Facile Molecular Weight Determination of Polymer Brushes Grafted from One-Dimensional Diffraction Grating by SI-ATRP Using Reflective Laser System

Gelatin was immobilized selectively on the amide groups-modified bottom of a trench array of a photoresist template with 2 μm resolution by the ethyl(dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide reaction. The gelatin-immobilized line array was brominated to generate a macroinitiator for atom transfer radical polymerization. Poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brushes were grafted from the macroinitiator layer as line arrays of one-dimensional diffraction gratings (DGs) for various grafting polymerization times. A laser beam system was employed to analyze the optical feature with a characteristic diffraction effect of the PMAA DGs at a 45° incident angle along the transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarization. The growth of the PMAA brush lines increased both their heights and widths, leading to a change in the reflective diffraction intensity. The PMAA brushes under various grafting polymerization times were cleaved from the substrate by digestion of gelatin with trypsin, and their molecular weights were obtained by gel permeation chromatography. The change degree of the diffraction intensity varied linearly with the molecular weight of the PMAA brushes over a wide range, from 135 to 1475 kDa, with high correlation coefficients. Molecular weight determination of polymer brushes using the reflective diffraction intensity provides a simple method to monitor their growth in real time without polymer brush cleavage.

Comparison Failure and Successful Methodologies for Diffusion Measurements Undertaken inside Two Different Testing Rooms

The scattering phenomenon is known to be of great importance for the acoustic quality of a performance arts space. The scattering of sound can be achieved in different ways: it can be obtained by the presence of architectural and/or decorating elements inside a room (e.g., columns, statues), by the geometry and roughness of a surface (e.g., Quadratic Residue Diffuser (QRD)) and by the diffraction effect occurring when a sound wave hits the edges of an obstacle. This article deals with the surface scattering effects and the diffusion phenomenon only related to MDF and plywood panels tested by disposing the wells both horizontally and vertically. The test results undertaken inside a semi-reverberant room and inside a large reverberant room have been compared to highlight the success and the failure of the measuring methodologies. In detail, according to the existing standards and regulations (i.e., ISO 17497—Part 2), diffusion measurements have been undertaken on a few selected types of panel: two QRD panels (made of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) and plywood) with and without a smooth painted solid wood placed behind the QRD. The panels have been tested inside two rooms of different characteristics: a semi-anechoic chamber (Room A) and a large reverberant room (Room B). The volume size influenced the results that have been analyzed for both chambers, showing an overlap of reflections on panels tested inside Room A and a clear diffusion response for the panels tested inside Room B. In terms of the diffusion coefficient in all the octave bands between 125 Hz and 8 kHz, results should not be considered valid for panels tested in Room A because they were negatively impacted by extraneous reflections, while they are reliable for panels tested in Room B.

One-Dimensional Diffraction Grating of Poly(Methacrylic Acid) Brushes For The Rapid Label-Free Detection of Yersinia Pestis With a Reflective Laser System

Background: Because of the low sensitivity of commercial products, development of a facile method to rapidly identify plague on-site remains highly attractive. Line arrays of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brushes were grafted using a photoresist template to fabricate one-dimensional diffraction gratings (DGs). The as-prepared samples first bound protein G to immobilize and orient the tails of the antibody of Yersinia pestis (abY). A laser beam was employed to analyze the 2D and 3D reflective signals of DGs at an incident angle of 45°. The abY-tailed PMAA DG possessed an optical feature with a characteristic diffraction effect along the SII, in which the projection of the laser beam on the plane of the DG chip was parallel to the strips, and ST configurations, in which they were perpendicular. A fluidic diffraction chip based on the abY-tailed PMMA DG was fabricated to examine the ability to detect Yersinia pestis along the ST configuration. Results: Upon flowing through the chip, Yersinia pestis was attached to the abY-tailed PMMA DG, which changed the diffraction intensity. The degree of the diffraction intensity exhibited a linear response to Yersinia pestis at concentrations from 102 to 107 CFU mL−1, and the limit of detection was 75 CFU mL−1, 1000 times lower than a commercial product (Alexter Bio-Detect Test). The diffractive sensor could selectively detect Yersinia pestis in spiked serum samples, with excellent standard deviation and recovery. Conclusion: Our platform provides a simple, label-free method for on-site plague diagnosis to prevent the highly rapid transmission of plague.

