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The Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) on ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2) uses a 532 nm band photon-counting LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which has ce...

Background Prior research on cognitive and functional outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has largely explored these two domains in isolation. In this study, we assess baseline depression and cognition as risk factors for decline in the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum-of-Boxes (CDR-SB) one month post-CABG surgery, which a combined measure of cognition and function. Design The Neuropsychiatric Outcomes After Heart Surgery (NOAHS) study is a prospective observational cohort study. Setting A tertiary care, academic center. Participants Of a total study sample of 148 patients undergoing CABG surgery, 124 (83.8%) completed one-month follow-up assessment. Mean age was 66.3, 32 (25.8%) female, and 112 (90.3%) White. Measurements Cognition, function and depression were assessed on semi-structured clinical interviews. Cognitive and functional status were defined using CDR-SB; mild or major depression was defined by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Additionally, neuropsychological battery was performed at baseline. Results CDR-SB decline occurred in 18 (14.5%) subjects. Older age, depression, baseline CDR-SB, and postoperative delirium were associated with one-month decline on univariate analysis. Older age (OR 1.1 [1.0-1.2]) and depression (OR 6.2 [1.1-35.0]) remained significant on multivariate regression. In separate models, baseline performance on visual Wechsler memory scale (delayed), Hopkins verbal learning test (immediate and delayed), controlled oral word fluency test, and Trails B predicted CDR-SB decline. Conclusion Roughly one in seven patients experienced CDR-SB decline one month after CABG surgery. Also, preoperative depression deserves recognition for being a predictor of CDR-SB decline one month post-CABG. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Ischemic stroke remains to be a leading cause of death and disability worldwide at present. Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI) is a critical pathogenesis leading to a poor prognosis for ischemic stroke patients.Recent studies have found that miR155 may be involved in the occurrence of CIRI after stroke, but it’s role and specific mechanism are not completely clear.Therefore, this study investigated the effects of miR155 expression levels on mortality, cerebral infarction volume and neuronal apoptosis in MCAO/R rats by changing the expression level of miR155 in the ischemic penumbra (IP) region of rats. QRT-PCR and Western Blotting were used to detect the expression changes of Rheb, mTOR, 4EBP1 and S6K1 under different miR155 expression levels. The results showed that inhibition of miR155 could reduce the mortality, the volume of cerebral infarction and the number of neuronal apoptosis in MCAO/R rats.The mRNA and protein expressions of Rheb, mTOR, 4EBP1 and S6K1 were increased after inhibition of miR155, and vice versa. It suggested that inhibition the expression of miR155 could alleviate CIRI in the IP by activating Rheb/mTOR signaling at the transcriptional level. At the same time, we found that the phosphorylation level of mTOR signaling pathway were also increased after inhibition of miR155, indicating that autophagy level regulated by mTOR signaling pathway may be involved in the CIRI.

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer is a common digestive neoplasm with a high fatality rate. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical randomized phase III trials to explore the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy versus gemcitabine monotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies. Data were collected for the period from January 1, 2000 to August 20, 2018. Hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) were used as main evaluation parameters. Results: A total of eight eligible studies with 3,586 individuals were included in the present meta-analysis. The results showed that the combination of gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy had a significant effect on progression-free survival (HR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86 - 1.00, P = 0.04), but led to no significant difference in the overall survival (HR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.88 - 1.05, P = 0.38). In terms of safety, gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy did not increase the rate of grade 3-4 common adverse effects except for hypertension. Conclusions: Although gemcitabine plus anti-angiogenesis therapy might prolong the progression-free survival in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer, these successful results did not translate into a significant improvement in the overall survival or change in the clinical guidelines.

