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Multi-view learning can be considered as a kind of classification method which explores common and unique information among different views. For dictionary learning, it can identify informative features by learning sparse representation of samples and has great advantages for classification. However, there are few researches on the problem of multi-view learning with dictionary learning. In order to improve the performance of multi-view classification, we propose a new multi-view dictionary learning with consensus of view(MVDL-CV). First of all, we learn a particular dictionary for each view and obtain the sparse representation of the sample. Then, by utilizing the regularization term between two dictionaries in consensus, we can determine the similarity of samples and obtain the discriminative sparse representation, which can be helpful to construct the improved classifiers . Further, we obtain the solution of the model through an alternating convex optimization method and present the convergence analysis of MVDL-CV. In the experiments, we compare the proposed method with previous multi-view learning methods, and the experimental results show that MVDL-CV is a feasible and competitive method.

Due to the complicacy of geometry and structure in the arched composite structure, it is difficult to monitor various kinds of defects accurately. The developed damage probabilistic diagnostic imaging approach based on ultrasonic guided wave energy signal characteristics is very feasible for the structural health monitoring in the arched composite structures. However, the conventional probabilistic diagnostic imaging (PDI) approaches united with the signal energy damage indices ( DIs) have some limitations in the identification of the number, location and specific size information of multi-defects. Thus, the damage shape factor from the single damage-impaired path imminently demands to be majorized to raise the precision and stability of PDI approach in the damage recognition. A corrected probabilistic diagnostic imaging (CPDI) approach integrated with the damage shape factor [Formula: see text] needs to be recommended to precisely inspect the expansion of defect zones and different multi-defects in the arched composite structure. The availability and feasibility of the proposed methods has been validated by the experiments in the tested specimen. The results show that the fused frequency-domain energy DIs can be applied to indicate the expansion of defect zones quantitatively. It is proved that the defect identification accuracy of multi-defects from the CPDI approach can be improved by the majorization of damage shape factor, effectively. It is also clearly observed that the number, location and specific size information of different conditions of multi-defects can be distinguished by using the CPDI algorithm, availably.

Reduced web section (RWS) connections and welded flange plate (WFP) connections can both effectively improve the seismic performance of a structure by moving plastic hinges to a predetermined location away from the column face. In this paper, two kinds of steel frames—with RWS connections and WFP connections—as well as different frames with welded unreinforced flange connections were studied through seismic fragility analysis. The numerical simulation was conducted by using multiscale FE modelling. Based on the incremental dynamic analysis and pushover analysis methods, probabilistic seismic demand analysis and seismic capability analysis were carried out, respectively. Finally, combined with the above analysis results, probabilistic seismic fragility analysis was conducted on the frame models. The results showed that the RWS connection and WFP connection (without double plates) have little influence on reducing the maximum inter-storey drift ratio under earthquake action. RWS connections slightly reduce the seismic capability in non-collapse stages and improve the seismic collapse resistance of a structure, which exhibits good structural ductility. WFP connections can comprehensively improve the seismic capability of a structure, but the seismic collapse resistance is worse than that of RWS connections when the structure has a large number of storeys. The frame with WFP connections has a lower failure probability at every seismic limit state, while the frame with RWS connections sacrifices some of its structural safety in non-collapse stages to reduce the collapse probability.

As a simple, fast and effective 3D printing method, direct-ink-writing (DIW) has potential applications in repairing the circuit board in orbit, printing the wearable devices for the astronaut, and producing the solar cells for the energy supply in space. To expand the DIW technology to space, we designed the colloidal material box (CMB) as the prototype printer of DIW and verified its applicability in the Chinese SJ-10 satellite. The colloidal suspensions was adopted as a diluted ink model to investigate two key processes of DIW under microgravity environment: manipulation of the droplet and formation of the patterns. We have showed the dynamics of the droplet, which would determine the size of the features, could be controlled through tuning the wettability of the needles and the solid surface. Compared to the ground, the “coffee ring” effect was weakened for the drying patterns because of strong interfacial effect under weightless conditions. We have found that fast evaporation could assist for fabricating more uniform and ordered structures.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a protein encoded by the AFP gene and normally produced by the fetus. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of lobaplatin in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and doxorubicin on AFP and treatment of primary carcinoma of the liver by transhepatic arterial chemotherapy and embolization (TACE). Patients with primary carcinoma of the liver who took the TACE for treatment were enrolled in this study and divided randomly into the research group and the control group. Patients in the research group adopted the TACE in combination with lobaplatin, while those in the control group took cisplatin instead in combination with TACE. We compared the baseline data, hepatic indicators before treatment and after 1 month of treatment, efficacy and the incidence rates of adverse events after TACE between two groups. Differences in the baseline data, including Child-pugh grade, type of liver cirrhosis, KPS scores and AFP showed no statistical significance (P >0.05). Before the treatment, we identified no significant differences in the comparison of ALT, AST, TBiL and ALB between two groups (P >0.05), while significant differences emerged after treatment (P

