Mimic Drug Dosage Modulation for Neuroplasticity Based on Charge-Trap Layered Electronics

The human brain is often likened to an incredibly complex and intricate computer, rather than electrical devices, consisting of billions of neuronal cells connected by synapses. Different brain circuits are responsible for coordinating and performing specific functions. The reward pathway of the synaptic plasticity in the brain is strongly related to the features of both drug addiction and relief. In the current study, a synaptic device based on layered hafnium disulfide (HfS₂) is developed for the first time, to emulate the behavioral mechanisms of drug dosage modulation for neuroplasticity. A strong gate-dependent persistent photocurrent is observed, arising from the modulation of substrate-trapping events. By controlling the polarity of gate voltage, the basic functions of biological synapses are realized under a range of light spiking conditions. Furthermore, under the control of detrapping/trapping events at the HfS₂/SiO₂ interface, positive/negative correlations of the A_n/A₁ index, which significantly reflected the weight change of synaptic plasticity, are realized under the same stimulation conditions for the emulation of the drug-related addition/relief behaviors in the brain. The findings provide a new advance for mimicking human brain plasticity.     

Melting heat transfer analysis of electrically conducting nanofluid flow over an exponentially shrinking/stretching porous sheet with radiative heat flux under a magnetic field

Modern magnetic nanomaterial processing operations are progressing rapidly and require increasingly sophisticated mathematical models for their optimization. Stimulated by such developments, in this paper, a theoretical and computational study of a steady magnetohydrodynamic nanofluid over an exponentially stretching/shrinking permeable sheet with melting (phase change) and radiative heat transfer is presented. Besides, wall transpiration, that is, suction and blowing (injection), is included. This study deploys Buongiorno's nanofluid model, which simulates the effects of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The transport equations and boundary conditions are normalized via similarity transformations and appropriate variables, and the similarity solutions are shown to depend on the transpiration parameter. The emerging dimensionless nonlinear coupled ordinary differential boundary value problem is solved numerically with the Newton-Fehlberg iteration technique. Validation with special cases from the literature is included. The increase in the magnetic field, that is, the Hartmann number, is observed to elevate nanoparticle concentration and temperature, whereas it dampens the velocity. Higher values of the melting parameter consistently decelerate the boundary layer flow and suppress temperature and nanoparticle concentration. A higher radiative parameter strongly increases temperature (and thermal boundary layer thickness) and weakly accelerates the flow. The increase in the Brownian motion reduces nanoparticle concentrations, whereas a greater thermophoretic body force strongly enhances them. The Nusselt number and Sherwood number are observed to be decreased with an increasing Hartmann number, whereas they are elevated with a stronger wall suction and melting parameter.     

A cathode support structure for use in a magnetron oscillator experiment

A low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) material system has been used to develop a protype field emission cathode structure for use in an experimental magnetron oscillator. The structure is designed for used with 30 gated field emission array (GFEA) die electrically connected through silver metal traces and electrical vias. To approximate a cylinder, the cathode structure (48 mm long and 13.7 mm in diameter) is comprised of 10 faceted plates which cover the GFEA dies. Slits in the facet plates allow electron injection. The GFEA die (3 mm × 8 mm) are placed in axial columns of 3 and spaced azimuthally around a cylindrical support structure in a staggered configuration resulting in 10 azimuthal locations. LTCC manufacturing techniques were developed in order to fabricate the newly designed cathode with seven layers wrapped to form the cylinder with electrical traces and vias. Two different cathode wrapping techniques and two different via filling techniques were studied and compared. Two different facet plate manufacturing techniques were studied. Finally, four different support stand configurations for firing the cylindrical structure were also compared with a square post stand having the best circularity and linearity measurements of the fired structure.     

A new ternary phase in the system CaO–Al2O3–Cr2O3: Crystal structure and thermal expansion of CaAl2Cr2O7

Polycrystalline material of a novel phase in the system CaO–Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃ has been obtained by solid-state reactions. Chemical analysis indicated the composition CaAl₂Cr₂O₇. Single-crystal growth of the new compound using borax as a mineralizer was successful. Diffraction experiments at ambient conditions on a crystal with composition CaAl_2.13Cr_1.87O₇ yielded the following basic crystallographic data: space group P 3, a = 7.7690(5) Å, c = 7.6463(5) Å, V = 399.68(6) ų, Z = 3. Structure determination and subsequent least-squares refinements resulted in a residual of R(|F|) = 2.3% for 1440 independent observed reflections and 113 parameters. To the best of our knowledge, the structure of CaAl_2.13Cr_1.87O₇ or CaAl₂Cr₂O₇ represents a new structure type. It belongs to the group of double layer structures where individual double layers contain octahedrally and tetrahedrally coordinated cation positions. Linkage between neighboring sheet packages is provided by additional calcium cations. Furthermore, thermal expansion has been studied in the interval between 29 and 790°C using in situ high-temperature single-crystal diffraction. No indications for a structural phase transition were observed. From the evolution of the lattice parameters the thermal expansion tensor has been obtained. A pronounced anisotropy is evident. The response of structural building units to variable temperature has been discussed.     