Background Diagnosis of urethral cavernous hemangioma (UCH) is very rare. It can be easy to misdiagnose and mistreat due to its atypical clinical manifestations and a lack of relevant knowledge. The study is to explore the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of UCH. Case presentation The first patient was a 15-year-old male, who was admitted to the hospital for more than 1 year with repeated hematuria. UCH was diagnosed by cystoscope biopsy, and cured with local injection of pingyangmycin. The second patient was a 49-year-old male, who was admitted for repeated painless gross hematuria and intermittent urethral bleeding after penile erection for more than 20 years. The case had been misdiagnosed as seminal vesiculitis, urethritis, or prostatitis, for over 20 years, until it was diagnosed as UCH by MR examination of the penis. It was treated by injection of pingyangmycin into the hemangioma’s lumen and base. A small incision in the ventral penile area was separated from the location of the hemangioma, which was injected with pingyangmycin again. A biopsy of resected tissue further confirmed the diagnosis of UCH. Conclusions UCH is an easily misdiagnosed disease. Intermittent painless hematuria is important characteristic of UCH. Local injection of pingyangmycin is a good option for treatment of UCH. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12894-019-0441-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: The ketogenic diet (KD) is an effective therapy for children with intractable epilepsy. Dyslipidemia is a complication of the KD, and a negative marker of cardiovascular function. However, there is growing interest in the protective effects of KD on the cardiovascular system. To examine the negative and positive effects of the KD on cardiovascular function, the present prospective study aimed to assess lipid profiles and cardiac functions among patients with intractable epilepsy who were on the KD.Methods: Lipid levels were examined at the baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the KD was initiated. Color Doppler imaging was used to assess ventricular systolic and diastolic functions at the baseline and at 3 months after KD initiation.Results: There were no statistically significant changes in blood lipid levels. Unexpectedly, cardiac systolic function (p=0.03 for ejection fraction and 0.01 for fractional shortening ) improved significantly, and diastolic function (p=0.04 for E/A) decreased.Conclusion: The KD may have positive effects on cardiac systolic function among children with epilepsy. In the future, further laboratory and clinical studies will be needed to elucidate the mechanism by which KD influences cardiovascular function.

Summary Background Elucidation of the chain of disease transmission and identification of the source of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections are crucial for effective disease containment. We describe an epidemiological investigation that, with use of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serological assays, established links between three clusters of COVID-19. Methods In Singapore, active case-finding and contact tracing were undertaken for all COVID-19 cases. Diagnosis for acute disease was confirmed with RT-PCR testing. When epidemiological information suggested that people might have been nodes of disease transmission but had recovered from illness, SARS-CoV-2 IgG serology testing was used to establish past infection. Findings Three clusters of COVID-19, comprising 28 locally transmitted cases, were identified in Singapore; these clusters were from two churches (Church A and Church B) and a family gathering. The clusters in Church A and Church B were linked by an individual from Church A (A2), who transmitted SARS-CoV-2 infection to the primary case from Church B (F1) at a family gathering they both attended on Jan 25, 2020. All cases were confirmed by RT-PCR testing because they had active disease, except for A2, who at the time of testing had recovered from their illness and tested negative. This individual was eventually diagnosed with past infection by serological testing. ELISA assays showed an optical density of more than 1·4 for SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein and receptor binding domain antigens in titres up to 1/400, and viral neutralisation was noted in titres up to 1/320. Interpretation Development and application of a serological assay has helped to establish connections between COVID-19 clusters in Singapore. Serological testing can have a crucial role in identifying convalescent cases or people with milder disease who might have been missed by other surveillance methods. Funding National Research Foundation (Singapore), National Natural Science Foundation (China), and National Medical Research Council (Singapore).

In May 2019, we investigated monkeypox in a traveler from Nigeria to Singapore. The public health response included rapid identification of contacts, use of quarantine, and postexposure smallpox vaccination. No secondary cases were identified. Countries should develop surveillance systems to detect emerging infectious diseases globally. Published version

