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This paper proposed a 5.6 kW 11.7 kW/kg four-phase interleaved buck converter (FPIBC) for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-voltage power system. The UAV mainly concerns the lightweight strategy and the power density of the DC-DC converter. We proposed a comprehensive lightweight strategy with the characteristics of reduced inductor current ripples, small size of filter inductors and capacitors, and high output power. The output current ripples are reduced by using interleaved modulation strategy and integrated CLC filters cascaded to the input side and output side respectively. In addition, the aluminum based printed circuit board (PCB) is used with SMD power transistors to obtain better heat dissipation capability without fans. With abovementioned methods, the designed DC-DC converter has a power of 5.6 kW @ 0.48 kg, the power-to-weight ratio is improved to be 11.7 kW/kg, and the power density is 3 W/cm3. The efficiency of this DC-DC converter is up to 95.8%.

Background Pancreaticobiliary reflux (PBR) causes chronic inflammation of the gallbladder mucosa and changes in the bile components, which are known to promote gallstone formation. This study aimed to investigate the bile biochemistry changes in gallstone patients with PBR and provide new clues for research on the involvement of PBR in gallstone formation. Methods Patients undergoing surgery for gallstones between December 2020 and May 2021 were eligible for inclusion. The bile biochemistry (including amylase, lipase, triglyceride, cholesterol, free fatty acids [FFAs], alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], alkaline phosphatase [ALP], and γ-glutamyl transferase [γ-GT]) of the included gallstone patients was analysed to determine correlations with PBR. Results In this study, 144 gallstone patients who underwent surgery were enrolled. Overall, 15.97 % of the patients had an increased bile amylase level, which was associated with older age and significantly higher bile levels of ALP, lipase, triglyceride, and FFAs. Positive correlations were observed between amylase and lipase, triglyceride, FFAs levels in the gallbladder bile. However, the bile levels of triglyceride, FFAs, and lipase were positively correlated with each other only in the PBR group and showed no significant correlation in the control (N) group. In addition, elevated bile FFAs levels were found to be an independent risk factor for gallbladder wall thickening. Conclusions In conclusion, PBR-induced increase in FFAs and triglyceride in the gallbladder bile is a cause of gallstone formation, and an increase in bile ALP suggests the presence of cholestasis in PBR.

We report a new type of nano-optical tip, the quantum dot decorated nano-pyramid fiber tip, for scanning near-field optical microscopy. The nano-pyramid tip has a large apex angle (70.5 degree), and consequently exhibits a significant improvement (17-fold) of the signal collection efficiency compared to conventional tapered fiber tips. Moreover, thanks to the template-based fabrication method and the surface treatment technique, the quantum-dot decorated nano-pyramid tip enjoys a clean and smooth surface, and can be produced with high accuracy and high reproducibility. Experimental results show that, with the nano-pyramid tip, the optical field distribution of a photonic nanostructure can be mapped with a 20 nm resolution ( λ /20). It provides a powerful and reliable tool for near-field optical measurements.

Chinese auditing standards mandate the disclosure of critical audit matters (CAMs) in audit reports for all listed companies since 2017. Risk-oriented auditing requires auditors to assess material ...

The theory of audit pricing suggests that audit fees are positively associated with areas of higher inherent risk. Inventory is commonly cited as one such area, and many Western studies have reported a positive association between inventory and audit fees. However, most Chinese studies have reported a significant negative association. This study finds that this puzzling association is attributable to Chinese auditors charging a significant discount on the opening balance of inventory, whereas their U.S. counterparts charge a significant premium. Meanwhile, we show that opening-balance inventory is associated with higher inherent risk both in China and the U.S. On the other hand, both Chinese and U.S. auditors charge a significant discount on the net increase in inventory as of the current year end, and we show that this is associated with lower inherent risk. Therefore, Chinese auditors appear to underreact to the inherent risk associated with opening-balance inventory, which helps explain the puzzling negative association between inventory and audit fees in China.

The accuracy of retrieving the CAD file corresponding to the cut-piece from the CAD library determines the efficiency of the cut-piece automatic detection system and the digital management of the cut-piece inventory. However, the materials of the cut-piece are complex and diverse (including cowhide, artificial leather, fabric, etc.), contain multi-layered shapes and structures, and are prone to deformation. The traditional registration algorithms cannot satisfy the accurate registration between CAD and cut-piece. In order to solve the problem of high-frequency translation and complex shape of the cut-piece, we propose an image retrieval algorithm based on representation learning. This paper takes FaceNet as the basic framework. First, the loss function combining Softmax loss and center loss is used to maintain the discriminant ability between classes and optimize the cohesion of the ternary loss function. Second, the BlurPool module is used to enhance the anti-aliasing of the downsampling process and enhance the translation invariance of the network while maintaining network performance. Finally, the multi-feature deep fusion (FRE) module designed in this paper is used to solve the problem of reduced model expression ability caused by different sizes of cut-piece. A series of experiments on our dataset show that the proposed representation learning network is more accurate in the SVM classifier, and it only takes 30ms to predict a single cut-piece.

