Level Width Research Articles

The application of basic SMAS rhytidectomy and comprehensive SMAS rhytidectomy.

Rhytidectomy has made great progress in the past 50 years, especially after the proposition of the concept of superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS). Our previous research had classified SMAS rhytidectomy into basic SMAS rhytidectomy (B-SMAS) and comprehensive SMAS rhytidectomy (C-SMAS) according to whether the treatment of SMAS aponeurosis is combined with retaining ligament, fat pad, mimetic muscles, etc. The purpose of this paper is to compare the outcomes of the 2 methods. Through multicenter collaborative research, 21 cases of B-SMAS and 18 cases of C-SMAS were collected. Photographs were taken pre- and post-operation for each patient, and the facial width of the lateral canthus level (upper face), the alar base level (middle face), and the oral commissure level (lower face) were measured. We compared the statistics of upper, middle, and lower face pre- and post-B-SMAS and C-SMAS to assess the ramifications of each operation. We used preoperative measurements minus corresponding postoperative measurements of specific operation to assess which position would acquire superior improvements. We also recruited 3 professional plastic clinicians to rate the ramifications of specific positions and approaches after pre- and post-photo comparing. Through comprehensive analyzing, we compared the improvements between B-SMAS and C-SMAS to assess which method is more beneficial concerning facial rejuvenation. Both B-SMAS and C-SMAS would acquire optimal changing concerning facial width in middle and lower face after operation (P < .05). Two methods all harvested better width changing effects in middle and lower face than upper face (P < .05). However, C-SMAS acquired better effects in middle and lower face than B-SMAS (P < .05). Both B-SMAS and C-SMAS are beneficial to facial rejuvenation. The effects in middle and lower face are better than upper face. In addition, C-SMAS may be more effective than B-SMAS.

Balcony design recommendations to enhance daylight, thermal and energy performance of mixed-mode office buildings

The use of balconies in hot climates holds the potential to block direct solar radiation thus reducing energy consumption for cooling and enhancing visual comfort. However, balconies may also diminish daylight availability within the room, thereby affecting occupants’ satisfaction and wellbeing. This study aimed to provide balcony design recommendations through a parametric analysis of various combinations of balcony design parameters (balcony depth, width, location on the façade, and parapet type), along with key building design parameters (façade orientation, floor level, and glazed door width), considering a multi-domain objectives assessment. The results demonstrate that balcony design can effectively enhance visual comfort, thermal performance, and energy efficiency while ensuring optimal daylight availability in office rooms located in subtropical climates. Recommendations for balcony design were tailored to each façade orientation and thoughtfully combined with the glazed door width. One optimal combination, featuring a 3-meter-wide glazed door and a 2-meter-deep balcony, proved beneficial for all façade orientations across all floor levels. However, the choice of parapet type should align with the balcony’s location, which is directly correlated with the room’s depth. The insights gained from this study offer valuable information for building designers, highlighting that balconies should not be designed solely as decorative façade elements or spaces for building services. Furthermore, the cross-analysis method developed in this study can be applied by researchers and designers to their own case studies.

Concentric Elliptical Antenna Array Synthesis using Sine Cosine Algorithm for Reducing the Sidelobe level

This paper employs the Sine Cosine Algorithm, a recent meta-heuristic method, to enhance the radiation properties of concentric elliptical antenna arrays in far-field applications, such as smart grid wireless communication and the Internet of Things. It focuses on minimizing the Sidelobe Level, a key parameter in antenna radiation, to mitigate unwanted signals and interference. The proposed method, known for its global optimization effectiveness, tackles the challenge of designing sparse multiple concentric elliptical arrays. By using the Sine Cosine Algorithm, the inter-element spacing and optimal determination of amplitude coefficients are achieved, resulting in a radiation pattern with reduced sidelobe level. To showcase the adaptability and superior performance of our proposed algorithm, we systematically evaluated its effectiveness across four distinct sets of concentric elliptical antenna arrays. These arrays comprise varying numbers of elements: (6, 12, 18 elements, 6, 12, 18, 24 elements, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 elements and 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 elements) with and without a central element. Using the sine cosine algorithm, we synthesize arrays and compare their sidelobe level and First Null Beam Width values with those from recent methods. Our findings consistently shows that the proposed algorithm consistently outperforms alternatives, yielding significantly lower sidelobe level values in all comparisons.

