Structure–Function Relationship of Retinal Ganglion Cells in Multiple Sclerosis

The retinal ganglion cells (RGC) may be considered an easily accessible pathophysiological site of degenerative processes in neurological diseases, such as the RGC damage detectable in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with (HON) and without a history of optic neuritis (NON). We aimed to assess and interrelate RGC functional and structural damage in different retinal layers and retinal sites. We included 12 NON patients, 11 HON patients and 14 healthy controls for cross-sectional multifocal pattern electroretinography (mfPERG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements. Amplitude and peak times of the mfPERG were assessed. Macula and disc OCT scans were acquired to determine macular retinal layer and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness. In both HON and NON patients the foveal N2 amplitude of the mfPERG was reduced compared to controls. The parafoveal P1 peak time was significantly reduced in HON only. For OCT, parafoveal (pfGCL) and perifoveal (pGCL) ganglion cell layer thicknesses were decreased in HON vs. controls, while pRNFL in the papillomacular bundle sector (PMB) showed reductions in both NON and HON. As the mfPERG derived N2 originates from RGC axons, these findings suggest foveal axonal dysfunction not only in HON, but also in NON patients.     

Understanding δ-Bi2O3 fluorite degradation mechanism and related solutions for promising applications in distributed multigeneration

Oxygen selective membrane on the base of cermet δ-Bi₂O₃/Ag with an interpenetrating structure has the maximum potential efficiency of air separation. However, the degradation processes, including the phase degradation of fluorite δ-Bi₂O₃, do not make it possible to create a membrane with the required perfection and durability. In this work, the ordering of oxygen vacancies with the transformation of fluorite into the rhombohedral phase (S.G. R-3) was studied by powder HT XRD in situ at 600 °C on dense Bi_0.78Er_0.2Hf_0.02O_1.51 ceramics. Fast regeneration of disordered fluorite occurs at T = 640–700 °C. The phase degradation of fluorite due to the segregation of dopants at the second stage leads into stable phases - sillenite, tetragonal or rhombohedral phase (S.G. R-3m), depending on the composition of δ-Bi₂O₃. Fast regeneration of fluorite occurs when heated to 820 °C, which is unacceptable for membranes. Analysis of all available data allows us to propose approaches to optimize the composition of δ-Bi₂O₃ and technical solutions for creating durable oxygen selective membranes with promising use in distributed multigeneration. As a result of the analysis, a new solid electrolyte with better parameters was obtained.     

A selective organosilica membrane for ethyl acetate dehydration by pervaporation

Organosilica bis(triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTESE) membranes were explored for pervaporation dehydration of binary and ternary mixtures of ethyl acetate (EA) by undiluted sol coating combined with flash firing. Three BTESE membranes (M1, M2, and M3) were fabricated on macroporous supports by varying BTESE concentrations (0.5, 2.5, and 5 wt% BTESE, respectively) in polymer sols. The membranes were characterized by DLS, SEM, FTIR, XRD, contact angle, AFM, and pervaporation performance to discuss the effect of the BTESE contents in the polymer sol on the formation and dehydration performance of resulting organosilica membranes. It was found that 5 wt% loading of BTESE led to a highly selective membrane for dehydration of EA/H₂O mixture. Among the synthesized membranes, M3 delivered flux of 0.84 ± 0.05 kg.m⁻².h⁻¹ with a selectivity of >10,000 for EA/H₂O mixture (98/2 wt%) at 60°C. The time course of pervaporation dehydration for the EA/H₂O mixture (95/5 wt%) confirms the stability of BTESE membrane in the investigated time period of 120 h. Further, the membrane exhibited excellent selectivity larger than 10,000 for separation of ternary mixtures (90/2/8 wt%) of ethyl acetate/ethanol/water and n-propyl acetate/isopropanol/water respectively, the composition of which is similar to the top product of the distillation column used in the industrial esterification process. The best separation performance and excellent acid stability of BTESE membranes in this study suggest that the simple synthesis protocol of undiluted sol coating and flash firing will provide a cost-effective, quick, and efficient synthesis route for practical membrane based applications.     

基于PolyWorks虚拟装配间隙面差计算分析研究

随着当今社会汽车制造业的迅猛发展,高标准和高需求已经是消费者对汽车制造凯歌的主旋律。而这其中,汽车钣金件的间隙面差就是其中一个重要因素。快速检测间隙面差是否满足设计要求直接关系到汽车白车身的生产精度和企业的工作效率。传统计算间隙面差大多利用量具,易划伤被测物且在零件实际装配后才可测量,降低生产效率,而非接触测量造价昂贵。本课题基于实物的汽车钣金件虚拟装配,对间隙面差的计算方法进行分类与参数调整,提出一种高效率、高标准的间隙面差计算流程。     

Feature selection methods for root-cause analysis among top-level product attributes

