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In the process of tension wire construction of transmission lines, the key state quantities such as tension, inclination and spatial position of the traction walking plate directly affect the construction safety. At present, the construction personnel use visual observation to obtain the state quantity of traction walking plate in the process of tension wire construction. This monitoring method is not only inefficient, and there are personal subjective factors of judgment errors. For this reason, this paper develops a kind of intelligent traction walking plate for tension wire construction, based on the principle of resistance strain type and gyroscope to obtain the tension and inclination of the traction walking plate, respectively, using two front cameras and two rear cameras to obtain the spatial position of the traction walking plate, and finally completing the real‐time transmission of the monitoring data through the Lora technology. The developed intelligent traction walking plate was applied in Shandong Heze Yongfeng 220 kV transmission line project on 11 October 2020, which improved the construction efficiency by 15.71% while ensuring the construction safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euchlorocystis marina, a new marine species of the genus Euchlorocystis discovered in 2022, has the potential to improve the water quality in mariculture ponds. However, the effects of salinity on the growth, physiology, and biochemical composition of these algae are not well understood. In this study, changes in physiological and biochemical indices such as cell density, photosynthetic pigment, polysaccharide, and lipid content of E. marina under different salinity treatments were analyzed. The results showed that the highest cell density was observed at a salinity of 15°C. The lowest photosynthetic pigment content was observed at a salinity of 60°C, and the highest polysaccharide and lipid content was observed at a salinity of 60°C. These results indicated that lower salinity was more conducive to E. marina reproduction and growth. E. marina can accumulate polysaccharides and lipids in high salinity environments. This study provides new information for understanding the salinity adaptation strategies of E. marina and has practical significance for its development and utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface electromyogram (sEMG)-based gesture recognition has emerged as a promising avenue for developing intelligent prostheses for upper limb amputees. However, the temporal variations in sEMG have rendered recognition models less efficient than anticipated. By using cross-session calibration and increasing the amount of training data, it is possible to reduce these variations. The impact of varying the amount of calibration and training data on gesture recognition performance for amputees is still unknown. To assess these effects, we present four datasets for the evaluation of calibration data and examine the impact of the amount of training data on benchmark performance. Two amputees who had undergone amputations years prior were recruited, and seven sessions of data were collected for analysis from each of them. Ninapro DB6, a publicly available database containing data from ten healthy subjects across ten sessions, was also included in this study. The experimental results show that the calibration data improved the average accuracy by 3.03%, 6.16%, and 9.73% for the two subjects and Ninapro DB6, respectively, compared to the baseline results. Moreover, it was discovered that increasing the number of training sessions was more effective in improving accuracy than increasing the number of trials. Three potential strategies are proposed in light of these findings to enhance cross-session models further. We consider these findings to be of the utmost importance for the commercialization of intelligent prostheses, as they demonstrate the criticality of gathering calibration and cross-session training data, while also offering effective strategies to maximize the utilization of the entire dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of mountainous topography is the result of the interactions of climate, topography, and erosion. Glaciers are one of the most active erosional forces sculpting mountainous regions. However, our ability to understand this erosional force is limited by the controversy regarding the major factors controlling glacial erosion. We selected the Nianbaoyeze Shan, which is occupied by subcontinental glaciers (likely cold-based or polythermal glaciers) in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, to study how erosion by alpine glaciers sculpts the landscape. We first applied a power law model (y = axb) fit to the cross-profiles of glacial valleys and analyzed the controlling factor of glacial erosion; we then identified the morphometric characteristics of the cirques to analyze the influencing factors, and investigated the development patterns of glacial valleys and cirques. Finally, we used hypsometry and the slope-altitude curves and reconstructed the palaeo-glacier surfaces and palaeo-Equilibrium Line Altitudes (ELAs) to determine if the glacial buzzsaw effect had impacted this glaciated region with subcontinental glaciers. Our findings show that ice flux is the main factor controlling glacial erosion. In this region, decreasing temperatures promote an increase in glacier mean size (i.e., ice flux), which enhances the rate of glacial erosion. Cirque morphology is mainly influenced by aspect and the ELA. The development patterns of glacial valleys and cirques were dominated by a widening process. The ELAs of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)-3 derived from the cirque floor altitudes or the Accumulation Area Ratio (AAR) and Area-Altitude Balance Ratio (AABR) coincide with the hypsometric maximum and the reduction in slope-altitude curves, which indicates that glacial buzzsaw has impacted this region. Furthermore, the glacial buzzsaw effect has profoundly influenced the mountain heights and topographic evolution in this subcontinental glaciated region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the effects of the compound fungicide on the microbial life cycle, the improvement of the corrosion inhibition rate and sterilization rate of D-amino acid compound fungicides on carbon steel in different periods was studied using the mixed microflora composed of SRB and IOB produced from the oil and gas field through the weightlessness experiment, electrochemical test, surface analysis technology and other research methods. The results showed that the corrosion rate and sterilization efficiency