Tactile colour pictogram to improve artwork appreciation of people with visual impairments

A recent development in tactile technology enables an improvement in the appreciation of the visual arts for people with visual impairment (PVI). The tactile sense, in conjunction with, or a possibly as an alternative to, the auditory sense, would allow PVIs to approach artwork in a more self‐driven and engaging way that would be difficult to achieve with just an auditory stimulus. Tactile colour pictograms (TCPs), which are raised geometric patterns, are ideographic characters that are designed to enable PVIs to identify colours and interpret information by touch. In this article, three TCPs are introduced to code colours in the Munsell colour system. Each colour pattern consists of a basic cell size of 10 mm × 10 mm to represent the patterns consistently in terms of regular shape. Each TCP consists of basic geometric patterns that are combined to create primary, secondary, and tertiary colour pictograms of shapes indicating colour hue, intensity and lightness. Each TCP represents 29 colours including six hues; they were then further expanded to represent 53 colours. Two of them did not increase the cell size, the other increased the cell size 1.5 times for some colours, such as yellow‐orange, yellow, blue, and blue‐purple. Our proposed TCPs use a slightly larger cell size compared to most tactile patterns currently used to indicate colour, but code for more colours. With user experience and identification tests, conducted with 23 visually impaired adults, the effectiveness of the TCPs suggests that they were helpful for the participants.     

Evolutionary collective behavior decomposition model for time series data mining

In this research, we propose a novel framework referred to as collective game behavior decomposition where complex collective behavior is assumed to be generated by aggregation of several groups of agents following different strategies and complexity emerges from collaboration and competition of individuals. The strategy of an agent is modeled by certain simple game theory models with limited information. Genetic algorithms are used to obtain the optimal collective behavior decomposition based on history data. The trained model can be used for collective behavior prediction. For modeling individual behavior, two simple games, the minority game and mixed game are investigated in experiments on the real-world stock prices and foreign-exchange rate. Experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the new proposed model.     

Transparent and flexible films of new segmented polyurethane nanocomposites incorporated by NH2-functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles

In this work, TiO₂ nanoparticles are surface modified by NH₂-terminated organic moieties arised from 4,4′-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). These nanoparticles are incorporated into ether-based segmented polyurethane (SPU) matrix. MDI is utilized as monomer together with poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO) comonomer for preparing the final polymer as well. The NH₂-functionalized TiO₂ nanoparticles are covalently linked to the NCO terminals of the resulting SPU macromolecules during film preparation stage. Therefore, in addition to butylene glycol, these surface modified nanoparticles with enhanced organophilicity could play the role of the second chain extender of NCO-capped SPU macromolecules through formation of urea linkages. Optical and thermal behaviors of the transparent and flexible film (SPU/TiO₂–MDI) is compared with those of unmodified TiO₂ (SPU/TiO₂) and TiO₂-unloaded SPU films. Though the particle loading is only 5 wt.%, incorporation of TiO₂ and TiO₂–MDI nanoparticles into the SPU polymer enhances significantly the light absorption in UV region at 300–400 nm. SEM images of the prepared films clearly show a considerable decrease in particle aggregation for TiO₂–MDI into SPU matrix compared to that of unmodified TiO₂. TG analyses indicate a one-step decomposition pattern with onset temperatures of about 360 and 380 °C for neat SPU and SPU/TiO₂–MDI, respectively. Moreover, DTA thermograms of both nanocomposites show obviously two exothermic phase transitions in the thermal range of 330–440 °C.     

Nonlinear dynamic behaviors and control based on simulation of high-purity heat integrated air separation column

In this paper, the dynamic behaviors on the basis of simulation for high-purity heat integrated air separation column (HIASC) are studied. A nonlinear generic model control (GMC) scheme is proposed based on the nonlinear behavior analyses of a HIASC process, and an adaptive generic model control (AGMC) scheme is further presented to correct the model parameters online. Related internal model control (IMC) scheme and multi-loop PID (M-PID) scheme are also developed as the comparative base. The comparative researches are carried out among these linear and nonlinear control schemes in detail. The simulation research results show that the proposed AGMC schemes present advantages in both servo control and regulatory control for the high-purity HIASC.     

