bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biomarkers of optical coherence tomography in evaluating the treatment outcomes of neovascular age-related macular degeneration: a real-world study
Authors: Lai Tso-Ting , Hsieh Yi-Ting , Yang Chung-May , Ho Tzyy-Chang , Yang Chang-Hao
Published: January 2019

This study evaluated the characteristic changes in optical coherence tomography (OCT) biomarkers in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs and their relationship with visual outcomes at 1-year follow-up in a real-world setting. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 126 eyes with nAMD treated with either intravitreal ranibizumab or aflibercept, including ophthalmologic examinations and spectral-domain OCT at baseline and months 3, 6, and 12 after first injection. Treatment response of intraretinal cysts (IRCs), subretinal fluid (SRF), and pigment epithelial detachment (PED), and the correlation between best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) changes and these OCT biomarkers were analyzed. After an average of 5.1 ± 1.5 injections, 33.3% of eyes with PED showed resolution at month 12, a significantly lower proportion than for IRCs (53.8%) or SRF (51.6%). BCVA improvement at 1 year was negatively associated with PED at baseline and with IRCs or PED at month 12. Persistence of IRCs at month 12 was associated with degeneration morphology of IRCs at baseline and non-resolved cysts at month 3 after loading. In conclusions, IRCs and PED are associated with poor visual improvement in nAMD in a real-world setting. Both IRCs and SRF responded better than PED to anti-VEGF therapy.
Cream Cheese-Derived Lactococcus chungangensis CAU 28 Modulates the Gut Microbiota and Alleviates Atopic Dermatitis in BALB/c Mice
Authors: Kim Jong-Hwa , Kim Kiyoung , Kim Wonyong
Published: January 2019

Atopic dermatitis (AD) has a drastic impact on human health owing to complex skin, gut microbiota, and immune responses. Some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are effective in ameliorating AD; however, the alleviative effects of dairy products derived from these LAB remain unclear. In this study, the efficacies of Lactococcus chungangensis CAU 28 (CAU 28) cream cheese and L. chungangensis CAU 28 dry cells were evaluated for treating AD in an AD mouse model. Overall, CAU 28 cream cheese administration was more effective against AD than L. chungangensis CAU 28 dry cells. Faeces from CAU 28 cream cheese-administered mice had increased short chain fatty acid, butyrate, acetate, and lactic acid levels, as well as butyrate-producing bacteria, including Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, and Ruminococcus. Furthermore, oral CAU 28 cream cheese administration resulted in regulatory T cell (Treg)-mediated suppression of T helper type 2 (Th2) immune responses in serum and mRNA expression levels in the ileum. Oral CAU 28 cream cheese further reduced IgE levels, in addition to eosinophil and mast cell numbers. Therefore, CAU 28 cream cheese administration induced a coordinated immune response involving short-chain fatty acids and gut microbiota, indicating its potential for use as a supplement for AD mitigation.
Intermolecular distance measurement with TNT suppressor on the M13 bacteriophage-based Förster resonance energy transfer system
Authors: Kim Inhong , Song Hyerin , Kim Chuntae , Kim Minwoo , Kyhm Kwangseuk , Kim Kyujung , Oh Jin-Woo
Published: January 2019

An M13 bacteriophage-based Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) system is developed to estimate intermolecular distance at the nanoscale using a complex of CdSSe/ZnS nanocrystal quantum dots, genetically engineered M13 bacteriophages labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate and trinitrotoluene (TNT) as an inhibitor. In the absence of trinitrotoluene, it is observed that a significant spectral shift from blue to green occur, which represents efficient energy transfer through dipole-dipole coupling between donor and acceptor, or FRET-on mode. On the other hand, in the presence of trinitrotoluene, the energy transfer is suppressed, since the donor-to-acceptor intermolecular distance is detuned by the specific capturing of TNT by the M13 bacteriophage, denoted as FRET-off mode. These noble features are confirmed by changes in the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescence decay curve. TNT addition to our system results in reducing the total energy transfer efficiency considerably from 16.1% to 7.6% compared to that in the non-TNT condition, while the exciton decay rate is significantly enhanced. In particular, we confirm that the energy transfer efficiency satisfies the original intermolecular distance dependence of FRET. The relative donor-to-acceptor distance is changed from 70.03 Å to 80.61 Å by inclusion of TNT.
Tunable Backward Terahertz-wave Parametric Oscillation
Authors: Nawata Kouji , Tokizane Yu , Takida Yuma , Minamide Hiroaki
Published: January 2019

Backward optical parametric oscillation has attracted attention for cavityless spectral narrowband generation based on perfect photon conversion. Few demonstrations have shown its potential from the aspect of nonlinear photonics; therefore, the mechanisms of momentum conservation among interacting light waves have been concealed by the restricted configuration under the phase-matching condition of periodically poled structures. Here, we unveil a tunable mechanism in the terahertz region by active control of the phase-matching condition. The tunability of backward terahertz-wave parametric oscillation is investigated using a quasi-collinear phase-matching model and its frequency range from the sub-terahertz to terahertz region is identified. Transform-limited terahertz-wave pulse is achieved simply by installing a device on the pump propagating line with no cavity. Moreover, the cascading terahertz-wave generation enhances the photon conversion efficiency, thus making nonlinear optics and its applications more promising. The results highlight new capabilities for using modern ferroelectric materials and encourage further research on nonlinear optics.
On the convective heat and zero nanoparticle mass flux conditions in the flow of 3D MHD Couple Stress nanofluid over an exponentially stretched surface
Authors: Ramzan Muhammad , Sheikholeslami Mohsen , Saeed Maria , Chung Jae Dong
Published: January 2019

