Optimal estimation of the diffusion coefficient from non-averaged and averaged noisy magnitude data

The magnitude operation changes the signal distribution in MRI images from Gaussian to Rician. This introduces a bias that must be taken into account when estimating the apparent diffusion coefficient. Several estimators are known in the literature. In the present paper, two novel schemes are proposed. Both are based on simple least squares fitting of the measured signal, either to the median (MD) or to the maximum probability (MP) value of the Probability Density Function (PDF). Fitting to the mean (MN) or a high signal-to-noise ratio approximation to the mean (HS) is also possible. Special attention is paid to the case of averaged magnitude images. The PDF, which cannot be expressed in closed form, is analyzed numerically. A scheme for performing maximum likelihood (ML) estimation from averaged magnitude images is proposed. The performance of several estimators is evaluated by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. We focus on typical clinical situations, where the number of acquisitions is limited. For non-averaged data the optimal choice is found to be MP or HS, whereas uncorrected schemes and the power image (PI) method should be avoided. For averaged data MD and ML perform equally well, whereas uncorrected schemes and HS are inadequate. MD provides easier implementation and higher computational efficiency than ML. Unbiased estimation of the diffusion coefficient allows high resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and may therefore help solving the problem of crossing fibers encountered in white matter tractography.     

Generalized excluded volume and the diffusivity and viscosity of supercooled liquids and glasses over the entire fragility spectrum

Transport properties of glass-formers near glass transition reflect the varying degrees of the sensitivity of the solid-like dynamics and structures with respect to temperature, depending on their fragility. Notably, however, most glasses resume Arrehenius transport behavior upon onset of vitrification. To address this phenomenon a theory of the self-diffusion coefficient and viscosity is developed on the basis of a model constructed for the generalized excluded volume of glass-formers described by the generic van der Waals equation of state. The molecular clustering behavior of a glass-former is exploited in terms of an order parameter that measures the concentration of glassy, clustered molecules, which is then related to the excluded volume. The formulas arrived therefrom are shown to excellently account for the self-diffusion coefficient and viscosity of various glass-formers over the entire fragility spectrum studied experimentally: e.g., _GeO2${\mathrm{GeO}}_2$, silica, ethanol, glycerol, diopside, propylene carbonate, o$o$-terphenyl, tris-napthylbenzene, toluene, and so on. The excluded volume effect thus investigated is shown to essentially characterize the fragility of the glass-formers. The resulting theory not only predicts for fragile glass-formers to resume Arrehenius transport behavior upon the onset of the glass transition, but also explains a crossover between strong and fragile glass-formers in their diffusivity and viscosity profiles as vitrification sets in.     

(111)取向生长Pb(Zr0:95Ti0:05)O3纳米晶薄膜的铁电与热释电特性

" 在Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si基片上用溶胶-凝胶法与快速退火工艺制备了300 nm厚的锆钛酸铅Pb(Zr0:95Ti0:05)O3 (PZT95/5)反铁电薄膜．结果显示600~700 ℃晶化处理的钙钛矿PZT95/5薄膜具有高度(111)取向生长特性．薄膜的电性能测量采用金属-铁电-金属电容器结构．在20 V电压作用下,600~700 ℃晶化处理的PZT95/5薄膜显示出饱和电滞回线．在1 kHz下,600、650和700 ℃晶化的薄膜介电常数与损耗分别为519与0.028、677与0.029、987     

Low Temperature Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence

In this short letter, we describe the effects of low temperature on the Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF) phenomenon. Fluorophores close to Silver Island Films (SiFs) show on average two- to ten-fold enhancements in their fluorescence signatures at room temperature. However, at 77 K, we have observed that MEF is even more pronounced as compared to an identical glass control sample. We also demonstrate that the further enhancements in MEF occur at low temperature over a range of visible wavelengths for different fluorophores, for both SiFs and 20 nm surface deposited gold colloids.     

Analytical analysis of anisotropic thermophoresis of a charged spheroidal colloid in aqueous media for extremely thin EDL cases

Thermophoresis of charged spheroids has been widely applied in biology and medical science. In this work, we report an analysis of the anisotropic thermophoresis of diluted spheroidal colloids in aqueous media for extremely thin EDL cases. Under the boundary layer approximation, we formulate the thermophoretic velocity, the thermophoretic force, and the thermodiffusion coefficient of a randomly dispersed spheroid. The parametric studies show that under the aforementioned conditions, the thermophoresis is anisotropic and its thermodiffusion coefficient should be considered as a vector, D _T. The thermodiffusion coefficient values and directions of D _T are strongly related to the aspect ratio and the angle θ between the externally applied temperature gradient and the particle's axis of revolution: The increasing aspect ratio enlarges the thermodiffusion coefficient value D_T of prolate (oblate) spheroids to a constant value when θ < 60° (θ > 45°), and it reduces D_T of prolate (oblate) spheroids to a constant value when θ > 60° (θ < 45°). The thermodiffusion coefficient direction of both prolate and oblate spheroids deviates slightly from −∇T_∞ for a small aspect ratio, and such deviation becomes serious for a large aspect ratio.     