were improved when D-amino acid compound fungicide was adding in different periods. The function of D-amino acid compound fungicide was optimal, when it was added on the third day. D-amino acid could cause the surface of the bacteria hydrophobic, which affects the material transmission between bacteria. D-amino acid could break up the biofilm and inhibit the growth of biofilm. Microorganisms could multiply rapidly on steel surfaces over time and reach an active peak period of life activity in seven days,during which H2S production will accelerate steel corrosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polydimethylsiloxane containing methacryloyloxy and methoxy silane groups (MAPDMS)-microcapsule-SiO2 (MPMS) functional materials were prepared by constructing micro-nano hierarchical structures on the surface of MAPDMS matrix. Herein, MAPDMS@1,1-stilbene-modified hydrolyzed polyglycidyl methacrylate/graphene oxide/dimethyloctadecyl[3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl]ammonium chloride (MAPDMS@PGMAm/GO/QC18) self-healing microcapsules with compact multi-shell structure were synthesized and combined with nano-SiO2 to construct the hierarchical structures. Furthermore, ultraviolet (UV)/moisture dual curing mode was introduced into deep curing reaction and efficient self-healing reaction of the MPMS. The results show that the introduction of UV/moisture dual curing mode and micro-nano hierarchical structure gives MPMS functional materials excellent mechanical properties, antifouling properties, self-healing properties, and antibacterial properties. The shear strength and tensile strength of MPMS increase from 3.32 and 4.26 MPa of MAPDMS to 3.81 and 5.06 MPa, respectively. Its static contact angle increases from 115.9° of MAPDMS to 156.5°, and its slide angle decreases from 68.5° of MAPDMS to 7.8°, respectively. The antifouling performance of MPMS against seawater, soy sauce, juice, coffee, protein, and other contaminants is effectively improved compared with MAPDMS matrix. At the same time, the tensile strength and elongation at break of MPMS after healing reach 98.22% and 96.57% of those in original state, respectively. In addition, the antibacterial rates of MPMS against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus reach 99.85% and 100%, respectively. The MPMS prepared in this paper is expected to be widely used in marine antifouling, pipeline network, anti-icing, microfluidics, wearable devices, medical devices, electrochemical biosensors, and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing prefabricated wireline construction technology is difficult to accurately measure the real‐time length of the deployed wires, resulting in too large construction errors and cannot be popularized and applied. To this end, a length measuring device that can accurately measure the length of the wire during the construction of the prefabricated wire is developed. In terms of the hardware of the length measuring equipment, based on the construction characteristics of the prefabricated wiring and the characteristics of the wire, the photoelectric encoder and the STC8G series single‐chip microcomputer are used to complete the collection and processing of the wire length data, and the mature and stable LoRa technology is used to complete the wireless transmission of the data. In terms of software program of length measurement equipment, the measurement of wire length data, transmission, and interaction of control command signals are realized by optimizing length measurement scheme, interface development of terminal equipment, and information interaction program design. Finally, according to the actual working conditions of the prefabricated wiring construction, the mechanical structure of the length measuring equipment is designed, and the assembly is completed. The developed length measuring equipment has been successfully applied to practical projects. According to the wire length measuring equipment, the deviation between the observation sag and the design sag after the wire length is measured by the wire length measuring equipment is 2.0%, which meets the design requirement of ±2.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of big data, cloud services, and artificial intelligence, the optical network is developing towards scale and complexity, which suffers from larger probability of network failure. It is necessary to provide dedicated-path protection for each connection request to reduce the task caused by the network failures. Therefore, in order to guarantee the network survivability, we propose a dedicated-path protection optimization method to improve the network resource efficiency in elastic optical networks with data centers. The simulation results show that the proposed dedicated-path protection optimization method can effectively reduce the blocking probability, improve the network resource utilization, and solve the survivability problem of elastic optical networks on data centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we developed a shunt-current intensity self-adjustable closed-loop control circuit system for current conduction treatment in temporal lobe epilepsy. To examine the dose-response relationship between conductive intensity and therapeutic outcomes of current conduction treatment, the control system consists of neural signal recording module for high-speed data rate acquisition, signal amplification and pre-processing, current shunt module for current conduction, data transmission and control module for real-time data communication with the personal computer and on-off of current conduction. Multithread and queue software architecture was implemented to ensure real-time data transmission, display and analysis by LabVIEW software. Results indicate that the input noise of the system is less than 2 μ Vrms, signal frequency bandwidth range is 1 Hz ∼ 10 kHz, and the shunt-current detection range is 0.1–3000 μ A with the accuracy of above 99.985%, meeting the requirements for the detection of neural electrophysiological signal and the research on the dose-response relationship between conductive intensity and therapeutic outcomes of electronic conduction treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper proposes a compact bioelectronics sensing platform, including a multi-channel electrode, intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) recorder, adjustable galvanometer, and shunt-current conduction circuit pathway. The developed implantable electrode made of polyurethane-insulated stainless-steel materials is capable of recording iEEG signals and shunt-current conduction. The electrochemical impedance of the conduction, ground/reference, and working