable in this series complexes. It is explained by the electron mutual effect, strength of ligand field and the symmetry of coordination group. The structure characters of these series complexes are also discussed.