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Spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) fiber lasers attract great interest owing to their distinctive spatiotemporal characteristics and potential to generate high-energy pulse. Herein, we report an all few-mode fiber figure-eight laser STML by a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror at 1.0 µm. The laser can generate single and multiple pulses at different central wavelengths. In particular, various types of bound-state solitons, such as conventional bound-state solitons and double bound-state solitons, are also achieved and further confirmed by the numerical simulations. The obtained results contribute to further understanding the nonlinear characteristics of STML fiber lasers and such a laser has potential applications in optical communications, especially in information coding.

Background DDP-based chemotherapy is one of the first-line treatment in GC. However, the therapeutic efficacy of DDP is limited due to side effects. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop novel adjuvants to synergize with DDP. We had demonstrated previously that rMV-Hu191 had antitumor activity in GC. Here we examined the synergism of rMV-Hu191 with DDP in vitro and in vivo. Methods Cellular proliferation, the synergistic effect and cell apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8 assay, ZIP analysis and flow cytometry, respectively. The protein levels and location of ASMase were monitored by western blot and immunofluorescence assay. shRNA and imipramine were used to regulate the expression and activity of ASMase. MβCD was administrated to disrupt lipid rafts. Mice bearing GC xenografts were used to confirm the synergism in vivo. Results From our data, combinational therapy demonstrated synergistic cytotoxicity both in resistant GC cell lines from a Chinese patient and drug-nonresistant GC cell lines, and increased cell apoptosis, instead of viral replication. Integrity of lipid rafts and ASMase were required for rMV-Hu191- and combination-induced apoptosis. The ASMase was delivered to the lipid raft microdomains at the initial stage of rMV-Hu191 treatment. In vivo GC mice xenografts confirmed the synergism of combinational treatment, together with increased apoptosis and trivial side-effects. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that rMV-Hu191 combined with DDP could be used as a potential therapeutic strategy in GC treatment and the ASMase and the integrity of lipid rafts are required for the synergistic effects.

Spot continual induction hardening (SCIH) is one kind of selective surface treatments, which has been proven to be appropriate for improving the tribological property and the fatigue behavior of specific areas of treated components. In our work, an electromagnetic-thermal-mechanical-metallurgical coupled numerical model was developed based on a novel co-simulation of ANSYS and ABAQUS/standard via making use of these two commercial finite element softwares' respective advantages to describe the SCIH process. The simulated results agreed well with experimental data in temperature development and the distributions of hardness, phase and residual stresses. The relationship between the inductor velocity and surface characteristics was discussed and the optimization of induction coil velocity was carried out based on the validated numerical model.

Objective To analyze and compare the effects of peri-treatment analgesics on acute and chronic pain and postoperative functional recovery of patients with thoracolumbar fractures, so as to guide the clinical drug use. Methods Seven hundred nineteen patients with thoracolumbar fractures were collected and divided into acetaminophen dihydrocodeine, celecoxib, and etoricoxib groups. The main indicators were the degree of postoperative pain (visual analog scale (VAS)), the incidence of chronic pain and postoperative functional recovery (Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI) and Japanese Orthopedics Association score (JOA)), which were continuously tracked through long-term telephone follow-up. The correlation analysis of ODI-pain score, peri-treatment VAS score, and ODI index was performed, and bivariate regression analysis was conducted to understand the risk factors for chronic pain. Results Regression analysis showed that severe spinal cord injury and peri-treatment use of acetaminophen dihydrocodeine were both one of the risk factors for postoperative chronic pain. But there were no statistically conspicuous differences in basic characteristics, preoperative injury, and intraoperative conditions. Compared with the other two groups, patients in the acetaminophen dihydrocodeine group had longer peri-therapeutic analgesic use, higher pain-related scores (VAS 1 day preoperatively, VAS 1 month postoperatively, and ODI-pain 1 year postoperatively), higher VAS variation, higher incidence of chronic pain 1 year after surgery, and higher ODI index. And other ODI items and JOA assessments showed no statistically significant differences. In addition, the correlation analysis showed that the peri-treatment pain score was correlated with the severity of postoperative chronic pain. Conclusion Although the peri-treatment analgesic effect of acetaminophen dihydrocodeine is good, it is still necessary to combine analgesics with different mechanisms of action for patients with severe preoperative pain of thoracolumbar fracture, so as to inhibit the incidence of postoperative chronic pain and improve the quality of postoperative rehabilitation.

