Measurement Axis Searching Model for Terrestrial Laser Scans Registration

Nowadays, terrestrial Lidar scans can cover rather a large area; the point densities are strongly varied because of the line-of-sight measurement principle in potential overlaps with scans taken from different viewpoints. Most of the traditional methods focus on registration algorithm and ignore searching model. Sometimes the traditional methods are directly used to align two point clouds; a large critically unsolved problem of the large biases will be created in areas distant from the overlaps while the local overlaps are often aligned well. So a novel measurement axis searching model (MASM) has been proposed in this paper. The method includes four steps: (1) the principal axis fitting, (2) the measurement axis generation, (3) low-high-precision search, and (4) result generation. The principal axis gives an orientation to the point cloud; the search scope is limited by the measurement axis. The point cloud orientation can be adjusted gradually until the achievement of the global optimum using low- and high-precision search. We perform some experiments with simulated point clouds and real terrestrial laser scans. The results of simulated point clouds have shown the processing steps of our method, and the results of real terrestrial laser scans have shown the sensitivity of the approach with respect to the indoor and outdoor scenes

Performance of a Large-area GEM Detector Read Out with Wide Radial Zigzag Strips

A 1-meter-long trapezoidal Triple-GEM detector with wide readout strips was tested in hadron beams at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility in October 2013. The readout strips have a special zigzag geometry and run along the radial direction with an azimuthal pitch of 1.37 mrad to measure the azimuthal phi-coordinate of incident particles. The zigzag geometry of the readout reduces the required number of electronic channels by a factor of three compared to conventional straight readout strips while preserving good angular resolution. The average crosstalk between zigzag strips is measured to be an acceptable 5.5%. The detection efficiency of the detector is (98.4+-0.2)%. When the non-linearity of the zigzag-strip response is corrected with track information, the angular resolution is measured to be (193+-3) urad, which corresponds to 14% of the angular strip pitch. Multiple Coulomb scattering effects are fully taken into account in the data analysis with the help of a stand-alone Geant4 simulation that estimates interpolated track errors.Comment: 30 pages, 28 figures, submitted to NIM

Multi-index fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model with information entropy of alfalfa salt tolerance based on LiDAR data and hyperspectral image data

Rapid, non-destructive and automated salt tolerance evaluation is particularly important for screening salt-tolerant germplasm of alfalfa. Traditional evaluation of salt tolerance is mostly based on phenotypic traits obtained by some broken ways, which is time-consuming and difficult to meet the needs of large-scale breeding screening. Therefore, this paper proposed a non-contact and non-destructive multi-index fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model for evaluating the salt tolerance of alfalfa from Light Detection and Ranging data (LiDAR) and HyperSpectral Image data (HSI). Firstly, the structural traits related to growth status were extracted from the LiDAR data of alfalfa, and the spectral traits representing the physical and chemical characteristics were extracted from HSI data. In this paper, these phenotypic traits obtained automatically by computation were called Computing Phenotypic Traits (CPT). Subsequently, the multi-index fuzzy evaluation system of alfalfa salt tolerance was constructed by CPT, and according to the fuzzy mathematics theory, a multi-index Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation model with information Entropy of alfalfa salt tolerance (FCE-E) was proposed, which comprehensively evaluated the salt tolerance of alfalfa from the aspects of growth structure, physiology and biochemistry. Finally, comparative experiments showed that: (1) The multi-index FCE-E model based on the CPT was proposed in this paper, which could find more salt-sensitive information than the evaluation method based on the measured Typical Phenotypic Traits (TPT) such as fresh weight, dry weight, water content and chlorophyll. The two evaluation results had 66.67% consistent results, indicating that the multi-index FCE-E model integrates more information about alfalfa and more comprehensive evaluation. (2) On the basis of the CPT, the results of the multi-index FCE-E method were basically consistent with those of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), indicating that the multi-index FCE-E model could accurately evaluate the salt tolerance of alfalfa. Three highly salt-tolerant alfalfa varieties and two highly salt-susceptible alfalfa varieties were screened by the multi-index FCE-E method. The multi-index FCE-E method provides a new method for non-contact non-destructive evaluation of salt tolerance of alfalfa

Low-mass GEM detector with radial zigzag readout strips for forward tracking at the EIC

