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Background/purpose Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory lesion of oral mucosal, and its pathogenesis involves immune cell-mediated aberrances. However, the findings conflict with each other. This research aimed to comprehensively detect the salivary cytokine profile of patients with OLP. Materials and methods The cohort included 60 OLP patients (30 reticular and 30 erosive), and 30 healthy controls, matched in age and sex. Human Cytokine/Chemokine Magnetic Bead Panel Kit (HCYTMAG-60K-PX41) was used to detect salivary inflammation-related cytokines. Rank sum test, group t-test, and ANOVA were used for data analysis in different groups. Moreover, Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between salivary cytokine levels and OLP lesion severity. Results The levels of TNF-α, G-GSF, IL-1α, IL-1β and IL-8 were statistically significant higher in both erosive and reticular OLP patients than in the healthy group, while the IL-13 level was significantly lower. Particularly, the salivary TNF-α, GM-CSF, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 levels were higher in erosive OLP group than other groups. Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed that the salivary TNF-α, GM-CSF, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, IL-1β and IL-6 levels were positively correlated with OLP lesion severity. Conclusion Imbalance of the Th1/Th2-mediated immune response contributes to OLP. Certain salivary cytokines, such as MIP-1α, MIP-1β, GM-CSF, and IL-6, are positively correlated with OLP severity, and they have a high potential as biomarkers to diagnose and predict OLP prognosis.

A fast and accurate method is presented for computing far‐field antenna patterns from planar near‐field measurements. The planar near‐field data can be sampled either using a single moving dipole probe or using an array of dipole probes. Near‐field to far‐field transformation for planar scanning may be efficiently performed under certain conditions by exploiting the block Toeplitz structure of the matrix and using conjugate gradient method and the fast Fourier transform, thereby drastically reducing computation time and storage requirements. The chapter argues that a single scanning moving probe may be replaced by a fixed array of probes to sample the planar near field for the solution of the equivalent magnetic currents on the surface enclosing the antenna under test. The source reconstruction method is a computational technique developed for antenna diagnostics and for carrying out near‐field to far‐field transformation.

The laser-induced voltage (LIV) method has been used to characterize the oil shale directly. Explaining the generation mechanism and the response process of oil shale is expected to provide a basis...

Based on a newly proposed planar Yagi antenna with magnetic and electric dipoles, a compact $1\times 4$ broadband dual-polarized (DP) array with endfire radiation is designed in this paper. The magnetic Yagi antenna operates on the vertical polarization while the electric one operates on the horizontal one. The compact configuration of $0.5\,\,\lambda _{0}\times 0.63\,\,\lambda _{0}\times 0.09\,\,\lambda _{0}$ benefits from the novel half-mode magnetic Yagi antenna and the arrangement with the electric Yagi antenna. The broadband characteristic comes from the directors of the magnetic and electric Yagi antennas and the reflector of magnetic Yagi antenna. The simulation and the measurement verify this design. The measured common bandwidth of $\vert S_{11}\vert < -10$ dB for both polarization ports is 23.8–30.1 GHz (23.7%), and the gains vary between 3 dBi and 4 dBi within 24.2–30 GHz band range. The $1\times 4$ DP array with $0.5~\lambda _{0}$ element space has the beam scanning range of ±43 ° at the endfire direction and the gain of higher than 7.1 dBi. The scanning performances are experimentally validated by two phase-shift feed networks for 0 ° and 30 ° main beam directions. The proposed endfire DP array has the good features of compact structure, a low profile and no clearance requirement, which is easy to integrate in 5G terminals.

This paper summarizes the lessons learned using a physics-based macromodel in studying electromagnetic wave propagation over an imperfectly conducting ground in cellular wireless communication. First, it has been observed that the path loss exponent is independent of the nature of the ground parameters inside the cell of interest. Second, the electrical parameters of the environment have little effect on the path loss exponent in the cellular band. Third, it is observed that lowering the base station antenna toward the ground provides a stronger signal in the near field within the cell of interest. Furthermore, tilting the transmitting antenna toward the sky enhances the signal strength. Tilting the antenna toward the ground increases the signal strength but, in addition, enhances the interference pattern and, hence, is not a good solution. A typical path loss inside the cell is 30 dB per decade of distance, and outside the cell, it increases to 40 dB per decade. By bringing the antenna closer to the ground and then tilting it toward the sky, a good nonintuitive solution is provided. In such scenarios, a path loss of 20 dB per decade for some components of the field, the lowest possible, can be achieved for certain orientations and deployment of the base station antenna. In addition, it is shown that operating an antenna inside a metallic box eliminates its radiation capabilities and, hence, has no physical meaning even though it is claimed in the contemporary literature that it simulates a rich multipath environment. Finally, a note on the proper interpretation of the term channel capacity and its implications is delineated.