Three dimensional problems reflect more imperative understanding to real world issues in comparison to two dimensional problems. Keeping this fact in mind, a mathematical model is designed to deliberate the 3D magnetohydrodynamic couple stress nanofluid flow with joule heating and viscous dissipation effects past an exponential stretched surface. The analysis is performed keeping in mind the physical effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis combined with convective heat condition. This paper also distinctly introduces a more realistic boundary constraint for nanoliquid flow model. For instance, zero mass flux condition has been instituted for the first time for 3D couple stress nanofluid model as far as the exponential stretched surface is concerned. Self-similar transformations are engaged to obtain a system of ordinary differential equations possessing high nonlinearity from the system of boundary layer partial differential equations. Analytic solution is constructed in the form of series using Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). Numerically calculated values of Skin friction and local Nusselt number are also given with suitable analysis. Moreover, the influences of sundry parameters on velocity distribution, and heat and mass transfer rates are deliberated and depicted through relevant graphs. The results obtained clearly show that the Biot number and Hartmann number possess increasing effect on temperature distribution. To authenticate our obtained results, a comparison in limiting case is also given.
Up-regulation of activation-induced cytidine deaminase and its strong expression in extra-germinal centres in IgG4-related disease
Authors: Gion Yuka , Takeuchi Mai , Shibata Rei , Takata Katsuyoshi , Miyata-Takata Tomoko , Orita Yorihisa , Tachibana Tomoyasu , Yoshino Tadashi , Sato Yasuharu
Published: January 2019

Immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a systemic disorder involving benign mass formation due to fibrosis and intense lymphoplasmacytosis; the chronic inflammation associated with the disease might also contribute to oncogenesis. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), normally expressed in germinal centre activated B-cells, is an enzyme that edits DNA/RNA and induces somatic hypermutation and Ig class switching. AID expression is strictly controlled under physiological conditions; however, chronic inflammation and some infectious agents induce its up-regulation. AID is overexpressed in various cancers and may be important in chronic inflammation-associated oncogenesis. We examined AID expression in IgG4-related sialadenitis (n = 14), sialolithiasis (non-specific inflammation, n = 13), and normal submandibular glands (n = 13) using immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Immunohistochemistry revealed significantly more AID-expressing cells in IgG4-related sialadenitis than in sialolithiasis or normal submandibular gland samples (P = 0.02 and P < 0.01, respectively); qPCR yielded similar results. Thus, AID was significantly more up-regulated and had higher expression in extra-germinal centres in IgG4-RD than in non-specific inflammation or normal conditions. This report suggests that IgG4-RD has several specific causes of AID up-regulation in addition to inflammation. Furthermore, chronic inflammation-associated AID-mediated oncogenesis is possible in IgG4-RD.
Homing peptide-based ELISA-like method for the selective and sensitive determination of fibrin
Authors: Zhang Yinghong , Zhang Yuanfu , Hou Tingting , Li Rui , Xue Qingwang , Wang Shuhao
Published: January 2019

A novel, homing peptide-based ELISA-like method for the determination of fibrin is presented.
Tube-in-tube tin dioxide superstructures with enhanced lithium storage performance
Authors: Tong Yinlin , Dang Liyun , Wang Zengrui , Zhang Hao , Gao Feng , Lu Qingyi
Published: January 2019

Novel tube-in-tube tin dioxide superstructures (TTS) were synthesized with α-Fe2O3 hollow prisms as templates and due to the special tube-in-tube structure, the SnO2 TTS possess brilliant lithium storage properties.
Ultrasound responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles for biomedical applications
Authors: Manzano Miguel , Vallet-Regí María
Published: January 2019

This feature article focus on mesoporous silica nanoparticles that release their therapeutic cargo in response to ultrasound.
A semisynthetic fluorescent protein assembly-based FRET probe for real-time profiling of cell membrane protease functions in situ
Authors: Sun Sujuan , Liu Yanan , Xia Julan , Wang Miao , Tang Rui , Lei Chunyang , Huang Yan , Nie Zhou , Yao Shouzhuo
Published: January 2019

A semisynthetic fluorescent protein assembly-based FRET probe (sFPAP) was proposed for cell membrane protease function assay.
Remote control of electronic coupling – modification of excited-state electron-transfer rates in Ru(tpy)2-based donor–acceptor systems by remote ligand design
Authors: Luo Yusen , Tran Jens H. , Wächtler Maria , Schulz Martin , Barthelmes Kevin , Winter Andreas , Rau Sven , Schubert Ulrich S. , Dietzek Benjamin
Published: January 2019

