Microporous, fast response cellulose ether hydrogel prepared by freeze-drying

A simple and effective method of preparing fast-response gels is developed. The freeze-drying and subsequent rehydration of thermosensitive gels alters the microstructural properties of the gels in a way that leads to rapid shrinking rates. Microporous hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) gels were created by this method to investigate the influence of the process on the swelling and shrinking kinetics of the gels in response to temperature changes. Micropores of different size ranges were produced by freezing gels with different amounts of water at −20 °C. Water content was the key factor to control the microporosity and the shrinking rates of gels. After the freezing treatment, an effective diffusion coefficient for shrinking could be determined by fitting Fick's law to the data (5.2 × 10⁻⁴ cm²/s). This was an increase of two orders of magnitude over that of the untreated, non-porous gel (6.0 × 10⁻⁶ cm²/s). The magnitude of the shrinking coefficient indicates that the shrinking rate of the microporous gel is probably limited by the convective flow, as unsteady flow through porous media follows the same differential equation as Fick's law, but with much greater transport coefficients, as observed here. Physically, the shrinking rate may be determined by the level of interconnected-cells in a microporous structure present at the beginning of shrinking process because the convection through the interconnected-cells is estimated to be much slower than the polymer network diffusion rate of the struts of micropores (0.1–3.0 μm) as well as heat transfer.     

Photocurrent generation in multilayer self-assembly films fabricated from water-soluble poly(phenylene vinylene)

A novel, water-soluble, cationic PPV derivative poly[(2,5-bis(3-bromotrimethylammoniopropoxy)-phenylene-1,4-divinylene)-alt-1,4-(2,5-bis(2-(2-hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy))phenylene vinylene] (BH-PPV) has been synthesized by a Heck coupling reaction. Multilayered assemblies of the BH-PPV and the sodium salt of hexa(sulfobutyl)fullerenes (C(60)-HS) were fabricated successfully by an alternate deposition technique. The multilayer structures were studied by UV/Vis spectroscopy, small angle X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. The photoinduced charge transfer property of the self-assembled multilayer film was also measured by a three-electrode cell technique. A steady and rapid cathodic 5.5 microA cm(-2) photocurrent response was measured as the irradiation of the multilayer film was switched on and off. Importantly, the response of on/off cycling is prompt and reproducible. A possible mechanism for the electron-transfer process is proposed.     

Electrochemical response of ascorbic acid at conducting and electrogenerated polymer modified electrodes for electroanalytical applications: a review

The present short review deals with electroanalytical aspects of electrochemical response of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) at conducting and electrogenerated polymer modified electrodes. Two main topics are considered: (i) electrocatalytic oxidation of ascorbate at conducting polymer modified electrodes, leading to electroanalytical techniques for ascorbate assay, and (ii) retardation of ascorbate penetration through a layer of electrogenerated polymers, leading to permselective coatings and their diverse uses, especially for biosensing devices.     

主动冷却点阵夹层防热结构温度响应计算模型北大核心CSCD

针对点阵夹层结构主动热防护问题,建立了夹层结构面板和芯体导热与冷却剂对流耦合的非稳态传热理论模型,利用有限体积法离散控制方程并在MATLAB中进行了迭代求解.模型首次考虑了面板与夹芯杆之间的收缩热阻,并利用分离变量法得到了收缩热阻的近似解析解.基于单胞模型和周期性边界条件,模拟得到了模型所需的表面对流传热系数h_(b)和h_(fin).最后,选取多单胞计算工况进行数值模拟和理论模型对比,并讨论了收缩热阻对模型预测精度的影响.结果表明:理论模型能够准确预测夹层结构及内部流体的温度变化,理论与仿真之间的最大误差不超过1%;随着外加热流密度不断增大,忽略收缩热阻使得计算结果造成的误差不断增大;与数值模拟相比,理论模型可显著地减少计算时间并节省计算资源,尤其适用于非均匀、非稳态复杂热载荷下点阵夹层结构的温度响应计算.     

Asymptotic Behavior of a Stochastic Predator-prey Model with Beddington-DeAngelis Functional Response and L\'{e}vy Jumps

A stochastic two-prey-one-predator model with Beddington-DeAngelis functional response and L\''{e}vy jumps is proposed and investigated in this paper. First of all, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution, and stochastic ultimate boundedness of the solution. Next, under a simple assumption, by using It\^{o} formula and other important inequalities, some sufficient conditions are established to ensure the extinction and persistence in the mean of the system. The results show that neither strong white noise nor L\''{e}vy noise is conducive to the persistence of the population. Finally, the theoretical results are verified by numerical simulations.     