Flow Control Device (FCD) completions in steam assisted thermal applications have been implemented in several places: Canada, California, China, Oman and Colombia, among others. Such completion configurations have been more common in recent years to mitigate or avoid uneven and/or improper steam placement and steam breakthrough, which are some of the critical issues operators have experienced in these developments. This study presents different FCD technologies designed to optimize the steam injection and fluids production for diverse steam assisted applications including SAGD, CSS and Steam Flooding. Three FCD technologies are introduced: (i) supersonic steam injection FCD, (ii) steam choking FCD and (iii) multi-directional FCD. Extensive Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations, analytic near-wellbore simulations and flow loop testing were conducted to evaluate the performance of the three technologies: (i) the supersonic steam injection FCD showed a high pressure recovery (therefore, less upstream pressure requirements) and a reduction of the cumulative steam-oil ratio, (ii) the steam choking FCD demonstrated the highest steam choking capability for these type of devices and (iii) the multi-directional FCD showed promising results for CSS applications to allow for supersonic steam injection during the injection phase and steam choking capabilities during the production phase Common FCD deployment risks such as erosion, scaling potential and high pressure drops were reviewed to provide the reader with a high level understanding of the factors which could induce these issues. Finally, field data where FCD completions have been installed is presented to compare the FCD wells performance versus conventional well designs and illustrate the success of these completions strategies. Keywords: flow control devices, supersonic steam injection, steam choking

In this study, we simulated the complex and nonlinear relationship between STN and environmental variables, and evaluated the importance of each variable for accurate STN mapping. Machine learning models were trained to map STN contents in a small watershed (1: 25000) of hilling area using high-resolution landform elements classification maps, DEM derivatives, and optical and SAR remote sensing data. The performance was evaluated using all GM variables under different hyperparameter settings. Three machine-learners were applied with different combinations of variables. The results showed that more accurate predictions of STN content were achieved with the introduction of GM variables compared to only using individual DEM derivatives. In addition, the GM map with 20 cells searching radius (L) and 5° flatness threshold (t) showed the highest relative importance within GM variables in three models.

Objectives This study aimed to assess the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) on the rate of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in FIGO stage IB1-IIB cervical cancer patients and compare the LNM between NACT plus surgery and surgery only. Methods We identified 34 eligible studies in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE from inception to July 27, 2019. Data analyses were performed by Stata (version 13) and Revman (version 5.3). Results In these 34 included studies, the pooled incidence of LNM was estimated as 23% (95% CI, 0.20-0.26; I2 = 79.6%, P

Drug combination is now a hot research topic in the pharmaceutical industry, but experiment-based methodologies are extremely costly in time and money. Many computational methods have been proposed to address these problems by starting from existing drug combinations. However, in most cases, only molecular structure information is included, which covers too limited a set of drug characteristics to efficiently screen drug combinations. Here, we integrated similarity-based multifeature drug data to improve the prediction accuracy by using the neighbor recommender method combined with ensemble learning algorithms. By conducting feature assessment analysis, we selected the most useful drug features and achieved 0.964 AUC in the ensemble models. The comparison results showed that the ensemble models outperform traditional machine learning algorithms such as support vector machine (SVM), naïve Bayes (NB), and logistic regression (GLM). Furthermore, we predicted 7 candidate drug combinations for a specific drug, paclitaxel, and successfully verified that the two of the predicted combinations have promising effects.

This paper presents a physics-based macro model that can predict with a high degree of accuracy various experimental data available for the propagation path loss of radio waves in a cellular wireless environment. A theoretical macro model based on the classical Sommerfeld formulation can duplicate various experimental data including that of Okumura et al. carried out in 1968. It is important to point out that there are also many statistical models but they do not conform to the results of the available experimental data. Specifically, there are separate path loss propagation models available in the literature for waves traveling in urban, suburban, rural environments, and the like. However, no such distinction is made in the results obtained from the theoretical analysis and measured experimental data. Based on the analysis using the macro model developed after Sommerfeld’s classic century-old analytical formulation, one can also explain the origin of slow fading which is due to the interference between the direct wave from the base station antenna and the ground wave emanating from the reflections of the direct wave and occurs only in the near field of the transmitting antenna. The so-called height gain occurs in the far field of a base station antenna deployment which falls generally outside the cell of interest, while in the near field, within the cell, there is a height loss of the field strength for observation points near the ground. A physical realization of the propagation mechanism is illustrated through Vander Pol’s exact transformation of the Sommerfeld integrals for the potential to a spatial semiinfinite volume integral and thus illustrates why buildings, trees, and the like have little effects on the propagation mechanism.

Persistent high-risk HPV infection is the main cause of cervical cancer. The HPV oncogene E7 plays an important role in HPV carcinogenesis. Currently, HPV vaccines do not offer an effective treatment for women who already present with cervical disease, and recommended periodical cervical screenings are difficult to perform in countries and areas lacking medical resources. Our aim was to develop nanoparticles (NPs) based on poly (β-amino ester) (PBAE) and HPV16 E7-targeting CRISPR/short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to reduce the levels of HPV16 E7 as a preliminary form of a drug to treat HPV infection and its related cervical malignancy. Our NPs showed low toxicity in cells and mouse organs. By reducing the expression of HPV16 E7, our NPs could inhibit the growth of cervical cancer cells and xenograft tumors in nude mice, and they could reverse the malignant cervical epithelium phenotype in HPV16 transgenic mice. The performance of NPs containing shRNA is better than that of NPs containing CRISPR. HPV-targeting NPs consisting of PBAE and CRISPR/shRNA could potentially be developed as drugs to treat HPV infection and HPV-related cervical malignancy.

