222 research outputs found

    Tool wear monitoring for milling by tracking cutting force model coefficients

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    This study establishes a way to monitor tool wear in end milling using a tangential force model coefficient method. An experimental investigation of the characteristics of tangential force model coefficients, KTC and KTE, under different cutting conditions is presented. Experimental results indicate that the coefficients are relatively insensitive to the cutting conditions and quite sensitive to tool wear. Several tool wear experiments were performed on AISI 1018 steel. The tool wear was examined using an optical measurement inspection system. The results indicate that KTE increases proportionally with tool flank wear while K TC stays relatively constant until close to the end of tool life. Other possible wear indicators were studied, specifically the radial coefficients (KRC & KRE) and vibration signals. It was found that KRC & KRE are proportional to KTC & KTE, and the vibration signal magnitude is related to flank wear

    How professional training impacts teaching innovation among ideological and political teachers: the mediating and moderating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction

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    The aim of this study is to explore the impact of professional training on teaching innovation among senior high school ideological and political teachers. By introducing the concept of basic psychological needs satisfaction as a mediating factor, the study seeks to uncover the mechanisms and patterns that manifest in teaching innovation within the Chinese cultural context. To gather empirical data, a questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of 780 teachers in this specialized field. The results showed that providing more professional training is an effective way to enhance teaching innovation. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (competence, relatedness, and autonomy) was found to play an important role in this process. Competence need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction played a mediating role, while autonomy need satisfaction played a moderating role. Based on these findings, several recommendations are provided to support the professional training of senior high school ideological and political teachers and enhance their innovation, including providing personalized training programs, building a mentor system, and allowing greater autonomy in school management

    Energy Efficient Indirect Evaporative Air Cooling

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    An energy-saving and environmentally friendly air-conditioning method has been proposed. The key component is a novel indirect evaporative heat exchanger (IEHX) based on the M-cycle. In this design, the compact IEHX is able to produce sub-wet-bulb cooling and reduce the air temperature approaching dew-point temperature. This chapter aims to achieve a fundamental understanding of the novel IEHX. A numerical model has been developed and validated by comparing the simulated outlet air conditions against experimental data. The model showed a good agreement with the experimental findings. Employing the validated numerical model, we have theoretically investigated the heat and mass transfer behavior occurred in the IEHX. The detailed cooling process has been analyzed on the psychrometric chart. In addition, the effects of varying inlet conditions and airflow passage dimensions on the cooling efficiency have been studied. By analyzing the thermal performance of the IEHX, we have provided possible suggestions to improve the performance of the dew-point cooler and enable it to attain higher cooling effectiveness

    Differential expression of decorin, EGFR and cyclin D1 during mammary gland carcinogenesis in TA2 mice with spontaneous breast cancer

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Tientsin Albino 2 (TA2) mouse is an inbred strain originating from the Kunming strain. It has a high incidence of spontaneous breast cancer without the need for external inducers or carcinogens. Until now, the mechanism of carcinogenesis has remained unclear. In this study, we investigate differential gene expression, especially the expression of decorin, EGFR and cyclin D1, during mammary gland epithelial cell carcinogenesis in TA2 mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Gene expression profiles of spontaneous breast cancer and matched normal mammary gland tissues in TA2 mice were ascertained using an Affymetrix Mouse 430 2.0 array. Twelve mammary tissue samples from five month-old female TA2 mice (Group A), as well as 28 samples from mammary (Group B) and cancer tissues (Group C) of spontaneous breast cancer-bearing TA2 mice, were subsequently used to detect the expression of decorin, EGFR and cyclin D1 by real-time PCR and immunohistochemical methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Several imprinted genes, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes were differentially expressed between normal mammary gland tissues and breast cancer tissues of TA2 mice. The imprinted gene decorin and the oncogene EGFR were down-regulated in tumor tissues, while the oncogene cyclin D1 was up-regulated. Immunohistochemistry showed that samples in Group A showed high decorin expression more frequently than those in Group B (<it>P </it>< 0.05). More tissue samples in Group B than Group A were positive for nuclear EGFR, and tissue samples in Group B more frequently showed high nuclear EGFR expression than those in Group A or Group C (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The labeling index for cyclin D1 in Group C was significantly higher than in Group B. Mammary tissues of Group A expressed the highest level of decorin mRNA (<it>P </it>< 0.05), and mammary tissues of Group B expressed the highest level of EGFR mRNA (<it>P </it>< 0.05), while cancer tissues expressed the highest level of cyclin D1 mRNA (<it>P </it>< 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The expression of decorin, EGFR and cyclin D1 in mammary epithelial cells changes with increasing age. The abnormal expression of them may partly contribute to the genesis of spontaneous breast cancer in TA2 mice.</p

