Stiffness of trabecular bone of the tibial plateau in patients with rheumatoid arthritis of the knee

Stiffness of subchondral proximal tibial trabecular bone is a factor in the stability of prostheses implanted into that bone. The stiffness of trabecular bone in osteoarthritis (OA) has been documented. Trabecular bone in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is osteopenic in numerous sites and morphologically abnormal in the proximal tibia. Reliable data on proximal tibial bone in RA are lacking, although 1 study failed to identify abnormalities. The purposes of this study were (1) to document the stiffness of the proximal tibial cancellous bone in patients with RA, (2) to determine the effect of angular deformity on bone stiffness in rheumatoid patients, and (3) to compare RA stiffness values with those in published reports for OA. Fifteen tibial plateau were obtained from patients with RA during surgery. Each plateau was horizontally seated in a mold and covered with cement. The plateau was divided into 6 regions, which were used to facilitate comparison between specimens and the existing literature. Indentation tests were conducted with a 4-mm-diameter cylindrical indentor controlled by an MTS machine. The indentor descended at a rate of 2 mm/min to a maximum depth of 1.0 mm; load and displacement data were digitally recorded. Stiffness was calculated from the slope of the linear region of the curve using best-fit linear regression. Where varus deformity was present, stiffness in the medial plateau was higher overall than for the other compartment; whereas in the case of valgus deformity, stiffness of the lateral side was significantly higher (P < .05 for each observation). In comparison to older normal specimens, both the medial compartment of the varus RA specimens (P < .01) and the posterolateral compartment of the valgus RA specimens (P < .01) had significantly lower stiffness. Comparison with OA specimens showed that in varus RA, the posteromedial region had significantly lower stiffness than in varus OA at the same site (P < .01). In valgus RA, the lateral region had significantly lower stiffness than in valgus OA at the same site (P < .01). The mean stiffness ratio of the valgus RA was significantly (P < .01) altered from normal, and for the varus RA, it was significantly (P < .01) different from normal posteriorly. The stiffness ratios for the varus RA were significantly (P < .01) different from those for varus OA; there was no difference between valgus RA and valgus OA. It is concluded that RA affected bone has significantly lower stiffness than normal and osteoarthritic bone. The loaded plateau is stiffer than the unloaded plateau in angular deformity, but is still less stiff than normal bone and osteoarthritic plateaus with corresponding deformities.     

Effect of preparation conditions on the properties of a coal-derived activated carbon honeycomb monolith

Activated carbon honeycomb (ACH) monoliths were prepared by extruding of a mixture of bituminous coal and organic additives and subsequent carbonization and steam activation. Preparation parameters that were varied were carbonization temperature and activation time. The carbonization conditions were 500, 650 and 800 °C for 1 h and the steam activation conditions were 850 °C for 2, 4 and 6 h. The monoliths at various states were characterized by SEM, XRD, nitrogen adsorption and compression test. It was found that carbonization temperature has significant effects on pore size distribution and mechanical strength of ACH monoliths. The ACH monoliths prepared from high carbonization temperatures exhibited lower values of the BET surface area and total pore volume and higher value of the mechanical strength than those of the ACH monoliths prepared from low carbonization temperatures. This was attributed to the effect of high temperature carbonization that results in the formation of relatively less defective structures.     

Informational Entropy: a Failure Tolerance and Reliability Surrogate for Water Distribution Networks

Evolutionary algorithms are used widely in optimization studies on water distribution networks. The optimization algorithms use simulation models that analyse the networks under various operating conditions. The solution process typically involves cost minimization along with reliability constraints that ensure reasonably satisfactory performance under abnormal operating conditions also. Flow entropy has been employed previously as a surrogate reliability measure. While a body of work exists for a single operating condition under steady state conditions, the effectiveness of flow entropy for systems with multiple operating conditions has received very little attention. This paper describes a multi-objective genetic algorithm that maximizes the flow entropy under multiple operating conditions for any given network. The new methodology proposed is consistent with the maximum entropy formalism that requires active consideration of all the relevant information. Furthermore, an alternative but equivalent flow entropy model that emphasizes the relative uniformity of the nodal demands is described. The flow entropy of water distribution networks under multiple operating conditions is discussed with reference to the joint entropy of multiple probability spaces, which provides the theoretical foundation for the optimization methodology proposed. Besides the rationale, results are included that show that the most robust or failure-tolerant solutions are achieved by maximizing the sum of the entropies.     

SO_4~（2－）／ZrO_2固体超强酸的失活与再生

初步探索了ＳＯ_４~２－／ＺｒＯ２固体超强酸的失活机理．并着重研究了催化剂的两种再生方法：灼烧法和溶剂洗涤法。催化剂主要是因结焦而失活，高温灼烧能基本恢复催化剂原有活性．且再生效果与灼烧温度有关。溶剂洗涤法有一定的再生能力，但不显著．     

Collaborative representation with reduced residual for face recognition

Collaboration representation-based classification (CRC) was proposed as an alternative approach to the sparse representation method with similar efficiency. The CRC is essentially a competition scheme for the training samples to compete with each other in representing the test sample, and the training class with the minimum representation residual from the test sample wins the competition in the classification. However, the representation error is usually calculated based on the Euclidean distance between a test sample and the weighted sum of all the same-class samples. This paper exploits alternative methods of calculating the representation error in the CRC methods to reduce the representation residual in a more optimal way, so that the sample classes compete with each other in a closer range to represent the test sample. A large number of face recognition experiments on three face image databases show that the CRC methods with optimized presentation residual achieve better performance than the original CRC, and the maximum improvement in classification accuracy is up to 12 %.     

Hydrodynamic characteristics of a FCC regenerator

The hydrodynamic and gas mixing characteristics have been determined in a FCC regenerator (0.48 m I.D.x3.4 m high) with FCC particles. Solids holdup in the dense bed decreases with increasing gas velocity, but it increases in the freeboard region. The bubble/void fraction increases with an increase along the bed height at a given gas velocity and increases with increasing gas velocity at a constant bed height. Backmixed tracer gas at the wall region is higher than that at the center region of the bed. The gas backmixing coefficient decreases with increasing gas velocity.     

Raman spectroscopic study of conformational changes in the amorphous phase of poly(lactic acid) during deformation

The conformational distribution change of amorphous poly(lactic acid) (PLA) induced by deformation has been studied using Raman spectroscopy. Spectroscopic features associated with the rotational isomeric states (ttt, ttg′, tg′t, tg′g′) have been established experimentally and supported by normal coordinate analysis. Deformation induced a significant increase in the most favorable tg′t conformation. Based on the relative intensities of Raman-active skeletal modes, a quantitative method has been developed that can be used to elucidate structural changes in a variety of deformed polymer samples. For biaxially oriented PLA films, the overall tg′t conformation increased from the 76% in undeformed sample to a value as high as 92%. The change in conformational distribution in the amorphous phase follows a different trend (76-88%) as compared to the increase in sample crystallinity (0-43%). A large change in amorphous chain conformation occurred at relatively low draw ratios. In contrast, the large change in the degree of crystallinity occurred at higher draw ratios.