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Background Testing for the presence of liver cirrhosis (LC) is one of the most critical diagnostic and prognostic assessments for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). More non-invasive tools are needed to diagnose LC but the predictive abilities of current models are still inconclusive. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel and non-invasive artificial neural network (ANN) model for diagnosing LC in patients with HBV-related HCC using routine laboratory serological indicators. Methods A total of 1152 HBV-related HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy were included and randomly divided into the training set (n = 864, 75%) and validation set (n = 288, 25%). The ANN model was constructed from the training set using multivariate Logistic regression analysis and then verified in the validation set. Results The morbidity of LC in the training and validation sets was 41.2% and 46.8%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age, platelet count, prothrombin time and total bilirubin were independent risk factors for LC (P < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) analyses revealed that the ANN model had higher predictive accuracy than the Logistic model (ANN: 0.757 vs Logistic: 0.721; P < 0.001), and other scoring systems (ANN: 0.757 vs CP: 0.532, MELD: 0.594, ALBI: 0.575, APRI: 0.621, FIB-4: 0.644, AAR: 0.491, and GPR: 0.604; P < 0.05 for all) in diagnosing LC. Similar results were obtained in the validation set. Conclusion The ANN model has better diagnostic capabilities than other commonly used models and scoring systems in assessing LC risk in patients with HBV-related HCC.

In light of the growing demand for quality certifications, quality management practices have become crucial in the quest for profitability and market share. To date, the research into the firm perf...

An advanced Dyson imaging spectrometer in the near ultraviolet-visible-near infrared region was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. A lens with reflective coating on the back surface is applying to replace the traditional lens-reflecting grating combination. The design concept and fabrication and alignment methods as well as the results of evaluations of the proposed spectrometer are described in detail. The advanced imaging spectrometer achieves high resolution in both spectral and spatial direction and low stray light at a high numerical aperture in the working waveband. The performance of this modified porotype is analyzed and evaluated. Results show the spectrometer is well suited for the remote sensing of the ocean color as well as for various agriculture and vegetation-related applications.

A model for estimating astronomical seeing at Kunlun Station (Dome A, Antarctica) is proposed. This model is based on the Tatarskii equation, using the wind shear and temperature gradient as inputs, and a seeing model depending directly on the weather data is provided. The seeing and near-ground weather data to build and validate the proposed seeing model were measured at Dome A during the summer of 2019. Two calculation methods were tested from the measured weather data relating the wind shear and temperature gradient to a combination of the two levels for the boundary layer. Both methods performed well, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.77. The model can capture the main seeing trends in which the seeing becomes small when weak wind speed and strong temperature inversion occur inside the boundary layer.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, configuration of a Littrow–Offner spectrometer that is off-axis in both the meridian and sagittal planes is proposed. Through theoretical analysis, the relationship between the distance of each element and the aperture is obtained, and the theoretical basis of the sagittal plane off-axis is given. Extra aberrations are corrected by a spherical lens with a convex grating. An example of design has been presented with an f -number of 4 working in 300–500 nm, according to the theory. Its spectral resolution achieves a 0.1 nm at central wavelength, and its volume decreases by 14.5% compared with the traditional Offner spectrometer.

Introduction Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignancy of the bone among adolescents and children. Despite intensive chemotherapy and aggressive surgery, the 5-year survival rate of osteosarcoma still falls under 70%, mainly due to its tendency to metastasize and to develop drug resistance. Therefore, new treatments for osteosarcoma are urgently needed. HGF/c-Met signaling pathway, when dysregulated, is involved in the onset, progression and metastasis of various cancers, making the HGF/c-Met axis a promising therapeutic target. Methods In this study, we found Met to be a cancer-promoting gene in osteosarcoma as well, and aimed to investigate the role of a c-met inhibitor (PHA-665752) in osteosarcoma. For this purpose, two human osteosarcoma cell lines (143B and U2OS) were introduced in this study and treated with PHA-665752. CCK8 cell proliferation assay was performed to obtain the IC50 value of PHA-665752 for 143B and U2OS. After that, colony formation assay, transwell migration and invasion assay and wound-healing assay were performed. Furthermore, a tumor-transplanted mouse model was used for in vivo experiments. Results Our results showed that PHA-665752 could suppress osteosarcoma progression, promote apoptosis and inhibit proliferation of human osteosarcoma cells. Moreover, we found ERK1/2 pathway to be an important mediator underlying the osteosarcoma-suppressing function of PHA-665752. LY3214996, a highly selective inhibitor of the ERK1/2 pathway, was able to antagonize the effects of PHA-665752 in osteosarcoma. Finally, in vivo experiments indicated that PHA-665752 suppressed tumor growth in a tumor-transplanted mouse model. Conclusion Taken together, Met provided a druggable target for osteosarcoma and PHA-665752 is a promising candidate for anti-osteosarcoma treatments., Graphical Abstract

Background Although lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) reduces lung cancer mortality in high-risk patients, most of those eligible are not referred for screening. Tobacco cessation counseling may be an opportune time to educate people about LCS, but little is known about the utilization and perceptions of LCS among people undergoing tobacco cessation treatment. Materials and Methods We surveyed 185 current smokers, including 122 smokers between the ages of 55 and 80 years, who were attending a tobacco cessation class in a large integrated health care system regarding lung cancer risk perception and perceived benefits, harms, and barriers to LCS. We analyzed results according to whether participants had already undergone LCS and also whether they had undergone colorectal cancer screening. Results A minority (18.9%) of participants had undergone LCS, and no participant who had not undergone LCS was familiar with LCS. Perceived lung cancer risk was high, and screening was believed to be beneficial. Common barriers included being a current smoker (56.6%), worrying about test results (52.5%), lack of knowledge about the test (50.8%), absence of symptoms of lung cancer (40.2%), costs of the study (35.2%), and worrying about being blamed for having smoked (33.6%). Perceived risk and barriers to LDCT were similar among people who had or had not previously undergone colorectal cancer screening. Conclusions Utilization of LCS was low, and few smokers were aware of LDCT for LCS. A number of patient-related barriers to screening exist among smokers. Tobacco cessation counseling may be an opportune time to provide education regarding LCS with LDCT.