electrode were characterized in phosphate buffer saline solution, revealing in vitro results of 517.2 Ω@1 kHz (length of 0.1 mm, diameter of 0.8 mm), 1.374 kΩ@1 kHz (length of 0.3 mm, diameter of 0.1 mm), and 3.188 kΩ@1 kHz (length of 0.1 mm, diameter of 0.1 mm), respectively. On-bench measurement of the system revealed that the input noise of the system is less than 2 μVrms, the signal frequency bandwidth range is 1 Hz~10 kHz, and the shunt-current detection range is 0.1~3000 μA with an accuracy of above 99.985%. The electrode was implanted in the CA1 region of the right hippocampus of rats for the in vivo experiments. Kainic acid (KA)-induced seizures were detected through iEEG monitoring, and the induced shunt-current was successfully measured and conducted out of the brain through the designed circuit-body path, which verifies the potential of current conduction for the treatment of epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to increased attention of individual physical health condition, the demand on portable multi-vital signs monitoring devices has shown an explosive growth. This work designed a portable, multi-vital signs monitoring system, consisting of chest unit and wrist unit, with size of 32 mm $\times32$ mm and diameter of 30 mm, respectively. The designed system is capable of transmitting measured electrocardiograph (ECG), pulse wave and body temperature signal to the mobile devices wirelessly by Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technique. The heart rate, pulse oximetry (SpO2) and respiratory rate are extracted through time domain algorithm. The chest and wrist units can continuously monitor body vital signs for more than 12 and 24 hours, respectively. Besides, the experiment results reveal that the chest unit is able to monitor patients with heart rate abnormalities such as atrial fibrillation and premature beats. The typical heart diseases can be detected in real-time. Meanwhile, the wrist unit clearly detects the changes of the physical parameters of the subjects under different physiological conditions. The accuracy of the designed system is consistent with that of the commercial medical instrument counterpart, with further advantages of compact, portable and patient-friendly natures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Surfactant Detergent & Cosmetics (1001-1803) is the property of China Surfactant Detergent & Cosmetics Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Auditory-cued goal-oriented behaviors requires the participation of cortical and subcortical brain areas, but how neural circuits associate sensory-based decisions with goal locations through learning remains poorly understood. The hippocampus is critical for spatial coding, suggesting its possible involvement in transforming sensory inputs to the goal-oriented decisions. Here, we developed an auditory discrimination task in which rats learned to navigate to goal locations based on the frequencies of auditory stimuli. Using in vivo calcium imaging in freely behaving rats over the course of learning, we found that dentate granule cells became more active, spatially tuned, and responsive to task-related variables as learning progressed. Furthermore, only after task learning, the activity of dentate granule cell ensembles represented the navigation path and predicts auditory decisions as early as when rats began to approach the goals. Finally, chemogenetic silencing of dentate gyrus suppressed task learning. Our results demonstrate that dentate granule cells gain task-relevant firing pattern through reinforcement learning and could be a potential link of sensory decisions to spatial navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mining massive prescriptions in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) accumulated in the lengthy period of several thousand years to discover essential herbal groups for distinct efficacies is of significance for TCM modernization, thus starting to draw attentions recently. However, most existing methods for the task treat herbs with different surface forms orthogonally and determine efficacy-specific herbal groups based on the raw frequencies an herbal group occur in a collection of prescriptions. Such methods entirely overlook the fact that prescriptions in TCM are formed empirically by different people at different historical stages, and thus full of herbs with different surface forms expressing the same material, or even noisy and redundant herbs.Methods: We propose a two-stage approach for efficacy-specific herbal group detection from prescriptions in TCM. For the first stage we devise a hierarchical attentive neural network model to capture essential herbs in a prescription for its efficacy, where herbs are encoded with dense real-valued vectors learned automatically to identify their differences on the semantical level. For the second stage, frequent patterns are mined to discover essential herbal groups for an efficacy from distilled prescriptions obtained in the first stage.Results: We verify the effectiveness of our proposed approach from two aspects, the first one is the ability of the hierarchical attentive neural network model to distill a prescription, and the second one is the accuracy in discovering efficacy-specific herbal groups.Conclusion: The experimental results demonstrate that the hierarchical attentive neural network model is capable to capture herbs in a prescription essential to its efficacy, and the distilled prescriptions significantly could improve the performance of efficacy-specific herbal group detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of forming parts with complex shape and small local feature size, solid granules medium forming (SGMF) was adopted. A part of magnesium alloy AZ31B with double-cone shape was taken as an example to analyze the forming process. The parameters of Gurson–Tvergaard–Needleman (GTN) were identified by an inverse method, comparing the experimental results with the numerical results. Based on the GTN model, the coupled finite element and discrete element (FE-DE) method was applied to simulate the forming process of the double-cone part with SGMF technology, and the relevant forming experiments were carried out. The results show that the quality of the workpiece can be improved with different friction coefficient of different area of the part. The fracture behavior and final wall thickness distribution obtained by experiment consist with those by simulation. So, it demonstrates the applicability of the FE-DE method with GTN damage model in analyzing formability of magnesium alloy, and the FE-DE method could embody the medium discrete characteristics fully during SGMF technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a silicon-based terahertz wideband filter was designed using rigorous couple wave theory to achieve high diffraction efficiency and wideband filtering performance. The optimal parameters, such as filter period, duty ratio, and groove depth, are given. The design value and tolerance analysis were carried out to obtain the allowable deviation range of each structural parameter of the filter. The device was fabricated and tested for performance. The experimental results were consistent with the design results, proving the feasibility of the design method and can be applied in terahertz, communication, imaging, and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an optical correlator which adopts planar integrated 2F structure and optimal tradeoff synthetic discriminant function filter is proposed to improve the system integration and the recognition ability. The specialized digital microlens is designed for the correlator to replace the physical lens. By the theoretical analysis, the structural design conditions and parameters of the correlator are given, and the system volume is 63.1 cm3 which is only half of the planar integrated 4F optical correlator. Moreover, simulations and experimental research works reveal that the correlator can achieve stable recognition to the input object of distortion with scaling (52%, 150%), rotation (-50°, +42°), and existed scaling (72%, 130%) and rotation (-36°, +38°) simultaneously. Theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the planar integrated optical correlator with compact structure and high integration has good performance of distortion invariant recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glacial extent mapping and dating indicate that the local last glacial maximum (LLGM) of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau occurred during mid-Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. This is asynchronous with the global last glacial maximum (LGM) that occurred during MIS 2. The causes underlying this asynchronicity are the subject of ongoing debate, and paleoclimatic reconstructions are a key to advancing understanding of the climatic influence on the spatial and temporal patterns of paleoglaciation. We used multiple methods to reconstruct the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) of the Die Shan paleo-ice cap on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, and to infer past temperature for ice maximum positions believed to be mid-MIS 3 in age, based on regional correlation. Geomorphic ELA reconstructions combined with an energy and mass balance model yield a paleo-ELA of 4117±31 m asl (786 m lower than present) with temperature depressions of 3.8 to ~4.6°C compared to the present. This is less than the LGM reconstruction of temperature depression inferred from other climatic proxy records on the Tibetan Plateau and suggests that the LLGM glacial advance was a product of lower temperatures and slightly reduced precipitation compared to present, whereas the LGM was a more restricted advance in which much colder conditions were combined with much lower precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ustilago esculenta, infects Zizania latifolia, and induced host stem swollen to be a popular vegetable called Jiaobai in China. It is the long-standing artificial selection that maximizes the occurrence of favourable Jiaobai, and thus maintaining the plant--fungi interaction and modulating the fungus evolving from plant pathogen to entophyte. In this study, whole genome of U. esculenta was sequenced and transcriptomes of the fungi and its host were analysed. The 20.2Mb U. esculenta draft genome of 6,654 predicted genes including mating, primary metabolism, secreted proteins, shared a high similarity to related Smut fungi. But U. esculenta prefers RNA silencing not repeat-induced point in defence and has more introns per gene, indicating relatively slow evolution rate. The fungus also lacks some genes in amino acid biosynthesis pathway which were filled by up-regulated host genes and developed distinct amino acid response mechanism to balance the infection--resistance interaction. Besides, U. esculenta lost some surface sensors, important virulence factors and host range-related effectors to maintain the economic endophytic life. The elucidation of the U. esculenta genomic information as well as expression profiles can not only contribute to more comprehensive insights into the molecular mechanism underlying artificial selection but also into smut fungi--host interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intrahepatic mass-forming cholangiocarcinoma (IMCC) is frequently misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with cirrhosis, by numerous radiologists and clinical doctors, which results in the incorrect therapeutic treatment. A retrospective case-control study was conducted, and the contrast-enhanced multiple-phase (CEMP) computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of 22 pathologically confirmed IMCC patients and 22 HCC controls with underlying liver cirrhosis were analyzed at the present hospital, from January 2010 to December 2015. In addition, serum tests were conducted and clinical symptoms of patients evaluated. A statistical analysis revealed that the enhancement pattern, signal on MRI delayed phase (P<0.001), maximum diameter, capsule retraction, portal vein invasion, bile duct dilation and abdominal lymphadenectasis characteristics were different between IMCC and HCC patients with cirrhosis. On CEMP CT and MRI analysis, the most frequently occurring enhancement patterns of IMCC were progressive patterns (P=0.001 or P<0.001). Conversely, the most frequently occurring enhancement patterns present in HCC were the washout patterns (P<0.001). Therefore, the diagnosis of IMCC in cirrhotic patients should be verified with CEMP CT and MRI analysis for the future, to determine presence or absence of progressive and/or peripheral rim-like enhancement, a hyperintensive delayed phase with capsule retraction, portal vein invasion, bile duct dilation, abdominal lymphadenectasis and increased levels of CA199. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An open question in migration research is how the removal of selective migration restrictions affects migrants' education decisions. I analyze this question in the Chinese context, in which the household registration system imposes selective rural-urban migration restrictions. The identification derives from a policy change that grants urban residency to a group of rural individuals based on their dates of birth. Using a regression discontinuity approach, I find that educational attainments for barely eligible rural residents decreased sharply after the reform. These effects are larger for males and for those able to permanently migrate to relatively rich areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cylindrical resonator gyroscope (CRG) is a typical Coriolis vibratory gyroscope whose performance is determined by the Q factor and frequency mismatch of the cylindrical resonator. Enhancing the Q factor is crucial for improving the rate sensitivity and noise performance of the CRG. In this paper, for the first time, a monolithic cylindrical fused silica resonator with a Q factor approaching 8 ? 105 (ring-down time over 1 min) is reported. The resonator is made of fused silica with low internal friction and high isotropy, with a diameter of 25 mm and a center frequency of 3974.35 Hz. The structure of the resonator is first briefly introduced, and then the experimental non-contact characterization method is presented. In addition, the post-fabrication experimental procedure of Q factor improvement, including chemical and thermal treatment, is demonstrated. The Q factor improvement by both treatments is compared and the primary loss mechanism is analyzed. To the best of our knowledge, the work presented in this paper represents the highest reported Q factor for a cylindrical resonator. The proposed monolithic cylindrical fused silica resonator may enable high performance inertial sensing with standard manufacturing process and simple post-fabrication treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) patients in China encounter heavy financial burdens throughout the course of their treatment and it is unclear how China's health insurance systems affect the alleviation of this burden under the integrated approach. This study aimed to measure reimbursement for TB services under the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in rural China and to evaluate changes in catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) caused by the reimbursement policies. Methods: Reimbursement data were obtained from routine data systems for the NCMS in Yichang (YC) and Hanzhong (HZ). 1884 TB inpatients reimbursed by NCMS from 2010 to 2012 were included. Household surveys were conducted. A total of 494 TB patients under the NCMS were selected in this paper. 12 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were held. We measured the impact of the NCMS by counterfactual analysis, which analyzed the financial burden alleviation. Equity was assessed by Concentration Index (CI), and disaggregated by project sites. Results: TB inpatients were reimbursed with an effective reimbursement rate of 57.3 %. Average out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for outpatient and inpatient services after diagnosis were 1413 yuan and 430 yuan, and 3572 yuan and 3013 yuan in YC and HZ, respectively. The reimbursement level for TB outpatient care after diagnosis was very low due to a limited outpatient quota. TB patients in HZ incurred higher effective reimbursement rates, but the incidence of CHE remained higher. The reduction of CHE incidence after the NCMS showed no difference statistically (P > 0.05). The severity of CHE was alleviated slightly. CIs after reimbursement were all below zero and their absolute values were higher than those before reimbursement. Conclusions: Low reimbursement for TB patients could lead to heavy financial burden. Poor TB patients incurred high rates of CHE. The NCMS was found to be a protective factor for CHE, but the impact was modest and the equity of CHE did not improve. The NCMS reimbursement policies should be improved in the future to include a more comprehensive coverage of care. Supplemental programs may be necessary to expand coverage for TB care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health inequity is an important issue all around the world. The Chinese basic medical security system comprises three major insurance schemes, namely the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), the Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI), and the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS). Little research has been conducted to look into the disparity in payments among the health insurance schemes in China. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the disparity in reimbursements for tuberculosis (TB) care among the abovementioned health insurance schemes. Methods: This study uses a World Health Organization (WHO) framework to analyze the disparities and equity relating to the three dimensions of health insurance: population coverage, the range of services covered, and the extent to which costs are covered. Each of the health insurance scheme's policies were categorized and analyzed. An analysis of the claims database of all hospitalizations reimbursed from 2010 to 2012 in three counties of Yichang city (YC), which included 1506 discharges, was conducted to identify the differences in reimbursement rates and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses among the health insurance schemes. Results: Tuberculosis patients had various inpatient expenses depending on which scheme they were covered by (TB patients covered by the NCMS have less inpatient expenses than those who were covered by the URBMI, who have less inpatient expenses than those covered by the UEBMI). We found a significant horizontal inequity of healthcare utilization among the lower socioeconomic groups. In terms of financial inequity, TB patients who earned less paid more. The NCMS provides modest financial protection, based on income. Overall, TB patients from lower socioeconomic groups were the most vulnerable. Conclusion: There are large disparities in reimbursement for TB care among the three health insurance schemes and this, in turn, hampers TB control. Reducing the gap in health outcomes between the three health insurance schemes in China should be a focus of TB care and control. Achieving equity through integrated policies that avoid discrimination is likely to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) patients in China still face a number of barriers in seeking diagnosis and treatment. There is evidence that the economic burden on TB patients and their households discourages treatment compliance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three cities of China. Patients were selected using probability proportional to size (PPS) cluster sampling of rural townships or urban streets, followed by list sampling from a patient register. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with TB patients to gain an understanding of the economic burden of TB and implications of this burden for treatment compliance. Results: A total of 797 TB patients were surveyed, of which 60 were interviewed in-depth following the survey. More than half had catastrophic health expenditure. TB patients with higher household incomes were less likely to report non-compliance (OR 0.355, 95% CI 0.140-0.830) and patients who felt that the economic burden relating to TB treatment was high more likely to report non-compliance (OR 3.650, 95% CI 1.278-12.346). Those who had high costs for transportation, lodging and food were also more likely to report non-compliance (OR 4.150, 95% CI 1.804-21.999). The findings from the qualitative studies supported those from the survey. Conclusion: The economic burden associated with seeking diagnosis and treatment remains a barrier for TB patients in China. Reducing the cost of treatment and giving patients subsidies for transportation, lodging and food is likely to improve treatment compliance. Improving doctors' salary system to cut off the revenue-oriented incentive, and expanding current insurance's coverage can be helpful to reduce patients' actual burden or anticipated burden. Future research on this issue is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The local last glacial maximum (LGML) on Dalijia Shan occurred during mid-marine isotope stage 3 (MIS3), which is consistent with some Tibetan Plateau records, but asynchronous with the MIS2 global Last Glacial Maximum (LGMG). Paleoclimatic reconstructions are key to advancing understanding such spatial and temporal patterns of paleoglaciation. Using multiple methods we reconstructed mid-MIS3 equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) on Dalijia Shan and inferred temperature depressions. Geomorphic ELA reconstructions combined with empirical data on current ELA temperature and precipitation yield a mid-MIS3 ELA of 4000 ± 78 m a.s.l. (618-851 m lower than current, and a temperature depression of 3.3-6.8 °C). Independent glacial modeling using the degree-day approach suggests a mid-MIS3 ELA between 3971 and 4024 m a.s.l. and a temperature depression of 4.2-5.6 °C. The consistency of these results indicate that mid-MIS3 temperature depressions in the Dalijia Shan region were 3.3-6.8 °C, which is less than the LGMG temperature depression inferred from regional climatic proxy data. Combined with other proxy data, this suggests that the LGML glacial advance in Dalijia Shan resulted from lower temperatures and slightly reduced precipitation compared with present, whereas the LGMG advance was more restricted because much colder conditions were combined with much lower precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A series of highly soluble aromatic polyimides with excellent thermal properties were fabricated by traditional two-step polycondensation reaction of dianhydride monomer 4,4′-(4,4′-isopropylidenediphenoxy)bis(phthalic anhydride) or 4,4-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride with diamine monomer 1,3-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene or 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl) tetramethyldisiloxane in N,N-dimethylacetylamide solvent. Results revealed that copolyimide of PI-4 containing trifluoromethyl and tetramethyldisiloxane possessed excellent solubility and remarkable thermal properties. PI-4 could dissolve well in common low boiling point solvents such as THF of up to 80 mg/mL and acetone of 40 mg/mL. Moreover, the 10% weight loss temperature of the PI-4 was 539°C and the Tg value of the PI-4 was 311°C. PI-4 might be easily cast into flexible and tough films applied in optoelectronic devices. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41713. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis and thermal research of a pyridine-containing polyimide were reported in this work. The corresponding diamine monomer, 2,6-bis(4-(4-aminophenoxy)phenyl)-4-phenyl pyridine (BApPP), was synthesized through combining the nucleophilic aromatic substitution with modified Chichibabin reaction and hydrazine monohydrate reduction. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-NMR), and elemental analysis were used for chemical structural characterization, the results identified the chemical structures of the monomer and polymer. The melting behavior of the diamine monomer was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal properties of the resulting polyimide were investigated from DSC and thermo gravimetric analysis together. The results indicated the resulting polyimide exhibited excellent thermal stability, with the glass transition temperature around 275.0 °C and the initial mass loss of sample beyond 487.5 °C. The thermal decomposition process was analysed by combining the Avrami-Erofeev dynamic model and Ozawa-Flynn-Wall method. The coefficients of the thermal decomposition kinetics equation were calculated, and the final equation was obtained by polynomial fitting method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an independent cardiovascular risk factor to which autonomic nervous dysfunction has been reported to be an important contributor. Ninety subjects recruited from the sleep center of a single medical center were divided into four groups: normal snoring subjects without OSA (apnea hypopnea index, AHI = 5, n = 11), mild OSA (5 ≤ AHI < 15, n = 10), moderate OSA (15 ≤ AHI < 30, n = 24), and severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30, n = 45). Demographic (i.e., age, gender), anthropometric (i.e., body mass index, neck circumference), and polysomnographic (PSG) data were recorded and compared among the different groups. For each subject, R-R intervals (RRI) from 10 segments of 10-minute electrocardiogram recordings during non-rapid eye movement sleep at stage N2 were acquired and analyzed for heart rate variability (HRV) and sample entropy using multiscale entropy index (MEI) that was divided into small scale (MEISS, scale 1-5) and large scale (MEILS, scale 6-10). Our results not only demonstrated that MEISS could successfully distinguish normal snoring subjects and those with mild OSA from those with moderate and severe disease, but also revealed good correlation between MEISS and AHI with Spearman correlation analysis (r = -0.684, p < 0.001). Therefore, using the two parameters of EEG and ECG, MEISS may serve as a simple preliminary screening tool for assessing the severity of OSA before proceeding to PSG analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon (Si)-containing polyimides (PIs) with superior atomic oxygen (AO) resistance are promising materials for space applications. Here, in this study, we present the synthesis and characterization of eight Si-containing PI thin films and evaluate their AO durability. The resulting PI films exhibited high thermal stability and preferable AO resistance but showed slightly reduced mechanical performance relative to pristine PI. The highest optical transparency at 550 nm was observed for PI/octaaminopropylsilsesquioxane, while the lowest value was observed for PI/silica (SiO2) hybrids. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopic study suggested that the topmost surface of PI was degraded at the early stage and an SiO2 inert protective layer was finally formed on the surface of hybrid films after AO exposure. It is found that Si-containing units of higher oxidation states and with higher Si/O molar ratio are favorable to improve the AO resistance. Dispersion of Si at molecular level contributes to improving anti-AO property as well as optical transparency of the prepared films. The characterization of scanning electron microscopy indicated a continuous SiO2 protective layer was crucial to prevent AO from eroding the bulk matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine diagnostic performance of simple measurements on diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) for assessment of complete tumour response (CR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) by signal intensity (SI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements. Materials and methods: Sixty-five patients with LARC who underwent neoadjuvant CRT and subsequent surgery were included. Patients underwent pre-CRT and post-CRT 3.0 T MRI. Regions of interest of the highest brightness SI were included in the tumour volume on post-CRT DWI to calculate the SI, rSI, ADC and rADC; diagnostic performance was compared by using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. In order to validate the accuracy and reproducibility of the current strategy, the same procedure was reproduced in 80 patients with LARC at 1.5 T MRI. Results: Areas under the ROC curve for identification of a CR, based on SI, rSI, ADC, and rADC, respectively, were 0.86, 0.94, 0.66, and 0.71 at 3.0 T MRI, and 0.92, 0.91, 0.64, and 0.61 at 1.5 T MRI. Conclusion: Post-CRT DWI SI and rSI provided high diagnostic performance in assessing CR and were significantly more accurate than ADC, and rADC at 3.0 T MRI and 1.5 T MRI. Key Points: • Signal intensity ( SI) and rSI are accurate for assessment of complete response. • rSI seems to be superior to SI at 3.0 T MRI. • ADC or rADC measurements are not accurate for assessment of complete response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the design and synthesis of a novel pyridine-containing triamine monomer, 2,6-bis(4-aminophenyl)-4-(4-aminophenoxy)pyridine (BAAP), through combining the nucleophilic aromatic substitution with modified Chichibabin reaction and hydrazine hydrate reduction. Based on it, a novel three-step route was applied in order to obtain a series of new polyimides, containing phthalimide as pendent group and pyridine moieties in main chains. The three-step route consisted of terminating the triamine by incorporating phthalic amic acid as pendant, ring-opening polymerization to form poly(amic acid)s and further chemical imidization to acquire polyimides. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-NMR) was used for chemical structural characterization, and the results indicated the various forms of BAAP and branched structure units in the obtained polyimides. The morphology structures of the polyimides were evaluated by X-ray diffraction patterns, and the d-spacing values were found in the range of 4.14-4.65 Ǻ. Most of the resulting polyimides were soluble in polar aprotic solvents, such as NMP, DMF, DMAc, DMSO, and so on. Meanwhile, the polyimides exhibited excellent thermal stability, with the decomposition temperature at 5 and 10 % weight loss temperatures in the ranges of 399.1-461.1 °C and 481.1-566.9 °C, respectively. The polyimides, based on 6FDA, possessed the best comprehensive thermally stable and soluble performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of hyperbranched polyimides were successfully synthesized by condensation polymerization of A2-type dianhydride monomer 2,2-bis(3,4-dicarboxylphenyl) hexafluoropropane dianhydride (6FDA) and B′B2-type triamine monomer 2,4,6-triaminopyrimidine (TAP). Polymers with different branching degrees (DB) and terminated groups were obtained by changing the monomer addition order and the monomer molar ratio. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1H NMR were used to verify the structure of the prepared polyimides, which indicated that the amino group still existed in all the products. The DB of the polymers indicated by 1H NMR increased from 30% to 79% with the molar ratio of TAP:6FDA decreasing from 1:1 to 1:2. The absolute molecular weights were measured by size-exclusion chromatography with multi-angle laser light-scattering detection, which suggested that the highest molecular weight would be obtained when the molar ratio of amino groups:anhydride groups of the monomers was 3:3.2. With the DB increasing, the d-spacing values indicated by wide angle X-ray diffraction increased from 5.15 Å to 5.68 Å and the UV − visible spectra of the polymers exhibited decreasing cut-off wavelengths. The 5% weight loss temperature in nitrogen increased with decreasing content of TAP monomer, and the glass transition temperatures of the obtained polyimides decreased from 282 °C to 258 °C with increasing DB. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurocognitive dysfunction of varying degrees is common in patients with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis (HBV-RC) without overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE). However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these dysfunctions are not well understood. We sought to identify changes in the neural activity of patients with HBV-RC without OHE in the resting state by using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method and to determine whether these changes were related to impaired cognition. Resting-state functional MRI data from 30 patients with HBV-RC and 30 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and years of education were compared to determine any differences in the ALFF between the two groups. Cognition was measured with the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES), and the relationship between these scores and ALFF variation was assessed. Compared with controls, patients showed widespread lower standardized ALFF (mALFF) values in visual association areas (bilateral lingual gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior temporal gyrus), motor-related areas (bilateral precentral gyrus, paracentral lobule, and right postcentral gyrus), and the default mode