ALBERT

Description: In this paper, the leader-following consensus algorithm, which is accompanied with compensations related to neighboring agents’ delayed states, is constructed for second-order multi-agent systems with communication delay. Using frequency-domain analysis, delay-independent and delay-dependent consensus conditions are obtained for second-order agents respectively to converge to the dynamical leader’s states asymptotically. Simulation illustrates the correctness of the results.

Description: Regular monitoring of blood α-fetoprotein (AFP) and/or carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) levels is important for the routine screening of liver cancer. However, AFP and CEA have a much lower specificity than des-γ-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) to detect liver cancer. Therefore, the study reported here was designed, to develop a screen-printed DCP immunosensor incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticles, for accurate determination of DCP. The designed immunosensor shows low detection limits for the detection of DCP: 0.440 ng/mL (based on impedance measurement), 0.081 ng/mL (based on real part of impedance measurement) and 0.078 ng/mL (based on imaginary part of impedance measurement), within the range of 3.125 ng/mL to 2000 ng/mL. In addition, there was little interference to DCP determination by molecules such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl−, glucose, urea, and uric acid. It is therefore concluded that the DCP immunosensor developed and reported here is simple, inexpensive and effective, and shows promise in the rapid screening of early-stage liver cancer at home with a point-of-care approach.

Description: The wheel driving torque on four-wheel-drive electric vehicles (4WDEVs) can be modulated precisely and continuously, therefore maneuverability and energy-saving control can be carried out at the same time. In this paper, a wheel torque distribution strategy is developed based on multi-objective optimization to improve vehicle maneuverability and reduce energy consumption. In the high-layer of the presented method, sliding mode control is used to calculate the desired yaw moment due to the model inaccuracy and parameter error. In the low-layer, mathematical programming with the penalty function consisting of the yaw moment control offset, the drive system energy loss and the slip ratio constraint is used for wheel torque control allocation. The programming is solved with the combination of off-line and on-line optimization to reduce the calculation cost, and the optimization results are sent to motor controllers as torque commands. Co-simulation based on MATLAB® and Carsim® proves that the developed strategy can both improve the vehicle maneuverability and reduce energy consumption.

Description: This paper reports impressive improvements in the optical and electrical performance of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)-structure silicon solar cells through the incorporation of plasmonic indium nanoparticles (In-NPs) and an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrode with periodic holes (perforations) under applied bias voltage. Samples were prepared using a plain ITO electrode or perforated ITO electrode with and without In-NPs. The samples were characterized according to optical reflectance, dark current voltage, induced capacitance voltage, external quantum efficiency, and photovoltaic current voltage. Our results indicate that induced capacitance voltage and photovoltaic current voltage both depend on bias voltage, regardless of the type of ITO electrode. Under a bias voltage of 4.0 V, MOS cells with perforated ITO and plain ITO, respectively, presented conversion efficiencies of 17.53% and 15.80%. Under a bias voltage of 4.0 V, the inclusion of In-NPs increased the efficiency of cells with perforated ITO and plain ITO to 17.80% and 16.87%, respectively.

Description: Multifuntional fabrics with special wettability have attracted a lot of interest in both fundamental research and industry applications over the last two decades. In this review, recent progress of various kinds of approaches and strategies to construct super-antiwetting coating on cellulose-based substrates (fabrics and paper) has been discussed in detail. We focus on the significant applications related to artificial superhydrophobic fabrics with special wettability and controllable adhesion, e.g., oil-water separation, self-cleaning, asymmetric/anisotropic wetting for microfluidic manipulation, air/liquid directional gating, and micro-template for patterning. In addition to the anti-wetting properties and promising applications, particular attention is paid to coating durability and other incorporated functionalities, e.g., air permeability, UV-shielding, photocatalytic self-cleaning, self-healing and patterned antiwetting properties. Finally, the existing difficulties and future prospects of this traditional and developing field are briefly proposed and discussed.

Description: An existing idle cooling tower can be reversibly used as a heat-source tower (HST) to drive a heat pump (HP) in cold seasons, with calcium chloride (CaCl2) aqueous solution commonly selected as the secondary working fluid in an indirect system due to its good thermo-physical properties. This study analyzed the effect of CaCl2 mass fraction on the effectiveness (ε) of a closed HST and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a HP heating system using an artificial neural network (ANN) technique. CaCl2 aqueous solutions with five different mass fractions, viz. 3%, 9%, 15%, 21%, and 27%, were chosen as the secondary working fluids for the HSTHP heating system. In order to collect enough measured data, extensive field tests were conducted on an experimental test rig in Changsha, China which experiences hot summer and cold winter weather. After back-propagation (BP) training, the three-layer (4-9-2) ANN model with a tangent sigmoid transfer function at the hidden layer and a linear transfer function at the output layer was developed for predicting the tower effectiveness and the COP of the HP under different inlet air dry-/wet-bulb temperatures, hot water inlet temperatures and CaCl2 mass fractions. The correlation coefficient (R), mean relative error (MRE) and root mean squared error (RMSE) were adopted to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the ANN model. The results showed that the R, MRE, and RMSE between the training values and the experimental values of ε (COP) were 0.995 (0.996), 2.09% (1.89%), and 0.005 (0.060), respectively, which indicated that the ANN model was reliable and robust in predicting the performance of the HP. The findings of this paper indicated that in order to guarantee normal operation of the system, the freezing point temperature of the CaCl2 aqueous solution should be sufficiently (3–5 K) below its lowest operating temperature or lower than the normal operating temperature by about 10 K. The tower effectiveness increased with increasing CaCl2 mass fraction from 0 to 27%, while the COP of the HP decreased. A tradeoff between the tower effectiveness and the COP of the HP should be considered to further determine the suitable mass fraction of CaCl2 aqueous solution for the HSTHP heating system. The outputs of this study are expected to provide guidelines for selecting brine with an appropriate mass fraction for a closed HSTHP heating system for actual applications, which would be a reasonable solution to improve the system performance.

