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This research focuses on a sample of European and Chinese elite universities for the period 2011–2015. We adopt a meta-frontier methodology to decompose their overall productivity in three main determinants: (1) technical efficiency compared with contemporaneous technology, (2) change in technical efficiency and (3) technology relative superiority of the two groups of universities. The results reveal different patterns of evolution: Chinese institutions’ productivity grows faster than that of their European counterparts (+ 7.15%/year vs 4.51%/year), however the latter maintain a higher level of technology in efficient production as a group.

Highlights • This study provides a risk score that predicts critical care admission and death in COVID-19. • Chest radiography severity scores are highly predictive of outcome. • The findings may inform admit/discharge decisions as well as patient selection for clinical trials., Background The COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate. There is urgent need to stratify patients. Understanding risk of deterioration will assist in admission and discharge decisions, and help selection for clinical studies to indicate where risk of therapy-related complications is justified. Methods An observational cohort of patients acutely admitted to two London hospitals with COVID-19 and positive SARS-CoV-2 swab results was assessed. Demographic details, clinical data, comorbidities, blood parameters and chest radiograph severity scores were collected from electronic health records. Endpoints assessed were critical care admission and death. A risk score was developed to predict outcomes. Findings Analyses included 1,157 patients. Older age, male sex, comorbidities, respiratory rate, oxygenation, radiographic severity, higher neutrophils, higher CRP and lower albumin at presentation predicted critical care admission and mortality. Non-white ethnicity predicted critical care admission but not death. Social deprivation was not predictive of outcome. A risk score was developed incorporating twelve characteristics: age>40, male, non-white ethnicity, oxygen saturations3, neutrophil count>8.0 x109/L, CRP>40 mg/L, albumin100 µmol/L, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic lung disease. Risk scores of 4 or higher corresponded to a 28-day cumulative incidence of critical care admission or death of 40.7% (95% CI: 37.1 to 44.4), versus 12.4% (95% CI: 8.2 to 16.7) for scores less than 4. Interpretation Our study identified predictors of critical care admission and death in people admitted to hospital with COVID-19. These predictors were incorporated into a risk score that will inform clinical care and stratify patients for clinical trials.

Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) is a proangiogenic factor that mediates inflammation and atherosclerosis. We evaluated the predictive value of circulating Ang-2 levels for periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) in 145 patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and investigated whether post-PCI Ang-2 levels are influenced by PMI. PMI was defined as a post-procedural troponin elevation above the 5×99th percentile upper reference limit. Blood samples for Ang-2 analysis were collected at admission and on postoperative days 1 and 3. PMI occurred in 40 patients (28%). At baseline, there was no difference in Ang-2 levels between PMI and non-PMI patients (P=0.554). However, a significant interaction effect between PMI occurrence and time on Ang-2 levels was observed (interaction P=0.036). Although serum Ang-2 levels in non-PMI patients gradually decreased, Ang-2 levels in PMI patients did not change between different time-points. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age, total stent length, and serum levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide were independent PMI predictors. These findings indicate that pre-procedural Ang-2 levels do not impact PMI occurrence after elective PCI. However, changes in Ang-2 levels after the procedure are closely related to PMI.

This study investigates the capacity utilization (CU) of Chinese manufacturing industries, using a CU indicator based on data envelopment analysis and directional distance functions (DDFs). The inputs are separated into variable inputs and a quasi-fixed input to measure the gap of DDFs, which indicated either under-utilization of inputs or overcapacity. Moreover, we define an indicator for CU change over time and introduced the corresponding decomposition. We note that, during the study time period (2007–2010), the CU of Chinese manufacturing industries improved, which implies that Chinese manufacturing industries expanded their production and got closer to their capacity during the examined period. The driving force of this improvement is technical changes. The higher average CU values of light manufacturing industries than that of the heavy industries and the extremely high CU values of two light industries reveal a severe overcapacity problem in the light industries. We also provided the methods and conduct analysis on determining optimal variable inputs and the type of the overcapacity on specific DMUs. The bootstrap regression procedures are employed to test the influence of environmental variables on CU values. Finally, we provide policy implications and suggestions for policymakers who oversee the development of Chinese manufacturing industries.

The Chinese government announced to cut its carbon emissions intensity by 60%–65% from its 2005 level. To realize the national abatement commitment, a rational allocation into its subunits (i.e. in...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the scientific productivity of China’s science system. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Findings The results reveal that the overall efficiency of Chinese universities increased significantly from 2009 to 2016, which is mainly driven by technological progress. From the perspective of the functions of higher education, research and transfer activities perform better than the teaching activities. Research limitations As an implication, the indicator selection mechanism, investigation period and the MPI model can be further extended in the future research. Practical implications The results indicate that Chinese education administrative departments should take actions to guide and promote the teaching activities and formulate reasonable resource allocation regulations to reach the balanced development in Chinese universities. Originality/value This paper selects 58 Chinese universities and conducts a quantified measurement during the period 2009–2016. Three main functional activities of universities (i.e. teaching, researching, and application) are innovatively categorized into different schemes, and we calculate their performance, respectively.

