A Multivariate T2 Control Chart for Skewed Populations Using Weighted Standard Deviations

This paper proposes a heuristic method of constructing multivariate T² control charts for skewed populations based on ‘weighted standard deviations’, obtained by decomposing the standard deviation into upper and lower deviations according to the direction and degree of skewness. The proposed method adjusts the variance–covariance matrix of quality characteristics and modifies the ellipsoidal probability density function contour of the multivariate normal distribution to a shape similar to that of the skewed distribution. False alarm rates and out‐of‐control average run lengths of the proposed control chart are compared with those of the standard control chart for multivariate lognormal, Weibull and gamma distributions, and the results show that considerable improvement over the standard method can be achieved when the distribution is skewed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Four-Dimensional Visualization of Construction Scheduling and Site Utilization

Four-dimensional (4D) models link three-dimensional geometrical models with construction schedule data. The visual link between the schedule and construction site conditions is capable of facilitating decision making during both the planning and construction stages. The emphases of these 4D developments have often been placed at the level of construction components. Practical features assisting site management are at times lacking in the following areas: (1) generation of site usage layouts; (2) estimation of quantities of construction materials; and (3) cost evaluation. In order to pinpoint these deficiencies, the objective of this work is to enable visual study of the effects of job progress on the logistics and resource schedules. This paper presents a 4D visualization model that is intended both to help construction managers plan day-to-day activities more efficiently in a broader and more practical site management context and to thereby add to our knowledge and understanding of the relevance of modern computer graphics to the responsibilities of the construction site manager. A brief site trial of the software is described at the conclusion of the paper.     

Flood control management system for reservoirs

Flood disaster is one of the most damaging natural disasters in China, with annual average losses more than 200 billion yuan in recent years. After 1995 floods in the Liaohe River and 1998 floods in the Yangtze River, the governments from national to local have realized that the flood control operation of reservoirs can play a major role in alleviating flood losses but there are some problems in flood control management for reservoirs. Most of the existing flood control management systems for reservoir were established for special purposes and are lack of data share and communication with governments, it is very difficult for decision-making departments to get real-time information in short time. Thus, a national programming about flood control management system for reservoirs is presented. The paper is a summary of the outcome of national programming about the flood control management system for reservoirs in China. The background, objectives, main challenges and main contents of the programming are introduced. The main focus is on the issues of the software integration flood control management system for reservoirs. Emphasis is concentrated on the flowchart design of the system and its core components. The current system can be applied to a river control center or a single reservoir because of using the national standard databases and easily integrated into the national flood control system in the future. An application system is briefly introduced in order to understand the system.     

Density-controllable growth of SnO2 nanowire junction-bridging across electrode for low-temperature NO2 gas detection

The junction-bridging structure of metal oxide nanowires (NWs) improves gas-sensing properties. In this study, an on-chip growth method was used to fabricate gas sensors, it easily and effectively controls NW junctions. SnO₂ NWs were synthesized by thermal evaporation at 800 °C with tin powder as the source. The density of the NW junctions was controlled by changing the mass of the source material. A source material with large mass yielded high-density NW junctions. With electrode spacing of 20 μm, NW junctions were formed from the source material of larger than 2 mg. Gas sensing results revealed that the junction sensors exhibited a good response to NO₂ gas at a concentration of 1–10 ppm. The sensors exhibited a good response to NO₂ gas at low temperature of up to 100 °C and short response–recovery time (~20 s). The sensors also had good selectivity to NO₂ gas. The response (R _gas /R _air) to 1 ppm NO₂ was as high as 22 at 100 °C, whereas the cross gas responses (R _air /R _gas) to 10 ppm CO, 10 ppm H₂S, 100 ppm C₂H₅OH, and 100 ppm NH₃ were negligible (1.1–1.3).     

Three-dimensional measurement of ice crystals in frozen beef with a micro-slicer image processing system

A novel technique has been developed for measuring the three-dimensional (3-D) structure and distribution of ice crystals formed in frozen beef by using a micro-slicer image processing system (MSIPS). The system has functions to reconstruct the 3-D image based on the image data of exposed cross-sections obtained by multi-slicing of a frozen sample with the minimum thickness of 1 μm and to display the internal structure as well as an arbitrary cross-section of the sample choosing observation angles. The size and distribution of ice crystals can be determined from the 2-D quantitative information, such as the periphery and area of the crystals. The effects of freezing conditions on the morphology and distribution of the ice crystals were demonstrated quantitatively from the observations of raw beef stained by fluorescent indicator. For the samples frozen at −15 °C, the network structure of ice crystals were observed mainly at intercellular space, having approximately 100 μm in cross-sectional size, while that prepared at −120 °C showed the spherical crystals of 10–20 μm in diameter within the cells. The 3-D image of the sample demonstrated that the growth of ice columns was restricted by the intrinsic structure of muscle fibers. The proposed method provided a new tool to investigate the effects of freezing conditions on the size, morphology and distribution of ice crystals.     