Urolithiasis has become more prevalent throughout China.Knowing stone composition helps identify their possible underlying etiology of urolithiasis, provide appropriate individualized treatment and prevent stone recurrence.To explore characteristics of urinary stone composition in China, and determine the effects of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), stone localization and geographical region on stone composition.We used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to analyse urinary stones from consecutive patients at 46 hospitals in seven geographic areas of China between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2015.Chi-squared tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine associations between stone composition and sex, age, body mass index (BMI), stone location, and geographic region.The most common stone components were calcium oxalate (CaOx; 65.9%), carbapatite (15.6%), urate (12.4%), struvite (2.7%), brushite (1.7%), and cystine (0.9%). CaOx and urate occurred more frequently in males, whereas carbapatite and struvite were more common in females (p

Droplets of n-hexadecane were observed to shrink under ultraviolet (365 nm) and spread under blue light (475 nm) irradiation on an aqueous solution of photosensitive surfactant AzoTAB. We demonstrate that the change of wettability of n-hexadecane droplet on the solution depends on the change of oil-water interface tension. According to the addition of ethanol into the substrate, the change of relative diameter ΔD/D exceeds 20%, much larger than the system without ethanol. With light-emitting diode (LED) light as a sole power source, without any other triggers, we provide a contactless and isothermal method to realize photocontrolled alternative spreading and shrinking of a droplet on a liquid surface, which provides a basis for a chromocapillary-based optical zoom liquid lens.

In Tokamak device, many larger capacity pulsed power supplies have been installed to provide high-energy magnetic field to control plasma. In this article, a new digital control system for satisfying larger capacity pulse power supply is introduced. This control scheme uses programmable automation controller (PAC) architecture, which consists of software platform and hardware platform to design a new digital control system, and in this system, real-time operation system (OS) and real-time communication network can provide much more precise and predictable timing characteristics to fulfill the requirements of the real-time control for pulse power supply in Tokamak device. Its hardware architecture based on integration and modularization can provide reliability, stability, and flexibility for digital control application; meanwhile, its software platform is used to handle data communication, close-looping control, protection strategy execution, and trigger output. After the digital control system of the large-capacity pulse power supply is built, its performance is verified through the HL-2A experiments. The result shows that the digital control system achieves the design goals and has high reliability and stability.

International audience; The presentation will give an insight into the interplay between structural and optoelectronic properties in 2D multilayered halide perovskites, either in Ruddlesden Popper or Dion Jacobson structure.

Cross-laminated timber is a relatively new engineered timber material that can be used in the design and construction of modern timber buildings. A key factor that raises concerns in the wide application of cross-laminated timber is the uncertainty of its fire performance. This article describes experimental and numerical investigations on the fire behaviour of loaded cross-laminated timber panels manufactured with Canadian hemlock. A total of 10 cross-laminated timber panels with different number and thickness of layers were tested under ambient and standard fire conditions to investigate the flexural capacity at ambient temperature, and temperature distribution, charring rate, fire resistance, mid-span deflection under fire exposure. Three-dimensional finite element model was developed using the Hashin criterion and cohesive elements to predict the failure of wood and adhesive, respectively. The thermal model implicitly considers the rapidly increased temperature of inner fresh timber after the protective charred layers have fallen off. The numerical model was validated with the results obtained from experimental tests and was found to have the ability to simulate the fire behaviour of loaded cross-laminated timber panels in reasonable accuracy.

Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides generated by a novel in vitro selection technique termed Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). During the past two decades, various aptamer drugs have been developed and many of them have entered into clinical trials. : In the present review, we focus on aptamers as potential therapeutics for hematological diseases, including anemia of chronic inflammation (ACI) and anemia of chronic disease (ACD), hemophilia, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) or VWD type-2B, and sickle cell disease (SCD), in particular, those that have entered into clinical trials

One of the effective ways to quantitatively inspect or monitor an industrial structure is to obtain images via either scanning or tomography. A combination of ultrasonic guided wave approach and tomographic technique by employing a reconstruction algorithm for the probabilistic inspection of damage (RAPID) can be used to inspect effectively the damage area via visual images. In this paper, surface cracks in polymer bonded explosives (PBXs) were quantitatively evaluated by a Rayleigh surface wave tomographic approach. Considering the relative low wave velocity in the material tested, special surface wave transducers with silicone wedge were designed and produced. The measured signals of Rayleigh surface wave propagation in the specimen with and without cracks were used in a tomographic algorithm to reconstruct images of defects. Results indicate that the setup of the array of transducers has significant influence on the appearance of images. Optimal transducer array setups were also proposed to measure the ultrasonic wave signals for irregular shaped defects to quantitatively image irregular surface cracks in PBXs. It was shown that the image generated by the proposed approach with the optimal transducer array and shape factor calculation method has good agreement with the real defect shape. The present approach provides an alternative tool that can be applied to detecting, locating and imaging the surface defects in PBXs.