Background With the increasing number of children with obesity worldwide, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common liver disease among children. It is necessary to recognize the risk factors of NAFLD for prevention in childhood since NAFLD is asymptomatic in the early stage. Objectives. The objective of this study was to investigate possible risk factors of NAFLD in children with obesity, providing evidence for monitoring and prevention strategies at an early stage for obese children with NAFLD. Methods Data were collected from 428 children and adolescents aged 6-16 years recruited from the Children’s Hospital at Nanjing Medical University from September 2015 to April 2018 and analyzed. Based on a combination of ultrasound results and alanine transaminase levels, subjects were divided into three groups: simple obesity (SOB), simple steatosis (SS), and nonalcoholic fatty hepatitis (NASH). Blood biochemical examination included glucose, insulin, uric acid, lipid profile and liver enzymes. Results Among 428 children with obesity, 235 (54.9%) had SS and 45 (10.5%) had NASH. Body mass index, body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), waist circumference, body fat, liver enzymes, uric acid and HOMA-IR level were significantly higher in the NASH group than in the SS and SOB groups (p p Conclusions The prevalence of NASH in children with obesity is closely related to high BMI-SDS, gender, insulin resistance and hyperuricemia. These findings provide evidence that monitoring risk factors of childhood obesity can assist in developing prevention strategies for liver disease at an early stage.

Introduction: Cardioplegic-ischemia/reperfusion (CP-I/R) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are correlated with coronary endothelial dysfunction and inactivated small conductance calcium-activated-potassium (SK) channels. Increased reactive oxidative species (ROS), such as mitochondrial ROS (mROS) may contribute to oxidative injury. Thus, we hypothesized that inhibition of mROS may protect coronary SK channels and endothelial function against CP-I/R-induced injury. Objective: A cardioplegic hypoxia and reoxygenation (CP-H/R) model consisting of coronary endothelial cells and small coronary arteries with or without DM were employed for examining whether MT could protect against coronary endothelial and SK channel dysfunction. Methods: Small coronary arteries (-5 M) 5-minutes before and during CP-hypoxia. Microvascular vasodilation function was assessed in vitro by administration of vasoconstrictor, then ADP or NS309,respectively. K + currents of MHECs were measured by whole-cell patch clamp. The levels of endothelial mROS was measured by MitoSox TM . Results: CP-H/R significantly attenuated endothelial SK channels activity and the coronary relaxation responses to ADP and NS309 in the ND and DM groups. Treatment with MT enhanced coronary relaxation responses to ADP or NS309 ( p p Conclusions: Administration of MT improves endothelial SK channels activity which may contribute to its enhancement of endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation following CP-H/R.

It is worth highlighting that, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters and were measured at Lhasa, south of the Tibetan Plateau, using balloon-borne radiosondes. Based on the measurements, two new statistical models (Lhasa HMN and Lhasa Dewan) for estimating turbulence strength are proposed. Attention has been paid to evaluate the reliability of the two models to reconstruct vertical profiles of from a statistical perspective. The statistical analyses presenting the Lhasa HMN model are accompanied with lower bias, root mean square error (RMSE), and bias-corrected RMSE () than those of the Lhasa Dewan model, which implies the Lhasa HMN model can better reveal the nature of turbulence characteristics of Lhasa influenced by unique local weather conditions. In addition, the comparison between the Lhasa HMN model and measurements in calculating integrated astroclimatic parameters is carried out, and the result suggests that the performance of the Lhasa HMN model is reliable and satisfactory. The new reliable model offers new insight into the characteristics of optical turbulence at Lhasa and provides support for pursuing astronomical site selection in the Tibetan Plateau.

Because systematic direct measurements of the refractive index structure constant ( C n 2 ) are not available for many climates and seasons, we developed an indirect method to forecast optical turbulence. The C n 2 was estimated from a backpropagation neural network optimized by an adaptive niche-genetic algorithm. The estimated result was validated against the corresponding six-day C n 2 data from a field campaign of the 30th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition. We also compared the correlation coefficient, root mean square error, and systematic error bias of the proposed model with the weather research and forecasting model. The results suggest that our model shows better correlation and reliably estimates C n 2 .

