基于超混沌Lorenz系统的自适应异步抗噪声保密通信方案

针对非实时通信对安全性要求高且信道中存在噪声的问题,提出了基于超混沌掩盖调制的自适应异步抗噪声保密通信方案。通信原理是由超混沌Lorenz系统生成四个状态变量的伪随机向量,并通过信号增益将它们调整到同一区间;再由分段线性混沌映射（PWLCM）生成两个向量,用于在四个状态变量之间随机切换选取和确定动态时滞步长,以生成载体信号;然后将预编码后的二进制信息成对掩盖到载体信号中,添加高斯噪声后发送出去。实验结果分析发现最小信号增益和噪声系数的比值稳定在一个小区间[0.08,0.11]内,如果把该比值设置成某个大于该区间上限的值,则比特误码率可达到零,因此接收端可在噪声信道中接收并完美恢复出被掩盖信号。该方案利用超混沌系统的非线性动力学特性,能够在噪声信道中自适应实现异步保密通信,数值仿真验证了其有效性。     

Polydopamine as an intermediate layer for silver and hydroxyapatite immobilisation on metallic biomaterials surface

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coated implant is more susceptible to bacterial infection as the micro-structure surface which is beneficial for osseointegration, could also become a reservoir for bacterial colonisation. The aim of this study was to introduce the antibacterial effect of silver (Ag) to the biomineralised HA by utilising a polydopamine film as an intermediate layer for Ag and HA immobilisation. Sufficient catechol groups in polydopamine were required to bind chemically stainless steel 316 L, Ag and HA elements. Different amounts of Ag nanoparticles were metallised on the polydopamine grafted stainless steel by varying the immersion time in silver nitrate solution from 12 to 24 h. Another polydopamine layer was then formed on the metallised film, followed by surface biomineralisation in 1.5 Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) solution for 3 days. Several characterisation techniques including X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Contact Angle showed that Ag nanoparticles and HA agglomerations were successfully immobilised on the polydopamine film through an element reduction process. The Ag metallisation at 24 h has killed the viable bacteria with 97.88% of bactericidal ratio. The Ag was ionised up to 7 days which is crucial to prevent bacterial infection during the first stage of implant restoration. The aged functionalised films were considered stable due to less alteration of its chemical composition, surface roughness and wettability properties. The ability of the functionalised film to coat complex and micro scale metal make it suitable for dental and orthopaedic implants application.     

Substrate Temperature Dependent Surface Morphology and Photoluminescence of Germanium Quantum Dots Grown by Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

The visible luminescence from Ge nanoparticles and nanocrystallites has generated interest due to the feasibility of tuning band gap by controlling the sizes. Germanium (Ge) quantum dots (QDs) with average diameter ~16 to 8 nm are synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under different growth conditions. These QDs with narrow size distribution and high density, characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) are obtained under the optimal growth conditions of 400 °C substrate temperature, 100 W radio frequency powers and 10 Sccm Argon flow. The possibility of surface passivation and configuration of these dots are confirmed by elemental energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The room temperature strong visible photoluminescence (PL) from such QDs suggests their potential application in optoelectronics. The sample grown at 400 °C in particular, shows three PL peaks at around ~2.95 eV, 3.34 eV and 4.36 eV attributed to the interaction between Ge, GeO_x manifesting the possibility of the formation of core-shell structures. A red shift of ~0.11 eV in the PL peak is observed with decreasing substrate temperature. We assert that our easy and economic method is suitable for the large-scale production of Ge QDs useful in optoelectronic devices.     

Rapid crystallization of L-arginine acetate on engineered surfaces using metal-assisted and microwave-accelerated evaporative crystallization()

We report the application of our newly described crystallization technique, which employs silver island films (SIFs) and microwave heating, to rapid crystallization of L-arginine acetate (LAA). Using our technique, LAA crystals (~ 1.2 mm in length) were grown from a 20 μl solution in 1 min on surface functionalized SIFs. In control experiments (glass slides and at room temperature) the growth of LAA crystals (0.1-0.3 mm) took ~ 55 min.     

Root Zone Moisture Routing and Water Demand Calculations in the Context of Integrated Hydrology

An important issue that integrated hydrologic models (IHMs) for river basins can address is the management of water resources in heavily inhabited and cultivated basins. To address this issue, these models need to simulate water demands and root zone flows in a basin. Irrigation scheduling models (ISMs) have been widely used by professionals to compute farm level water demands and root zone flows. Available ISMs are neither suitable for use at basin scale nor can they be easily linked to IHMs. This paper describes a new model that utilizes methods used by ISMs to compute root zone flows and water demands in river basins and can be linked to IHMs. The model was applied to a basin in California, and the simulated water demands were compared with data compiled for the basin. The differences in the results were attributed to differences in input potential evapotranspiration rates. The paper demonstrates that simulated water demands for rice are very sensitive to saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, whereas demands for other crops are sensitive to the pore size distribution index.     

