Computer-aided methods in bespoke breast prosthesis design and fabrication

This case study presents a method of utilizing computer-aided design technologies to provide bespoke, external breast prostheses. The technique is illustrated through a case study of a mastectomy patient. Photogrammetry methods were used to capture the breast form when supported by a brassiere and the unsupported breast and defect side. Computer-aided design techniques were used to generate a digital prosthesis based upon the supported breast shape and with a fitting surface that matched the defect side. Furthermore, a two-part mould was designed and fabricated using rapid prototyping methods. A colour-matched prosthesis was then fabricated in a gel-based, platinum-cured silicone.     

The fate of 14C-radiolabelled diclofenac and 4'-hydroxydiclofenac in membrane bioreactor treatment of wastewater

This study aimed at enhancing knowledge on the fate of diclofenac (DF), together with its main human metabolite 4'-hydroxydiclofenac (4'OHDF), during wastewater treatment by using a laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR). The reactor was fed continuously with non-radiolabelled diclofenac for a one month period prior to a single pulse of a 14C-radiolabelled solution of DF and 4'OHDF. The solution spike contained approximately 25% 4'OHDF and 65% DF, which corresponds to the ratio observed in municipal sewage, as well as traces of two other metabolites. The radioactivity was monitored for a total of twelve days in the various output streams. The calculation of the complete mass balance in the system demonstrated that the major part of the radioactivity left the reactor with the permeate (88.7%), while 2.1% was recovered in the excess sludge. Negligible amounts were recovered in the off-gas traps and on the membranes. Chromatographic analyses of effluent samples, by means of HPLC-MS coupled in parallel to a radiodetector, displayed a different pattern than the one of the spiked solution. It showed the occurrence of three additional metabolites.     

Discrete-Time Expectation Maximization Algorithms for Markov-Modulated Poisson Processes

In this paper, we consider parameter estimation Markov-modulated Poisson processes via robust filtering and smoothing techniques. Using the expectation maximization algorithm framework, our filters and smoothers can be applied to estimate the parameters of our model in either an online configuration or an offline configuration. Further, our estimator dynamics do not involve stochastic integrals and our new formulas, in terms of time integrals, are easily discretized, and are written in numerically stable forms in W. P. Malcolm, R. J. Elliott, and J. van der Hoek, “On the numerical stability of time-discretized state estimation via clark transformations,” presented at the IEEE Conf. Decision Control, Mauii, HI, Dec. 2003.      

Flatness-Based Control of a Single Qubit Gate

This work considers the open-loop control problem of steering a two-level quantum system from any initial to any final condition. The model of this system evolves on the state space , having two inputs that correspond to the complex amplitude of a resonant laser field. A symmetry preserving flat output is constructed using a fully geometric construction and quaternion computations. Simulation results of this flatness-based open-loop control are provided.     

Gamma-ray remote sensing of aeolian salt sources in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

This paper presents a new technique for mapping regional salt sources that has major implications for salinity management in southeastern Australia. This was achieved by analyzing a regional mosaic of airborne gamma-ray emission derivatives and verified by existing airborne electromagnetic and drilling data. A significant correlation was found between aeolian (windblown) materials, upland salts and gamma-ray signatures. This is consistent with the conceptual model that much of the salt in the upland areas of the Murray-Darling Basin is sourced from deposited aeolian materials that have been derived from deflationary events in salt-bearing landscapes in the western arid part of the basin. From gamma-ray emissions, and based on an observed relationship with borehole salinity, concentrated aeolian salt source deposits contained about 0.7% potassium and 10 ppm thorium. Using this signature on normalized data, an Euclidean distance algorithm provided mapping and information relating to salt-mobility pathways over a wide region. The resulting gamma-ray salt source model (GSM) facilitates focussed management of salinity infiltration zones in catchments across the basin.     

Evaluation of tile–wall bonding integrity based on impact acoustics and support vector machine

It is well recognized that the impact-acoustic emissions contain information that can indicate the presence of the adhesive defects in the bonding structures. In our previous papers, artificial neural network (ANN) was adopted to assess the bonding integrity of the tile–walls with the feature extracted from the power spectral density (PSD) of the impact-acoustic signals acting as the input of classifier. However, in addition to the inconvenience posed by the general drawbacks such as long training time and large number of training samples needed, the performance of the classic ANN classifier is deteriorated by the similar spectral characteristics between different bonding status caused by abnormal impacts. In this paper our previous works was developed by the employment of the least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) classifier instead of the ANN to derive a bonding integrity recognition approach with better reliability and enhanced immunity to surface roughness. With the help of the specially designed artificial sample slabs, experiments results obtained with the proposed method are provided and compared with that using the ANN classifier, demonstrating the effectiveness of the present strategy.