Background The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of diurnal cortisol rhythm in childhood obesity and its relationships with anthropometry, pubertal stage and physical activity. Methods Thirty-five children with obesity (median age: 11.80[interquartile range 10.30, 13.30] and median BMI z-score: 3.21[interquartile range 2.69, 3.71]) and 22 children with normal weight (median age: 10.85[interquartile range 8.98, 12.13] and median BMI z-score: − 0.27[interquartile range − 0.88, 0.35]) were recruited. Saliva samples were collected at 08:00, 16:00 and 23:00 h. Cortisol concentrations at 3 time points, corresponding areas under the curve (AUCs) and diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) were compared between the two groups. Anthropometric measures and pubertal stage were evaluated, and behavioural information was obtained via questionnaires. Results Children with obesity displayed significantly lower cortisol08:00 (median [interquartile range]: 5.79[3.42,7.73] vs. 8.44[5.56,9.59] nmol/L, P = 0.030) and higher cortisol23:00 (median [interquartile range]: 1.10[0.48,1.46] vs. 0.40[0.21,0.61] nmol/L, P P = 0.006) than their normal weight counterparts. The AUC increased with pubertal development (AUC08:00–16:00:P = 0.008; AUC08:00–23:00: P = 0.005). Furthermore, cortisol08:00 was inversely associated with BMI z-score (β = − 0.247, P = 0.036) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (β = − 0.295, P = 0.027). Cortisol23:00 was positively associated with BMI z-score (β = 0.490, PPPP = 0.009), WHtR (β = − 0.384, P = 0.004) and FM% (β = − 0.322, P = 0.019). In multivariate analyses adjusted for pubertal stage and BMI z-score, Cortisol08:00, AUC08:00–16:00 and absolute values of DCS were inversely associated with the relative time spent in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (P 16:00–23:00 was positively associated with relative non-screen sedentary time and negatively associated with sleep (P Conclusions The disorder of diurnal salivary cortisol rhythm is associated with childhood obesity, which is also influenced by puberty development and physical activity. Thus, stabilizing circadian cortisol rhythms may be an important approach for childhood obesity.

An advanced optical design has been proposed for an astigmatism-free Offner imaging spectrometer with high resolution in the broadband spectrum. The anastigmatic theory is thoroughly analyzed. Astigmatism is corrected by two pairs of lens-mirror combinations. On the basis of the concentric structure, the lens is used to make the meridional image distance equal to sagittal image distance. An example of the design has been presented with f-number of 3 working in 400–1000 nm according to the optimized theory. By the ray-tracing results, the spectral sampling is 0.6nm/pixel, and the RMS spots radii in all fields of view are less than 5 µm. The spectral keystone distortion and smile distortion are less than 0.1%. The prototype is manufactured based on theory and tolerance analysis. The achieved prototype has advantages of high spectral resolution (3 nm) and compact configuration.

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics of renal function in patients diagnosed with COVID-19.Methods: In this retrospective, single-center study, we included all confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a tertiary hospital in Guangdong, China from January 20, 2020 to March 20, 2020. Blood and urine laboratory findings related to renal function were summarized, and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and endogenous creatinine clearance (Ccr) were also calculated to assess the renal function.Results: A total of 12 admitted hospital patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, included 3 severe cases, and 9 common cases. Serum creatinine (Scr) was not abnormally elevated in all of the patients, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was abnormally elevated in only 25.0% of the patients. However, compared with the recovery period, the patient's Scr and BUN increased significantly in peak of disease (p-scr = 0.002 & p-bun < 0.001). By observing the fluctuations in Scr and BUN from admission to recovery, it was found that the peak of Scr and BUN appeared within the first 14 day of the course of the disease. Urinary microprotein detection indicated that the abnormally elevated rates of urine microalbumin (UMA), α1-microglobulin (A1M), urine immunoglobulin-G (IGU), and urine transferring (TRU) standardized by urinary creatinine in peak of disease were 41.7, 41.7, 50.0, and 16.7%, respectively. The abnormal rates of the calculated eGFR and Ccr were 66.7 and 41.7%.Conclusion: Scr and BUN were generally increased during the course of COVID-19. Detection of urinary microproteins and application of multiple indicators assessment could be helpful for discovering abnormal renal function in patients with COVID-19. However, the evidence is limited due to the small sample size and observational nature. Additional studies, especially large prospective cohort studies, are required to confirm these findings.

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to analyze the incidence of COVID-19 with early renal injury, and to explore the value of multi-index combined detection in diagnosis of early renal injury in COVID-19.DesignThe study was an observational, descriptive study.SettingThis study was carried out in a tertiary hospital in Guangdong, China.Participants12 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 20, 2020 to February 20, 2020.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome was to evaluate the incidence of early renal injury in COVID-19. In this study, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), endogenous creatinine clearance (Ccr) and urine microalbumin / urinary creatinine ratio (UACR) were calculated to assess the incidence of early renal injury. Secondary outcomes were the diagnostic value of urine microalbumin (UMA), α1-microglobulin (A1M), urine immunoglobulin-G (IGU), urine transferring (TRU) alone and in combination in diagnosis of COVID-19 with early renal injury.ResultsWhile all patients had no significant abnormalities in serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), the abnormal rates of eGFR, Ccr, and UACR were 66.7%, 41.7%, and 41.7%, respectively. Urinary microprotein detection indicated that the area under curve (AUC) of multi-index combined to diagnose early renal injury in COVID-19 was 0.875, which was higher than UMA (0,813), A1M (0.813), IGU (0.750) and TRU (0.750) alone. Spearman analysis showed that the degree of early renal injury was significantly related to C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil ratio (NER), suggesting that the more severe the infection, the more obvious the early renal injury. Hypokalemia and hyponatremia were common in patients with COVID-19, and there was a correlation with the degree of renal injury.ConclusionsEarly renal injury was common in patients with COVID-19. Combined detection of UMA, A1M, IGU, and TRU was helpful for the diagnosis of early renal injury in COVID-19.

Objectives. The standardized residency training (SRT) program in China is an important link for continuing education and clinical work training for graduate students. The purpose of our study was to enable educators to maintain the effectiveness of hysteroscopy teaching techniques and make the standardized residency training students well experienced in surgery, thus demonstrating that higher efficiency of teaching can lead to better proficiency for surgery. Methods. We generated resident-as-teacher teaching round and tutor guided hysteroscopic surgery as well as a questionnaire based on the mastery degree of the basic theoretical knowledge and operational skills of hysteroscopy among seven junior residents and five senior residents of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, including four attending gynecologic surgeons of a hysteroscopy teaching program. Results. Senior residents felt confident to teach, while junior residents learned effectively through the teaching round. There were statistically significant differences in the whole operation time and the volume of distension fluid used between junior and senior residents (p<0.05). Conclusions. This study acknowledges the need for new approaches to medical education for better characterization of the link between the use of teaching rounds through problem-based learning (PBL) discussion dominated by the residents themselves and overall surgical skills of teaching and learning.

