Performance evaluation of a dental handpiece in simulation of clinical finishing using a novel 2DOF in vitro apparatus

This paper reports on the performance evaluation of a dental handpiece in simulation of clinical finishing using a novel two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) in vitro apparatus. The instrumented apparatus consisted of a two-dimensional computer-controlled coordinate worktable carrying a dental handpiece, a piezoelectric force dynamometer, and a high-speed data acquisition and signal conditioning system for simulating the clinical operations and monitoring the dental finishing processes. The performance of the dental handpiece was experimentally evaluated with respect to rotational speed, torque, and specific finishing energy under the applied clinical finishing conditions. The results show that the rotational speeds of the dental handpiece decreased by increasing either the depth of cut or the feed rate at a constant clinically applied air pressure and water flowrate. They also decreased when increasing both the tangential and normal finishing forces. The specific finishing energy decreased with an increase in either depth of cut or feed rate, while the finishing torque increased as either the depth of cut or the feed rate was increased. Implications of these results were to provide guidance for proper applications of dental handpieces in clinical practice.     

城市大气移动监测系统的研究

本文研究了一种新型的城市大气移动监测系统,该系统以城市交通为载体。大气监测装置可以监测到几乎整个城市的大气情况,能够便捷、全面地对整个城市大气进行监测。系统通过传感器对空气进行采样,通过GPS设备进行无线数据传输。依据数据绘制实时空气质量直方图及当前车辆所在的位置地图,并做出分析,画出各区域一天内的大气变化直方图及曲线图,将结果发布在Internet上,供市民上网浏览。     

Mining Co-Location Patterns with Rare Events from Spatial Data Sets

A co-location pattern is a group of spatial features/events that are frequently co-located in the same region. For example, human cases of West Nile Virus often occur in regions with poor mosquito control and the presence of birds. For co-location pattern mining, previous studies often emphasize the equal participation of every spatial feature. As a result, interesting patterns involving events with substantially different frequency cannot be captured. In this paper, we address the problem of mining co-location patterns with rare spatial features. Specifically, we first propose a new measure called the maximal participation ratio (maxPR) and show that a co-location pattern with a relatively high maxPR value corresponds to a co-location pattern containing rare spatial events. Furthermore, we identify a weak monotonicity property of the maxPR measure. This property can help to develop an efficient algorithm to mine patterns with high maxPR values. As demonstrated by our experiments, our approach is effective in identifying co-location patterns with rare events, and is efficient and scalable for large-scale data sets.

Convergence Results of One-Leg and Linear Multistep Methods for Multiply Stiff Singular Perturbation Problems

One-leg methods and linear multistep methods are two class of important numerical methods applied to stiff initial value problems of ordinary differential equations. The purpose of this paper is to present some convergence results of A-stable one-leg and linear multistep methods for one-parameter multiply stiff singular perturbation problems and their corresponding reduced problems which are a class of stiff differential-algebraic equations. Received April 14, 2000; revised June 30, 2000     

一体化水下航行器仿真系统软件设计

文章研究了水下自动航行器仿真系统的一体化软件设计原则和方法,给出了仿真系统的软件结构及其关键的设计技术。     

<毛泽东思想概论>网络教学设计与开发

传统的教育方式有很大的局限性 ,难于激发学生学习兴趣、多媒体网络教学实现“以学生为中心”的教育思想 ,将单向同步教育变为双边式教学活动 ,极利于激发学生的学习积极性和创作精神 ,是高校教学改革的重要方向 ,利用网络技术、数据库技术、多媒体技术把《毛泽东思想概论》课程全部知识内容、试题集成比、系统化、数字化 ,实现高科技与高境界的融合。对学生领略毛泽东思想有极其重要的意义。     

WWW上路径模式发掘的研究

本文从互连网发展的趋势入手,对路径模式发掘进行了研究。先简要介绍数据库发掘的概况及网上数据发掘的特点,后结合关联法和组合概率法,并以算法和实例详细对之进行分析。     

Feature extraction in carpal-bone analysis

Hand-bone analysis with image processing techniques using a digital radiograph can be used to assess skeletal age. The analysis consists of two steps: phalangeal and carpal bone analysis. The carpal bone analysis is discussed. First, the carpal bone region of interest (CROI) is defined using a standard thresholding technique to separate the hand from the background. Then, a dynamic thresholding method with variable window sizes is used to differentiate between the bones and the soft tissue. Next, the radius, ulna, and metacarpals intersecting the borders of the CROI are removed by using mathematical morphology. Finally, all objects included in the corrected CROI are separated and described in terms of features. These features describe the size, shape, and location and include some gray-scale pixel value information. On the basis of this analysis, the separation of the noncarpal bone objects from the carpal bone is possible. The feature selection step removes features of low discriminant power and reduces the space dimension. The remaining carpal bone parameters are used for further analysis leading to skeletal age assessment.     

Voltage sensitivity of the osteoclast calcium receptor

We demonstrated previously that osteoclasts possess a divalent cation-sensitive "receptor", the Ca2+ receptor. Activation of the Ca2+ receptor by the surrogate cation Ni2+ was shown to elicit an increase in cytosolic [Ca2+] to a peak value followed by an exponential decline. In the present study we examined the influence of surface membrane voltage on the kinetics of Ca2+ receptor inactivation. The K+ ionophore, valinomycin was applied to intercept the declining phase of the cytosolic [Ca2+] transient elicited by application of between 50 microM- and 5 mM-[Ni2+]. This resulted in a sustained elevation of cytosolic [Ca2+] or even a 'hump' followed by a gradual decline. Such a kinetic alteration persisted in a Ca(2+)-free solution, but was abolished in high extracellular [K+] (105 mM). Thus, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge, a modulatory effect of membrane potential on the function of the osteoclast Ca2+ receptor.     

Reduction mammaplasty improves symptoms of macromastia

The condition macromastia has not been defined and characterized precisely by the medical community. Whether the patient with hypertrophic breasts is a candidate for or can be helped by reduction mammaplasty is unclear to both the medical and the lay community. A prospective study of 39 women undergoing reduction mammaplasty surgery was initiated to answer these questions. Patients rated the severity of their somatic pain symptoms and discomfort before reduction mammaplasty and again after complete recovery. The severity of their symptoms and complaints was numerically graded and analyzed. These data were compared with similar data obtained from 40 "small-breasted" women of similar age. Headache, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, and bra strap groove pain were present in 60 to 92 percent of patients, and 97 percent of patients had at least three of these pain symptoms preoperatively. All the patients had reduction of their pain symptomatology postoperative, and 25 percent of the study patients had total elimination of pain symptoms by reduction mammaplasty. The postoperative incidence and severity of pain symptoms and discomfort complaints were statistically equivalent to or less than the levels in the control group.