The space heat demand is huge in northern China, and the electric heating load control is an effective way to solve the problem of renewable energy integration and environmental pollution. But the attention on modeling for distributed electric heating (DEH) load in a multi-story building in northern China is lacking. This resulted in the difficulty of quantifying the scheduling capacity for flexible scheduling demand of power system. Thus, the regulating characteristic model of DEH load was proposed through the construction of multi-story building heat transfer model and building room aggregation theory. Lastly, the adjustable capacity and flexible regulation capacity of DEH load will be calculated and analyzed.

Flexible resources on demand-side, such as electric heating loads (EHLs), are perceived as an effective way of supporting the power balance of power grids with large scale renewable energy integration. However, it is difficult to quickly, effectively and evenly aggregate and schedule a large population of these loads because of their heterogeneity and geographic dispersion. The efficiency and effectiveness of optimal control are important for achieving the power balance between power source and load, especially in real-time scheduling. Moreover, the even load allocation between these heterogeneous loads also needs to motivate users participation in real-time power balance. To follow wind power in the real-time electricity market, this study presents a bi-level control method for EHLs based on distributed optimization computing, which considers the bi-level queuing method, different load control modes and multi-time scales between different control levels. First, each load group, which includes a large population of EHLs is controlled by a distributed server (DS); all the load groups are scheduled by the central management server (CMS), which deals with the wind farm or electricity retailer. Next, a distributed optimization model is built based on the bi-level control structure, in which the different power balance statuses and multi-time scales between the electricity market and EHLs are considered. Furthermore, considering the power balance on the multi-time scales, layer-by-layer load allocation optimization through the bi-level time-varying temperature queuing method, and the load-leveling optimization, serve as the sequential optimization problems. Finally, a simulation including 12,500 EHLs based on measured data in northern China is carried out. The results show that the proposed approach can effectively realize real-time power balance between wind power and EHLs, while maintaining uniform load allocation between the EHLs.

This paper analyses the effect of realized future growth opportunities on insider trading. Using intangible information decomposed by the book-to-market ratio, we find that insiders’ stock sales are significantly negatively associated with intangible information. The results suggest that intangible information provides insiders an opportunity to gain profit by means of selling stocks with high-level realized future growth opportunities in advance. Meanwhile, high information transparency of the firm will strengthen the insider’s trading based on realized future growth opportunities.

Oxide superlattices often exhibit emergent physical properties that are desirable for future information device applications. The most common growth technique for fabrication of oxide superlattices is pulsed laser deposition (PLD), which is convenient yet powerful for the growth of various oxide superlattices. However, the sample size prepared by PLD is rather small confined by the plasmon plume, which greatly limits its potential for device applications. Here, we design a PLD system that is capable of fabricating large-sized oxide superlattices with high uniformity. Specifically, during growth, the laser beam scans the target surface by combining the pitch and yaw angle rotation of the high reflective mirror and the linear motion of the focus lens. A SiC susceptor is placed in between the sample holder and the substrate to improve the large area infrared heating efficiency. Using such a system, droplet-free 10 × 10 mm2 [(LSMO)12/(PCMO)6]7 superlattices are epitaxially grown with the same period of superlattices across the whole sample areas. The high uniformity of the superlattices is further illustrated by near identical physical properties of all regions of the superlattice films. The present PLD system can be used to grow various kinds of oxide superlattices with the area size as large as 2 in., which is highly useful for device applications of oxides.

Non-uniform solar flux distribution in a parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) causes large temperature gradients on absorber tube surface, making the PTC inefficient and damaged. To solve the problem, a novel method is proposed for designing the additional secondary reflector (SR) in a PTC to improve uniform heat flux distribution on absorber tube surface. In the design, the heat flux between upper and lower surfaces of absorber tube is well balanced by optimizing the location of absorber. Then, the SR with segmented broken-line type composed of multiple plane mirrors is delicately designed with local heat flux compensation strategy. Two case studies are conducted to compare the performances of the newly designed SRs with other existing SR designs. It is shown that the uniformity of heat flux distribution can be improved to over 90% for present SR design, much higher than those for other existing SR designs. Also, the optical efficiency of the PTC with present SR design is also increased as compared with other designs. The results indicate that this proposed method is competent for designing SR in a PTC with uniform heat flux distribution.

In recent years, there has been a great interest in integrating crowdsourced API documents that are often dispersed across multiple places. Because of the complexity of natural language, however, automatically synthesized documents often fall short on quality and completeness compared to those authored by human experts. We develop a complementary “human-assensors” approach to document integration that generates API FAQs based on users’ help-seeking behavior and history. We investigated the benefits and limitations of this approach in the context of programming education. This paper describes a prototype system called COFAQ and a controlled experiment with 18 novice programmers. The study confirms that the generated FAQs effectively fosters knowledge transfer between the programmers and significantly reduce the need for repeated search. It also discovers several difficulties novice programmers encountered when seeking API help as well as the strategies they used to seek and utilize API knowledge.

