Towards Electron-Beam-Driven Soft / Polymer Fiber Microrobotics for Vacuum Conditions

The possibility of creating vacuum robotics based on the polymer structures irradiated by an electron beam, in particular, polymer fibers, which provide high functional flexibility and a variety of states, is discussed. The possibility of using polymer fibers as different types of MEMS-like electromechanical elements is demonstrated - from elastic cantilevers to springs that change their state under the electron beam. Experimentally proved the presence of different functional types of fibers, correlating with their thickness, as well as the phenomenon of the fiber break. A number of exotic forms of dynamics have been demonstrated and a method for their detection has been developed using 2D Fourier spectra, integral spatial characteristics, time resolved correlograms and wavelet transforms (visualized as the scaleograms / scalograms). Access barcodes for the full video records of the corresponding experiments are provided.

The Frequency Spectrum and Time Frequency Analysis of Different Violins Classification as Tools for Selecting a Good-Sounding Violin

This work evaluates four violins from three distinct manufacturers, notably Eurostring, Stentor, and Suzuki, using a scientific approach. Eurostring1 and Eurostring2 were the names given to the two Eurostring units. The purpose of this study is to identify elements in various violins that could be used as tools for selecting a pleasantsounding violin by having them classified by a professional violinist. The signal’s time varying frequency was evaluated using a frequency spectrum and a time frequency plane, and the combination of frequency spectrum and time frequency domain is utilised. PicoScope oscilloscopes and Adobe Audition version 3 were used to record the acoustic spectra in terms of time and frequency. The time frequency plane is identified, and time frequency analysis (TFA) is produced by Adobe Audition spectrograms. The sound was processed in order to generate Fast Fourier Transform analysis: Fourier spectra (using PicoScope) and spectrograms (using Adobe Audition). Fourier spectra identify the intensity of the fundamental frequency and the harmonic spectra of the overtone frequencies. The highest frequencies that can be read are up to and including the 9th overtone. All violins have a constant harmonic overtone pattern with an uneven acoustic spectrum pattern. Eurostring1 showed inconsistent signal in the string G with 6th and 7th overtone missing, whereas Eurostring2 lack of the 6th overtone. Among the string D, only Eurostring1 display an exponential decay for the overtone. All the string A except for Suzuki showed nice and significant peak of fundamental and overtone. Stentor displays up to the 5th overtone. Among the string E, Suzuki showed inconsistent harmonic peak intensity. TFA revealed that the fundamental frequency of string E for Eurostring1 was lower than the first overtone. Only Eurostring1 has an uneven decay for the overtone frequency, whereas Eurostring2 exhibits a large exponential decay for the overtone frequency.

Development of a method for differential analysis of data on the arterial blood oxygenation in healthy adults

Monitoring of arterial blood saturation with oxygen (oxygenation) has gained special significance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new method for computer processing of saturation records (so-called SaO2 signals), based on the study of differentials (increments) from signals, was proposed. Finding a differential for a time series involves calculating the difference between the pairs of its adjacent elements. The differential is non-zero only if the elements in a pair are different. The study of differentials together with primary signals for a set of records (20 subjects) shows that the spectrum of observed levels of blood saturation is discrete and limited (from 2 to 10 levels). In addition, changes in saturation levels (switches) occur only between the nearest levels. New indicators of the variability of blood saturation were proposed. These are the frequencies of saturation level switches (event intensities) and the intervals between them. It was established that these indicators are described by statistical distributions of Poisson and Erlang, respectively. Comparison of new variability indicators with the most reliable statistical – inter-quartile range – indicates that the new indicators also provide for the division of the data set into three subgroups according to the magnitude of variability. This division is statistically significant at a confidence level of 0.99 in both approaches, however, the division into sub-groups is slightly different in these methods. It was shown that the proposed indicators of the variability of SaO2 signals are scale-invariant, that is, they do not depend on the length of observation interval. This is a consequence of the fractality of the positions of differentials in the observation interval. The established switch frequencies for subgroups in order of increasing variability are (0.06, 0.11, and 0.20) Hz. These frequencies are manifested on Fourier spectra of differentials of SaO2

The Activity of Native Vacuolar Proton-ATPase in an Oscillating Electric Field – Demystifying an Apparent Effect of Music on a Biomolecule

The effect of an oscillating electric field generated from music on yeast vacuolar proton-ATPase (V-ATPase) activity in its native environment is reported. An oscillating electric field is generated by electrodes that are immersed into a dispersion of yeast vacuolar membrane vesicles natively hosting a high concentration of active V-ATPase. The substantial difference in the ATP hydrolysing activity of V-ATPase under the most stimulating and inhibiting music is unprecedented. Since the topic, i.e., an effect of music on biomolecules, is very attractive for non-scientific, esoteric mystification, we provide a rational explanation for the observed new phenomenon. Good correlation is found between changes in the specific activity of the enzyme and the combined intensity of certain frequency bands of the Fourier spectra of the music clips. Most prominent identified frequencies are harmonically related to each other and to the estimated rotation rate of the enzyme. These results lead to the conclusion that the oscillating electric field interferes with periodic trans-membrane charge motions in the working enzyme.

