雪晶生成过程机理

雪花的形成包括晶核的形成和雪晶的生长两个阶段.晶核是雪晶形成的关键,冰晶的分子结构决定了雪晶的六角对称形状,生长环境的温度和湿度是影响雪晶生长和形状的主要因素.实验研究表明,碘化银微粒对雪晶的形成具有极好的促进作用,雪晶的生长是一个非常缓慢的过程.     

聚变-裂变能源混合堆可行性及在我国核能发展中作用的分析

简要论述了核能在我国能源发展战略中的地位及聚变-裂变混合堆在核能持续发展中的重要作用。对以不久将来即可实现的ITER聚变装置作驱动堆芯、天然铀水冷裂变系统作包层的混合堆做了细致的分析。这种混合堆型可以实现GWe级净电功率输出,年造钚1 656 kg,支持2.68个同功率压水堆电站对易裂变燃料的需要。初步的经济评估说明,混合堆电的成本是同功率压水堆电成本的1.67倍;而在不计燃料成本的情况下,混合堆与压水堆组合系统电的成本是同功率压水堆电成本的1.18倍。考虑到一般压水堆需消耗大量的天然铀,加上铀浓缩成本,混合堆与压水堆组合系统电的成本,与压水堆电的成本是可以相比拟的。     

CVD金刚石形核的研究

在钢渗铬层和硅片上进行了化学气相沉积金刚石膜,发现在渗铬层上形成的金刚石膜以球形金刚石为主;用高倍扫描电子显微镜分析显示,渗铬层上的球形金刚石是由大量二次晶核长大的微晶金刚石和非晶碳组成.     

CaCl2电解质对制备二氧化硅微球的影响

对比研究了微量CaCl2电解质对直接法生长和以种子法生长制备二氧化硅微球的影响.随着CaCl2加入量的增加,两种制备途径所得球体粒径的大小和分散度都出现明显变化,当Ca2+的浓度达到3.3mmol/L时,颗粒已不能保持球体形状,开始成絮状物.通过对结果的对比分析,为理解二氧化硅球体生长机理提供了帮助.     

Spatio-temporal skin strain distributions evoke low variability spike responses in cuneate neurons

A common method to explore the somatosensory function of the brain is to relate skin stimuli to neurophysiological recordings. However, interaction with the skin involves complex mechanical effects. Variability in mechanically induced spike responses is likely to be due in part to mechanical variability of the transformation of stimuli into spiking patterns in the primary sensors located in the skin. This source of variability greatly hampers detailed investigations of the response of the brain to different types of mechanical stimuli. A novel stimulation technique designed to minimize the uncertainty in the strain distributions induced in the skin was applied to evoke responses in single neurons in the cat. We show that exposure to specific spatio-temporal stimuli induced highly reproducible spike responses in the cells of the cuneate nucleus, which represents the first stage of integration of peripheral inputs to the brain. Using precisely controlled spatio-temporal stimuli, we also show that cuneate neurons, as a whole, were selectively sensitive to the spatial and to the temporal aspects of the stimuli. We conclude that the present skin stimulation technique based on localized differential tractions greatly reduces response variability that is exogenous to the information processing of the brain and hence paves the way for substantially more detailed investigations of the brain''s somatosensory system.     

在线钢轨断裂原因分析

U75V热轧钢轨铺设在曲线地段使用超过3a(年),其中一支钢轨发生断裂,部分钢轨出现剥离掉块。当查找断裂原因,对断裂钢轨进行了理化检验。结果表明:轮轨接触应力过大,超过了钢轨接触疲劳强度,由于疲劳裂纹萌生和扩展的速率大于磨耗速率,在钢轨塑性变形层表面萌生并形成了疲劳裂纹,并沿变形流线方向疲劳扩展,在轮轨接触圆角处距表面2 mm处形成了疲劳核伤,在车轮的反复作用下发生了断裂。     

Design principles for phase-splitting behaviour of coupled cellular oscillators: clues from hamsters with 'split' circadian rhythms.

