基于有理逼近和灵敏度分析的结构动力重分析方法

提出了一种新的结合特征灵敏度直接法和向量值函数有理逼近的结构动力重分析方法。给出了直接法简单特征对n阶灵敏度分析的一般表达式。利用向量值函数有理逼近，减小固有振型n阶Taylor展开的截断误差。数值算例表明，对结构设计参数作大修改时，该方法能够给出高精度的逼近结果。新方法不需要系统的全部模态，因此，适用于大型复杂结构的动力重分析。     

Tracking leukocytes in vivo with shape and size constrained active contours

Inflammatory disease is initiated by leukocytes (white blood cells) rolling along the inner surface lining of small blood vessels called postcapillary venules. Studying the number and velocity of rolling leukocytes is essential to understanding and successfully treating inflammatory diseases. Potential inhibitors of leukocyte recruitment can be screened by leukocyte rolling assays and successful inhibitors validated by intravital microscopy. In this paper, we present an active contour or snake-based technique to automatically track the movement of the leukocytes. The novelty of the proposed method lies in the energy functional that constrains the shape and size of the active contour. This paper introduces a significant enhancement over existing gradient-based snakes in the form of a modified gradient vector flow. Using the gradient vector flow, we can track leukocytes rolling at high speeds that are not amenable to tracking with the existing edge-based techniques. We also propose a new energy-based implicit sampling method of the points on the active contour that replaces the computationally expensive explicit method. To enhance the performance of this shape and size constrained snake model, we have coupled it with Kalman filter so that during coasting (when the leukocytes are completely occluded or obscured), the tracker may infer the location of the center of the leukocyte. Finally, we have compared the performance of the proposed snake tracker with that of the correlation and centroid-based trackers. The proposed snake tracker results in superior performance measures, such as reduced error in locating the leukocyte under tracking and improvements in the percentage of frames successfully tracked. For screening and drug validation, the tracker shows promise as an automated data collection tool.     

Processing sodium tellurite melts in low gravity drop shaft: part I Melt evaporation and formation of solid particles from vapor

Glasses of Na₂O·8TeO₂ and Na₂O·4TeO₂ compositions adhered to a small platinum heating coil (2 to 3 mm ID, 5 to 6 mm long) were melted and evaporated in low gravity using the drop shaft at the Japan Microgravity Center (JAMIC). The gravity level attained during the 10 s free fall was in the order of 10^–3 g. The species evaporated from the melt in low gravity generally formed a spherical smoke cloud surrounding the melt, whose size depended on the melt temperature and also on the time the melt evaporated in low gravity. The shape of the cloud was found to depend on several other factors, namely, the uniformity of heating, amount of melt, and the presence of gas bubbles in the melt. The evaporating species formed nearly perfect spheres of pure TeO₂ whose diameter ranged from 0.05 to 20 m. The size of TeO₂ microspheres increased with increasing melt temperature and time in low gravity, and was 5 to 10 times larger than that of similar particles prepared at 1-g.     

Two-step K(+)-Na+ and Ag(+)-Na+ ion-exchanged glass waveguides for C-band applications

A two-step K(+)-Na+ and Ag(+)-Na+ ion-exchange technique is introduced to fabricate single-mode channel waveguides in BK7 glass for the telecom-wavelength region. The dependencies of insertion loss, polarization-dependent loss (PDL), end bending loss of curved waveguides on channel width, diffusion time, and annealing time are investigated. Results show that postannealing is a required process for improving waveguide properties and an optimal annealing time exists. Although relatively narrow mask openings are used in most one-step ion-exchange processes, a wider channel width, to as wide as 10 microm, is preferred for this two-step method. The minimum coupling loss to/from single-mode fiber and the propagation loss is found to be 0.4 dB and 0.3 dB/cm, respectively. For 5-cm-long waveguides the PDL is less than 0.1 dB. For the S-bend structure the cosine curve exhibit apparently a lower bending loss than the double-arc curve.     

Athermalized low-loss echelle-grating-based multimode dense wavelength division demultiplexer

A high-density wavelength division demultiplexer (DEMUX) capable of demultiplexing eight-channel 200-GHz optically spaced signals into a 62.5-microm multimode-fiber array is reported. The wavelength range of operation is from 1549.32 to 1560.61 nm within the International Telecommunication Union grid. The measured wavelength accuracy is within 0.04 nm. The mean insertion loss of this DEMUX is 1.95 dB. Thermal analysis and temperature testing results are reported. The temperature test cycling from 20 degrees C to 60 degrees C indicates that the wavelength thermal drift is less than 0.8 pm/degrees C. Adjacent cross talk is measured to be better than -45 dB. The measured data transmission bit rate of this device is higher than 3.5 Gb/s.     

