Pharmacology mechanism of Flos magnoliae and Centipeda minima for treating allergic rhinitis based on pharmacology network

Chinese herbs such as Flos magnoliae (FM) and Centipeda minima (CM) can be effective in treating allergic rhinitis (AR). However, there is little research on the therapeutic mechanism of these two drugs acting on AR at the same time. In order to systematically understand the mechanism of action of two drugs acting on AR at the same time, we searched various databases to obtain 31 components and 289 target proteins of FM, 25 components and 465 target proteins of CM. The interaction networks of FM, CM, and AR proteins were constructed by Cytoscape-v3.2.1 software. The core protein of two network intersections was obtained by using Venny 2.1.0. The R platform was used for the core target protein gene ontology (GO) comment analysis and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis. Thirteen common targets and seven acting pathways were obtained. The results of animal experiments showed that FM and CM volatile oil could effectively improve the symptoms of AR by regulating the common targets. In summary, this study successfully explained the potential therapeutic mechanism of FM and CM in the treatment of AR. At the same time, it indicates that the two drugs can be compatible as a new application.     

Modulation frequency and orientation tuning of second-order texture mechanisms

Modulation frequency and orientation tuning of second-order mechanisms underlying the detection of modulation in local spatial-frequency information are assessed by using an oblique-masking paradigm. Stimuli were Gabor-filtered noise patterns in which the local carrier spatial frequency was modulated about an average value of 4.7 cycles per degree (cpd) according to sinusoidal function. Thresholds were determined for spatial-frequency modulated test patterns (0.2 and 0.8 cpd) with fixed vertical carrier and modulation orientations presented alone and in the presence of spatiotemporally superimposed masks. Mask modulation frequency (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, or 1.6 cpd), modulation orientation (0 degree, 45 degrees, or 90 degrees relative to vertical), and carrier orientation (18.5 degrees or 90 degrees relative to vertical) were manipulated independently while the mask modulation amplitude remained fixed at 0.25. Manipulating the modulation frequency of the mask revealed some modulation frequency specificity, particularly at lower test modulation frequencies. Spatial-frequency modulated masks produced threshold elevations regardless of the local carrier orientation. However, there was no evidence of threshold elevation when the mask modulation orientation was orthogonal to that of the test pattern. These results suggest a second-order texture mechanism that is tuned to both modulation frequency and modulation orientation but is not selective in terms of the orientation of first-order inputs.     

基于分数阶功率谱熵的未知水声脉冲信号检测方法

水声侦察的核心问题是在无先验知识条件下捕获其他平台发射的脉冲信号,单频(Continuous Wave,CW)信号和调频(Frequency Modulation,FM)信号是常用的水声探测脉冲.功率谱熵算法能有效检测低信噪比的CW信号,但对FM信号性能不佳,分数阶傅里叶变换(Fractional Fourier Tr...     

Recrystallisation mechanism and annealing texture in aluminium-copper alloys

The correlation between the mechanism of recrystallisation and the annealing texture of aluminium-copper alloys was investigated by transmission electron microscopy and selected area diffraction, and pole figure determination by X-rays. Continuous recrystallisation by sub-grain growth leads to preservation of the rolling texture, while recrystallisation by motion of a high-angle boundary produces a cube texture as in pure aluminium. The conditions under which the different modes of recrystallisation occur and the reasons for the formation of the two types of textures are discussed on the basis of microscopic mechanisms.     

Multilevel isotrigon textures

To date a small palette of isotrigon textures have been available to study how the brain uses higher-order spatial correlation information. We introduce several hundred new isotrigon textures. Special modulation properties are illustrated that can be used to extract neural responses to higher-order spatial correlations. We also ask how many textures make an adequate training set and how representative individual examples are of their texture class. Human discrimination of 90 of these patterns was quantified. Modeling those responses shows that humanlike performance can be obtained providing a fourth-order classifier is used, although more than one mechanism is required.     