Manufacturing companies not only strive to deliver flawless products but also monitor product failures in the field to identify potential quality issues. When product failures occur, quality engineers must identify the root cause to improve any affected product and process. This root-cause analysis can be supported by feature selection methods that identify relevant product attributes, such as manufacturing dates with an increased number of product failures. In this paper, we present different methods for feature selection and evaluate their ability to identify relevant product attributes in a root-cause analysis. First, we compile a list of feature selection methods. Then, we summarize the properties of product attributes in warranty case data and discuss these properties regarding the challenges they pose for machine learning algorithms. Next, we simulate datasets of warranty cases, which emulate these product properties. Finally, we compare the feature selection methods based on these simulated datasets. In the end, the univariate filter information gain is determined to be a suitable method for a wide range of applications. The comparison based on simulated data provides a more general result than other publications, which only focus on a single use case. Due to the generic nature of the simulated datasets, the results can be applied to various root-cause analysis processes in different quality management applications and provide a guideline for readers who wish to explore machine learning methods for their analysis of quality data.     

西汉徐地鲁恭王宫苑园林——鲁灵光殿研究

汉代是中国园林的形成阶段,不仅园林建筑物有所增加,成为住宅的延伸与扩展,而且人工造景比重也增大,造园要素趋于完备。园林的内容与功能随着社会生活的改变而逐步多样和完善,不仅是射猎、走狗、跑马的场所,还可以是游船、宴乐、赏鱼虫走兽、观看百戏的地方。造园在布局上也采用灵活多变的手法,按功能的需要,穿插安置不同形式的厅堂、楼阁、亭榭等。通过对鲁灵光殿时代背景及汉代园林、建筑营造形式的深入研究,结合文献的相关记述,梳理出鲁灵光殿的沿革,并以此为依据,对鲁灵光殿进行复原。     

Application of bio-based dimer acid diglycidyl ester in paper-based copper clad laminate

Using dimer acid (DA) as raw material, DA diglycidyl ester (DADGE) was synthesized and used as reactive toughening agent to prepare paper-based copper clad laminate (p-CCL). The factors affecting the epoxy value of DADGE and the effect of the resin on the gelation time were studied. The effects of the epoxy value and the addition amount of DADGE on the solderleaching resistance, flammability, water absorption, bending strength, and impact strength of the p-CCL were discussed. The results showed when the molar ratio of DA to ECH was 1:8 and the molar ratio of DA to sodium hydroxide was 1:1.6, the epoxy value of DADGE reached the maximum value of 0.23 mol/100 g. The DADGE can shorten the gelation time of the glue. The p-CCL meets the performance of the IPC-TM-650 standard. And when the addition amount of DADGE is less than 12 wt %, the flammability of the p-CCL reaches UL94V-0 level. The p-CCL prepared by adding 6 wt % of DADGE with 0.08 mol/100 g epoxy value has the best comprehensive performance, its toughness and rigid are comparable to those of p-CCL with 12 wt % of commercially available high performance toughening agents and it has higher solderleaching resistance. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47508.     

Copy Move Forgery Detection based on double matching

Copy Move is a technique widespreadly used in digital image tampering, meaning Copy Move Forgery Detection (CMFD) is still a significant research. In this paper, a novel CMFD method is proposed, including double matching process and region localizing process. In double matching process, the first matching is conducted on Delaunay triangles consisting of Local Intensity Order Pattern (LIOP) keypoints, to find the approximate location of suspicious regions. In order to find sufficient keypoint pairs, the existing set of matching triangles is expanded by adding their neighbors iteratively, covering the whole tampered regions, and the second matching with a looser threshold is conducted on the vertices. In the region localizing process, considering the case of multiple copies, Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) is used to classify the keypoint pairs described in a new model. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method, with good robustness, outperforms some state-of-the-art methods.     

Nonlinear modal analysis via non‐parametric machine learning tools

Modal analysis is an important tool in the structural dynamics community; it is widely utilised to understand and investigate the dynamical characteristics of linear structures. Many methods have been proposed in recent years regarding the extension to nonlinear analysis, such as nonlinear normal modes or the method of normal forms, with the main objective being to formulate a mathematical model of a nonlinear dynamical structure based on observations of input/output data from the dynamical system. In fact, for the majority of structures where the effect of nonlinearity becomes significant, nonlinear modal analysis is a necessity. The objective of the current paper is to demonstrate a machine learning approach to output‐only nonlinear modal decomposition using kernel independent component analysis and locally linear‐embedding analysis. The key element is to demonstrate a pattern recognition approach which exploits the idea of independence of principal components from the linear theory by learning the nonlinear manifold between the variables. In this work, the importance of output‐only modal analysis via “blind source” separation tools is highlighted as the excitation input/force is not needed and the method can be implemented directly via experimental data signals without worrying about the presence or not of specific nonlinearities in the structure.