Low volatile monofunctional reactive diluents for radiation curable formulations

In the last decades the importance of UV curable formulations has increased continuously. Their fast curing speed, solvent-free polymerization conditions, and the formation of hard and highly crosslinked photopolymer networks represent major benefits. Commercial UV resins generally consist of multi-functional vinyl oligomers, photoinitiators, additives, and reactive diluents. Mono- and multi-functional reactive diluents serve as thinners to lower the overall resin viscosity and to improve processability. However, many monofunctional reactive diluents like isobornyl (meth)acrylate or benzyl (meth)acrylate exhibit high volatility, often already at room temperature. This causes adverse effects such as unpleasant odor, potential health risks, and changing resin composition during processing. A new group of monomers that show high potential for replacing traditional highly volatile reactive diluents are salicylate (meth)acrylates. In this work, salicylate-based thinners are synthesized, polymerized, and characterized with respect to their viscosity, volatility, thermal stability, photoreactivity, and thermomechanical properties of their homopolymers. Additionally, a first example of their diluting effect in a highly viscous difunctional polyester urethane methacrylate is demonstrated with 30 wt% of a cycloaliphatically and an aromatically substituted salicylate methacrylate. The polymers of the diluted resin exhibit similarly high glass transition temperatures of 110 and 126 °C, which are in the range of the polymers of the undiluted resin.     

混合熔盐法低温合成Sm2Ti2S2O5及其光催化分解水产氢

以TiO2、TiS2及Sm2O3为前驱体,分别加入LiCl-KCl与LiCl-CsCl的最低共熔混合物作为熔盐,在较低温度下成功合成了Sm2Ti2S2O5(STSO)颗粒。通过对比不同温度下所制备产物的X射线衍射图,首次表明STSO的热力学结晶温度在520℃左右,远低于之前报道的650℃的最低合成温度。扫描电子显微镜照片显示,采用2种混合熔盐制备的STSO都呈片状形貌;同一合成温度下,采用LiCl-CsCl熔盐制备的STSO的厚度小于LiCl-KCl所得产物。采用出射光波长大于420 nm的氙灯作为光源,在含有Na2S-Na2SO3空穴牺牲剂的溶液中,所制备的STSO颗粒表现出最高35μmol·h-1的光催化分解水产氢活性以及20 h以上的产氢稳定性。     

二硫化锡纳米片阻变存储器的制备与性能

采用水热法合成了尺寸为50~100 nm的二硫化锡纳米片,并首次以二硫化锡作为阻变层材料的阻变存储器（Cu/PMMA/SnS₂/Ag,PMMA=聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯）,对其阻变性能进行了研究。结果表明： Cu/PMMA/SnS₂/Ag阻变存储器的开关比约10⁵,耐受性2.7×10³。在上述2项性能指标达到较优水平的同时,开态与关态电压分别仅约为0.28与-0.19 V。     

Solar irradiation and PV module temperature dispersion at a large‐scale PV plant

When evaluating the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) system, it is extremely important to correctly measure the plant operating conditions: incident irradiation and cell temperature. At large‐size PV plants, the possible dispersion of the plant operating conditions may affect the representativeness of the values measured at one single point. The available literature contains many observations on irradiance dispersion (typically associated to high temporal resolution experiments) and its effects on the PV power output (unexpected power transients, power fluctuations, etc.). However no studies have been made on the long‐term energy‐related effects of geographic dispersion of solar irradiation, which could affect, for example, to the uncertainty in determining energy performance indexes like PR. This paper analyses the geographical dispersion in the PV operating conditions observed at low temporal resolutions (day, month and year) at two PV plants located, respectively, in the south of Portugal and the north of Spain. It shows that daily irradiation deviations are significantly higher than is commonly supposed. Furthermore, once the measurement points are a certain distance apart (a few hundred metres), the deviations in irradiation appear to be independent of distance. This could help to determine how many irradiance sensors to install in order to reduce uncertainty. Daily mean temperature differences between different points at a large‐scale PV plant range from 1 to 7 K and are not related to the distance between measurement points. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.