Electronic coupling (HDA) underlying the electron transfer (ET) can be tuned by the remote substituents R.
Mechanochemically directed metathesis in group 2 chemistry: calcium amide formation without solvent
Authors: Speight Isaiah R. , Chmely Stephen C. , Hanusa Timothy P. , Rheingold Arnold L.
Published: January 2019

Mechanochemistry nails the synthesis of a bulky calcium amide without producing the contamination that can occur with a solution preparation
Post-synthetic diamine-functionalization of MOF-74 type frameworks for effective carbon dioxide separation
Authors: Kang Minjung , Kang Dong Won , Hong Chang Seop
Published: January 2019

Post-synthetic methods are considered facile and effective for adjusting a material's properties. This frontiers article highlights recent advances in the post-synthetic modifications of MOF-74 type frameworks, whose high-density exposed metal sites are grafted by various diamines, leading to the tuning of CO2 adsorption capabilities.
The hydrolysis of ammonia borane catalyzed by NiCoP/OPC-300 nanocatalysts: high selectivity and efficiency, and mechanism
Authors: Qu Xiaopeng , Jiang Rui , Li Qian , Zeng Fanan , Zheng Xue , Xu Zhimou , Chen Cunhua , Peng Jing
Published: January 2019

The development of highly efficient and cheap catalysts for the release of hydrogen from chemical hydrogen-storage materials is indispensable for the coming clean energy economy.
Single-step assembly of asymmetric vesicles
Authors: Arriaga Laura R. , Huang Yuting , Kim Shin-Hyun , Aragones Juan L. , Ziblat Roy , Koehler Stephan A. , Weitz David A.
Published: January 2019

We report the utility of water-in-oil-in-oil-in-water triple emulsion drops, fabricated using capillary microfluidics, as templates to fabricate asymmetric lipid vesicles.
Self-assembly of cucurbiturils and cyclodextrins to supramolecular millstones with naphthalene derivatives capable of translocations in the host cavities
Authors: Vedernikov Artem I. , Lobova Natalia A. , Kuz’mina Lyudmila G. , Fomina Marina V. , Strelenko Yuri A. , Howard Judith A. K. , Gromov Sergey P.
Published: January 2019

Naphthylpyridine derivatives and cavitands form inclusive complexes of different structure and stoichiometry; the guests are capable of translocations within cucurbit[7,8]uril cavities.
Controlled synthesis of a Bi2O3–CuO catalyst for selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate
Authors: Dai Chaoneng , Qiu Yue , He Yu , Zhang Qiang , Liu Renlong , Du Jun , Tao Changyuan
Published: January 2019

The electro-reduction of CO2 to produce energy sources has been considered as a visionary pathway with the help of renewable electricity, which can achieve carbon neutrality and mitigate global warming.
Preparation of silver nanoparticles with hyperbranched polymers as a stabilizer for inkjet printing of flexible circuits
Authors: Hao Yueyue , Gao Jian , Xu Zesheng , Zhang Nan , Luo Jing , Liu Xiaoya
Published: January 2019

Carboxyl-terminated hyperbranched polymer-stabilized silver nanoparticles were synthesized in the aqueous phase and used to prepare a printable conductive ink.
Reverse synthesis of star anise-like cobalt doped Cu-MOF/Cu2+1O hybrid materials based on a Cu(OH)2 precursor for high performance supercapacitors
Authors: Cao Xueying , Cui Liang , Liu Bingping , Liu Ying , Jia Dedong , Yang Wenrong , Razal Joselito M. , Liu Jingquan
Published: January 2019

A vertically oriented star anise-like MOF-based material is prepared by a novel strategy using Cu(OH)2 as the template and precursor, which shows promising electrochemical energy storage properties.
Highly efficient near-infrared and semitransparent polymer solar cells based on an ultra-narrow bandgap nonfullerene acceptor
Authors: Chen Juan , Li Guangda , Zhu Qinglian , Guo Xia , Fan Qunping , Ma Wei , Zhang Maojie
Published: January 2019

Non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on a low bandgap polymer PTB7-Th and an ultra-narrow bandgap acceptor ACS8 exhibited an optimal PCE of 13.2%, indicating that the blend of PTB7-Th/ACS8 has potential for the practical applications of PSCs.
A Large-Scale Comparison of Main Concept Production Between Persons With Aphasia and Persons Without Brain Injury
Authors: Dalton Sarah Grace Hudspeth , Richardson Jessica D.
Published: January 2019

Purpose

The purposes of this study are to provide clinicians and researchers with introductory psychometric data for the main concept analysis (MCA), a measure of discourse informativeness, and specifically, to provide descriptive and comparative statistical information about the performance of a large sample of persons not brain injured (PNBIs) and persons with aphasia (PWAs) on AphasiaBank discourse tasks.

Method

Transcripts of 5 semi-spontaneous discourse tasks were retrieved from the AphasiaBank database and scored according to detailed checklists and scoring procedures. Transcripts from 145 PNBIs and 238 PWAs were scored; descriptive statistics, median tests, and effect sizes are reported.