Electronic structure and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in Ca3Ru2O7

We have investigated the electronic structure of the transition metal oxide Ca3Ru2O7 within density-functional theory using the generalized gradient approximation while considering strong Coulomb correlations in the framework of the fully relativistic spin-polarized Dirac linear muffin-tin orbital band structure method. Ca3Ru2O7 can be classified as a Mott insulator since it was expected to be metallic from band structure calculations. We found that the magnetic ground state of Ca3Ru2O7 possesses an AFM−b magnetic structure with the Ru spin moments ordered antiferromagnetically along the b axis. We have investigated the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra at the Ru and Ca K, L3, and M3 edges as well as at the OK edge. The experimentally measured RIXS spectrum of Ca3Ru2O7 at the Ru L3 edge possesses a sharp feature ≤2eV corresponding to transitions within the Ru t2g levels. The excitation located from 2 to 4 eV is due to t2g→ eg transitions. The third wide structure situated at 4.5−11eV appears due to transitions between the Ru 4dO states derived from the tails of oxygen 2p states and eg and t2g states. The RIXS spectra at the Ru L3 and M3 edges are quite similar. However, the corresponding RIXS spectra at the Ca site are quite different from each other due to the significant difference in the widths of core levels. The RIXS spectrum at the OK edge consists of three major inelastic excitations. We found that the first two low energy features ≤2.5eV are due to interband transitions between occupied and empty Ot2g states which appear due to the strong hybridization between oxygen 2p and Ru t2g states in close vicinity to the Fermi level. The next major peak between 2.5 and 8 eV reflects interband transitions from occupied O2p to empty Ot2g states. A wide energy interval between 4 and 11 eV is occupied by rather weak O2p→Oeg transitions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Forecasting and uncertainty analysis of tailings dam system safety based on data mining techniques

Tailings dams, as critical infrastructure, play a vital role in ensuring the safety and reliability of tailings pond systems. Predicting the trend of tailings dam monitoring parameters helps monitor its operational status and support safety management and decision-making. The traditional time series prediction model focuses on point prediction while neglecting the nonlinear feature of data and the uncertainty of prediction results, which is far from meeting the requirements for risk monitoring and safety management of tailings dam systems. To address this, Deep Auto-Encoder is used to extract and optimize features of multi-dimensional time series; Whale Optimization Algorithm, Long Short Term Memory, and Kernel Density Estimation are used to build a monitoring parameters trend interval prediction model. It can effectively predict and analyze the uncertainty of tailings dam monitoring parameters. Time series data of monitoring parameters are collected from a tailings dam in Anhui, China and modeled to verify the effectiveness of the model. The results show that the hybrid prediction model performs the best in monitoring parameter prediction accuracy and trend. The Root Mean Square Error values of the Whale Optimization Algorithm and Long Short Term Memory prediction for reservoir water level, surface displacement, internal displacement, phreatic line, and beach width are 0.0160, 1.0405, 0.0389, 0.0176, and 0.7525, with errors reduced by 0.37 % to 17.92 % compared to other models. The uncertainty analysis confirms the high reliability of the model. The Kernel Density Estimation effectively forecasts the fluctuation range of predicted values, significantly improving the prediction effectiveness of the monitoring parameters.

First measurement of kaonic helium-4 M-series transitions

In this paper we present the results of a new kaonic helium-4 measurement with a 1.37 g l−1 gaseous target by the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment at the DAΦNE collider. We measured, for the first time, the energies and yields of three transitions belonging to the M-series. Moreover, we improved by a factor about three, the statistical precision of the 2p level energy shift and width induced by the strong interaction, obtaining the most precise measurement for gaseous kaonic helium, and measured the yield of the L α transition at the employed density, providing a new experimental input to investigate the density dependence of kaonic atoms transitions yield.

