Numerical Stability Verification of a Two-Dimensional Time-Dependent Nonlinear Shallow Water System Using Multidimensional Wave Digital Filtering Network

This paper aims to study the stability effects of a two-dimensional time-dependent nonlinear shallow water (NLSW) system based on the concordance analysis of necessary and sufficient conditions derived from a multidimensional wave digital filtering (MDWDF) network. Approximating the differential equations used to describe elements of a MD passive electrical circuit by grid-based difference equations, the satisfactory Courant–Friedrichs–Levy condition usually known to be necessary are derived with various initial conditions to provide theoretical support for the existence of a MD passive dynamical system and thus stability of the discrete equivalent. Together with the evaluation of the system’s energy and hence solution error propagation that both arise directly and sufficiently to the stability of MDWDF networks, the numerical convergence of the network can be fully established. As a consequence, all instability related aspects in relation to computational errors and overflow corrections are fully excluded leading to uniquely a high degree of robustness of MDWDF architecture. Feasible comparisons are made with a finite element method implemented in the COMSOL Multiphysics to confirm the verification process.     

Localised heating of tumours utilising injectable magnetic nanoparticles for hyperthermia cancer therapy

This study reports an investigation of hyperthermia cancer therapy utilising an alternating magnetic field to induce a localised temperature increase on tumours by using injectable magnetic nanoparticles. In-vitro and in-vivo experiments represent the feasibility of hyperthermia cancer therapy. A feedback temperature control system was first developed to keep the nanoparticles at a constant temperature to prevent overheating in the tumours such that a safer and more precise cancer therapy becomes feasible. By using the feedback temperature control system, magnetic nanoparticles can be heated up to the specific constant temperatures, 37, 40, 42, 45, 46 and 47degC, respectively, with a variation less than 0.2degC. With this approach, the in-vitro survival rate of tumour cells at different temperatures can be systematically explored. It was experimentally found that the survival rate of cancer cells can be greatly reduced while CT-26 cancer cells were heated above 45degC. Besides, localised temperatures increase as high as 59.5degC can be successfully generated in rat livers by using the proposed method. Finally, complete regression of tumour was achieved. The developed method used injectable magnetic nanoparticles and may provide a promising approach for hyperthermia cancer therapy.     

Micellar layer-by-layer synthesis of TiO2/Ag hybrid particles for bactericidal and photocatalytic activities

Silver nanoparticles prepared by a reverse micelle process were sequentially deposited on rutile-structured TiO₂ particles via an electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition together with a hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction. The TiO₂ surface was first mediated by a preferential adsorption of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) cationic molecules, before being mixed with the Ag nanoparticles encapsulated in reverse micelles consisting of anionic surfactant of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) in isooctane. The deposition of Ag nanoparticles was not of a uniform coverage on the TiO₂ surface, but of a heterogeneous growth of the Ag particles on the TiO₂ surface. Antibacterial activity of the composites against gram-negative bacteria, i.e., Escherichia coli (E. coli), was found to increase with the deposition cycle, resulted mainly from the increased Ag concentration. The bactericidity is persistent in the absence of ultraviolet (UV) light. Over the concentration range of Ag examined, i.e., Ag/Ti atomic ratio varies from 0.28% to 0.53%, photocatalytic efficiency of the composites against methylene blue (MB) dye in an aqueous solution also improved pronouncedly with the silver concentration under UV exposure.     