Results

PWAs demonstrated overall lower informativeness scores and more frequent production of statements that were inaccurate and/or incomplete. Differences between PNBIs and PWAs were observed for all main concept measures and stories. Comparisons of PNBIs and aphasia subtypes revealed significant differences for all groups, although the pattern of differences and strength of effect sizes varied by group and discourse task.

Conclusions

These results may improve the investigative and clinical utility of the MCA by providing descriptive and comparative information for PNBIs and PWAs for standardized discourse tasks that can be reliably scored. The results indicate that the MCA is sensitive to differences in discourse as a result of aphasia.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7485647
Experimental investigation on noise rejection capabilities of pulse compression favourable frequency‐modulated thermal wave imaging
Authors: Kaur K. , Mulaveesala R.
Published: January 2019

Among the various non‐destructive testing and evaluation methods, infrared thermography gained its importance due to its fast, whole field, remote and quantitative evaluation capabilities for inspection of various materials. Being an optimum technique in terms of usage of low peak power heat sources in a moderate experimentation time, frequency‐modulated thermal wave imaging (FMTWI) plays a vital role in the infrared thermographic community. The noise rejection capabilities of the proposed pulse compression favourable FMTWI by using principal component analysis as a post‐processing technique are highlighted. The proposed scheme has been tested on a mild‐steel sample having sub‐surface flat bottom hole defects located inside the test specimen at various depths. It is clear from the obtained results that the reconstructed pulse (main lobe) concentrates much of the imposed energy into a narrow duration, which enhances the defect detection sensitivity and resolution in order to visualise the sub‐surface defects with higher signal‐to‐noise ratio.
New alternative convex conditions on exponential stability and stabilisation of switched positive linear systems with dwell time
Authors: Li Yang , Zhang Hongbin , Xiang Weiming
Published: January 2019

This study is concerned with dwell time stability and stabilisation problems of switched positive linear systems (SPLSs). The dwell time refers to minimum dwell time and constant dwell time. Several stability conditions for primal and transpose SPLSs with dwell time are presented, and the relation between these conditions is illustrated. Some of these conditions are given in terms of infinite‐dimensional linear programming (LP), which cannot be solved directly. Then, by utilising the piecewise linear approach, new alternative convex conditions are formulated in terms of finite‐dimensional LP. Compared to the existing literature, results with lower or at least the same conservatism can be obtained under the new conditions for the same discretised order. An algorithm is given to reduce the computational cost. Meanwhile, it is proved that there exists a relation between these convex and non‐convex conditions if the discretised order is sufficiently large. By utilising the transpose conditions, alternative convex conditions on stabilisation of SPLSs with dwell time are also presented. The controller gain matrices can be computed by solving a set of LP directly. Finally, the correctness and superiority of the results are verified by numerical examples.
Sliding mode control design for parametric uncertain stochastic systems with state delay using functional observer
Authors: Singh Satnesh , Sivaramakrishnan Janardhanan
Published: January 2019

This study is concerned with the problem of the functional observer‐based sliding mode control (SMC) design for parametric uncertain discrete‐time delayed stochastic systems includes mismatched parameter uncertainty in the state matrix and in the delayed state matrix. Stability analysis of sliding function is presented in the time delayed stochastic system with a linear matrix inequality approach. Moreover, it is shown that the state trajectories can be driven onto the specified sliding surface despite the presence of state delay, unmatched parameter uncertainty and stochastic noise in the system. The research is motivated by the fact that the system states are not always accessible for the state feedback. Therefore, SMC is estimated using the functional observer technique. To mitigate the side effect of the parameter uncertainty on the estimation error, a sufficient condition of stability is proposed based on Gershgorin disc theorem. The claims made are validated through numerical simulations.
Hybrid approach to design Takagi–Sugeno observer‐based FTC for non‐linear systems affected by simultaneous time varying actuator and sensor faults
Authors: Sami Shaker Montadher
Published: January 2019

This study uses a novel approach, integrating fault estimation and fault decoupling methods, in designing a new Takagi–Sugeno multiple integral unknown input observer (TSMIUIO)‐based fault tolerant control (FTC) system. The motivation is to tackle the challenges underlined in designing observer‐based FTC for non‐linear systems affected by simultaneous time‐varying actuator and sensor faults, exogenous input, and sensor noise. In such systems, the FTC design challenges are the constraints imposed by the structure of input/output matrices, the need of extending the order of the observer to estimate simultaneous faults, the bi‐directional interaction caused by the state and faults’ estimation errors, and the unpredictable time behaviour of fault signals. These challenges motivate the proposal of TSMIUIO to (i) ensure acceptable FTC performance, irrespective of the time behaviour of sensor fault; (ii) relax the complexity of TSMIUIO by avoiding the use of extended state approach for estimating simultaneous faults; and (iii) eliminate the BDI in the estimated signals that feed the controller. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated using a single‐link flexible joint robot and translational oscillator with an eccentric rotational proof mass actuator benchmark.
Joint localisation and tracking for autonomous underwater vehicle: a reinforcement learning‐based approach
Authors: Yan Jing , Li Xin , Luo Xiaoyuan , Gong Yadi , Guan Xinping
Published: January 2019

