Milling cutter condition reliability prediction based on state space model

Reliability analysis based on equipment's performance degradation characteristics is one of important research areas for reliability engineering. Many researcher work on multi-sample analysis, but it is limited for single equipment or small sample reliability prediction. Therefore, the method of reliability prediction based on state space model (SSM) is investigated in this research for small sample analysis. Firstly, signals about machine working conditions are collected based on-line monitoring technology. Secondly, wavelet packet energy parameters are determined based on the monitored signals. Frequency band energy is regarded as characteristic parameter. Then, the degradation characteristics of signal to noise ratio is improved by moving average filtering processing. In the end, SSM is established to predict degradation characteristics of probability density distribution, and the degree of reliability is determined. Milling cutter is used to demonstrate the rationality and effectiveness of this method. It can be concluded that this method is effective for milling cutter reliability estimation based on the data analysis. It also contributes to machine condition remaining useful life prediction

Evaluation of the performance of a dengue outbreak detection tool for China

An outbreak detection and response system, using time series moving percentile method based on historical data, in China has been used for identifying dengue fever outbreaks since 2008. For dengue fever outbreaks reported from 2009 to 2012, this system achieved a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 99.8% and a median time to detection of 3 days, which indicated that the system was a useful decision tool for dengue fever control and risk-management programs in China.This work was supported by the grants from Research and Promotion of Key Technology on Health Emergency Preparation and Dispositions (201202006), the National Key Science and Technology Project on Infectious Disease Surveillance Technique Platform of China (2012ZX10004-201) and Development of Early Warning Systems for Dengue Fever Based on Socio-ecological Factors (NHMRC APP1002608)

The epidemiology of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria in China, 2004–2012: from intensified control to elimination

BACKGROUND In China, the national malaria elimination programme has been operating since 2010. This study aimed to explore the epidemiological changes in patterns of malaria in China from intensified control to elimination stages. METHODS Data on nationwide malaria cases from 2004 to 2012 were extracted from the Chinese national malaria surveillance system. The secular trend, gender and age features, seasonality, and spatial distribution by Plasmodium species were analysed. RESULTS In total, 238,443 malaria cases were reported, and the proportion of Plasmodium falciparum increased drastically from <10% before 2010 to 55.2% in 2012. From 2004 to 2006, malaria showed a significantly increasing trend and with the highest incidence peak in 2006 (4.6/100,000), while from 2007 onwards, malaria decreased sharply to only 0.18/100,000 in 2012. Males and young age groups became the predominantly affected population. The areas affected by Plasmodium vivax malaria shrunk, while areas affected by P. falciparum malaria expanded from 294 counties in 2004 to 600 counties in 2012. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated that malaria has decreased dramatically in the last five years, especially since the Chinese government launched a malaria elimination programme in 2010, and areas with reported falciparum malaria cases have expanded over recent years. These findings suggest that elimination efforts should be improved to meet these changes, so as to achieve the nationwide malaria elimination goal in China in 2020.This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012ZX10004-201, 2012ZX10004-220) and the Ministry of Health of China (No. 201202006), and China UK Global Health Support Programme (grant no. GHSP-CS-OP1). S.I.H. is funded by a Senior Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust (#095066). S.I.H. also acknowledges funding support from the RAPIDD programme of the Science & Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security, and the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health

Hand, foot and mouth disease in China: Evaluating an automated system for the detection of outbreaks

Objective To evaluate the performance of China's infectious disease automated alert and response system in the detection of outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth (HFM) disease. Methods We estimated size, duration and delay in reporting HFM disease outbreaks from cases notified between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2010 and between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012, before and after automatic alert and response included HFM disease. Sensitivity, specificity and timeliness of detection of aberrations in the incidence of HFM disease outbreaks were estimated by comparing automated detections to observations of public health staff. Findings The alert and response system recorded 106 005 aberrations in the incidence of HFM disease between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 - a mean of 5.6 aberrations per 100 days in each county that reported HFM disease. The response system had a sensitivity of 92.7% and a specificity of 95.0%. The mean delay between the reporting of the first case of an outbreak and detection of that outbreak by the response system was 2.1 days. Between the first and second study periods, the mean size of an HFM disease outbreak decreased from 19.4 to 15.8 cases and the mean interval between the onset and initial reporting of such an outbreak to the public health emergency reporting system decreased from 10.0 to 9.1 days. Conclusion The automated alert and response system shows good sensitivity in the detection of HFM disease outbreaks and appears to be relatively rapid. Continued use of this system should allow more effective prevention and limitation of such outbreaks in China

Clinical relevance and outcome of familial papillary thyroid cancer: a single institution study of 626 familial cases