We report the spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber laser operating at 1.55 µm based on semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors with the mode-locking threshold as low as 104 mW. Benefiting from the multimode interference filtering effect introduced in the laser cavity not only the central wavelength can be continuously tuned from 1557 nm to 1567 nm, but also the number of the output pulses can be adjusted from 1 to 4 by simply adjusting the polarization controllers. This work provides a new platform for exploring the dynamic characteristics of spatiotemporal mode-locked pulses at negative dispersion regime. Moreover, this kind of tunable laser has potential applications in fields of all-optical signal processing, fiber sensing and information coding.

We report a switchable and spacing tunable dual-wavelength spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) laser based on the multimode interference filtering effect in an all-fiber linear cavity. The dual-wavelength STML operations combined with different pulse patterns are achieved. By adjusting the polarization controllers, the dual-wavelength STML pulses can be switched to single wavelength operation, which is tunable up to 35 nm under certain pump powers. Moreover, the dual-wavelength spacing can also be tuned from 8 nm to 22 nm. The obtained results contribute to understanding and exploring the spatiotemporal characteristics operating in the multi-wavelength regime of STML fiber lasers. All-fiber STML lasers with lasing wavelength tunability and flexibility may have applications in the fields of optical communications and optical measurements.

We report the spatial beam self-cleaning in bi-tapered conventional multimode fibers (MMFs) with different tapered lengths. Through the introduction of the bi-tapered structure in MMFs, the input beam with poor beam quality from a high-power fiber laser can be converted to a centered, bell-shaped beam in a short length, due to the strengthened nonlinear modes coupling. It is found that the bi-tapered MMF with longer tapered length at the same waist diameter shows better beam self-cleaning effect and larger spectral broadening. The obtained results offer a new method to improve the beam quality of high-power laser at low cost. Furthermore, it may be interesting for manufacturing bi-tapered MMF-based devices to obtain the quasi-fundamental mode beam in spatiotemporal mode-locked fiber lasers.

Pulsating behavior is a universal phenomenon in versatile fields. In nonlinear dissipative systems, the solitons also pulsate under proper conditions and show many interesting dynamics. However, the pulsation dynamics are generally concerned with single-soliton cases. Herein, by utilizing real-time spectroscopy technique, namely, dispersive Fourier-transform (DFT), we reveal the distinct dynamical diversity of pulsating solitons in a fiber laser. In particular, the weak to strong explosive behaviors of pulsating solitons, as well as the rogue wave generation during explosions are observed. Moreover, the concept of soliton pulsation is extended to the multi-soliton case. It is found that the simultaneous pulsations of energy, separation and relative phase difference could be observed for solitons inside the molecule, while the pulsations of each individual in a multi-soliton bunch could be regular or irregular. These findings will shed new insights into the complex nonlinear behavior of solitons in ultrafast fiber lasers as well as dissipative optical systems.

Preventing the infectious disease from breakout and maintaining public health have always been placed at the first place when making public healthy policy. When the epidemic trend of infectious disease arises, compulsory treatment is an efficient pattern to control the rapid spreading. A sliding mode is carried out to evaluate the effect of compulsory treatment in the infectious disease controlling. When the number of infected persons reach a certain level Ic, the policy of compulsory treatment will be carried out at rate f . We analyze the influence of the compulsory treatment rate f and threshold value Ic to commence the control. Finally we investigate the theorems and the existence of the optimality combination.