Monocrystalline silicon is a predominant type of semiconductors. However, subsurface damage (SSD) of silicon has been widely reported during the mechanical grinding process. Although relevant efforts have been reported, most theoretical studies only qualitatively explained the SSD formation mechanism rather than quantitatively evaluate SSD values, while most experimental measurement techniques unavoidably damaged (even destroyed) the ground surfaces and therefore could only be ultilised ex-situ. To fill this gap, this paper suggests an analytical model of grinding-induced SSD in silicon, where the explicit relationship between SSD and the ground surface roughness Rz is analytically established considering the (i) ductile-regime effect, (ii) crystallographic orientation effect, and (iii) material property degradation due to high grinding temperature. Based on the model, grinding-induced SSD could be nondestructively, quickly and conveniently evaluated, in-situ or ex-situ, by measuring Rz values based on a handheld profilometer. Grinding trials indicated the model could accurately evaluate SSD depths along both the 〈100〉 and 〈110〉 crystallographic orientations in both dry and wet silicon grinding processes. Further discussion on how the model could guide and monitor the industrial silicon grinding is also presented. The proposed model therefore is anticipated to be meaningful to facilitate design, manufacture, and applications of monocrystalline silicon. Keywords: Monocrystalline silicon, Grinding, Subsurface damage

The Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure with numerous diverse physical devices are growing up rapidly, which need a dynamic services coordination approach that can integrate those heterogeneous physical devices into the context-aware IoT infrastructure. This paper proposes a situation-aware dynamic IoT services coordination approach. First, focusing on the definition of formal situation event pattern with event selection and consumption strategy, an automaton-based situational event detection algorithm is proposed. Second, the enhanced event-condition-action is used to coordinate the IoT services effectively, and also the collaboration process decomposing algorithm and the rule mismatch detection algorithms are proposed. Third, the typical scenarios of IoT services coordination for smart surgery process are also illustrated and the measurement and analysis of the platform’s performance are reported. Finally, the conclusions and future works are given.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with a survival benefit for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with sunitinib, with and without cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN). MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective clinical study included 118 patients with mRCC who were treated with CN and sunitinib (CN-sunitinib) (N=70) and with sunitinib-alone (N=48). Categorical clinicopathological variables were compared with hypothesis tests using contingency tables and a chi-squared test. Independent indicators for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with univariate and multivariate Cox regression models. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to evaluate patient survival. RESULTS The median PFS and OS for the 118 patients were 8.38 and 15.48 months, respectively. There were no significant differences between the CN-sunitinib group and the sunitinib-alone group for either PFS (7.2 months vs. 11.6 months; P=0.525) or OS (16.7 months vs. 15.2 months; P=0.839). Stratification of patients based on clinicopathological characteristics showed that CN was significantly associated with reduced PFS and OS for patients with lymph node metastasis (PFS, P

Flashing flow is a common phenomenon in many industrial applications and, in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), it is considered a significant process. Flashing may occur if there is a sudden pressure drop in the production well in SAGD, which is a typical in-situ way to extract heavy oil from tar sands. This may change the expected pressure drop across inflow control devices (ICDs), which are the controllers installed within the production well. Flashing is defined as self-boiling of a liquid due to a reduction of pressure, and it is a complex, multiphase flow phenomenon. The main objectives of the present work are to develop and to validate a multiphase computational model that has the ability to predict the thermo-fluid behaviour of the flow during the flashing process inside ICD nozzles, and to assess its effect on the pressure distribution through ICDs in a predictive way. Our computational model is applied to time-averaged, two-phase, adiabatic, turbulent flows. The new computational model can predict the phase changes between liquid and vapour phases based on mechanical effects (pressure). This is achieved by comparing the local pressure in each computational cell with the local vapour pressure. Considering the thermo-fluid complexity together in one model gives such a simulation the potential to be invaluable for a better understanding of roles of the combined mass transfer and the flashing dynamics during the flashing flow process, and to be applied as an industrial inflow control device to choke back steam for SAGD production system. It may assist in obtaining insight and information where measurements would be difficult. Furthermore, the CFD results can be used to generate compact predictive functions of pressure drop within ICDs, and to investigate the effects of both non-condensable gases and solvents in ICDs performance.