As land transportation occupies a great deal of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the railway plays an indispensable role. After a few years of development, BRI rail projects have connected China and its various neighbours. Through those rail lines, the second largest economy in the world is likely to affect the neighbouring countries and consequently reshape the geopolitical landscape. However, different rail gauges and the presence of rival great powers, namely Russia and India, as well as other external technology providers, constrain China’s rail expansion in Mongolia and Central Asia. In Southeast Asia, Beijing faces more favourable conditions. There are few great powers to obstruct Beijing in the subregion, and there is demand for separated rail systems of the standard gauge variety. However, the centrepiece of rail planning in Southeast Asia, the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL), has not progressed well, probably due to the reasons of costs, affordability, and low public dependence on rail. Although the BRI rail projects may not consistently be a game changer for China’s geopolitical ambitions, they have inspired other regional countries, especially the landlocked ones, to develop strategic connections, whether with Chinese involvement or not.

Background To date, the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test is still the gold standard for precocious puberty (PP) diagnosis. However, it has many disadvantages, including low sensitivity, high cost, and invasive operation. This study aims to evaluate whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived variables, including pituitary volume (PV), could be used as diagnostic factors for PP in girls, providing a non-invasive diagnostic approach for PP. Methods A total of 288 young female patients who presented to the Clinic of Pediatric Endocrinology for evaluation of PP from January 2015 to December 2017 were enrolled. The sample included 90 girls diagnosed with premature thelarche (PT), 133 girls determined as idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP), 35 early pubertal girls, and 30 normal girls. All patients received pituitary MRI examinations. Results The largest PV and pituitary height were shown in the ICPP and pubertal groups, followed by the PT group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that PV is a predictive marker for ICPP, with a sensitivity of 54.10% and a specificity of 72.20% at the cutoff value of 196.01 mm3. By univariate analysis, PV was positively associated with peak luteinizing hormone (LH), LH/follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), age, bone age, and body mass index (BMI) (all P P = 0.000, R2 = 0.159]). Conclusions The PV in the ICPP group was significantly higher than in PT and control groups, but there was no reliable cutoff value to distinguish ICPP from PT. Pituitary MRI should be combined with clinical and laboratory tests to improve the diagnostic value of PV for PP.

Fatal arrhythmias are one of the main manifestations of ischemic heart disease in diabetic patients. Here, we investigated the effect of pretreatment with vildagliptin on myocardial arrhythmias, inflammatory responses, and expression of genes regulating mitochondrial biogenesis following cardiac ischemic injury in type II diabetic male Wistar rats. Chronic diabetes was modeled by a high-fat diet and low-dose streptozotocin method and lasted for 12 weeks. Vildagliptin (6 mg/dl) was orally administered during the last 4 weeks of the diabetic period. Then, rats’ hearts (n = 8/each group) were immediately isolated and transferred to the Langendorff apparatus, in which left anterior descending coronary artery was tightened for 35 min to induce regional ischemia. Electrocardiography was continuously recorded and myocardial arrhythmias were interpreted according to the Lambeth Convention. Inflammatory cytokines in left ventricular samples were measured using ELISA kits, and gene expression was assayed using real-time PCR. Diabetic groups showed increased incidence and duration of ventricular fibrillation (VF) than controls (P

CCD spectrometers are widely used in many fields for quick and accurate measurement of spectra. This paper firstly analyzes various noise phenomena by using Ocean Optics USB4000 spectrometer, including readout noise, photoelectron noise, dark noise and fixed pattern noise. Secondly, noise models of CCD-based spectrometers are built based on the theoretical analysis of noise phenomena. A number of noise-limiting techniques are applied to broadband spectra and line spectra with different noise levels. Lastly by comparing the denoising results, the optimal denoising algorithms are proposed for different spectral characteristics and noise levels.

A seeing model based on the Tatarskii equation, which uses wind shear and temperature gradient as inputs, has been proposed for Dome A in our previous study. It has been shown that the seeing was correctly reproduced statistically. In this paper, in order to investigate the ability of the Polar version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (PWRF) model to forecast the seeing, we have tried three different PWRF-simulated wind shear and temperature gradient combinations of two levels for the near-ground. The three combinations all give good performance with the correlation coefficients being higher than 0.75, when compared with the seeing measured by the Kunlun Differential Image Motion Monitor at Dome A during the summer of 2019. Besides this, the gradient Richardson number (Ri), which was also simulated by the PWRF model, basically behaved as expected as the Ri is generally large when the measured seeing is small. These results suggest that the PWRF model can be used to forecast the astronomical seeing above Dome A.

