Dear Editor,A few studies have focused on exploring APOE gene- related effects on cognitive functions and brain activities in healthy populations. Bondi et aL found that ε4 carriers perform significantly worse on the...Dear Editor,A few studies have focused on exploring APOE gene- related effects on cognitive functions and brain activities in healthy populations. Bondi et aL found that ε4 carriers perform significantly worse on the California Verbal Learning Test than non-carriers in non-demented old subjects （mean age, 72 years）ε11. But the results are not entirely consistent. For example, Scarmeas et aL found no effect of the E4 allele on neuropsychological performance[2] in young adults, and Jochemsen et al. found that the ε4 allele is associated with age-related cognitive decline[3]. Furthermore, protective and negative effects of the E2 allele on cognition are inconsistent[4＇ s]. APOE E2 is thought to be a protective allele for AD in the elderly population due to its role in the superior cognitive performance of ε2 carriers compared to E3 or E4 carriers[5]. However, the ε2 allele has also been found to have a negative effect on AD pathology[4].展开更多
A reaction-diffusion model for a single species with age structure and nonlocal reaction for periodic time t is derived. Some results about the model with monotone birth function are firstly introduced, and then by co...A reaction-diffusion model for a single species with age structure and nonlocal reaction for periodic time t is derived. Some results about the model with monotone birth function are firstly introduced, and then by constructing two auxiliary equations and squeezing method, the spreading speed for the system with nonmonotone birth function is obtained.展开更多
A simple method is proposed to optimize the thickness parameter of the boundary layer of the saturation function in the Complementary Sliding Mode Control (CSMC). A pair of complementary sliding surfaces are construct...A simple method is proposed to optimize the thickness parameter of the boundary layer of the saturation function in the Complementary Sliding Mode Control (CSMC). A pair of complementary sliding surfaces are constructed. And the Taylor series is used to estimate the steady state error of CSMC system to optimize the parameter value for the boundary layer of the saturation function without artificial settings. This proposed CSMC strategy is applied to the speed regulation in permanent magnet synchronous motor with lump uncertainties. The experimental results show that the proposed CSMC strategy can obtain an optimal value for the boundary layer parameter effectively suppressing the chattering and keep an excellent system performance.展开更多
Complex perturbations in the profile and the sparsity of samples often limit the validity of rapid environmental assessment(REA)in the South China Sea(SCS).In this paper,the remote sensing data were used to estimate s...Complex perturbations in the profile and the sparsity of samples often limit the validity of rapid environmental assessment(REA)in the South China Sea(SCS).In this paper,the remote sensing data were used to estimate sound speed profile(SSP)with the self-organizing map(SOM)method in the SCS.First,the consistency of the empirical orthogonal functions was examined by using k-means clustering.The clustering results indicated that SSPs in the SCS have a similar perturbation nature,which means the inverted grid could be expanded to the entire SCS to deal with the problem of sparsity of the samples without statistical improbability.Second,a machine learning method was proposed that took advantage of the topological structure of SOM to significantly improve their accuracy.Validation revealed promising results,with a mean reconstruction error of 1.26 m/s,which is 1.16 m/s smaller than the traditional single empirical orthogonal function regression(sEOF-r)method.By violating the constraints of linear inversion,the topological structure of the SOM method showed a smaller error and better robustness in the SSP estimation.The improvements to enhance the accuracy and robustness of REA in the SCS were offered.These results suggested a potential utilization of REA in the SCS based on satellite data and provided a new approach for SSP estimation derived from sea surface data.展开更多
Extreme values of wind speed were studied based on the highly detailed ERA5 dataset covering the central part of the Kara Sea. Cases in which the ice coverage of the cells exceeded 15% were filtered. Our study shows t...Extreme values of wind speed were studied based on the highly detailed ERA5 dataset covering the central part of the Kara Sea. Cases in which the ice coverage of the cells exceeded 15% were filtered. Our study shows that the wind speed extrema obtained from station observations, as well as from modelling results in the framework of mesoscale models, can be divided into two groups according to their probability distribution laws. One group is specifically designated as black swans, with the other referred to as dragons (or dragon-kings). In this study we determined that the data of ERA5 accurately described the swans, but did not fully reproduce extrema related to the dragons;these extrema were identified only in half of ERA5 grid points. Weibull probability distribution function (PDF) parameters were identified in only a quarter of the pixels. The parameters were connected almost deterministically. This converted the Weibull function into a one-parameter dependence. It was not clear whether this uniqueness was a consequence of the features of the calculation algorithm used in ERA5, or whether it was a consequence of a relatively small area being considered, which had the same wind regime. Extremes of wind speed arise as mesoscale features and are associated with hydrodynamic features of the wind flow. If the flow was non-geostrophic and if its trajectory had a substantial curvature, then the extreme velocities were distributed according to a rule similar to the Weibull law.展开更多