BACKGROUND Both dasatinib and nilotinib are approved frontline therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) based on randomized trials compared with imatinib. However, no head-to-head comparison of dasatinib and nilotinib has been conducted in patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP. METHODS The authors conducted a propensity score (PS) matched comparison of patients with CML-CP who received frontline therapy with either dasatinib (N = 102) or nilotinib (N = 104) under the respective phase 2 trials conducted in parallel. RESULTS PS matching resulted in 87 patients from each trial being matched for pretreatment characteristics. The 3-month BCR-ABL1/ABL1 ratio

A new computational methodology is presented for the dynamic analysis of multibody systems with multiple clearance joints by vector form intrinsic finite element method. A joint model is developed to simulate the motion of ideal and clearance joints for multibody systems. The dynamic behaviour of a four-bar mechanism with three clearance joints in continuous contact mode is analysed. The results show that the dynamic performance of the mechanism with three clearance joints in continuous contact mode is not similar to that with ideal joints and is fluctuating and affected by the clearance size of the joints and input crank speed.

Backgroud Hepatic cysts are the most frequent, innocuous, space-occupying lesions of the liver. The majority of solitary liver cysts are nonsymptomatic. When liver cysts reach a large size, there are some complications, including infection, rupture, spontaneous hemorrhage, obstructive jaundice, and neoplastic degeneration. Percutaneous aspiration, fenestration, hepatic resection, and liver transplantation have been proposed for symptomatic patients. Case presentation In this case report, we describe a 41-year-old woman who presented with persistent liver dysfunction, indolent xanthochromia, and skin itching for 3 months. After a series of tests, she has a 5.0 × 5.3 cm hepatic cyst with many separations in the left medial liver lobe. The obstructive jaundice was caused by a large pedunculated lump protruding into the common bile duct from the left hepatic duct. She was treated with laparotomy and this lump was completely removed from the root by choledochoscopic needle-knife electrotomy with a good clinical response. Postoperative pathology of the lump suggested a hepatic cyst wall without heterocysts or tumor cells. Conclusion Hepatic cyst wall protruding into the common bile duct can form capsular lump and result in indolent jaundice. Choledochoscopic high-frequency needle-knife electrotomy could be considered as a simple, safe and effective complementary approach for benign mass on the bile duct wall.

Migration of natural reservoir fines is one of the main causes of formation damage in oil and gas fields. Yet, fines migration can be employed for enhancing reservoir sweep and water production control. Permeability decline due to fine particles’ detachment from reservoir rocks, mobilisation, migration and straining has been widely reported in the petroleum industry since the 1960s and is being researched worldwide. The topic of colloidal-suspension flows with particle detachment is also of wide interest in environmental, chemical and civil engineering. The current work begins with a detailed introduction on laboratory and mathematical modelling of fines migration, along with new mathematical models and experimental results. Each of the next three sections explores a particular cause of fines mobilisation, migration and straining. Section 2 covers high flow velocity that causes particle detachment accompanied by consequent permeability decline. Section 3 covers low-salinity water injection, where the decreased electrostatic attraction leads to particle mobilisation. Section 4 covers the effect of high temperature on production rate and low-salinity water injection in geothermal reservoirs. We attribute the long permeability stabilisation period during coreflooding with fines migration, to slow fines rolling and sliding and to diffusive delay in particle mobilisation. We derive the analytical models for both phenomena. Laboratory fines-migration coreflood tests are carried out, with the measurement of breakthrough fines concentration and pressure drop across the whole core and the core’s section. Treatment of the experimental data and analysis of the tuned coefficients show that the slow-particle model contains fewer coefficients and exhibits more typical strained concentration dependencies of the tuned parameters than does the delay-release model.

Hyperfibrinogenemia reportedly predicts poor prognosis in several cancers but has not been reviewed for biliary tract cancer (BTC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate associations between baseline plasma fibrinogen concentrations, clinicopathological characteristics, and survival parameters in patients with BTC. Data for 127 patients with BTC diagnosed at the Zhongshan Affiliated Hospital of Dalian University (Liaoning, China) from January 2011 to December 2014 were retrospectively evaluated. Associations between baseline fibrinogen concentrations, selected clinicopathological characteristics, and the prognostic value were examined using SPSS software. Data for 37 patients (29.1 % of study cohort) who had undergone curative intent surgery and 90 (70.9 %) with advanced biliary tract cancer (ABTC) were analyzed. The mean plasma fibrinogen concentration 4.0 ± 0.9 g/L for the entire cohort. The percentages with hyperfibrinogenemia (>4 g/L) were 45.7, 37.8, and 48.9 % overall and in the surgical and ABTC groups, respectively. Hyperfibrinogenemia was associated with performance status (PS) and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in the entire cohort but not with other relevant clinicopathological factors. Log-rank test indicated that baseline hyperfibrinogenemia was associated with decreased progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with unresectable ABTC (P > 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that poor PS and baseline hyperfibrinogenemia were independently associated with worse survival (HR: 1.39, 95 % CI: 1.02-1.90, P = 0.04; HR: 1.75.95 %, 95 % CI: 1.01-3.01, P = 0.04, respectively). Baseline hyperfibrinogenemia is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with ABTC. Baseline plasma fibrinogen concentrations may be a readily available and inexpensive prognostic biomarker in patients with ABTC; this needs further validation in large prospective clinical trials.