As fixed facilities, naval fortresses seem unlikely to be important in a sea denial strategy which is usually about mobility, but new defence technologies and the changing geostrategic environment may revive the concept of the fortress. Extended ranges of anti-ship means allow onshore firepower to engage enemies over distance, even beyond the economic exclusive zones where most maritime territorial disputes occur. In the face of size limits on missile warheads that constrain their destruction of hardened targets, various active and passive defence technologies against missiles can enhance the survivability of onshore fortresses. Furthermore, onshore locations give fortresses the advantage of being unsinkable and able to accommodate greater energy and firepower capacity in contrast to vessels, as well as other mobile platforms. The onshore nature of fortresses also gives a different political meaning to being attacked, for the clear violation of sovereignty, as opposed to vessels and aircraft in a disputed space. However, the fact those fortresses are not invincible means cooperation with other existing capabilities still necessary. The case of Vietnam demonstrates how fortresses could strengthen the inferior defence capability of a coastal state vis-à-vis. a stronger sea power. Accepted version

A simple physics-based method for estimating optical turbulence ( C n 2 ) within the surface layer over snow and ice is proposed, using the Tatarski equation with an improved outer scale model. This improved outer scale model mainly requires the calculation of the wind shear and temperature gradients. Based on the measurements from a mobile polar atmospheric parameter measurement system at the Antarctic Taishan Station in 2014, C n 2 was estimated using two methods: the Tatarski equation and the Monin–Obukhov similarity (MOS) theory. Compared with 16 days of measurements from a micro-thermometer, the correlation coefficient of log 10 ( C n 2 ) estimated by the Tatarski equation is 0.72, which is a slightly more accurate C n 2 variation in trend and magnitude than the MOS theory. The results suggest that this simple method has potential value for the forecasting applications of optical turbulence.

Based on the statistical study of meteorological balloons equipped with thermosondes, a new model that estimates the profile of the refractive index structure constant ( C n 2 ) is proposed. Utilizing temperature, pressure, and wind shear as inputs, this new approach can estimate vertical profiles of C n 2 with 100 m vertical resolution. We used four outer scale models (Thorpe, HMNSP99, Dewan, and our proposed model) on data acquired from Rongcheng (Shandong Peninsula) and Maoming (Guangdong Province) to estimate the C n 2 profiles and compared the results with the measured C n 2 profile. The proposed method outperformed the other three models, yielding an estimation profile that matched well with the measured median C n 2 profiles, with an average relative error generally less than 3.5% and a mean correlation coefficient larger than 0.72 in Maoming, an average relative error generally less than 3.4% and a mean correlation coefficient larger than 0.84 in Rongcheng. The proposed outer scale model also shows good performance in estimating integrated atmospheric parameters.

In this paper, we consider transmission optimization in a multiple-input-single-output downlink network, in which each user is wiretapped by a specific eavesdropper. Particularly, we aim to minimize the total transmit power and maximize the sum secrecy rate (SSR) of the system simultaneously, under the assumption that the channel state information (CSI) of the eavesdroppers is not perfectly known at the transmitter. Considering the conflict between two objectives, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework based on the weighted Tchebycheff approach is proposed. The formulated MOO problem is non-convex and intractable. To tackle it, several auxiliary variables are introduced and the corresponding Taylor series expansion is employed to linearize the term related to each auxiliary variable. Then, the non-convexity resulting from the CSI errors is recast as a convex one with the aid of ${S}$ -procedure and Cauchy–Schwarz inequality. Based on above treatments, a robust iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the original problem. Simulation results not only demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design, but also unveil the tradeoff between the total transmit power and the SSR.

Accurate delineation of the clinical target volume (CTV) and organs at risk (OARs) in pelvic plays a crucial role in the follow-up radiotherapy of the patient after hysterectomy. However, manual delineation is a time-consuming task which is susceptible to inter-observer variation. Automatic organ delineation is reliant on the global context contained in the extracted feature map to segment the original CT image. Currently, numerous deep learning networks, like U-Net++, are widely used in this task. In this paper, we use a standard U-Net++ as a fundamental structure followed by using dilated convolutions to replace its standard convolutions. We observed that dilated convolutions enlarged the size of the receptive field significantly, fusing more global contextual information and increasing the accuracy of segmenting organs. We evaluate the performance of standard U-Net++ and improved U-Net++(with double-deck dilated convolution) on the multiple organs segmentation in pelvic respectively. Our data set consist of CT images of 70 patients after hysterectomy. We use the dice similarity coefficient to quantify the segmentation accuracy. The result of our experiment demonstrates that the improved U-Net++ outperforms the standard U-Net++ on the segmentation of bladder, CTV and rectum. The dice scores show in follow: 93.2%±4.2% vs 91.2%±3.7% for bladder, 89%±3.6% vs 85%±2.6% for CTV and 87.6%±3.6% vs 84.7%±2.1% for rectum. It shows that the segmentation result of the improved U-Net ++ network is closer to the results manually drawn by the doctor than the standard U-Net++.

In the field of biomedical image analysis, segmentation is critical for disease diagnosis and treatment planning. While manual segmentation is tedious, time consuming and subjective due to the large shape and appearance variance among different subject, accurate and reliable segmentation is very challenging for automatic segmentation methods at the same time. In this paper, we present our recent effort on developing a reliable segmentation algorithm in the form of a convolutional neural network. Our network architecture is inspired by the popular U-Net and its variation (3D U-Net) and has been carefully modified to maximize bladder and rectum segmentation performance. We transfer our data to four channels to augment the data and prevent overfitting. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) is used to evaluate the network's performance. The outcome of experiments demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method.

To enhance the financial performance of companies by improving the operational capability, we discuss the efficiencies of ten manufacturing industries by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), Our results show that there are significant differences in cost efficiency across industries and efficiencies of these industries remain to be consistent over the years. We select 30 companies that won Chinese National Quality Award for data envelopment analysis (DEA), and find out that some award winners may not gain their expected advantage that measured by efficiencies. The trend of three DEA efficiencies shows that companies have experienced going down and going up by years. This paper underlines that companies should translate the operational capability into business and financial performance.

