133 research outputs found
A single molecule switch based on two Pd nanocrystals linked by a conjugated dithiol
Tunneling spectroscopy measurements have been carried out on a single
molecule device formed by two Pd nanocrystals (dia, 5 nm) electronically
coupled by a conducting molecule, dimercaptodiphenylacetylene. The I-V data,
obtained by positioning the tip over a nanocrystal electrode, exhibit negative
differential resistance (NDR) on a background M-I-M characteristics. The NDR
feature occurs at 0.67 V at 300 K and shifts to a higher bias of 1.93 V
at 90 K. When the tip is held in the middle region of the device, a coulomb
blockade region is observed (0.3 V).Comment: Accepted in Praman
Mediator-free total cholesterol estimation using a bi-enzyme functionalized nanostructured gold electrode
We report the fabrication of a bi-enzyme functionalized nanostructured Au electrode for the mediator-free determination of total cholesterol. A one-step electrochemical route for the synthesis, functionalization and deposition of Au nanostructures via the electroreduction of gold chloride onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass plates has been proposed. The covalent biofunctionalization of the optimized Au electrode was done with cholesterol esterase (ChEt) and cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) to investigate the kinetic parameters and the sensing characteristics. The ChEt-ChOx/Glu-NanoAu/ITO bioelectrode has a surface-controlled electrode reaction with an electron transfer coefficient and a charge transfer rate constant of 0.68 and 7.09 s(-1), respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the bioelectrode undergoes a direct electron transfer reaction and exhibits a high sensitivity of 0.53 mA mM(-1) cm(-2) and a low detection limit of 1.57 mu M for cholesterol ester without the use of any redox mediator. In addition, the kinetic analysis reveals that the bioelectrode exhibits a surface concentration of 8.82 x 10(-12) mol cm(-2). The sensor has also been validated with clinical samples. The proposed biosensor shows good sensitivity, stability and selectivity towards total cholesterol and may thus find implications in the fabrication of biosensing devices
Refuting FPT Algorithms for Some Parameterized Problems Under Gap-ETH
In this article we study a well-known problem, called Bipartite Token Jumping and not-so-well known problem(s), which we call, Half (Induced-) Subgraph, and show that under Gap-ETH, these problems do not admit FPT algorithms. The problem Bipartite Token Jumping takes as input a bipartite graph G and two independent sets S,T in G, where |S| = |T| = k, and the objective is to test if there is a sequence of exactly k-sized independent sets ? I?, I?,?, I_? ? in G, such that: i) I? = S and I_? = T, and ii) for every j ? [?], I_{j} is obtained from I_{j-1} by replacing a vertex in I_{j-1} by a vertex in V(G) ? I_{j-1}. We show that, assuming Gap-ETH, Bipartite Token Jumping does not admit an FPT algorithm. We note that this result resolves one of the (two) open problems posed by Bartier et al. (ISAAC 2020), under Gap-ETH. Most of the known reductions related to Token Jumping exploit the property given by triangles (i.e., C?s), to obtain the correctness, and our results refutes FPT algorithm for Bipartite Token Jumping, where the input graph cannot have any triangles.
For an integer k ? ?, the half graph S_{k,k} is the graph with vertex set V(S_{k,k}) = A_k ? B_k, where A_k = {a?,a?,?, a_k} and B_k = {b?,b?,?, b_k}, and for i,j ? [k], {a_i,b_j} ? E(T_{k,k}) if and only if j ? i. We also study the Half (Induced-)Subgraph problem where we are given a graph G and an integer k, and the goal is to check if G contains S_{k,k} as an (induced-)subgraph. Again under Gap-ETH, we show that Half (Induced-)Subgraph does not admit an FPT algorithm, even when the input is a bipartite graph. We believe that the above problem (and its negative) result maybe of independent interest and could be useful obtaining new fixed parameter intractability results.