Nonlinear interactions among coupled cellular oscillators are likely to underlie a variety of complex rhythmic behaviours. Here we consider the case of one such behaviour, a doubling of rhythm frequency caused by the spontaneous splitting of a population of synchronized oscillators into two subgroups each oscillating in anti-phase (phase-splitting). An example of biological phase-splitting is the frequency doubling of the circadian locomotor rhythm in hamsters housed in constant light, in which the pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is reconfigured with its left and right halves oscillating in anti-phase. We apply the theory of coupled phase oscillators to show that stable phase-splitting requires the presence of negative coupling terms, through delayed and/or inhibitory interactions. We also find that the inclusion of real biological constraints (that the SCN contains a finite number of non-identical noisy oscillators) implies the existence of an underlying non-uniform network architecture, in which the population of oscillators must interact through at least two types of connections. We propose that a key design principle for the frequency doubling of a population of biological oscillators is inhomogeneity of oscillator coupling.     

聚偏氟乙烯膜微孔的形成机理

通过改变聚偏氟乙烯膜的制膜条件,采用扫描电镜观察了膜孔的不同结构.观察了膜的皮层结构、海绵状孔、指状孔以及指状孔壁的结构.根据实验解释了膜的皮层和支撑层孔的形成机理.膜的皮层按旋节线分相机理形成,主要由热力学因素决定.溶剂和沉淀剂通过皮层扩散交换速率的快慢决定膜的支撑层的孔结构,膜的支撑层的孔结构按成核生长机理进行,这里动力学因素起到主要作用.溶剂和沉淀剂通过皮层的扩散速率快,膜的支撑层形成指状孔结构;扩散速率慢,膜的支撑层形成海绵状孔结构;扩散速率适中,膜的断面上部形成指状孔结构,下部形成海绵状孔结构.     

Modelling the functional roles of synaptic and extra-synaptic γ-aminobutyric acid receptor dynamics in circadian timekeeping

In the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a primary neurotransmitter. GABA can signal through two types of GABA_A receptor subunits, often referred to as synaptic GABA_A (gamma subunit) and extra-synaptic GABA_A (delta subunit). To test the functional roles of these distinct GABA_A in regulating circadian rhythms, we developed a multicellular SCN model where we could separately compare the effects of manipulating GABA neurotransmitter or receptor dynamics. Our model predicted that blocking GABA signalling modestly increased synchrony among circadian cells, consistent with published SCN pharmacology. Conversely, the model predicted that lowering GABA_A receptor density reduced firing rate, circadian cell fraction, amplitude and synchrony among individual neurons. When we tested these predictions, we found that the knockdown of delta GABA_A reduced the amplitude and synchrony of clock gene expression among cells in SCN explants. The model further predicted that increasing gamma GABA_A densities could enhance synchrony, as opposed to increasing delta GABA_A densities. Overall, our model reveals how blocking GABA_A receptors can modestly increase synchrony, while increasing the relative density of gamma over delta subunits can dramatically increase synchrony. We hypothesize that increased gamma GABA_A density in the winter could underlie the tighter phase relationships among SCN cells.     

Fold and flexibility: what can proteins' mechanical properties tell us about their folding nucleus?

The determination of a protein''s folding nucleus, i.e. a set of native contacts playing an important role during its folding process, remains an elusive yet essential problem in biochemistry. In this work, we investigate the mechanical properties of 70 protein structures belonging to 14 protein families presenting various folds using coarse-grain Brownian dynamics simulations. The resulting rigidity profiles combined with multiple sequence alignments show that a limited set of rigid residues, which we call the consensus nucleus, occupy conserved positions along the protein sequence. These residues'' side chains form a tight interaction network within the protein''s core, thus making our consensus nuclei potential folding nuclei. A review of experimental and theoretical literature shows that most (above 80%) of these residues were indeed identified as folding nucleus member in earlier studies.     