Objective: To demonstrate that high IQ children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD tend to suffer from executive function (EF) impairments that: a) can be identified with a combination of standardized measures and no...Objective: To demonstrate that high IQ children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD tend to suffer from executive function (EF) impairments that: a) can be identified with a combination of standardized measures and normed self-report data;and b) occur more frequently in this group than in the general population. Method: From charts of 117 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years with high IQ ( ≥ 120) who fully met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for ADHD, data on 8 normed measures of executive function (EF) were extracted: IQ index scores for working memory and processing speed, a standardized measure of auditory verbal memory, and 5 clusters of the Brown ADD Scale, a normed, age-graded rating scale for ADHD-related executive function impairments in daily life. Significant impairment was computed for each individual relative to age-appropriate norms for each measure and comparisons were made to base-line rates in the general population. Results: Sixty-two percent of participants were significantly impaired on at least 5 of these 8 markers of EF. Chi-square comparisons of scores from these high IQ participants were significantly different (p < 0.001) from standardization norms for each of the eight EF measures. Conclusions: High IQ children and adolescents with ADHD, despite their cognitive strengths, tend to suffer from significant impairments of executive functions that can be assessed with these measures;incidence of these impairments is significantly greater than in the general population. These results are fully consistent with data on high IQ adults diagnosed with ADHD.展开更多
In this paper the results of a high-speed tension experiment of the SiC_w/Al composite have been reported and a simplified theoretical model has been developed to study the fracture mechanism of composites in high-spe...In this paper the results of a high-speed tension experiment of the SiC_w/Al composite have been reported and a simplified theoretical model has been developed to study the fracture mechanism of composites in high-speed tension. This theoretical model provides a new explanation for the increase of dynamic fracture strength of composites in high-speed tension.展开更多
Purpose: A novel image-based method for speed of sound (SoS) estimation is proposed and experimentally validated on a tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom and normal human liver in vivo using linear and curved array tr...Purpose: A novel image-based method for speed of sound (SoS) estimation is proposed and experimentally validated on a tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom and normal human liver in vivo using linear and curved array transducers. Methods: When the beamforming SoS settings are adjusted to match the real tissue’s SoS, the ultrasound image at regions of interest will be in focus and the image quality will be optimal. Based on this principle, both a tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom and normal human liver in vivo were used in this study. Ultrasound image was acquired using different SoS settings in beamforming channels ranging from 1420 m/sec to 1600 m/sec. Two regions of interest (ROIs) were selected. One was in a fully developed speckle region, while the other contained specular reflectors. We evaluated the image quality of these two ROIs in images acquired at different SoS settings in beamforming channels by using the normalized autocorrelation function (ACF) of the image data. The values of the normalized ACF at a specific lag as a function of the SoS setting were computed. Subsequently, the soft tissue’s SoS was determined from the SoS setting at the minimum value of the normalized ACF. Results: The value of the ACF as a function of the SoS setting can be computed for phantom and human liver images. SoS in soft tissue can be determined from the SoS setting at the minimum value of the normalized ACF. The estimation results show that the SoS of the tissue-mimicking phantom is 1460 m/sec, which is consistent with the phantom manufacturer’s specification, and the SoS of the normal human liver is 1540 m/sec, which is within the range of the SoS in a healthy human liver in vivo. Conclusion: Soft tissue’s SoS can be determined by analyzing the normalized ACF of ultrasound images. The method is based on searching for a minimum of the normalized ACF of ultrasound image data with a specific lag among different SoS settings in beamforming channels.展开更多