In the area of machine learning, classification tasks have been well studied, while another important application of regression is not of the same level. In this paper, we propose parameterization and settings obtained from multiple experiments for traditional supervised machine learning of Support Vector Machine (SVM) and recently widely used deep unsupervised learning technology of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) based on Visual Geometry Group (VGGNet). In this study, different dataset used for regression task have been adopted. We have experimented on six data types obtained from the UCI Machine Learning Repository, and one converted handwritten image dataset from the MNIST. Accuracy of the regression results generated by the proposed models are validated with statistical methods of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and R_square, i.e. coefficient of determination. Experimental results demonstrate that VGG has clear advantages over SVM in the cases of image recognition and attributes with strong correlation, and SVM performs better in the cases of discrete, irregular and weak correlation data than. By comparing the three kernel functions of SVM, it is found that in most cases, Rbt kernel function performs more effectively than Linear and Poly ones.

As one of most widely utilized methods in deep learning, convolutional neural network (CNN) has been proven effective in many machine learning applications, especially in the areas of image understanding and computer vision. However, CNN is mainly used for applications with the approach of classification, while its usage for regression is not well-studied. In this work, we propose a strategy based on CNN with Visual Geometry Group Network (VGG) for image regression task. We have applied this method on images of MNIST processed with labels of continuous number. In our study, the original discrete classes of handwriting numbers are converted into float numbers with respect to normal distribution, thereby the traditional classification task in MNIST becomes a regression one. In our study, different loss functions such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Log-cosh have been applied and validated. Final results generated by model trained with CNN with VGG with 10-fold cross-validation can be obtained, where MAE is less than 0.25, compared to the much higher error of around 3 with the use of other loss functions and convolutional layers. The significantly reduced error suggests the applicability of our proposed method.

The MNIST dataset of handwritten digits has been widely used for validating the effectiveness and efficiency of machine learning methods. Although this dataset was primarily used for classification and results of very high accuracy (99.3%+) on it have been obtained, its important application of regression is not directly applicable, thus substantially deteriorates its usefulness and the development of regression methods for such types of data. In this paper, to allow MNIST to be usable for regression, we firstly apply its class/label with normal distribution thereby convert the original discrete class numbers into float ones. Modified Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) is then applied to generate a regression model. Multiple experiments have been conducted in order to select optimal parameters and layer settings for this application. Experimental results suggest that, optimal outcome of mean-absolute-error (MAE) value can be obtained when ReLu function is adopted for the first layer with other layers activated by the softplus functions. In the proposed approach, two indicators of MAE and Log-Cosh loss have been applied to optimize the parameters and score the predictions. Experiments on 10-fold cross-validation demonstrate that, desired low values of MAE and Log-Cosh error respectively at 0.202 and 0.079 can be achieved. Furthermore, multiple values of standard deviation of the normal distribution have been applied to verify the applicability when data of label number at varied distributions is used. The experimental results suggest that a positive correlation exists between the adopted standard deviation and the loss value, that is, the higher concentration degree of data will contribute to the lower MAE value.

As renal fibrosis significantly contributes to various kinds of chronic kidney diseases, this study aimed to investigate the renal protective effects of Qingshen Buyang Formula against renal fibrosis on 5/6 nephrectomized rats, and its underlying mechanisms were explored. A total of 24 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham operation group (Sham group), 5/6 nephrectomy group (5/6Nx group), and Qingshen Buyang Formula treatment group (QBF group). The intervention was intragastric administration for 12 weeks. In the end, the blood samples were collected to test renal functional parameters, urine proteins were measured, and the left kidneys were removed for histological studies, as well as mRNA and protein expression analysis. The results showed that Qingshen Buyang Formula significantly decreased BUN, Scr, and proteinuria in 5/6Nx rats. Meanwhile, it ameliorated the kidney injury and fibrosis, exemplified by the depressed expression of collagen I and fibronectin (FN), which are the main components of ECM. Furthermore, the process of EMT inhibited the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway related genes, such as Wnt4, TCF4, β-catenin, and p-GSK3β. Collectively, the Qingshen Buyang Formula can improve renal function and attenuate renal fibrosis, and its underlying mechanisms may be related with inhibiting EMT and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Despite the low probability of such an event, a serious nuclear power plant incident in northern Taiwan would create a multidimensional security challenge, in terms of both traditional and non-traditional security when factors such as high population density and geopolitical significance of the island are considered. Dealing with nuclear contamination, including evacuation, medical treatment and resettlement, would severely affect human, environmental and other categories of non-traditional security. Taiwan's insufficient level of preparation would make external disaster relief crucial. Since military units are likely to be deployed by assisting countries to respond to a nuclear event, consequent Sino-US interactions in humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) could be either cooperative or competitive.

Lack of excellent quality culture becomes a deep crisis for most Chinese manufacturing enterprises and the obstacles for the quality improvement of their products. How to cultivate an effective quality culture and manage it well within an organization is a key question challenges the manufacturing enterprises. As there is lack of relative research on this issue, and the results of the only researches have been confined to extensive frameworks, this paper, based on the methodology of Grounded Theory, using three-level coding analysis techniques, analyzes in depth the quality culture management practices of eight representative Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and abstracts from those cases a quality culture management model and its measures. This study also analyzes the functions of the measures in developing different dimensions of quality culture. The results of this paper provide both theoretical and experiential reference for more enterprises facing the quality culture challenges.