Meander Morphologic Characteristics in an Alluvial Channel

Meander bends are one of the most common morphological features of rivers. Their formation is the result of interactions between bank erosion and several other river characteristics, such as the bed topography resulting from bank erosion, sinuosity, channel flow, and riffle-pool sequencing. Many studies have emphasized proportional relationships between channel widths and different aspects of meander morphology, such as wavelength, curvature of the radius, and belt width. These relationships have been studied for bankfull level width in high-order channels. It is not clear how such relationships vary in low-order headwater streams. This research addresses those gaps in low-order streams of which little is known. Field surveys were conducted in nine meander bends of a low-order alluvial channel in Virginia. The results suggest that in a low-order channel, the ratios of width with wavelength, the radius of curvature, and belt width are mostly similar between the meanders’ beginning and tail endpoints. The stream also has similar meander morphologic characteristics and ratios as anticipated from the literature on high-order streams.

Enhancing coffee diversity: Insights into the impact of sodium azide mutagenesis on quantitative and qualitative traits in Coffea arabica L

Crop improvement of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is limited due to its low genetic variability. Induced mutagenesis is one of the most widely used breeding methods for rapidly increasing genetic diversity in many crops. The present study explored the effect of sodium azide (NaN3) on quantitative and qualitative fruit and seedling traits of Coffea arabica var Catuaí M2 derived lines. We worked with 81 derived lines obtained from M1 Catuaí seeds, previously treated on M0 during the seed stage with (NaN3) at 50 mm for eight hours. Morphological characteristics in ripe fruits as well as germination percentages in seeds were measured. In addition to these parents, four lines were used as controls to describe growth parameters of 120-day-old seedlings, established under controlled conditions. Results showed significant differences in the seed and seedling M2 derived lines (p < 0.0001). The qualitative characteristics of fruit level (length, thickness, and width) were significantly higher in 2 out of the 81 lines. The cluster analysis (Wilks, p < 0.0001) revealed divergence of growth variables by classifying evaluated lines into four different groups (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) explained more than 80 % of the total variance between lines treated with mutagens and control plants, where all variables showed a positive association, except plant diameter and height. Qualitative characters were classified as morphological alterations in seedling growth. Morphological malformation of three cotyledons obtained the highest frequency of anormal alterations (10.08 %) followed by four cotyledons (4.30 %), and 2.61 % for dwarf plants. Our results showed that the mutagenic treatments induced heterogeneous lines across qualitative and quantitative characteristics in M2 coffee fruits and their seedlings.

Interval estimation of common risk difference for stratified unilateral and bilateral data✩

ABSTRACT In clinical trials, unilateral or bilateral data can usually be encountered if a subject contributes one or both of paired organs. For the bilateral data, responses from two paired body parts are correlated. In this paper, we study various confidence intervals of common risk difference in stratified unilateral and bilateral data based on the Dallal’s model. Simulation results show that the score method outperforms other methods and provides coverage probability close to the nominal level and satisfactory coverage width. Hence, the method is recommended. In addition, the inverse hyperbolic tangent Wald-type become as optimal as the score method with the increase of sample sizes. An otolaryngology example is used to demonstrate the proposed methods.