This paper aims to address the problem of allocating the CO2 emissions quota set by government goal in Chinese manufacturing industries to different Chinese regions. The CO2 emission reduction is c...

This paper investigates how Locus of Control (LOC) will impact the bank’s policies through a case study of a Chinese state-owned bank. At the end of 2008, the investigated bank implemented a personal business-preferred policy. We established two Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to test the impacts of LOC on the implementation of the policy. The results show that internal-controlled branches tend to be more sensitive to the bank’s policy. When it is a positive policy, the internal-controlled branches tend to improve more than the external-controlled branches, while the regression of internal branches is also more significant when it is a negative policy. Location and managers’ personalities are identified as the two direct reasons that cause LOC effects. Several suggestions are also provided in this paper to alleviate the negative effects of LOC.

As the most populous country in the world, China has one of the largest agricultural systems in the world, which plays an important role in ensuring China&rsquo, s food security. The state farms comprise an integral part of China&rsquo, s agricultural system. However, there have been few studies evaluating the efficiency and capacity utilization of China&rsquo, s state farms. In this paper, we estimate the efficiency and capacity utilization of state farms across 27 Chinese regions by applying the data envelopment analysis method. Performance of the overall state farm system and its three sub-industries is taken into consideration simultaneously. Over the period of 2013&ndash, 2017, the technical efficiency fluctuated in between 0.74 and 0.84, whereas the capacity utilization fluctuated around 0.85. The regional differences were observed. The regional differences were also observed.

Objective: Hypoglycemia has been shown to promote inflammation, a common pathogenic process, in many chronic health conditions including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of hypoglycemia, assessed by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) outcomes and all-cause mortality. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with 1,520 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The severity of hypoglycemia event was assessed by CGM system. Results: Three hundred and forty-seven participants experienced hypoglycemia events (323 with mild hypoglycemia and 24 with severe hypoglycemia). A fraction of 72.62% hypoglycemia was asymptomatic. During a median follow-up of 31 months, 380 participants reached the primary outcome of MACE (61 cardiovascular death, 50 non-fatal myocardial infarction [MI], 116 non-fatal stroke, 153 unstable angina requiring hospitalization), 80 participants died before the end of the study. In multivariate Cox regression models, hypoglycemia was associated with cardiovascular death (HR 2.642[95CI% 1.398-4.994]), non-fatal stroke (HR 1.813 [95CI% 1.110-2.960]) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.960 [95 CI% 1.124- 3.418]) after the full adjustment. Hypoglycemia was not associated with non-fatal MI and unstable angina. The HR of severe hypoglycemia was higher than mild hypoglycemia for cardiovascular death. Patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic hypoglycemia had similar MACE outcomes and all-cause mortality. Conclusions: CGM is effective to detect asymptomatic and nocturnal hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is associated with an increased risk of non-fatal stroke, cardiovascular related death, and total mortality. The cardiovascular mortality is dose-dependent on the severity of hypoglycemia.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is one of the most commonly used methods to estimate the returns to scale (RTS) of the public sector (e.g. research institutions). Existing studies are all based on ...

Urban energy efficiency has attracted lots of interests by city governors and researchers. Each city planner eagers to find effective ways to make city cleaner and more energy-efficient. The general approach of self-development is to learn from a model city or benchmark city. Thus, researchers are faced with the challenges of providing methods to identify such benchmark cities and paths to make improvement. This paper focused on urban energy efficiency hierarchy identification and level transition analysis by suggesting a novel application of multi-level frontiers DEA technique, using 49 China's environmental protection model cities data as example. Considering undesirable outputs such as PM2.5 and SO 2 , this paper evaluates urban energy efficiency first. Accordingly, a four-grade city energy efficiency structure can be recognized. The outcome of multi-level frontiers DEA analysis has also uncovered energy efficiency improvement chain of each city in different hierarchy. By constructing a set of four Ordered Probit Models at the end, this paper indicates that such hierarchy attributes to several influential factors such as population and energy technology. Through the analysis of this paper, the detection of rich details of underlying urban energy efficiency would be the basal step toward energy-efficient city research. Moreover, this framework for efficiency hierarchy and transition analysis or its extension can be applied to other data sets or other efficiency research in future.

Climate change has become one of the most challenging issues facing the world. Chinese government has realized the importance of energy conservation and prevention of the climate changes for sustainable development of China's economy and set targets for CO2 emissions reduction in China. In China industry contributes 84.2% of the total CO2 emissions, especially manufacturing industries. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity (MP) index are the widely used mathematical techniques to address the relative efficiency and productivity of a group of homogenous decision making units, e.g. industries or countries. However, in many real applications, especially those related to energy efficiency, there are often undesirable outputs, e.g. the pollutions, waste and CO2 emissions, which are produced inevitably with desirable outputs in the production. This paper introduces a novel Malmquist-Luenberger productivity (MLP) index based on directional distance function (DDF) to address the issue of productivity evolution of DMUs in the presence of undesirable outputs. The new RAM (Range-adjusted measure)-based global MLP index has been applied to evaluate CO2 emissions reduction in Chinese light manufacturing industries. Recommendations for policy makers have been discussed.