The Weibull distribution is a probability density function (PDF) which is widely used in the study of meteorological data. The statistical analysis of the wind speed v by using the Weibull distribution leads to the es...The Weibull distribution is a probability density function (PDF) which is widely used in the study of meteorological data. The statistical analysis of the wind speed v by using the Weibull distribution leads to the estimate of the mean wind speed , the variance of v around and the mean power density in the wind. The gamma function Γ is involved in those calculations, particularly Γ (1+1/k), Γ (1+2/k) and Γ (1+3/k). The paper reports the use of the Weibull PDF f(v) to estimate the gamma function. The study was performed by looking for the wind speeds related to the maximum values of f(v), v2 f(v) and v3 f(v). As a result, some approximate relationships were obtained for Γ (1+1/k), Γ (1+2/k) and Γ (1+3/k), that use some fitting polynomial functions. Very good agreements were found between the exact and the estimated values of Γ (1+n/k) that can be used for the estimation of the mean wind speed , the variance σ2 of the wind speed v;around the mean speed and the average wind power density.展开更多
Speed-flow relationship is the fundamental for the traffic simulation and traffic volume forecast. Traditional quadratic polynomial model can’t reflect the saturate flow at signal intersections. In order to determine...Speed-flow relationship is the fundamental for the traffic simulation and traffic volume forecast. Traditional quadratic polynomial model can’t reflect the saturate flow at signal intersections. In order to determine the speed-flow relationship at signal intersections, the speed and time-headway of vehicles at two signal intersections were investigated and the accuracy of software used to get the speed was tested. After vehicle starting-up from queuing, the time-headway reduces gradually with the increase of speed. The relationship of power exponential function between speed and time-headway is formulated. Traffic volume can be calculated by the vehicle time-headway. Then the speed-flow relationship was developed and an S-shaped curve model was built in this paper. In the S-shaped curve model, traffic flow approaches to the saturate when the speed doesn’t increase. Thus, S-shaped curve model is better to describe the speed-flow relationship at signal intersection. The results can provide a reference to determine the parameters in traffic simulation and for the study of level of service of intersections.展开更多
Stroke patients with hemiplegia exhibit flexor spasms in the upper limb and extensor spasms in the lower limb, and their movement patterns vary greatly. Constraint-induced movement therapy is an upper limb rehabilitat...Stroke patients with hemiplegia exhibit flexor spasms in the upper limb and extensor spasms in the lower limb, and their movement patterns vary greatly. Constraint-induced movement therapy is an upper limb rehabilitation technique used in stroke patients with hemiplegia; however, studies of lower extremity rehabilitation are scarce. In this study, stroke patients with lower limb hemiplegia underwent conventional Bobath therapy for 4 weeks as baseline treatment, followed by constraint-induced movement therapy for an additional 4 weeks. The 10-m maximum walking speed and Berg balance scale scores significantly improved following treatment, and lower extremity motor function also improved. The results of functional MRI showed that constraint-induced movement therapy alleviates the reduction in cerebral functional activation in patients, which indicates activation of functional brain regions and a significant increase in cerebral blood perfusJon. These results demonstrate that constraint-induced movement therapy promotes brain functional reorganization in stroke patients with lower limb hemiplegia.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81130024)the National Key Technology R & D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012BAI01B06)
文摘Dear Editor,A few studies have focused on exploring APOE gene- related effects on cognitive functions and brain activities in healthy populations. Bondi et aL found that ε4 carriers perform significantly worse on the California Verbal Learning Test than non-carriers in non-demented old subjects （mean age, 72 years）ε11. But the results are not entirely consistent. For example, Scarmeas et aL found no effect of the E4 allele on neuropsychological performance[2] in young adults, and Jochemsen et al. found that the ε4 allele is associated with age-related cognitive decline[3]. Furthermore, protective and negative effects of the E2 allele on cognition are inconsistent[4＇ s]. APOE E2 is thought to be a protective allele for AD in the elderly population due to its role in the superior cognitive performance of ε2 carriers compared to E3 or E4 carriers[5]. However, the ε2 allele has also been found to have a negative effect on AD pathology[4].
基金Supported by the NSF of China(11171120)Supported by the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(20094407110001)Supported by the NSF of Guangdong Province(10151063101000003)
文摘A reaction-diffusion model for a single species with age structure and nonlocal reaction for periodic time t is derived. Some results about the model with monotone birth function are firstly introduced, and then by constructing two auxiliary equations and squeezing method, the spreading speed for the system with nonmonotone birth function is obtained.
