Material removal profile prediction and experimental validation for obliquely axial ultrasonic vibration-assisted polishing of K9 optical glass

K9 optical glass is one of the typical components in optical systems. However, because of its poor fracture resistance, it is difficult to polish it with ultra-precision and high-efficiency and without any surface damage simultaneously. The emergence of the obliquely axial ultrasonic vibration-assisted polishing (UVAP) method can solve this problem which encounters in polishing efficiency and shape accuracy. However, due to the unclear material removal profile (MRP) mechanism, obliquely axial UVAP is not widely used in the processing field. This paper introduces the obliquely axial UVAP method in research processes, mainly focusing on the fixed point MRP analysis of the obliquely axial UVAP. Based on Hertz's contact theory, polishing pressure, the length of the semi-long axis (LLA) and the length of the semi-short axis (LSA) of the contact area are calculated under ultrasonic vibration conditions. Meanwhile, the relative linear velocity distribution of the oblique polishing tool in the instantaneous contact area is modeled by mathematical geometry method. A novel model of the MRP distribution for obliquely axial UVAP is proposed following the Preston equation. Subsequently, a series of polishing experiments were carried out to verify this model. The results show that the numerical model has good agreement with the experimental results on MRP, LLA, LSA, material removal depth and material removal rate (MRR). In addition, the material removal capability can be significantly improved by larger ultrasonic amplitude and larger oblique angle. This model not only more clearly elucidates the processing mechanism of obliquely axial UVAP, but also provides theoretical support for the polishing of free-form optical lenses.     

Real-Time analysis of exosome secretion of single cells with single molecule imaging

The exosome-mediated response can promote or restrain the diseases by regulating the intracellular pathways, making the exosome become an effective marker for diagnosis and therapeutic control at the single-cell level. However, real-time analysis is hard to be achieved with traditional approaches because the exosomes usually need to be enriched by ultracentrifugation for a measurable signal-to-noise ratio. Recently developed label-free single-molecule imaging approaches may become an real-time quantitative tool for the analysis of single exosomes and related secretion behaviors of single living cells owing to their extreme sensitivity.     

Stress field and damage evolution in C/SiC woven composites: Image-based finite element analysis and in situ X-ray computed tomography tests

The construction and examination of meso-structural finite element models of a Chemical-Vapor-Infiltrated (CVI) C/SiC composite is carried out based on X-ray microtomography digital images (IB-FEM). The accurate meso-structural features of the C/SiC composites, which are consisted of carbon fiber tows and CVI-SiC matrix, in particular the cavity defects, are reconstructed. With the IB-FEM, the damage evolution and fracture behaviors of the C/SiC composite are investigated. At the same time, an in situ tensile test is applied to the C/SiC composite under a CT real-time quantitative imaging system, aiming to investigate the damage and failure features of the material as well as to verify the IB-FEM. The IB-FEM results indicate that material damage initially occur at the defects, followed by propagating toward the fiber-tow/SiC-matrix interfaces, ultimately, combined into macro-cracks, which is in good agreement with the in situ CT experiment results.     

A Bio-Conjugated Fullerene as a Subcellular-Targeted and Multifaceted Phototheranostic Agent

Fullerenes are candidates for theranostic applications because of their high photodynamic activity and intrinsic multimodal imaging contrast. However, fullerenes suffer from low solubility in aqueous media, poor biocompatibility, cell toxicity, and a tendency to aggregate. C₇₀@lysozyme is introduced herein as a novel bioconjugate that is harmless to a cellular environment, yet is also photoactive and has excellent optical and optoacoustic contrast for tracking cellular uptake and intracellular localization. The formation, water-solubility, photoactivity, and unperturbed structure of C₇₀@lysozyme are confirmed using UV-visible and 2D ¹H, ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. The excellent imaging contrast of C₇₀@lysozyme in optoacoustic and third harmonic generation microscopy is exploited to monitor its uptake in HeLa cells and lysosomal trafficking. Last, the photoactivity of C₇₀@lysozyme and its ability to initiate cell death by means of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) production upon exposure to low levels of white light irradiation is demonstrated. This study introduces C₇₀@lysozyme and other fullerene-protein conjugates as potential candidates for theranostic applications.     

Organic Semiconducting Luminophores for Near-Infrared Afterglow,Chemiluminescence, and Bioluminescence Imaging

Optical imaging has played a pivotal role in deciphering in vivo bioinformatics but is limited by shallow penetration depth and poor imaging performance owing to interfering tissue autofluorescence induced by concurrent photoexcitation. The emergence of near-infrared (NIR) self-luminescence imaging independent of real-time irradiation has timely addressed these problems. There are two main kinds of self-luminescent agents, namely inorganic and organic luminophores. Inorganic luminophores usually suffer from long-term biotoxicity concerns resulting from potential heavy-metal ions leakage and nonbiodegradability, which hinders their further translational application. In contrast, organic luminophores, especially organic semiconducting luminophores (OSLs) with good biodegradable potential, tunable design, and outstanding optical properties, are preferred in biological applications. This review summarizes the recent progress of OSLs used in NIR afterglow, chemiluminescence, and bioluminescence imaging. Molecular manipulation and nanoengineering approaches of OSLs are discussed, with emphasis on strategies that can extend the emission wavelength from visible to NIR range and amplify luminescence signals. This review concludes with a discussion of current challenges and possible solutions of OSLs in the self-luminescence field.     

