A reconfigurable beam-scanning partially reflective surface (PRS) antenna

© 2015 EurAAP. A novel reconfigurable partially reflective surface (PRS) antenna is presented in this paper. The beam scanning ability is realized by employing a reconfigurable PRS structure and a phased array as the source. The design achieves a beam switching between -15°, 0°, to 15° with respect to the broadside direction from 5.5 GHz to 5.7 GHz with the realized gains over 12 dBi. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results is achieved

Low-profile and wide-beamwidth dual-polarized distributed microstrip antenna

© 2013 IEEE. A low-profile and wide-beamwidth dual-polarized distributed microstrip antenna is presented in this paper. Four isolated micro patches are proposed as the radiation components and are excited by a compact differential-fed network. The micro patches in two diagonals determine the operating frequency bands of the two polarizations, respectively. By increasing the distances between the micro patches, the beamwidth in E plane can be broadened. Shorting poles between the patches and the ground plane are used to achieve good impedance matching. Compact dual-polarized differential-fed networks are also studied and compared with achieve the best antenna performance. To validate the proposed method, a wide-beamwith dual-polarized distributed microstrip antenna, whose dual polarizations operate at 2 and 2.2 GHz, respectively, is manufactured and measured. The external dimensions of the antenna is 70mm × 10 mm (0.49λ × 0.07λ ). The experimental results agree well with the simulated ones. The 3dB beamwidths in E planes reach 116° and 115°, and the gains are 5.15 and 5.5 dB for two polarizations, respectively. Meanwhile, the cross polarizations are less than -26.2 and -27.8 dB. In addition, the impedance bandwidths of 9.2% and 9.9% for VSWR leq 2 are achieved, and the port isolation is greater than 25.4 dB in the bands

A wideband polarization reconfigurable antenna for WLAN applications

© 2016 European Association of Antennas and Propagation. This paper proposes a wideband polarization reconfigurable antenna design for WLAN applications. It consists of a shorted annular patch (SAP) antenna as the source, a partially reflective surface (PRS) structure to enhance the gain, and a reconfigurable Wilkinson power divider as the feed network. The antenna can electronically alter its polarization between linear polarization (LP), left-hand circular polarization (LHCP), and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP),achieving an overlapped 10dB impedance bandwidth and 3 dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 4.68-5.33 GHz (13%), thus outperforming most of the reported polarization reconfigurable antennas in terms of the frequency bandwidth

A computational cognition model of perception, memory, and judgment

The mechanism of human cognition and its computability provide an important theoretical foundation to intelligent computation of visual media. This paper focuses on the intelligent processing of massive data of visual media and its corresponding processes of perception, memory, and judgment in cognition. In particular, both the human cognitive mechanism and cognitive computability of visual media are investigated in this paper at the following three levels: neurophysiology, cognitive psychology, and computational modeling. A computational cognition model of Perception, Memory, and Judgment (PMJ model for short) is proposed, which consists of three stages and three pathways by integrating the cognitive mechanism and computability aspects in a unified framework. Finally, this paper illustrates the applications of the proposed PMJ model in five visual media research areas. As demonstrated by these applications, the PMJ model sheds some light on the intelligent processing of visual media, and it would be innovative for researchers to apply human cognitive mechanism to computer science.</p

Mapping the unconventional orbital texture in topological crystalline insulators

The newly discovered topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) harbor a complex band structure involving multiple Dirac cones. These materials are potentially highly tunable by external electric field, temperature or strain and could find future applications in field-effect transistors, photodetectors, and nano-mechanical systems. Theoretically, it has been predicted that different Dirac cones, offset in energy and momentum-space, might harbor vastly different orbital character, a unique property which if experimentally realized, would present an ideal platform for accomplishing new spintronic devices. However, the orbital texture of the Dirac cones, which is of immense importance in determining a variety of materials properties, still remains elusive in TCIs. Here, we unveil the orbital texture in a prototypical TCI Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se. By using Fourier-transform (FT) scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) we measure the interference patterns produced by the scattering of surface state electrons. We discover that the intensity and energy dependences of FTs show distinct characteristics, which can directly be attributed to orbital effects. Our experiments reveal the complex band topology involving two Lifshitz transitions and establish the orbital nature of the Dirac bands in this new class of topological materials, which could provide a different pathway towards future quantum applications

