Edge-weighted pFISTA-Net for MRI Reconstruction

Deep learning based on unrolled algorithm has served as an effective method for accelerated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, many methods ignore the direct use of edge information to assist MRI reconstruction. In this work, we present the edge-weighted pFISTA-Net that directly applies the detected edge map to the soft-thresholding part of pFISTA-Net. The soft-thresholding value of different regions will be adjusted according to the edge map. Experimental results of a public brain dataset show that the proposed yields reconstructions with lower error and better artifact suppression compared with the state-of-the-art deep learning-based methods. The edge-weighted pFISTA-Net also shows robustness for different undersampling masks and edge detection operators. In addition, we extend the edge weighted structure to joint reconstruction and segmentation network and obtain improved reconstruction performance and more accurate segmentation results

Ontology-Based Cloud Manufacturing Framework in Industrialized Construction

Cloud manufacturing is an emerging manufacturing paradigm to enable rapid production for mass customization. Industrialized construction shares a similar production environment with manufacturing products, so it has a great potential to utilize the paradigm. Previous studies never examined cloud manufacturing in the construction context. This work takes the industrial difference into account and proposes a cloud manufacturing framework by ontology modeling. Three ontologies, including ifcOWL, OPW, and OWL-S, are linked to support the design to the manufacturing process of a building project. The framework benefits the design data and manufacturing data integration, and enhances the resource sharing by semantic web service

Ontology-based manufacturability analysis automation for industrialized construction

The current digital fabrication workflow requires many iterations between design and manufacturing. Automated manufacturability analysis can reduce the number of iterations at the design stage. However, existing approaches that leverage design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) do not consider detailed product features and production capabilities. To address this limitation, this paper utilizes an ontology-based approach to connect design and manufacturing knowledge. The developed manufacturability analysis system (MAS) involves semantic reasoning to analyze manufacturability by combining feature-based modelling, production capability modelling and manufacturing rules. The system was tested on a timber panelized project to demonstrate complex manufacturability analysis capability. The testing proves that the system could provide real-time feedback to the designers, leading to fewer design iterations. Thus, the paper is a first step towards automated fabrication-aware design and the results from the study lay the foundation for future research on connecting knowledge for interdisciplinary rule checkin

Application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection in patients undergoing cutaneous ureterostomy

ObjectiveUrinary tract infection (UTI) is an inflammatory response of the urothelium to bacterial invasion and is a common complication in patients with cutaneous ureterostomy (CU). For such patients, accurate and efficient identification of pathogens remains a challenge. The aim of this study included exploring utility of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in assisting microbiological diagnosis of UTI among patients undergoing CU, identifying promising cytokine or microorganism biomarkers, revealing microbiome diversity change and compare virulence factors (VFs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) after infection.MethodsWe performed a case-control study of 50 consecutive CU patients from December 2020 to January 2021. According to the clinical diagnostic criteria, samples were divided into infected group and uninfected group and difference of urine culture, cytokines, microorganism, ARGs and VFs were compared between the two groups.ResultsInflammatory responses were more serious in infected group, as evidenced by a significant increase in IFN-α (p=0.031), IL-1β (0.023) and IL-6 (p=0.018). Clinical culture shows that there is higher positive rate in infected group for most clinical pathogens like Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida auris etc. and the top three pathogens with positive frequencies were E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis. Benchmarking clinical culture, the total sensitivity is 91.4% and specificity is 76.3% for mNGS. As for mNGS, there was no significant difference in microbiome α- diversity between infected and uninfected group. Three species biomarkers including Citrobacter freundii, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Enterobacter cloacae are enriched in infected group based on Lefse. E. cloacae were significantly correlated with IL-6 and IL-10. K. oxytoca were significantly correlated with IL-1β. Besides, the unweighted gene number and weighted gene abundance of VFs or ARGs are significantly higher in infected group. Notablely, ARGs belonging to fluoroquinolones, betalatmas, fosfomycin, phenicol, phenolic compound abundance is significantly higher in infected group which may have bad effect on clinical treatment for patients.ConclusionmNGS, along with urine culture, will provide comprehensive and efficient reference for the diagnosis of UTI in patients with CU and allow us to monitor microbial changes in urine of these patients. Moreover, cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and IFN-a) or microorganisms like C. freundii, K. oxytoca or E. cloacae are promising biomarkers for building effective UTI diagnostic model of patients with CU and seriously the VFs and ARGs abundance increase in infected group may play bad effect on clinical treatment