The last years have been characterized by tremendous institutional change in the university sector induced by far-reaching Higher Education Reforms (e.g. Bologna). Building on loose-coupling theory, we hypothesize that smaller universities were better able to adapt to the Higher Education Reforms of the recent years, triggering a decline in the optimal size of universities in the reform period. Using a 12-year panel data set on the inputs and outputs of German universities, we find a tremendous decrease in optimal university size, which is driven by the decline in the optimal scale for the provision of teaching activities. Our results also suggest this drop is also due to fact that the relatively higher administrative overheads of larger universities become an organizational liability in times of rapid institutional change.

With growing investments in the state key laboratories (SKLs) of China, it is essential to assess the efficiency of the administrative departments regarding managing the SKLs of China. However, few studies have been conducted about the evaluation of the performance of Chinese administrative departments in managing SKLs. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the performance within 22 SKL administrative departments in China, based on a data envelopment analysis cross-efficiency prospect aggregation approach incorporating the risk preference of decision maker. The empirical results show the major findings: (a) serious imbalance exists regarding the investment of 22 SKL administrative departments; (b) there are great differences among the performance of 22 SKL administrative departments; (c) some SKL administrative departments face an insufficient situation regarding the outputs; (d) different risk attitudes of decision maker have the significant impact on the evaluation results of the 22 SKL administrative departments. Based on these findings, we provide several policy suggestions for the development of SKLs in China.

Background Using circulating biomarkers as a noninvasive method to assist the evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD) is beneficial for reducing the unnecessary diagnostic cardiac catheterization. This study aimed to assess the predictive role of angiopoietin‐2 (Ang‐2) for the presence of obstructive coronary stenosis as compared with N‐terminal pro‐brain natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) in patients with symptoms of CAD. Methods The study enrolled 222 consecutive symptomatic patients who underwent elective diagnostic cardiac catheterization from July to December 2018. Blood samples were collected in the first morning after admission. The severity of coronary stenosis was assessed by coronary angiography. The obstructive CAD was defined as stenosis ≥50% of the left main coronary artery or stenosis ≥70% of a major epicardial vessel (left anterior descending artery, left circumflex artery and right coronary artery). Results Patients with obstructive CAD (n = 120) had significantly higher levels of Ang‐2 and NT‐proBNP compared with those without. In multivariable regression analysis, only NT‐proBNP levels were independently associated with Ang‐2 levels. NT‐proBNP was superior to Ang‐2 as a predictor for the presence of obstructive CAD (NT‐proBNP, area under curve [AUC] = 0.733, vs Ang‐2, AUC = 0.626, P = 0.004). In multiple logistic regression analysis, NT‐proBNP, but not Ang‐2, was the independent predictor of obstructive CAD. The combination of Ang‐2 with NT‐proBNP did not provide the incremental value over NT‐proBNP alone. Conclusion Serum Ang‐2 levels are associated with NT‐proBNP levels in patients suspected for CAD. NT‐proBNP is superior to Ang‐2 as a predictor for the presence of obstructive CAD. However, Ang‐2 does not further increase diagnostic accuracy on top of NT‐proBNP.

Purpose– This paper aims to help research managers design the performance management process and select measures and indicators, which relate to the strategies of their organisations directly.Design/methodology/approach– In this paper, we will propose strategy maps for national research institutes (NRIs), so that the managers can describe the strategies of their organisations more clearly, accurately and logically. Also, we will propose a new method to set targets for key performance indicators (KPIs), which is named “Forecasting-Objective Achievement System (FOAS)”.Findings– The authors have explored the general rules of the research activity and proposed the strategic map for NRIs, so that the research managers can more clearly, accurately and logically describe the strategy for the organisational development strategy, and build the performance measurement indicators based on it. It allows the managers to transfer the strategy into clear and concrete action initiatives, and the corresponding performance evaluation indicators. Also, this paper proposed a new method for target-setting for performance indicator to drive NRIs do their best to achieve high performance.Research limitations/implications– First, this paper proposes a framework of strategy maps for NRIs to transfer the strategy into clear and concrete action initiatives, and the corresponding performance evaluation indicators. Also, this paper gives a case study of a research institute in the field of physics to derive KPIs based on its strategy maps, which can show the effectiveness of this approach. But this institute conducts mainly the basic research, and there are other NRIs with different types of research, such as applied research, which have different characteristics with the NRI in the case study.Originality/value– The authors propose the specific strategy maps for NRIs and a new method to set targets for KPIs. Further, the example of a national research institute is taken to analyze its strategy map and construct a performance measurement indicator system for it, so that the strategies in research management can be transferred to specific action initiatives. New ideas are provided for the performance measurement of national research institutes.

