Compressive mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes encapsulating helical copper nanowires

Molecular dynamics combined with continuum mechanics is utilized to predict the compressive mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes encapsulating helical copper nanowire (NW@CNTs). The helical structures of the copper nanowires are obtained using the “simulated annealing” method. The compressive behaviors of this kind of composites are studied. The strain energy curves are shown to predict the interaction between the atoms during the compressive course. This model can be used effectively to determine the mechanical properties such as the critical buckling load P_cr and the Young’s moduli of NW@CNTs with different diameters and lengths. We also find that not all the maximum strengths of the composites are larger than the corresponding carbon nanotube bases, and they are related with the diameter, length and the carbon nanotube’s chirality. According to the comparison with the pristine carbon nanotubes (CNTs), some excellent properties of NW@CNTs are revealed.     

Pattern recognition techniques for the emerging field of bioinformatics: A review

The emerging field of bioinformatics has recently created much interest in the computer science and engineering communities. With the wealth of sequence data in many public online databases and the huge amount of data generated from the Human Genome Project, computer analysis has become indispensable. This calls for novel algorithms and opens up new areas of applications for many pattern recognition techniques. In this article, we review two major avenues of research in bioinformatics, namely DNA sequence analysis and DNA microarray data analysis. In DNA sequence analysis, we focus on the topics of sequence comparison and gene recognition. For DNA microarray data analysis, we discuss key issues such as image analysis for gene expression data extraction, data pre-processing, clustering analysis for pattern discovery and gene expression time series data analysis. We describe current methods and show how computational techniques could be useful in these areas. It is our hope that this review article could demonstrate how the pattern recognition community could have an impact on the fascinating and challenging area of genomic research.     

Soluble IL-15 receptor alpha-chain administration prevents murine collagen-induced arthritis: a role for IL-15 in development of antigen-induced immunopathology

IL-15 has recently been detected in the synovium of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. IL-15-activated T cells induce significant TNF-alpha synthesis by macrophages via a cell contact-dependent mechanism, suggesting a key regulatory role for IL-15. Here, we report that the administration of a soluble fragment of IL-15Ralpha into DBA/1 mice, profoundly suppressed the development of collagen-induced arthritis. This was accompanied in vitro by marked reductions in Ag-specific proliferation and IFN-gamma synthesis by spleen cells from treated mice compared with control mice and in vivo by a significant reduction in serum anti-collagen Ab levels. These data directly demonstrate a pivotal role for IL-15 in the development of inflammatory arthritis and also suggest that antagonists to IL-15 may have therapeutic potential in rheumatic diseases.     

Pyomyositis in childhood: a case report

Pyomyositis is a primary infection of skeletal muscle. We report the case of a previously healthy six-year-old who suffered from pyomyositis in the right lower back. He presented with lower back pain and low-grade fever for one week. After a series of laboratory and imaging studies, the diagnosis of right multifidus muscle pyomyositis with abscess formation was made. The patient recovered rapidly after incision and drainage therapy, accompanied by antibiotic treatment. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from the abscess discharge. It was strongly suspected that herbal medicines and common cold medication the patient had been prescribed before admission to our hospital produced a masking effect that delayed the diagnosis.     

Anti-GBM glomerulonephritis in mice lacking nitric oxide synthase type 2

To determine the relationship between quantitative Doppler parameters of portal, hepatic, and splanchnic circulation and hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG), variceal size, and Child-Pugh class in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, we studied forty patients with proved alcoholic cirrhosis who underwent Doppler ultrasonography, hepatic vein catheterization, and esophagoscopy. The following Doppler parameters were recorded: time-averaged mean blood velocity, volume flow of the main portal vein flow, and resistance index (RI) of the hepatic and of the superior mesenteric artery. Doppler findings were compared with HVPG, presence and size of esophageal varices, and Child-Pugh class. There was a significant inverse correlation between portal velocity and HVPG (r = -.69), as well as between portal vein flow and HVPG (r = -.58). No correlation was found between RI in the hepatic artery or superior mesenteric artery and HVPG. No correlation was found between portal vein measurements and presence and size of varices. Severe liver failure was associated with lower portal velocity and flow. In patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, only portal vein blood velocity and flow, but neither hepatic nor mesenteric artery RI, are correlated to the severity of portal hypertension and to the severity of liver failure.     

Augmented reality assisted facility layout digitization and planning

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Facility layout planning (FLP) has an important role in manufacturing industries. There are few approaches to solve FLP such as procedural,...     

An Adaptable and Scalable Generator of Distributed Massive MIMO Baseband Processing Systems

Journal of Signal Processing Systems - This paper presents an algorithm-adaptable, scalable, and platform-portable generator for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) baseband processing...     

Bounded-Mean-Delay Throughput and Nonstarvation Conditions in Aloha Network

Prior investigations on the Aloha network have primarily focused on its system throughput. Good system throughput, however, does not automatically translate to good delay performance for the end users. Neither is fairness guaranteed: Some users may starve, while others hog the system. This paper establishes the conditions for bounded mean queuing delay and nonstarved operation of the slotted Aloha network. We focus on the performance when collisions of packets are resolved using an exponential backoff protocol. For a nonsaturated network, we find that bounded mean delay and nonstarved operation can be guaranteed only if the offered load is limited to below a quantity called "safe bounded mean-delay (SBMD) throughput." The SBMD throughput can be much lower than the saturation system throughput if the backoff factor r in the exponential backoff algorithm is not properly set. For example, it is well known that the maximum throughput of the Aloha network is e ^-1 = 0.3679. However, for r = 2, a value assumed in many prior investigations, the SBMD throughput is only 0.2158, a drastic penalty of 41% relative to 0.3679. Fortunately, using r = 1.3757 allows us to obtain an SBMD throughput of 0.3545, less than 4% away from 0.3679. A general conclusion is that the system parameters can significantly affect the delay and fairness performance of the Aloha network. This paper provides the analytical framework and expressions for tuning r and other system parameters to achieve good delay and nonstarved operation.     

Location update cost of distance-based scheme for PCS networks with CTRW model

This letter concerns the optimization of the dynamic location-update area (LA) for the per-user distance-based scheme in personal communication service (PCS) networks. We have two main contributions: (1) under the general and popular one-dimensional (1-D) continuous-time random walk (CTRW) mobility model, we propose a novel framework to analyze the location update cost; (2) with this framework, we investigate the impact of call arrivals and the initial position of the mobile terminal (MT) on the position of the LA, which was neglected by previous work. Simulation shows that our theoretical model is very accurate.