Distributed NGD active circuit for RF-microwave communication

This paper is aimed to the investigation on innovative distributed negative group delay (DNGD) circuits for RF communication. Thanks to the analogy between the lumped and distributed circuits, NGD circuit topologies were identified. By using the S-parameter theory, analysis and synthesis methods of these topologies are proposed. The DNGD circuits developed are mainly comprised of a transistor combined with a series resistance ended by a stub. Then, synthesis relations enabling to determine the NGD circuit parameters from the desired NGD and gain values are established. As application, an active phase shifter (PS) operating independently with the frequency based on the cascade of PGD and NGD devices was synthesized. First, an NGD PS with transmission phase of (135 ± 5)° around 2.56 GHz over the bandwidth of about 1.02 GHz was obtained. Then, a two-stage DNGD PS exhibiting 90° with ±10° flatness from 4.1 GHz to 6.8 GHz was designed. The DNGD circuit presented can be used in various telecommunication areas notably for correcting RF/numerical signal delays in the RF-microwave analogue-digital devices.     

Broadband excitation pulses for high‐field solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

In nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, experimental limits due to the radiofrequency transmitter and/or coil means that conventional radiofrequency pulses (“hard pulses”) are sometimes not sufficiently powerful to excite magnetization uniformly over a desired range of frequencies. Effects due to nonuniform excitation are most frequently encountered at high magnetic fields for nuclei with a large range of chemical shifts. Using optimal control theory, we have designed broadband excitation pulses that are suitable for solid‐state samples under magic‐angle‐spinning conditions. These pulses are easy to implement, robust to spinning frequency variations, and radiofrequency inhomogeneities, and only four times as long as a corresponding hard pulse. The utility of these pulses for uniformly exciting ¹³C nuclei is demonstrated on a 900 MHz (21.1 T) spectrometer. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Propagating surface plasmon polaritons for remote excitation surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy

To illustrate the attractive potentials of remote-excitation surface enhanced Raman scattering (RE-SERS), we review the fundamental concepts and typical applications of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (PSPPs). Based on the RE-SERS technic, the adsorbed molecules are protected from being directly illuminated, while the merits of SERS still remained. However, the critical limitations of applying RE-SERS hinder its rapid development. Hence, drawing an overview about the PSPPs would be beneficial for further promoting the significance of RE-SERS in biological application and investigating the mechanism of surface catalytic reactions.     

Excitation of piezoelectric device through resonant helical coil antenna-like structure

A resonant helical coil antenna-like structure has been explored for wireless excitation of piezoelectric devices. The basic idea behind this wireless excitation of piezoelectric device is electromagnetic resonance along with piezoelectric resonance. The analytical studies reveal that the maximum excitation occurs in the piezoelectric device when the operating frequency of the system coincides with its mechanical resonant frequency. It has been seen that the intensity of piezoelectric stimulation depends on the frequency of operation, air gap, relative position, electric load, and the generated electric field strength by the helical coil antenna-like structure. The analytical results are verified with the measured experimental results, and are found to be in well agreement. By adopting this proposed wireless excitation system the free actuation of the piezoelectric devices can be enabled as opposed to the confined motion for various potential applications.     

The stabilization of partially-premixed jet flames in the presence of high potential electric fields

Numerous research efforts have focused on flame stabilization and emissions. Based on initial experiments, specific mechanisms resulting from DC electric fields were chosen to be investigated, namely the chemical, thermal, and ionization mechanisms. Numerical simulations were performed on premixed propane-ozone-air flames to characterize ozone effects on flame speed resulting from the formation of ozone in high potential electric fields. These results were compared against partially premixed flame experiments to observe the dominant influences within leading edge stabilization within high potential electric fields. It was found that the electromagnetic or ionization influences, serve as the dominant effect on the combustion zone.     

Using random forest to classify T-cell epitopes based on amino acid properties and molecular features

T-lymphocyte (T-cell) is a very important component in human immune system. T-cell epitopes can be used for the accurately monitoring the immune responses which activation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC), and rationally designing vaccines. Therefore, accurate prediction of T-cell epitopes is crucial for vaccine development and clinical immunology. In current study, two types peptide features, i.e., amino acid properties and chemical molecular features were used for the T-cell epitopes peptide representation. Based on these features, random forest (RF) algorithm, a powerful machine learning algorithm, was used to classify T-cell epitopes and non-T-cell epitopes. The classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), and area under the curve (AUC) values for proposed method are 97.54%, 97.22%, 97.60%, 0.9193, and 0.9868, respectively. These results indicate that current method based on the combined features and RF is effective for T-cell epitopes prediction.     

Dark lump excitations in superfluid Fermi gases

We study the linear and nonlinear properties of two-dimensional matter-wave pulses in disk-shaped superfluid Fermi gases.A Kadomtsev-Petviashvili I(KPI) solitary wave has been realized for superfluid Fermi gases in the limited cases of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer(BCS) regime,Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) regime,and unitarity regime.Onelump solution as well as one-line soliton solutions for the KPI equation are obtained,and two-line soliton solutions with the same amplitude are also studied in the limited cases.The dependence of the lump propagating velocity and the sound speed of two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gases on the interaction parameter are investigated for the limited cases of BEC and unitarity.