The nonlinear synthetic bending moment caused by springing and whipping can be simplified as the superposition of high-frequency load components and low-frequency load components. In order to investigate the influence of this high-low frequency superimposed loading on the fatigue performance of hull structure, the high-low frequency superimposed fatigue tests under different frequency ratios, amplitude ratios and mean stresses were carried out for the time domain response characteristics of nonlinear vertical bending moments in the wave load model test of River-Sea-Going-Ship. Combined with the rain-flow counting method and Goodman correction method, the cumulative damage of small loads under fatigue limit and the effect of high-low frequency coupling damage on the fatigue life were analyzed, a fatigue life prediction model suitable for high-low frequency superimposed loading was proposed. The analysis results show that the high-frequency, small-amplitude loads have a significant impact on the fatigue life of the structure. The threshold that the high-low frequency coupling damage causes the reduction of fatigue life is closely related to the combined effects of the amplitude ratio and the frequency ratio.

We report Q-switched mode-locked (QML) pulses generation in an Yb-doped multimode fiber (MMF) laser by using a graphene-deposited multimode microfiber (GMM) for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The single-wavelength QML operation with the central wavelength tunable from 1028.81 nm to 1039.20 nm and the dual-wavelength QML operation with the wavelength spacing tunable from 0.93 nm to 5.79 nm are achieved due to the multimode interference filtering effect induced by the few-mode fiber and MMF structure and the GMM in the cavity. Particularly, in the single-wavelength QML operation, the fifth harmonic is also realized owing to the high nonlinear effect of the GMM. The obtained results indicate that the QML pulses can be generated in the MMF laser, and such a flexible tunable laser has promising applications in optical sensing, measuring, and laser processing.

Shot peening (SP) is an efficient mechanical surface treatment to improve the fatigue property of metallic component. T-welded structure made from Q345D steel via CO 2 gas shielded arc welding, which is one of the typical joints used in River-Sea-Going Ship (RSGS), was chosen as research object for fatigue analysis before and after SP. The surface properties of near weld toe region, such as micro-hardness, metallographic phase, residual stresses, roughness and surface topography were characterized with the aim of investigating the SP influence on fatigue life and analyzing the reason for optimum SP parameter of T-welded joint specimen. The cyclic loading mode of fatigue test was based on the actual working condition with loading amplitude of 7.2 kN, stress ratio of 0.1 and loading frequency of 10 Hz. The fatigue test results showed choosing suitable peening intensity (PI = 0.3 mmA) could obtain the best fatigue life of T-welded joint specimens, which could prolong 100% fatigue life compared with the unpeened specimen.

There are two aims in the present paper. The first one is to see and understand the detailed buckling process, especially the interactions between material nonlinearity and geometric nonlinearity on the post-buckling stage, of stiffened panels subjected to in-plane compressive load. The second one is to validate the similarity criteria of designing different sizes of stiffened panels which have the same buckling modes and proportional ultimate strength. These similar relationships make it possible to predict the buckling behavior and ultimate strength of a full-size structure by testing its scale-down model. To these ends, three different sizes of stiffened panels with the same flexural rigidity ratio, plate slenderness and column slenderness, were designed, manufactured and tested. In order to trace and analysis the detailed buckling process, three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) method was employed. So, the integrated evolution process of global deformation and strain distribution fields of the stiffened panels were obtained. These data also provide accurate data to verify the numerical or theoretical method in predicting the bulking, especially post-buckling process and ultimate strength of stiffened panel. Results show that the three stiffened panels have reasonable similarity relationships of the buckling failure process. Finally, finite element models with measured initial imperfections were established to reappear the experimental process. The numerical results agree well with the experimental data.