    A Machine Learning Approach for Rating the Quality of Depression Treatment Web Pages

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    As health care information proliferates on the web, the content quality is varied and difficult to assess, partially due to the large volume and the dynamicity. This paper reports an automated approach in which the quality of depression treatment web pages is assessed according to evidence-based depression treatment guidelines. A supervised machine learning technique, specifically Naive Bayes classification, is used to identify the sentences that are consistent with the guidelines. The quality score of a depression treatment web page is the number of unique evidence-based guidelines covered in this page. Significant Pearson correlation (p<.001) was found between the quality rating results by the machine learning approach and the results by human raters on 31 depression treatment web pages in this case study. The semantic-based, machine learning quality rating method is promising and it may lead to an efficient and effective quality assessment mechanism for health care information on the Web.publishedye

    Isolation and characterization of a genotype 4 Hepatitis E virus strain from an infant in China

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    In the present study, a genotype 4 HEV strain was identified in the fecal specimen from a seven months old infant with no symptom of hepatitis in Shanghai Children's hospital. The full capsid protein gene (ORF2) sequence of this strain was determined by RT-PCR method. Sequence analysis based on the full ORF2 sequence indicated that this HEV strain shared the highest sequence identity (97.6%) with another human HEV strain isolated from a Japanese patient who was infected by genotype 4 HEV during traveling in Shanghai. Phylogenetic analysis showed that this genotype 4 HEV was phylogenetically far from the genotype 4 HEV strain that was commonly prevalent in Shanghai swine group, suggesting that this strain may not come from swine group and not involved in zoonotic transmission in this area

    Genotyping and Phylogenetic Analysis of Yersinia pestis by MLVA: Insights into the Worldwide Expansion of Central Asia Plague Foci

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    BACKGROUND: The species Yersinia pestis is commonly divided into three classical biovars, Antiqua, Medievalis, and Orientalis, belonging to subspecies pestis pathogenic for human and the (atypical) non-human pathogenic biovar Microtus (alias Pestoides) including several non-pestis subspecies. Recent progress in molecular typing methods enables large-scale investigations in the population structure of this species. It is now possible to test hypotheses about its evolution which were proposed decades ago. For instance the three classical biovars of different geographical distributions were suggested to originate from Central Asia. Most investigations so far have focused on the typical pestis subspecies representatives found outside of China, whereas the understanding of the emergence of this human pathogen requires the investigation of strains belonging to subspecies pestis from China and to the Microtus biovar. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multi-locus VNTR analysis (MLVA) with 25 loci was performed on a collection of Y. pestis isolates originating from the majority of the known foci worldwide and including typical rhamnose-negative subspecies pestis as well as rhamnose-positive subspecies pestis and biovar Microtus. More than 500 isolates from China, the Former Soviet Union (FSU), Mongolia and a number of other foci around the world were characterized and resolved into 350 different genotypes. The data revealed very close relationships existing between some isolates from widely separated foci as well as very high diversity which can conversely be observed between nearby foci. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results obtained are in full agreement with the view that the Y. pestis subsp. pestis pathogenic for humans emerged in the Central Asia region between China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, only three clones of which spread out of Central Asia. The relationships among the strains in China, Central Asia and the rest of the world based on the MLVA25 assay provide an unprecedented view on the expansion and microevolution of Y. pestis

    Self-assembly of activated lipase hybrid nanoflowers with superior activity and enhanced stability