Background Rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (RGISTs) are biologically characterized tumors that are relatively rare. Thus, few studies have reported a specific prognostic system for this subset of tumors but integrated it into parallel systems, such as small intestine. Our aim is to develop a new predictive staging system nomogram (named FD-ZS system) for RGISTs. Results Tumor size and mitotic rate were independent risk factors for tumor recurrence in RGISTs according to univariate and multivariate survival analyses. A prognostic predictive nomogram was developed, and a cut-off value of 65 points was calculated by X-tile to discriminate risk based on tumor size and mitotic rate. The C-indices for the FD-ZS, FD-Hou, NIH, and WHO systems were 0.706, 0.693, 0.687, and 0.680, respectively. Conclusion In the present study, a concise two-tier grading system (FD-ZS) for prognostic prediction of RGISTs that is simpler to several reported systems was developed, and a cut-off value was established to help RGIST patients determine whether to undergo adjuvant imatinib treatment. Methods A nomogram was employed, and its predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were determined by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve analyses. The nomogram was then compared with three stratification systems used for GISTs (FD-Hou, NIH, and WHO).

Purpose: Liver cancer is insensitive to chemotherapy. Sorafenib is currently the standard treatment for patients with advanced diseases, with mild survival extension and several intolerable drug-related side effects. The establishment of new treatments is an unmet clinical need. The aim of our study was to assess the efficacy and safety of apatinib, a novel antiangiogenic drug, in the treatment of patients with liver cancer. Materials and Methods: Patients with unresectable or relapsed liver cancer were included in a single center, retrospective, observational study and treated with apatinib until progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity. Results: 32 patients were reviewed from January 2015 to March 2017. No complete response (CR) occurred, 5 patients (16%) showed partial response (PR), 14 patients (44%) had stable disease (SD), 13 patients (41%) had progressive disease (PD), with disease control rate of 60%. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.3-6.1 months) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 3 months (95% CI: 2.5-4.2 months) for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). The median overall survival (OS) was 13 months (95% CI: 12.4-14.1 months) for HCC and 5 months (95% CI: 4.5-6.2 months) for ICC, respectively. The most common adverse effects (AEs) were proteinuria (31%), secondary hypertension (28%) and liver dysfunction (13%). Conclusion: Apatinib treatment was an effective for patients with liver cancer. The toxicities were mild and tolerable.

Concrete-filled corrugated steel tubular (CFCST) structure is a novel composite member with significant potential serving as an offshore bridge pier or a sub-sea underground column. The anti-corrosive galvanized corrugated steel tube (CST) is versatilely utilized as a peripheral protecting shell, an external restraint material for the concrete, and a permanent formwork. A considerable body of preliminary experimental and numerical work has been conducted on the static performance of CFCST, however the investigations of its seismic behaviour are rather limited. This paper therefore presents experimental investigations on CFCST columns subjected to constant axial load and cyclic load. The designs and fabrications of the test setup are introduced in detail. With the discussion of failure modes, hysteretic curves, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, and stiffness degradation, the seismic behaviour of CFCST are studied comparatively. The test results indicate that the seismic behaviour of CFCST is more competitive than that of conventional RC columns while similar to those of TRC columns. With the increase of axial compression ratio, the lateral load was increased but the deformability was reduced. Both the strength and ductility of CFCST can be improved with the increase of confinement factor. The analysis of non-uniformly distributed strain of CST indicates that the loading paths do not affect the work mechanism of CST. The CST mainly provides transverse confinement and its contribution to flexural capacity was negligible. The modified equations can be roughly employed to predict the N-M interaction relationships of the CFCST columns. More experimental or numerical work should be conducted in the future to further evaluate the seismic behaviour of CFCST quantitatively.

Aiming at the complex environment such as fast moving of registered area, occlusion, illumination change and the high requirement of real-time and precision of feature detection in the 3D registration of augmented reality system, a long-term 3D registration method based on LCT tracking and improved ORB detection is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the reliability of LCT algorithm in long-term tracking is used to track the area to be registered in augmented reality; secondly, ORB algorithm with excellent real-time performance is improved by setting adaptive thresholds, number of feature points and distance thresholds to optimize the dense area of image feature points. Parallel algorithm is used to retain feature points with larger eigenvalues, and discrete difference feature is used to enhance illumination unevenness. The stability of ORB operator under uniform change can solve the problem of low precision of feature detection and poor anti-jamming ability. Finally, the 3D registration matrix is calculated by using the detected feature points to enhance the real world. The simulation results show that the LCT algorithm has high reliability in long-term tracking and registration. Compared with ORB algorithm, the improved ORB algorithm improves the precision of feature detection by about 22%. It effectively improves the real-time and precision of feature matching in augmented reality system. The performance of the long-term 3D registration method based on LCT tracking and improved ORB detection is excellent, which improves the robustness, stability and practicability of the augmented reality system.