This study investigates the earnings effect associated with two major types of accounting estimate changes (i.e., revision of the percentage allowance for doubtful accounts receivable and revision of the depreciation rate) made by Chinese listed firms during 2003–2011. We find that the more a firm’s accounting estimate diverges from the industry-level estimate for the same category of assets, the more likely is the firm to change the estimate in convergence with (rather than deviating further from) the industry level in the following period. Moreover, the tendency to converge with the industry-level estimate is significantly stronger for previously aggressive estimates than for previously conservative estimates. These findings are consistent with the notion that management discretion in accounting estimates is restrained by the demand for verifiability of accounting information and the firm’s underlying economic forces, thus overall decreasing the degree of earnings aggressiveness.

The wind power generation system will play a crucial role for developing the energy conservative, environmentally friendly, and sustainable electric power system in China. However, the intermittency and unpredictability of wind power has been an obstacle to the deployment of wind power generation, especially in the winter of northern China. In northern China, a combined heat and power (CHP) unit has been widely utilized as a heat and electricity source. Considering the flexible operation of CHP with introduction of electric heat pumps (EHPs), this paper proposes a new method of electricity and heating demand side management to facilitate the wind power integration with the purpose of energy conservation in a unit-commitment problem. The thermal characteristics of demand side such as the thermal inertia of buildings and thermal comfort of end users are taken into consideration. Moreover the distributed electric heat pumps (EHPs) widely used by city dwellers are introduced into the wind-thermal power system as the heating source and spinning reserve so as to increase the flexibility of heating and electricity supply. The simulation results show that the new method can integrate more wind power into power grid for electricity and heating demand to reduce the coal consumption.

The graded proppant injection into a connected cleat system of coal bed methane (CBM) reservoir allows deeper particle penetration and straining in the remote open cleats yielding higher well productivity index. The analytical model for axisymmetric flow has been derived for exponential stress–permeability relationship and accounting for permeability variation outside the stimulated zone. Laboratory proppant injections into coal cores have been performed for different proppant sizes and water salinities. It is shown that the proppant suspension based on low salinity water prevents the particle–particle and particle–coal attraction with the consequent core inlet plugging and external cake formation. However, low salinity of the injected water may cause mobilisation, migration and straining of the natural reservoir fines resulting in high formation damage. The interval where salinity is low enough for the rock inlet not to be plugged by the injected proppant, and is high enough for large formation damage due to fine migration not to occur, is proposed for the cores under investigation. The analytical model is tuned from the laboratory data and used for well index prediction. Ignoring the model matching by the laboratory results causes the overestimation of the incremental productivity index, as achieved by the graded proppant injection into coal beds below the fracturing pressure.

Background Prophylactic pancreatic stents after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) can help prevent post-ERCP pancreatitis. However most of the pancreatic stents need to be removed by another ERCP. The aim of this observational study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the modified pancreatic stent system for prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis. Methods From November 2013 to November 2015, a total of 230 patients who had prophylactic pancreatic stent placed for prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis at a single institution were identified and stratified. In this case-control design, 150 patients received an ordinary pancreatic stent, and 80 patients received the modified pancreatic stent. The main outcome measures were the difficulty level and complications of pancreatic stent placement and extraction between the two groups. Results In ordinary group, the average time of pancreatic stent and nasal biliary drainage placement was 3.5 ± 0.6 min. There were 13 cases of stent proximal migration (8.7%), 20 cases of stent spontaneous abscission (13.3%), 5 cases of acute pancreatitis (3.3%) (2 cases for stent abscission) and 7 cases of hyperamylasemia (4.7%) after ERCP. One hundred thirty patients received extra duodenoscope (86.7%) to remove the stent, and 4 cases had acute pancreatitis and 5 patients had hyperamylasemia after removing the proximal migratory stents. In modified group, the average time of pancreatic stent system placement was 4.9 ± 0.7 min, but there was only one case of stent abscission (1.3%), 2 cases of acute pancreatitis (2.5%) and 3 cases of hyperamylasemia (3.8%). The new pancreatic stents were removed directly under x-ray without complication. Conclusions The modified pancreatic stent system has the same effect of preventing post-ERCP pancreatitis, lower rate of stents proximal migration and spontaneous abscission, and the advantage of easier removed compared with ordinary pancreatic stent.