Thrombosis is defined as a necessary physiological clotting process of hemostasis or harmful clinical events manifested as acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute coronary syndromes (ACS), and thrombotic diseases. Nowadays, thrombotic diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality which incur substantial healthcare expenditures worldwide. There are some shortcomings for current antithrombotics including bleeding potential, unpredictable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles, limited reversibility, and so on. Aptamers are short RNA or single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotides that fold into 3D conformations to recognize and bind their cognate targets. Aptamers are selected by an in vitro selection technique, i.e., Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX). Chemical synthesis renders aptamers both the characteristics of small molecule drugs and those of monoclonal antibodies. Some additional unique features, such as high specificity and affinity, flexible modification and stability, and lack of toxicity and immunogenicity, make aptamers hold great potential as a novel class of drugs and diagnostic reagents. In this review, we focus on the development of several aptamers and in particular those aptamers that have entered into clinical trials against anticoagulation factors and anti-adhesion molecules which are potential antithrombotics for thrombotic diseases.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common kind of malignant tumor, and commonly leads to death. As a subtype of gastric cancer, adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG), accounts for about 50% of all gastric cancer cases. So far, the systematic co-expression analysis of this tumor has not fully explained its pathogenesis. The purpose of this study was to construct RNAs co-expression networks to predict candidate hub genes associated with the tumorigenesis of AEG. Methods: The RNA-seq data of 22 AEG patients was processed with weighted gene co-expression network analysis strategy. Differentiate the modules with clinical tumor markers and preservation, and carry out gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis. We identified the co-expression modules and used GO and KEGG terms to investigated the functional enrichment of co-expression genes, suggesting that blue and brown modules are related to the biological processes of tumorigenesis. Results: Twenty-five distinct co-expression gene modules were identified, and as the top hub genes of tumorigenic gene modules, CD93, TRIM28, SLC3A2, CBX4, PATL1, and ZNF473 with high intramodular connectivity were assumed as intramodular hub genes in AEG. Conclusion: The weighted gene co-expression network analysis conducted in this study screened out CD93, TRIM28, SLC3A2, CBX4, PATL1, and ZNF473 may act as candidate biomarker in GC and AEG.

This paper describes the system designed by the Baidu PGL Team which achieved the first place in the TextGraphs 2020 Shared Task. The task focuses on generating explanations for elementary science questions. Given a question and its corresponding correct answer, we are asked to select the facts that can explain why the answer is correct for the question and answering (QA) from a large knowledge base. To address this problem, we use a pre-trained language model to recall the top-K relevant explanations for each question. Then, we adopt a re-ranking approach based on a pre-trained language model to rank the candidate explanations. To further improve the rankings, we also develop an architecture consisting both powerful pre-trained transformers and GNNs to tackle the multi-hop inference problem. The official evaluation shows that, our system can outperform the second best system by 1.91 points.

This paper attempts to reduce the spectral distortion and enhance the spatial information of fused images. For this purpose, the author presented a novel pansharpening method based on support vector transform (SVT) and semi-nonnegative matrix factorization (semi-NMF). The proposed method involves three steps. In step one, SVT was performed on panchromatic and multispectral images. In step two, the low-frequency components were processed by semi-NMF-based fusion rule, while the high-frequency components were treated by the regional energy-weighted fusion rule. In step three, the fused images were reconstructed by the fused high-frequency and low-frequency components. After that, the proposed method was compared with other related methods through experiments on several datasets collected from QuickBird and GeoEye-1. The comparison shows that the proposed method outperforms the compared approaches. The research findings shed new light on the preservation of spatial and spectral information in image fusion.

We theoretically investigate the Fano resonance and Rabi splitting in the metal–dielectric–metal plasmonic waveguides with stub resonators. The proposed nanostructure waveguide consists of bulb-like resonators and a thin Metamaterial (MM) baffle. The bulb-like resonator with low Q factor can work as a continuum state, and the plasmonic waveguide inserted with a MM baffle can work as a discrete state. Fano resonances are obtained because of the interaction between the two states in the structure and the Fano resonance can be tuned by changing the separation between the resonator and the MM baffle. In the plasmonic waveguide system with two resonators and a MM baffle, Rabi splitting occurs because of the strong coupling between the narrow spectral response of MM baffle and the Fabry–Perot resonance caused by the two bulb-like resonators The pronounced anticrossing behavior of the splitting peaks can be modified by varying the resonant frequency of MM baffle, the bulb-like resonator’s radius and the stub height. Furthermore, it is also found that the Rabi splitting can also be tuned by the separation between resonator and the MM baffle. Such plasmonic waveguide system may have potential applications in providing a stimulating insight to explore new fundamental physics in analogous atomic systems.

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the influence of initial flaws in the beam-column connections on the seismic performance of steel frame structures. The finite element models were constructed with different initial flaw lengths by ABAQUS. The initial flaw length was 0, 8, and 16 mm, respectively. The dynamic elastic-plastic time history analysis and the pushover analysis were conducted to obtain the probabilistic characteristics of seismic demand and seismic capacity. Seismic demands are quantified in terms of the maximum drift angle (RDA) and the displacement ductility ratio $$ \left( {\mu_{d} } \right) $$ . Moreover, the peak ground acceleration (PGA) was used for the pushover analysis. Formulas considering the influence of initial flaws on failure probability of a structure were derived for each length using different design basic acceleration of ground motion. The fragility curves were further constructed based on the data of seismic demand and capacity. The results show that the fragility of steel frame structures is similar across different seismic demand parameters. In addition, the analyses of fragility curves obviously indicate that the seismic fragility of steel frame structures increases as flaw length increases. Finally, the fragility of steel frame structures with initial flaws is consistent using different design basic acceleration of ground motion.