OBJECTIVE To explore prognostic factors by comparing the efficacy of salvage liver transplantation (sLT) and rehepatectomy (RH) for the treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy. METHODS Clinical data were collected for 124 patients treated at our center from January 2012 to August 2018. The median follow-up time for the patients was 39 months. By analyzing the clinical data between the sLT group (46 cases) and RH group (78 cases), the factors affecting the prognosis of patients were compared. RESULTS The proportion of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) ≥ 100 µg/L in the recurrence group was significantly higher than that in the recurrence-free group (70.0% vs 22.2%, P = .014). The postoperative overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were better in the sLT group than in the RH group (81.2% vs 36.9%, P

Background: The oral administration of anticoagulants is an effective means of preventing thromboembolic complications in patients implanted with mechanical valves. This treatment strategy, however, entails a dose-dependent in the risk of hemorrhage that is a cause for concern in China. As such, in this study, we sought to better determine what the ideal oral anticoagulant therapy intensity is in a Chinese population of patients implanted with mechanical valves. Methods: In the present observational cohort study, we observed the outcomes of eligible enrolled patients that had been implanted with St. Jude Medical prosthetic valves and who had been treated at our institution from 2013 onwards. All enrolled patients were followed for between 1 and 6 years through outpatient visits or telephone interviews following discharge. Study endpoints included instances of thromboembolism and major hemorrhage. We calculated the international normalized ratio (INR)-specific incidence of such adverse events as a means of determining optimal anticoagulant therapeutic intensity in patients with these bileaflet mechanical valve prostheses. Results: In total this study enrolled 3176 patients, of whom 3017 were followed for 12,746.08 total person-years (4.22 mean years per patient), while the remaining 159 patients (5%) were lost during follow-up. A total of 182 patients suffered from adverse events, with a roughly 1.43% annual incidence rate of such adverse events (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22–1.64). Of these, 54 patients suffered from episodes of major bleeding (0.42% per patient-year, 95% CI, 0.31–0.53), while 131 suffered from thromboembolism (1.03% per patient-year, 95% CI, 0.85–1.21). Based on these analyses, we determined that the ideal low-intensity anticoagulant treatment regimen for patients with bileaflet mechanical heart valve prostheses was an INR between 1.5 and 2.5. In those patients that had undergone aortic valve replacement (AVR), the optimal INR was between 1.5 and 2.0 regardless of any thromboembolism risk factors in these patients. In contrast, in patients that had undergone mitral valve replacement (MVR) who were not at risk for thromboembolism, the optimal INR was between 1.5 and 2.0, whereas in those at risk of thromboembolism the optimal INR was between 2.0 and 2.5. The ideal anticoagulant intensity in patients undergoing both AVR and MVR (DVR) was the same as in patients undergoing MVR alone. Conclusions: In order to achieve optimal outcomes by maintaining effective anticoagulant dosing while entailing minimal risk in Chinese patients that have undergone a bileaflet mechanical valve replacement, the target INR range should be between 1.5 and 2.5, with the final intensity of this anticoagulant regimen being determined based on a given patient's risk of thromboembolism.

Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) is a new, less invasive alternative to surgical valve replacement for residual pulmonary regurgitation (PR) after initial repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) [(1,2)][1]. We report the first-in-man implantations of a novel transcatheter pulmonary valve

Acute Stanford type A aortic dissection requires an extremely complex surgical strategy and presents high risk of complications. Although many different procedures were reported to treat this aortic dissection, high mortality rate and incidences of complications still exist. This study presents a 59-year-old lady with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection, which originated from the aortic root to proximal part of right external iliac artery and involved the brachiocephalic trunk, left carotid artery, celiac trunk, and left renal artery. The patient underwent one-stage hybrid surgery of David procedures, debranching, and endovascular aortic repair under ultrasound-guided aortic arch cannulation cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The surgery was successfully performed, and the patient showed no post-operative complication. The one-staged hybrid surgery of David procedures, debranching, and endovascular aortic repair provides novel and well-designed combined techniques for treating complex acute Stanford type A aortic dissection. Our techniques significantly lowered the risks, thereby expanding the indications of surgical intervention for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection.

This paper investigated and determined the subjective evaluation indicators of comfort in lighting environment for elderly in nursing institutions. Factor analysis method was utilized and the result showed that the recognition of space and figures, sense of security from even illumination, convenience of switch control and no glare were the main factors. The conclusion of the study was not only used to evaluate the lighting environment quality, but also used to guide the design of lighting environment in nursing institutions.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology demands a complex, lightweight distributed architecture with numerous diverse components, including end devices and applications adapted for specific contexts. This paper proposes a situation-aware IoT services coordination platform based on the event-driven service-oriented architecture (SOA) paradigm. Focus is placed on the design of an event-driven, service-oriented IoT services coordination platform, for which we present a situational event definition language (SEDL), an automaton-based situational event detection algorithm, and a situational event-driven service coordination behavior model, which is based on an extended event-condition-action trigger mechanism. Moreover, we propose a reliable real-time data distribution model to support the effective dispatching sensory data between information providers and consumers, which is based on the grid quorum mechanism to organize those brokers into a grid overlay network to facilitate the asynchronous communication in a large-scale, distributed, and loosely coupled IoT applications environment. We also illustrate the various illustrations for IoT services coordination and alarming disposal process of coal mine safety monitoring and control automation scenarios, and also report the measurement and analysis of the platform’s performance.

