Blue-phase liquid crystal display with insulating protrusion

In order to lower the saturation voltage and enhance the transmittance of in-plane switching blue-phase liquid crystal display (IPS-BPLCD), IPS-BPLCD with insulating protrusion is proposed. The single-protrusion (only set on the top of pixel electrode) and double-protrusion (set on the top of pixel and common electrodes) structures are investigated in this work. The potential distribution changes when the protrusion is used. There is a thicker transverse electric field in BPLC range, because the stronger electric field at the edges of the electrodes is decentralised into BPLC range. As a result, the saturation voltage is reduced from 36.3 V to 28.9 V when the double-protrusion structure is used, and transmittance is increased by ~20%. The contrast ratio is larger than 1000:1 in 60° viewing cone using a half-wave biaxial film. Both single-protrusion and double-protrusion structures have the uniform gamma curves at large oblique viewing angles. Moreover, the off-axis image distortion index is 0.1590 at 60º polar angle when zigzag electrodes are used.     

Selection of phage-displayed antibodies with high affinity and specificity by electrophoresis in microfluidic devices

A method development aimed for high-throughput and automated antibody screening holds great potential for areas ranging from fundamental molecular interactions to the discovery of novel disease markers, therapeutic targets, and monoclonal antibody engineering. Surface display techniques enable efficient manipulation of large molecular libraries in small volumes. Specifically, phage display appeared as a powerful technology for selecting peptides and proteins with enhanced, target-specific binding affinities. Here, we present a phage-selection microfluidic device wherein electrophoresis was performed under two orthogonal electric fields through an agarose gel functionalized with the respective antigen. This microdevice was capable of screening and sorting in a single round high-affinity phage-displayed antibodies against virus glycoproteins, including human immunodeficiency virus-1 glycoprotein 120 or the Ebola virus glycoprotein (EBOV-GP). Phages were differentially and laterally swept depending on their antigen affinity; the high-affinity phages were recovered at channels proximal to the application site, whereas low-affinity phages migrated distal after electrophoresis. These experiments proved that the microfluidic device specifically designed for phage-selection is rapid, sensitive, and effective. Therefore, this is an efficient and cost-effective method that allowed highly controlled assay conditions for isolating and sorting high-affinity ligands displayed in phages.     

Stable Convergence of Multiple Wiener-Itô Integrals

We prove sufficient conditions ensuring that a sequence of multiple Wiener-Itô integrals (with respect to a general Gaussian process) converges stably to a mixture of normal distributions. Note that stable convergence is stronger than convergence in distribution. Our key tool is an asymptotic decomposition of contraction kernels, realized by means of increasing families of projection operators. We also use an infinite-dimensional Clark-Ocone formula, as well as a version of the correspondence between “abstract” and “concrete” filtered Wiener spaces, in a spirit similar to that of Üstünel and Zakai (J. Funct. Anal. 143, 10–32, [1997]).     

Sequences of ultrafast non-resonant multiphoton transitions in a three-electronic level molecule

Non-resonant multiphoton transitions between three electronic states of a molecular system are studied. Based on a projection operator formalism which is formulated in the framework of the so-called time-local as well as the time-nonlocal approach, time-dependent Schrödinger equations are obtained, which include effective couplings to the laser field. For both procedures a slowly varying amplitude approximation can be invoked. The resulting time-local equations are solved in a much more efficient way than the original effective Schrödinger equations. The validity of these approximations is verified numerically for a two-photon process. Furthermore, the effective Schrödinger equations are specified to sequences of two-photon and three-photon transitions. The derived equations are applied to a molecular system consisting of three electronic states with Morse-type potential energy curves. Using different laser pulse scenarios the conditions are discussed under which a sequence of two-photon and three-photon transitions can take place.     

NMR and chemometric methods: a powerful combination for characterization of Balsamic and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

This work presents the capability of NMR spectroscopy combined with Chemometrics in predicting the ageing of Balsamic and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. The need of an analytical method is an important requirement for both research oriented and commercial evaluation of these very valuable products. ¹H NMR spectroscopy, based on the advantage of rapid sample analysis without any manipulation or derivatization, is here proposed as a valid tool to describe Balsamic and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. For this purpose, 72 reliable samples, were divided into three different groups according to their ageing process: young (<12 years), old (>12 and <25 years) and extra old (>25 years). Hierarchical Projection to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) allowed us to characterize the ageing process. Variables showing the largest VIP (Variable Importance in the Projection) were extracted from PLS-DA model, thus shedding lights onto the role played by specific compounds in this complex ageing process. Two robust classification models, were built by PLS-DA and Naïve Bayes classifier and compared to prove the accuracy of the representation on both training and test sets. The predictions obtained for 41 “unknown” vinegar samples with these both methods gave more than 80% agreement among them.     

Study of polymer-stabilised blue phase liquid crystal on a single substrate

One outstanding feature of the polymer-stabilised blue phase (PSBP) is that it is unnecessary to form an alignment film, which requires a high-temperature baking process. Therefore, PSBPs may enable flexible liquid crystal displays (LCDs) on plastic substrates. In this study, polymer stabilisation of a blue phase (BP) on a single substrate was performed without using a conventional sandwich-type cell, and the electro-optical properties are demonstrated to be similar to those of a sandwich-type PSBP LCD cell. It was experimentally shown that the oxygen which inhibits radical polymerisation is required to be excluded in order to complete the polymer stabilisation in blue phase.     

解凸约束非线性单调方程组的无导数谱PRP投影算法

本文在著名PRP共轭梯度算法的基础上研究了一种无导数谱PRP投影算法,并证明了算法在求解带有凸约束条件的非线性单调方程组问题的全局收敛性.由于无导数和储存量小的特性,它更适应于求解大规模非光滑的非线性单调方程组问题.数值试验表明,新算法对给定的测试问题是有效的和稳定的.     

交叉视差及观看时间对自由立体显示视觉舒适度的影响

针对自由立体显示器视疲劳的问题,对交叉视差及观看时间影响视觉舒适度的问题进行了分析和研究。实验选取具有交叉视差的图片和视频,观察者采用主观评价和客观评价相结合的方法,对其观看舒适度进行评价。结果表明具有交叉视差的图片和视频,其观看舒适度都随时间的增加而减弱,图片的观看时间应在23min以内,视频的观看时间应在17min以内,此时观看较为舒适。持续观看具有交叉视差的图片和视频会引起视疲劳,应控制其观看时间。