Kaonic atoms with SIDDHARTA-2 at the DAΦNE collider

The most important information still missing in the field of the low-energy antikaon-nucleon inter actions studies is the experimental determination of the hadronic energy shift and width of kaonic deuterium. This measurement will be performed by the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment, installed at the DAΦNE collider and presently in data taking campaign. The precise measurement of the shift and width of the 1s level with respect to the purely electromagnetic calculated values, generated by the presence of the strong interaction, through the measurement of the X-ray transitions to this level, in kaonic hydrogen, was performed by the SIDDHARTA collaboration, the kaonic deuterium is underway by SIDDHARTA-2. These measurement will allow the first precise experimental extraction of the isospin dependent antikaon-nucleon scattering lengths, funda mental quantities for understanding low-energy QCD in the strangeness sector. The experimental challenge of the kaonic deuterium measurement is the very small X-rays yield, the even larger width (compared to kaonic hy drogen), and the difficulty to perform X-rays spectroscopy with weak signals in the high radiation environment of DAΦNE. It was, therefore, crucial to develop a new apparatus involving large-area X-rays detector system, to optimize the signal and to control and by improve the signal-to-background ratio by gaining in solid angle, increasing the timing capability, and as well implementing additional charge particle tracking veto systems.

Automatic defect detection in operational high-speed railway tunnels guided by train-mounted ground penetrating radar data

The tunnel diseases of high-speed railways present significant risks under the substantial dynamic loads from trains. Train-mounted ground-penetrating radar detection data for tunnels relies heavily on manual judgment, resulting in low efficiency and inaccurate identification. Meanwhile, automatic detection models need more samples. We propose an automated recognition framework, guided by generated data, to address these issues for identifying defects in operational high-speed railway tunnels. In this work, we propose a multi-category GPR generative adversarial network (MGPR-GAN) to generate many defect data across different categories to guide YOLOv5 training instead of relying predominantly on real data. It then uses generated data (65.43%) alongside a smaller proportion of real defect data (34.57%) to guide a YOLOv5 model. The model outputs the defect category, confidence level, and defect width and height estimates in conjunction with prior information. We validated our method using samples from 71 tunnels. The results reveal that our proposed method outperforms the average accuracy of the three advanced identification methods (FasterRCNN, SSD, and YOLOv5) by over 20.62%.

Verification of effect of analytical conditions of shear wave velocity on ability to evaluate microstructure

In this study, the relationship between the analytical conditions of shear wave velocity (SWV) and the evaluation ability of microstructure were verified by FDTD simulation. By adding acoustic radiation force (ARF) to the left edge of the simulation space, which mimicked various fatty livers with different fat mass, shear waves propagating in the lateral direction were simulated in each liver. SWV was calculated using the time difference calculated by the cross-correlation method from two timewaves laterally located in the simulation. By varying the resolution of the SWV evaluation, the effect of scattering and refraction of shear waves in fat droplets, etc. on the macroscopic shear propagation was evaluated. Although shear waves could be evaluated stably when tracking shear waves at the spatial step (time width) of the clinical device level, the effects of individual fatty substances were strongly indicated when tracking in the microscopic sense of 10 μm (50 ns). When there was a thick fat layer or a sparse muscle layer near the body surface, the irradiation of ARFI did not work as expected and the evaluation accuracy of SWV decreased.

Measured turbulence statistics from two NASA sonic boom test campaigns

Turbulence in the lower atmosphere can have substantial effects on measured sonic boom waveforms on the ground. These turbulent distortions vary spatially and temporally and are best understood statistically. Simultaneous atmospheric and acoustic data were acquired as part of the NASA Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence (SonicBAT) and Carpet Determination in Entirety Measurements (CarpetDIEM) tests. Data from these tests, both conducted at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, enable a detailed study of atmospheric effects on sonic boom waveforms. The present study expands on previous work [Anderson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 152, A127 (2022)] by analyzing more booms with additional statistical analyses including metric distributions, standard deviations, and confidence intervals. Results from CarpetDIEM indicate that the confidence interval widths of mean metric levels computed across a seven-microphone array spanning 122 m vary by 1-5 dB, depending on the loudness metric. The effects of peak clipping are also considered, and an analysis is conducted to determine how to best recover from peak clipping for different metrics. [Work supported by NASA Langley Research Center through the National Institute of Aerospace and Analytical Mechanics Associates.]