Shear links is a kind of commonly used energy dissipation component of which the yield force is always multiplied by a hardening factor to check the capacity of gusset plates and embedded parts or other connecting components. If the overstrength fact due to hardening is underestimated, there are safety hazards. In this paper, three tests on I-shaped shear links with the LYP100 steel web are carried out. The specimens are designed with three extremely small length ratio to expand the range of existing data. Through the finite element analysis model, the contribution of the flange to the shear force of the links is further studied, and a schematic diagram of the theoretical study is given. Based on the parameters of the material combined hardening model, an analytical model formula for evaluating plastic overstrength and calculating lower bound and upper bound of plastic hardening is proposed. The orthogonal finite element analysis of five geometric parameters (web thickness, length of link, flange width , flange thickness , web plate height) is conducted for obtaining the overstrength factors and determining the parameters of the analytical method. The method and formulas are assessed, showing satisfactory accuracy.

This research uses a difference-in-differences framework to investigate the effect of new risk information on housing prices in Taiwan. The results show that this information changed individuals’ subjective risk perceptions, so that housing prices in the highest-risk areas dropped,but only temporarily in the first three months after the disclosure.This information effect happened for those apartments lacking certain earthquake-resistant characteristics. In addition, we investigate the dynamics of the effect around the boundary. We demonstrate that individuals were able to form continuous risk beliefs based on discrete information, and the housing prices dropped more sharply for those apartments located closer to the center of the highest-risk area. Furthermore, individuals had updated their risk beliefs differently for apartments with different levels of earthquake-resistance. For those apartments with the least earthquake-resistance, the immediate price drops were relative larger, and the housing prices returned to normal more slowly, relative to the safer apartments. Most notably, the effect did not disappear at all for those apartments with the least earthquake-resistance that were also located in the center of the highest-risk area.

The collective panic behavior, which is caused by PI (Propagation Intensity), influences the welfare of citizens and the stability of the society (business). A well-known challenge is to understand the spreading mechanism of the panic behavior. In this work, the PI is classified as and , defined in the coefficient (Promotion Intensity) and (Inhibition Intensity) in the probability. MAS (multi-agent-simulation) model/tool is used to construct the systematic structure composed of four types of the participants (the individuals, the mass media, the social leaders, and the supervisors).This tool stimulates the collective panic behavior from the initial coefficient and , showing the different results in the condition of the population size and the conformity. Through setting up the rules and the strategies in an emergency, the framework stimulates the interaction between the agents (e.g. between the individuals, between the individuals and the mass media, between the individuals and the social leaders, between the individuals and the supervisors). The results advocate that the current simulator might be an appropriate first step towards the simulation and analysis of the combination of rules and strategies in panic behavior.

Gene therapy targeted human papillomavirus (HPV) is a promising treatment for cervical cancer, and the key for clinical application depends on an effective gene delivery method. Our aim was to formulate a new pharmaceutical formula for appropriate gene delivery intravaginally. For the first time, we here developed a new polyethylenimine (PEI) based vaginal suppository. The sectional immunofluorescence results confirmed the delivery efficacy both in vivo and in vitro. The quenching fluorescence and decreased gene expression in topical epithelium of green fluorescence protein (GFP) transgenic mice demonstrated the efficient targeting potential of the suppository. The other aim of this study was to evaluate the biocompatibility of the PEI based transfer. To our knowledge, this was also the first study to explore the toxicity in vivo systematically and comprehensively. Our study provided novel ideas for the translational application of PEI based suppository to the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an established treatment for high surgical risk aortic stenosis patients; in recent years, it has also been used in patients with pure/dominant aortic regurgitation (AR). This study aimed to determine the impact of transapical TAVI on left ventricle myocardial mechanics in AR patients. Thirty AR patients (70% men; mean age, 72.8 ± 4.3 years) were enrolled. Conventional echocardiography was performed on all patients before and 12 months after TAVI. Three-dimensional speckle tracking was accomplished in 20 AR patients for the evaluation of global longitudinal strain, global circumferential strain, twist, torsion, apical rotation and basal rotation. Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), twist, torsion and apical rotation were impaired in AR patients compared with controls. Mean left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic diameter (from 62.9 ± 7.3 to 52.0 ± 6.8 mm, p

The registration of point cloud is important for large object measurement. A measurement method for coordinate system transformation based on robot is proposed in this paper. Firstly, for obtaining extrinsic parameters, the robot moves to three different positions to capture the images of three targets. Then the transformation matrix X between camera and tool center point (TCP) coordinate systems can be calculated by using the known parameters of robot and the extrinsic parameters, and finally the multi-view coordinate system can be transformed into robot coordinate system by the transformation matrix X. With the help of robot, the multi-view point cloud can be easily transformed into a unified coordinate system. By using robot, the measurement doesn’t need any mark. Experimental results show that the method is effective.