For heavily curtailed wind power caused by the coexistence of large-scale wind power and high-penetration combined heat and power (CHP) units, especially during the winter heating period in...

Osteoarthritis (OA), characterized by cartilage damage, synovitis inflammation and chronic pain, is a common degenerative joint disease that may lead to physical disability. In the present study, we first explored the association between N-Acylethanolamine acid amidase (NAAA) and OA progression, and then examined the capability of the NAAA inhibitor F215 to attenuate osteoarthritis. Increased NAAA expressions and decreased PEA levels in synovial membrane and lumbar spinal cord were observed in MIA induced osteoarthritic rats. F215 (i.a., and i.p.) significantly protected against cartilage damage and synovial inflammation by directly increasing PEA levels in joints, or normalization of PEA levels and resolution of inflammation in spinal cord. Moreover, F215 also markedly alleviated osteoarthritic pain in rats, and the therapeutic effects of F215 were blocked by the PPAR-α antagonist MK886. The results revealed that NAAA may has been implicated in OA progression, and treatment with NAAA inhibitor F215 alleviated OA development by preventing cartilage damage, reducing inflammation, and alleviating pain. Our study suggested that NAAA inhibitor might be a novel therapeutic agent for OA treatment.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the therapeutic effect of scalp electroacupuncture for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the early stage.MethodsTwo hundred and thirty three MCI patients were randomly divided into three groups: the drug group, the scalp electroacupuncture group, and the syndrome differentiation group. For the scalp electroacupuncture group, the points of Baihui (DU 20), Sishecong (EX-HN1), Fengchi (GB 20), and Shenting (DU 24) were selected. For the syndrome differentiation group, specific acupoints were added on the basis of syndrome differentiation and according to the scale for the differentiation of syndromes in vascular dementia (SDSVD) beside the acupoints used in the scalp electroacupuncture group. For the drug group, nimodipine was orally administered. Each patient was treated for two courses, eight weeks. The score differences in mini-mental state examination (MMSE), picture recognition, and clock drawing test were observed before and after the treatment.ResultsAfter treatment, the score differences in MMSE and clock drawing test were of obvious statistical significance among three groups (P0.05). There were statistical significant differences in therapeutic effects between the scalp electroacupuncture group and the drug group, and between the syndrome differentiation group and the drug group (P0.05).ConclusionAll the three therapies may improve the cognitive function of MCI patients. The therapeutic effects in the scalp electroacupuncture and syndrome differentiation groups were basically the same, but superior to nimodipine.

Free-form gesture passwords have been introduced as an alternative mobile authentication method. Text passwords are not very suitable for mobile interaction, and methods such as PINs and grid patterns sacrifice security over usability. However, little is known about how free-form gestures perform in the wild. We present the first field study (N=91) of mobile authentication using free-form gestures, with text passwords as a baseline. Our study leveraged Experience Sampling Methodology to increase ecological validity while maintaining control of the experiment. We found that, with gesture passwords, participants generated new passwords and authenticated faster with comparable memorability while being more willing to retry. Our analysis of the gesture password dataset indicated biases in user-chosen distribution tending towards common shapes. Our findings provide useful insights towards understanding mobile device authentication and gesture-based authentication.

Based on the local resistance computation model for a choke valve and using the flow characteristics of choke valves, we studied the relationships between the back pressure of a parallel choke assembly and the opening extent of choke valves and developed a model to characterize the pressure regime of the manifold assembly. A comparison of pressure characteristic curves shows that a parallel choke manifold assembly has obvious advantages over the conventional serial type including high linearity of pressure-regulating characteristics curves, the elimination of the overshoot interval, wider effective regulating interval and the higher system security. Laboratory hydraulic experiments have validated the capability of a back pressure control model for the parallel choke assembly to accurately control pressure. This study is of great theoretical and practical significance to further improve the performance of chokes used in managed pressure well drilling.

Introduction Complications that arise after placement of a penile prosthesis may result in the need for revision surgery. Few contemporary penile prosthesis series have focused solely on describing the efficacy and patient satisfaction associated with penile prosthesis revision surgery. Aim To determine the overall success of penile prosthesis revision surgery in providing the patient with a functional implant. Device efficacy and patient satisfaction with penile prosthesis revision surgery will be assessed using psychometrically validated instruments. Main Outcome Measures The erectile function (EF) and satisfaction domains of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) were used to quantify the overall efficacy and patient satisfaction with revision surgery. Methods Data were derived from a prospective database of consecutive patients undergoing penile prosthesis revision surgery performed by a single surgeon (B.R.K.). Eleven patients filled out the IIEF prior to surgery and 26 completed it following surgery. Results Thirty-nine consecutive patients underwent 55 revision procedures related to a prior penile prosthesis. Thirty-four patients (87%) have a functional implant with a median follow-up of 6.5 months (range 1–42 months). Significant improvements in the overall IIEF, EF domain, and satisfaction domain were seen in those patients studied prior to and following revision surgery. The total IIEF, EF domain, and satisfaction domain of the IIEF for the group of 26 responders were 60.7 ± 19.3, 26.6 ± 8.7, and 15.7 ± 5.6, respectively. Patients with fibrotic corporal bodies scored significantly lower on the EF and satisfaction domains than did any other group. Conclusions Penile prosthesis revision surgery is highly successful in providing men with a functional implant. The prostheses function well and patients are satisfied with their devices. Further study of those men with corporal fibrosis is warranted in order to determine the factors needed to improve their overall satisfaction with revision surgery. Kava BR, Yang Y, and Soloway CT. Efficacy and patient satisfaction associated with penile prosthesis revision surgery.