network (bilateral cuneus/precuneus and inferior parietal lobule). Higher mALFF values were found in the bilateral orbital gyrus/rectal gyrus. In patients, mALFF values were significantly positive correlated with the PHES in the right middle occipital gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus. Our findings of resting-state abnormalities in patients with HBV-RC without OHE suggest that neurocognitive dysfunction in patients with HBV-RC without OHE may be caused by abnormal neural activity in multiple brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical, pathologic, and computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) and to improve the diagnostic efficacy of the tumor. Materials and methods: Clinical, pathologic, and imaging findings were retrospectively evaluated in 18 patients with HAML. Two patients underwent both CT and MRI, ten underwent CT alone, and six underwent MRI alone. Unenhanced and contrast-enhanced examinations were performed in all patients. Imaging characteristics, such as the lesion location, lesion diameter, presence of early draining veins, attenuation/signal intensity of the lesions on imaging, and enhancement pattern were reviewed. Results: There were 3 male and 15 female patients. HAML was seen as a well-defined, solitary mass on imaging with medium size (mean diameter, 5.9 cm). Fat was detected in ten patients. Calcification was noted in two patients and cystic degeneration was seen in one patient. Hepatic cirrhosis and capsule were not detected in all patients. The mean attenuation values exceeded 120 hounsfield units (HU) in 11 patients (91.7%). Peripherally decreasing enhancement rim as well as early draining vein was seen in 15 patients (83.3%). The early draining veins were all hepatic veins. Tumor vessels were noted in all patients. Conclusion: The presence of early draining vein, peripheral decreasing enhancement rim, and the absence of tumor capsule in the hypervascular hepatic tumor on CT and/or MRI together with normal alpha fetal protein may be helpful for the diagnosis of HAML in non-cirrhotic liver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we explore a mathematical model to characterize the clustered microcalcifications on mammograms for predicting the pathological classification and grading. Our database consists of both retrospective cases (78 cases) and prospective cases (31 cases) with pathologically diagnosed clusters of microcalcifications on mammograms. The microcalcifications were divided into four grades: grade 0, benign breast disease including mastopathies ( n = 12) and fibroadenomas ( n = 20); grade 1, well-differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma ( n = 12); grade 2, moderately differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma ( n = 38); grade 3, poorly differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma ( n = 27). A feature parameter, defined as the pattern form factor of microcalcification cluster θ by us, combines five computer-extracted image parameters of microcalcification clusters of those mammograms. In every case, only one imaging was selected for modeling analysis. A total of 109 imagings were adopted in current study. We find the existence of a positive relationship between the feature parameter θ and pathological grading G of microcalcifications in retrospective cases, which was expressed as G = 6.438 + 1.186 × Ln <θ>. The model above has been verified further by the prospective study with a comparative evaluation accuracy of approximately 77.42%. The binary predication simply for both benignancy and malignancy was also included using same but reshuffled data, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed with ROC value 0.74351∼0.79891. As one candidate for feature parameter in computer-aided diagnosis, the pattern form factor θ of clustered microcalcifications may be useful to predict the pathological grading and classification of microcalcification clusters on mammography in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wire localization (WL) is traditionally performed before excisional biopsy for patients with nonpalpable breast lesions, but it has several disadvantages. Our current study examines whether the method of radiocolloid combined with methylene dye localization (RCML) has an advantage over WL. Materials and Methods: From August 2006 to May 2009, 157 patients with nonpalpable breast lesions classified as BI-RADS category 5 were enrolled in our study. Of the 157 patients, 78 were assigned to WL and 79 to RCML. The status of surgical margins, weight of specimens, length of incisions, and duration of operation were compared between these two groups. Results: All patients were diagnosed after first excisional biopsy. The patients with malignancy accounted for 55.1% in WL group, and 53.2% in RCML group. For malignant lesions, fewer patients undergoing RCML had close or involved surgical margins than did those who had WL (19.0% vs. 39.5%, P = .038). The mean weight of specimen was 45.2 g in WL group and 39.0 g in RCML group ( P < .001). The mean length of incision was 44.8 mm in WL group and 36.3 mm in RCML group ( P < .001). The mean time of operation was 16.3 min for WL and 14.7 min for RCML ( P = .001). Conclusions: RCML provides precise identification of the site of the nonpalpable lesion and a visible marker to the lesion for surgeons and allows rapid, easy, and accurate excision of nonpalpable breast lesions. Therefore, RCML is a promising alternative to WL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a progressive design learning approach is proposed in the course of "applied electronics" to help students to develop system design skills through an optoelectronic sensing project. This project offers a progressive guideline to lead student teams to design, build, and troubleshoot their optoelectronic systems. Such a system contains a light-source current stabilizer, a photodiode amplifier, a microcontroller system (including input and output), and optomechanical devices. In this approach, students are motivated to learn the required knowledge and skills in a future professional capacity. Those skills include designing specification, realizing teamwork and communication, and developing a variety of optoelectronic sensing techniques. Through this project, an optoelectronic sensing system is established called a spatial radiance distribution measurement system for various light sources. In particular, this kind of system is useful and important for LED industries. The course evaluations have been obtained from class- mates and instructors and these results indicate that the objectives of this course are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]