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.     

基于图形处理器的形态学重建系统

形态学重建是医学图像处理中非常基础和重要的操作。它根据掩膜图像的特征对标记图像反复进行膨胀操作，直到标记图像中的像素值不再变化为止。对于传统基于中央处理器（CPU）的形态学重建系统计算效率不高的问题，提出了使用图形处理器（GPU）来加速形态学重建。首先，设计了适合GPU处理的数据结构：并行堆集群；然后，基于并行堆集群，设计和实现了一套基于GPU的形态学重建系统。实验结果表明，相比传统基于CPU的形态学重建系统，基于GPU的形态学重建系统可以获取超过20倍的加速比。基于GPU的形态学重建系统展示了如何把基于复杂数据结构的软件系统高效地移植到GPU上。     

一种交直流混合输电系统直流侧双极故障保护策略

为进一步分析含柔性直流输电(MMC-HVDC)的交直流混合输电系统的故障特征,基于交直流混合输电系统和模块化多电平换流器(MMC)的拓扑结构,推导了MMC的数学模型,研究了直流系统双极短路的故障机理和故障特征,针对含MMC-HVDC的交直流混合输电系统的双极短路故障,设计了限流电路及闭锁换流站与交流断路器跳闸相结合的故障保护方案。以厦门市柔性直流输电系统为例,在PSCAD/EMTDC中搭建了交直流混合系统,并对保护方案进行了仿真验证。结果表明,提出的保护策略能有效地降低故障电流,提高系统稳定性。     

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。     

有限元SN中子输运模拟的区域分解并行

确定论中子输运方法具有计算速度快、可获取物理量的精细场分布、可高效多物理耦合等优点，随着有限元方法在中子输运模拟中的应用，复杂几何结构、大尺度下的屏蔽问题和临界问题都能得到高保真建模和分析。离散纵标（S_N）法是求解中子输运方程的有效数值方法，基于OpenMP并行机制对各独立离散方向进行并行求解，可提高S_N输运模拟的计算速度，但并行规模较有限。对几何空间进行区域分解并采用MPI并行机制，可实现大规模并行扩展，进而实现对大型问题的高精度快速求解。本文采用并行自适应非结构网格应用框架JAUMIN进行区域分解和进程间通信，通过并行S_N扫描实现了自主有限元输运程序ENTER的高效并行，完成正确性检验后在天河Ⅱ号超级计算机上使用1 440个CPU核完成了1.43×10⁷网格单元、2.81×10⁹自由度规模问题的测试，计算时间约7.4 h。表明该程序具备了有效模拟大型复杂结构中子输运问题的能力，具有一定工程应用价值。     

单片机应用系统综合实验装置的设计

单片机原理与应用作为电子技术类学科中的必修课程具有很强实践性,要求学生掌握实际应用能力,为此研制了基于单片机系统通信为基础的实验板,依据单片机应用系统特点,可完成SPI、I^2C、UART串行通信以及并行总线方式通信。实验板有利于学生更好地了解和掌握单片机应用系统设计的方法,有利于学生进行自主设计和内容拓展。做到培养学生的学习能力、提高学生的学习兴趣、发挥学生的创造性。     

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.     

安全管理平台中基于云计算的日志分析系统设计

安全管理平台(SMP)是实现安全管理工作常态化运行的技术支撑平台,在实际应用中需要实时处理来自安全设备所产生的海量日志信息。为解决现有SMP中海量日志查询效率低下的问题,设计基于云计算的SMP日志存储分析系统。基于Hive的任务转化模式,利用Hadoop架构的分布式文件系统和MapReduce并行编程模型,实现海量SMP日志的有效存储与查询。实验结果表明,与基于关系数据的多表关联查询方法相比,该系统使得SMP日志的平均查询效率提高约90%,并能加快SMP集中管控的整体响应速度。