Objective. To describe the demographic features of children with short stature and poor growth in the south of China and provide better guidance on clinical strategy and decisions. Study Design. This retrospective, chart review study analyzed children with short stature and poor growth admitted to the Department of Endocrinology of Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from Jan 2007 to Dec 2015. Results. The chart review yielded 4142 patients, including 2546 boys and 1596 girls (P < 0.001); the number of patients gradually increased per year from 2007 to 2015. There was an upward trend in the average levels of height standard deviations (SDs) during the study period (P < 0.001), both in males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001). Mean height SDs were smaller in females (-2.42±1.09) than males (-2.33±1.03; P = 0.01). The percentage of females admitted at normal height (33.83%) was lower than that of males (37.20%; P = 0.028). The peak age range of hospitalization in males was 10–12 years of age, while females were generally admitted earlier—8–10 years. Conclusions. There was an increasing tendency to focus on children’s height. Parents and pediatricians were recommended to pay more attention to the treatment needs of girls while avoiding excessive treatment of those who merely appear not to be tall enough without a clear medical issue related to growth, especially for boys.

A modified optical design for a broadband, high resolution, astigmatism-free Czerny-Turner spectrometer is proposed. Astigmatism is corrected by using cylindrical mirrors over a broad spectral range. The theory and method for astigmatism correction are thoroughly analyzed. The comparison between the modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer and the traditional Czerny-Turner spectrometer is also described in detail. The ray-tracing results show that the RMS spot radius has decreased to 4.2 μm at the central wavelength and 17 μm at the wedge wavelength.

The success of implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) depends heavily on its degree of integration with the local environment. To improve the efficiency in deploying TQM in China, it is required that Chinese enterprises find proper focuses in the management system that can remarkably raise quality level and improve enterprise competitiveness. This study employs the Grounded Theory methodology to analyze in depth the TQM practice of Chinese manufacturing enterprises that have won the China Quality Award, and summarizes from those cases the critical factors that Chinese manufacturing enterprises should lay emphasis on when deploying TQM. This paper then compares the factors of TQM practice between Chinese and Western enterprises from both social and cultural perspectives, and explains the changes and new features of QM development in Chinese enterprises.

In order to further eliminate aberration and improve resolution, the paper employs parabolic mirror as the collimating mirror and the focusing mirror to design “Z” configuration and “U” configuration optical structure of parabolic spectrometer with the F number 2.5 and the spectral range varying from 250 nm to 850 nm. We conduct experiments on ZEMAX to simulate and optimize the initial parameters of two structures with the root-mean-square (RMS) radius of spots along Y axis as the optimization goal. Through analyzing the spot diagram and the root-mean-square (RMS) of Y axis, we can see that the “U” configuration spectrometers can achieve much better spectral resolution than the “Z” configuration.

In this paper, a modified 3D computational reconstruction method in the compressive 4D-spectro-volumetric snapshot imaging system is proposed for better sensing spectral information of 3D objects. In the design of the imaging system, a microlens array (MLA) is used to obtain a set of multi-view elemental images (EIs) of the 3D scenes. Then, these elemental images with one dimensional spectral information and different perspectives are captured by the coded aperture snapshot spectral imager (CASSI) which can sense the spectral data cube onto a compressive 2D measurement image. Finally, the depth images of 3D objects at arbitrary depths, like a focal stack, are computed by inversely mapping the elemental images according to geometrical optics. With the spectral estimation algorithm, the spectral information of 3D objects is also reconstructed. Using a shifted translation matrix, the contrast of the reconstruction result is further enhanced. Numerical simulation results verify the performance of the proposed method. The system can obtain both 3D spatial information and spectral data on 3D objects using only one single snapshot, which is valuable in the agricultural harvesting robots and other 3D dynamic scenes.

802.11DCF MAC mechanism was initially designed for single rate networks. This mechanism provides every node the same channel access opportunities and ensures that every node fairly occupies channel. Currently multi-rate networks still employ 802.11DCF as the basic access mechanism, resulting in that low rate node persistently occupies channel, and thus the advantage of high-speed transmission in multi-rate networks cannot be fully exploited. The throughput of all the nodes in the network is brought down to that of the low rate node, which is wildly known as "performance anomaly problem in multi-rate network". In this paper, we propose a MAC optimization mechanism, called CCDaP (Change the CWmin according to Data rate and Packet-size) to address this problem. By determining the optimal backoff window size, CCDaP can ensure the node's throughput Proportional Fairness in multi-rate networks. We conduct simulation experiments based on NS2 to validate the effectiveness of the proposed access mechanism. Numerical results demonstrate that CCDaP can ensure all nodes throughout Proportional fairness and improves the overall network throughput. In particular, even for variable packet length in multi-rate WLAN, the proposed mechanism still guarantees node's fairness.

This article presents an analytical continuous-time Markov chain approach to model a repair system with rotable components for resource allocation. As an important type of repair service system, this repair system with rotable components demonstrated that rotable components can be repaired to an as-new condition and then assembled circularly with rotable-component inventories after a piece of equipment is disassembled. However, with improved efficiency, major difficulties arise in formulating a model and analysing its performance due to the complex fork–join structure and particularly the existence of rotable-component inventories. In our study, a continuous-time Markov chain stochastic model is developed for the repair system with a single rotable component, in which the characteristic constraints to generate a state space are classified as the service capacity, quantitative conservation, and independent loading. The stationary distributions are then attained with programming, and the performance analysis is performed through numerical experiments. In particular, the relationship between the key resources and selected performance indicators is studied to provide a strategy for resource allocation. Furthermore, a multi-component system is also presented based on the proposed method.

In scaling-up Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) array manufacturing, the uniformity of CNTs' height, or flatness of array, is critical for the yield of nanodevices fabricated from CNTs, and thus needs to be properly controlled. However, since the flatness of the CNTs array is better characterized by a profile, the conventional run-to-run (R2R) controllers that are designed for a single or multiple quality indicators are not effective in controlling the CNTs array manufacturing process. Therefore, in this work, we first develop a statistical model to characterize the variation of the flatness profile, and then derive a novel R2R profile controller based on a state-space model and Kalman filter to improve the flatness of CNTs array. The performance of the proposed R2R control algorithm is studied and compared with existing controller via simulation studies.