BackgroundWhether familial thyroid cancer is more aggressive than sporadic thyroid cancer remains controversial. Additionally, whether the number of affected family members affects the prognosis is unknown. This study focused mainly on the comparison of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses between papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients with and without family history.MethodsA total of 626 familial papillary thyroid cancer (FPTC) and 1252 sporadic papillary thyroid cancer (SPTC) patients were included in our study. The clinical information associated with FPTC and SPTC was recorded and analyzed by univariate analysis.ResultsPatients in the FPTC group had a higher rate of multifocality (p=0.001), bilaterality (p=0.000), extrathyroidal invasion (p=0.000), distant metastasis (p=0.012), lymph node metastasis (p=0.000), recurrence (p=0.000), a larger tumor size (p=0.000) and more malignant lymph nodes involved (central: p=0.000; lateral: p=0.000). In addition, our subgroup analysis showed no significant difference (p&gt;0.05) between patients with only one affected family member and those with two of more group in all clinicopathological characteristics. In papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) subgroup analysis, we found that FPTMC patients harbored significantly larger tumors (p=0.000), higher rates of multifocality (p=0.014), bilaterality (p=0.000), distant metastasis (p=0.038), lymph node metastasis (p=0.003), greater numbers of malignant lymph nodes (central: p=0.002; lateral: p=0.044), higher rates of I-131 treatment (p=0.000) and recurrence (p=0.000) than SPTMC patients.ConclusionOur results indicated that PTC and PTMC patients with a positive family history had more aggressive clinicopathological behaviors, suggesting that more vigilant screening and management for FPTC may be helpful

a practical tool to implement hospital-based syndromic surveillance: SCM

Background: syndromic surveillance has been widely used for the early warning of infectious disease outbreaks, especially in mass gatherings, but the collection of electronic data on symptoms in hospitals is one of the fundamental challenges that must be overcome during operating a syndromic surveillance system. The objective of our study is to describe and evaluate the implementation of a symptom-clicking-module (SCM) as a part of the enhanced hospital-based syndromic surveillance during the 41st World Exposition in Shanghai, China, 2010.Methods: the SCM, including 25 targeted symptoms, was embedded in the sentinels’ Hospital Information Systems (HIS). The clinicians used SCM to record these information of all the visiting patients, and data were collated and transmitted automatically in daily batches. The symptoms were categorized into seven targeted syndromes using pre-defined criteria, and statistical algorithms were applied to detect temporal aberrations in the data series.Results: SCM was deployed successfully in each sentinel hospital and was operated during the 184-day surveillance period. A total of 1,730,797 patient encounters were recorded by SCM, and 6.1 % (105,352 visits) met the criteria of the seven targeted syndromes. Acute respiratory and gastrointestinal syndromes were reported most frequently, accounted for 92.1 % of reports in all syndromes, and the aggregated time-series presented an obvious day-of-week variation over the study period. In total, 191 aberration signals were triggered, and none of them were identified as outbreaks after verification and field investigation.Conclusions: SCM has acted as a practical tool for recording symptoms in the hospital-based enhanced syndromic surveillance system during the 41st World Exposition in Shanghai, in the context of without a preexisting electronic tool to collect syndromic data in the HIS of the sentinel hospitals

Rayleigh and shear-horizontal surface acoustic waves simultaneously generated in inclined ZnO films for acoustofluidic lab-on-a-chip

There are significant challenges in controlling uniformity of crystal inclination angles, growth orientations and film thicknesses to generate dual-mode surface acoustic waves (e.g., Rayleigh ones and shear-horizontal ones) for lab-on-a-chip applications. In this study, we demonstrate large area (up to three inches) and uniformly inclined piezoelectric ZnO films, sputtering-deposited on silicon using a glancing angle deposition method. Characterization using X-ray diffraction showed that the inclined ZnO films have an average crystal inclination angle of 29.0°, apart from the vertical (0002) orientation, at a substrate tilting angle of 30o. Reflection signals of ZnO/Si surface acoustic wave devices clearly show the generations of both shear horizontal surface acoustic waves and Rayleigh waves. The Rayleigh waves enable efficient acoustofluidic functions including streaming and transportation of sessile droplets. Excitation direction of Rayleigh waves on the acoustofluidics versus the inclined angle direction has apparent influences on the acoustofluidic performance due to the anisotropic microstructures of the inclined films. The same device has been used to demonstrate biosensing of biotin/streptavidin interactions in a liquid environment using the shear-horizontal surface acoustic waves, to demonstrate its potential for integration into a complete lab-on-a-chip device

An atlas of DNA methylomes in porcine adipose and muscle tissues

It is evident that epigenetic factors, especially DNA methylation, have essential roles in obesity development. Here, using pig as a model, we investigate the systematic association between DNA methylation and obesity. We sample eight variant adipose and two distinct skeletal muscle tissues from three pig breeds living within comparable environments but displaying distinct fat level. We generate 1,381 Gb of sequence data from 180 methylated DNA immunoprecipitation libraries, and provide a genome-wide DNA methylation map as well as a gene expression map for adipose and muscle studies. The analysis shows global similarity and difference among breeds, sexes and anatomic locations, and identifies the differentially methylated regions. The differentially methylated regions in promoters are highly associated with obesity development via expression repression of both known obesity-related genes and novel genes. This comprehensive map provides a solid basis for exploring epigenetic mechanisms of adipose deposition and muscle growth