Background This study aimed to screen sensitive biomarkers for the efficacy evaluation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. Methods In this study, Illumina digital gene expression sequencing technology was applied and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between patients presenting pathological complete response (pCR) and non-pathological complete response (NpCR) were identified. Further, gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were then performed. The genes in significant enriched pathways were finally quantified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to confirm that they were differentially expressed. Additionally, GSE23988 from Gene Expression Omnibus database was used as the validation dataset to confirm the DEGs. Results After removing the low-quality reads, 715 DEGs were finally detected. After mapping to KEGG pathways, 10 DEGs belonging to the ubiquitin proteasome pathway (HECTD3, PSMB10, UBD, UBE2C, and UBE2S) and cytokine–cytokine receptor interactions (CCL2, CCR1, CXCL10, CXCL11, and IL2RG) were selected for further analysis. These 10 genes were finally quantified by qRT-PCR to confirm that they were differentially expressed (the log2 fold changes of selected genes were − 5.34, 7.81, 6.88, 5.74, 3.11, 19.58, 8.73, 8.88, 7.42, and 34.61 for HECTD3, PSMB10, UBD, UBE2C, UBE2S, CCL2, CCR1, CXCL10, CXCL11, and IL2RG, respectively). Moreover, 53 common genes were confirmed by the validation dataset, including downregulated UBE2C and UBE2S. Conclusion Our results suggested that these 10 genes belonging to these two pathways might be useful as sensitive biomarkers for the efficacy evaluation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer.

The UEs at the edge of the cell in TD-LTE-Advanced system suffer from a poor communication quality invariably. In this paper, a novel relay mechanism, called Device-to-Device mobile relay (D2DMR), is proposed. In the D2DMR mechanism, the UE at the edge of the cell or in a poor coverage area can communicate with eNodeB via another UE’s relay. The link between these two UEs is established in the Device-to-Device (D2D) communication mode. The D2DMR mechanism can expand the cell coverage and improve the system capacity of TD-LTE-Advanced system with little interference. Numerical analysis and simulation results show that the D2DMR mechanism can improve the throughput of the TD-LTE-Advanced system greatly.

Background Exercise cardiovascular magnetic resonance (ExCMR) has great potential for clinical use but its development has been limited by a lack of compatible equipment and robust real-time imaging techniques. We developed an exCMR protocol using an in-scanner cycle ergometer and assessed its performance in differentiating athletes from non-athletes. Methods Free-breathing real-time CMR (1.5T Aera, Siemens) was performed in 11 athletes (5 males; median age 29 [IQR: 28–39] years) and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers (7 males; median age 26 [interquartile range (IQR): 25–33] years). All participants underwent an in-scanner exercise protocol on a CMR compatible cycle ergometer (Lode BV, the Netherlands), with an initial workload of 25W followed by 25W-increment every minute. In 20 individuals, exercise capacity was also evaluated by cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Scan-rescan reproducibility was assessed in 10 individuals, at least 7 days apart. Results The exCMR protocol demonstrated excellent scan-rescan (cardiac index (CI): 0.2 ± 0.5L/min/m2) and inter-observer (ventricular volumes: 1.2 ± 5.3mL) reproducibility. CI derived from exCMR and CPET had excellent correlation (r = 0.83, p < 0.001) and agreement (1.7 ± 1.8L/min/m2). Despite similar values at rest (P = 0.87), athletes had increased exercise CI compared to healthy individuals (at peak exercise: 12.2 [IQR: 10.2–13.5] L/min/m2 versus 8.9 [IQR: 7.5–10.1] L/min/m2, respectively; P < 0.001). Peak exercise CI, where image acquisition lasted 13–17 s, outperformed that at rest (c-statistics = 0.95 [95% confidence interval: 0.87–1.00] versus 0.48 [95% confidence interval: 0.23–0.72], respectively; P < 0.0001 for comparison) in differentiating athletes from healthy volunteers; and had similar performance as VO2max (c-statistics = 0.84 [95% confidence interval = 0.62–1.00]; P = 0.29 for comparison). Conclusions We have developed a novel in-scanner exCMR protocol using real-time CMR that is highly reproducible. It may now be developed for clinical use for physiological studies of the heart and circulation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12968-017-0322-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