This study is concerned with a joint localisation and tracking problem for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), subject to asynchronous clock and stratification effect in cyber channels as well as the model disturbances in physical channels. The authors first construct an integrated state and clock model, which allows the co‐design of communication and control strategies. Then, an asynchronous localisation algorithm is developed to estimate the position of AUV, where the asynchronous clock and the stratification effect are both considered. With the estimated position information, a reinforcement learning based tracking controller is developed for the AUV to track the reference point. Particularly, the multivariate probabilistic collocation method is adopted to evaluate the model uncertainty. Moreover, the convergence analyses for the localisation algorithm and tracking controller are also given. Finally, simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. It is demonstrated that the communication energy consumption and tracking error can be significantly reduced, through the co‐design of localisation and tracking strategies.
Role of reactive power (STATCOM) in the planning of distribution network with higher EV charging level
Authors: Zaidi Arsalan Hussain , Sunderland Keith , Conlon Michael
Published: January 2019

In recent years, new trends in electrification of the transport sector have been a major concern for distribution grid operators. New types of flexible, uncontrollable loads, such as EV, influence the reliability of distribution networks. This work is related to the distribution system planning framework, with a particular focus on uncoordinated flexible EV loads. The main focus is the enhancement of the hosting capacity of EVs on distribution networks, while maintaining power quality (especially voltage magnitude and voltage unbalance), which is ultimately a pre‐requisite for increasing prosumer engagement. Several EV charging scenarios, in the context of UK/Irish distribution networks with increased penetration of EV prosumers are considered. The results show that reactive power compensation through STATCOM, in the context of EV integration, can provide continuous voltage support and thereby facilitate 90% penetration of network customer EV connections at a normal EV charging rate (3.68 kW). If fast charging (up to 11 kW) is employed, <30% of network EV customers can be accommodated due to bottlenecks presented by the substation transformer loading.
Turning video into traffic data – an application to urban intersection analysis using transfer learning
Authors: Dey Bhaskar , Kundu Malay Kumar
Published: January 2019

With modern socio‐economic development, the number of vehicles in metropolitan cities is growing rapidly. Therefore, obtaining real‐time traffic volume estimates has a very important significance in using the limited road space and traffic infrastructure. In this study, the authors present a video‐based traffic volume and direction estimation at road intersections. To discriminate the vehicles from the remaining foreground objects, vehicle recognition is performed by training a deep‐learning architecture from a pre‐trained model. This method, called transfer learning, primarily circumvents the requirement of huge labelled datasets and the time for training the network. The video sequence is first detected for moving foreground regions or patches. The trained model is subsequently used to classify the vehicles. The vehicles are tracked, and trajectory patterns are clustered using standard techniques. The number and direction of vehicles are noted, which are later compared with the manually observed values. All experiments were performed on real‐life surveillance sequences recorded at four different traffic intersections in the city of Kolkata.
Morphological PDEs on graphs for saliency detection
Authors: Bouraoui Imane , Lozes François , Elmoataz Adberrahim
Published: January 2019

Visual saliency is a computational process that seeks to identify the most attention drawing regions from a visual point. In this study, the authors propose a new algorithm to estimate the saliency based on partial difference equations (PDEs) method. A local or non‐local graph is first constructed from the geometry of images. Then, the transcription of PDE on graph is done and resolved by using the mean curvature flow that can be used to perform regularisation and the Eikonal equation for segmentation. Finally, an extended region adjacency graph is built, which is extended with a k‐nearest neighbour graph, in the mean RGB colour space of each region in order to estimate saliency. The proposed algorithm allows to unify a local or non‐local graph processing for saliency computing. Furthermore, it works on discrete data of arbitrary topology. For evaluation, the proposed method is tested on two different datasets and 3D point clouds. Extensive experimental results show the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Novel invariant feature descriptor and a pipeline for range image registration in robotic welding applications
Authors: Idrobo‐Pizo Gerardo A. , Motta José Maurício S.T. , Borges Díbio L.
Published: January 2019

This work proposes an invariant descriptor and a pipeline for the registration of surface range images based on segmentation/reconstruction making use of an edge detection technique combined with a clustering technique using mesh decimation. This novel descriptor is applied to contours and it is invariant to similarity transformations including rotation, translation, uniform scale and it is robust to noise. The proposed feature descriptor makes use of corresponding points extracted from two images and a signature label is assigned specifically to a point considering the geometrical distribution of its neighbourhood, reducing possible areas of overlapping and the ambiguity in the search process. The descriptor was evaluated through a series of tests with various object range images. To validate the candidate transformations, the fitting errors between the two range images are evaluated by the iterative closest point algorithm. This study also presents and discusses results from the application of the developed pipeline in a vision sensor mounted on a robot arm specially built as part of a R&D project to acquire range images by laser scanning over the surface of hydraulic turbine blades. The sensor generates 3D surface models to be registered in the 3D coordinate system of the robot controller.
Thinning of convolutional neural network with mixed pruning
Authors: Yang Wenzhu , Jin Lilei , Wang Sile , Cu Zhenchao , Chen Xiangyang , Chen Liping
Published: January 2019

