Additively manufactured respirators: quantifying particle transmission and identifying system-level challenges for improving filtration efficiency

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals, including N95-type respiratory protective masks. To address this shortage, many have looked to the agility and accessibility of additive manufacturing (AM) systems to provide a democratized, decentralized solution to producing respirators with equivalent protection for last-resort measures. However, there are concerns about the viability and safety in deploying this localized download, print, and wear strategy due to a lack of commensurate quality assurance processes. Many open-source respirator designs for AM indicate that they do not provide N95-equivalent protection (filtering 95% of SARS-CoV-2 particles) because they have either not passed aerosol generation tests or not been tested. Few studies have quantified particle transmission through respirator designs outside of the filter medium. This is concerning because several polymer-based AM processes produce porous parts, and inherent process variation between printers and materials also threaten the integrity of tolerances and seals within the printed respirator assembly. No study has isolated these failure mechanisms specifically for respirators. The goal of this paper is to measure particle transmission through printed respirators of different designs, materials, and AM processes. The authors compare the performance of printed respirators to N95 respirators and cloth masks. Respirators in this study printed using desktop- and industrial-scale fused filament fabrication processes and industrial-scale powder bed fusion processes were not sufficiently reliable for widespread distribution and local production of N95-type respiratory protection. Even while assuming a perfect seal between the respirator and the user’s face, although a few respirators provided >90% efficiency at the 100−300 nm particle range, almost all printed respirators provided <60% filtration efficiency. Post-processing procedures including cleaning, sealing surfaces, and reinforcing the filter cap seal generally improved performance, but the printed respirators showed similar performance to various cloth masks. The authors further explore the process-driven aspects leading to low filtration efficiency. Although the design/printer/material combination dictates the AM respirator performance, the identified failure modes originate from system-level constraints and are therefore generalizable across multiple AM processes. Quantifying the limitations of AM in producing N95-type respiratory protective masks advances understanding of AM systems toward the development of better part and machine designs to meet the needs of reliable, functional, end-use parts.     

基于链路可靠性的两跳QoS路由

针对工业无线传感器网络对路由协议的QoS要求，研究了一种基于链路可靠性的两跳QoS路由（Link-Reliability Based Two-Hop Routing for QoS Guarantee in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks， LRTHQR）.采用两跳速度策略和数据优先级调度策略提高实时性，采用改进的信任评估模型以选择可信路径进行路由，采用基于接收功率的链接概率和数据包重传次数作为衡量链路可靠性的指标，同时采用能够综合考虑节点剩余能量和转发能耗的转发策略，以改善网络寿命.仿真结果显示：与未考虑链路可靠性的NCSRT （NodeCredible Security Routing for IWSN Based on THTR）算法相比， LRTHQR算法在丢包率、时延以及包平均能耗方面有着明显优势；与同样侧重QoS要求的LRTHR （Link-Reliability based Two-Hop Routing）算法相比， LRTHQR算法在截止期错失率、路由开销以及包平均能耗方面有着显著提升.     

Functional organisation of the endomembrane network in the digestive gland of the Venus flytrap: revisiting an old story with a new microscopy toolbox

Up-to-date imaging approaches were used to address the spatiotemporal organisation of the endomembrane system in secretory cells of Dionaea muscipula. Different ‘slice and view’ methodologies were performed on resin-embedded samples to finally achieve a 3D reconstruction of the cell architecture, using ultrastructural tomography, array tomography, serial block face-scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM), correlation, and volume rendering at the light microscopy level. Observations of cryo-fixed samples by high-pressure freezing revealed changes of the endomembrane system that occur after trap activation and prey digestion. They provide evidence for an original strategy that adapts the secretory machinery to a specific and unique case of stimulated exocytosis in plant cells. A first secretion peak is part of a rapid response to deliver digestive fluids to the cell surface, which delivers the needed stock of digestive materials ‘on site’. The second peak of activity could then be associated with the reconstruction of the Golgi apparatus (GA), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and vacuolar machinery, in order to prepare for a subsequent round of prey capture. Tubular continuum between ER and Golgi stacks observed on ZIO-impregnated tissues may correspond to an efficient transfer mechanism for lipids and/or proteins, especially for use in rapidly resetting the molecular GA machinery. The occurrence of one vacuolar continuum may permit continuous adjustment of cell homeostasy. The subcellular features of the secretory cells of Dionaea muscipula outline key innovations in the organisation of plant cell compartmentalisation that are used to cope with specific cell needs such as the full use of the GA as a protein factory, and the ability to create protein reservoirs in the periplasmic space. Shape-derived forces of the pleiomorphic vacuole may act as signals to accompany the sorting and entering flows of the cell.     

