Developmental and Reproductive Effects of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Arabidopsis thaliana

Increasing use of iron oxide nanoparticles in medicine and environmental remediation has led to concerns regarding exposure of these nanoparticles to the public. However, limited studies are available to evaluate their effects on the environment, in particular on plants and food crops. Here, we investigated the effects of positive (PC) and negative (NC) charged iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles (IONPs) on the physiology and reproductive capacity of Arabidopsis thaliana at concentrations of 3 and 25 mg/L. The 3 mg/L treated plants did not show evident effects on seeding and root length. However, the 25 mg/L treatment resulted in reduced seedling (positive-20% and negative-3.6%) and root (positive-48% and negative-negligible) length. Interestingly, treatment with polyethylenimine (PEI; IONP-PC coating) also resulted in reduced root length (39%) but no change was observed with polyacrylic acid (PAA; IONP-NC coating) treatment alone. However, treatment with IONPs at 3 mg/L did lead to an almost 5% increase in aborted pollen, a 2%–6% reduction in pollen viability and up to an 11% reduction in seed yield depending on the number of treatments. Interestingly, the treated plants did not show any observable phenotypic changes in overall size or general plant structure, indicating that environmental nanoparticle contamination could go dangerously unnoticed.     

0Cr20Mn21Ni2N奥氏体不锈钢锻件组织性能研究

研究了无磁钻铤用0Cr20Mn21Ni2N奥氏体不锈钢圆棒锻件横截面的室温强度、硬度和韧性等力学性能,并从微观角度进行了分析。在圆棒表层区域观察到了锻造变形态晶粒组织,而直径四分之一区域为再结晶组织,平均晶粒尺寸为80μm,芯部再结晶晶粒尺寸粗化为150μm,这些差异是由不同的变形温度和降温速度造成的。这种组织差异导致的室温拉伸性能和冲击韧性也有相应的变化趋势。研究结果表明,在900、1000℃以0.5 s-1的应变速率压缩的0Cr20Mn21Ni2N试验钢样品,其应力应变曲线具有一定的加工硬化特征,其芯部硬度比应变速率为0.1 s-1的样品分别提升了28、15 HB。在700、800℃以20%以上的变形量进行压缩时,峰值抗力显著提高,而在900、1000℃以10%~50%的变形量进行压缩时,峰值抗力均无明显提高,可保证顺利的变形过程。     

High-performance MIM capacitor using ALD high-k HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectrics

For the first time, we successfully fabricated and demonstrated high performance metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectric using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Our data indicates that the laminate MIM capacitor can provide high capacitance density of 12.8 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ from 10 kHz up to 20 GHz, very low leakage current of 3.2 /spl times/ 10/sup -8/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 3.3 V, small linear voltage coefficient of capacitance of 240 ppm/V together with quadratic one of 1830 ppm/V/sup 2/, temperature coefficient of capacitance of 182 ppm//spl deg/C, and high breakdown field of /spl sim/6 MV/cm as well as promising reliability. As a result, the HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate is a very promising candidate for next generation MIM capacitor for radio frequency and mixed signal integrated circuit applications.     

APPLICATION OF COMPUTER NUMERICAL METHOD IN PORE STRUCTURE CALCULATION

This paper compares the results Of calculat-ing pore structure and graphing differential and integralpore size distribution by hand and Computer,and presents thatlagrangian interpolation uesd by calculating pore structure issuitable and reliable.     

Fixed-order H∞ compensator design

A method is presented for the construction of fixed-order compensators to provide H_∞ norm constraint for linear control systems with exogenous disturbances. The method is based on the celebrated bounded-real lemma that predicates the H_∞ norm constraint via a Riccati inequality. The synthesis of fixed-order controllers whose dimensions are less than the order of a given plant, is demonstrated by a set of sufficient conditions along with a numerical algorithm.     

Selection of network and learning parameters for an adaptive neural robotic control scheme

This paper presents the results of a study in the design of a neural network based adaptive robotic control scheme. The neural network used here is a two hidden layer feedforward network and the learning scheme is the well-known backpropagation algorithm. The neural network essentially provides the inverse of the plant and acts in conjunction with a standard PD controller in the feedback loop. The objective of the controller is to accurately control the end position of a single link manipulator in the presence of large payload variations, variations in the link length and also variations in the damping constant. Based on results of this study, guidelines are presented in selecting the number of neurons in the hidden layers and also the parameters for the learning scheme used for training the network. Results also indicate that increasing the number of neurons in the hidden layer will improve the convergence speed of learning scheme up to a certain limit beyond which the addition of neurons will cause oscillations and instability. Guidelines for selecting the proper learning rate, momentum and fast backpropagation constant that ensure stability and convergence are presented. Also, a relationship between the r.m.s. error and the number of iterations used in training the neural network is established.     

Pervasive 2007: It's about the User

Pervasive computing is as much about the user as it is about the technology. So, the Fifth International Conference on Pervasive Computing emphasized desirability rather than just feasibility. Featured themes included user benefits, human-computer interaction, group and social interactions, context awareness, finding and positioning people and objects, and personal privacy.     

Robust State Feedback Control Through Actuators With Generalized Sector Nonlinearities And Saturation

In control systems, actuators often have nonlinear characteristics that can not be neglected. For linear systems driven by actuators satisfying the generalized sector condition, a robust state feedback controller synthesis method is proposed to achieve the ultimate boundedness control. The method is based on the linear matrix inequality approach and is easy to apply. As an important special case of the generalized sector condition, the saturation characteristic of actuators is discussed separately, and non‐conservative results are obtained.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of HTLV-II isolate NRA: comparison of envelope sequence variation of HTLV-II isolates from U.S. blood donors and U.S. and Italian i.v. drug users

Seven cardiac electrophysiology stimulators from four manufacturers (Biotronik, Bloom, Digitimer and Medtronic) in common current use are reviewed. The stimulators differ in the features provided and the design adopted to achieve these features. The number of output channels ranges from one to four, the number of extra-stimuli available ranges from two to six, and these can be delivered as a variety of sequences. Some of the stimulators (Digitimer and Bloom) are modular while others (Biotronik and Medtronic 532 series) are of an integrated design comprising a single physical unit. The design of the Medtronic EP-2 has both integrated and modular characteristics. The features of the stimulators associated with input, output, control and the user interface are specifically reviewed. The features are also compared against the published recommendations of the American Heart Association. In addition, a summary of stimulator user comments from a number of electrophysiology centres is presented. All of the stimulators fulfil, or are close to fulfilling, basic electrophysiological requirements, but some provide more complex facilities such as would be required by specialist centres.