Preclinical Evaluation of 99mTc-ZHER2:41071, a Second-Generation Affibody-Based HER2-Visualizing Imaging Probe with a Low Renal Uptake

Radionuclide imaging of HER2 expression in tumours may enable stratification of patients with breast, ovarian, and gastroesophageal cancers for HER2-targeting therapies. A first-generation HER2-binding affibody molecule [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:V2 demonstrated favorable imaging properties in preclinical studies. Thereafter, the affibody scaffold has been extensively modified, which increased its melting point, improved storage stability, and increased hydrophilicity of the surface. In this study, a second-generation affibody molecule (designated ZHER2:41071) with a new improved scaffold has been prepared and characterized. HER2-binding, biodistribution, and tumour-targeting properties of [^99mTc]Tc-labelled ZHER2:41071 were investigated. These properties were compared with properties of the first-generation affibody molecules, [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:V2 and [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:2395. [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:41071 bound specifically to HER2 expressing cells with an affinity of 58 ± 2 pM. The renal uptake for [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:41071 and [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:V2 was 25–30 fold lower when compared with [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:2395. The uptake in tumour and kidney for [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:41071 and [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:V2 in SKOV-3 xenografts was similar. In conclusion, an extensive re-engineering of the scaffold did not compromise imaging properties of the affibody molecule labelled with ^99mTc using a GGGC chelator. The new probe, [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:41071 provided the best tumour-to-blood ratio compared to HER2-imaging probes for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) described in the literature so far. [^99mTc]Tc-ZHER2:41071 is a promising candidate for further clinical translation studies.     

Manufacturing catalyst-coated membranes by ultrasonic spray deposition for PEMFC: Identification of key parameters and their impact on PEMFC performance

This study deals with the manufacturing of catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) for newcomers in the field of coating. Although there are many studies on electrode ink composition for improving the performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), there are few papers dealing with electrode coating itself. Usually, it is a know-how that often remains secret and constitutes the added value of scientific teams or the business of industrialists. In this paper, we identify and clarify the role of key parameters to improve coating quality and also to correlate coating quality with fuel cell performance via polarization curves and electrochemical active surface area measurements. We found that the coating configurations can affect the performance of lab-made CCMs in PEMFCs. After the repeatability of the performance obtained by our coating method has been proved, we show that: (i) edge effects, due to mask shadowing - cannot be neglected when the active surface area is low, (ii) a heterogeneous thickness electrode produces performance lower than a homogeneous thickness electrode, and (iii) the origin and storage of platinum on carbon powders are a very important source of variability in the obtained results.     

Display illumination with modulated directional backlight

Illumination is essential for modern life as colorful world is perceived by human visionary system. Display technology has been developing rapidly in recent decades, and the basic principle is related to the way that the image is illuminated and light is emanated. Traditional illumination is provided by different types of light sources, and the display image is visible in large viewing space until the emanating light decays to zero. This work proposes and demonstrates a novel illumination scheme for a display in which the displaying images are visible only in specific spatial regions. The directional backlight ensures the image propagating to specific direction while imaging visibility can be controlled to terminate abruptly at certain distance from the display screen while exerting no influence to nearby regions. The working principle for such an illumination scheme is the use of the modulated coherent directional backlight through an axicon lens. It is shown that the illumination scheme can robustly deliver carried image information to the designated viewing region. This new illumination scheme has many advantages over conventional illumination, including its usage for personal display, very lower energy consumption, as well as minimizing light hazard pollution.     

Retinal microaneurysms detection using adversarial pre-training with unlabeled multimodal images

The detection of retinal microaneurysms is crucial for the early detection of important diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. However, the detection of these lesions in retinography, the most widely available retinal imaging modality, remains a very challenging task. This is mainly due to the tiny size and low contrast of the microaneurysms in the images. Consequently, the automated detection of microaneurysms usually relies on extensive ad-hoc processing. In this regard, although microaneurysms can be more easily detected using fluorescein angiography, this alternative imaging modality is invasive and not adequate for regular preventive screening.In this work, we propose a novel deep learning methodology that takes advantage of unlabeled multimodal image pairs for improving the detection of microaneurysms in retinography. In particular, we propose a novel adversarial multimodal pre-training consisting in the prediction of fluorescein angiography from retinography using generative adversarial networks. This pre-training allows learning about the retina and the microaneurysms without any manually annotated data. Additionally, we also propose to approach the microaneurysms detection as a heatmap regression, which allows an efficient detection and precise localization of multiple microaneurysms. To validate and analyze the proposed methodology, we perform an exhaustive experimentation on different public datasets. Additionally, we provide relevant comparisons against different state-of-the-art approaches. The results show a satisfactory performance of the proposal, achieving an Average Precision of 64.90%, 31.36%, and 33.55% in the E-Ophtha, ROC, and DDR public datasets. Overall, the proposed approach outperforms existing deep learning alternatives while providing a more straightforward detection method that can be effectively applied to raw unprocessed retinal images.     

高光谱成像用高帧频CMOS图像传感器北大核心

针对高帧频、全局曝光和光谱平坦等成像应用需求,设计了一款高光谱成像用CMOS图像传感器。其光敏元采用PN型光电二极管,读出电路采用5T像素结构。采用列读出电路以及高速多通道模拟信号并行读出的设计方案来获得低像素固定图像噪声(FPN)和非均匀性抑制。芯片采用ASMC 0.35μm三层金属两层多晶硅标准CMOS工艺流片,为了抑制光电二极管的光谱干涉效应,后续进行了光谱平坦化VAE特殊工艺,并对器件的光电性能进行了测试评估。电路测试结果符合理论设计预期,成像效果良好,像素具备积分可调和全局快门功能,最终实现的像素规模为512×256,像元尺寸为30μm×30μm,最大满阱电子为400 ke^(-),FPN小于0.2%,动态范围为72 dB,帧频为450 f/s,相邻10 nm波段范围内量子效率相差小于10%,可满足高光谱成像系统对CMOS成像器件的要求。