In human information, visual information accounts for about 60%. Image is the main way for humans to obtain visual information. Image binarization is an important technique in image pre-processing. It has important applications in pattern recognition, optical character recognition, and medical imaging. This paper first introduces the research background, basic principle, elements, algorithm flow, advantages, and disadvantages of bee colony algorithm. To solve the problem that artificial bee colony algorithm is easy to fall into local optimum, this paper proposes an adaptive cauchy mutation artificial bee colony algorithm. This algorithm introduces adaptive factors to expand the search range of bee colony and uses the characteristics of Cauchy distribution to search the global, which improves the universality of bee colony search. Then using stochastic process theory, the adaptive Cauchy mutation artificial bee colony algorithm is analysed theoretically, and the convergence of the algorithm has demonstrated. Finally, we can use Matlab to implement the artificial bee colony algorithm, and we can optimize the Griewank function and Sphere function. In addition, this paper has successfully used in image multi-threshold feature retrieval. Compared with the conventional methods, it shows that the method is more accurate.

In this work, we introduced a method for capturing aqueous drop based on a patterned substrate in space. Through the manipulation test of a colloidal drop, it could be verified that this patterned substrate had excellent control ability for aqueous drop in microgravity condition. The confinement mechanism of this substrate was clarified, which showed that drops with different volume could be pinned and attracted at a given area on the substrate. The confinement capability was related to the gravity effect, and the patterned substrate could confine aqueous drops with larger volume under microgravity than in normal gravity. With advantages of simple operation and strong capability to control large drops, this technique exhibited the wide application prospect in the fields of fluid management, biosensing, and pharmacy in microgravity condition in the future.

The perception layer of Internet of Things (IOT) consists of various sensors. It is the source of the IOT to identify objects and collect information. Information fusion collected from multi-sensor has been widely used in various fields, such as intelligent industry, intelligent agriculture, intelligent transportation, and intelligent environmental protection. In this paper, multi-sensor image fusion, multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) images, is studied, and the fused images are used in target detection, recognition, and classification. However, traditional methods based on an injection model generally consider the MS images as a whole to compute the spectral weights. They ignore the local information of MS images and produce some spectral distortions, because for different objects, the spectral response will be different. Therefore, we propose a novel multi-sensor image fusion based on application layer of IOT (IFIOT) to preserve the spectral information of MS images. In this method, local homogeneous areas are found first by superpixel segmentation. Due to good properties of superpixel, the homogeneous areas are uniform and contain only one kind of object. Then, we estimate the spectral weights for different bands on the homogeneous area. The injection gain has an important influence on fusion results. Therefore, we adaptively compute the gain coefficients by minimizing the error between the spectral degraded MS and PAN images. Finally, after the injection of spatial details obtaining from the PAN image, fused images are produced. Experimental results reveal that the IFIOT method can give good fusion results and the spectral information is preserved well.

This paper aims to effectively preserve the spatial and spectral information of hyperspectral (HS) images. For this purpose, the author proposed a new image fusion method based on coupled tensor decomposition (CTD). First, the wanted high spatial resolution HS (HRHS) images were decomposed into the core tensor and basis matrices. Assuming that the basis matrices can be calculated from low spatial resolution HS (LRHS) images, the core tensor was estimated from the high spatial resolution multispectral (HRMS) images based on the relationship between HRHS and HRMS images. Finally, the HRHS images were obtained by reconstructing the core tensor with basis matrices. Owing to the good properties of tensor, the proposed method achieved better fusion results on different data sets than those of the contrastive methods. The research findings shed new light on hyperspectral pansharpening.

The coating is applied to prevent corrosion on the surface of ships or marine structures, and the thickness of the coating affects its anti-corrosion effect. As a result, non-destructive testing (NDT) is required to measure coating thickness, and ultrasonic NDT is a convenient and quick way to measure the thickness of underwater coatings. However, the offshore coating’s energy attenuation and absorption rates are high, the ultrasonic pulse echo test is difficult, and the testing environment is harsh. Because of the coating’s high attenuation, the distance of the optimal water delay line designed based on the reflection coefficient of the vertically incident wave is used. To accurately measure the thickness of the coating material, TOF of the reflected echo on the time-domain waveform was evaluated. The experimental results show that, when compared to caliper measurements, the coating thickness measured by the proposed method has a lower error and can be used for accurate measurement. The use of ultrasonic water immersion measurement is almost limitless in terms of size, location, and material of the object to be measured, and it is expected to be used to measure the thickness of the surface coating of ships or marine structures in the water.