In recent years there has been an exponential growth in the number of publications related to theory and applications of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (1978) introduced DEA as a tool for measuring efficiency and productivity of decision making units. DEA has immediately been recognized as a modern tool for performance measurement. Since then, a large and considerable amount of articles has been appeared, including significant breakthroughs in theory and a great portion of works on DEA applications, both public and private sectors, to assess the efficiency and productivity of their activities. Although there have been several bibliographic collections reported, a comprehensive analysis and listing of DEA-related articles covering its first four decades of history is still missing. This paper, thus, aims to report an extensive listing of DEA-related articles including theory and methodology developments and "real" applications in diversified scenarios from 1978 to end of 2016. Some summary statistics of the publications' growth, the most utilized academic journals, authorship analysis, as well as keywords analysis are also provided.

This paper aims to measure the evolution of destocking performance of the Chinese Real Estate Industry based on a DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis)-Malmquist approach, which is seldom used in this industry in existing literature. In 2016, the Chinese government introduced a unified national destocking policy to reduce real estate inventory to save the downturn in the real estate market, but the effect was less than expected and led to soaring house prices in first-tier cities. By analysing the destocking performance over the period from 2005 to 2015, we find the following: (1) It is impossible to use a unified policy to effectively address the national destocking issue because of the difference of DMUs' destocking efficiency, input redundancy and total factor productivity score changes. (2) With the current destocking performance and investment status, the government is still ignoring the existing commercial real estate problems. (3) The redundancy of firm assets and staff indicates that zombie firms may exist and risk future unemployment in the real estate industry. (4) Despite the recently repeated government interventions in this industry, destocking performance remains falling since 2008, and problems in other regions is more severe than in central cities. (5) The financial crisis triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis has had a great impact on China's real estate industry. The destocking performance dropped sharply in 2008, forcing the Chinese government to introduce policies to stimulate the real estate market. Policy recommendations are also put forward based on the findings.

Base on the quantitative risk evaluation, the dangerous device risk is described by potential life loss. Potential life loss assessment and risk ranking of 71 hazards device in 8 factories of a petrochemical enterprise, shows that refinery and olefin plant risk, diesel hydrodewaxing unit and diesel hydrogenation unit risk is relative to the front in their respective categories’ risk ranking. The research results can be used to direct the relevant government departments or enterprises to prioritize hazard supervision and management, optimize the allocation of resources and improve the efficiency of management.

For the problem of high intensity, low efficiency and poor accuracy in the artificial classification of navel oranges, a detection method is proposed based on machine vision technology. In defect detection, we analyze the color information of navel oranges surface, and obtain surface defect with a proper ratio of R/B and G/B. In the detection of color and luster, we calculate the texture information of the grayscale image, and propose three characteristics such as smoothness R, "consistency" measure U and entropy descriptor e. Finally, a hierarchical model is established based on BP neural network. The test results show that this method can be used for detecting the color and luster of navel orange with a high recognition rate.

The structure of the uncontrolled rectifier + Boost circuit + PWM inverter is taken for direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) wind-power system. on the basis of the analysis for two different traditional control strategies for the grid side converter, a new control strategy Based on active and reactive power for the low voltage ride through running is proposed and described in detail. The simulation results verify that the given control strategy can be better to provide a reliable guarantee for the system low voltage ride through capability and to provide some reference for the actual control system design.

This paper aims to propose a new approach to decompose an overall data envelopment analysis model into equivalent two-stage models. In this approach, we use a minimax reference point method to set the weights and reliabilities of the two stage models so that the combined efficiency of the two stages is equal to the overall efficiency. The equivalent multi-stage models are useful to support planning for performance improvement. An illustrative example is first explored to compare the results from the new approach with those of four other existing approaches. The main finding from the comparisons is that the new decomposition approach of this paper satisfies the proposed assumptions. A case study is then conducted on a two-stage process of steel manufacturing to illustrate the validity and applicability of the proposed approach. Keywords:: Two-stage network DEA, Overall efficiency, Decomposition, Evidential reasoning, Performance improvement

Abnormalities in glutamate signaling and glutamate toxicity are thought to be important in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). Whilst previous studies have found brain white matter changes in BD, there is paucity of data about how glutamatergic genes affect brain white matter integrity in BD. Based on extant neuroimaging data, we hypothesized that GRIN2B risk allele is associated with reductions of brain white matter integrity in the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital regions and cingulate gyrus in BD. Fourteen patients with BD and 22 healthy controls matched in terms of age, gender and handedness were genotyped using blood samples and underwent diffusion tensor imaging. Compared to G allele, brain FA values were significantly lower in BD patients with risk T allele in left frontal region (P=0.001), right frontal region (P=0.002), left parietal region (P=0.001), left occipital region (P=0.001), right occipital region (P<0.001), and left cingulate gyrus (P=0.001). Further elucidation of the interactions between different glutamate genes and their relationships with such structural, functional brain substrates will enhance our understanding of the link between dysregulated glutamatergic neurotransmission and neuroimaging endophenotypes in BD.