Comments on “Aliasing Properties of Circular MISRs”

The analysis of aliasing probability presented in a recent article, Aliasing Properties of Circular MISRs [1], is based on an error model that cannot adequately represent real circuits. We show why conclusions presented in [1] should not be used in practice, substantiating our claim with experimental results.This work was supported in part by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and in part by the British Columbia Advanced Systems Institute     

Residual stress/strain analysis in thin films by X-ray diffraction

Residual stresses are found in the majority of multilayer thin film structures used in modem technology. The measurement and modeling of such stress fields and the elucidation of their effects on structural reliability and device operation have been a “growth area” in the literature, with contributions from authors in various scientific and engineering disciplines.

In this article the measurement of the residual stresses in thin film structures with X-ray diffraction techniques is reviewed and the interpretation of such data and their relationship to mechanical reliability concerns are discussed.     

Fastiterative methods for least squares estimations

Least squares estimations have been used extensively in many applications, e.g. system identification and signal prediction. When the stochastic process is stationary, the least squares estimators can be found by solving a Toeplitz or near-Toeplitz matrix system depending on the knowledge of the data statistics. In this paper, we employ the preconditioned conjugate gradient method with circulant preconditioners to solve such systems. Our proposed circulant preconditioners are derived from the spectral property of the given stationary process. In the case where the spectral density functions() of the process is known, we prove that ifs() is a positive continuous function, then the spectrum of the preconditioned system will be clustered around 1 and the method converges superlinearly. However, if the statistics of the process is unknown, then we prove that with probability 1, the spectrum of the preconditioned system is still clustered around 1 provided that large data samples are taken. For finite impulse response (FIR) system identification problems, our numerical results show that annth order least squares estimator can usually be obtained inO(n logn) operations whenO(n) data samples are used. Finally, we remark that our algorithm can be modified to suit the applications of recursive least squares computations with the proper use of sliding window method arising in signal processing applications.Research supported in part by HKRGC grant no. 221600070, ONR contract no. N00014-90-J-1695 and DOE grant no. DE-FG03-87ER25037.     

Schrödinger invariance and strongly anisotropic critical systems

The extension of strongly anisotropic or dynamical scaling to local scale invariance is investigated. For the special case of an anisotropy or dynamical exponent =z=2, the group of local scale transformation considered is the Schrödinger group, which can be obtained as the nonrelativistic limit of the conformal group. The requirement of Schrödinger invariance determines the two-point function in the bulk and reduces the three-point function to a scaling form of a single variable. Scaling forms are also derived for the two-point function close to a free surface which can be either spacelike or timelike. These results are reproduced in several exactly solvable statistical systems, namely the kinetic Ising model with Glauber dynamics, lattice diffusion, Lifshitz points in the spherical model, and critical dynamics of the spherical model with a nonconserved order parameter. For generic values of , evidence from higher-order Lifshitz points in the spherical model and from directed percolation suggests a simple scaling form of the two-point function.     

高铁场景下联合天线与IOS单元选择的分布式IOS-SM传输方案

针对高铁场景下封闭车厢带来的高信号穿透损耗导致传输速率下降问题,提出一种分布式智能全表面（intelligent omni-surface,IOS）辅助空间调制（spatial modulation,SM）的传输方案。首先,采用SM技术保证索引信息部分不受穿透损耗的影响;然后,为了减小远距离IOS车窗的高路径损耗和功率损耗,根据最大化接收信噪比原则对分布式IOS遍历选择,激活最佳IOS车窗传输SM调制信息。最后,为了减小缺失直视路径增益对系统容量性能的影响,基于功率损耗模型,采用天线移除原则和排序选择方式,对接收天线和IOS单元进行动态选择激活。仿真结果表明,相比于传统中继转发和可重构智能超表面-空间调制（reconfigurable intelligence surface-SM,RIS-SM）方案,所提方案更适合高铁通信场景。并且在功率损耗模型下,联合天线与IOS单元选择的分布式IOS-SM方案仍能够保证系统高性能传输。