Sepsis is still a severe health problem worldwide with high morbidity and mortality. Blood bacterial culture remains the gold standard for the detection of pathogenic bacteria in bloodstream infections, but it is time-consuming, and both the sophisticated equipment and well-trained personnel are required. Immunoassays and genetic diagnosis are expensive and limited to specificity and sensitivity. Aptamers are single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) oligonucleotide or peptide sequence generated in vitro based on the binding affinity of aptamer-target by a process known as Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX). By taking several advantages over monoclonal antibodies and other conventional small-molecule therapeutics, such as high specificity and affinity, negligible batch-to-batch variation, flexible modification and production, thermal stability, low immunogenicity and lack of toxicity, aptamers are presently becoming promising novel diagnostic and therapeutic agents. This review describes the prospective application of aptamerbased laboratory diagnostic assays and therapeutics for pathogenic bacteria and toxins in bloodstream infections.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Backgrounds: Previous investigations yielded inconsistent results for the associations between pancreatic cancer (PC) risk and genetic polymorphisms. The study aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies exploring association of some genetic polymorphisms and PC risk. Methods: We systematically searched on PubMed and Web of Science for association of genetic polymorphisms and PC risk published from 1969 to January 2019. We computed the multivariate odd ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), comparing different genetic types. Results: The present meta-analysis showed significant associations between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair gene (X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) Arg399GIn and Arg194Trp, excision repair cross complementation 1 (ERCC1) rs11615 and rs3212986, ERCC2 rs13181) polymorphisms and PC risk. Conclusions: Because of the limited sample size and ethnicity enrolled in the present meta-analysis, further larger scaled studies should be performed to demonstrate the association.

Aiming at the practicability of license plate recognition, a robust license plate recognition system is designed. Firstly, Sobel-Color algorithm is proposed to locate license plate based on Sobel edge and color features, and combined with MSER algorithm, a reliable license plate location method is designed to obtain candidate license plate regions, and then the SVM algorithm is used to judge them. Finally, a license plate character segmentation algorithm is designed according to the license plate characteristics, which can segment the characters of the license plate correctly, and effectively remove the false characters of the edge of the license plate. According to the characteristics of the license plate characters, the LeNet-5 depth network model is improved, and then the improved LeNet-5 network is used to recognize the license plate characters. The normal condition test, harsh condition test and efficiency test of the license plate recognition system are carried out. The experimental results show that the method of license plate location and license plate judgment has high reliability, and the license plate character recognition has high accuracy. Therefore, the designed license plate recognition system has good robustness and practicability.

Recently, telemedicine has been widely applied in remote diagnosis, treatment and counseling, where the Internet of Things (IoT) technology plays an important role. In the process of telemedicine, data are collected from remote medical equipment, such as CT machine and MRI machine, and then transmitted and reconstructed locally in three-dimensions. Due to the large amount of data to be transmitted in the reconstructed model and the small storage capacity, data need to be compressed progressively before transmission. On this basis, we proposed a lightweight progressive transmission algorithm based on large data visualization in telemedicine to improve transmission efficiency and achieve lossless transmission of original data. Moreover, a novel four-layer system architecture based on IoT has been introduced, including the sensing layer, analysis layer, network layer and application layer. In this way, the three-dimensional reconstructed data at the local end is compressed and transmitted to the remote end, and then visualized at the remote end to show reconstructed 3D models. Thus, it is conducive to doctors in remote real-time diagnosis and treatment, and then realize the data processing and transmission between doctors, patients and medical equipment. Published version

The propagation characteristics of feature guided waves (FGWs) in topographical waveguides, such as welded joints, have been widely investigated. However, most of these investigations analyzed linear acoustic characteristics. Considering the high sensitivity of nonlinear ultrasonic techniques in the nondestructive evaluation of microscopic defects in materials, such as identifying micro-defects at an early stage, it is particularly relevant to investigate the nonlinear acoustic response of FGWs in topographical waveguides. In this paper, we use a theoretical analysis and numerical simulation to investigate the second-harmonic generation (SHG) of FGWs in a welded joint. The theoretical framework is firstly expounded based on the reciprocity relation and modal expansion with the nonlinear semi-analytical finite element (SAFE) method and perfectly matched layers. Numerical models are implemented to predict the effect of SHG of FGWs in a welded joint. Two families of FGW propagation in a welded joint are analyzed. The results obtained demonstrate that mode conversion and the cumulative effect of the generated second harmonics can be observed in the welded joint. This investigation provides new physical insights into SHG for FGW propagation.

To study the self-assembly behavior of colloidal spheres in the solid/liquid interface and elucidate the mechanism of liquid crystal phase transition under microgravity, a Colloidal Material Box (CMB) was designed which consists of three modules: (i) colloidal evaporation experimental module, made up of a sample management unit, an injection management unit and an optical observation unit; (ii) liquid crystal phase transition experimental module, including a sample management unit and an optical observation unit; (iii) electronic control module. The following two experimental plans will be performed inside the CMB aboard the SJ-10 satellite in space. (i) Self-assembly of colloidal spheres (with and without Au shell) induced by droplet evaporation, allowing observation of the dynamic process of the colloidal spheres within the droplet and the change of the droplet outer profile during evaporation; (ii) Phase behavior of Mg2Al LDHs suspensions in microgravity. The experimental results will be the first experimental observations of depositing ordered colloidal crystals and their self-assembly behavior under microgravity, and will illustrate the influence of gravity on liquid crystal phase transition.