Self-service assessment model for measuring severity of Parkinson's disease (PD) has recently received considerable attention due to the inconvenience and cost of physical visits to the medical clinic for PD patients. Previous works, however, mostly focus on the feature extraction and classifier design without considering notable intrinsic differences between patients with Parkinsonism (PWP), which has an adverse impact on generalization of model detecting PD. This paper introduces a novel PD-detected model based on Extreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost), where prior knowledge including gender and age are used to predict the severity of PD through unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS). Firstly, using gender and age as a prior knowledge decomposes the prediction model of UPDRS to get new sub-model. Secondly, we obtain a regressor trained by XGBoost on the respective sub-model. Finally, we can get the final prediction about UPDRS using trained model. The experimental results show that our method significantly improves performance on the remote Parkinson dataset.

Thermal vacuum test is an essential procedure for spacecraft to ensure the flight reliability. The automatic temperature control design based on fuzzy PID (Proportional-Integral-Differential) control is conducted to solve the problems of low temperature control rate, serious thermal hysteresis of cold-plate cooling and unexpectable temperature overshoot for the oil-heat-sink thermal vacuum simulator. An automatic temperature control method is developed combined fuzzy logic control and PID control. The control object model is identified with parameter identification and the initial PID parameters are set by Cohen-Coon tuning method. Then the PID parameters are adjusted in real time by fuzzy rules due to the deviation and deviation change rate between the measured temperature and the target temperature of the product. Hence the control performance is optimized. The proposed method can increase the precision of fuzzy logic control and enhance the adaptability of the PID system at the same time. The method has been applied in the thermal vacuum tests and these results indicate that the proposed method is applicable for products of different shapes with or without heat source. It obviously increases the temperature control rate and precision, decreases the overshoot and improves the test efficiency.

The train uncoupling robot is a 4-DOF robot which can complete the uncoupling work efficiently and accurately in the process of disassembly or marshalling of freight trains or passenger trains without the help of workers. The uncoupling work should be completed when the train and the uncoupling robot are both in motion. However, this increases the difficulty of recognizing the hook of trains and finishing the uncoupling work automatically. Therefore, the visual system of the robot plays a vital role during the uncoupling process so that it can be able to recognize the target hook by analyzing images and data from cameras and sensors. Furthermore, it should also have the ability to predict the motion planning of the object. In this paper, a visual control scheme is developed by using the Scale-invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm to recognize the hook of train in motion. It searches the extreme points as the key-points, and extracts the features such as position, scale and direction to match between the two images. The results indicate that the target hook can be recognized accurately and the recognition speed can meet the working requirements of the system by using the proposed visual control scheme even if the size of the target is varying or the target rotates moderately.

Concrete-filled galvanized corrugated steel tubular (CFGCST) column is potentially an economic member to overcome the corrosion of outdoor structures, of which the anticorrosive corrugated steel pipe (CSP) can be used conveniently as the corrosion protection and permanent concrete formwork. The confinement effect provided by CSP essentially contributes to the structural advantages of CFGCST, whilst it, brings about complexities in corresponding load-resisting mechanism. Apart from the non-uniform distribution of stresses of CSP through thickness and height due to its curved shape, the confinement also varies across cross-sectional depth due to eccentric compression. The in-depth understanding and accurate quantification of the confinement effect of such member become a key issue that needs to be addressed. To investigate the impact of confinement on cross-sectional behavior, 24 specimens were tested with 5 load eccentricity ratios and 2 confinement factors. The non-uniformities of confinement along with height and cross-sectional depth were studied based on finite element modelling, validated via measured strains and load bearing capacities. A theoretical derivation was then conducted to characterize the non-uniform confining stress by fully considering the bidirectional curvatures of CSP, as well as the influence of debonding failure on the confinement. In each period of corrugation, the calculation method of equivalent confining stress was proposed based on the uniformization of stresses and geometry.