Description: This paper reports on efforts to enhance the photovoltaic performance of textured silicon solar cells through the application of a layer of Eu-doped silicate phosphor with particles of various dimensions using the spin-on film technique. We examined the surface profile and dimensions of the Eu-doped phosphors in the silicate layer using optical microscopy with J-image software. Optical reflectance, photoluminescence, and external quantum efficiency were used to characterize the luminescent downshifting (LDS) and light scattering of the Eu-doped silicate phosphor layer. Current density-voltage curves under AM 1.5G simulation were used to confirm the contribution of LDS and light scattering produced by phosphor particles of various dimensions. Experiment results reveal that smaller phosphor particles have a more pronounced effect on LDS and a slight shading of incident light. The application of small Eu-doped phosphor particles increased the conversion efficiency by 9.2% (from 12.56% to 13.86%), far exceeding the 5.6% improvement (from 12.54% to 13.32%) achieved by applying a 250 nm layer of SiO2 and the 4.5% improvement (from 12.37% to 12.98%) observed in cells with large Eu-doped phosphor particles.

Description: This study characterized the electrical and optical properties of single-junction GaAs solar cells coated with antireflective layers of silicon dioxide (SiO2), indium tin oxide (ITO), and a hybrid layer of SiO2/ITO applied using Radio frequency (RF) sputtering. The conductivity and transparency of the ITO film were characterized prior to application on GaAs cells. Reverse saturation-current and ideality factor were used to evaluate the passivation performance of the various coatings on GaAs solar cells. Optical reflectance and external quantum efficiency response were used to evaluate the antireflective performance of the coatings. Photovoltaic current-voltage measurements were used to confirm the efficiency enhancement obtained by the presence of the anti-reflective coatings. The conversion efficiency of the GaAs cells with an ITO antireflective coating (23.52%) exceeded that of cells with a SiO2 antireflective coating (21.92%). Due to lower series resistance and higher short-circuit current-density, the carrier collection of the GaAs cell with ITO coating exceeded that of the cell with a SiO2/ITO coating.

Description: Abnormal intra-QRS potentials (AIQPs) are commonly observed in patients at high risk for ventricular tachycardia. We present a method for approximating a measured QRS complex using a non-linear neural network with all radial basis functions having the same smoothness. We extracted the high frequency, but low amplitude intra-QRS potentials using the approximation error to identify possible ventricular tachycardia. With a specified number of neurons, we performed an orthogonal least squares algorithm to determine the center of each Gaussian radial basis function. We found that the AIQP estimation error arising from part of the normal QRS complex could cause clinicians to misjudge patients with ventricular tachycardia. Our results also show that it is possible to correct this misjudgment by combining multiple AIQP parameters estimated using various spread parameters and numbers of neurons. Clinical trials demonstrate that higher AIQP-to-QRS ratios in the X, Y and Z leads are visible in patients with ventricular tachycardia than in normal subjects. A linear combination of 60 AIQP-to-QRS ratios can achieve 100% specificity, 90% sensitivity, and 95.8% total prediction accuracy for diagnosing ventricular tachycardia.

Description: In this study, we sought to improve the light trapping of textured silicon solar cells using the plasmonic light scattering of indium nanoparticles (In NPs) of various dimensions. The light trapping modes of textured-silicon surfaces with and without In NPs were investigated at an angle of incidence (AOI) ranging from 0° to 75°. The optical reflectance, external quantum efficiency (EQE), and photovoltaic performance were first characterized under an AOI of 0°. We then compared the EQE and photovoltaic current density-voltage (J-V) as a function of AOI in textured silicon solar cells with and without In NPs. We observed a reduction in optical reflectance and an increase in EQE when the cells textured with pyramidal structures were coated with In NPs. We also observed an impressive increase in the average weighted external quantum efficiency (∆EQEw) and short-circuit current-density (∆Jsc) in cells with In NPs when illuminated under a higher AOI. The ∆EQEw values of cells with In NPs were 0.37% higher than those without In NPs under an AOI of 0°, and 3.48% higher under an AOI of 75°. The ∆Jsc values of cells with In NPs were 0.50% higher than those without In NPs under an AOI of 0°, and 4.57% higher under an AOI of 75°. The application of In NPs clearly improved the light trapping effects. This can be attributed to the effects of plasmonic light-scattering over the entire wavelength range as well as an expanded angle of incident light.