基金Sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61174051)the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province(Grant No.2017J05101)the Technology Project of Fujian Province(Grant No.2019H0007)
文摘A simple method is proposed to optimize the thickness parameter of the boundary layer of the saturation function in the Complementary Sliding Mode Control (CSMC). A pair of complementary sliding surfaces are constructed. And the Taylor series is used to estimate the steady state error of CSMC system to optimize the parameter value for the boundary layer of the saturation function without artificial settings. This proposed CSMC strategy is applied to the speed regulation in permanent magnet synchronous motor with lump uncertainties. The experimental results show that the proposed CSMC strategy can obtain an optimal value for the boundary layer parameter effectively suppressing the chattering and keep an excellent system performance.
基金The Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province under contract No.2022A1515011519the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.11904290.
文摘Complex perturbations in the profile and the sparsity of samples often limit the validity of rapid environmental assessment(REA)in the South China Sea(SCS).In this paper,the remote sensing data were used to estimate sound speed profile(SSP)with the self-organizing map(SOM)method in the SCS.First,the consistency of the empirical orthogonal functions was examined by using k-means clustering.The clustering results indicated that SSPs in the SCS have a similar perturbation nature,which means the inverted grid could be expanded to the entire SCS to deal with the problem of sparsity of the samples without statistical improbability.Second,a machine learning method was proposed that took advantage of the topological structure of SOM to significantly improve their accuracy.Validation revealed promising results,with a mean reconstruction error of 1.26 m/s,which is 1.16 m/s smaller than the traditional single empirical orthogonal function regression(sEOF-r)method.By violating the constraints of linear inversion,the topological structure of the SOM method showed a smaller error and better robustness in the SSP estimation.The improvements to enhance the accuracy and robustness of REA in the SCS were offered.These results suggested a potential utilization of REA in the SCS based on satellite data and provided a new approach for SSP estimation derived from sea surface data.
文摘Extreme values of wind speed were studied based on the highly detailed ERA5 dataset covering the central part of the Kara Sea. Cases in which the ice coverage of the cells exceeded 15% were filtered. Our study shows that the wind speed extrema obtained from station observations, as well as from modelling results in the framework of mesoscale models, can be divided into two groups according to their probability distribution laws. One group is specifically designated as black swans, with the other referred to as dragons (or dragon-kings). In this study we determined that the data of ERA5 accurately described the swans, but did not fully reproduce extrema related to the dragons;these extrema were identified only in half of ERA5 grid points. Weibull probability distribution function (PDF) parameters were identified in only a quarter of the pixels. The parameters were connected almost deterministically. This converted the Weibull function into a one-parameter dependence. It was not clear whether this uniqueness was a consequence of the features of the calculation algorithm used in ERA5, or whether it was a consequence of a relatively small area being considered, which had the same wind regime. Extremes of wind speed arise as mesoscale features and are associated with hydrodynamic features of the wind flow. If the flow was non-geostrophic and if its trajectory had a substantial curvature, then the extreme velocities were distributed according to a rule similar to the Weibull law.
文摘Objective: To demonstrate that high IQ children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD tend to suffer from executive function (EF) impairments that: a) can be identified with a combination of standardized measures and normed self-report data;and b) occur more frequently in this group than in the general population. Method: From charts of 117 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years with high IQ ( ≥ 120) who fully met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for ADHD, data on 8 normed measures of executive function (EF) were extracted: IQ index scores for working memory and processing speed, a standardized measure of auditory verbal memory, and 5 clusters of the Brown ADD Scale, a normed, age-graded rating scale for ADHD-related executive function impairments in daily life. Significant impairment was computed for each individual relative to age-appropriate norms for each measure and comparisons were made to base-line rates in the general population. Results: Sixty-two percent of participants were significantly impaired on at least 5 of these 8 markers of EF. Chi-square comparisons of scores from these high IQ participants were significantly different (p < 0.001) from standardization norms for each of the eight EF measures. Conclusions: High IQ children and adolescents with ADHD, despite their cognitive strengths, tend to suffer from significant impairments of executive functions that can be assessed with these measures;incidence of these impairments is significantly greater than in the general population. These results are fully consistent with data on high IQ adults diagnosed with ADHD.
文摘In this paper the results of a high-speed tension experiment of the SiC_w/Al composite have been reported and a simplified theoretical model has been developed to study the fracture mechanism of composites in high-speed tension. This theoretical model provides a new explanation for the increase of dynamic fracture strength of composites in high-speed tension.