Bimodal 1H Double Quantum Build-Up Curves by Fourier and Laplace-like Transforms on Aged Cross-Linked Natural Rubber

The 1H DQ Fourier and Laplace-like spectra for a series of cross-linked natural rubber (NR) samples naturally aged during six years are presented and characterized. The DQ build-up curves of these samples present two peaks which cannot be described by classical functions. The DQ Fourier spectra can be obtained after a numeric procedure which introduces a correction time which depends less on the chosen approximation, spin-½ and isolated CH2 and CH3 functional groups. The DQ Fourier spectra are well described by the distributions of the residual dipolar coupling correlated with the distribution of the end-to-end vector of the polymer network, and with the second and fourth van Vleck moments. The deconvolution of DQ Fourier spectra with a sum of four Gaussian variates show that the center and the width of Gaussian functions increase linearly with the increase in the cross-link density. The Laplace-like spectra for the natural aged NR DQ build-up curves are presented. The centers of four Gaussian distributions obtained via both methods are consistent. The differences between the Fourier and Laplace-like spectra consist mainly of the spectral resolution in the favor of Laplace-like spectra. The last one was used to discuss the effect of natural aging for cross-linked NR.

Preparation of quaternary compounds Cu2ZnSnS4 by using the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis

Possibility to prepare finely dispersed Cu2ZnSnS4 by using the method of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis has been studied in this work. Investigations of Raman scattering and IR-Fourier spectroscopy of the synthesized finely dispersed material have been carried out. The analysis of the Raman and IR-Fourier spectra showed that the synthesized material in the process of preparing is formed with a kesterite structure with the inclusion of a certain amount of secondary phases in the form of sulfides and stannites.

Ensuring the quality of the treated surface in the manufacture of ship parts

В работе приведены результаты экспериментального исследования шероховатости обработанной поверхности с использованием различных методов анализа данных таких, как анализ Фурье-спектров. Также в работе процесс механической обработки рассматривается с позиции мезомеханики, что дает возможность по-новому оценить процесс стружкообразования. В работе говорится о том, что шероховатость обработанной поверхности, как выходной параметр процесса резания, оказывает особое влияние не только на качество поверхностного слоя, но и на эксплуатационные характеристики деталей машин, работающих в экстремальных условиях таких, как морская среда и тому подобное. Также, в работе рассмотрена природа формирования микронеровностей на поверхности деталей после механической обработки, перечислены факторы, влияющие на параметры шероховатости. Сделаны выводы о том, от чего зависят различные частоты микронеровностей обработанной поверхности. The paper presents the results of an experimental study of the roughness of the treated surface using various methods of data analysis, such as the analysis of Fourier spectra. Also in the work, the process of mechanical processing is considered from the standpoint of mesomechanics, which makes it possible to re-evaluate the process of chip formation. The paper says that the roughness of the treated surface, as an output parameter of the cutting process, has a special effect not only on the quality of the surface layer, but also on the performance characteristics of machine parts operating in extreme conditions such as the marine environment and the like. Also, the paper considers the nature of the formation of micro-roughness on the surface of parts after machining, and lists the factors that affect the roughness parameters. Conclusions are drawn about what determines the different frequencies of micro-roughness of the treated surface.

Seismic Response of Two Engineering-Geological Sites of the Kanevskaya Pumped Storage Power Plant Territory

The article examines the influence of the peculiarities of local soil conditions on the manifestations of earthquakes on the free surface on the example of the territory of the Kanevskaya pumped storage power plant. The study area was divided into 2 engineering-geological sites with the expected different seismic effect. A comparison is made of the frequency characteristics of the soil of both plots and the maximum values of the amplitude Fourier spectra on the free surface, obtained as envelopes of the Fourier spectra calculated for 26 input seismic motions. The change with the depth of peak shear strain in soil sections of both sites is also considered.

Bi-FPNFAS: Bi-Directional Feature Pyramid Network for Pixel-Wise Face Anti-Spoofing by Leveraging Fourier Spectra

The emergence of biometric-based authentication using modern sensors on electronic devices has led to an escalated use of face recognition technologies. While these technologies may seem intriguing, they are accompanied by numerous implicit drawbacks. In this paper, we look into the problem of face anti-spoofing (FAS) on a frame level in an attempt to ameliorate the risks of face-spoofed attacks in biometric authentication processes. We employed a bi-directional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) that is used for convolutional multi-scaled feature extraction on the EfficientDet detection architecture, which is novel to the task of FAS. We further use these convolutional multi-scaled features in order to perform deep pixel-wise supervision. For all of our experiments, we performed evaluations across all major datasets and attained competitive results for the majority of the cases. Additionally, we showed that introducing an auxiliary self-supervision branch tasked with reconstructing the inputs in the frequency domain demonstrates an average classification error rate (ACER) of 2.92% on Protocol IV of the OULU-NPU dataset, which is significantly better than the currently available published works on pixel-wise face anti-spoofing. Moreover, following the procedures of prior works, we performed inter-dataset testing, which further consolidated the generalizability of the proposed models, as they showed optimum results across various sensors without any fine-tuning procedures.