Deep learning has achieved state‐of‐the‐art performance in accuracy of many computer vision tasks. However, convolutional neural network is difficult to deploy on resource constrained devices due to their limited computation power and memory space. Thus, it is necessary to prune the redundant weights and filters rationally and effectively. Considering that the pruned model still exists, redundancy after weight pruning or filter pruning alone, a method of combining weight pruning and filter pruning is proposed. First, filter pruning is performed, which is to remove filters with least importance and using fine‐tuning to recover the model's accuracy. Then, all connection weights below a threshold are set to zero. Finally, the pruned model obtained by the first two steps is fine‐tuned to recover its predictive accuracy. Experiments on MNIST and CIFAR‐10 datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective and feasible. Compared with only weight pruning or filter pruning, the mixed pruning can achieve higher compression ratio of the model parameters. For LeNet‐5, the proposed approach can achieve a compression rate of 13.01×, with 1% drop in accuracy. For VGG‐16, it can achieve a compression rate of 19.20×, incurring 1.56% accuracy loss.
Iterative grouping median filter for removal of fixed value impulse noise
Authors: Chen Jiayi , Zhan Yinwei , Cao Huiying , Xiong Gangqiang
Published: January 2019

Due to the limitation of existing filters in detection and removal of fixed value impulse noise, the authors propose an iterative grouping median filter (IGMF) according to the characteristics of noise intensity and distribution. It sorts the noise‐free pixels in neighbourhood by intensity, divides the sorted pixels into groups depending on the intensity differences of adjacent pixels, and finally takes the median of the maximum group as the intensity of noisy pixel. This noise removal strategy is performed iteratively and takes full advantage of the previous denoising results. Experiments show that IGMF outperforms the existing state‐of‐the‐art filters in terms of visual perception, peak signal to noise ratio and structural similarity index at various noise densities.
Field programmable gate array implementation of variable‐bins high efficiency video coding CABAC decoder with path delay optimisation
Authors: Menasri Wahiba , Skoudarli Abdellah , Belhadj Aichouche , Azzaz Mohamed Salah
Published: January 2019

Context‐based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) is a single operation mode for entropy coding in the last video coding standard high‐efficiency video coding. For high‐resolution applications, the throughput of one bin/cycle is not sufficient and it is a very challenging task to implement pipeline and/or parallel CABAC decoding architecture by simply adding more stages. Indeed, the tight data dependencies make it difficult to parallelise and cause it to be a throughput bottleneck for video decoding. Consequently, in order to improve the CABAC decoder throughput, parallel and pipeline architectures are used in authors’ design. In this work, an algorithm‐architecture adequation is proposed to implement a CABAC decoder on a field programmable gate array. Mainly, a new classification of 32 syntax elements is given to speed up the authors’ solution. Furthermore, the context selection and modelling of regular syntax elements are studied, designed and implemented. Finally, a novel technique of memories rearrangement to reduce the critical path delay required to process each binary symbol is proposed. As a result, the implementation can process 2.2 bins/cycle when operated at 123.49 MHz and exhibits an improved high‐throughput of 271.678 Mbins/s. The hardware architecture is coded using hardware description language and synthesised using ISE Xilinx tools targeting the Virtex4 platform.
Modification of higher order natural mode in metamaterial loaded patch antenna
Authors: Al Nahiyan Swad , Salehin Ahmed R. , Mahdy Mahdy Rahman C. , Sagor Md Hasanuzzaman
Published: January 2019

Usually microstrip patch antennas radiate at the broadside direction. Instead of the broadside direction, if a patch antenna radiates in a different direction in a controlled way, it may open a novel way of antenna array miniaturisation. For conventional patch antennas, higher order resonance modes are usually considered entirely useless due to the splitting of the maximum radiated power. In this work, a generic process of modifying the higher order natural resonance mode has been proposed by using metamaterial. Owing to this modification, maximum radiation in a particular direction has been achieved while the gain of the side lobe has been decreased at a great instinct. Furthermore, the main lobe is far shifted than the conventional broadside direction. Interestingly, the proposed dual band antenna radiates in two different directions in two different radiating bands, which can be very useful for the possible miniaturisation of printed antenna array.
Broadband eight‐element dielectric rod antenna array using the simple micro‐strip slot feeding
Authors: Prasad Chandra Shekhar , Biswas Animesh , Akhtar M. Jaleel
Published: January 2019

An 8‐element broadband novel antenna array based on the dielectric rod using a very simple micro‐strip slot feeding technique in Ku‐band (12–18 GHz) is proposed. The proposed dielectric rod array is designed to obtain enhanced gain in the specified frequency band using the compact size element as compared to that of the single dielectric rod. It is observed that for a single dielectric rod, the radiating rod should be ∼5λ0 long in order to obtain the gain of ∼15 dBi. Additionally, the side lobe levels and the fluctuation in gain also start increasing with an increase in the dielectric rod length. To this end, the proposed dielectric rod array appears to be the optimum choice as it uses only 1.25λ0 long rods and provides a measured peak gain of 19 dBi with the minimum gain fluctuation and the side lobe levels over the operating bandwidth. The proposed array possesses the impedance bandwidth of ∼40% which is comparable to the single‐element antenna bandwidth. The structures are simulated using the HFSS, to optimise various parameters. Finally, the eight‐element antenna array is fabricated based on the optimised parameters and the testing is carried out in the anechoic environment.
Common grounded wide voltage‐gain range DC–DC converter for fuel cell vehicles
Authors: Bi Huakun , Jia Cong
Published: January 2019