© 2016 IEEE. In this paper, we develop and implement a new email spamming system leveraged by coupled text similarity analysis on user preference and a virtual meta-layer user-based email network, we take the social networks or campus LAN networks as the spam social network scenario. Fewer current practices exploit social networking initiatives to assist in spam filtering. Social network has essentially a large number of accounts features and attributes to be considered. Instead of considering large amount of users accounts features, we construct a new model called meta-layer email network which can reduce these features by only considering individual user's actions as an indicator of user preference, these common user actions are considered to construct a social behavior-based email network. With the further analytic results from text similarity measurements for each individual email contents, the behavior-based virtual email network can be improved with much higher accuracy on user preferences. Further, a coupled selection model is developed for this email network, we are able to consider all relevant factors/features in a whole and recommend the emails practically to the user individually. The experimental results show the new approach can achieve higher precision and accuracy with better email ranking in favor of personalised preference.

Chinas offshore oil and gas has been developed from shallow water to deep water. Subsea production facilities play more and more role in deepwater oil and gas fields, in which Christmas tree is the key equipment to control and regulate the oil well production of deepwater production systems, but it has great installation costs and risk. For complex underwater environment, it is necessary to find a best way to install the Christmas tree securely and rapidly. ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) is wildly used in the field of offshore oil, especially in deep water for its large working depth, safe, efficient and other characteristics, and it has become an indispensable tool for development of deep-sea oil and gas. In one Christmas tree installation at Liwan3-1 deepwater oilfield, the ROV succeeded in assisting the installation of Christmas tree. The solutions for winding and wrong operation risk in installation process are given in the end.

In view of anti-UV of the high strength synthetic fiber hoisting belt, the researcher compared the effects on anti-ultraviolet of SCJ-966 and HTUV100,through before and after intensity test and the test of Anti-solarization performance,then comparing with tests of fiber bundle strength,the reacher analyzed the effect of anti-UV and the difference on intensity.The result shows that:two UV performance are very good, far more than the European and national standards,and the webbing performance test results show that the UV protection of SCJ-966 UV protection is better than HTUV100, but the intensity rate is the former smaller than the latter, the extent damage of hoisting belt is the latter worse than the former.

Because both of the volume and the weight of the photoelectric platform are small, the structure of two frames and two axes is used in the photoelectric platform. As the key component of the photoelectric platform, the main frame should have sufficient strength and rigidity. In order to achieve this object, three-dimensional entity model of the main frame is established using CATIA software. Then the finite-element analysis of the model is finished with ANSYS Workbench. Based on the analysis results, the weak links of the main frame is found. Then these links are improved and the main frame is analyzed again. After improving the structure, the results of the finite-element analysis show that the main frame meets the requirements of design and has perfect overall performance.

According to the characteristics and the development tendency of sea-crossing bridge construction, a concept of multi-purpose offshore operation platform for the construction of sea-crossing bridge is introduced in this paper. Meanwhile, the structure design plan and the features and advantages of the platform for sea-crossing bridge construction are listed in detail. The analysis shows that the multi-purpose offshore operation platform based on the modularization design concept could complete the tasks of sea-crossing bridge construction safely and efficiently. Due to the application of multi-purpose offshore operation platform, the construction cost of bridge should be reduced and the economy of project construction should be improved.

In order to accurately emulate the operation conditions of high-speed motorized spindle in the reliability experiment, a dynamic loading system is proposed. This system allows simultaneously loading torque, radial and axial force against the spindle. The torque load is carried out by the electric dynamometer; the non-contact vibration exciter completes the radial load; the axial load is carried out by a self-made electromagnet. Moreover, this system also can detect out the basic features and failure data of the motorized spindle during the loading. And these sampling data provide a quantitative elevation for its reliability analysis. This paper presents a simple solution to the high-speed motorized spindle reliability research where the loading experiment is designed with the spindle whose maximum rotational speed is 18000rpm.

