Discrimination of B–C–N nanotubes through energy-filtering electron microscopy

Various multi-walled nanotubes in the B–C–N system are thoroughly investigated using a JEOL-3100FEF high-resolution field emission transmission electron microscope operating at 300 kV and equipped with an in-column built Omega filter. Spatially-resolved B, C and N elemental maps of the nanotubes are constructed. It is realized that a wide variety of tubular arrays composed of B, C and N atoms may exist in the system. Sandwich-like BN-rich and C-rich alternating tubular shells, graphitic C layers inside and outside of pure BN shells induced either by surface contamination, or electron beam irradiation, separation of C-rich and BN-rich tubes and/or BN particles within tubular bunches may take place. One should carefully take these effects into account while analyzing nanotube physical properties, e.g., electrical or optical, rather than simply rely on electron energy loss spectra typically collected from B, C and N containing nanostructures as a whole. Striking dependence of an individual nanotube electrical conductivity on tubular shell chemistry is demonstrated using I–V curve recording in an atomic force microscope.     

Optimal diagonal precoder for multiantenna communication systems

In this paper, we examine a multiantenna single-user wireless communication system fitted with a QR-based successive cancellation receiver (QR receiver). Initially, our consideration is confined to uncoded binary phase shift keying (BPSK) signals transmitted through independent and identically distributed (IID) Rayleigh fading channels and to the design of an optimum precoder for the transmitter. For minimum feeding back of the channel state information (CSI) to the transmitter from the receiver, we stipulate the precoder to be in the form of a power loading square diagonal matrix. We proceed to develop the theory for the design of this diagonal matrix based on the minimization of the lower bound of the average bit error rate (BER) of transmission. The design obtained provides substantially lower error rates than most of other existing schemes under the same environment. The corresponding gain in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be several decibels. To further improve the performance, we extend the design to include an optimal detection order of the received bits using an iterative approach. This iterative process proves to have fast convergence and results in a design providing significant SNR gain. We also propose a subchannel dropping scheme for cases in which SNR is low, and when the minimum BER precoder is equipped with this scheme, its average performance can be substantially superior to the Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) detection. We extend our design of the optimum precoder to quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme and similar performance gain has been observed.     

甲醇燃料的研发现状及发展前景

介绍了甲醇燃料的理化性质、作为车用替代燃料的性能及研发现状，分析了甲醇汽油存在的问题及发展前景。     

稀土元素在陶瓷中的应用

从稀土元素的原子结构和化学特性出发,介绍了稀土元素的应用领域,阐述了稀土元素在陶瓷色釉料、各种氧化物陶瓷和非氧化物陶瓷中的应用.     

A new method for producing high melt strength polypropylene with reactive extrusion

A high‐melt‐strength polypropylene (HMSPP) was prepared using a twin‐screw reactive extruder from a commercial isotactic polypropylene through two stages, first, maleic anhydride is grafted to polypropylene to obtain a maleic anhydride‐grafted polypropylene (PP‐g‐MA), and then the grafted polymer is reacted with epoxy to extend the branched chain. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy indicated that maleic anhydride was grafted on polypropylene and reacted with epoxy. Melt flow rate and sag resistance test showed that the melt strength of the HMSPP improved considerably. Differential scanning calorimetry test showed that the long chain branches (LCBs) act as a nucleating agent in the crystallization of the HMSPP, which leads to a high crystallization temperature and crystallinity. Furthermore, the LCB efficiency of the HMSPP can also be calculated by analyzing its rheological property. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Protein Extraction from Heat-stabilized Defatted Rice Bran: II. The Role of Amylase, Celluclast, and Viscozyme

ABSTRACT: The effectiveness of 3 carbohydrases for protein extraction from heat-stabilized defatted rice bran (HDRB) was evaluated. Amylase, viscozyme and celluclast extracted a maximum of 45.4, 12.1, and 28.5% protein, respectively. Further study showed that extracted protein ranged from 9.5 to 58.4% under conditions of water to bran ratio (5:1 to 20:1), α-amylase (0 to 110000 units/10 g rice bran), temperature (35 to 55 °C), and time (1 to 8 h). The maximum protein extracted was 58.4% with a water to bran ratio of 17:1, 87637 units amylase, and 50.9 °C. These results suggest that impure food-grade amylase containing protease is more effective than celluclast and viscozyme in protein extraction from HDRB.     

Efficient Spreadsheet Algorithm for First-Order Reliability Method

A new spreadsheet-cell-object-oriented algorithm for the first-order reliability method is proposed and illustrated for cases with correlated nonnormals and explicit and implicit performance functions. The new approach differs from the writers earlier algorithm by obviating the need for computations of equivalent normal means and equivalent normal standard deviations. It obtains the solution faster and is more efficient, robust, and succinct. Other advantages include ease of initialization prior to constrained optimization, ease of randomization of initial values for checking robustness, and fewer required optimization constraints during spreadsheet-automated search for the design point. Two cases with implicit performance functions, namely an asymmetrically loaded beam on Winkler medium and a strut with complex supports are analyzed using the new approach and discussed. Comparisons are also made between the proposed approach and that based on Rosenblatt transformation.     

亚毫米波系统探测距离分析

本文提出了距离的概率分布函数作为系统的性能指标，提高了系统评价的准确性。     

Memory-related changes of nitric oxide synthase activity and nitrite level in rat brain

The changes of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and nitrite level in rat brain regions after spatial learning were investigated. NOS activity was assayed by conversion of [3H]L-arginine to [3H]L-citrulline, and a sensitive fluorometric assay for quantification of nitrite was used. Compared with sham-trained rats, NOS activity and nitrite level in hippocampus and cortex, and also the nitrite level in cerebellum, was elevated significantly one day after rats had learnt a water-rewarded spatial alteration task. These results suggest a spatial memory-related changes of endogenous NO in rat brain, and support the idea that NO participates in learning and memory processes.