Texture mechanism in some fcc-type soft magnetic materials

The authors have studied the mechanism for recrystallization texture in some soft magnetic materials with fcc crystal structure. The alloys used were 77% Ni-14% Fe-5% Cu-4 wt% Mo permalloys. Thin foils selected area electron diffraction (SAD) and X-ray diffraction techniques were employed using a Philips 300 Electron Microscope (EM 300) and an X-ray diffractometer, respectively. Investigations were carried out on deformed, recovered and recrystallized states of the alloys. The various results show that the cold-rolled (deformed) and recovered states of the alloys possess copper-type of rolling texture with {110} 〈112〉 texture as the predominant deformation texture though other minor components such as {112} 〈111〉, {110} 〈001〉 and {123} 〈420〉 textures were detected. No cube texture, {100} 〈001〉 was detected in any of the deformed and recovered materials though the recrystallization texture in these alloys is the cube texture, {100} 〈001〉 which forms over 80% of the annealing texture in these alloys. It is concluded here that the detection of cube texture in the deformed and recovered materials is not a prerequisite for the detection of cube texture in these alloys. The present work is not conclusive about the mechanism for recrystallization texture, but it is proposed here that recrystallization texture, in these alloys is attributed to the growth-oriented mechanism based on the following model. (1) The lattice domains which form the recrystallization texture are present in the cold-rolled matrix. (2) The favoured site for nucleation are the grain boundaries and deformation band boundaries. (3) For the nucleus to be able to grow and form the recrystallization texture it must possess the necessary free energy. (4) Grains must be capable of growth into two or more orientations between which it forms, i.e. the nuclei which form the cube texture should have a [111] pole in common with the matrix in which they grow and a rotation of about 30° around this pole.     

Ratio model for suprathreshold hue-increment detection.

We use psychophysical techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms subserving suprathreshold chromatic discrimination in human vision. We address two questions: (1) How are the postreceptoral detection mechanism responses combined to form suprathreshold chromatic discriminators? and (2) How do these discriminators contribute to color perception? We use a pedestal paradigm in which the subject is required to distinguish between a pedestal stimulus and the same pedestal added to a chromatic increment (the test). Our stimuli are represented in a cardinal space, in which the axes express the responses of the three postreceptoral detection mechanisms normalized relative to their respective detection thresholds. In the main experiment the test (a hue increment) was fixed in the direction orthogonal to the pedestal in our cardinal space. We found that, for high pedestal contrasts, the test threshold varied proportionally with the pedestal contrast. This result suggests the presence of a hue-increment detector dependent on the ratio of the outputs from the red-green and blue-yellow postreceptoral detection mechanisms. The exception to this was for pedestals and tests fixed along the cardinal axes. In that case detection was enhanced by direct input from the postreceptoral mechanism capable of detecting the test in isolation. Our results also indicate that discrimination in the red-green/luminance and blue-yellow/luminance planes exhibits a behavior similar to discrimination within the isoluminant plane. In the final experiment we observed that thresholds for hue-increment identification (e.g., selecting the bluer of two stimuli) are also governed by a ratio relationship. This finding suggests that our ratio-based mechanisms play an important role in color-difference perception.     

A review of crystallographic textures in chemical vapor-deposited diamond films

Diamond is one of the most important functional materials for film applications due to its extreme physical and mechanical properties, many of which depend on the crystallographic texture. The influence of various deposition parameters matters to the texture formation and evolution during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond films. In this overview, the texture evolutions are presented in terms of both simulations and experimental observations. The crystallographic textures in diamond are simulated based on the van der Drift growth selection mechanism. The film morphology and textures associated with the growth parameters α (proportional to the ratio of the growth rate along the 〈100〉 direction to that along the 〈111〉 direction) are presented and determined by applying the fastest growth directions. Thick films with variations in substrate temperature, methane concentration, film thickness, and nitrogen addition were analyzed using high-resolution electron back-scattering diffraction (HR-EBSD) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the fraction variations of fiber textures with these deposition parameters were explained. In conjunction with the focused ion beam (FIB) technique for specimen preparation, the grain orientations in the beginning nucleation zones were studied using HR-EBSD (50 nm step size) in another two sets of thin films deposited with variations in methane concentration and substrate material. The microstructures, textures, and grain boundary character were characterized. Based on the combination of an FIB unit for serial sectioning and HR-EBSD, diamond growth dynamics was observed using a 3D EBSD technique, with which individual diamond grains were investigated in 3D. Microscopic defects were observed in the vicinity of the high-angle grain boundaries by using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, and the advances of TEM orientation microscopy make it possible to identify the grain orientations in nano-crystalline diamond.     

