Indentation strength method to determine the fracture toughness of La0.58Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ and Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ

The temperature-dependent fracture toughness of brittle ceramics can be conveniently assessed from bending tests of specimens with defined cracks introduced by indentation. However, the validity of this indentation strength in bending method (ISM) depends critically on the correct consideration of the residual stress induced by the indentation process. The ISM has been applied to La_0.58Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ (LSCF) and, for comparison, on Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ (BSCF) perovskite. LSCF with rhombohedral phase exhibits ferro-elastic behavior at ambient temperature, whereas BSCF deforms linear-elastically. Pre-indented specimens of both perovskites were fractured at room temperature in biaxial bending, some of them after an additional annealing step. The fracture toughness values of BSCF match reasonably well when determined with equations which consider the presence or absence of residual indentation stress. Interestingly, annealing has little influence on the apparent toughness results obtained for rhombohedral LSCF, which appears to be related with stress relaxation by ferro-elastic deformation.     

A New Approach to In‐Situ “Micromanufacturing”: Microfluidic Fabrication of Magnetic and Fluorescent Chains Using Chitosan Microparticles as Building Blocks

An in situ microfluidic assembly approach is described that can both produce microsized building blocks and assemble them into complex multiparticle configurations in the same microfluidic device. The building blocks are microparticles of the biopolymer chitosan, which is intentionally selected because its chemistry allows for simultaneous intraparticle and interparticle linking. Monodisperse chitosan‐bearing droplets are created by shearing off a chitosan solution at a microfluidic T‐junction with a stream of hexadecane containing a nonionic detergent. These droplets are then interfacially crosslinked into stable microparticles by a downstream flow of glutaraldehyde (GA). The functional properties of these robust microparticles can be easily varied by introducing various payloads, such as magnetic nanoparticles and/or fluorescent dyes, into the chitosan solution. The on‐chip connection of such individual particles into well‐defined microchains is demonstrated using GA again as the chemical “glue” and microchannel confinement as the spatial template. Chain flexibility can be tuned by adjusting the crosslinking conditions: both rigid chains and semiflexible chains are created. Additionally, the arrangement of particles within a chain can also be controlled, for example, to generate chains with alternating fluorescent and nonfluorescent microparticles. Such microassembled chains could find applications as microfluidic mixers, delivery vehicles, microscale sensors, or miniature biomimetic robots.     

Pho(SC)-CTC—a hybrid approach towards zero-shot word image recognition

International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) - Annotating words in a historical document image archive for word image recognition purpose demands time and skilled human...     

Design and Investigation of Double Gate Field Effect Transistor Based H2 Gas Sensor Using Ultra-Thin Molybdenum Disulfide

Silicon - In this article, a low-power hydrogen (H2) gas sensor has been proposed using a two-dimensional (2D) material based Double Gate Field Effect Transistor (2D-FET). It is imperative to...     

Real-time glucose sensing by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in bovine plasma facilitated by a mixed decanethiol/mercaptohexanol partition layer

A new, mixed decanethiol (DT)/mercaptohexanol (MH) partition layer with dramatically improved properties has been developed for glucose sensing by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. This work represents significant progress toward our long-term goal of a minimally invasive, continuous, reusable glucose sensor. The DT/MH-functionalized surface has greater temporal stability, demonstrates rapid, reversible partitioning and departitioning, and is simpler to control compared to the tri(ethylene glycol) monolayer used previously. The data herein show that this DT/MH-functionalized surface is stable for at least 10 days in bovine plasma. Reversibility is demonstrated by exposing the sensor alternately to 0 and 100 mM aqueous glucose solutions (pH approximately 7). The difference spectra show that complete partitioning and departitioning occur. Furthermore, physiological levels of glucose in two complex media were quantified using multivariate analysis. In the first system, the sensor is exposed to a solution consisting of water with 1 mM lactate and 2.5 mM urea. The root-mean-squared error of prediction (RMSEP) is 92.17 mg/dL (5.12 mM) with 87% of the validation points falling within the A and B range of the Clarke error grid. In the second, more complex system, glucose is measured in the presence of bovine plasma. The RMSEP is 83.16 mg/dL (4.62 mM) with 85% of the validation points falling within the A and B range of the Clarke error grid. Finally, to evaluate the real-time response of the sensor, the 1/e time constant for glucose partitioning and departitioning in the bovine plasma environment was calculated. The time constant is 28 s for partitioning and 25 s for departitioning, indicating the rapid interaction between the SAM and glucose that is essential for continuous sensing.     