The S-N curves of medium carbon steel(MCS) are determined by the ultrasonic symmetric bending fatigue system (20 KHz). The results show that two S-N curves of MCS display the characteristic of “continually decreasing type” up to 109 cycles and exhibit no traditional horizontal plateau beyond 106 cycles. When the fatigue cycles are over 109, fatigue failure do occurs. By comparison of the two curves of 2mm thick and 5mm thick MCS, the results show that in the high-cycle stage(107cycles), size effect has no significant impact on fatigue Properties. This can also be explained by the theory of crack initiation, in high cycle stage, fatigue crack initiation exists in the sample surface, and in ultra-high-cycle stage, fatigue crack initiation exists in internal initiation.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to compare the changes in trunk and shoulder angles, and reaction forces under the two hands elicited by different hand base of support positions during sitting pivot transfer. [Subjects and Methods] Eighteen unimpaired subjects performed independent sitting pivot transfer. Subjects performed sitting pivot transfer between an initial seat to a target seat by only using their hands positioned at the same height as and lower than the seat position. Trunk and shoulder kinematics, and reaction forces on the trailing and leading hands were calculated. Mean peak joint angles and forces were compared between the hand positions using the pared t-test for the lift phase of the transfer. [Results] There were significant increases in the trunk angles of forward and lateral flexion, even though rotation decreased while transferring in the lower hand position. Increased shoulder flexion, anterior/posterior forces and reduced lateral forces were also shown. [Conclusion] Placing the hands of the supporting arms lower than the seat position during sitting pivot transfer was identified as having biomechanical advantages. Therefore, the lower hand position can be recommended as an effective and safe method for sitting pivot transfer by patients with spinal cord injury and can be utilized as a reference data for considering the appropriate height of aids for a wheelchair.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a common etiological factor leading to chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer. In addition there is a close relationship between H. pylori infection and non-ulcer dyspepsia or gastric cancer. The high incidence of H. pylori infection in pediatric patients in developing countries is thought to inhibit their physical development because of malnutrition anaemia and growth retardation. Anti-H. pylori therapy is recommended in children with H. pylori-induced gastritis and ulcer. The intake of high-dose broad-spectrum antibiotics may cause serious side effects including the alteration of intestinal flora fungal infection impaired liver function and drug resistance. In recent years simultaneous administration of probiotics has been used to alleviate the side effects of drug therapy and boost the therapeutic effectiveness of H. pylori eradication. In this study we investigated changes in the intestinal microbial flora in H. pylori infected children and afterH. pylori eradication therapy. We attempted to establish a basis for future research into the role of probiotics in anti-H. pylori treatment. (excerpt)

For a River-Sea ship hull with a relatively low torsional rigidity due to the large deck openings, the analysis of the effect of torsion induced warping stress[1] on the structural strength as well as the ultimate hull strength interaction relationships between the torsion and vertical bending is of significant importance. The present study deals with the ultimate strength of a River-Sea ship under combined action of bending and torsion by the means of numerical and experimental research. Based on the results, a proposed equation defining the ultimate strength interaction relationship for this River-Sea ship is given.

Background: Mycoplasma genitalium (M. genitalium) has been shown to be involved in chronic non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU). However, the prevalence and determinants of this emerging sexually transmissible infection among prostatitis patients remain obscure. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-five patients diagnosed with prostatitis and 152 health controls from sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinics in Shanghai, China, were selected. M. genitalium was detected in the initial voided urine (VB1), midstream of urine (VB2), expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) and the opening urine after massage (VB3) by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) targeting the Mycoplasma genitalium adhesion protein (MgPa). An infection of the prostate was considered positive if a uropathogen was found only in the EPS sample or VB3, or if it was at least four-fold greater in EPS or VB3 than in VB1 or VB2. The prostatitis patients with M. genitalium infection were treated with azithromycin. Results: The prevalence of M. genitalium infection was significantly higher among the prostatitis group than the control group (10 vs 3%, P = 0.005). Among the prostatitis group, M. genitalium infection was significantly associated with those patients who received treatment for genitourinary infection previously than those patients who did not (17 vs 6%; adjusted OR, 4.011; 95% CI, 1.562–10.300). The symptoms were totally or partially improved in 83% per cent (19/23) of prostatitis patients with M. genitalium, positive in EPS and M. genitalium turned negative after azithromycin treatment. Conclusions: M. genitalium was prevalent in the patients with prostatitis, particularly in those who received ineffective antibiotic treatment for the bacterium, and was identified as having a significant association of prostatitis.