Objectives The stage of presentation of prostate cancer has changed dramatically in the past two decades, largely because of prostate-specific antigen screening and increased public awareness regarding the disease. Recently, strides have been made in the validation, development, and approval of bladder cancer (BC) markers. We sought to evaluate whether any stage migration has occurred for patients with BC during the same period. Methods A total of 351 and 1262 patients underwent radical cystectomy and radical retropubic prostatectomy, respectively, between 1992 and 2005 by one surgeon. The patients were divided into two consecutive groups: group 1 (1992 to 1998) and group 2 (1999 to 2005). The baseline and pathologic characteristics of the patients were compared. Results No differences were found in the clinical or pathologic staging between the two groups of patients undergoing radical cystectomy. The 5-year overall and disease-specific survival also was not different between the two groups. For patients with prostate cancer, those in group 2 presented at a younger age, with a lower prostate-specific antigen level, and had a lower clinical stage. Group 2 patients had a decrease in the incidence of extracapsular extension, a decreased tumor volume, and a decrease in the incidence of Gleason 8 to 10 tumors. Conclusions During two consecutive periods, our patients with prostate cancer presented with the cancer at an earlier stage and had more favorable pathologic features after radical retropubic prostatectomy. However, our patients with BC did not demonstrate any stage migration. Physicians need to be more aggressive in diagnosing BC, especially in patients at high risk of the disease. Risk factors must be emphasized, urine markers should be used in a screening strategy, and the indications for radical cystectomy should be liberalized.

Background Anastomotic stricture is a complex and substantial complication following Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Initially, endoscopic and percutaneous approaches are often attempted, but the gold standard remains surgical biliary reconstruction, especially for refractory stricture. However, this solution leaves much room for improvement, due to the challenging nature of the biliary reconstruction procedure, in which anastomotic stricture may still occur. Aims To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of choledochoscopic high-frequency needle-knife electrotomy as an intervention in the treatment of anastomotic strictures following Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Methods From February 2010 to October 2014, clinical data was collected and retrospectively compared for patients who underwent balloon dilation or/and choledochoscopic high-frequency needle-knife electrotomy for the treatment of anastomotic strictures after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Results A total of 38 patients underwent successful choledochoscopic treatment and all the anastomotic strictures were removed successfully, 19 of which were treated with electrotomy, 7 with balloon dilation, and 12 with both electrotomy and balloon dilation. Among these groups,the average operating times were 6.9 ± 2.4 min,10.1 ± 6.8 min, and 20.2 ± 13.5 min, respectively. The average stent supporting times were 6.3 ± 0.7 months, 6.5 ± 0.6 months, and 6.1 ± 0.4 respectively. The mean follow-up after stent removal was 42.1 ± 27.4 months, and in 26.3 % (5/19), 28.5 % (2/7) and 16.7 % (2/12) of cases, recurrent anastomotic stricture occurred. Of these 9 total patients with recurrent anastomotic, two patients were successfully rescued by full-covered self-expanding removable metal stents and 7 patients by electrotomy combined with balloon dilation. Conclusions Choledochoscopic high-frequency needle-knife electrotomy is both feasible and safe in the treatment of anastomotic stricture after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy, with a similar long-term outcome to balloon dilation in treating anastomotic stricture after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. A combination of choledochoscopic electrotomy concurrent with balloon dilation should be recommended based on the low rate of recurrence.

Biliary cast syndrome (BCS) is an unusual complication of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). BCS is characterized by multiple intrahepatic biliary strictures, ductal dilatation, intrahepatic abscesses, and biliary anastomotic leakage. The symptoms of BCS usually include high fever, jaundice and cholestatic liver enzyme elevation; similar to the symptoms observed in some patients with intrahepatic bile duct stones. The etiology of cast development is not fully known, and its management is difficult. Limited success using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) or open exploration to clear casts has been reported, and failure usually results in retransplantation. We describe a diabetic man who developed a BC after deceased donor liver transplantation. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary cholangiography was performed and revealed a filling defect in both the right and left intrahepatic systems, extending down to the anastomosis. Percutaneous transhepatic choledochoscopy proved that it was consistent with BCs, and the casts were removed by stone retrieval basket, foreign body pliers, and adsorber.