Development of a Cryogenic Detector for Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Scattering

In Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Scattering (CNNS) the neutrinos interact coherently with all nucleons leading to a cross section which is much larger than for all other neutrino interactions. Because of the small momentum transfer as well as the small recoil energy in CNNS, and the relatively low count rate, a low energy threshold and a large target mass (several hundred grams) are required to observe CNNS. Our aim is to build a cryodetector for that purpose. Such a cryodetector, installed in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant, could probe new physics like non-standard neutral current interactions or a neutrino magnetic moment. We describe the results of three detectors, with Ge absorbers of 0.8 and 3.2 g and with a CaWO₄ absorber of 10 g. For Ge (0.8 g) an energy threshold of 0.43 keV and an energy resolution of 0.27 keV at ∼6 keV could be reached. We demonstrate that surface roughness effects deteriorate both threshold and resolution. For the 10 g CaWO₄ absorber we obtained 0.27 keV and 0.35 keV for threshold and energy resolution at ∼6 keV respectively.      

Automatic segmentation of nuclei from pap smear cell images: A step toward cervical cancer screening

Cervical cancer is identified as the fourth most recurrent cancer among women across the globe. The cancer is treatable, if identified at the early stage. Pap smear test is the most common and the best tool for initial screening of cancer. Pap smear cell level image analysis is an open issue. The limitation of the analysis is due to the complexity of the cell structure. The smear cell image is composed of cytoplasm and nucleus. The shape and structure of the nucleus determines the cancer prevalence. Segmentation of nucleus is an important step in cancer detection. There are various methods developed for nucleus segmentation. The article proposes multithresholding algorithm to segment cytoplasm and nucleus region from the background. Morphological operations are used for correcting the segmented output. Support vector machine classifier is used for classifying the smear cell as normal or abnormal based on the extracted features of the segmented output. The obtained accuracy of the classifier, sensitivity and specificity for single smear cell are 99.66%, 99.85% and 99.17%.     

核壳型TiO2／HAP纳米复合光催化剂的制备与表征

采用非均相沉淀的方法，首次在纳米TiO2的表面诱导沉积一层羟基磷灰石（HAP）。通过X射线衍射（XRD）和傅立叶红外光谱（FT-IR）对制备的样品进行结构和成分分析；用原子力显微镜（AFM）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和电子能谱仪（EDS）对样品包覆进行表征；采用甲基橙的光催化降解反应和大肠杆菌吸附率测定对所制光催化剂的光催化活性和吸附特性进行了评价；并与纯的纳米TiO2进行比较分析，文中还初步探讨了TiO2／HAP纳米复合材料的包覆机理．结果表明，TiO2／HAP为核壳结构，且包覆均匀，羟基磷灰石包覆层的厚度为8nm。所制备的样品具有良好的光催化活性和对细菌良好的吸附性能。这种核壳型TiO2／HAP纳米复合材料可用作环境净化和杀菌材料．     

金红石型TiO2(110)表面吸附TiCl4的微观机理

采用密度泛函理论平面波赝势方法研究了TiCl₄分子在TiO₂(110)表面桥位氧上的吸附,对稳定吸附构型的吸附能、电荷密度、差分电荷密度、电子态密度、Mulliken电荷布居等进行计算和分析。研究结果表明,TiCl₄在完整晶胞表面不能吸附;在有氧空位的晶胞表面,TiCl₄以面心向下吸附最稳定,吸附过程为放热。当表面氧空位密度为12.5%、25%时,面心向下吸附方式的吸附能分别为-29.780 9 kJ·mol-1和-48.641 9 kJ·mol-1,表明氧空位密度越高,吸附强度越强;带隙从1.304 eV分别减小到0. 074 eV、0.015 eV,能带结构的带隙宽度变窄,表明氧空位密度越高,带隙宽度越窄;TiCl₄分子向晶胞表面转移的电荷分别为0.2 eV、0.26 eV,说明随着表面氧空位密度增加,TiCl₄分子向晶胞表面转移的电荷量增加,表面对分子的氧化作用越强。