Based on the several practical research on real ship hull ultimate strength model test, a design method of hull structure model for ultimate strength test, which combine the numerical simulation analysis with a similar model design are proposed.

This paper presents a new method for urban detection from high-spatial-resolution satellite images. Unlike traditional approaches using only texture information for urban detection, we integrate several complementary image features through multiple Kernel Learning framework, and demonstrate that fusing multiple features can help improving urban detection accuracy rate. Furthermore, since that most of supervised urban classification approaches are mainly based on block-based image interpretation, the resulting urban boundary is very coarse. To handle this, we formulate the urban boundary refinement as a binary labeling problem, and propose a graph cut based approach to solve it. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the existing algorithm in terms of detection accuracy.

Age at onset is likely to be related to a wide range of problems in Parkinson's disease (PD), including cardinal motor features, motor complications and non-motor symptoms (NMS). This study investigated the effect of the age at onset on NMS.Two hundred and thirty patients were examined and classified into one of three groups based on age at onset: early onset PD (EOPD) group (45 years), middle-age onset group (45-64 years) and old-age onset group (≥65 years). The trends relating to NMS were compared across the three groups. The EOPD and old-age onset groups were separately studied to determine their association to the appearance of non-motor features using logistic regression analysis.There were upward trends in the occurrence of dribbling (P=0.009; all P values are stated for trend), impaired taste/smelling (P=0.016), constipation (P=0.006), urinary urgency (P=0.002), nocturia (P=0.018), hallucinations (P=0.016) and acting out during dreams (P=0.011) with the increase of age at onset. Older age at onset is an independent risk factor for dementia (OR=8.42, CI 3.16-22.44), dribbling (OR=4.14, CI 1.93-8.87), impaired taste/smelling (OR=2.23, CI 1.20-4.13), constipation (OR=3.42, CI 1.88-6.24), incomplete bowel emptying (OR=2.23, CI 1.19-4.20), urinary urgency (OR=2.58 CI 1.46-4.57), nocturia (OR=2.65, CI 1.49-4.71), hallucinations (OR=5.32, CI 1.78-15.97), dizziness (OR=3.03, CI 1.59-5.79), falling (OR=3.60, CI 1.67-7.77), insomnia (OR=2.29, CI 1.28-4.11), intense vivid dreaming (OR=2.10, CI 1.21-3.66) and acting out during dreams (OR=2.23, CI 1.24-4.01).PD patients with different ages at onset present clinically different symptoms in terms of NMS. Old-age onset PD is characterized by more olfactory and sensory symptoms, autonomic symptoms, sleep disorders, dementia and psychosis compared to EOPD.

In this paper we propose a novel concept ship--Anti-Terrorist Frigate based on the in-depth analysis of the characteristics of naval escorting mission and the actual situations. Then, detailed discussion of the characteristics of the anti-terrorist escort missions, the combat system and the advantages of performing escorting missions. Finally, the analysis results showed that the anti-terrorist frigate do well and implement tasks effectively in the long term sea convoy escort mission. Also, anti-terrorist activities can greatly reduce the costs and effectively save combat ability of the main destroyers.