Bayesian network approach to fault diagnosis of a hydroelectric generation system

This study focuses on the fault diagnosis of a hydroelectric generation system with hydraulic-mechanical-electric structures. To achieve this analysis, a methodology combining Bayesian network approach and fault diagnosis expert system is presented, which enables the time-based maintenance to transform to the condition-based maintenance. First, fault types and the associated fault characteristics of the generation system are extensively analyzed to establish a precise Bayesian network. Then, the Noisy-Or modeling approach is used to implement the fault diagnosis expert system, which not only reduces node computations without severe information loss but also eliminates the data dependency. Some typical applications are proposed to fully show the methodology capability of the fault diagnosis of the hydroelectric generation system

Atomically dispersed Pt-N-4 sites as efficient and selective electrocatalysts for the chlorine evolution reaction

Chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a critical anode reaction in chlor-alkali electrolysis. Although precious metal-based mixed metal oxides (MMOs) have been widely used as CER catalysts, they suffer from the concomitant generation of oxygen during the CER. Herein, we demonstrate that atomically dispersed Pt-N-4 sites doped on a carbon nanotube (Pt-1/CNT) can catalyse the CER with excellent activity and selectivity. The Pt-1/CNT catalyst shows superior CER activity to a Pt nanoparticle-based catalyst and a commercial Ru/Ir-based MMO catalyst. Notably, Pt-1/CNT exhibits near 100% CER selectivity even in acidic media, with low Cl- concentrations (0.1M), as well as in neutral media, whereas the MMO catalyst shows substantially lower CER selectivity. In situ electrochemical X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals the direct adsorption of Cl- on Pt-N-4 sites during the CER. Density functional theory calculations suggest the PtN4C12 site as the most plausible active site structure for the CER

Uterine selection of human embryos at implantation

Human embryos frequently harbor large-scale complex chromosomal errors that impede normal development. Affected embryos may fail to implant although many first breach the endometrial epithelium and embed in the decidualizing stroma before being rejected via mechanisms that are poorly understood. Here we show that developmentally impaired human embryos elicit an endoplasmic stress response in human decidual cells. A stress response was also evident upon in vivo exposure of mouse uteri to culture medium conditioned by low-quality human embryos. By contrast, signals emanating from developmentally competent embryos activated a focused gene network enriched in metabolic enzymes and implantation factors. We further show that trypsin, a serine protease released by pre-implantation embryos, elicits Ca2+ signaling in endometrial epithelial cells. Competent human embryos triggered short-lived oscillatory Ca2+ fluxes whereas low-quality embryos caused a heightened and prolonged Ca2+ response. Thus, distinct positive and negative mechanisms contribute to active selection of human embryos at implantation

Intragenic DNA methylation: implications of this epigenetic mechanism for cancer research

Epigenetics is the study of all mechanisms that regulate gene transcription and genome stability that are maintained throughout the cell division, but do not include the DNA sequence itself. The best-studied epigenetic mechanism to date is DNA methylation, where methyl groups are added to the cytosine base within cytosine–guanine dinucleotides (CpG sites). CpGs are frequently clustered in high density (CpG islands (CGIs)) at the promoter of over half of all genes. Current knowledge of transcriptional regulation by DNA methylation centres on its role at the promoter where unmethylated CGIs are present at most actively transcribed genes, whereas hypermethylation of the promoter results in gene repression. Over the last 5 years, research has gradually incorporated a broader understanding that methylation patterns across the gene (so-called intragenic or gene body methylation) may have a role in transcriptional regulation and efficiency. Numerous genome-wide DNA methylation profiling studies now support this notion, although whether DNA methylation patterns are a cause or consequence of other regulatory mechanisms is not yet clear. This review will examine the evidence for the function of intragenic methylation in gene transcription, and discuss the significance of this in carcinogenesis and for the future use of therapies targeted against DNA methylation