Changes in the orientation of the smooth-muscle cells of the tunica media from major arteries under constant lengthwise stretching in situ

It has been shown that changes in the orientation of arterial smooth muscle cells during a constant longitudinal stretching of the artery in vivo are not similar in different sections of the stretching zone. Cells in the proximal and distal sections keep their orientation but this orientation differs from that of smooth muscle cells in the control arteries. Cells in the central part of the stretching region lose their definite orientation to settle randomly.     

IR Spectroscopic Study of the Organic Component of Ultrafine Diamond Produced by Detonation Synthesis

IR spectra of ultrafine diamonds produced by different teams of researchers are studied. The effects of heating and radiation on the properties of ultrafine diamonds are studied. Quantitative assumptions on the kinetics of formation of ultrafine diamonds are made from analysis of IR spectra.     

Manufacture of Granulated Chitosan

Conditions for dry-wet spinning of spherical chitosan granules 0.5–2.0 mm in diameter into a two-layer spinning bath consisting of immiscible liquids are proposed, where an organic liquid, decane in particular, is the upper layer of the bath while a solution of ammonium hydroxide is the lower layer. The possibility of obtaining chitosan microgranules from 2 to 30 µm in diameter by emulsification of a solution of chitosan in decane or a solution of an anion-active surfactant — sodium dodecyl sulfate — is demonstrated. The effect of the molecular weight and concentration of the solutions on the granule-forming power of chitosan is established. A 6% solution of chitosan with a molecular weight of 200 kD is recommended for further studies.__________Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 5, pp. 26–29, January–February, 2005.     

Production of submicrocrystalline structure in large-scale Ti–6Al–4V billet by warm severe deformation processing

The “abc” deformation method for production of large-scale billets with submicrocrystalline structure was developed. A large billet of Ti–6Al–4V alloy (150-mm diameter × 200-mm length) with a homogeneous submicrocrystalline structure was produced. The refined structure with a grain/subgrain size of about 0.4 μm leads to a substantial mechanical properties improvement.     

Critical mass in the emergence of collective intelligence: a parallelized simulation of swarms in noisy environments

We extend an abstract agent-based swarming model based on the evolution of neural network controllers, to explore further the emergence of swarming. Our model is grounded in the ecological situation, in which agents can access some information from the environment about the resource location, but through a noisy channel. Swarming critically improves the efficiency of group foraging, by allowing agents to reach resource areas much more easily by correcting individual mistakes in group dynamics. As high levels of noise may make the emergence of collective behavior depend on a critical mass of agents, it is crucial to reach sufficient computing power to allow for the evolution of the whole set of dynamics in simulation. Since simulating neural controllers and information exchanges between agents are computationally intensive, to scale up simulations to model critical masses of individuals, the implementation requires careful optimization. We apply techniques from astrophysics known as treecodes to compute the signal propagation, and efficiently parallelize for multi-core architectures. Our results open up future research on signal-based emergent collective behavior as a valid collective strategy for uninformed search over a domain space.     

Investigation of the structure of supersonic nitrogen microjets

Results of research on microjets escaping into an ambient space from nozzles with diameters of 341–10.4 μm are described. A special Pitot microtube is used for studying the structure of supersonic microjets. The main feature of this microtube is a small diameter of the intake hole (12 μm). The main parameters of supersonic underexpanded microjets are identified, including the size of shock cells and the supersonic core length of the microjet. The results show a significant increase in the supersonic core length of microjets compared to macrojets. The Reynolds numbers of the laminar–turbulent transition in microjets are found to be in the range of 1,100–2,100. In addition, a classification of supersonic underexpanded axisymmetric microjets escaping into the ambient space is proposed.     

Laser-Printed Plasmonic Metasurface Supporting Bound States in the Continuum Enhances and Shapes Infrared Spontaneous Emission of Coupled HgTe Quantum Dots

In order to advance the development of quantum emitter-based devices, it is essential to enhance light-matter interactions through coupling between semiconductor quantum dots with high quality factor resonators. Here, efficient tuning of the emission properties of HgTe quantum dots in the infrared spectral region is demonstrated by coupling them to a plasmonic metasurface that supports bound states in the continuum. The plasmonic metasurface, composed of an array of gold nanobumps, is fabricated using single-step direct laser printing, opening up new opportunities for creating exclusive 3D plasmonic nanostructures and advanced photonic devices in the infrared region. A 12-fold enhancement of the photoluminescence in the 900–1700 nm range is observed under optimal coupling conditions. By tuning the geometry of the plasmonic arrays, controllable shaping of the emission spectra is achieved, selectively enhancing specific wavelength ranges across the emission spectrum. The observed enhancement and shaping of the emission are attributed to the Purcell effect, as corroborated by systematic measurements of radiative lifetimes and optical simulations based on the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations. Moreover, coupling of the HgTe photoluminescence to high quality factor modes of the metasurface improves emission directivity, concentrating output within an ≈20° angle.     

A Similarity Criterion for Supersonic Flow Past a Cylinder with a Frontal High-Porosity Cellular Insert

We have experimentally and numerically studied the influence of the ratio of the diameter of a cylinder with a frontal gas-permeable porous insert made of nickel sponge to the average pore diameter in the insert on the aerodynamic drag of this model body in supersonic airflow (M_∞ = 4.85, 7, and 21). The analytical dependence of the normalized drag coefficient on a parameter involving the Mach number and the ratio of cylinder radius to average pore radius in the insert is obtained. It is suggested to use this parameter as a similarity criterion in the problem of supersonic airflow past a cylinder with a frontal high-porosity cellular insert.