A Novel Biphasic-Current-Pulse Calibration Technique for Electrical Neural Stimulation

One of the major challenge in neural prosthetic device design is to ensure charge-balanced stimulation. This paper presents a new calibration technique to minimize the mismatch between anodic and cathodic current amplitudes. The proposed circuit mainly consists of a digital and an analog calibration, where a successive approximation register (SAR) logic and a comparator are used in digital calibration while a source follower is adopted in analog calibration. With a 0. 18 μm high voltage CMOS process, the simulation shows that the maximum current mismatch is 45 nA (<0.05%).published_or_final_versio

A Double-Voltage-Controlled Effective Thermal Conductivity Model of Graphene for Thermoelectric Cooling

© 1963-2012 IEEE. Graphene provides a new opportunity for thermoelectric study based on its unique heat transfer behavior controllable by a gate voltage. In this paper, an effective thermal conductivity model of graphene for thermoelectric cooling is proposed. The model is based on a double-voltage-control mechanism. According to the law of Fourier heat conduction, an effective thermal conductivity model of the proposed thermoelectric cooling device is derived taking a tunable external voltage into account. Then, a gate voltage is used which can change graphene's thermoelectric characteristics. To verify the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed model, a circuit simulation model using HSPICE is built based on the thermoelectric duality. The simulation results from HSPICE and the calculated results from the mathematic model show good agreements with each other. This paper provides a novel precisely controlling method for thermoelectric cooling

A novel missense mutation of bovine lipase maturation factor 1 (LMF1) gene and its association with growth traits

Lipase maturation factor 1 (LMF1) gene is a novel candidate gene in severe hypertriglyceridemia. To detect the polymorphism in LMF1 gene in 804 Chinese cattle, we firstly described the polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP), DNA sequence and PCR-RFLP methods for detecting mutations of LMF1 gene, which affected growth and development in animal. The results showed a novel mutation in exon 4: NC_007326.3: g.27154 T&gt;C, which resulted in a missense mutation within LMF1 protein (p.197 Trp&gt;Arg). Genotype TT was dominant in four breeds, and genotypic frequencies of LMF1 exon 4 AvaI locus were calculated in four populations which agreed with Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium (p &gt; 0.05). The association analysis showed that individuals with genotype TC had greater body weight than those with genotype TT at 12, 18 and 24 months of age in Nanyang cattle (P &lt; 0.05).Key words: Bovine, polymorphism, growth traits, LMF1 gene

Stepwise photoassisted decomposition of carbohydrates to H2

Biomass reforming by harvesting solar energy can provide green hydrogen. Current biomass photoreforming provides H2 erratically and in limited yield although efficiently, owing to intermittent features of solar light and incomplete degradation of biomass C-C bonds. Here, we detour the flaws by prioritizing conversion of carbohydrates to liquid hydrogen carriers (LHCs, consisting of HCOOH and HCHO), appropriate for transportation. Subsequently, the LHCs are fully decomposed, releasing only H-2 and CO2. This stepwise process enables complete scission of carbohydrate C-C bonds, affording 44 g of H-2 per kg of glucose thereof. Intermittent solar light provides the photoenergy and heat to split glucose car-bons to produce LHCs (2.5 mmol h(-1)) in a flow apparatus. This work demonstrates hydrogen production and storage by empha-sizing the complete scission of biomass C-C bonds

Effects of Mach number on turbulent separation behaviours induced by blunt fin

An experimental study of the interaction between shock wave and turbulent boundary layer induced by blunt fin has been carried out at M-infinity = 7.8 using oil flow visualization and simultaneous measurements of fluctuating wall pressure and heat transfer. This paper presents the effects of Mach number on turbulent separation behaviours induced by blunt fin

Recent changes of water discharge and sediment load in the Yellow River basin, China

The Yellow River basin contributes approximately 6% of the sediment load from all river systems globally, and the annual runoff directly supports 12% of the Chinese population. As a result, describing and understanding recent variations of water discharge and sediment load under global change scenarios are of considerable importance. The present study considers the annual hydrologic series of the water discharge and sediment load of the Yellow River basin obtained from 15 gauging stations (10 mainstream, 5 tributaries). The Mann-Kendall test method was adopted to detect both gradual and abrupt change of hydrological series since the 1950s. With the exception of the area draining to the Upper Tangnaihai station, results indicate that both water discharge and sediment load have decreased significantly (p&lt;0.05). The declining trend is greater with distance downstream, and drainage area has a significant positive effect on the rate of decline. It is suggested that the abrupt change of the water discharge from the late 1980s to the early 1990s arose from human extraction, and that the abrupt change in sediment load was linked to disturbance from reservoir construction.Geography, PhysicalGeosciences, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)43ARTICLE4541-5613

The sudden change phenomenon of quantum discord

Even if the parameters determining a system's state are varied smoothly, the behavior of quantum correlations alike to quantum discord, and of its classical counterparts, can be very peculiar, with the appearance of non-analyticities in its rate of change. Here we review this sudden change phenomenon (SCP) discussing some important points related to it: Its uncovering, interpretations, and experimental verifications, its use in the context of the emergence of the pointer basis in a quantum measurement process, its appearance and universality under Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, its theoretical and experimental investigation in some other physical scenarios, and the related phenomenon of double sudden change of trace distance discord. Several open questions are identified, and we envisage that in answering them we will gain significant further insight about the relation between the SCP and the symmetry-geometric aspects of the quantum state space.Comment: Lectures on General Quantum Correlations and their Applications, F. F. Fanchini, D. O. Soares Pinto, and G. Adesso (Eds.), Springer (2017), pp 309-33

The Influences of H2Plasma Pretreatment on the Growth of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes by Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

The effects of H2flow rate during plasma pretreatment on synthesizing the multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by using the microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition are investigated in this study. A H2and CH4gas mixture with a 9:1 ratio was used as a precursor for the synthesis of MWCNT on Ni-coated TaN/Si(100) substrates. The structure and composition of Ni catalyst nanoparticles were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The present findings showed that denser Ni catalyst nanoparticles and more vertically aligned MWCNTs could be effectively achieved at higher flow rates. From Raman results, we found that the intensity ratio of G and D bands (ID/IG) decreases with an increasing flow rate. In addition, TEM results suggest that H2plasma pretreatment can effectively reduce the amorphous carbon and carbonaceous particles. As a result, the pretreatment plays a crucial role in modifying the obtained MWCNTs structures

Genome Physical Mapping of Polyploids: A BIBAC Physical Map of Cultivated Tetraploid Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L

Polyploids account for approximately 70% of flowering plants, including many field, horticulture and forage crops. Cottons are a world-leading fiber and important oilseed crop, and a model species for study of plant polyploidization, cellulose biosynthesis and cell wall biogenesis. This study has addressed the concerns of physical mapping of polyploids with BACs and/or BIBACs by constructing a physical map of the tetraploid cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. The physical map consists of 3,450 BIBAC contigs with an N50 contig size of 863 kb, collectively spanning 2,244 Mb. We sorted the map contigs according to their origin of subgenome, showing that we assembled physical maps for the A- and D-subgenomes of the tetraploid cotton, separately. We also identified the BIBACs in the map minimal tilling path, which consists of 15,277 clones. Moreover, we have marked the physical map with nearly 10,000 BIBAC ends (BESs), making one BES in approximately 250 kb. This physical map provides a line of evidence and a strategy for physical mapping of polyploids, and a platform for advanced research of the tetraploid cotton genome, particularly fine mapping and cloning the cotton agronomic genes and QTLs, and sequencing and assembling the cotton genome using the modern next-generation sequencing technology