文摘Purpose: A novel image-based method for speed of sound (SoS) estimation is proposed and experimentally validated on a tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom and normal human liver in vivo using linear and curved array transducers. Methods: When the beamforming SoS settings are adjusted to match the real tissue’s SoS, the ultrasound image at regions of interest will be in focus and the image quality will be optimal. Based on this principle, both a tissue-mimicking ultrasound phantom and normal human liver in vivo were used in this study. Ultrasound image was acquired using different SoS settings in beamforming channels ranging from 1420 m/sec to 1600 m/sec. Two regions of interest (ROIs) were selected. One was in a fully developed speckle region, while the other contained specular reflectors. We evaluated the image quality of these two ROIs in images acquired at different SoS settings in beamforming channels by using the normalized autocorrelation function (ACF) of the image data. The values of the normalized ACF at a specific lag as a function of the SoS setting were computed. Subsequently, the soft tissue’s SoS was determined from the SoS setting at the minimum value of the normalized ACF. Results: The value of the ACF as a function of the SoS setting can be computed for phantom and human liver images. SoS in soft tissue can be determined from the SoS setting at the minimum value of the normalized ACF. The estimation results show that the SoS of the tissue-mimicking phantom is 1460 m/sec, which is consistent with the phantom manufacturer’s specification, and the SoS of the normal human liver is 1540 m/sec, which is within the range of the SoS in a healthy human liver in vivo. Conclusion: Soft tissue’s SoS can be determined by analyzing the normalized ACF of ultrasound images. The method is based on searching for a minimum of the normalized ACF of ultrasound image data with a specific lag among different SoS settings in beamforming channels.
文摘The Weibull distribution is a probability density function (PDF) which is widely used in the study of meteorological data. The statistical analysis of the wind speed v by using the Weibull distribution leads to the estimate of the mean wind speed , the variance of v around and the mean power density in the wind. The gamma function Γ is involved in those calculations, particularly Γ (1+1/k), Γ (1+2/k) and Γ (1+3/k). The paper reports the use of the Weibull PDF f(v) to estimate the gamma function. The study was performed by looking for the wind speeds related to the maximum values of f(v), v2 f(v) and v3 f(v). As a result, some approximate relationships were obtained for Γ (1+1/k), Γ (1+2/k) and Γ (1+3/k), that use some fitting polynomial functions. Very good agreements were found between the exact and the estimated values of Γ (1+n/k) that can be used for the estimation of the mean wind speed , the variance σ2 of the wind speed v;around the mean speed and the average wind power density.
文摘Speed-flow relationship is the fundamental for the traffic simulation and traffic volume forecast. Traditional quadratic polynomial model can’t reflect the saturate flow at signal intersections. In order to determine the speed-flow relationship at signal intersections, the speed and time-headway of vehicles at two signal intersections were investigated and the accuracy of software used to get the speed was tested. After vehicle starting-up from queuing, the time-headway reduces gradually with the increase of speed. The relationship of power exponential function between speed and time-headway is formulated. Traffic volume can be calculated by the vehicle time-headway. Then the speed-flow relationship was developed and an S-shaped curve model was built in this paper. In the S-shaped curve model, traffic flow approaches to the saturate when the speed doesn’t increase. Thus, S-shaped curve model is better to describe the speed-flow relationship at signal intersection. The results can provide a reference to determine the parameters in traffic simulation and for the study of level of service of intersections.
文摘Stroke patients with hemiplegia exhibit flexor spasms in the upper limb and extensor spasms in the lower limb, and their movement patterns vary greatly. Constraint-induced movement therapy is an upper limb rehabilitation technique used in stroke patients with hemiplegia; however, studies of lower extremity rehabilitation are scarce. In this study, stroke patients with lower limb hemiplegia underwent conventional Bobath therapy for 4 weeks as baseline treatment, followed by constraint-induced movement therapy for an additional 4 weeks. The 10-m maximum walking speed and Berg balance scale scores significantly improved following treatment, and lower extremity motor function also improved. The results of functional MRI showed that constraint-induced movement therapy alleviates the reduction in cerebral functional activation in patients, which indicates activation of functional brain regions and a significant increase in cerebral blood perfusJon. These results demonstrate that constraint-induced movement therapy promotes brain functional reorganization in stroke patients with lower limb hemiplegia.