新形势下普通高校大学生行为管理模式研究

高校是培养人才的摇篮,肩负着科教兴国、人才强国两大历史性战略任务。由于社会环境的复杂化,人际关系的交错性,新时代的大学生行为状况给高校学生管理工作带来了新的挑战。针对新时期大学生行为特点,我们通过加强党建工作、强化学风建设、做好班级自主管理和深化社会服务四个方面工作进行分析,提出了全面引导、约束、规范和优化大学生的行为的建议和对策,从而有效解决新形势下普通高校学生管理工作的实际困难。     

Crystallization and spectroscopic properties in Er3+ doped oxyfluorogermanate glass ceramics containing Na

The Er³⁺ doped oxyfluorogermanate glasses, with a composition containing Na element, were synthesized by the conventional melting–quenching technique. When Na element was introduced into the composition of oxyfluorogermanate glass, the crystals behavior was investigated in details. Depending on the annealing procedure supplied, thermal annealing of precursor glasses in the system GeO₂/BaF₂/AlF₃/Na₂O/NaF/ZnO/GdF₃/ErF₃ led to the precipitation of different crystal phase nanocrystals. It was confirmed the nanocrystals in GC600 is orthorhombic NaBaAlF₆ which led to enhance obviously in the UC luminescence of Er³⁺. However, the nanocrystals in G585 led to decrease in the UC luminescence, which indicated few Er ions enter into the lattice of this nanocrystal phase. The reason of the decrease in UC emission intensity of GC585 was analyzed.     

Expression of Main Toll-Like Receptors in Patients with Different Types of Colorectal Polyps and Their Relationship with Gut Microbiota

Abnormal activation of Toll-like receptor (TLRs) signaling can result in colon cancer development. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of important TLRs in different histological types of colorectal polyps and evaluate their relationship with intestinal microbiota. The expression levels of TLR2, 3, 4, and 5 were analyzed in intestinal biopsy specimens of 21 hyperplastic polyp (HP), 16 sessile serrated adenoma (SSA), 29 tubular adenoma (TA), 21 villous/tubulovillous (VP/TVP) cases, and 31 normal controls. In addition, selected gut bacteria including Streptococcus bovis, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF), Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas spp., Lactobacillus spp., Roseburia spp., and Bifidobacterium spp. were quantified in fecal samples using absolute qRT PCR, and, finally, the association between TLRs and these gut microbiota- was evaluated by Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Higher expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in VP/TVP and TA, and lower expression levels of TLR3 and TLR5 in all type of polyps were observed. The differences in TLR expression patterns was not only dependent on the histology, location, size, and dysplasia grade of polyps but also related to the intestinal microbiota patterns. TLR2 and TLR4 expression was directly associated with the F. nucleatum, E. faecalis, S. bovis, Porphyromonas, and inversely to Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Roseburia quantity. Furthermore, TLR3 and TLR5 expression was directly associated with Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, and Lactobacillus quantity. Our results suggest a possible critical role of TLRs during colorectal polyp progression. An abnormal regulation of TLRs in relation to gut microbial quantity may contribute to carcinogenesis.     

Parameter estimation for a morphochemical reaction-diffusion model of electrochemical pattern formation

The process of electrodeposition can be described in terms of a reaction-diffusion partial differential equation (PDE) system that models the dynamics of the morphology profile and the chemical composition. Here we fit such a model to the different patterns present in a range of electrodeposited and electrochemically modified alloys using PDE constrained optimization. Experiments with simulated data show how the parameter space of the model can be divided into zones corresponding to the different physical patterns by examining the structure of an appropriate cost function. We then use real data to demonstrate how numerical optimization of the cost function can allow the model to fit the rich variety of patterns arising in experiments. The computational technique developed provides a potential tool for tuning experimental parameters to produce desired patterns.