A Study on the Diffraction Correction Prediction of Electromagnetic Field Intensity Based on the Method of Estimating Aerial Access Network Signal

Field strength is a typical indicator of air access network signals, and the prediction of field strength has important reference significance for the estimation of aerial access network signals. However, many factors affecting the field strength, such as path, terrain, sunshine, and climate, increase the computational complexity, which greatly increases the difficulty of establishing an accurate prediction system. After persistent research by researchers in recent years, the ITU-R P.1546 model has gradually become a point-to-surface forecasting method for ground services recommended by ITU for ground operations in the frequency range of 30 MHz~3000 MHz. In view of the characteristics of electromagnetic signal propagation in mountainous environment, the influence of diffraction is also considered in this paper. Based on more accurate scene information such as actual terrain, the prediction calculation of electromagnetic signal propagation in a mountainous environment is proposed by using the corrected ITU-R P.1546 model. In addition, the influence of the actual terrain is taken into account to correct the relevant parameters, and the predicted results are compared with the measured data. The results indicate that field strength prediction results of the ITU-R P.1546 model based on the diffraction effect correction proposed in this paper in specific physical areas have better performance than those of the traditional ITU-R P.1546 model. Among them, the determination coefficient between the measured data and the predicted results is 0.87, the average error is 5.097 dBμV/m, and the root mean square error is 6.6228 dBμV/m, which proves that the ITU-R P.1546 model based on the corrected model is effective in the prediction of electromagnetic field intensity in the actual mountainous environment.

Fundamental issues in Japan’s management system of coast for preventing beach erosion

When an offshore or port breakwater is constructed on a coast, beach erosion often occurs on nearby beaches of the breakwater due to the wave diffraction effect of the breakwater associated with the formation of a wave-shelter zone, because longshore sand transport is triggered from outside to inside the wave-shelter zone. Similarly, when unidirectional longshore sand transport is blocked by a breakwater, beach erosion will occur downcoast. In these cases, longshore sand movement is the key factor. Another aspect is arisen from the management system of the land near a coast subject to such longshore sand movement. In Japan, the management of coastal land is under the jurisdiction of several agencies. When sand is transported alongshore across 2 management areas, the sand right belongs to the agency administrating the area to which the sand is deposited, and the agency administrating the area from which the sand originated has no right. Thus, this leads to uncoordinated solution to erosion problems, because longshore sand can freely move across the boundaries of coastal management areas. In this study, these issues were studied through real examples. Even though the accuracy of the predictive model of beach changes is increased, implementing fundamental changes of the coastal condition is difficult when this issue is unsolved as it is.

Study on Dynamic Stability of Single Floating Pier Under Waves

Considering the upper structure restraint effect of the floating bridge, the diffraction effect and radiation effect of linear monochromatic waves, the dynamic response equation of floating pier is derived and the factors affecting the dynamic stability of the floating pier are analyzed in this paper. Based on the theory of potential flow, the calculation domain is divided into the interior region and the exterior region. The wave diffraction and radiation problems are solved by the matched eigenfunction expansion method (MEEM). After obtaining the wave excitation force, additional mass and radiation damping coefficient, considering the restraint effect of the upper structure of the floating bridge, the motion differential equation of the floating pier is established, and the response amplitude operator (RAOs) of the floating pier is obtained. The effects of span, mass and stiffness of upper structure, as well as the draft depth, size and net height of floating pier on dynamic stability of floating pier under wave are analyzed. The results show that the increase in the span of upper structure will significantly increase the peak RAOs of sway and heave, and the increase in stiffness is helpful to reduce the peak RAOs of sway and heave. The increase of the floating pier radius can reduce the heave RAO, and the net height on the water surface of the floating pier increases the heave and roll.

Frequency-Domain Synthetic Aperture Focusing Techniques for Imaging with Single-Element Focused Transducers

Synthetic aperture focusing techniques (SAFT) make the lateral spatial resolution of the conventional ultrasound imaging from a single-element focused transducer more uniform. In this work, two new frequency-domain SAFT (FD-SAFT) algorithms are proposed, which are based on 2D matched filtering techniques. The first algorithm is the FD-SAFT virtual disk source (FD-VDS) that treats the focus of a focused transducer as a finite sized virtual source and the diffraction effect in the far-field is accounted for in the image reconstruction. The second algorithm is the FD-SAFT deconvolution (FD-DC) that uses the simulated point spread function of the imaging system as a matched filter kernel in the image reconstruction. These algorithms were implemented for pulsed and linear frequency modulated chirp excitations. The performance of these algorithms was studied using a series of simulations and experiments, and it was compared with the conventional B-mode and time-domain virtual point source SAFT (TD-VPS) imaging techniques. The image quality was analyzed in terms of spatial resolution, sidelobe level, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast resolution, contrast-to- speckle ratio, and ex vivo tissue image quality. The results showed that the FD-VDS had the highest spatial resolution and FD-DC had the second highest spatial resolution. In addition, FD-DC had generally the highest SNR. The computation run time of the proposed methods was significantly lower than the TD-VPS. Furthermore, chirp excitation improves the SNR of all methods by about 8 dB without significantly affecting the spatial resolution and sidelobe level. Thus, the FD-VDS and FD-DC methods offer efficient solutions to make the spatial resolution of conventional B-mode imaging more uniform.