Concrete-filled galvanized corrugated steel tubular (CFCST) columns have been proposed as new composite members to improve the corrosion resistances and reduce the anticorrosion maintenance costs of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) structures. In this study, the axial behaviour of CFCST columns embedded with structural steel (CFCST-S) was investigated using comparative experiments and non-linear finite element analysis accompanied by multiple monitoring and in-depth discussions. The study revealed that, even when they are not configured with transverse reinforcements, the local stability and post-peak behaviour of the CFCST-S are competitive owing to the effectiveness of the confinements provided by the thin-walled corrugated steel tube (CSP). The unique local bending effect in the CSP was verified and discussed to reveal the mechanical nature of CSP-concrete columns. Next, a theoretical model of the non-uniform stress distribution, after fully considering the bidirectional curvature of the CSP, was developed. It is found that the CSP mainly provides hoop confinements for the infilled components instead of bearing the axial load owing to its “circumferential tight effect” and “vertical offset effect”. Based on equivalent simplifications and parametric studies, the current formula to calculate the nominal hoop stress in the CSP was modified. Finally, a design method was proposed for the prediction of the axial bearing capacity of the CFCST-S.

The existence of autoantibodies towards an individual's own proteins or nucleic acids has been established for more than 100years, and for a long period, these autoantibodies have been believed to be closely associated with autoimmune diseases. However, in recent years, researchers have become more interested in the role and application of autoantibodies in progression, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of human malignant tumours. Over the past few decades, numerous epidemiological studies have shown that the risk of certain cancers is significantly altered (increased or decreased) in patients with autoimmune diseases, which suggests that autoantibodies may play either promoting or suppressing roles in cancer progression. The idea that autoantibodies are directly involved in tumour progression gains special support by the findings that some antibodies secreted by a variety of cancer cells can promote their proliferation and metastasis. Because the cancer cells generate cell antigenic changes (neoantigens), which trigger the immune system to produce autoantibodies, serum autoantibodies against tumour-associated antigens have been established as a novel type of cancer biomarkers and have been extensively studied in different types of cancer. The autoantibodies as biomarkers in cancer diagnosis are not only more sensitive and specific than antigens, but also could appear before clinical evidences of the tumours, thus disclosing them. The observations that cancer risk is lower in patients with some autoimmune diseases suggest that certain autoantibodies may be protective from certain cancers. Moreover, the presence of autoantibodies in healthy individuals implies that it could be safe to employ autoantibodies to treat cancer. Of note, an autoantibodies derived from lupus murine model received much attention due to their selective cytotoxicity for malignant tumour cell without harming normal ones. These studies showed the therapeutic value of autoantibodies in cancer. In this review, we revisited the pathological or protective role of autoantibodies in cancer progression, summarize the application of autoantibodies in cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and discuss the value of autoantibodies in cancer therapy. The studies established to date suggest that autoantibodies not only regulate cancer progression but also promise to be valuable instruments in oncological diagnosis and therapy.

In this paper, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a 600 MW opposed swirling coal-fired utility boiler has been established to numerically study the NOx emission characteristics under different ratios of over fire air (OFA) and modes of in-service burner layers. The current CFD model had adopted a chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model and been validated by comparing the simulated results with the experimental data. The numerical simulation results show that, with increasing the ratio of OFA, the carbon content in fly-ash increase somewhat linearly and the NOx emission reduce significantly, and the OFA ratio of 30% is optimal with higher burnout of pulverized coal and lower NOx emission. The different in-service burner layer modes have different influences on the residence time of the pulverized-coal particles, effect of air staging in the burner region and flue gas temperature at the exit of the lower furnace. Stopping the upper burner layers can increases the residence time of the pulverized-coal particles, resulting in the reduction of the carbon content in the fly ash and the increase of the pulverized-coal burnout. The flue gas temperature at the exit of the lower furnace can also decrease, which would be helpful to reducing the slagging tendency on the surfaces of the platen superheaters.