The use of guided wave tomography has become an attractive alternative to convert ultrasonic wave raw data to visualized results for quantitative signal interpretation. For more accurate life prediction and efficient management strategies for critical structural components, there is a demand of imaging micro-damages in early stage. However, there is rarely investigation on guided wave tomographic imaging of micro-defects. One of the reasons for this might be that it becomes challenging to monitor tiny signal difference coefficient in a reliable manner for wave propagation in the specimens with micro-damages. Nonlinear acoustic signal whose frequency differs from that of the input signal can be found in the specimens with micro-damages. Therefore, the combination of guided wave tomography and nonlinear acoustic response induced by micro-damages could be a feasibility study for imaging micro-damages. In this paper, the nonlinear Rayleigh surface wave tomographic method is investigated to locate and size micro-corrosive defect region in an isotropic solid media. The variations of acoustic nonlinear responses of ultrasonic waves in the specimens with and without defects are used in guided wave tomographic algorithm to construct the images. The comparisons between images obtained by experimental signals and real defect region induced by hydrogen corrosion are presented in this paper. Results show that the images of defect regions with different shape, size and location are successfully obtained by this novel technique, while there is no visualized result constructed by conventional linear ultrasonic tomographic one. The present approach shows a potential for inspecting, locating and imaging micro-defects by nonlinear Rayleigh surface wave tomography.

We study electromagnetically induced transparency of a ladder type configuration in ultracold atomic gases, where the upper level is an electronically highly excited Rydberg state. The strong two-body interaction in the Rydberg state leads to the excitation blockade, where all but one atoms are shifted out of resonance such that the transmission of the probe light is affected. We show that molecular coupling in the Rydberg state causes an effective, two-body dephasing. The presence of the two-body dephasing leads to a similar blockade effect. Hence the overall blockade effect is enhanced by the two-body dephasing. Through numerical and approximately analytical calculations, we find that the transmission is reduced drastically by the presence of two-body dephasing in the transparent window, which is accompanied by strong photon-photon anti-bunching. Around the Autler-Townes splitting, the photon bunching is amplified by the two-body dephasing., 8 pages, 4 figures

This chapter gives readers fundamental understandings of various nonlinear acoustical techniques. It briefly describes the nonlinear techniques that are popular today such as higher harmonic generation, subharmonic generation, nonlinear resonant acoustic spectroscopy, vibro-acoustics, wave modulation between two wave frequencies—pumping and probing frequencies—and sideband generation. Some examples are provided showing the applications of these techniques in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of materials and structures. The difficulties associated with various nonlinear techniques and current challenges encountered by the scientists and engineers in implementing nonlinear guided wave-based techniques are discussed. Recent development (within last 5 years) of a new promising nonlinear technique called sideband peak count (or SPC) for NDE is also discussed. SPC overcomes many shortcomings of the existing frequency modulation techniques. The objective of this chapter is to present the readers, in simple words, a broad overview of nonlinear acoustical techniques starting with the fundamental equations of mechanics. This presentation does not go into great depth of every available technique but provides sufficient basic knowledge and exposure to the new developments in this field, such as SPC. SPC is described in detail in Sect. 1.10.2. Interested readers can read this section without going through the detailed derivations of the earlier sections and can still understand this new technique. Other techniques are discussed in greater detail in the subsequent chapters.

Diffuse ultrasound is highly sensitive to changes in mechanical properties. Based on the coda wave interferometry analysis, we investigate the environmental temperature-induced wave velocity variations in high-manganese steels with plastic deformations by diffuse ultrasound. We observe the velocity changes in the materials at test with [Formula: see text] relative resolution. We propose the temperature-dependent coefficient as the key parameter for damage assessment in the specimens with different plastic deformations. The results show that the early-stage damage caused by plastic deformation in the specimens at test varying from 6% to 14% are successfully characterized by temperature-dependent coefficients in the absence of external mechanical load. The theoretical analysis on the sensitivity of the temperature-dependent coefficient to plastic deformation as well as the potential on-site application is discussed in this article.

Ultrasonic guided wave tomography provides an imaging potential over a hidden and inaccessible damage zone. The use of shear horizontal guided waves has been proposed as an attractive technique for surface defect characterization. In this study, the quantification and imaging of corrosion wall thinning in a plate are investigated by using shear horizontal guided waves. Simulations of shear horizontal wave propagation in the specimens using hybrid boundary element method are studied in this paper. Magnetostrictive patch transducers are designed to generate and measure the shear horizontal wave mode experimentally. The quantification via imaging of wall thinning is achieved by a modified reconstruction algorithm for the probabilistic inspection of damage tomography algorithm. The comparisons of the imaging obtained by modeling data and experimental ones of defects with different shapes in the specimens are presented in this paper. The results obtained by experimental tests are comparable with that produced by boundary elements method. The present approach provides an alternative tool, that can be applied to detecting, locating and imaging the wall thinning defects in plate-like structures.

