Reaction kinetics modeling and thermal properties of epoxy–amines as measured by modulated‐temperature DSC. II. Network‐forming DGEBA + MDA

Reaction‐induced vitrification takes place in the network‐forming epoxy–amine system diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) + methylenedianiline (MDA) when the glass‐transition temperature (T_g) rises above the cure temperature (T_cure). This chemorheological transition results in diffusion‐controlled reaction and can be followed simultaneously with the reaction rate in modulated‐temperature DSC (MTDSC). To predict the effect of T_cure and the NH/epoxy molar mixing ratio (r) on the reaction rate in chemically controlled conditions, a mechanistic approach was used based on the nonreversing heat flow and heat capacity MTDSC signals, in which the reaction steps of primary (E_1OH = 44 kJ mol^?1) and secondary amine (E_2OH = 48 kJ mol^?1) with the epoxy–hydroxyl complex predominating. The diffusion factor DF as defined by the Rabinowitch approach expresses whether the chemical reaction rate or the diffusion rate determines the overall reaction rate. A model based on the free volume theory together with an Arrhenius temperature dependency was used to calculate the diffusion rate constant in DF as a function of conversion (x) and T_cure. The relation between x, r, and T_g, needed in this model, can be predicted with the Couchman equation. An experimental approximation for DF is the mobility factor DF* obtained from the heat capacity signal at a modulation frequency of 1/60 Hz, normalized for the effect of the reaction heat capacity in the liquid state and the change in C_p in the glassy region with x and T_cure. In this way, an optimized set of diffusion parameters was obtained that, together with the optimized kinetic parameters set, can predict the reaction rate for different cure schedules and for stoichiometric and off‐stoichiometric mixtures. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 2814–2833, 2004     

Epileptic seizure classification in EEG signals using second-order difference plot of intrinsic mode functions

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which is characterized by transient and unexpected electrical disturbance of the brain. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a commonly used signal for detection of epileptic seizures. This paper presents a new method for classification of ictal and seizure-free EEG signals. The proposed method is based on the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and the second-order difference plot (SODP). The EMD method decomposes an EEG signal into a set of symmetric and band-limited signals termed as intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). The SODP of IMFs provides elliptical structure. The 95% confidence ellipse area measured from the SODP of IMFs has been used as a feature in order to discriminate seizure-free EEG signals from the epileptic seizure EEG signals. The feature space obtained from the ellipse area parameters of two IMFs has been used for classification of ictal and seizure-free EEG signals using the artificial neural network (ANN) classifier. It has been shown that the feature space formed using ellipse area parameters of first and second IMFs has given good classification performance. Experimental results on EEG database available by the University of Bonn, Germany, are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Augment low-field intra-operative MRI with preoperative MRI using a hybrid non-rigid registration method

Background

Preoperatively acquired diffusion tensor image (DTI) and blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) have been proved to be effective in providing more anatomical and functional information; however, the brain deformation induced by brain shift and tumor resection severely impairs the correspondence between the image space and the patient space in image-guided neurosurgery.

Method

To address the brain deformation, we developed a hybrid non-rigid registration method to register high-field preoperative MRI with low-field intra-operative MRI in order to recover the deformation induced by brain shift and tumor resection. The registered DTI and BOLD are fused with low-field intra-operative MRI for image-guided neurosurgery.

Results

The proposed hybrid registration method was evaluated by comparing the landmarks predicted by the hybrid registration method with the landmarks identified in the low-field intra-operative MRI for 10 patients. The prediction error of the hybrid method is 1.92 ± 0.54 mm, and the compensation accuracy is 74.3 ± 5.0%. Compared to the landmarks far from the resection region, those near the resection region demonstrated a higher compensation accuracy (P-value = .003) although these landmarks had larger initial displacements.

Conclusions

The proposed hybrid registration method is able to bring preoperatively acquired BOLD and DTI into the operating room and compensate for the deformation to augment low-field intra-operative MRI with rich anatomical and functional information.     

Computer aided detection system for micro calcifications in digital mammograms

Breast cancer continues to be a significant public health problem in the world. Early detection is the key for improving breast cancer prognosis. Mammogram breast X-ray is considered the most reliable method in early detection of breast cancer. However, it is difficult for radiologists to provide both accurate and uniform evaluation for the enormous mammograms generated in widespread screening. Micro calcification clusters (MCCs) and masses are the two most important signs for the breast cancer, and their automated detection is very valuable for early breast cancer diagnosis. The main objective is to discuss the computer-aided detection system that has been proposed to assist the radiologists in detecting the specific abnormalities and improving the diagnostic accuracy in making the diagnostic decisions by applying techniques splits into three-steps procedure beginning with enhancement by using Histogram equalization (HE) and Morphological Enhancement, followed by segmentation based on Otsu's threshold the region of interest for the identification of micro calcifications and mass lesions, and at last classification stage, which classify between normal and micro calcifications ‘patterns and then classify between benign and malignant micro calcifications. In classification stage; three methods were used, the voting K-Nearest Neighbor classifier (K-NN) with prediction accuracy of 73%, Support Vector Machine classifier (SVM) with prediction accuracy of 83%, and Artificial Neural Network classifier (ANN) with prediction accuracy of 77%.     

