Magnetic multipole line-cusp plasma generator for neutral beam injectors

The magnetic multipole line-cusp device developed by MacKenzie and associates has been adapted for use as a neutral beam ion source. It has produced high-density, large volume, quiescent, uniform hydrogen plasmas, which makes it a potential candidate for use as a plasma generator for neutral beam injectors. The device is a water-cooled cylindrical copper discharge chamber (25 cm in diameter by 36 cm long) with one end enclosed by a set of extraction grids with a 15-cm-diam multi-aperture pattern. The chamber wall serves as an anode and is surrounded by an external system of rare-earth cobalt magnets arranged in a line-cusp geometry of 12 cusps; plasma is produced by electron emission from a hot cathode assembly. This source has achieved extracted beam currents of 12 A at 18.5 kV, radial plasma density uniformities of +/-5% over a 15-cm diameter, noise levels of less than +/-0.5%, and arc efficiencies (beam current/arc power) of 0.6 A/kW.     

HSPA4 Is a Biomarker of Placenta Accreta and Enhances the Angiogenesis Ability of Vessel Endothelial Cells

Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) accounts for 7% of maternal mortality and is associated with intraoperative and postoperative morbidity caused by massive blood loss, infection, and adjacent organ damage. The aims of this study were to identify the protein biomarkers of PAS and to further explore their pathogenetic roles in PAS. For this purpose, we collected five placentas from pregnant subjects with PAS complications and another five placentas from normal pregnancy (NP) cases. Then, we enriched protein samples by specifically isolating the trophoblast villous, deeply invading into the uterine muscle layer in the PAS patients. Next, fluorescence-based two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and MALDI-TOF/MS were used to identify the proteins differentially abundant between PAS and NP placenta tissues. As a result, nineteen spots were determined as differentially abundant proteins, ten and nine of which were more abundant in PAS and NP placenta tissues, respectively. Then, specific validation with western blot assay and immunohisto/cytochemistry (IHC) assay confirmed that heat shock 70 kDa protein 4 (HSPA4) and chorionic somatomammotropin hormone (CSH) were PAS protein biomarkers. Further tube formation assays demonstrated that HSPA4 promoted the in vitro angiogenesis ability of vessel endothelial cells, which is consistent with the in vivo scenario of PAS complications. In this study, we not only identified PAS protein biomarkers but also connected the promoted angiogenesis with placenta invasion, investigating the pathogenetic mechanism of PAS.     

Transparent polyimide/graphene oxide nanocomposite with improved moisture barrier property

Colorless and organo-soluble polyimide (PI) films have been synthesized from an alicyclic dianhydride BCDA and aromatic diamine 3,4′-ODA in the cosolvent of DMAc and GBL via one-step process. The graphene oxide (GO) was mixed with the above PI in DMAc solution to fabricate the PI/GO nanocomposite films. With the addition of only 0.001 wt% of GO in PI matrix, the resultant nanocomposite (PI/GO-0.001) exhibits not only the enhanced resistance to moisture but also retains superior visible light transmission, enhanced mechanical strength, and excellent dimensional stability, simultaneously. The water-vapor-transmission-rate (WVTR) significantly reduced to 30 g mil m⁻² day⁻¹ for this nanocomposite compared to 181 g mil m⁻² day⁻¹ for pure PI. Notably, the PI/GO-0.001 nanocomposite also exhibits low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of 41 ppm °C⁻¹, which is benefited from the homogeneous distribution of ultrathin GO nanosheets in PI matrix.     

An adaptive robustizing approach to kalman filtering

The performance of a linear Kalman filter will degrade when the dynamic noise is not Gaussian. A robust Kalman filter based on the m-interval polynomial approximation (MIPA) method for unknown non-Gaussian noise is proposed. Two situations are considered: (a) the state is Gaussian and the observation noise is non-Gaussian; (b) the state is non-Gaussian and the observation noise is Gaussian. It is shown, as compared with other non-Gaussian filters, the MIPA Kalman filter is computationally feasible, unbiased, more efficient and robust. For the scalar model, Monte Carlo simulations are given to demonstrate the ideas involved.     