Theoretical study of resonant charge exchange between H−ion and adsorbate-covered metal surface Cu(111)/Cu(110) with adsorbates Li+/Na+

The influence of the surface type on resonant charge exchange between H−ion with a metal surfaces Cu(111) and Cu(110) covered by adsorbate Li+/Na+has been studied. A model static problem was considered. For modeling, athree-dimensional realization of the wave-packet propagation method was used. The Cu(110) andCu(111) surfaces were described by a pseudopotential, derived from a density functional theory (DFT).An occupation of H− ion, an electron density dynamics and an ion level width were analyzed. As aresult, we obtained that an electron oscillates more in case of the surface Cu(111). Furthermore, the resonant charge exchange is more efficient for Cu(111) surface.

Multi-objective optimization of fractal-tree microchannels in a rectangular heat sink by a distributed-adaptive genetic algorithm

Recently, an innovative heat dissipation technique of fractal-tree structures has attracted attention due to its excellent high heat transfer efficiency and low pumping power. Though the impact of geometrical parameters such as branching level and dimension ratios of successive branches on the heat transfer efficiency and pumping power are considered to be critical, the impact mechanisms are still not well studied and formulated. Hence, there is still no clear method to optimally arrange the fractal-tree microchannels (FTMCs) in a rectangular heat sink to achieve better thermal and hydraulic performance. Therefore, we developed a multi-objective optimization algorithm (distributed-adaptive genetic algorithm, DAGA) to optimize the different types of novel FTMCs concerning achieving an optimal COP (coefficient of performance, heat transfer/ pumping power). The developed DAGA can improve the computational efficiency and the quality of optimum by around 87.63% and 12.48%, respectively in the present work. Then, taking conventional rectangular parallel microchannels (RPMCs) as a reference, the COP of the optimized FTMCs in the same heat sink shows an enhancement of around 0.09 ∼ 0.57. The highest COP is achieved by the three-level branching FTMC. Furthermore, the optimized results reveal that branching level, bifurcation number, and microchannel width at the first branching level are sensible, while dimension ratio factors and microchannel length at the first branching level show low sensibility to the COP of FTMCs.

Preparation and Study of Ca/Tb Co-Doped HfO2 Infrared Coatings with Different Atomic Ratios

In this study, HfO2 coatings co-doped with different Ca/Tb atomic ratios were prepared via the atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) method. The microstructure, infrared radiation properties, and high-temperature stability of the coatings were investigated. All of the doped coatings possessed a porous surface and were composed of two phases, namely the monoclinic HfO2 phase and the cubic HfO2 phase. In addition, the content of the cubic phases increased when raising the doping atomic ratio of Ca/Tb, suggesting that Ca could stabilize the cubic HfO2 phase more effectively. The results also show that the coating with a Ca/Tb atomic ratio of 1/0 (CT1 coating) had more excellent infrared radiative properties, whose total emissivity was 0.844 in the 0.75~6.5 μm band and 0.900 in the 6.5~15 μm band, respectively. The improvement in emissivity in the 0.75~6.5 μm band was mainly due to the impurity energy levels introduced via oxygen vacancy, which promoted the absorption of free carriers. And, in 6.5~15 μm, because the approximate masses of the Ca-O and Tb-O bonds were smaller than that of the Hf-O bonds, the infrared absorption of the lattice vibration shifted, favoring absorption below 10 μm. Moreover, Ca had a more significant strengthening effect than Tb in the whole band. In terms of high-temperature infrared radiation performance, the total emissivity of the CT1 coating at 2.5~25 μm increased as the temperature increased from 500 °C to 1100 °C, which might be attributed to the thermal-enhanced lattice vibration absorption. However, the emissivity of the CT1 coating at 3~5 μm was kept around 0.9 from 1100 °C to 2000 °C, owing to the fact that infrared absorption was more determined by the intrinsic width of the energy levels because of the weakening of the doping effect at high temperatures. In terms of thermal stability, the surface morphology and chemical composition of the CT1 coating were barely changed within 4 h of heat treatment at 2000 °C. The total infrared emissivity of the CT1 coating after 4 h of heat treatment was 0.826 in the 0.75~6.5 μm band and 0.895 in the 6.5~15 μm band, slightly lower than that before heat treatment, suggesting good thermal stability and good application prospects as a high-temperature infrared material.