Background: Whether bridging strategies[intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) + mechanical thrombectomy (MT)] are superior to mechanical thrombectomy alone for large vessel occlusion(LVO) is still uncertain. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate and evaluate comparative efficacy and safety of bridging strategies vs direct MT in patients with LVO. Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane library databases were searched to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bridging strategies with direct MT in LVO. Functional independence, mortality, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and successful recanalization were assessed. The risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: The proportion of patients who received MT + IVT was significantly higher in functional independence and successful recanalization rate than MT alone patients. However, pooled results showed that the mortality of patients who received MT + IVT was significantly lower than that of MT alone patients. Moreover, no significant differences were observed in the incidence of sICH between the 2 groups. Conclusion: The findings of our meta-analysis confirmed that bridging strategies improved functional outcomes, successful recanalization rate and reduced mortality rates. Moreover, the incidence of sICH showed no differences between the bridging strategies and MT alone treatments. However, the conduct of high-quality randomized clinical trials that directly compare both strategies is warranted.

Introduction Blood management and infectious disease mitigation are essential for success with allogeneic stem cell transplant (alloSCT). We sought to investigate the safety profile of a proactive infection mitigation strategy with the use of pathogen-inactivated (PI) platelets (PLT) during the alloSCT peri-engraftment period in the era of restrictive blood transfusion. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from patients undergoing alloSCT that received prophylactic red blood cell (RBC) and PLT transfusion triggered by a hemoglobin of 8 g/dL and PLT count of 15,000 PLT/mL. When available, PI PLT (non-irradiated) were used starting November 2016 until March 2018 (study timeframe). Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 (Cary, NC). Patients characteristics and clinical parameters were summarized using mean and standard deviation or median and range for continuous data, and frequency and percentage for categorical data. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) from day of transplant. A two-sided logrank test was used to compare across strata using p Results Sixty-eight patients received alloSCT. Median age at transplant was 55 years (range [R], 18-73). Peripheral blood stem cells were the graft source in all but one patient. Donor source was a matched related, 10/10 matched unrelated (MUD), 9/10 MUD and haploidentical donor in 30.9%, 44.1%, 2.9%, and 22.1% of cases, respectively. Myeloablative conditioning was used in 45.6% of patients. Indication for alloSCT was a myeloid or lymphoid disorder in 64.7% and 35.3% of cases. Median time to neutrophil and PLT engraftment was 12 (R, 10-35) and 12 days (R, 8-120), respectively. Pre-alloSCT RBC alloimmunization was present in 11.8% of patients. Cumulative incidence of grades II-IV acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was 20.6% and 22.1%, respectively. PI PLT were used in 73.5 % patients. There were no cases of transfusion associated graft failure (GF) or GVHD. Bacteremia occurred in 10.0% and 22.1% of patients by 30 days and 100 days post-alloSCT, respectively, and were both associated with worse OS (both p Conclusions Restrictive prophylactic transfusion thresholds in alloSCT recipients is feasible. Limited PI PLT transfusion was not associated with transfusion-attributable GVHD, GF or infectious complications. Future prospective studies should determine the short term hemostatic efficacy and long term post-alloSCT outcomes with restrictive transfusion criteria in an era of expanding PI product use.

Aim to produce metal strips in millimeter scale, the Top Side-pouring Single Roll Casting process and the Top Side-pouring Twin Roll Casting process were investigated in this paper, using commercially pure lead and commercial-purity aluminum as the experimental materials. Numerical simulation was conducted before the experiment. The results show that, the Top Side-pouring Single Roll Casting process and the Top Side-pouring Twin Roll Casting process can both realize the uniform flow distribution and rapid solidification, but the surface of the strips cast by the former are irregularity because of free solidification, while that from the latter present a state of rolling. And one can change the gauge of nozzle and the speed of cooling roll, to regulate the thickness of thin strips, and by changing the shape of the nozzle, the thickness distribution can be handled.