Aiming at the challenge of large-scale wind power integration, a new method for integrating the heating load and heating storage control is proposed based on district energy system with a core of CHP. In the new method, thermal energy storage (TES) can increase the flexibility of CHP's heat output and power output to follow the fluctuation of wind power. The distributed electric heat pumps (EHPs) are used for heating load control to increase the capability to balance the wind power and electricity demand. In addition, the building thermal inertia and human thermal comfort are taken into account to make the power consumption of EHPs to follow the wind power. At last, the simulation results show the effect on balancing the wind power and electricity demand as well as the influence of space heating load characteristic.

Private browsing is a feature in web browsers to prevent local users from gaining information about browsing sessions. However, it is not clear how well people interpret private browsing's functionalities and what are the privacy gains from using it. Towards studying people's understanding of private browsing, we conducted a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our survey results show that (1) one third of our participants were not aware of this privacy-enhancing feature, and (2) for people who knew or even used this feature, they had various misconceptions which could put them at risk. In the end, we provide design suggestions to help address these misconceptions.

Suspension-colloidal transport in porous media with the particle detachment usually exhibits a significant permeability decline. It occurs due to mobilisation and migration of detached colloidal or suspended fines with their straining in thin pores of the rock. Numerous laboratory coreflood tests show that the time for permeability stabilisation counts for hundreds of injected pore volumes, while the classical filtration theory assumes the released fines transport by the bulk of the carrier fluid yielding one pore volume injection to stabilise the permeability. In the current paper, the stabilisation delay effect is explained by slow drift of the mobilised fines near to pore walls. The basic flow equations for a single-phase particle transport in porous media with velocity lower than the carrier fluid velocity are proposed, and the analytical model for one dimensional flow with particle release and straining under the piece wise increasing velocity is derived. The laboratory data are in a good agreement with the results of mathematical modelling. The analytical model for well inflow performance is developed. It successfully matches several field cases.

Today, people have the opportunity to opt-in to usage-based automotive insurances for reduced premiums by allowing companies to monitor their driving behavior. Several companies claim to measure only speed data to preserve privacy. With our elastic pathing algorithm, we show that drivers can be tracked by merely collecting their speed data and knowing their home location, which insurance companies do, with an accuracy that constitutes privacy intrusion. To demonstrate the algorithm's real-world applicability, we evaluated its performance with datasets from central New Jersey and Seattle, Washington, representing suburban and urban areas. Our algorithm predicted destinations with error within 250 meters for 14% traces and within 500 meters for 24% traces in the New Jersey dataset (254 traces). For the Seattle dataset (691 traces), we similarly predicted destinations with error within 250 and 500 meters for 13% and 26% of the traces respectively. Our work shows that these insurance schemes enable a substantial breach of privacy.

Smartphone users are increasingly using apps that can access their location. Often these accesses can be without users knowledge and consent. For example, recent research has shown that installation-time capability disclosures are ineffective in informing people about their apps’ location access. In this paper, we present a four-week field study (N=22) on run-time location access disclosures. Towards this end, we implemented a novel method to disclose location accesses by location-enabled apps on participants’ smartphones. In particular, the method did not need any changes to participants’ phones beyond installing our study app. We randomly divided our participants to two groups: a Disclosure group (N=13), who received our disclosures and a No Disclosure group (N=9) who received no disclosures from us. Our results confirm that the Android platform’s location access disclosure method does not inform participants effectively. Almost all participants pointed out that their location was accessed by several apps they would have not expected to access their location. Further, several apps accessed their location more frequently than they expected. We conclude that our participants appreciated the transparency brought by our run-time disclosures and that because of the disclosures most of them had taken actions to manage their apps’ location access.

The interpolation error of an optical encoder is largely determined by the imperfections in the electrical signals, such as amplitude error, phase-shift error, DC error and higher harmonic distortion. In this paper, an optimized optical encoder based on generalized grating imaging is presented. We first describe the basic principle and configuration of the optical encoder. To achieve four electrical signals with equal amplitudes, equal DC contents and accurate 90° electrically phase-shift, a photodiodes array is adopted as the photo-detector. The photodiodes array offers the advantage of single-field scanning. Then, to solve the remaining problem of higher harmonic distortion, a slit-width-modulated index grating is proposed to suppress the dominant third order and fifth order harmonics simultaneously, and the cell's width of the photodiodes array is optimized to further reduce the fifth order harmonic. Experiments have been carried out to verify the theoretical results. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed optimizing methods have been confirmed from the experimental results.