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    Lipase-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers were prepared using Ca3(PO4)2 as the inorganic component and lipase from Aspergillus oryzae (A. oryzae) as the organic component. The influences of metal ions with different valence, various additives (surfactant), and synthesis conditions on the activity of the lipase hybrid nanoflowers were systematically investigated. Results revealed that the valence state of metal ions played an important role on the shape and activity of lipase hybrid nanoflowers. The synthesized lipase hybrid nanoflowers using bivalence metal ions (Ca2+, Mn2+, and Zn2+) as the inorganic components exhibited relative high activity. However, very low activities were observed in the lipase hybrid nanoflowers using univalent metal ions (Ag+) or trivalent metal ions (Al3+, Fe3+). More importantly, Ca2+ not only induced self-assemble of lipase hybrid nanoflowers, but also activated the enzyme activity by inducing conformational changes in lipase from A. oryzae. As a result, lipase/Ca3(PO4)2 hybrid nanoflowers (hNF-lipase) exhibited the high activity. The hNF-lipase displayed 9, 12, and 61 folds higher activity than lipase/Ag3PO4 hybrid nanoflowers, lipase/AlPO4 hybrid nanoflowers, and lipase/FePO4 nanoflowers, respectively. Compared with free lipase, the hNF-lipase displayed 172 % increase in activities by using 0.15 mM Tween-80 as an activity inducer (activated hNF-lipase). Furthermore, the hNF-lipase and activated hNF-lipase exhibited increased stability against high temperature and denaturant, and had good storage stability and reusability

    Rewritable nanoscale oxide photodetector

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    Nanophotonic devices seek to generate, guide, and/or detect light using structures whose nanoscale dimensions are closely tied to their functionality. Semiconducting nanowires, grown with tailored optoelectronic properties, have been successfully placed into devices for a variety of applications. However, the integration of photonic nanostructures with electronic circuitry has always been one of the most challenging aspects of device development. Here we report the development of rewritable nanoscale photodetectors created at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3. Nanowire junctions with characteristic dimensions 2-3 nm are created using a reversible AFM writing technique. These nanoscale devices exhibit a remarkably high gain for their size, in part because of the large electric fields produced in the gap region. The photoconductive response is gate-tunable and spans the visible-to-near-infrared regime. The ability to integrate rewritable nanoscale photodetectors with nanowires and transistors in a single materials platform foreshadows new families of integrated optoelectronic devices and applications.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary Information 7 pages, 9 figure

    Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Central China Reveals No Evidence of Cross-Species Transmission between Human and Swine in This Area

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    Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen of which several species of animal were reported as reservoirs. Swine stands out as the major reservoir for HEV infection in humans, as suggested by the close genetic relationship of swine and human virus. Since 2000, Genotype 4 HEV has become the dominant cause of hepatitis E disease in China. Recent reports showed that genotype 4 HEV is freely transmitted between humans and swine in eastern and southern China. However, the infection status of HEV in human and swine populations in central China is still unclear. This study was conducted in a rural area of central China, where there are many commercial swine farms. A total of 1476 serum and 554 fecal specimens were collected from the general human and swine populations in this area, respectively. The seroepidemiological study was conducted by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Conserved genomic sequences of open reading frame 2 were detected using reverse transcription-PCR. The results indicated that the overall viral burden of the general human subjects was 0.95% (14/1476), while 7.0% (39/554) of the swine excreted HEV in stool. The positive rate of anti-HEV IgG and IgM in the serum samples was 7.9% (117/1476) and 1.6% (24/1476), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 150 nt partial sequence of the capsid protein gene showed that the 53 swine and human HEV isolates in the current study all belonged to genotype 4, clustering into three major groups. However, the HEV isolates prevalent in the human and swine populations were classified into known distinct subgenotypes, which suggested that no cross-species transmission between swine and humans had taken place in this area. This result was confirmed by cloning and phylogenetic analysis of the complete capsid protein gene sequence of three representative HEV strains in the three major groups. The cross reactivity between anti-HEV IgG from human sera and the two representative strains from swine in central China was confirmed by Dot-blot assay. In conclusion, although all the HEV strains prevalent in central China belonged to genotype 4, there is no evidence of cross-species transmission between human and swine in this area
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