The power supply control system is one of the most important local control systems of HL-2M tokamak. The power supply system of HL-2M is composed of four flywheel generator sets with total capacity of 600 MVA, all the magnetic field coil power supplies and high voltage power supplies of auxiliary heating system. The control system of power supply should make sure the large amount of on-site equipment and facilities to operate steadily and reliably. This paper presents the architecture of HL-2M control system and four kinds of established control networks. It describes how the power supply control system is built by using the established hardware structures and software agreements. Specially, it is focused on introducing an application of real-time technology based on the reflective shared memory and the fully digital compact solution for controlling the high power converters. Otherwise, a scheme which adopts PROFINET and Sequence of Events technology to carry out the intellect interlock control system is given.

Purpose Evidence shows that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is involved in the transmission of multiple chronic pain via P2X7 receptor. This study was to investigate the P2X7 and microglial cells in the chronic prostatitis pain. Materials and Methods Rats were divided into control group and chronic prostatitis group (n = 24 per group). A chronic prostatitis animal model was established by injecting complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) to the prostate of rats, and the thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) was detected on days 0, 4, 12 and 24 (n = 6 at each time point in each group). Animals were sacrificed and the pathological examination of the prostate, detection of mRNA expression of P2X7 and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA-1) and measurement of content of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the dorsal horn of L5-S2 spinal cord were performed on days 0, 4, 12 and 24. In addition, the content of TNF-α and IL-1β in the dorsal horn of L5-S2 spinal cord was measured after intrathecal injection of inhibitors of microglial cells and/or P2X7 for 5 days. Results The chronic prostatitis was confirmed by pathological examination. The expression of P2X7 and IBA-1 and the content of TNF-α and IL-1β in rats with chronic prostatitis were significantly higher than those in the control group. On day 4, the expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines became to increase, reaching a maximal level on day 12 and started to reduce on day 24, but remained higher than that in the control group. Following suppression of microglial cells and P2X7 receptor, the secretion of TNF-α and IL-1β was markedly reduced. Conclusion In chronic prostatitis pain, the microglial cells and P2X7 receptor are activated resulting in the increased expression of TNF-α and IL-1β in the L5-S2 spinal cord, which might attribute to the maintenance and intensification of pain in chronic prostatitis.

Focus on the multi-component image segmentation issue, a hierarchical model is proposed in this paper. The idea is to do segmentation iteratively. The (k+1)-th implementation is carried out not on the whole image domain but on the subimage which is detected as the objects region at the k-th segmentation. In order to achieve this purpose of selective segmentation, a region characteristic function which takes 1 for pixel in the given region and 0 otherwise is introduced, and a novel energy function is proposed based on it. The proposed energy function is convex, thus it can easily apply the fast minimization algorithm and obtain the global minima. In this paper, the well-known split Bregman method is used to minimize the proposed energy function. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed model is able to deal with multicomponent images. And comparisons show that the model is more accurate and efficient.

As an important branch of the nondestructive testing field, ultrasonic testing is widely used in the industries of steel, electricity, petroleum, transportation, and medical and others. In the process of ultrasonic testing, the ultrasonic transducer is the core component of the excitation and reception of ultrasonic waves, mainly including the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer and the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). Compared with the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer, EMAT has many advantages, such as being non-contact, no need for the coupling medium, and easy to produce the shear horizontal wave. In particular, it can be applied under a high-temperature environment, or when an isolation layer exists, and other special applications. It possesses a crucial application value and widespread application prospects.

The deterioration conditions of nuclear power plants and chemical plants have raised deep concerns about the safety of high-risk structures. The safety of a structure can be secured by evaluations of breakages and lifespan in the early stage. Therefore, the material condition of a structure needs to be estimated. A nonlinear ultrasonic evaluation method is reportedly more sensitive on microscopic changes of a material than a linear evaluation method. Therefore, the nonlinear ultrasonic technique based on ultrasonic nonlinearity is considered a promising method of evaluation for breakages and lifespan. This study measured the changes in nonlinear parameters by using a nonlinear ultrasonic method, observed the microstructure of a heated material, and analyzed the relation between the size of the microstructure and the changes in the nonlinear parameters.

A simple optical vernier filter with cascaded double-coupler compound fiber loop resonators is proposed. The proposed filter consists of two individual double-coupler compound fiber loop resonators. The circulating and transmitted output fields and intensities, as well as some performance parameters such as the contrast, finesse and free spectral range, are computed and presented in graphical form. A comparison between this proposed vernier filter and one individual double-coupler compound fiber loop resonator is made. The simulation results show that the contrast and finesse of the proposed vernier filter can be increased remarkably compared to the individual one double-coupler compound fiber loop resonator. And it is found that the free spectral range of the proposed filter can be enhanced by the vernier operation. These results are useful when the proposed vernier filter is used to construct narrow-bandwidth filters and single-frequency fiber lasers.