A mass balance model describing multiyear fate of organochlorine compounds in a high Arctic lake

Data collected over a 3-year study of a high arctic watershed and lake are used to understand the fate of organochlorine compounds (OCs) and form the basis of a mass balance contaminant fate model. The model uses the fugacity/aquivalence approach to describe OC dynamics between air, stream inflows and outflow, the water column, and surficial sediments. The steady-state model results indicate that stream inflows contributed from 96 to >99% of total chemical loadings, but 57-98% of total loadings were lost from the lake via the outlet, the percentage of which is controlled by the hydrologic regime of the high arctic lake. Conversely, only 0.4-3.4% of loadings were retained within the sediments due to the high export rate, minimal scavenging from the water column and low organic carbon fraction of the sediments. Using the unsteady-state model, which includes year-round processes, degradation was estimated to account for losses of 7-32% for the more persistent OCs and 42-50% for the less persistent OCs (alpha-HCH, gamma-HCH, and endosulfan I). If loadings were eliminated, water column concentrations would decline with half-lives <1 year for less persistent OCs and 1-2 years for the more persistent OCs, whereas the half-lives for OCs in sediment are 8-25 years.     

3D Printed Tubulanes as Lightweight Hypervelocity Impact Resistant Structures

Lightweight materials with high ballistic impact resistance and load‐bearing capabilities are regarded as a holy grail in materials design. Nature builds these complementary properties into materials using soft organic materials with optimized, complex geometries. Here, the compressive deformation and ballistic impact properties of three different 3D printed polymer structures, named tubulanes, are reported, which are the architectural analogues of cross‐linked carbon nanotubes. The results show that macroscopic tubulanes are remarkable high load‐bearing, hypervelocity impact‐resistant lightweight structures. They exhibit a lamellar deformation mechanism, arising from the tubulane ordered pore structure, manifested across multiple length scales from nano to macro dimensions. This approach of using complex geometries inspired by atomic and nanoscale models to generate macroscale printed structures allows innovative morphological engineering of materials with tunable mechanical responses.     

Effect of annealing atmosphere on microstructure,optical and electronic properties of spray-pyrolysed In-doped Zn(O,S) thin films

Spray-pyrolysed zinc oxy-sulphide Zn(O,S) has been doped with varying concentrations of indium (In) to improve its electrical and optical properties for possible application as buffer layer in thin film solar cells. The In-doping in Zn(O,S) is found to change the electron carrier concentration from \(10^{19}\) to \(10^{18}\,\hbox {cm}^{-3}\) and a subsequent annealing in argon atmosphere is found to improve its electrical conductivity. Moreover, annealing in air atmosphere reduces the carrier concentration to a range of \(10^{13}\)–\(10^{15}\,\hbox {cm}^{-3}\) making it useful as a buffer layer. The reduction in degeneracy of In-doped Zn(O,S) is desirable for its application as buffer material, whereas annealing in argon makes it suitable as electron membrane (window layer) in thin film solar cell.     

Formulation development and evaluation of nifedipine as pylorospasm inhibitor

Introduction: In this study, different nifedipine-loaded formulations were prepared to treat pylorospasm, a sphincter muscle disorder characterized by delayed gastric emptying process. The efficacy of formulation was evaluated in patients by subjective assessment, gamma scintigraphic approaches, and confocal microscopy.

Methods: Nifedipine-loaded different formulations such as sucrose bead, pellets, and microparticles (slugging method, ionotropic gelation, and chemical denaturation) were designed. The studies were performed on 50 subjects, of which 30 subjects were treated with optimized nifedipine loaded microcapsules while 20 subjects were given capsule becosule-Z as a control. The efficacy of formulation was assessed by comparing symptoms like dyspepsia, abdominal pain, abdominal fullness, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and irregular motion. The effectiveness of formulation was also assessed by gamma scintigraphic studies by determining the rate of emptying of a radioactivity labeled standard meal from patients’ stomach into the duodenum. Confocal microscopy was used to assess targeting potential of developed formulation.

Results: Drug-loaded alginate-chitosan microcapsules were found to be satisfactory, in terms of controlled drug release, surface morphology, and bioadhesive properties and thus selected for in vivo studies. Clinical studies revealed the efficacy of formulation in abolishing various GI symptoms at high altitude. Associated symptoms such as dyspepsia, abdominal pain, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and irregular motion were recovered by 75, 62, 76.5, 86.7, 85.7, and 37.5%, respectively in nifedipine-treated patients. In comparison, 73.7, 40, 33.3, 40, 20, and 0% recoveries were observed in patients given control treatment only. Gamma Scintigraphic studies in lab also revealed 2.425?±?0.245 (p?Conclusions: Results strongly suggest that nifedipine loaded mucoadhesive formulation has a targeting potential which accelerates gastric emptying process in gastroparesis patients, and thus the formulation might prove useful as a potent prokinetic agent.