Flash masking and facilitation by nearby luminance perturbations

Light-adapted foveal luminance increment thresholds were measured for white photopic targets of 1.5-arc min diameter and 220-ms duration. We aimed to learn about the properties of mechanisms that subserve the detection of these targets. To study this subject we developed a noise probe technique that inserts noise close to the site of the stimulus. Threshold is more than doubled when zero-mean luminance noise is placed at a pair of flanking spots in the horizontal meridian centered on the test spot and 1.5 arc min distant. The detection mechanisms thus has a broad field, since noise effects persist at 5-arc min separation. The masking effect increases when the noise is in antiphase at the two flanking spots. Neither even- nor odd-symmetric mechanisms are able to explain these findings, regardless of whether linear or nonlinear processing is employed. The target detection may be mediated in part by a motion-sensitive mechanism.     

On the transformation textures influenced by deformation in electrical steels,high manganese steels and pure titanium sheets

Transformation texture is normally different to deformation and recrystallization textures, thus influencing materials properties differently. As deformation and recrystallization are often inseparable to transformation in materials which shows a variety in types such as diffusional or non-diffusional transformations, different phenomena or rules of strengthening transformation textures occur. This paper summarizes the complicated phenomena and rules by comparison of a lot of authors’ published and unpublished data collected from mainly electrical steels, high manganese steels and pure titanium sheets. Three kinds of influencing deformation are identified, namely the dynamic transformation with concurrent deformation and transformation, the transformation preceded by deformation and recrystallization and the surface effect induced transformation, and the textures related with them develop in different mechanisms. It is stressed that surface effect induced transformation is particularly effective to enhance transformation texture. It is also shown that the materials properties are also improved by controlled transformation textures, in particular in electrical steels. It is hoped that these phenomena and processing techniques are beneficial to the establishment of transformation texture theory and property improvement in practice.     

Heterogeneity of grain refinement and texture formation during pulsed electric current sintering of conductive powder: A case study in copper powder

The heterogeneity of grain refinement and texture formation in conductive copper powder during pulsed electric current sintering have been investigated by means of microstructural analysis of the particle-contacting zone of the samples sintered with micron-sized powders. The particle-contacting region was indicated to experience a higher level of grain refinement than the particle center due to the inhomogeneous temperature distribution among the particle when pulsed electric current passed through. Meanwhile, two main textures of Cube (1?0?0)[0?0?1] texture and Goss (1?1?0)[0?0?1] texture were directly detected in the sintered Cu samples by a combination of electron backscatter diffraction and X-ray diffraction. Based on the experimental results, a feasible mechanism for the formation of texture during the pulsed electric current sintering has been proposed by considering the applied uniaxial pressure and pulsed electric current as well as the rearrangement of grains. In addition, the effects of heterogeneous grain refinement and texture formation on the tensile properties of the sintered Cu samples were also discussed based on the tensile properties and fractographic. These results would contribute to the basic understanding of the sintering mechanisms in pulsed electric current sintering process.     

Thresholds for detecting slowly changing Ganzfeld luminances

Detection thresholds for luminance increments or decrements are normally related to rapid light changes. The goal of this study was to determine detection thresholds for slowly changing achromatic Ganzfeld luminances before and after adaptation to a constant Ganzfeld illumination, subsequently called Ganzfeld adaptation. During Ganzfeld adaptation, perceived brightness decreased slowly and leveled off(on average after 5-7 min), despite constant illumination of the retina. The state of adaptation was characterized by using magnitude estimation. Comparing detection thresholds for changing light intensities before and after Ganzfeld adaptation showed that the sensitivity for luminance changes is independent of the perceived brightness. A further issue addressed was the time dependence of the luminance change. Is there a limit below which a change of luminance is no longer perceivable? Even for the slowest gradient tested (0.01 log/min), subjects were able to detect the change of luminance, although they were not able to perceive a continuous brightness change. Similar thresholds (ca. 0.24 log unit) for shallow and steep luminance gradients suggest an absolute luminance detection mechanism. Possible underlying mechanisms and neurophysiological substrates are discussed.     

