Numerical Assessment of the Hybrid Approach for Simulating Three-Dimensional Flow and Advective Transport in Fractured Rocks

This study presents a hybrid approach for simulating flow and advective transport dynamics in fractured rocks. The developed hybrid domain (HD) model uses the two-dimensional (2D) triangular mesh for fractures and tetrahedral mesh for the three-dimensional (3D) rock matrix in a simulation domain and allows the system of equations to be solved simultaneously. This study also illustrates the HD model with two numerical cases that focus on the flow and advective transport between the fractures and rock matrix. The quantitative assessments are conducted by comparing the HD results with those obtained from the discrete fracture network (DFN) and equivalent continuum porous medium (ECPM) models. Results show that the HD model reproduces the head solutions obtained from the ECPM model in the simulation domain and heads from the DFN model in the fractures in the first case. The particle tracking results show that the mean particle velocity in the HD model can be 7.62 times higher than that obtained from the ECPM mode. In addition, the developed HD model enables detailed calculations of the fluxes at intersections between fractures and cylinder objects in the case and obtains relatively accurate flux along the intersections. The solutions are the key factors to evaluate the sources of contaminant released from the disposal facility.

A 9-Bit 1-GS/s Hybrid-Domain Pseudo-Pipelined SAR ADC Based on Variable Gain VTC and Segmented TDC

This paper presents a 9-bit 1 GS/s successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC). In this hybrid architecture, the pseudo-pipeline operation is realized, which increases the sampling rate effectively. The ADC adopts two key technologies: the variable gain voltage-to-time converter (VTC), which ensures the linearity is not sacrificed; the segmented time-to-digital converter (STDC), which further improves the linearity of time domain quantization. The prototype ADC is simulated in a standard 65-nm CMOS process with an active area of 0.038 mm2. The simulated SNDR and SFDR are 44.3 and 58 dB with a sampling rate of 1 GS/s. The FoMW and FoMS are 24.7 fJ/conv-step and 150.7 dB, respectively.

A Hybrid-Domain Deep Learning-Based BCI For Discriminating Hand Motion Planning From EEG Sources

In this paper, a hybrid-domain deep learning (DL)-based neural system is proposed to decode hand movement preparation phases from electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. The system exploits information extracted from the temporal-domain and time-frequency-domain, as part of a hybrid strategy, to discriminate the temporal windows (i.e. EEG epochs) preceding hand sub-movements (open/close) and the resting state. To this end, for each EEG epoch, the associated cortical source signals in the motor cortex and the corresponding time-frequency (TF) maps are estimated via beamforming and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT), respectively. Two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are designed: specifically, the first CNN is trained over a dataset of temporal (T) data (i.e. EEG sources), and is referred to as T-CNN; the second CNN is trained over a dataset of TF data (i.e. TF-maps of EEG sources), and is referred to as TF-CNN. Two sets of features denoted as T-features and TF-features, extracted from T-CNN and TF-CNN, respectively, are concatenated in a single features vector (denoted as TTF-features vector) which is used as input to a standard multi-layer perceptron for classification purposes. Experimental results show a significant performance improvement of our proposed hybrid-domain DL approach as compared to temporal-only and time-frequency-only-based benchmark approaches, achieving an average accuracy of [Formula: see text]%.

Image Watermarking Approach Using a Hybrid Domain Based on Performance Parameter Analysis

In today’s scenario, image watermarking has been an integral part in various multimedia applications. Watermarking is the approach for adding additional information to the existing image to protect the data from modification and to provide data integrity. Frequency transform domain techniques are complex and costly and degrade the quality of the image due to less embedding of bits. The proposed work utilize the original DCT method with some modifications and applies this method on frequency bands of DWT. Furthermore, the output is used in combination with a pixel modification method for embedding and extraction. The proposed outcome is the improvement of performance achieved in terms of time, imperceptibility, and robustness.

Frequency-Domain Common Image Gathers for Quickly Checking the Accuracy of Migration Velocity

The common image gather (CIG) method enables qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the velocity model through the image. The most common such methods are offset-domain common image gather (ODCIG) and angle-domain common image gather (ADCIG). The challenge is that it requires a great deal of additional computation besides migration. We, therefore, introduce a new CIG method that has low computational cost: frequency-domain common image gather (FDCIG). FDCIG simply rearranges data using a gradient (partial image) calculated in the process of obtaining a migration image to represent it in the frequency-depth domain. We apply the FDCIG method to the layered model to show how FDCIGs behave when the velocity model is inaccurate. We also introduced the 3-D SEG/EAGE salt model to show how to apply the FDCIG method in the hybrid domain. Last, we applied 2-D real data. These sample field data also indicate that even in a complex velocity model, deviant behavior by FDCIG appears intuitively if the background velocity is inaccurate.

Electron microscopy shows that binding of monoclonal antibody PT25-2 primes integrin αIIbβ3 for ligand binding

The murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) PT25-2 induces αIIbβ3 to bind ligand and initiate platelet aggregation. The underlying mechanism is unclear, because previous mutagenesis studies suggested that PT25-2 binds to the αIIb β propeller, a site distant from the Arg-Gly-Asp–binding pocket. To elucidate the mechanism, we studied the αIIbβ3–PT25-2 Fab complex by negative-stain and cryo-electron microscopy (EM). We found that PT25-2 binding results in αIIbβ3 partially exposing multiple ligand-induced binding site epitopes and adopting extended conformations without swing-out of the β3 hybrid domain. The cryo-EM structure showed PT25-2 binding to the αIIb residues identified by mutagenesis but also to 2 additional regions. Overlay of the cryo-EM structure with the bent αIIbβ3 crystal structure showed that binding of PT25-2 creates clashes with the αIIb calf-1/calf-2 domains, suggesting that PT25-2 selectively binds to partially or fully extended receptor conformations and prevents a return to its bent conformation. Kinetic studies of the binding of PT25-2 compared with mAbs 10E5 and 7E3 support this hypothesis. We conclude that PT25-2 induces αIIbβ3 ligand binding by binding to extended conformations and by preventing the interactions between the αIIb and β3 leg domains and subsequently the βI and β3 leg domains required for the bent-closed conformation.