Observation of oscillatory relaxation in the Sn-terminated surface of epitaxial rock-salt SnSe {111}\{111\} topological crystalline insulator

Topological crystalline insulators have been recently predicted and observed in rock-salt structure SnSe $\{111\}$ thin films. Previous studies have suggested that the Se-terminated surface of this thin film with hydrogen passivation, has a reduced surface energy and is thus a preferred configuration. In this paper, synchrotron-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, along with density functional theory calculations, are used to demonstrate conclusively that a rock-salt SnSe $\{111\}$ thin film epitaxially-grown on \ce{Bi2Se3} has a stable Sn-terminated surface. These observations are supported by low energy electron diffraction (LEED) intensity-voltage measurements and dynamical LEED calculations, which further show that the Sn-terminated SnSe $\{111\}$ thin film has undergone a surface structural relaxation of the interlayer spacing between the Sn and Se atomic planes. In sharp contrast to the Se-terminated counterpart, the observed Dirac surface state in the Sn-terminated SnSe $\{111\}$ thin film is shown to yield a high Fermi velocity, $0.50\times10^6$m/s, which suggests a potential mechanism of engineering the Dirac surface state of topological materials by tuning the surface configuration.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, supplementary materials include

The Effects of Ambient Temperature on Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Retrospective Study

PurposeThis article was designed to provide critical evidence into the relationship between ambient temperature and intensity of back pain in people with lumbar disc herniation (LDH).MethodsData concerning patient's age, gender, diagnostic logout, admission time, discharge time, residence area, and work area (residence area and work area were used to ensure research area) from 2017 to 2019 were obtained from the Neck-Shoulder and Lumbocrural Pain Hospital in Jinan, China. A total of 1,450 hospitalization records were collected in total. The distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to evaluate the relationship between lag–response and exposure to ambient temperature. Stratification was based on age and gender. Days 1, 5, 20, and 28 prior to admission were denoted as lags 0, 5, 20, and 28, respectively.ResultsAn average daily temperature of 15–23°C reduced the risk of hospitalization the most in men. Conversely, temperatures <10°C drastically increased hospitalization in men, particularly in lags 0–5 and lags 20–28. Men aged between 40 and 50 years old showed less effect in pain sensation during ambient temperature.ConclusionHigh or low ambient temperature can increase the hospitalization risk of LDH, and sometimes, the temperature effect is delayed

An analytical approach for variance swaps with an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process

Pricing variance swaps have become a popular subject recently, and most research of this type come under Heston’s two-factor model. This paper is an extension of some recent research which used the dimension-reduction technique based on the Heston model. A new closed-form pricing formula focusing on a log-return variance swap is presented here, under the assumption that the underlying asset prices can be described by a mean-reverting Gaussian volatility model (Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process). Numerical tests in two respects using the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation are included. Moreover, we discuss a procedure of solving a quadratic differential equation with one variable. Our method can avoid the previously encountered limitations, but requires more time for calculation than other recent analytical discrete models. doi:10.1017/S144618111700026

Cross-phase product configurator for modular buildings using kit-of-parts

One emerging strategy in industrialized construction is the use of mass customization to increase product efficiency without sacrificing design flexibility. Effective implementation of mass customization can be done through a product platform, i.e. a configurator. However, existing configurators often lack integration of knowledge from the downstream supply chain such as manufacturing. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for a configurator unified through a manufacturing kit-of-parts. Kit-of-parts are pre-engineered and pre-designed digital models representing fabrication-ready components. Using production rules and restraints, accurate planning and design representations can be derived and utilized in the configurator. This research develops a configurator prototype using three-tier architecture. The prototype supports a low-to-high level of detail of kit-of-parts. It integrates product platforms and project development across multiple building phases including site planning, floor plan layout, and 3D model generation. Finally, the implementation of a modular building configurator illustrates the benefits of the proposed configurator-based workflow.ISSN:0926-580