Direct connection and reflective connection are commonly used in traditional Trojans communication model, which have some significant deficiencies in hiding, anti-tracking, and efficiency. To improve the aspects above in traditional Trojan horse communication model, the author proposed a hybrid communication model based on P2P technology. The model uses P2P intranet penetration protocol to build the channel between the controlled station and the control station, and uses P2P node servers for saving the Trojans status and transferring some data between the controlled and the control. The topology of networks for controller will be very flexible. Using the IP traceback technology will be difficult to track the controllers. Using UDP protocol in the hybrid communication model for data transmission will hide the network status. Control sites can work in distributed mode. By using the model, the hiding-ability, anti-traceability and communication efficiency will be greatly improved.

With the development of network, e-commerce has gradually become a new mode of human commercial activities. China's e-commerce is just beginning, and there are good prospects for development. However, with a growing number of users, the security issues become increasingly prominent. Now, to protect e-commerce sites and the users' information and property of these websites is a matter of great urgency. The paper analyzes security problems that exist in the e-commerce sites, and brings forward an improved BM-algorithm to solve these threats, which is named BMHSA algorithm. This algorithm can provide significant improvement in pattern matching performance.

On the basis of threat analysis, the paper proposes a security risk assessment model for government portal website. Using the model, the paper systematically analyzes the security risk of government portal websites and then explains the reason of them. To enhance the security of government portal websites, both technical and administrative strategies were proposed. Those security strategies help improve the image of the government and it plays an important role in constructing service government.

It’s important to insure wireless network authentication security. Via model checking tool SPIN modeling 802.1x EAP-TLS authentication protocol, communication parts are defined with model checking language PROMELA, security properties are expressed by LTL formula, and the model is verified. With the attack track given by SPIN, the security vulnerabilities caused by the improper configuration is pointed out, meanwhile the new tunnel authentication protocol is proposed to reduce the occurrence of attack and to improve the agreement.

With the oilfield development entering into high water cut stage, ESP (Electric Submersible Pump) was widely used with its strong oil recovery capacity. At present, there is a big gap in ESP control technology between ours and overseas, the traditional line frequency control failures frequently, has low system efficiency, serious energy waste and high operation cost, and frequency conversion control can't real-time automatic adjustment. According to these existing problems, fuzzy control was introduced into ESP system control, a fuzzy control algorithm was put forward by this paper, then fuzzy controller was realize by using PLC programming. This control system not only reserved the flexible, reliable and strong ability to adapt characteristics of PLC control system, and improved the of intelligence level of the system. Ensure esp real-time efficient and reasonable operation, prolong operation life, and enhanced. With this control system, ESP can real -time run efficiently, prolong the operating life, enhance the system efficiency, save energy and reduce consumption

Taking the case of the T23 steel water wall leakage in a 1000MW ultra-supercritical tower boiler as an example, the reasons why the T23 steel water wall leakage of this type tower boiler may take place easily were analyzed from several aspects such as the material characteristics of T23 steel, the jointing and welding technology, the heat sensitivity of water walls and the rationality of operating ways. Then the measures to decrease water wall leakage were brought in, which improved the operating security of the tower boiler.

In consideration of the development trends of backlights,a global dimming algorithm for side-lit backlights was proposed to solve the problems of Liquid Crystal Devices(LCDs) in low contrast ratio and high power consumption.The backlight dimming level was decided by the average luminance and the difference between the average and max grayscales of all subpixels.Then,the S-shaped function was involved to improve the static contrast ratio,by which the pixels with the grayscales more than the turning point of the curve could be become brighter and those less than the turning point could become darker,so that the static contrast ratio was improved efficiently.The algorithm was simulated and a prototype was developed to evaluate the effects of the dimming algorithm.Experimental results indicate that the power consumption of the LCD with the global dimming heavily depends on what to be displayed on the images.For 40 different kinds of images,the average power has reduced by 9.39% and the static contrast ratio improved by 124.7%.The side-lit backlights performing the proposed global dimming algorithm have the advantages of low-cost,small thickness,low power consumption and high constrast ratio.