基于等切共轭的弧齿锥齿轮差曲面建立与解析

对弧齿锥齿轮提出了一种新的共轭求解方法，来更方便地求解共轭小轮的齿面方程，在此基础上进行了齿面接触分析。在分析过程中提出了一种新的ease-off差曲面计算方法，即用对应点的转角误差替代直线误差进行差曲面求解，使得传动误差解析、齿面修形量的确定更为直观和准确。提取了ease-off曲面上的差曲线，以方便地确定出接触路径和边缘接触点。根据全程差曲线得到了齿面接触印痕分布情况。     

Secure lightweight password authenticated key exchange for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Several three-party password authenticated key exchange (3-PAKE) protocols have recently been proposed for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSN). These are efficient and designed to address security concerns in ad-hoc sensor network applications for a global Internet of Things framework, where a user may request access to sensitive information collected by resource-constrained sensors in clusters managed by gateway nodes. In this paper we first analyze three recently proposed 3-PAKE protocols and discuss their vulnerabilities. Then, based on Radio Frequency Identification technologies we propose a novel 3-PAKE protocol for HWSN applications, with two extensions for additional security features, that is provably secure, efficient and flexible.     

An automated patient monitoring using discrete‐time wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Internet of Things (IoT) devices are used for remote health monitoring. For remotely monitoring a patient, only the health information at different time points are not sufficient; predicted values of biomarkers (for some future time points) are also important. In this article, we propose a powerful statistical model for an efficient dynamic patient monitoring using wireless sensor nodes through Bayesian Learning (BL). We consider the setting where a set of correlated biomarkers are measured from a patient through wireless sensors, but the sensors only report the ordinal outcomes (say, good, fair, high, or very high) to the sink based on some prefixed thresholds. The challenge is to use the ordinal outcomes for monitoring and predicting the health status of the patient under consideration. We propose a linear mixed model where interbiomarker correlations and intrabiomarker dependence are modeled simultaneously. The estimated and the predicted values of the biomarkers are transferred over the internet so that health care providers and the family members of the patient can remotely monitor the patient. Extensive simulation studies are performed to assess practical usefulness of our proposed joint model, and the performance of the proposed joint model is compared to that of some other traditional models used in the literature.     

基于序列模型的无线传感网入侵检测系统

随着物联网(IoT)的快速发展，越来越多的IoT节点设备被部署，但伴随而来的安全问题也不可忽视。IoT的网络层节点设备主要通过无线传感网进行通信，其相较于互联网更开放也更容易受到拒绝服务等网络攻击。针对无线传感网面临的网络层安全问题，提出了一种基于序列模型的网络入侵检测系统，对网络层入侵进行检测和报警，具有较高的识别率以及较低的误报率。另外，针对无线传感网节点设备面临的节点主机设备的安全问题，在考虑节点开销的基础上，提出了一种基于简单序列模型的主机入侵检测系统。实验结果表明，针对无线传感网的网络层以及主机层的两个入侵检测系统的准确率都达到了99%以上，误报率在1%左右，达到了工业需求，这两个系统可以全面有效地保护无线传感网安全。     

无人机在输电线路巡检中的多种应用

无人机技术目前的快速发展使得我们国家输电线路自身的巡检能力得到了持续的提升,基于此本文在对无人机技术给予认识的情况下,在了解了输电线路巡检过程中的使用优势之后,还总结了无人机技术在当前我国线路巡检过程中的应用路径以及应用方法;之后使用案例分析的方式分析了无人机技术在当前输电线路巡检过程中的应用方法。     

Fast Transmission Photothermal Radiometry via Sampling by an Internal Computer Sound Card

During the last few decades, photothermal radiometry (PTR) has been greatly developed and widely applied in the field of nondestructive testing. However, the traditional PTR system employs an expensive lock-in amplifier to detect the weak photothermal signal, which leads to high cost and long test time. In this paper, a fast transmission PTR system based on sampling by using an internal computer sound card was developed to lower the system cost and shorter the test time. A piece of amorphous silicon (a:Si) thin film solar cells with artificial defects was prepared and tested by the system. The results show that the sharpened defects can be identified easily and quickly according to the significant peaks of the original infrared signal sampled by the internal computer sound card. Furthermore, more detailed defects can be investigated by processing the infrared signal. These validate the effectiveness of the proposed transmission PTR system as a low cost and efficient non-destructive test technique.