China has more and more floating population because of reform and opening-up. As one of the high burden countries in tuberculosis (TB) control in the world, China has to face more challenges about the TB case detection and treatment among floating population in China. Aim to evaluate the effect of case detection and treatment of the Floating Population TB Control Pilot Project from Global Fund Round Five (GFR5) TB Control Program in China. During October 2006 to September 2008, the pilot project was implemented gradually in 60 counties in Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and Guangdong. All quarterly reports of the pilot project were collected, and these materials were summarized and analyzed. In seven coastal provinces, 19,584 active pulmonary TB (PTB) cases were registered among floating population in 2 years. Among the active PTB cases, 87.2% were 15-45 years old, and 62.8% were male. In second year, 15,629 active PTB cases were registered, and the overall registration rate was 68 per 100,000 people. DOT treatments were provided for 18,125 active PTB cases in 2 years, and overall DOT treatment rate was 92.6%. There were 3,955 active PTB cases registered in first year, and the overall cure rate was 86.0%. Through the implementation of the pilot project, the TB case detection and treatment among floating population have been enhanced in pilot areas of China. The useful experience and results from the pilot project have been being gradually generalized nationally.

The functional network was introduced by E.Catillo, which extended the neural network. Not only can it solve the problems solved, but also it can formulate the ones that cannot be solved by traditional network. This paper applies functional network to approximate the multidimension function under the ridgelet theory. The method performs more stable and faster than the traditional neural network. The numerical examples demonstrate the performance.

The acoustic nonlinearity β is known as a promising tool for measuring the fatigue damage of the structures. To measure the nonlinear parameter, several methods were used to investigate the appropriate harmonic components for representing the material nonlinearity. However, the trend of material nonlinearity is difficult to extract because of the experimental system or external environment factors. Therefore, we investigated various aspects of nonlinear feature by the Lamb wave mixing technique. Two Lamb wave modes with different frequency were induced to generate the harmonic waveform which is related to the certain sub-harmonic frequency. In this study, it will be proposed that the Lamb wave mixing technique can be used as an alternative promising approach.

This paper makes a survey on the subjects of undergraduates changing majors in Sichuan Agricultural University who entered the university respectively in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and comes to a basic conclusion on the learning and life condition of students changing majors, that is, good overall adaptation yet low excellence rate; difficulty in taking a course and too heavy pressure in learning; relatively too disperse accommodation and bad sense of belonging in class; a series of problems in unblocked information acquisition, especially prominent problems existing in students who change majors in different campuses.

Objectives To determine the length of delay in initial health-seeking in new pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases among migrant population in the eastern part of China, and factors associated with it. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire in six counties in Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu from May to October, 2008, to estimate the extent and factors responsible for delayed initial health-seeking of the new PTB cases. The interval between self-reported onset of TB symptoms and date of first attendance at any medical institution was determined. More than the median duration was defined as delayed health-seeking. Results A total of 323 new migrant PTB patients participated in the study. Only 6.5% had medical insurance. The median and mean durations to initial health-seeking were respectively 10 and 31 days. There was no significant association between socio-demographic factors and delayed initial health-seeking. Average monthly working days >24 (AOR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.03–2.51), and hemoptysis or bloody sputum (AOR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28–0.85) were significantly associated with delayed initial health-seeking. Conclusions Interventions to improve health seeking behavior among the migrant population in China must focus on strengthening their labor, medical security and health education.

Xi-Han Freeway is a unique freeway passing through a mountainous region with very challenging topography and complex climatic conditions. This freeway is built with many bridges and tunnels that greatly complicated the alignment design. Since its opening in 2007, the safety has become a serious concern due to the high crash risk. This paper presents the results of a crash analysis and consequent proposal on the crash countermeasures for Xi-Han Freeway are presented. This research provides evidence on how to improve safety of freeways in mountainous regions in China.

We present subwavelength periodic gratings achieved by employing a metallic grating waveguide heterostructure (MGWHS). The mask can be designed to make one of its diffraction order (±mth) waves resonate with the surface plasmon wave supported by the MGWHS. With a finite-difference time-domain method, we numerically demonstrate that one-dimensional periodic structure of about 60 nm feature, which is far beyond the diffraction limit, can be patterned with the interference of the 3rd diffraction order waves of the mask at a wavelength of 546 nm. The technique can also be extended to two-dimensional patterns using circularly polarized incidence and for the incidence with an angle θ.

With the increase in cars and number of residents in Beijing, the shortage of urban road capacity has become increasingly conspicuous. In this paper, public transportation network evaluation factors such as the length of bus lines, line density, repeated factor, non-linear coefficient, site density, the average station distance and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology will be used to evaluate the public transportation network in Beijing inside of the 5th ring road to make appropriate improvements. In addition, the article conducts evaluation of the network to reveal the existing problems to find a reasonable solution and further develop the line optimization program. Finally, the results are used to improve public transportation ground to lay the foundation of operational efficiency.