Corrigendum to the paper ‘Linear Time Varying Model Predictive Control and its Application to Active Steering Systems: Stability Analysis and Experimental Validation’ (International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control 2008; 18(8):862–875)

This note is a corrigendum of the paper ‘Linear Time Varying Model Predictive Control and its Application to Active Steering Systems: Stability Analysis and Experimental Validation’, published on the volume 18, issue 8, pages 862–875 of the International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control in 2008. Next we point out a technical error in the proof of Lemma 2 of the paper, and provide the corrected version of the lemma. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multi-view vision-based hand motion capturing system

Vision-based hand motion capturing approaches play a critical role in human computer interface owing to its non-invasiveness, cost effectiveness, and user friendliness. This work presents a multi-view vision-based method to capture hand motion. A 3-D hand model with structural and kinematical constraints is developed to ensure that the proposed hand model behaves similar to an ordinary human hand. Human hand motion in a high degree of freedom space is estimated by developing a separable state based particle filtering (SSBPF) method to track the finger motion. By integrating different features, including silhouette, Chamfer distance, and depth map in different view angles, the proposed motion tracking system can capture the hand motion parameter effectively and solve the self-occlusion problem of the finger motion. Experimental results indicate that the hand joint angle estimation generates an average error of 11°.     

All-solution-processed blue small molecular organic light-emitting diodes with multilayer device structure

All-solution-processed multilayer blue small molecular organic light-emitting diodes are fabricated by blade coating method. Fluorescent blue host,1-(7-(9,9′-bianthracen-10-yl)- 9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)pyrene, and blue dopant, 4,4′-(1E,1′E)-2,2′-(naphthalene-2,6-diyl)bis(ethene-2,1-diyl)bis(N,N-bis(4-hexylphenyl)aniline), are used to achieve good solubility and pinhole-free thin film by solution process. The multilayer device structure with hole/electron transport layer is achieved by blade coating method without the dissolution problem between layers. The efficiency of the all-solution-processed device is 4.8 cd/A at 1200 cd/m², close to that by thermal deposition in high vacuum chamber. The device performance is optimized with the annealing temperature of TPBi layer at 50 °C.     

New structure transcutaneous transformer for totally implantableartificial heart system

A new structure transcutaneous transformer for a totally implantable artificial heart is presented which has a high coupling coefficient and transmission efficiency. Experimental results indicate that it is possible to transmit an electrical energy of 20 W transcutaneously with a maximum efficiency of more than 90%     

Algorithms to Minimize Data Transfer for Code Update on Wireless Sensor Network

In Wireless Sensor Networks, the preloaded program code and data on sensor nodes often need to be updated due to changes in user requirements and environmental conditions. Sensor nodes are severely restricted by energy constraints. It is especially energy consuming for sensor nodes to transfer data through wireless radios. To efficiently reprogram sensor nodes through radio, we propose an algorithm, Minimum Data transferred by Copying and Downloading (MDCD) and its extension E-MDCD, to minimize the number of bytes needed to be transferred from the host machine to the sensor nodes. Experimental results show that the E-MDCD algorithm reduces the number of bytes transferred by 93.25 % for small code change compared with the Rsync based algorithm. In average, E-MDCD can reduce 59.82 % compared with the existing the Rsync based algorithm and 16.14 % compared with the Vdelta algorithm.     

Diffusiophoresis of a soft spherical particle along the axis of a cylindrical microchannel

The diffusiophoresis of a soft particle is modeled theoretically by considering a soft sphere moving along the axis of a cylindrical microchannel. This geometry allows us to examine simultaneously the boundary effect and the nature of a particle on its diffusiophoretic behavior. The soft particle, which comprises a rigid core and an ion-penetrable layer, is capable of simulating biocolloids such as cells and particles covered by an artificial membrane layer. The results of numerical simulation reveal that due to its specific structure, the diffusiophoretic behavior of a soft particle is quite different from that of a rigid particle. The influence of the cylindrical microchannel on the diffusiophoretic behavior of the particle is also very different from that of other geometries considered in the literature. We show that, in addition to the effect of double-layer polarization, the effect of electrophoresis, and the electrical interaction between the coions outside the double layer and the particle, the nature of the soft particle can also influence both quantitatively and qualitatively its diffusiophoretic behavior. Several interesting results are observed, providing valuable reference for both the design of a diffusiophoresis device and the interpretation of the relevant experimental data.