In order to meet the requirements of the fuel cell stack power interface converter applied in the fuel cell vehicles, a common ground wide voltage‐gain range DC–DC converter is proposed. On the input voltage side, an interleaved structure is adopted in this converter to reduce the input current ripple. On the output voltage side, two series capacitors are combined with a diode–capacitor structure to improve the voltage gain and reduce the voltage stress of power semiconductors and capacitors. As a result, the efficiency and reliability of the proposed converter can be improved. The operating principle, steady‐state characteristic, parameter design, efficiency calculation, and comparison with other converters are analysed. A 1.6 kW prototype of the proposed converter with the 400 V output voltage has been developed to validate the analytical results. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed converter can meet the requirements of a fuel cell stack power interface converter and is suitable for use as a fuel cell stack power interface converter applied in fuel cell vehicles.
Effective sampling trajectory optimisation for sensitivity analysis of biological systems
Authors: Xu Zhao Z. , Liu Ji
Published: January 2019

Sensitivity analysis has been widely applied to study the biological systems, including metabolic networks, signalling pathways, and genetic circuits. The Morris method is a kind of screening sensitivity analysis approach, which can fast identify a few key factors from numerous biological parameters and inputs. The parameter or input space is randomly sampled to produce a very limited number of trajectories for the calculation of elementary effects. It is clear that the sampled trajectories are not enough to cover the whole uncertain space, which eventually causes unstable sensitivity measures. This paper presents a novel trajectory optimisation algorithm for the Morris‐based sensitivity calculation to ensure a good scan throughout the whole uncertain space. The paper demonstrates that this presented method gets more consistent sensitivity results through a benchmark example. The application to a previously published ordinary differential equation model of a cellular signalling network is presented. In detail, the parameter sensitivity analysis verifies the good agreement with data of the literatures.
Study on the breakdown characteristics of conductor‐plane gap under vegetation fire condition based on the combustion features
Authors: Huang Daochun , Lu Wei , Yao Tao , Li Peng
Published: January 2019

The frequent forest fires become a serious threat to the performance of transmission lines’ external insulation, therefore, researches on the breakdown characteristics under flame conditions is of great significance for the transmission lines' construction and safe operation. In order to study the breakdown characteristics of the gap under forest fire, the discharge tests of conductor‐plane gap were carried out by the simulation forest fire experiment platform here, and typical vegetation causing the line tripping out easily were selected to simulate the forest fire. The influences of combustion features such as flame temperature, height, conductivity, and heat release rate were analysed too. The results show that the effect of different types of vegetation flame on breakdown characteristics of gap is obviously different, especially under the fir branches flame, the average breakdown voltage gradient drops to 10% of that of the pure air gap. The flame temperature has a minimal impact on the gap breakdown characteristics, while the conductivity has a significant influence on the insulation strength of the gap.
Preliminary study on the structure design of 330 KV GIS with three phase in one tank
Authors: Wenlong Pang , Xixiu Wu , Shimin Cheng , Shipu Wu
Published: January 2019

This paper focus on the research about the probability and practicability of 330 kV GIS structure design with three phase in one tank， which represents the miniaturisation and compact developing trend of GIS. The design principle is proposed according to the volume of three phase in one tank (structure A) is generally smaller than that of the sum volume of three single phase (structure B). Then, the dimension size of 330 kV GIS with structure A is presented. To solve the weak insulation‐level problem between phases of structure A, which prevents it from being used in high‐voltage power system especially above 330 kV, an electromagnetic‐temperature‐flow multi‐physical field coupling model considering eddy effect and skin effect is established to analyse the influencing factors on the insulation level of internal GIS. Therefore， the insulation level between the phases of structure A is calculated under the condition of power frequency and short circuit, respectively. The results show that the insulation margin of 330 kV GIS with structure A is enough and completely meet the insulation requirement of GIS. Furthermore, compared with structure B, structure A has lower temperature rise and energy consumption.
Comparison and analysis of the fault arc characteristics of flexible DC transmission lines
Authors: Li Botong , Cui Hanqing , Liu Yichao , Li Bin
Published: January 2019

VSC‐HVDC grid is one of the important development directions of the smart grid in the future. The arc characteristics of transient fault on the transmission line are the theoretical basis for determining reclosing time and reclosing strategy of DC circuit breaker. In this study, the process of the transient single‐pole ground fault on the true bipolar VSC‐HVDC transmission line is analysed and the arc model of the fault is determined according to the fault characteristics. Then a two‐terminal voltage source converter‐high voltage direct current (VSC‐HVDC) system including this arc model is built in power systems computer aided design (PSCAD). The primary and secondary arc characteristics of the transient single‐pole ground fault on the transmission lines are simulated and compared with the arc in AC system. It is shown that the arc extinction time of the flexible DC transmission system is lesser than that of the AC system at the same voltage level.
Powersystem dynamic voltage stability affected by open‐loop modal coupling between DFIG‐based wind farms and IM loads
Authors: Su Guoyun , Xu Long , Du Wenjuan , Chen Chen , Ji Yining , Wang Haifeng
Published: January 2019