Blasting vibration not only damages architectural structures but also harms people heath. Numerical simulation provides an effective method to study explosion and shock problems. Herein, the paper performed numerical simulation to predict blasting vibration. At first, analyzed the propagation velocity of stress wave, which validated the feasibility of the model. The simulation and test agreed well both at vibration waveform and at the order of magnitude of both nodes 1 and 2. The simulation could provide reasonable accuracy. The achievement provided reference for other researches.

Explosive blasting in rock and other media could induce strong shock wave. Near blasting zone, the blasting energy mainly break rock. Slightly far away from borehole, the blasting energy induces plastic damage. Farther afield, this kind of energy presents elastic deformation. In cut blasting, multi-boreholes initiate at the same time, multi-column stress waves occur superimpose and converge. Especially in multi-media, this process is extremely complex. Adopt numerical simulation method, set up multi-media model, which include weathered rock, highly weathered rock and plain fill. This paper simulated the propagation process of stress wave in these medias. Revealed the propagation mechanics of stress wave.

The simultaneous TG-DSC version of SENSYS EVO CALORIMETER is applied to the combustion characteristics test of coal, and obtains the TG - Heat Flow curve of meager lean coal, anthracite and blended coal of 75% meager lean coal and 25% anthracite, in the lower scanning rate .the curve and data analysis show that, compared with meager lean coal and anthracite, the blended coal has the lower ignition temperature, the higher weight loss ratio and heat flow. This means that blended coal with this components is more easily ignited, burning more sufficiently. In addition, although the proportion of mixed meager lean coal accounting for 3/4, but the combustion characteristics of blended coal relatively more close to anthracite’s.

The harm of coal dust under mining coal is really serious, so how to effectively control it has always been a tough problem. This paper analyzes the cause of creating dust over the coal face, and introduces the application of dust intelligent control in detail based on the reality situation of coal mining. Though the application of intelligent dustproof system, the concentration of the coal dust has been reduced by 333.9mg/m3 to 21.7mg/m3, the result is creating a good working environment for workers, this system has the higher valuable application.

Blasting vibration damage is a major factor in mine safety. Millisecond blasting is an effective means to reduce blasting vibration damage. Taking field test method to study high slope deformation in open pit mines a little bit difference of each quick-fried bore blows up’s blasting vibration damage. Research found that, taking a little bit difference of each quick-fried bore blows up, Slope’s vibration velocity is 0.6cm/s, Compared to initiation by row’s theoretical value reduced by 58.33% , a little bit difference of each quick-fried bore blows up is an effective means to reduce blasting vibration damage, it is great significance for improving the slope stability.

Histogram element gradation distribution of the original image concentrates in the low gradation level, and after histogram equalization processed the image is bright and unconspicuous in details. In order to improve the situation, this paper presents an improved image enhancement algorithm .In the algorithm the original image is transformed by the conventional histogram equalization and mapped the histogram equalization processing image as far as possible within the scope of mapping. Then linear transform is used to enhance contrast and apply to mix skin complexion model to extract. Experiments prove that this method is better than double skin model detection at testing results, especially in the eyes and mouth.

Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) frequently have comorbidity of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Their renal function may deteriorate because of the use of contrast agent after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), which is highly expressed in the site of angiogenesis, plays an important role in both CAD and CKD. This study aimed to investigate the relation of serum Ang-2 concentrations with the renal function after PCI. This study enrolled 57 patients with CAD undergoing PCI. Blood samples for Ang-2 were collected in the first morning after admission and within 24 to 48 h after PCI. The parameters of renal function (serum creatinine, cystatin C and eGFR) were tested on the first day after admission and within 72 h after PCI. Overall, serum Ang-2 levels of post-PCI were significantly lower than those of pre-PCI [median, 1733 (IQR, 1100–2568) vs median, 2523 (IQR, 1702–3640) pg/mL; P

By numerical simulation, the researches of effecting initial crack forming with slotted charge blasting are performed. The effecting factories conclude radial uncoupled parameter α and seam width W. Herein α adopts 1.43, 1.67 and 2, and 4, 6, 8 and 10 are adopted by W separately. The pressure peak is 15.5 GPa under α=1.67, and formed long cracks. With 6 and 8 mm seam widths, energy focus phenomenon is remarkable. The results show that initial damage of rock are decided by peak pressure of gas and function time. The seam width has significant effect to initial damage. With W adopting 6 and 8 mm, effective energy propagation is ensured and excessive damage area is avoided. The experiments validate the simulation results.

Air-deck ratio plays a decisive role in blasting engineering. Researchers have conducted extensive work to study the optimal air-deck ratio. But consensus has not been achieved. Especially slotted charge blasting, the study on it just starts. For its complicated physical process in blasting, it is difficult to perform theoretical analysis to obtain the law between blasting result and air-deck ratio. The numerical simulation method is adopted to study the effect of different air-deck ratio on stress distribution at first. And then laboratory tests are carried out to validate the simulation results. The conclusion may be drawn that good directional fracture could be obtained with air-deck ratio 33.3% ~ 50%. The achievement could provide reference for blasting engineering.