Adjacency matrix generation from the image of graphs: a morphological approach

This paper presents a system for automatic generation of the adjacency matrix from the image of graphs. The graph, we assume, is printed or hand printed and available as a part of a document either separately or along with text and picture. A morphology-based approach is used here to separate components of the graphs: vertices, edges and labels. A novel technique is proposed to traverse the nonplanar edges joining the vertices. The proposed method may be used for logical compression of the information contained in the graph image in the form of an adjacency matrix. It may also be used to replace the cumbersome, error-prone and time-consuming manual method of generation of the adjacency matrix for graphs with large number of vertices and complex interconnections.     

In vitro and in vivo calcification of vascular bioprostheses

Efficacy of different chemical treatments on calcification of vascular graft in vitro and in vivo was studied. Culture medium-filled rat aortas were separately treated in 0.2% glutaraldehyde and epoxy compound, and photooxidized in 0.01% methylene blue for a shorter period (group 1). Another group of rat aortas were separately treated in the same chemicals for a longer period (group 2). All fresh and treated aortas of both groups were cultured for 21 days in an organ culture medium and implanted (except for group 1) in weanling rats for five months. Histology and immunohistochemistry revealed that differently treated aortas of group 1 grow and calcify, and the smooth muscle cells between elastin fibers are the primary site of calcium deposition. In contrast, differently treated aortas of group 2 neither grew, nor did calcify in the medium except the epoxy compound cross-linked aorta of group 2 which did not grow but did calcify. Untreated aorta did not calcify. All fresh and differently treated aortic homografts calcified severely in rats. Our whole arterial segment-calcification system would be useful for analyzing the molecular and cellular mechanisms of both bioprosthetic and atherosclerotic calcification of vascular graft. New anticalcification technique is the only hope for better outcome of future vascular bioprostheses.     

Large-area flexible 3D optical negative index metamaterial formed by nanotransfer printing

Negative-index metamaterials (NIMs) are engineered structures with optical properties that cannot be obtained in naturally occurring materials. Recent work has demonstrated that focused ion beam and layer-by-layer electron-beam lithography can be used to pattern the necessary nanoscale features over small areas (hundreds of μm(2)) for metamaterials with three-dimensional layouts and interesting characteristics, including negative-index behaviour in the optical regime. A key challenge is in the fabrication of such three-dimensional NIMs with sizes and at throughputs necessary for many realistic applications (including lenses, resonators and other photonic components). We report a simple printing approach capable of forming large-area, high-quality NIMs with three-dimensional, multilayer formats. Here, a silicon wafer with deep, nanoscale patterns of surface relief serves as a reusable stamp. Blanket deposition of alternating layers of silver and magnesium fluoride onto such a stamp represents a process for 'inking' it with thick, multilayer assemblies. Transfer printing this ink material onto rigid or flexible substrates completes the fabrication in a high-throughput manner. Experimental measurements and simulation results show that macroscale, three-dimensional NIMs (>75?cm(2)) nano-manufactured in this way exhibit a strong, negative index of refraction in the near-infrared spectral range, with excellent figures of merit.     

Morphologic gain-controlled regularization for edge-preserving super-resolution image reconstruction

Total Variation or Bilateral Total variation-based regularization of ill-posed super-resolution (SR) problem is well established. However, the SR image reconstructed by this method produces ringing artifacts near strong edges. Second, the extension of SR Imaging to SR video always desire faster SR reconstruction process. We develop a gain-controlled-based locally adaptive regularization technique for SR reconstruction for faster convergence and more detail reconstruction while suppressing the ringing artifacts. We present an iterative process for the model and perform a series of numerical experiments to show evidence of the good performance of the numerical scheme and the proposed gain-controlled regularization.     

Hypergame analysis and hydroconflicts in the Okavango drainage basin

Abstract

This article provides a game theory based approach to the analysis of interstate conflict between Angola, Botswana and Namibia over the Okavango River's shared water resources and tries to offer strategies that can be employed to harmonize incongruent interests. This is done by providing a compressed scenario in which interstate conflicts revolve around lack of adequate mechanisms to satisfactorily distribute shared water resources. The basic premise of the analysis is the following: if relevant data are available, the mathematical inclination of game theoretic modelling provides an objective framework for working out sharing arrangements that minimize conflict. We illustrate this claim on the basis of a hypothetical game where riparian states involved make compensatory sacrifices in order to offset the losses incurred by other partners. We cautiously provide suggestions for the way forward without pretending that these are exhaustive.