This paper aims at the difficulties in peak load supply and wind power integration with combined heat and power (CHP) widely used in North of China. Currently CHP units are excluded for electricity peak regulation and wind power is abandoned at the time of low electricity demand. In this paper, a method of integrated electricity and heating load control based on smart grid technology is proposed with introduction of electric heat pumps (EHPs) considering the heating delay due to heating distance. According to aforementioned methodologies, integrated electricity and heating load control is enabled: Firstly, in the electricity peak load or low wind power, heating water from CHP units is suggested to be shaved so as to increase its power output and reduce the peak of electricity load or compensate wind power equivalently; Secondly, taking account of heating delay due to heating distance, EHPs can supply heating by electricity to replace parts of CHP's heating water in the electricity valley load, so that the valley of electricity load is increased or excess wind power is utilized. At last, a numerical simulation concerning CHP, wind power turbines and condensing unit is performed to illustrate the result of this paper, it shows that the peak load can be cut equivalently and the capacity of integrated wind power is increased while the abandoned wind power is reduced. Moreover less energy consumption is realizable by this new method.

Fibrin glue is widely used in clinical practice and plays an important role in reducing postoperative complications. We report a case of a 65-year-old man, whose common bile duct was injured by fibrin glue, with a history of failed laparoscopic cholecystectomy and open operation for uncontrolled laparoscopic bleeding. In view of the persistent liver dysfunction, xanthochromia and skin itching, the patient was admitted to us for further management. Ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) revealed multiple stones in the common bile duct, and liver function tests confirmed the presence of obstructive jaundice and liver damage. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography was unsuccessfully performed to remove choledocholithiasis, but a small amount of tissue was removed and pathologically confirmed as calcified biliary mucosa. This was followed by open surgery for suspicious cholangiocarcinoma. There was no evidence of cholangiocarcinoma, but the common bile duct wall had a defect of 8 mm × 10 mm at Calot's triangle. A hard, grid-like foreign body was removed, which proved to be solid fibrin glue. Subsequently, the residual choledocholithiasis was removed by a choledochoscopic procedure, and the common bile duct deletion was repaired by liver round ligament with T-tube drainage. Six months later, endoscopy was performed through the T-tube fistula and showed a well-repaired bile duct wall. Eight months later, MRCP confirmed no bile duct stenosis. A review of reported cases showed that fibrin glue is widely used in surgery, but it can also cause organ damage. Its mechanism may be related to discharge reactions.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the risk of long-term recurrence for patients who received cell-salvaged blood during radical cystectomy (RC). METHODS We retrospectively analyzed an RC database and compared those who did and did not receive cell-salvaged blood according to baseline parameters, pathologic outcomes, and recurrence. RESULTS A total of 378 patients underwent RC between 1992 and 2005 by one surgeon. Of these, 65 (17.2%) received cell-salvaged blood and 313 (82.8%) did not. The two groups had similar baseline characteristics. There were no differences between the two groups when compared by pathologic stage. The median follow-up for patients who did and did not receive cell-salvaged blood was 19.1 and 20.7 months, respectively (P = 0.464). The 3-year disease-specific survival rate for the two groups was 72.2% and 73.0%, respectively (P = 0.90). CONCLUSIONS Intraoperative cell salvage is a safe blood management strategy for patients undergoing RC. There is no increased risk of metastatic disease or death for those who receive cell-salvaged blood. Concerns about spreading tumors cells by IOCS during RC would seem unwarranted. However, only a prospective, multicenter, randomized trial would provide the most valid assessment of the safety of IOCS.

In the past a few years, many watermarking approaches have been proposed for solving the copyright protection problems, most of the watermarking schemes employ gray-level images to embed the watermarks, whereas the application to color images is scarce and usually works on the luminous or individual color channel. In this paper, a novel intensity adaptive color image watermarking algorithm based on genetic algorithm (CIWGA) is presented. The adaptive embedding scheme in color image's three component sub-images' wavelet coefficients, which belong to texture-active regions, not only improves image quality, but also furthest enhances security and robustness of the watermarked image. Then a novel watermark recovering method is proposed based on neural networks, which enhance the performance of watermark system successfully. The experimental results show that our method is more flexible than traditional methods and successfully fulfills the compromise between robustness and image quality.

In this paper, a novel intensity adaptive color image watermarking algorithm based on genetic algorithm is presented. The adaptive embedding scheme in color image’s three component sub-images’ wavelet coefficients, which belong to texture-active regions, not only improves image quality, but also furthest enhances security and robustness of the watermarked image. Then a novel watermark recovering method is proposed based on hybrid neural networks, which enhance the performance of watermark system successfully. The experimental results show that our method is more flexible than traditional methods and successfully fulfills the compromise between robustness and image quality.

Fines migration causes significant permeability damage, due to mobilisation of particles at increased velocities, their migration in pores followed by straining at pore throats and attachment to pore walls. Numerous coreflooding tests with piecewise increasing rates are conducted. There are two main features of these tests: the first is long-term injection, which allows calculating permeability stabilisation time; the second is pressure measurement at intermediate points, allowing for evaluating the permeability profile along the core. The impedance data obtained from experiments are matched with the results from analytical model. It shows that the mobilised particles move with velocity much smaller than the carrier fluid, yielding long time for permeability stabilisation. It contradicts the classical filtration theory, which indicates the fines are transported with the carrier fluid velocity.