Power system voltage stability can be significantly affected by load dynamic characteristics. This study examines the impacts of dynamic interaction between doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)‐based wind farms and induction motor (IM) loads on system dynamic voltage stability. It is revealed that the IM load model exhibits a recovery response which is accompanied by an IM oscillation mode (IMOM). The IMOM is first demonstrated to be closely related to system voltage stability. Moreover, a closed‐loop interconnected model is established, which consists of the following two open‐loop subsystems: DFIG; the rest of power system with IM loads. Generally, due to the fast response of the voltage‐source converter control loop, the dynamic interaction between the two open‐loop subsystems is weak. However, it is discovered that under a special condition named as open‐loop modal coupling, the aforementioned dynamic interaction will become tremendous. As a consequence, the damping of IMOM may be degraded substantially which can cause system voltage instability. Therefore, the mechanism of dynamic voltage instability issues is investigated from the perspective of modal coupling. A modified Western Systems Coordinating Council (WSCC) 9‐bus system integrated with a DFIG‐based wind farm is adopted to demonstrate and validate the above conclusions.
Influence of electric vehicle access mode on the static voltage stability margin and accommodated capacity of the distribution network
Authors: Tong Xiangqian , Ma Qiao , Tang Kaiyu , Liu Huakun , Li Cheng
Published: January 2019

The electric vehicle, if accessed in the distribution network disorderly and extensively, will influence the safe, stable, and economic operation of the network, due to the characteristics of its randomness, intermittency, and duality with source and load. Here, the power demand models of different electric vehicles were established by analysing the behaviour of electric vehicle loads attributed to different users, and the spatial‐temporal distribution pattern of various electric vehicle loads in the distribution network was predicted with the Monte–Carlo method. Based on this regular pattern, an evaluation method for the adaptability of the distribution network to electric vehicles was proposed. Finally, the influence of electric vehicle loads under different access modes on the static voltage stability margin was tested with the IEEE33 node distribution network.
Optimisation of the operating‐power of the circuit breaker interrupter
Authors: Guan Wang , Shengwu Tan , Yongqi Yao , Hao Zhang
Published: January 2019

To reduce the operation power of the circuit breaker interrupter, here, the operation power is divided into two parts: the arc reaction force and kinetic energy of the moving parts, then the reaction force and the reactive force work calculation method are put forward. Based on the above method, the operating power of the original structure and the improved structure of the interrupter are obtained, and the comparison of the results shows that the improved structure can reduce the operating power.
Synthesis of quadrangular bismuth oxychloride NFs for the reduction of 4‐NP and the degradation of rhodamine B
Authors: Liu Ya , Miao Yuqing
Published: January 2019

The quadrangular (QA) bismuth oxychloride nanoflakes (NFs) were synthesised by a simple solvothermal reaction. They were characterised by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and X‐ray diffractometer. As catalysts, the square NFs exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the reduction of 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) and the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The complete reduction of 4‐NP to 4‐aminophenol was obtained in 30 s and the nearly complete degradation of RhB in 20 min.
Effect of annealing temperature on luminescence properties of ZnWO4 :Eu3+ nanophosphor
Authors: Li Chunyang , Du Xiaodi , Shi Yurong , Wang Zhenling
Published: January 2019

Zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) is a self‐activating phosphor and exhibits a broad band blue‐green emission under ultraviolet excitation. When doped with Eu3+ ions, ZnWO4 may emit white light due to the fact that WO4 2− could effectively transfer energy to Eu3+ ion. In this work, ZnWO4 :Eu3+ phosphors were fabricated by the liquid precipitation method, and then X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectra were used to investigate the morphology, structure, and luminescent properties. The emission colour of synthesised ZnWO4 :Eu3+ phosphors can be tuned from pink to white with increasing the annealing temperature, which may be attributed to the change of the crystallinity and the crystal defects in ZnWO4 :Eu3+ phosphors. What is more, ZnWO4 :Eu3+ phosphors emit an idea white light with the Commission International de L'Eclairage coordinates (0.32, 0.32) after annealing at 900°C.
Slang feature extraction by analysing topic change on social media
Authors: Matsumoto Kazuyuki , Ren Fuji , Matsuoka Masaya , Yoshida Minoru , Kita Kenji
Published: January 2019

Recently, the authors often see words such as youth slang, neologism and Internet slang on social networking sites (SNSs) that are not registered on dictionaries. Since the documents posted to SNSs include a lot of fresh information, they are thought to be useful for collecting information. It is important to analyse these words (hereinafter referred to as ‘slang’) and capture their features for the improvement of the accuracy of automatic information collection. This study aims to analyse what features can be observed in slang by focusing on the topic. They construct topic models from document groups including target slang on Twitter by latent Dirichlet allocation. With the models, they chronologically the analyse change of topics during a certain period of time to find out the difference in the features between slang and general words. Then, they propose a slang classification method based on the change of features.