The Hot Spot Stress (HSS) distribution around welded tubular joints in truss legs is essential information for the fatigue assessment of jack-up platforms. Both Finite Element (FE) analysis and model test were carried out on a multi-planar tubular KK joints under asymmetric axial loads in our research. The study shows that the HSS distribution around welded joints is different from common K or T joints, and the maximum HSS appears between crown and saddle on the chord surface at the chord-brace intersection. Moreover, some sensitive factors which influence the locations of the maximum HSS were investigated by FEA in this paper. The analysis results are useful for the optimal structure designing and crack initial prediction of the offshore jack-up platforms legs.Copyright © 2011 by ASME

The yield of CD34+ cells collected by apheresis for autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation was greatly increased when the appropriate timing was determined to begin using G-CSF after COAEP (Cytoxan, Vinblastine, Arabinosylcytosin, Etoposide and Prednisone) mobilization. Twenty-nine patients with lymphoma or multiple myeloma (MM) received the same mobilization chemotherapy, including cytoxan (CTX) 400 mg/m(2) d1; vinblastine (VLB) 2 mg/m(2) d1; Ara-C 60 mg/m(2) x 5d; vp-16 60 mg/m(2) x 5d; and prednisone 40 mg/m(2) x 5d. The historical control group (12 cases) received subcutaneous G-CSF (filgrastim) at the first restoration after the initial nadir of the peripheral WBC count. The experimental group (17 cases) received G-CSF during the steady rise of the WBC count (end of fluctuating after initial nadir). G-CSF was given in a single daily subcutaneous dose of 5 microg/kg until the final PBSC apheresis. When the peripheral WBC and mononuclear cell (MNC) counts reached 10 x 10(9)/L and 1 x 10(9)/L, respectively, leukapheresis was carried out using the COBE Spectrablood cell separator. Despite comparable treatment with alkylating agents, a significantly increased yield of CD34-positive cells was observed in the experimental group (32 x 10(6)/kg) compared with the historical control group (3.1 x 10(6)/kg) (P = 0.0182). This result indicates the importance of appropriate timing for the use G-CSF after mobilization chemotherapy to increase the CD34+ cell yield.

In this investigation, Based on BS7448 fracture toughness test experiment standard and DNV-OS-C401, three-point crack tip open displacement (CTOD) bending tests were made using Q370qE base steel, weld seam and heat-affected zone (HAZ) samples at different sample thicknesses and at different temperature to study the elasto-plastic fracture toughness of the materials frequently used in ocean engineering structure, and the results were calculated using the p-V curves. The results show that different CTOD values corresponding to the occurrence of brittle fracture before yield strength, brittle fracture after yield strength, and ductile fracture are related to different material types, thicknesses, temperature; and the CTOD value is made up of elastic part and plastic part, the value of plastic part greatly influence the CTOD value. Finally, using ANSYS commercial software, bending test models all of base steel, welded joint, HAZ with various center through crack sizes were computed by three-dimensional finite element method, from the results of the finite element analysis, the simulated p-V curve was obtained. It could be found that the simulated curve was close with the experimental curves, so the finite element analysis was accurate. And these works also have important project practical value to the ocean engineering structure designer.Copyright © 2009 by ASME

This paper took the railroad through tied-arch bridge with steel box rids as engineering background. Author established 3-D finite element model of this whole bridge with the ANSYS FEM software, and calculated its seismic response by time-history analysis. Then, changed the bridges’ type, such as the number of struts, parallel ribs or X ribs and the type of suspenders, analyzed their seismic responses and structural type effect of steel box tied arch bridge to seismic excitation. The results should be used to guide the aseismatic design of the steel box tied arch bridge.

In this paper, a new simplified finite element model is proposed for ship-jacket platform collision. This model can achieve all kinds of concerned parameters and time history curves through once calculation. This paper also discusses the effect of stain rate in ship-platform collision. On the basis of the above work, finite element numerical simulation of ship-platform collision is carried out. Some important results such as collision forces, stress, local deformations, distribution of various energies and displacement of platform are discussed. At last, some useful conclusions are achieved.Copyright © 2009 by ASME