A review of crystallographic textures in chemical vapor-deposited diamond films

Diamond is one of the most important functional materials for film applications due to its extreme physical and mechanical properties, many of which depend on the crystallographic texture. The influence of various deposition parameters matters to the texture formation and evolution during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond films. In this overview, the texture evolutions are presented in terms of both simulations and experimental observations. The crystallographic textures in diamond are simulated based on the van der Drift growth selection mechanism. The film morphology and textures associated with the growth parameters α (proportional to the ratio of the growth rate along the〈100〉direction to that along the 〈111〉direction) are presented and determined by applying the fastest growth directions. Thick films with variations in substrate temperature, methane concentration, film thickness, and nitrogen addition were analyzed using high-resolution electron back-scattering diffraction (HR-EBSD) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the fraction variations of fiber textures with these deposition parameters were explained. In conjunction with the focused ion beam (FIB) technique for specimen preparation, the grain orientations in the beginning nucleation zones were studied using HR-EBSD (50nm step size) in another two sets of thin films deposited with variations in methane concentration and substrate material. The microstructures, textures, and grain boundary character were characterized. Based on the combination of an FIB unit for serial sectioning and HR-EBSD, diamond growth dynamics was observed using a 3D EBSD technique, with which individual diamond grains were investigated in 3D. Microscopic defects were observed in the vicinity of the high-angle grain boundaries by using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, and the advances of TEM orientation microscopy make it possible to identify the grain orientations in nano-crystalline diamond.     

Spatiotemporal filters in the detection of background modulation targets

The background modulation method has been proposed as a useful test of early visual mechanisms [Biol. Cybern. 37, 77 (1980); Biol. Cybern. 47, 173 (1983)]. The task involves measuring detection thresholds for a luminous spot (increment) drifting over a spatially or temporally modulated background. The study explores the nature of the detecting mechanism in terms of spatial and temporal filters for both spatial and temporal background modulations. In both cases we find that thresholds can be explained by spatial contrast cues generated by the moving spot and that their spatiotemporal characteristics suggest detection by magnocellular processes.     

化学气相沉积与渗透过程中热解炭织态结构生成机理研究

为研究热解炭织态结构的生成规律，采用不同压强的甲烷为碳源，在1100℃条件下进行了化学气相沉积和化学气相渗透实验。化学气相沉积以具有不同表面积／自由体积比（[A／V]值）的直通方形多孔陶瓷为基体；化学气相渗透实验在直径为1mm细直孔内表面沉积和对炭纤维体积分数为7％的炭毡进行致密化。借助正交偏光显微镜（消光角）和透射电子显微镜（定向角）对在不同实验条件下制备的热解炭进行分析和定量表征。研究发现：热解炭的织态结构可以在两种不同的沉积条件下形成。当甲烷压强较低时为化学生长阶段；当甲烷压强较高时为物理形核阶段。在化学生长控制阶段，热解炭的织态结构可以利用之前提出的“颗粒填充模型（P-F模型）”加以解释。该模型假设高织构热解炭的沉积一定对应于气相中存在具有合适比例的芳香化合物（例如苯）和线性小分子（主要是C2H2），当二者的浓度比偏离该最优比（或者偏大，或者偏小），均将导致中织构甚至低织构热解炭的生成。在化学生成控制阶段，化学气相沉积和化学气相渗透对热解炭织态结构影响的差别，除了[A／V]值而外，还有氢气的作用。在化学气相渗透过程中，基体内部生成的氢气快速扩散至基体表面，使内外沉积速率和织态结构均发生较大变化。     

Veridicality of three-dimensional shape perception predicted from amplitude spectra of natural textures

We show that the amplitude spectrum of a texture pattern, regardless of its phase spectrum, can be used to predict whether the pattern will convey the veridical three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the surface on which it lies. Patterns from the Brodatz collection of natural textures were overlaid on a flat surface that was then corrugated in depth and projected in perspective. Perceived ordinal shapes, reconstructed from a series of local relative depth judgments, showed that only about a third of the patterns conveyed veridical shape. The phase structure of each pattern was then randomized. Simulated concavities and convexities were presented for both the Brodatz and the phase-randomized patterns in a global shape identification task. The concordance between the shapes perceived from the Brodatz patterns and their phase-randomized versions was 80-88%, showing that the capacity for a pattern to correctly convey concavities and convexities is independent of phase information and that the amplitude spectrum contains all the information required to determine whether a pattern will convey veridical 3-D shape. A measure of the discrete oriented energy centered on the axis of maximum curvature was successful in identifying textures that convey veridical shape.     