Fall detection for multiple pedestrians using depth image processing technique

A fall detection method based on depth image analysis is proposed in this paper. As different from the conventional methods, if the pedestrians are partially overlapped or partially occluded, the proposed method is still able to detect fall events and has the following advantages: (1) single or multiple pedestrian detection; (2) recognition of human and non-human objects; (3) compensation for illumination, which is applicable in scenarios using indoor light sources of different colors; (4) using the central line of a human silhouette to obtain the pedestrian tilt angle; and (5) avoiding misrecognition of a squat or stoop as a fall. According to the experimental results, the precision of the proposed fall detection method is 94.31% and the recall is 85.57%. The proposed method is verified to be robust and specifically suitable for applying in family homes, corridors and other public places.     

超磁致伸缩作动器的率相关Hammerstein模型与H∞鲁棒跟踪控制

利用Hammerstein模型对超磁致伸缩作动器（Giant magnetostrictive actuators,GMA）的率相关迟滞非线性进行建模,分别以改进的 Prandtl-Ishlinskii（Modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii）模型和外因输入自回归模型（Autoregressive model with exogenous input,ARX）代表Hammerstein模型中的静态非线性部分和线性动态部分,并给出了模型的辨识方法. 此模型能在1～100Hz频率范围内较好地描述GMA的率相关迟滞非线性. 提出了带有逆补偿器和H∞鲁棒控制器的二自由度跟踪控制策略,实时跟踪控制实验结果证明了所提策略的有效性.     

聚氨酯弹性体复合抗磨环的研制

介绍了聚氨酯弹性体复合抗磨环的设计及制作过程，并将该产品应用于挖泥船泥泵中。经过试验证明，该产品比传统的钢质抗磨环耐气蚀、耐磨损，使用寿命可延长3倍以上。     

(Ag)_核·(Au)_壳复合纳米粒子的制备

以银原子团簇作晶种,采用微波高压液相合成法制备了分散性好、规则球形的(Ag)核·(Au)壳复合纳米粒子。研究了(Ag)核·(Au)壳复合纳米粒子的紫外可见吸收光谱和共振散射光谱特性。结果表明,液相(Ag)核·(Au)壳复合纳米粒子和高压微波合成的液相金纳米粒子的最强共振散射峰均在580nm处,它们的吸收光谱图相似,最大吸收分别在518.5nm和524.8nm。     

Stiffer and super-tough poly(butylene terephthalate) based blends by modification with phenoxy and maleated poly(ethylene-octene) copolymers

New super-tough poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) materials were obtained by melt blending PBT with both 20 wt% phenoxy (Ph) and 0-30 wt% maleic anhydride grafted poly(ethylene-octene) (mPEO) copolymers with different grafting levels. Ph was completely miscible in the PBT matrix. The presence of mPEO did not influence either the nature of the PBT-Ph matrix or the crystallization of PBT. The overall decrease in particle size and in interfacial tension upon grafting indicated that compatibilization had taken place. Super-tough (impact strength 23-fold that of the PBT) and stiffer PBT based blends were obtained at mPEO contents equal to or higher than 15%. The dependence of the critical inter-particle distance (τ_c), on both adhesion measured by means of the interfacial tension, and on the relation between the modulus of the matrix and that of the rubbery dispersed phase (E_m/E_d), is proposed.     

Curing process of powdered phenol–formaldehyde resol resins and the role of water in the curing systems

The curing behavior of two kinds of commercial powdered resol phenolic resins was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. Liquid‐state ¹³C‐NMR spectroscopy was used to aid in understanding the curing behavior by detecting the structure of powdered resins. The reaction mechanism was interpreted with the dependency of activation energy on the degree of conversion. The results indicate that there are differences in the curing mechanism between core and face phenolic resins. The curing process of core resin was faster than that of face resin at the same reaction temperature. The water added in the curing system played an important role of plasticizer or diluent according to different curing stages and water content. In the initial curing stage, water mainly diluted the system and retarded the curing reactions. However, at the higher degrees of conversion, water played the role of plasticizer to decrease the effect of diffusion on the curing reactions to make the curing reactions more complete. The excess water added in the curing system played the role of diluent at almost all stages during the curing process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 1371–1378, 2003