We address the nurse scheduling problem under uncertain surgery durations.Nurse efficiency and on-time start performance are considered as two criteria.We propose a probability modeling of uncertainty in surgery durations.We develop a mixed integer programming model for trading off between the criteria.We examine the benefit and applicability of the model under real problem settings. This paper studies a nurse scheduling problem of assigning a set of nurses to surgeries scheduled on each workday in an operating room (OR) suite. This problem plays a decisive role in utilizing nurses efficiently, which is of paramount importance for OR suites to provide high-quality service at ever reduced cost. Due to significant uncertainty in surgery durations, designing schedules that achieve high nurse efficiency is complicated by the competing objective of ensuring on-time starts of surgeries. For trading off between the two performance criteria, we formulate the problem as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model with explicit probability modeling of uncertainty. We are concerned about improving nurse efficiency in terms of overtime and idle time of nurses while mastering the risk of delay of surgeries. The MIP model is applied in a large size Chinese hospital, and the results are compared with the actual performance of the OR suite. The comparisons reveal that through examining the trade-off between the performance criteria, important nurse efficiency improvements can be achieved with good on-time start performance. Moreover, the applicability of the MIP model in various problem settings is also investigated.

Background and Objectives Patients with node-negative breast cancer (NNBC) usually have a good prognosis, but tumor recurrence still compromises survival. In this study, we sought to identify clinical and pathologic factors that predict recurrence. Methods A total of 716 patients who were proved with pT1-2N0M0 breast cancer between 2005 and 2009 were enrolled in this study. Results Forty-seven of the 716 patients developed tumor recurrence during the 47.0 months of median follow-up. The significant risk factors of recurrence were lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (hazard ratio [HR] = 4.60, 95% CI. 2.32–9.10) and Nottingham grade 3 (HR = 4.99, 95% CI. 1.06–23.48); adjuvant radiotherapy (HR = 0.35, 95% CI. 0.14–0.92) prevented tumor recurrence. Furthermore, we investigate the therapeutic impact of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy on patients with LVI and Nottingham grade 3. The adverse effect of LVI and grade 3 can be abrogated by adjuvant radiotherapy in recurrence-free survival (RFS) (LVI(+)radiotherapy(+), no recurrence; grade 3(+)radiotherapy(+), HR = 0.82, 95% CI. 0.18–3.70). However, adjuvant chemotherapy did not. Conclusions LVI and Nottingham grade 3 were the independent risk factors predicting tumor recurrence for patients with NNBC. Adjuvant radiotherapy might be considered in NNBC patients with these unfavorable factors to improve the RFS. J. Surg. Oncol. 2013; 108:352–357. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

When allocating community-based health services for a geographically defined region, health planners are often faced with the serious conflict for improved health service and a limited budget. This paper extends the cost-based P-median location-allocation model (Daskin & Dean, 2005) to include a public service element and uses the non-inferior set estimation (NISE) method for evaluation of cost/service trade-offs. Service is measured by the percentage of demand volume that can be served within exogenously specified coverage distances. Importantly, we evaluate the efficiency (i.e. the relative cost and service) of the non-inferior solutions of our model using the commonly used ''population-based'' allocation policy as standard. Computational results illustrate the value of our model under several practical problem settings.

This paper studies maintenance policies for multi-component systems in which failure interactions and opportunistic maintenance (OM) involve. This maintenance problem can be formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP). However, since an action set and state space in MDP exponentially expand as the number of components increase, traditional approaches are computationally intractable. To deal with curse of dimensionality, we decompose such a multi-component system into mutually influential single-component systems. Each single-component system is formulated as an MDP with the objective of minimising its long-run average maintenance cost. Under some reasonable assumptions, we prove the existence of the optimal (n, N) type policy for a single-component system. An algorithm to obtain the optimal (n, N) type policy is also proposed. Based on the proposed algorithm, we develop an iterative approximation algorithm to obtain an acceptable maintenance policy for a multi-component system. Numerical examples find t...

On the background of the tourism exploitation, according to wetland settlement local culture and custom in Qia Chuan, Shaanxi, through the interpretation of Qia Chuan existing villages to excavate regional architecture’ characteristics and elements, applied Qia Chuan wetland settlement’ local culture to architecture design ,protected it and reformed it, reinterpreted local conditions and customs with special forms of space, provided people a space which they can have a more profound understanding about local history and culture to look at with reverence. Through exploring the characteristics of the towns’ local architecture that have been creative coped and the inherited the way of the modern transformation in order to realize space deduction of modernization and regionalization in Yellow River wetland settlement local conditions and customs.

The trend of population aging is growing obviously in China, but there is a great gap between the construction of habitation environment and its social needs. This paper based on researching aging society characters in Xi’an, investigates the senior citizen habitation environment status quo and existing problems, studies the residential model of providing for the aged, and puts forward giving first place to “providing for in home”, combining with community support service, and supplement with society service the aged. This paper also puts forward the theoretical frame about senior habitation environment’s location and planning, the setting of senior house, the setting of service institution and so on.

Plastic surgeons reconstruct hard and soft tissues in many parts of the human body. Penile reconstruction is unique in that the target tissue has to be soft but intermittently rigid. There are many ways to treat penile defects. The ideal reconstruction must take into considerations sensation, cosmesis, and erectile functions. There is limited literature available on the management of penile glans defect. In this report, we present the reconstruction of penile glans defect, after surgical excision of Bowen disease, using a bipedicled foreskin flap of bucket handle type. It is easy to perform and highly effective, and importantly, both cosmetic and functional outcomes at 1-year follow-up were quite satisfactory.