The aim of this study was to provide a histopathological validation of cardiac late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the assessment of left atrial (LA) substrate remodeling (SRM) in patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF).Adult patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease and persistent AF undergoing open-heart surgery for mitral valve replacement were enrolled. Both two-dimensional (2D) sections and 3-dimensional (3D) full-volume LGE-MRI with different signal intensities were performed preoperatively to determine the extent of LA-SRM. Tissue samples were obtained intraoperatively from the LA roof and posterior lateral wall for pathological validation with Masson trichrome staining and immunostaining for collagen type I/III deposition. A linear regression model was used to determine the relationship between MRI-derived LA-SRM parameters and pathological results.Between February 2013 and March 2014, we successfully acquired LA tissue samples from 22 patients (13 men), with a mean age of 47 ± 8 years. All patients had rheumatic mitral valve stenosis, with a mean effective orifice area of 0.9 ± 0.2 cm(2) on echocardiography and a mean LA volume of 235 ± 85 mL on 3D-MRI. Multiple moderate linear associations were noted between the pathological results and LGE-MRI-derived LA-SRM parameters, with correlation indices (r(2)) of 0.194-0.385.LA-SRM measured by LGE-MRI showed moderate agreement with LA pathology in patients with rheumatic valve disease and persistent AF.

A wide band high gain unidirectional antenna is presented in this paper. The antenna mainly contains three substrates. A wide band monopole is printed on the middle substrate as the driven element. By printing a circular and a ring patch on the other two substrates respectively, a multi-resonate frequency is introduced and the band width is widened markedly. What's more, a fractal slot structure is adopted in the driven monopole to further improved the impedance matching. The simulated results of the antenna shows that the antenna covers a band width for S11

Stroke detection is to detect brain blood clot based on microwave imaging technology. To solve the stroke detection issue, this paper proposes an improved artificial fish swarm algorithm to overcome the problem of local optima, and to improve the global search ability and convergence speed. By the optimization of artificial fish swarm algorithm and brain simulation model, the stroke location is detected efficiently.

Over the past few years, an increasing number of operators in steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in situ recovery of bitumen in the Alberta Oil Sands are becoming interested in the use of flow control devices (FCDs). Initial field trials by some operators of these devices have shown promise in improving steam chamber conformance, reducing incidences of steam breakthrough, high vapour production, and in addressing liner reliability concerns related to steam jetting. While the application of FCDs is well-established in the conventional oil and gas industry to control gas and water coning, there are still a number of questions on how to implement FCDs optimally in SAGD. One major difference in the application of FCDs in SAGD compared to the conventional oil and gas industry is the high temperature environment with steam and elevated erosion risk. The purpose of this paper is to present some practical considerations for the selection of FCDs and optimal completion FCD design for SAGD applications. In the first section, a discussion is presented on how to compare the performance of different flow control devices. Most devices have not been tested for SAGD, and there is a need for more comprehensive testing. The focus of the second section is on practical considerations for the installation of FCDs in a SAGD injection and production wells.

Aim: Cell-free hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) may increase the risk of myocardial infarction and death. We studied the effect of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor on HBOC-induced adverse cardiovascular outcomes and elucidated the underlying mechanisms. Results: With a dog cardiopulmonary bypass model, we demonstrated that a high-dose HBOC (3%, w/v) did not reduce—but aggravated—cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury. Animals administered a high-dose HBOC experienced coronary artery constriction and depression of cardiac function. Exposure of isolated coronary arteries or human umbilical vein endothelial cells to high-dose HBOC caused impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation, increased endothelial cell necrosis/apoptosis, and elevated NAD(P)H oxidase expression (gp91phox, p47phox, p67phox, and Nox1) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. All observed adverse outcomes could be suppressed by the ACE inhibitor captopril (100 μM). Co-incubation with free radical scavenger tempol or NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor apocynin had no effect on captopril action, suggesting that the positive effects of captopril are ROS- and NAD(P)H oxidase dependent. ACE inhibition by captopril also contributed to these effects. In addition, bioavailable nitrite oxide (NO) reduced by high-dose HBOC was preserved by captopril. Furthermore, HBOC, at concentrations greater than 0.5%, inhibited large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel currents in vascular smooth muscle cells in a dose-dependent manner, although captopril failed to improve current activity, providing additional evidence that captopril's effects are mediated by the endothelium, but not by the smooth muscle. Innovation and Conclusion: Captopril alleviates high-dose HBOC-induced endothelial dysfunction and myocardial toxicity, which is mediated by synergistic depression of NAD(P)H oxidase subunit overproduction and increases in vascular NO bioavailability. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 21, 2095–2108.

Dynamic effects of machining processing could not be ignored with the increasing speed of CNC machine tools, the analysis of kinematic behavior related to the kinematics, dynamics and control system etc, and there were a lot of coupling relationship of these systems. A simulation of single discipline could not reflect the overall performance with having to the simplification of the other discipline. It proposed a collaborative simulation modeling method based HLA for CNC machine tools. The development process of HLA-based simulation mainly involved system design, high level modeling, domain modeling, transformation of domain models, federal integration. Finally, this paper described an open architecture of collaborative simulation modeling with RTI, and developed the dynamics and control system models using Matlab and Adams software respectively. It provided theoretical support to solve coupling and interaction of the multi domain models of machine tools products in the design and development.