There are very few reductions known in the literature which refute FPT algorithms for a parameterized problem based on assumptions like Gap-ETH. Thus our technique (and simple reductions) exhibits the potential of such conjectures in obtaining new (and possibly easier) proofs for refuting FPT algorithms for parameterized problems
TextureGAN: Controlling Deep Image Synthesis with Texture Patches
In this paper, we investigate deep image synthesis guided by sketch, color,
and texture. Previous image synthesis methods can be controlled by sketch and
color strokes but we are the first to examine texture control. We allow a user
to place a texture patch on a sketch at arbitrary locations and scales to
control the desired output texture. Our generative network learns to synthesize
objects consistent with these texture suggestions. To achieve this, we develop
a local texture loss in addition to adversarial and content loss to train the
generative network. We conduct experiments using sketches generated from real
images and textures sampled from a separate texture database and results show
that our proposed algorithm is able to generate plausible images that are
faithful to user controls. Ablation studies show that our proposed pipeline can
generate more realistic images than adapting existing methods directly.Comment: CVPR 2018 spotligh
Deep IMU Bias Inference for Robust Visual-Inertial Odometry with Factor Graphs
Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) is one of the most established state
estimation methods for mobile platforms. However, when visual tracking fails,
VIO algorithms quickly diverge due to rapid error accumulation during inertial
data integration. This error is typically modeled as a combination of additive
Gaussian noise and a slowly changing bias which evolves as a random walk. In
this work, we propose to train a neural network to learn the true bias
evolution. We implement and compare two common sequential deep learning
architectures: LSTMs and Transformers. Our approach follows from recent
learning-based inertial estimators, but, instead of learning a motion model, we
target IMU bias explicitly, which allows us to generalize to locomotion
patterns unseen in training. We show that our proposed method improves state
estimation in visually challenging situations across a wide range of motions by
quadrupedal robots, walking humans, and drones. Our experiments show an average
15% reduction in drift rate, with much larger reductions when there is total
vision failure. Importantly, we also demonstrate that models trained with one
locomotion pattern (human walking) can be applied to another (quadruped robot
trotting) without retraining.Comment: Accepted to Robotics and Automation Letter
Surfactant-promoted formation of fractal and dendritic nanostructures of gold and silver at the organic-aqueous interface
The effect of surfactants such as tetraoctylammoniumbromide (TOAB) and cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) on the type of nanostructures formed when gold ions present in the organic phase are reduced at the interface by hydrazine in the aqueous phase has been investigated. Extended fractal structures are formed at the liquid-liquid interface, the fractal structures themselves comprising cauliflower type units formed by gold nanorods. Accordingly, the nanostructures exhibit transverse and longitudinal plasmon adsorption bands in the 550 and 800 nm regions, respectively. Dendritic structures of silver are formed at the interface when Ag ions are reduced similarly in the presence of surfactants. The nanostructures consist of nanoparticles or nanorods with five-fold symmetry
Neuroprotective effects of Tacrolimus (FK-506) and Cyclosporin (CsA) in oxidative injury
The detrimental effects of hypoxic damage to central nervous system lead to energy depletion, free radical formation, lipid peroxidation (LPO), and increased calcium. We hypothesized that in vitro tacrolimus (FK-506) and cyclosporine A (CsA) could be protective against hypoxic damage in spinal cord. Dorsal columns were isolated from the spinal cord of adult rats and injured by exposure to hypoxic condition for 1 h, and treated with FK-506 (0.1 μM) and CsA (0.1 μM). After injury, reperfusion was carried out for 2 h. Tissues were collected, processed for biochemical assays, and 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. Spinal cord hypoxia caused a significant decrease (P < 0.001) in mitochondrial ATP (30.64%) and tissue reduced glutathione (GSH) (60.14%) content. Conversely, a significant increase (P < 0.001) in tissue LPO level (57.77%) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (461.24%) was observed in hypoxic group. Mitochondrial swelling was also significantly increased in hypoxic group (90.0%). Treatment with either FK-506 or CsA showed that significant neuroprotective effects (P < 0.05–0.01) were measured in various parameters in hypoxic groups. FK-506 and CsA treatment showed increase in ATP by 11.19% and 16.14% while GSH content increased by 66.46% and 77.32%, respectively. Conversely, LPO content decreased by 18.97% and 24.06% and MPO level by 42.86% and 18.66% after FK-506 and CsA treatment. Calcium uptake was also decreased in mitochondria as exhibited by the increase in absorbance by 11.19% after FK-506 treatment. TTC staining also showed increased viability after FK-506 and CsA treatment. In conclusion, present study demonstrates the neuroprotective effect of FK-506 and CsA treatment against spinal cord hypoxia induced damage is mediated via their antioxidant actions
- …