According to coal and gas outburst mechanisms, lab and field measurement, actual situations of Sihe coal mine and articles in Prevention Regulations of Coal and Gas Outburst, the relevancy among chief static indices of outburst prediction are analyzed. The static sensitivity index system is screened out to predict coal and gas outburst by multi-source information in Sihe, such as destruction type of coal, coal’s consistent coefficient, initial rate of methane diffusion, gas pressure, gas content, depth of coal seams, occurrence change of coal seams, geological structure, cuttings desorption index K1, etc. K1 has the characteristics of easy measurement, strong generalization, high reliability and accuracy. So K1 should be firstly chosen when a single index is adopted to predict outburst. The provision of article 34 in Prevention Regulations of Coal and Gas Outburst about the drilling holes’ diameter, depth and test contents for the same prediction method are different from article 38. These will lead to ambiguity in practical applications. The research shows that articles should be revised as follows: prediction drilling apertures should be determined by engineer drilling tool, and K1 of wet or dry cuttings each can be used as prediction index.

We evaluated the perioperative safety profile and efficacy of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in 21 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) from gastrointestinal and gynecological cancers. Twenty-one patients with PC (12 gastric cancer, 5 colorectal cancer, 2 ovarian cancer, 1 pseudomyxoma peritonei, 1 malignant mesothelioma) were treated with CRS + HIPEC with hydroxycamptothecin 20 mg and mitomycin C 30 mg in 12,000 mL of normal saline at 43 +/- .5 degrees C for 60 to 90 minutes. Vital signs were recorded for 5 days after surgery. We analyzed the following: local and systemic infections; gastrointestinal function recovery; hematological, hepatic, and renal parameters; wound healing time; adverse events; survival; and quality of life. The PC index was 2 to 33 (median, 11), the duration of operation 4 to 10 h (median, 8 h), and the highest temperature during 5 postoperative days 38.1 degrees C. Two patients developed generalized edema and were successfully treated. Five patients developed hypoproteinemia on day 1 after surgery. All routine blood tests checked at 1 week after surgery were normal. Time of gastric tube removal was 2 to 7 days. Liquid food intake time was 3 to 8 days. Time of removal of stitches was 8 to 18 days. No local or systemic infections, wound disruption, or other clinically important adverse events occurred. The follow-up was 8 to 43 months (median, 22.5 months). Eleven patients died, three survived with tumor, and seven survived free of tumor. CRS + HIPEC was well tolerated in our selected patients with PC, some of whom had improved survival.

Time-up and Go Test (TUGT) is a common clinical motility test for the elderly. Currently it is measured manually, which is human resource consuming, less accurate, and limited in capability of measuring sophisticated parameters. In this paper, we propose a system consisting of three inertial-sensor-based measuring components, a remote controller, and an analysis software for automatic balance and gait analysis in TUGT. This system is designed to be of easy use with the software automatically measuring the time intervals of stand-up time, sit-down time, and the total time of test. In addition, the system can also obtain the gait information of stride time, swing time, and stance time. To validate the system, we compared the performance with that obtained from stopwatch using videos as the gold standard. The results indicate that the system not only provides a convenient way of measurement but also achieves higher accurate and reliable measurement results than using stopwatch. We use this system to compare the Alzheimer's disease patients (ADs) with health controllers (HCs). The results show that the ADs need longer stand-up time, sit-down time, and total time while taking the TUGT compared to the HCs. The stride time, swing time, and stance time are also longer than the HCs'. Such a friendly system provides high potential in tracking long-time patterns for diagnosis.

A new method has been developed for multimedia enhancement of electronic teaching files created by using the standard protocols and formats offered by the Medical Imaging Resource Center (MIRC) project of the Radiological Society of North America. The typical MIRC electronic teaching file consists of static pages only; with the new method, audio and visual content may be added to the MIRC electronic teaching file so that the entire image interpretation process can be recorded for teaching purposes. With an efficient system for encoding the audiovisual record of on-screen manipulation of radiologic images, the multimedia teaching files generated are small enough to be transmitted via the Internet with acceptable resolution. Students may respond with the addition of new audio and visual content and thereby participate in a discussion about a particular case. MIRC electronic teaching files with multimedia enhancement have the potential to augment the effectiveness of diagnostic radiology teaching. © RSNA, 2005

Objective: To explore the effects of perioperative cimetidine administration on tumor cell nuclear morphometric parameters and DNA content in patients with gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma. Methods: 49 patients with pathologically confirmed gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma were randomized into test group (n=25) and control group (n=24). The test group started oral cimetidine intake 400 mg, tid, 7–10d before operation, followed by standard curative operation. The control group did not receive cimetidine. Tumor specimens were paraffin embedded for microsection and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and Feulgen stain. Morphometric studies and DNA content of tumor nuclei were performed on IBAS Image Analyzer. Results: The tumor cell nuclear area (µm2), nuclear perimeter (µm), maximal nuclear diameter (µ) for test group/control group were 23.54 5.08/34.69110.08 (P quintuple ploidy tumor cells for test group/control group were 16.6412.58/5.3312.14 (P 0.50), 12.4215.00/14.4810.74 (P>0.20), 31.1116.86/ 45.9713.82 (P