Phase characterisation of metalenses

Metalenses have emerged as a new optical element or system in recent years, showing superior performance and abundant applications. However, the phase distribut...     

Defect detection in periodic patterns using a multi-band-pass filter

This study presents a rapid and reliable technique for the inspection of defects in a two-dimensional periodic image using a multi-band-pass filter. More importantly, the blurring effect of the resultant defect images is significantly reduced, thereby resulting in a more precise estimation of the size of defects when compared with methods that use low-pass filtering. As a filter-based approach, the present technique does not require an alignment procedure. In addition, computational time is reduced by implementing multi-band-pass filters with convolution masks when the filters are operated in the spatial domain. Further, this approach involves mostly addition operations with very few multiplications; hence, computational time is significantly reduced when compared with those for existing approaches. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed multi-band-pass filter is verified through examples. It is observed that there is a significant reduction in blurring effects, leakage effects, and computational effort. It is noteworthy that though the proposed approach is presented as a two-dimensional filtering problem, it can be reduced to a one-dimensional filtering problem under the assumption that the misorientation angle of the inspected periodic pattern is negligibly small.     

Current–voltage characteristics of AlCdO Schottky contact on the polished and unpolished p-type Si surfaces with and without light illumination

In this study, the current-voltage characteristics of the AlCdO/unpolished p-type Si and AlCdO/polished p-type Si Schottky diodes with and without light illumination were examined. It is found that the Schottky barrier height (the series resistance) of the AlCdO/unpolished p-type Si Schottky diode is higher (lower) than that of the AlCdO/polished p-type Si Schottky diode. The power conversion efficiency of the AlCdO/p-type Si devices in the light (AM 1.5 G, 100 mW/cm²) was improved by increasing built-in potential at the AlCdO/p-type Si interfaces and reducing the device series resistance and surface reflectivity. It is shown that the device surface roughness plays an essential role in improving the device performance.     

Multi-displacement continuum model for discrete systems

A first-order multi-displacement microstructure continuum model is introduced to represent a discrete diatomic lattice system. This model is developed based on a two-term Taylor series expansion of the local displacement of the lattice. It is found that the multi-displacement continuum model obtained by keeping two terms in the Taylor series yields, in general, a better representation of the lattice system than the effective modulus model. However, this microstructure continuum model cannot characterize the negative group velocity of an optical mode of harmonic wave motion in the diatomic lattice. To capture the negative group velocity, a higher-order multi-displacement continuum model is necessary.     

Spindle position regulation for wind power generators

The three-time-scale plant model of a wind power generator, including a wind turbine, a flexible vertical shaft, a variable inertia flywheel (VIF) module, an active magnetic bearing (AMB) unit and the applied wind sequence, is constructed. In order to make the wind power generator be still able to operate as the spindle speed exceeds its rated speed, the VIF is equipped so that the spindle speed can be appropriately slowed down once any stronger wind field is exerted. Currently, most of wind energy input is, as a matter of fact, a waste since the commercially available wind power generators only operate for fairly mild or low-speed wind field. To prevent any potential damage due to collision by shaft against conventional bearings, the AMB unit is proposed to replace the traditional bearings and regulate the shaft position deviation. By singular perturbation order-reduction technique, a lower-order plant model can be established for the synthesis of feedback controller. It is found that two major system parameter uncertainties, an additive uncertainty and a multiplicative uncertainty, are constituted by the wind turbine and the VIF, respectively. The upper bounds of system parameters variation can be therefore estimated and the frequency shaping sliding mode control (FSSMC) loop is proposed to account for these uncertainties and suppress the unmodeled higher-order plant dynamics. At last, the efficacy of the FSSMC is verified by intensive computer and experimental simulations for regulation on position deviation of the shaft and counter-balance of unpredictable wind disturbance.