Effect of Multi-Step Tempering on Retained Austenite and Mechanical Properties of Low Alloy Steel

 The effect of multi-step tempering on retained austenite content and mechanical properties of low alloy steel used in the forged cold back-up roll was investigated. Microstructural evolutions were characterized by optical microscope, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and Feritscope, while the mechanical properties were determined by hardness and tensile tests. The results revealed that the content of retained austenite decreased by about 2% after multi-step tempering. However, the content of retained austenite increased from 36% to 51% by increasing multi-step tempering temperature. The hardness and tensile strength increased as the austenitization temperature changed from 800 to 920 ℃, while above 920 ℃, hardness and tensile strength decreased. In addition, the maximum values of hardness, ultimate and yield strength were obtained via triple tempering at 520 ℃, while beyond 520 ℃, the hardness, ultimate and yield strength decreased sharply.     

Nanoflower hydroxyapatite's effect on the properties of resin-based dental composite

To investigate the reinforcing effect of nanoflower-like hydroxyapatite (NFHA) in resin-based dental composites, we synthesized a novel NFHA using microwave irradiation (MW), hydrothermal treatment (HT), and sonochemical synthesis (SS). Silanized NFHA was then used as the reinforcing filler in dental resin composites. We characterized the structure and morphology of various HA nanostructures using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and TEM. The mechanical performance of dental resin composites reinforced with silanized NFHA was measured using a universal testing machine. Spherical HA, synthesized through chemical precipitation (CP), served as the control group. One-way analysis of variance was employed for the statistical analysis of the acquired data. The results demonstrate that the nanoflower morphology significantly was improved mechanical and physical properties. After conducting trials, the NFHA synthesized using MW and HT showed a substantial enhancement in mechanical and physical properties compared to the other structures. Therefore, it can be concluded that NFHA can serve as a novel reinforcing HA filler, providing regenerative properties to resin composites with sufficient mechanical strength.     

Comparison of yields and quality of nutmeg butter obtained by extraction of nutmeg rind by soxhlet and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2)

Nutmeg is a native South East Asian plant which has medicinal properties. In this work, supercritical extraction was studied in order to obtain experimental data of the influence of pressure, temperature and particle size and in comparison to soxhlet extraction. Supercritical extraction was conducted at operating temperatures of 40, 50 and 60 °C, operating pressures of 20.7, 27.6, 34.5 and 41.4 MPa and dynamic extraction time was 90 min. The effect of three different sieved particle sizes ?0.500, ?1 mm and ?2 mm on the extraction yield was examined. The results show that the highest yield was 38.8 g oil/100 g sample obtained under extraction temperature of 60 °C, pressure 41.4 MPa using particle size of ?0.5 mm. Soxhlet extraction yields 34 g oil/100 g sample for 6 h of extraction time. The GCTOFMS shows that the supercritical extracts exhibited significantly higher aromatic ether group comparable to those obtained by soxhlet.     

Effect on Mechanical Performance of UHMWPE/HDPE-Blend Reinforced with Kenaf,Basalt and Hybrid Kenaf/Basalt Fiber

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of UHMWPE/HDPE-reinforced kenaf, basalt and hybrid kenaf/basalt composites. Mechanical testing of these samples was carried out such as tensile, flexural (three-point bending) and an impact test (Charpy). Pure resin (UHMWPE/HDPE) samples were tested and compare with reinforced 10% weight fraction of kenaf, basalt and hybrid kenaf/basalt samples to identifying their contribution and potential in this new composite material. UHMWPE/ HDPE sample was produced in constant ratio 60:40 respectively via extrusion process. Basalt reinforced UHMWPE/HDPE generates the highest elastic modulus result compared to kenaf and hybrid kenaf/basalt as a reinforcement material. The tensile results of kenaf reinforcement UHMWPE/HDPE samples are significantly higher (20%) than pure blend resin, which is an indication for good performance of kenaf, basalt and hybrid kenaf/basalt to be used in UHMWPE/HDPE-blend polymers. The flexural and Charpy strengths show the drawback results, where performance of polymer is reduced 5% with the absence of kenaf. It can be concluded that kenaf, basalt and hybrid kenaf/basalt fiber successfully increase the UHMWPE/HDPE blends performance especially under tensile loading.     

Auction-theoretic coordination of production planning in the supply chain

Most planning and optimization methods in manufacturing logistics assume centralized or hierarchical decision-making using monolithic models. Motivated by the increasing needs to coordinate diverse decision processes and systems, we investigate an auction-theoretic mechanism for production coordination in a supply chain. Our effort focuses on structural mappings between mathematical decomposition and iterative auction mechanisms wherein agents compete based on their local utilities, announced conflict pricing, and production targets. Building upon the rich literature in optimization and auction-theoretic analysis, we investigate the advantages and limitations of this distributed decision scheme on a large set problem in supply chain production planning. Experimental results show that the proposed auction mechanism provides impressive improvement over the traditional monolithic method without significant degradation to the solution quality.