This paper introduces a computer-aided atlas-based functional neurosurgery methodology and describes NeuroPlanner, a software system which supports it. NeuroPlanner provides four groups of functions: 1) data-related for data reading, interpolation, reformatting, and image processing; 2) atlas-related for multiple atlases reading, atlas-to-data global and local registrations, two-way anatomical indexing, and multiple labeling in two and three dimensions; 3) atlas-data exploration-related for three-dimensional (3-D) display and real-time manipulation of cerebral structures, continuous navigation, two-dimensional (2-D), triplanar, 3-D presentations, and 2-D interaction in four views; and 4) neurosurgery-related for targeting, trajectory planning, mensuration, simulating the insertion of microelectrode, and simulating therapeutic lesioning. All operations, excluding atlas and data reading, are real time. The combined anatomical index of the multiple brain atlas database containing complementary 2-D and 3-D atlases has about 1000 structures per hemisphere, and over 400 sulcal patterns. Neurosurgical planning with mutually preregistered multiple brain atlases in all three orthogonal orientations is novel. The approach is validated with 24 intraoperative and postoperative datasets for thalamotomies, thalamic stimulations, pallidotomies, and pallidal stimulations. Its potential benefits include increased accuracy of target definition, reduced time of the surgical procedure by decreasing the number of tracts, facilitated planning of more sophisticated trajectories, lowered cost by reducing the number of microelectrodes used, reduced surgical complications, and the extra degree of confidence given to the neurosurgeon.

Objective: To study the effects of perioperative use of cimetidine on natural killer (NK) cells in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients. Methods: 49 GI cancer patients were randomized into treatment group which took cimetidine in the perioperative period, and control group which did not take the drug. NK cells were measured by immunocytochemical method, using mouse-anti-human CD57 monoclonal antibody as the primary antibody. Blood samples from 20 healthy volunteers were treated in the same way as normal control. Comparisons were made within and between groups. Results: The NK cell percentage of normal control was 18.50±2.31. Both groups of patients had significantly lower than normal NK percentages before treatment (P

In this letter, a novel structure of the polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a self-aligned gate and raised source/drain (RSD) formed by the damascene process has been developed and investigated. Comparing with the conventional coplanar TFT, the proposed RSD TFT has a remarkable lower off-state current (177 to 6.29 nA), and the on/off current ratio is only slightly decreased from 1.71 times 107 to 1.39 times 107. Only four photomasking steps are required. This novel structure is an excellent candidate for further high-performance large-area device applications.

A new controlling method of three level inverters is proposed in this paper. Three-level T inverters are widely used in industry for high-power, medium-voltage power conversion and drives. Topics related to power losses due to commutation and quality of the output current is relevant issues in this power range. The neutral-point balancing problem in this topology is another subject that has been studied in recent years. Among the most common control methods for this converter, the literature states are non linear techniques, like hysteresis control, and linear methods, like the use of PI controllers in conjunction with pulse width modulation. The general predictive control scheme is applied here to the inverter. The behavior of the system is predicted for each possible switching state of this kind of inverter. The switching state that minimizes a given cost function is selected to be applied during the next sampling interval following the same strategy.

[1] For ELF stations using hardware notch-filters to suppress power-grid emissions, the amplitude and the phase of the recorded sferics will inevitably be distorted. The phase shift causes the event time to move and hinders cross-comparing of events between different platforms. Notch-filtering also create fictitious dips in the current moment spectrum of the ELF sferics that lead to error in deducing the charge moment change (CMC) of the source discharge. To alleviate the effects of notch-filtering, we use an elementary signal processing method to reconstruct the source signals and use lab-generated ELF-like signals to check the limitations of the reconstruction. The results indicate that the delay of signals due to the notch-filtering module can be reliably restored, while the amplitude is less; but the reconstruction does restore the low frequency components of the sferics that are important for the CMC determination. Using the corrected event time, 20 associated sprites recorded by the ISUAL/FORMOSAT-2 experiment during June to September of 2008 were found. Comparing with the notch-filtered sferics, the reconstructed sferics are found to increase the current moment amplitude Iods by 69 ± 55%, reduce the time constant τ by 52 ± 15%, and lowers the CMC by 22 ± 21%, respectively. From the linear-correlation of the sprite brightness and the CMC of the sprite-producing positive lightning, a threshold CMC of ∼900 C-km for sprite initiation is inferred based on the reconstructed sferic data; this threshold value is also 25% lower than that inferred using the notch-filtered sferics.

