A new model for gas/solid pipe flow

A new model of particle turbulent dispersion in vertical gas/solid pipe flow is presented in this paper. The essence of the model is to pay more attention to the active and discrete behavior of particles in the dispersion process in non-homogeneous turbulent vertical pipe flows using two-fluid approaches. In the new model, a non-gradient type of diffusion term is included in the expression of radial particle dispersion flux; the transport equation for particle turbulent kinetic energy (PTKE) is developed and solved for its distribution; the effect of intra-particle collision is considered for the generation and dissipation of PTKE; turbulence modulation due to particle presence is taken into account. Preliminary numerical results based on this new model are also presented in this paper

Thermal Stability of Ultrafine Grained Pure Copper Prepared by Large Strain Extrusion Machining

Ultrafine grained (UFG) pure copper chips with improved material strength have been successfully prepared by large strain extrusion machining (LSEM). However, the thermal stability of the UFG chips has been a key characteristic that has restricted their use in practical applications. To understand the influence of annealing temperature and annealing time on their microstructures and mechanical properties, the UFG chips were subjected to isochronous and isothermal annealing treatments as well as Vickers hardness tests in the present study. From the results, we found that the UFG chips maintain high hardness when annealing at temperatures up to 160 °C but begin to exhibit a reduction in their hardness while the annealing temperature reached above 200 °C. When annealed at 280 °C for 10–240 min, the grain size increased slightly and reached a stable value of 2 µm with an increase in annealing time and with a decrease in the hardness of the chips. These results indicated that UFG pure copper chips have good thermal stability at temperatures below 160 °C

Clinical applications of imaging informatics: computer aided diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma based on PET-CTand multimedia electronic patient record system for neurosurgery

Medical imaging informatics is one of the important research areas in radiology that studies how information available on medical images is retrieved, analyzed, and enhanced. Recent development in medical imaging informatics has resulted in improvement of diagnostic accuracy based on imaging examinations, as well as efficiency in clinical workflow. Computer aided diagnosis (CAD) and electronic patient record system (ePR) are both topics in medical imaging informatics that have matured from research concepts into commercially available computerized systems in clinical environment. The current challenges are to further broaden their scope of applications. In this thesis project, I developed a CAD system for interpreting PET/CT examinations and an ePR system for patient data integration in neurosurgery suites. Specifically, the CAD system in this project was designed to automatically diagnose nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) on Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) examinations, which aimed to detect and classify both the primary NPC and its nodal metastasis. The regions of interests (ROIs) were segmented from the PET images and registered onto the CT in order to combine the imaging features from both modalities and the a priori anatomical knowledge of the suspicious lesion. These combined features were then classified by a support vector machine (SVM) to generate the final diagnosis result. The system was validated with 25 PET/CT examinations from 10 patients suffering from NPC, and the result produced by the system was compared to the gold standard of lesions manually contoured by experienced radiologists. The results confirmed that the system successfully distinguished all 53 genuine lesions from the mimickers due to normal physiological uptake and artifacts that also produced potentially confusing signals. The second part of the project involved development of an electronic patient record system (ePR) that integrated all the myriad of images and different types of clinical information before, during, and after neurosurgery operations, in order to enhance efficiency of work flow in this unique clinical environment. The system comprises of pre-, intra-, and post-operation modules which correspond to the different stages of the neurosurgery. The pre-op module was developed to store and categorize all images and data before the procedure to assist the surgeons in planning operation. The intra-op module integrates all the input signals, waveforms, images and videos that are produced by different imaging and physiological monitoring devices in the operation room during the surgery, and displays all the relevant information in a single large screen in real time to ease monitoring of the procedure. The post-op module helps surgeons to review all the data acquired from all the prior stages for follow-up of the treatment outcome. One-tumor case was utilized to test the pre-op module, and the signals and waveforms simulators were used to evaluate the performance of the intra-op module. In summary, two different medical informatics systems, a CAD and an ePR system were developed. Both showed promising results in laboratory tests. Future work would involve performance enhancement and feedback of the systems, and ultimately evaluation of these systems in the clinical environment.published_or_final_versionDiagnostic RadiologyMasterMaster of Philosoph

An investigation of computational modeling on phase distribution phenomena in vertical pipes

A phase distribution phenomenon is observed in many gas/solid flows. An analysis of this phenomenon indicates that particle turbulence has a significant impact on the dispersion of particles in a vertical pipe flow. A new particle turbulent model has been developed to describe the phenomenon based on the inclusion of particle turbulence dynamics in transport equations. The main features of the model include an new transport equation of particle turbulent kinetic energy, a new expression of radial particle diffusion flux replacing Fick`s Law, and new turbulent viscosity correlation. The particle turbulent model was incorporated into a computational fluid dynamic code to predict particle dispersion in a vertical pipe flow. Preliminary results show the expected trend of particle accumulation near the wall

Thermal Stability of Ultrafine Grained Pure Copper Prepared by Large Strain Extrusion Machining

Ultrafine grained (UFG) pure copper chips with improved material strength have been successfully prepared by large strain extrusion machining (LSEM). However, the thermal stability of the UFG chips has been a key characteristic that has restricted their use in practical applications. To understand the influence of annealing temperature and annealing time on their microstructures and mechanical properties, the UFG chips were subjected to isochronous and isothermal annealing treatments as well as Vickers hardness tests in the present study. From the results, we found that the UFG chips maintain high hardness when annealing at temperatures up to 160 °C but begin to exhibit a reduction in their hardness while the annealing temperature reached above 200 °C. When annealed at 280 °C for 10–240 min, the grain size increased slightly and reached a stable value of 2 µm with an increase in annealing time and with a decrease in the hardness of the chips. These results indicated that UFG pure copper chips have good thermal stability at temperatures below 160 °C