Frequency-Domain Synthetic Aperture Focusing Techniques for Imaging with Single-Element Focused Transducers

Synthetic aperture focusing techniques (SAFT) make the lateral spatial resolution of the conventional ultrasound imaging from a single-element focused transducer more uniform. In this work, two new frequency-domain SAFT (FD-SAFT) algorithms are proposed, which are based on 2D matched filtering techniques. The first algorithm is the FD-SAFT virtual disk source (FD-VDS) that treats the focus of a focused transducer as a finite sized virtual source and the diffraction effect in the far-field is accounted for in the image reconstruction. The second algorithm is the FD-SAFT deconvolution (FD-DC) that uses the simulated point spread function of the imaging system as a matched filter kernel in the image reconstruction. These algorithms were implemented for pulsed and linear frequency modulated chirp excitations. The performance of these algorithms was studied using a series of simulations and experiments, and it was compared with the conventional B-mode and time-domain virtual point source SAFT (TD-VPS) imaging techniques. The image quality was analyzed in terms of spatial resolution, sidelobe level, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast resolution, contrast-to- speckle ratio, and ex vivo tissue image quality. The results showed that the FD-VDS had the highest spatial resolution and FD-DC had the second highest spatial resolution. In addition, FD-DC had generally the highest SNR. The computation run time of the proposed methods was significantly lower than the TD-VPS. Furthermore, chirp excitation improves the SNR of all methods by about 8 dB without significantly affecting the spatial resolution and sidelobe level. Thus, the FD-VDS and FD-DC methods offer efficient solutions to make the spatial resolution of conventional B-mode imaging more uniform.

Turning parameter optimization for diffraction effect suppression of diamond-turned surface combining surface micro-topography model and scattering theory

The diamond-turning process is a mean optical surface generation technique with high figure accuracy and surface finish. The diamond-turned surface has a significant diffraction effect introduced by the tool marks remaining on the surface, which heavily degrade the optical performance in the visible wavelength spectrum. The traditional approach that was used to eliminate this effect was polishing. In this paper, we present a method to find turning parameters that can generate an optical surface without diffraction effect directly by coupling a surface micro-topography model of a turned surface via the scattering theory The surface micro-topography model of the turned surface reveals the relationship between tool marks and the diamond-turning parameters (DTPs). The scattering theory reveals the relationship between diffraction intensity distributions (DIDs) and surface micro-topography of the turned surface. Therefore, we obtained the relationship between DIDs and DTPs. The diffraction effect is considered to be eliminated when the first-order diffraction intensity is less than 0.01% of incidence intensity. The criterion of turning parameters for diffraction elimination is then obtained. Finally, turning experiments are performed to confirm the effectiveness of this method, and the diffraction-free surface finish is achieved.

Researching on the Deterministic Channel Models for Urban Microcells Considering Diffraction Effects

Deterministic channel models, such as the three-dimensional (3D) ray launching method, can yield wireless channel parameters. In the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation, the outdoor 3D ray launching method that considers diffraction effects is more accurate than the one that does not. While considering the diffraction effect, obtaining the diffraction point is challenging. This paper proposed a method for determining diffracted rays using the receiving sphere method in 3D ray launching. The diffraction point is determined using the shortest distance method between two straight lines, and the signal loss from the transmitting to receiving antennas is obtained. Furthermore, experiments on a millimeter wave in a microcell scenario were performed. The test results of the wireless channel parameters were compared with theoretical calculations. The results obtained via the 3D ray launching method that only considers the specular reflection and direct rays agree with the experimental results in the line-of-sight (LOS); furthermore, they generate larger errors compared with the experimental results in the NLOS. The results obtained via the 3D ray launching method that considers the direct ray, reflected rays, and diffracted rays agree with the experimental results both in the LOS and NLOS. Therefore, the 3D ray launching method that considers the diffraction effect can improve the prediction accuracy of the millimeter wave channel parameters in a microcell.