In order to solve the hobbing machining data calculation and hobbing simulation of non-circular gear with various shapes, the piecewise cubic spline fit method has been adopted to unify the polar coordinate expression of non-circular pitch curve. The method to generate hobbing machining data was deduced based on hobbing linkage mathematical model, and the machining data error caused by piecewise cubic spline fitting method was analyzed. The three-dimension software has been used as simulation tool to make secondary development, and then non-circular gear hobbing simulation was realized based on machining data, which can verify the validity of machining data and the relevant design drawbacks of non-circular gear. The work of this paper lay a good foundation for design parameters optimization and hobbing of non-circular gear.

For fabric defect identification in the textile industry, a three-dimensional (3D) color phase shift profilometry (CPSP) method is proposed. The detecting system is mainly composed of one CCD camera and one digital-light-processing (DLP) projector. Before detection, the system should be calibrated to make sure the camera parameters. The CPSP color grating is projected to the measured fabric by DLP projector, and then it is collected by CCD camera to obtain the grating phase. The 3D measurement can be completed by the grating phase difference. In image acquisition, only invariable grating is projected to the object. In order to eliminate the interference from background light during the image acquisition, the brightness correction method is researched for improving the detection accuracy. The experimental results show that the false rate of detecting the fabric defects is 5.78%, the correct rates of detecting the fabric defects of hole and qualified fabric are both 100%, and the correct rates of detecting the fabric defect of scratch and fold are 98% and 96%, respectively. The experiment proves that the proposed method can accurately identify fabric defects.

This article combs the charging mode of electric vehicle,and analyzes different charging ways for buses,taxis and sedans,thereby drawing their appropriate charging time and characteristics of the interaction with grid. The paper establishes the load calculation model for the charging and swapping in Evs respectively. The load calculation model divides one day into 1440 minutes, and use the Monte Carlo simulation algorithm to extract the initial SOC, the initial charging time and other information for load calculation and analyze the EV charging load. The results show that the charging load of electric vehicle has obvious difference between peak and vally,and provide reference for the management and policy oriented electric vhicle access network.

Mechanical arm equipped on the intelligent wheelchair has the same characteristics with the common robot. And the mechanical arm installed on a wheelchair has greater research value in helping the elder and disabled. This paper focus on the kinematics of four DOF mechanical arm equipped on wheelchair, developing a mathematical model in order to realize the control of it and establishing the mechanical arm’s kinematics equations by using D-H conventions. Analyze its work space and structural strength based on MATLAB and ANSYS, which laid the foundation for design optimization and control application.

Aiming at the phenomenon that our country has a large number of disabled due to illness or accident while the corresponding assistive devices is extremely deficient, we have designed a kind of mechanical arm which is intended to be equipped on wheelchair. We adopt articulated mechanical arm with multi-DOF as its mechanical structure, and choose MCU as the main controller; therefore it can make all kinds of flexible action to achieve a variety of functions. In order to improve the accuracy of manipulator, based on experimental results, we optimize the mechanical arm’s structure, improving its strength and stiffness; in order to realize the motion control of the manipulator, the kinematics analysis is conducted, when solving the mechanical arm’s anthropomorphic action problem, we set key points and then optimize the trajectory with linear interpolation, at last achieve anthropomorphic movement.

Hybrid robot combines the advantages of serial and parallel structure and has the characteristics of large workspace, agile kinesis, good stiffness, compact structure, good kinematic performance and so on. To conduct the research on the performance of hybrid robot, this dissertation develop an experimental system based on the new 3-TPS hybrid robot which is develop by the research institute of advance manufacturing technology and automation in Northeast University to drive the robot and examine the operational position, and it is also applied in the demarcate experimental of 3-TPS hybrid robot. Through the application, it draws a conclusion that the experimental system has the characteristics of simple structure, good function, good compliance, simply to operate, high reliability and low cost. Consequently, it has high value of popularization and application to conduct the experiment and research on hybrid robot.

The paper aims at the questions of electromotor selection and mechanism design, which is effectively solved by the virtual prototype technology. Firstly, the three-dimensional model of hybrid machine tool is built by using SolidWorks software. Secondly, the assembled model is channeled into ADAMS/View, and then formed the virtual prototype simulation model with mute-body dynamics. Velocity and driving force curve of each driving shaft is got by analyzing the kinematics and dynamics of the hybrid machine tool. Maximum velocity and maximum driving force each driving shaft can find out by the method of space search. Therefore, the kinematics and dynamics properties of 3-TPS hybrid machine tool is obtained, which provide proof for machine electromotor selection, framework design and control system design. Key words: Hybrid robot; Kinematics; Dynamics; ADAMS; Simulation