Effect of surface structure on biomechanical properties and osseointegration

The purpose of this study is to improve the bone-bonding ability between titanium implants and living bone through the control of geometric design and chemical compositions of an implant surface. We compared the tissue healing response and resulting implant stability for three surface designs by characterizing the histological and mechanical properties of the healing tissue around smooth-surfaced Ti–6Al–4V (SS), CP-Ti plasma-spray-coated (PSC), alkali- and heat-treated (AHT) implants. The implants were transversely inserted into a dog thighbone and evaluated at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Histological examination indicated that initial matrix mineralization leading to osseointegration occurred more rapidly with the AHT implant. During the 4, 8, and 12 week healing periods, new bone on the surface of AHT implant showed denser growth than that on the SS and PSC implants. The more extensive tissue integration and more rapid matrix mineralization with the AHT implant were reflected in the mechanical test data, which demonstrated superior attachment strength and interfacial stiffness for the AHT implant after healing for 4, 8 and 12 weeks of healing because of the mechanical interlocking in the micrometer sized rough surface and the large bonding area between bone and implant caused by the nanosized porous surface structure. Histological and mechanical data demonstrate that with the appropriate surface design selection, bone bone-bonding ability can be improved and can induce acceleration of the healing response, thereby improving the potential for implant osseointegration.     

Simple image intensity compensation (SIMIC) method prior to application of distortion correction algorithms in brain diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Validation test for two cost functions of distortion correction algorithms

The purpose of this study is to design a simple image intensity compensation (SIMIC) method prior to the application of a variety of cost functions for distortion correction in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The synthetic dataset consists of each direction of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) made by multiplication of nondiffusion weighted image (b = 0 image) and tensor matrices. We added the effects of patient motion and eddy current distortion using translation, rotation, scaling and shearing matrices. We calculated the b = 0 image of each direction from original DTI, inversely. A co‐registration method was applied to the extracted b = 0 images of each direction based on the original b = 0 image and then, the transformation matrices were generated and the original DTI were transformed using this transformation matrix. For the DTI distortion correction, two kinds of cost functions, normalized mutual information (NMI) and normalized cross‐correlation (NCC), were used. Visual assessments and quantitative measurements were used to evaluate the results. When using the NMI as a cost function, the quantitative results showed no significant differences between NMI and NMI with SIMIC method. However, there are significant differences compared with using the NCC as a cost function. Our study showed cost function for image distortion correction with SIMIC method improved the results both quantitatively and in terms of qualitative accuracy. This method may be helpful for DTI analysis and helpful for increasing accuracy. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 25, 328–33, 2015     

Identification of Bacterial Membrane Selectivity of Romo1-Derived Antimicrobial Peptide AMPR-22 via Molecular Dynamics

The abuse or misuse of antibiotics has caused the emergence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria, rendering most antibiotics ineffective and increasing the mortality rate of patients with bacteremia or sepsis. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are proposed to overcome this problem; however, many AMPs have attenuated antimicrobial activities with hemolytic toxicity in blood. Recently, AMPR-11 and its optimized derivative, AMPR-22, were reported to be potential candidates for the treatment of sepsis with a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and low hemolytic toxicity. Here, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to clarify the mechanism of lower hemolytic toxicity and higher efficacy of AMPR-22 at an atomic level. We found four polar residues in AMPR-11 bound to a model mimicking the bacterial inner/outer membranes preferentially over eukaryotic plasma membrane. AMPR-22 whose polar residues were replaced by lysine showed a 2-fold enhanced binding affinity to the bacterial membrane by interacting with bacterial specific lipids (lipid A or cardiolipin) via hydrogen bonds. The MD simulations were confirmed experimentally in models that partially mimic bacteremia conditions in vitro and ex vivo. The present study demonstrates why AMPR-22 showed low hemolytic toxicity and this approach using an MD simulation would be helpful in the development of AMPs.     

Comparison of modified injection molding and conventional machining in biodegradable behavior of perforated cannulated magnesium hip stents

In this study,perforated cannulated magnesium(Mg)hip stents were fabricated via modified Mg injection molding and conventional machining,respectively.Additionally,the stent canal was filled with paraffin to simulate injection of biomaterials.The microstructure,mechanical performance,corrosion behavior,and biocompatibility were comparably studied.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)showed higher affinity of interstitial element such as oxygen and carbon as consequences of routine molding process.After immersion in SBF,machining stents showed reduced degradation rate and increased deposition of calcium phosphate compared to molding stents.Corrosion resistance was improved via paraffin-filling.Consistently,the hemolysis and in vitro osteoblast cell culture models showed favourable biocompatibility in machining stents compared to molding ones,which was improved by paraffin-filling treatment as well.These results implied that the feasibility of the prepared machining stents as the potential in vivo orthopaedic application where slower degradation is required,which could be enhanced by designing canal-filling injection of biomaterials as well.