Objective In this pictorial essay, we described the clinical, pathologic, and computed tomographic (CT) findings of malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (MGISTs) and attempt to establish the correlation between radiologic appearance and malignant potential.

To solve helical non-circular gears manufacturing problem, the simplest mathematical model for hobbing helical non-circular gear and simultaneous-control structure which the machine tool should have were researchedbeen researched. By comprehensive using of helical teeth meshing principles and helical tooling rack generation method, the simplest mathematical model for hobbing helical non-circular gear was deduced. The structure was a 4-axes simultaneous-control structure. Then, by applying the electronic-gear circuit module and electronic differential combination circuit module developed by the authors, simultaneous-control structure of CNC system which hobbing helical non-circular gear required was designed. Based on this, hobbing helical non-circular gears can be achieved, and helical non-circular gears manufacturing problem can be solved.

Based on the design theory of non-circular gears, using Visual Basic 6.0 Programming language secondary developed SolidWorks software, a system of elliptical gears parametric design and motion simulation was developed. 3D parametric modeling and motion simulation of elliptical gears can be achieved by this system. The development process of system is introduced in detail, and an example which designed a transmission with two identical three rank elliptical gears was given to illustrate the system operation process in detail. Using elliptical gears pair ratio cyclical curves acquired, compared with theoretical transmission ratio can verify design whether meet the requirements. Complex design and calculation and difficult 3D modeling problems of elliptical gears are solved, and this system can also improve design precision, shorten the development cycle, and guarantee the quality of products.

A model of acoustic scattering from spherical targets above a planar seafloor is established on a condition of irradiation by a point source, with both of T matrix method and complex images method. Compared to the other model of Fawcett and Lim, this model can be used to calculate the scattering field from targets above a planar interface in three-dimensional space. Comparison of some coefficients by the complex images method with that by analytical formula or numerical quadrature, the computation method of the model is examined to be efficient and accurate. In addition, numerical examples of a rigid sphere and an elastic spherical shell are presented for the scattering field from the target on a fluid seabed, and the scattering field dependent angle is investigated from the different grazing angles of incident wave. In order to verify the model, an experiment is carried out to measure the scattered field received by a vertical array in laboratory. Data are analyzed and compared with calculated results.

A contourlet-transform (CT) based sparse independent component analysis for blind image separation is proposed. The images are first decomposed into sets of local features with various degrees of sparsity, and then the intrinsic property is used to select the best (sparsest) subsets of features for further separation. Based on sparse description of the contourlet-transform, the proposed approach is able to yield better performance, including faster convergence and the certain order for the separated signals. Simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed method.

A novel Vb(3+)-Er-(3+) codoped phosphate glass for high power flashlamp pumping and high repetition rate laser at 1.54 mu m, designated EAT5-2, is developed. The weight-loss rate of is 1.3 x 10(-5) gcm(-2) h(-1) in boiling water, which is comparable to Kigre's QX-Er glass. Some spectroscopic parameters are analysed by Judd-Ofelt theory and McCumber theory The emission cross section is calculated to be 0.73 x 10(-20) cm(2). The thermo-mechanical properties of EAT5-2 are modified after an ion-exchange chemical strengthening process in a KNO3/NaNO3 molten salt bath. The thresholds for optical damage from the flashlamp pumping are tested on glass rods. A repetition rate of 15 Hz is achieved for chemically strengthened glass. The laser experimental results at. 1.54 mu m from flashlamp pumping are also reported.

For the Er3+/Yb3+ codoped fluorophosphate glasses, Judd–Ofelt theory is used to analyse the influence of YbF3 as not a sensitizer but an average component on the spectroscopic properties around 1530 nm emission. The double roles of Yb3+, as a sensitizer and as an average component, are discussed. It is found that Yb3+ as an average component contributes to the increase of fluorescence lifetime, and Yb3+ as a sensitizer has the best sensitization when its concentration is 2.4 mol%.