Structural Aspects of P2-Type Na0.67Mn0.6Ni0.2Li0.2O2 (MNL) Stabilization by Lithium Defects as a Cathode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

A known strategy for improving the properties of layered oxide electrodes in sodium-ion batteries is the partial substitution of transition metals by Li. Herein, the role of Li as a defect and its impact on sodium storage in P2-Na_0.67Mn_0.6Ni_0.2Li_0.2O₂ is discussed. In tandem with electrochemical studies, the electronic and atomic structure are studied using solid-state NMR, operando XRD, and density functional theory (DFT). For the as-synthesized material, Li is located in comparable amounts within the sodium and the transition metal oxide (TMO) layers. Desodiation leads to a redistribution of Li ions within the crystal lattice. During charging, Li ions from the Na layer first migrate to the TMO layer before reversing their course at low Na contents. There is little change in the lattice parameters during charging/discharging, indicating stabilization of the P2 structure. This leads to a solid-solution type storage mechanism (sloping voltage profile) and hence excellent cycle life with a capacity of 110 mAh g^-1 after 100 cycles. In contrast, the Li-free compositions Na_0.67Mn_0.6Ni_0.4O₂ and Na_0.67Mn_0.8Ni_0.2O₂ show phase transitions and a stair-case voltage profile. The capacity is found to originate from mainly Ni³⁺/Ni⁴⁺ and O^2-/O^2-δ redox processes by DFT, although a small contribution from Mn⁴⁺/Mn⁵⁺ to the capacity cannot be excluded.     

太阳能/氢能长航时无人机重量能量耦合分析

提出一种太阳能/氢能长航时无人机重量能量耦合分析方法,即在太阳能/氢能长航时无人机的概念设计阶段,通过在质量与能量迭代求解过程中嵌入与能量相关的参数的求解,从而计算出相应总体参数下的质量和能量情况,得到无人机基本性能指标的估算。通过重量能量耦合分析方法,无人机的质量迭代计算得到收敛、能量结余系数和有效载荷系数2个重要设计指标在求解过程中获得收敛。由于提出的分析方法可完成无人机重量估算,及重要设计指标的估算,因而对于太阳能/氢能长航时无人机的概念设计具有重要意义。     

Optimal-correlation-based reconstruction for distributed compressed video sensing

Distributed compressed video sensing (DCVS) is a framework that integrates both compressed sensing and distributed video coding characteristics to achieve a low-complexity video coding. However, how to design an efficient joint reconstruction by leveraging more realistic signal models is still an open challenge. In this paper, we present a novel optimal-correlation-based reconstruction method for compressively sampled videos from multiple measurement vectors. In our method, the sparsity is mainly exploited through inter-signal correlations rather than the traditional frequency transform, wherein the optimization is not only over the signal space to satisfy data consistency but also over all possible linear correlation models to achieve minimum-l₁-norm correlation noise. Additionally, a two-phase Bregman iterative based algorithm is outlined for solving the optimization problem. Simulation results show that our proposal can achieve an improved reconstruction performance in comparison to the conventional approaches, and especially, offer a 0.7–9.9 dB gain in the average PSNR for DCVS.     

An iterative method for suboptimal control of linear time-delayed systems

This article presents a new approach for solving the Optimal Control Problem (OCP) of linear time-delay systems with a quadratic cost functional. The proposed method can also be used for designing optimal control time-delay systems with disturbance. In this study, the Variational Iteration Method (VIM) is employed to convert the original Time-Delay Optimal Control Problem (TDOCP) into a sequence of nonhomogeneous linear two-point boundary value problems (TPBVPs). The optimal control law obtained consists of an accurate linear feedback term and a nonlinear compensation term which is the limit of an adjoint vector sequence. The feedback term is determined by solving Riccati matrix differential equation. By using the finite-step iteration of a nonlinear compensation sequence, we can obtain a suboptimal control law. Finally, Illustrative examples are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the technique.