Visual response saturation to orientation contrast in the perception of texture boundary

We analyzed how the visual response to orientation modulation in texture patterns varied as a function of the magnitude of orientation contrast. Using a contrast-discrimination technique, we measured threshold increments of orientation contrast (the orientation contrast required for discriminating between two textures) at various pedestal-orientation contrasts. The orientation-contrast-response function estimated for a step-orientation contrast, which produces a vivid percept of surface boundaries, saturated at approximately 30 degrees (experiment 1). The saturation was still evident even when the strength of the step-orientation contrast was reduced by orientation noise (experiment 2), but no strong saturation was found for textures that did not produce a vivid percept of surface boundaries (experiment 3). These results are consistent with the notion that orientation-based texture segregation involves the generation of a neural representation of the surface boundary whose strength is nearly independent of the magnitude of orientation contrast.     

Curvature-based perceptual singularities and texture saliency with early vision mechanisms

Recent work has shown that salient perceptual singularities occur in visual textures even in the absence of feature gradients. In smoothly varying orientation-defined textures, these striking non-smooth percepts can be predicted from two texture curvatures, one tangential and one normal [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA103, 15704 (2006)]. We address the issue of detecting these perceptual singularities in a biologically plausible manner and present three different models to compute the tangential and normal curvatures using early cortical mechanisms. The first model relies on the response summation of similarly scaled even-symmetric simple cells at different positions by utilizing intercolumnar interactions in the primary visual cortex (V1). The second model is based on intracolumnar interactions in a two-layer mechanism of simple cells having the same orientation tuning but significantly different scales. Our third model uses a three-layer circuit in which both even-symmetric and odd-symmetric receptive fields (RFs) are used to compute all possible directional derivatives of the dominant orientation, from which the tangential and normal curvatures at each spatial position are selected using nonlinear shunting inhibition. We show experimental results of all three models, we outline an extension to oriented textures with multiple dominant orientations at each point, and we discuss how our results may be relevant to the processing of general textures.     

Texture comparison of an ordinary IF steel and a high-strength IF steel under ferritic rolling and high-temperature coiling

The present work was performed to investigate the texture difference of an ordinary Ti-IF steel and a high-strength Ti-IF steel under ferritic hot rolling and high-temperature coiling. Comparing with the completely recrystallized textures of the ordinary IF steel, the textures of the high-strength IF steel were still deformed textures. The texture difference for the two steels is related to high P content in the high-strength IF steel which prevents the recrystallization during the coiling process. For the ordinary IF steel, the texture components were mainly very weak {001}110 orientation at the surface, and partial 110//RD (rolling direction) textures focused on {223}110 orientation and 111/ND (normal direction) texture at the mid-section and 1/4-section. For the high-strength IF steel, the texture components were mainly of {110}001 orientation at the surface and of a sharp 110//RD texture from {001}110 to {223}110 and weak 111/ND texture at the mid-section and 1/4-section.     

Effect of sulphur and acid soluble aluminium content on grain oriented silicon steel

The effect of sulphur (S) and acid soluble aluminium (Al_s) content on precipitation behaviours, microstructures and textures of hot rolled grain oriented silicon steels were investigated. The results showed that precipitates were mainly MnS and a little amount of MnS–AlN composite. Similar characteristics of precipitates, microstructures and textures were found in specimens containing similarly higher S content and different Al_s content. More fine precipitates, less recrystallisation and more and stronger Goss texture component were presented in specimen containing lower S content. It was not Al_s content but S content that played a key role during hot rolling. High proportion and intensity of Goss texture component were due to the effective inhibiting effect of finely and uniformly dispersed precipitates on dynamic recrystallisation.