Bronchoalveolar lavage. Quantitation of intraalveolar fluid?

A precise calculation of the amount of intraalveolar fluid is the basis of a quantitative analysis of intraalveolar compounds. Different approaches have been made to cover this important problem. Here, we report a comparative study with five markers: 99mTc-DTPA, 51Cr-EDTA, inulin, urea, and methylene blue in animal experiments as well as in human experiments. The marker substances were added to the lavage fluid, and the "dilution" of the markers, i.e., the alveolar fluid, was calculated. The results showed that in animals with healthy lungs the tracer methods are able to calculate amounts of intraalveolar fluid that are comparable to morphologic findings. In animals as well as in humans, methylene blue and inulin were shown to be useless in determining alveolar fluid volume compared with the tracer methods. In humans, the calculations with the urea method and with Tc-DTPA were in the same magnitude, but there was no individual correlation. We conclude that, at present, the methods to quantitate alveolar fluid volume lack precision and add nothing to a deeper understanding of alveolar biology.     

Recurrent Neuro-Fuzzy Modeling and Fuzzy MDPP Control for Flexible Servomechanisms

This paper considers the nonlinear system identification and control for flexible servomechanisms. A multi-step-ahead recurrent neuro-fuzzy model consisting of local linear ARMA (autoregressive moving average) models with bias terms is suggested for approximating the dynamic behavior of a servomechanism including the effects of flexibility and friction. The RLS (recursive least squares) algorithm is adopted for obtaining the optimal consequent parameters of the rules. Within each fuzzy operating region, a local MDPP (minimum degree pole placement) control law with integral action can be constructed based on the estimated local model. Then a fuzzy controller composed of these local MDPP controls can be easily constructed for the servomechanism. The techniques are illustrated using computer simulations.     

Comparison of a‐Si and Poly‐Si for AMOLED displays

Abstract— The characteristics of OLED backplanes including the intrinsic properties of a‐Si TFTs and LTPS TFTs will be reviewed. While LTPS TFTs reveal satisfactory stability in AMOLED‐display applications, a‐Si AMOLEDs show better uniformity and are capable of driving OLEDs. However, the stability of a‐Si TFTs under long‐term operation is still unacceptable and remains to be the key issue constraining the commercialization of a‐Si TFT AMOLEDs.     

On-line signature verification using LPC cepstrum and neuralnetworks

An on-line signature verification scheme based on linear prediction coding (LPC) cepstrum and neural networks is proposed. Cepstral coefficients derived from linear predictor coefficients of the writing trajectories are calculated as the features of the signatures. These coefficients are used as inputs to the neural networks. A number of single-output multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), as many as the number of words in the signature, are equipped for each registered person to verify the input signature. If the summation of output values of all MLPs is larger than the verification threshold, the input signature is regarded as a genuine signature; otherwise, the input signature is a forgery. Simulations show that this scheme can detect the genuineness of the input signatures from a test database with an error rate as low as 4%     

The solubility of methane in aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine,diethanolamine and triethanolamine

The solubility of methane in 3 kmol/m³ solutions of monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, and triethanolamine was measured from 25° to 125°C and pressures up to about 13 MPa. Measurements were also made for the solubility of methane in water at 25° to 125°C and pressures up to 18 MPa in order to confirm the accuracy of the experimental technique. It is demonstrated that methane is more soluble (in terms of mole fraction) in the amine solution than in pure water. Furthermore, the solubility is an increasing function of the size of the alkanolamine. The solubility data were modeled using a Henry's-law approach and the results summarized in terms of salting-in coefficients.     

大尺寸TFT-LCD电视的彩色和图像增强

最近几年,薄膜晶体管液晶显示器(TFT-LCD)技术取得了快速而显著的进步,其性能超过了PDP、CRT以及投影显示。毫无疑问,TFT-LCD已经成为高清电视应用的最佳实现方案。本文将介绍进一步增强大尺寸LCD电视的彩色和图像性能的技术。     

An optimum approach for fabrication of tapered hemispherical-end fiber for laser module packaging

Comprehensive measurements of the dependence of coupling efficiency and radius of curvature on taper angle in a tapered hemispherical-end fiber (THEF) for coupling between laser diodes and single-mode fibers are presented. The THEF was fabricated by etching the fiber end in a hydrofloride (HF) solution with a thin layer of oil floating on top of the HF, and then heating in a fusion splicer to form a hemispherical end. The results show that THEFs with larger taper angles fabricated by greater oil density exhibit a smaller radius of curvature, and hence a better coupling efficiency. The results of this investigation have led to an optimum approach for high-yield and high-volume fabrication of THEFs that is suitable for use in commercial laser diode modules for efficient coupling between laser diodes and single-mode fibers. The calculation of the effect of oil density in HF etching solution on taper angle based on a semiempirical model is in good agreement with the measured results.     

Low-operation voltage of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes by using aMg-doped Al0.15Ga0.85N/GaN superlattice

Low-resistivity Mg-doped Al_0.15Ga_0.85N/GaN strained-layer superlattices were grown. In these superlattices, the maximum hole concentration is 3×10¹⁸/cm³ at room temperature. Hall-effect measurements indicate high conductivity of this structure in which the high activation efficiency is attributed to the strain-induced piezoelectric fields. This work also fabricated InGaN/GaN blue LEDs that consist of a Mg-doped Al_0.15Ga_0.85N/GaN SLs. Experimental results indicate that the LEDs can achieve a lower operation voltage of around 3 V, i.e., smaller than conventional devices which have an operation voltage of about 3.8 V     

Electromagnetic shielding of nylon-66 composites applied to laser modules

Electromagnetic shielding of nylon-66 composites applied to laser modules was studied experimentally and theoretically. The effects of conductive carbon fiber length and weight percentage upon the shielding effectiveness (SE) of nylon composites were investigated. The SE of long carbon fiber filled nylon-66 composites was found to be higher than short carbon fiber composites under the same weight percentage of carbon fibers. In addition, higher electromagnetic shielding was obtained for the composite with higher carbon fibers contents at the same length. The SE of conductive carbon fiber filled nylon-66 composites was measured to be 42 dB at a low frequency of 30 MHz and 50 dB at a high frequency of 1 GHz. The SE predicted by theoretical models and measured by experiments were in good agreement for filled nylon-66 composites with different length fiber.     

A carbon nanotube polymer-based composite with high electromagnetic shielding

A novel, polymer-based carbon nanotube (CNT) composite with high electromagnetic (EM) wave shielding effectiveness (SE) and high mechanical properties was developed. Two types of CNTs with different aspect ratios and morphologies are compared in this study. Amorphous carbon and graphite powder are used as reference materials. The liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and melamine formaldehyde (MF) are used as polymer matrices to study the orientation effect of CNTs in a polymer matrix. The influences of orientation, aspect ratio, mass fraction, and morphology of CNTs upon the shielding effectiveness (SE) of CNT/polymer composites are investigated. The experimental results show that the higher the orientation, the aspect ratio, and the weight percentage of nanomaterials are in the composite, the higher the polymer composites’ SE. The nanomaterials’ morphology, especially CNTs, also affects the SE value of the polymer composite. The highest SE for the CNT/LCP composite obtained is >62 dB. The theoretically calculated SE data are consistent with experimentally obtained data.