Botulinum toxin for neurological disorders in a movement disorders clinic in Singapore

AIM OF STUDY: This study was done to examine the usefulness of botulinum toxin A injections in treating various neurological disorders such as hemifacial spasm, blepharospasm, focal dystonia and task-specific dystonia. METHODS: This was a prospective, open-labelled trial of patients seen in a Movement Disorders Clinic with dyskinesias potentially treatable with botulinum toxin. All patients were assessed before and after injections using clinical rating scales, and those with focal and task-specific dystonias were also recorded on videotape. RESULTS: There were 102 patients with hemifacial spasm, 3 with blepharospasm, 13 with neck dystonia, 6 with writer's cramp, I with musician's cramp, and I with jaw dystonia. All patients with hemifacial spasm and blepharospasm obtained good results, while 77% of those with cervical dystonia received substantial benefit. Only half of those with writer's cramp improved. Hemifacial spasm seems more prevalent in Singapore compared with Western populations. CONCLUSION: Injections of botulinum toxin are useful in treating the various neurological disorders studied. This is an advancement in the treatment of these dyskinesias which respond poorly to oral medications.     

Quadtree based colour quantisation image compression

A new colour quantisation and quadtree based image compression scheme is proposed. The features of the new scheme are that colour palette ordering and requantisation of the decoded image for palette-based monitor displays are not required. Thus, fast decoding and displaying can be achieved     

矩形橡胶复合材料层合板几何非线性分析

文中应用简单高阶剪切层合理论和大变形理论对各向异性纤维增强的矩形橡胶复合材料层合板进行了几何非线性分析。与线性一理论相比，本文作者进行的层合板大变形状态的几何非线性分析和所计算的层板应力分布，更准确性。     

DNS／GPS组合导航系统研究

本文阐述ＤＮＳ与ＧＰＳ组合导航的必要性、可行性及组合方法，给出了误差模型和卡尔曼滤波模型。选取观测量不同可有三种组合方式，通过模拟计算给出了相应曲线。当采用伪距及其变化率作为观测量时，其组合方式最佳，定位精度可达米级，航向精度可提高到０．２°。     

Coating of carbon-fiber surface by silicon carbide via sol-gel mixtures of tetraethyl orthosilicate and phenolic resin

The preparation of a SiC coating on a carbon fiber surface using a sol-gel mixture of tetraethyl orthosilicat (TEOS) and phenolic resin was studied. FTIR and SEM investigations indicated that the SiC coating can be formed by carbothermal reduction of the sol-gel mixture at 1420°C for 15–20 min in an argon atmosphere. TGA of the coated fiber was also performed, showing that the SiC coating improves the thermooxidative stability of the carbon fiber. With the thickness of the obtained coating of 0.47 μm using a C/Si ratio of 4, this treatment does not affect the carbon fiber strength.     

Structural and gas-sensing properties of nanometre tin oxide prepared by PECVD

A low-temperature plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique has been employed to produce ultrafine tin oxide powders. The structural features and phase transition of this material have been characterized using differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy (IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The oxygen absorption behaviour and gassensing properties have been investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrical measurements. Thick film gas sensors made from such ultrafine SnO₂ powders yield better sensitivities than those of normal undoped SnO₂ gas sensors. A gas-sensing reaction mechanism is also proposed.     

测量刚体位移的非接触式光电系统

首次提出用标定法测量刚体的线位移和角位移的方法，该方法具有结构简单，性能可靠，非接触性，集成化高，工业上易实现和价格便宜等优点。本文同时还采用了一个小功率激光器为光源，ＣＣＤ为光电转换器件。最后通过相关分析法和数据拟合技术等图象处理技术，提高了整套系统的分辨率。     

Real-time accurate hand path tracking and joint trajectory planning for industrial robots (I)

Previously, researchers raised the accuracy for a robot’s hand to track a specified path in Cartesian space mainly through increasing the number of knots on the path and the number of the path’s segments, which results in the heavier online computational burden for the robot controller. Aiming at overcoming this drawback, the authors propose a new kind of real-time accurate hand path tracking and joint trajectory planning method. Through selecting some extra knots on the specified hand path by a certain rule and introducing a sinusoidal function to the joint displacement equation of each segment, this method can greatly raise the path tracking accuracy of robot’s hand and does not change the number of the path’s segments. It also does not increase markedly the computational burden of robot controller. The result of simulation indicates that this method is very effective, and has important value in increasing the application of industrial robots. Foundation item: Foundation of the Robotics Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. RL200002) Biography of the first author: TAN Guan-zheng, Dr., professor, born in Oct. 1962, majoring in artificial intelligence, robotics and automation.     

网格生成方法在APFSDS及弹托干扰流场计算中的应用

介绍APFSDS及弹托干扰流场数值模拟中的网格生成方法及其应用。利用等比数列网格生成技术，三维弧长生成技术以及拼接技术生成计算网格。该方法具有简明、快捷的特点。在临近物面的地方具有较好的贴体性和正交性。在计算脱壳穿甲弹和弹托之间的干扰时，将弹托简化为带圆弧的楔形块，计算结果比较令人满意。     

Characterization of Dip-Coated Boron Nitride on Silicon Carbide Fibers

Amorphous boron nitride thin coatings (∼0.2 μm) have been formed on Nicalon and C-Nicaion (pre-carbon-coated Nicalon) yarns via dip coating in boric acid solution followed by heating and nitriding in NH₃gas at 1000°C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spec-troscopy (AES) studies have shown the formation of boron nitride. The coating was boron rich and contains oxygen. The N/B and O/B ratios range from 0.6 to 0.8 and from 0.1 to 0.25, respectively. Tensile strength measurements revealed that the BN-coated C-Nicalon yarn maintained ∼85% of its original strength while BN-coated Nicalon lost ∼85% of its original strength. Auger depth profiles showed that there was a consumption of carbon during the heating and nitridation process for both BN-coated Nicalon and C-Nicalon fibers. However, the depletion of carbon in BN-coated Nicalon fibers was much more severe than that in BN-coated C-Nicalon fibers.