Performed the size effect of the unit in numerical simulation of blasting demoLition. Considered three elemental sizes, which were 10, 20 and 40 cm. Adopt 40 cm element, the structure was damaged more seriously. This resulted in the bigger error in predicting the demoLition scope. The collapsed time was shorter, and the structural rush distance was farther. When adopted 10 cm, a great number of elements were divided. It is impossible to calculate for normal computer. Adopt 20 mm, the computational accuracy were increased on one hand, and ensured the feasibiLity of calculation.

Power grid emergency easily leads to uncontrolled chain reaction, exerting an adversely serious impact on the society, thus effective emergency linkage mechanism is needed. The flexibility and high efficiency, as the characteristics of emergency linkage mechanism, is figured out, based on the research on emergency linkage mechanism of US, EU and Japan; the problems in establishment of China's emergency linkage mechanism are pointed out, such as lacking of maneuverability. Through researching on the contents of emergency linkage mechanism establishment in five aspects, linkage communication, information guarantee, resource guarantee, combined disposal, emergency linkage protocols, framework of emergency linkage establishment are proposed, and definite content and method for the establishment of linkage are suggested. To enhance the capability of emergency response, the scheme of constructing emergency linkage mechanism with government emergency management agencies, livelihood critical sectors and enterprises, power transmission enterprise outside the grid and power generation enterprise parallel in, important consumers and high-risk users, construction enterprises, equipment manufacturers, are proposed. For evaluating the effect of mechanism establishment, an assessment method is discussed.

The separate element and common node model is setup to simulate reinforced concrete material at first, which could take fully account of the intensity difference of concrete and rebar. And then a 16-storied frame structure is build with this kind of model. The blasting demoLition process of the structure is simulated. The mechanism of collapse process and failure of column are analyzed. Finally, the scopes of collapse of calculation and practice are compared, and the errors of forwards and backwards distance are +11.9 and -16.6%. The simulation result has great practical significance to determine blasting parameters and optimize design.

We present a human brain atlas of white matter (WM) tracts containing 40 major tracts, which is three-dimensional (3D), segmented, labeled, interactive, stereotactic and correlated to structure and vasculature. We consider: (1) WM accuracy by correlating WM tracts to underlying neuroanatomy and quantifying them; (2) balance between realism and completeness by processing a sequence of track volumes generated for various parameters with the increasing track number to enable a tract "shape convergence". MPRAGE and DTI in 64 directions of the same subject were acquired on 3 Tesla. The method has three steps: DTI-MPRAGE registration, 3D tract generation from DTI, to WM reconstruction from MPRAGE to parcellation into 17 components. 82 track volumes were generated for a wide spectrum of parameter values: Fractional Anisotropy threshold in [0.0125, 0.55] and trajectory angle lower than 45°, 60°, 65°, 70°, 75°, 80°, 85°, 90°. For each tract, a sequence of track volumes was processed to create/edit contours delineating this tract to achieve its shape convergence. The parcellated tracts were grouped into commissures, associations, projections and posterior fossa tracts, and labeled following Terminologia Anatomica. To facilitate that, a dedicated tract editor is developed which processes multiple track volumes, handles tracts in three representations (tracks, contours, envelopes); provides editing/visualization simultaneously on axial, coronal, sagittal planes; enables tract labeling and coloring; and provides numerous tools (track counting, smoothing and length thresholding; representation conversion and saving; structural atlas support). A stereotactic tract atlas along with parcellated WM was developed to explore in real-time any individual tract or their groups along with surrounding neuroanatomy.

Proposed the method of slot cartridge hole blasting to improve the efficiency of gas drainage. First, by the mean of numerical calculation, we conducted the two-dimensional simulation study on the X-shape-slotted charge blasting in the coal. It was found that along the direction of the slot the perforative main crack formed, while in the other direction a dense network of secondary cracks formed, which improved the fluidity of the gas in the coal. Followed by a three-dimensional simulation study, it was found that near the gas drainage holes, the effective stress was greater than 40 MPa, while in the vicinity of free surface the stress wave attenuated severely. On the one hand it ensures of enough cracks in the coal, which facilitate gas emission, on the other hand it ensures the intactness of free surface in the blast, which enhances the security of gas drainage.

Locoregional spread of abdominopelvic malignant tumors frequently results in peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). The prognosis of PC patients treated by conventional systemic chemotherapy is poor, with a median survival of < 6 mo. However, over the past three decades, an integrated treatment strategy of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) + hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been developed by the pioneering oncologists, with proved efficacy and safety in selected patients. Supported by several lines of clinical evidence from phases I, II and III clinical trials, CRS + HIPEC has been regarded as the standard treatment for selected patients with PC in many established cancer centers worldwide. In China, an expert consensus on CRS + HIPEC has been reached by the leading surgical and medical oncologists, under the framework of the China Anti-Cancer Association. This expert consensus has summarized the progress in PC clinical studies and systematically evaluated the CRS + HIPEC procedures in China as well as across the world, so as to lay the foundation for formulating PC treatment guidelines specific to the national conditions of China.