We present design and construction of a large low-mass Triple-GEM detector prototype for forward tracking at a future Electron-Ion Collider. In this environment, multiple scattering of forward and backward tracks must be minimized so that electron tracks can be cleanly matched to calorimeter clusters and so that hadron tracks can efficiently seed RICH ring reconstruction for particle identification. Consequently, the material budget for the forward tracking detectors is critical. The construction of the detector builds on the mechanical foil stretching and assembly technique pioneered by CMS for the muon endcap GEM upgrade. As an innovation, this detector implements drift and readout electrodes on thin large foils instead of on PCBs. These foils get stretched mechanically together with three GEM foils in a single stack. This reduces the radiation length of the total detector material in the active area by a factor seven from over 4% to below 0.6%. It also aims at improving the uniformity of drift and induction gap sizes across the detector and consequently signal response uniformity. Thin outer frames custom-made from carbon-fiber composite material take up the tension from the stretched foil stack and provide detector rigidity while keeping the detector mass low. The gas volume is closed with thin aluminized polyimide foils. The trapezoidal detector covers an azimuthal angle of 30.1 degrees and a radius from 8 cm to 90 cm. It is read out with radial zigzag strips with pitches of 1.37 mrad at the outer radius and 4.14 mrad at the inner radius that reduce the number of required electronics channels and associated cost while maintaining good spatial resolution. All front-end readout electronics is located away from the active area at the outer radius of the trapezoid.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, submitted to conference record of 2017 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Atlanta, G

Silencing miR-146a-5p protects against injury-induced osteoarthritis in mice

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most prevalent joint disease and the leading cause of disability, remains an incurable disease largely because the etiology and pathogenesis underlying this degenerative process are poorly understood. Low-grade inflammation within joints is a well-established factor that disturbs joint homeostasis and leads to an imbalance between anabolic and catabolic processes in articular cartilage; however, the complexity of the network between inflammatory factors that often involves positive and negative feedback loops makes current anti-cytokine therapy ineffective. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators to control inflammation, and aberrant miRNAs expression has recently been linked to OA pathophysiology. In the present study, we characterized transcriptomic profiles of miRNAs in primary murine articular chondrocytes in response to a proinflammatory cytokine, IL-1β, and identifie

Role of OCT4 in cisplatin treatment of testicular embryonal carcinoma

Purpose: To determine the role of embryonal transcription factor OCT4 in cisplatin treatment of testicular embryonal carcinoma.Methods: In vitro assays were employed to assess the effect of cisplatin treatment on testicular embryonal carcinoma cell lines under OCT4 silencing. Following treatment with 500 ng/μL cisplatin, MTT assay was used to examine cell proliferation of 2012-EP and 833K-E cells with or without OCT silencing, while wound healing assay was used to examine cell migration ability. Transwell assay and crystal violet staining were employed to measure cell invasive capacity, whereas the distribution pattern of cell cycle was assessed by flow cytometry. The expression levels of several critical components in tumorigenicity related pathways with or without OCT silencing were determined by Western-blot analysis.Results: Cisplatin enhanced OCT4-silenced cell viability at all concentration (p < 0.01) when compared to control cells. Upon treatment with 500 ng/μL cisplatin, OCT4-silenced cells showed 2- to 3-fold enhancement in cell proliferation (p < 0.001), 2-fold increase in cell migration capacity (p < 0.001), and about 1.5-fold enhancement in invasive capacity (p < 0.001) when compared to control cells. In addition, OCT4 silencing upregulated the expression level of the proteins involved in cell proliferation, cell mobility, cancer metastasis and cell cycle control.Conclusion: The results suggest that OCT4 may serve as a therapeutic target for testicular embryonal carcinoma treatment in combination with cisplatin by modulating OCT4 expression level. This physiological evidence indicates that OCT4 downregulation contributes to cisplatin resistance in chemotherapy and subsequent disease relapse.Keywords: OCT4, Cisplatin resistance, Testicular embryonal carcinoma, Chemotherap

Low-Protein Diet Supplemented with Keto Acids Is Associated with Suppression of Small-Solute Peritoneal Transport Rate in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Objective. We investigate whether low-protein diet would show benefits in suppressing peritoneal transport rate in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods. This is a supplemented analysis of our previously published trial, which randomized 60 PD patients to receive low- (LP: dietary protein intake of 0.6–0.8 g/kg/d), keto-acid-supplemented low- (sLP: 0.6–0.8 g/kg/d with 0.12 g/kg/d of keto acids), or high- (HP: 1.0–1.2 g/kg/d) protein diet and lasted for one year. In this study, the variations of peritoneal transport rate were assessed. Results. While baseline D/Pcr (dialysate-to-plasma concentration ratio for creatinine at 4 hour) and D/D0glu (dialysate glucose at 4 hour to baseline dialysate glucose concentration ratio) were similar, D/Pcr in group sLP was lower, and D/D0glu was higher than those in the other two groups (P < 0.05) at 12th month. D/D0glu increased (P < 0.05), and D/Pcr tended to decrease, (P = 0.071) in group sLP. Conclusions. Low-protein diet with keto acids may benefit PD patients by maintaining peritoneum at a lower transport rate