Objectives To evaluate the safety and efficiency of using hybrid perventricular closure in treating pediatric patients with the doubly committed subarterial ventricular septal defects (VSD). Methods Ninety pediatric patients with doubly committed subarterial VSD were enrolled from October 2007 to September 2010 in this retrospective study. Among them, 41 underwent open-heart surgery (surgical group), while 49 underwent perventricular device closure (perventricular group). Results There was no difference in age (4.36 ± 3.21 vs. 5.82 ± 4.32 years, p > 0.05) between the two groups. VSD diameter was significantly larger in the surgical group than in the perventricular group (5.03 ± 1.31 vs. 6.03 ± 1.94 mm, p 0.05) as well as during follow-up (97.6% vs. 95.9%, p > 0.05). Perventricular device closure was not associated with an increased risk of procedure-induced aortic insufficiency compared with the open-heart surgical group during follow-up (14.3% vs. 14.6%, p > 0.05). Conclusions Hybrid perventricular closure may be an alternative to open-heart surgery in selected pediatric patients with doubly committed subarterial VSD. doi: 10.1111/jocs.12361 (J Card Surg 2014;29:546–553)

ObjectiveBiopsy confirmed that cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) may naturally regress or progress. Currently, the risk assessment for CIN progression to cervical cancer is still not satisfactory in clinical practice. We investigated copy number and protein expression of TP63 and MYC and explored the possibility to use them as progression biomarkers.MethodsCopy numbers of TP63 and MYC, as well as human papilloma virus (HPV) integration status, were determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization in 39 patients with CIN and 66 patients with cervical cancer. Corresponding protein expressions were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to measure the diagnostic test performance for the detection of cervical cancer from CIN. Sensitivity and specificity values of biomarkers were calculated.ResultsThe average copy number and expression of TP63 and MYC, as well as the HPV integration rate, increased in the progression of CIN to cervical cancer. Receiver operating characteristic analysis for detection of cervical cancer resulted in area under the curve (AUC) values of TP63 copy number (AUC, 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91–1.00), MYC copy number (AUC, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85–0.96), TP63 expression (AUC, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.61–0.85), and HPV-16 integration (AUC, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.60–0.85). MYC expression was not able to statistically distinguish cancer from CIN (P = 0.393). The combinations increased the specificity slightly but not sensitivity. Among them, TP63 amplification showed the best diagnostic performance.ConclusionsAmplification and overexpression of TP63 and MYC, and HPV integration rate, are associated with the transition of CIN to cervical cancer. Future studies on these biomarkers will help to assess the risk of CIN progression.

Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a common congenital heart disease. Open surgical repair with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and sternotomy is the classic treatment. Percutaneous device closure is a minimally invasive alternative in treating selected VSDs, but it is limited by vascular access as well as radiation exposure especially in pediatric patients. Hybrid perventricular device closure of VSDs was designed to combine the advantages of both approaches allowing direct access to the defect without CPB and has gained wider acceptance in recent years. Under transesophageal echocardiography guidance, it could effectively close muscular, perimembranous, and even doubly committed defects. It is a safe and effective option for selected patients with congenital VSDs. In this article, we reviewed the application and results of this technique.

T For the networked control system (NCS), the considered system has actuator and sensor failures. In considering the impact of the network delay on system performance, establish a new class of uncertain NCS fault model Then use Lyapunov stability theory, fault-tolerant control theory and the static state feedback, the sufficient conditions for closed-loop NCS possessing robust asymptotically stable against actuator and sensor failure are given . And the robust H-inf fault-tolerant controller design method under the sensor and actuator failures is deduced in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). An numerical simulation is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed conclusion.

Contamination Monitoring is an important means of preventing pollution flashover of electrical equipment, the monitoring data can make the insulator design more economical, leading to a both win in economic and operational safety. The existing monitoring tools are based mainly on ESDD, the measurement data is affected by many factors, limited guidance. This paper will analyze several of factors which have impact on ESDD, and also propose additional measures and many forward-looking recommendations to face the reality, so that we can carry out anti-pollution work better.

Vault installation is one of the important parts of the LNG storage tank construction. Due to the large size, installation of high accuracy and the influence affected by complex factors such as wind load in hoisting process, the installation procedure is always controlled by artificial way which is low efficiency and a big risk. In this paper installation process is optimized. According to the structural characteristics of vault plate, this paper proposes a new kind of installation guide equipment and analyses the process of guiding, which can help vault plate realizing itself position. The equipment can greatly improve the installation accuracy and working efficiency, and also can reduce the risk of installation. The technology of vault plate installation of LNG storage tank has important practical value and significance.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is obtained by cooling the gas temperature to -162 degree. Problems with the steel cans, the insulation layer or the concrete tank of the LNG tank can lead to changes of the temperature, local temperature decreases, and the safety of the tank is threatening. Through the combination of many sets of infrared thermal imager to monitor the temperature of the LNG storage tank’s sidewall, analyze the heat imagine, establish the corresponding relationship between the locations on the sidewall of the LNG tank and on the heat imagine, determine the position of the temperature point on the tank wall. Infrared thermal imaging technique for the sidewall of LNG storage tank can find out the heat abnormal conditions and fixing the temperature drop area in time, and provide powerful guarantee for the safe storage of the liquefied natural gas.