Digital and clinical approach to quantifying periodontal tissue changes after crown lengthening surgery: A case series pilot study

Crown lengthening surgery is a common periodontal procedure carried out to increase the amount of tooth exposure for aesthetic or restorative purposes. It is crucial for clinicians to understand the effect of crown lengthening surgery on the periodontal tissues to prevent relapse or over treatment. Even though various clinical parameters have been used by researchers in the past to quantify the amount of suprastructure exposed, the use of digital technology has not been widely adopted. The aim of this case series was to evaluate the changes in periodontal tissue after crown lengthening surgery with both clinical and digital approaches. This case series included five patients who underwent surgery at the Postgraduate Periodontics Clinic at the University of Otago over the period of six months. Clinical parameters such as probing depth, gingival recession, keratinised tissue height, plaque accumulation, gingival inflammation, crown height, gingival phenotype, and bone height were measured with a customised probing stent at baseline and 1-, 3-, and 6-month post-surgery. Digital impressions were also taken along with the clinical parameters to measure the volumetric changes. Most significant changes were observed in crown exposure, gingival recession and bone levels, followed by probing depth reduction for treated sites. Minimal changes were seen for the width of keratinised tissues, plaque levels and gingival scores. Volumetric changes were only significantly reduced after 6 months of healing. This case series found that crown lengthening resulted in an increase in tooth exposure and a reduction in tissue volume. Volumetric changes measured through sequential digital impressions were also comparable to clinical findings.

Radiative corrections to the level width in the presence of magnetic field

The effect of a constant magnetic field in combination with a field induced by an external thermal environment on atomic decay rates is studied. For this purpose, radiative corrections including magnetic interaction are considered for hydrogen and hydrogen-like ions with a small nuclear charge Z. Corrections to the decays of the metastable state 2s and the excited state 2p were calculated at various magnetic field strengths suitable for the conditions of the laboratory experiments. It is found that the combination of the magnetic field and thermal environment can lead to a broadening close to the level of experimental error, which makes it necessary to take them into account in the near future.

Influence of Windowing and Evaluation of Metal Artifact Reduction Algorithm on Five Different Restorative Materials by Using Different Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Scanners: A CBCT Study.

To assess the influence of windowing, and to evaluate, and compare the effect of the metal artifact reduction (MAR) and non-metal artifact reduction (non-MAR) algorithms on different high-density restorative dental materials using different cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) devices. Height and diameter of all cylindrical shape metals including amalgam, cobalt-chromium, composite, gutta-percha, and titanium were measured using a digital caliper device. Polymethylmethacrylate block and arch phantom with a cylindrical-shaped perforation containing five different metals were submitted to tomographic acquisition with six different cone beam computed tomographic devices in small fields of view with their MAR enabled and disabled. Windowing was done using ITK-SNAP software (3.8.2) which was used as a contrast medial tool for window level and window width. The data was analyzed for probability distribution using theKolmogorov-Smirnov test, where a p-value of <0.05 indicated that the data were not normally distributed. The comparison of length and width was done using the Wilcoxon sign rank test. Comparison of categorical variables was done using theChi-square test where a p-value of <0.05 was considered statisticallysignificant. Length and width of all these metals measured using MAR and non-MAR CBCT were found to be statistically non-significant (p-value of >0.05). MAR algorithm significantly reduces metals artifact produced by high-density restorative materials (p-value of <0.05). Amalgam and cobalt-chromium produced more artifacts while composite and gutta-percha did not produce enough artifacts to be reduced by the MAR algorithm. Large window width and high window level would be beneficial to reduce the metal artifact.

Continuous assembly required: Perpetual species turnover in two‐trophic‐level ecosystems

AbstractCommunity assembly is often treated as deterministic, converging on one or at most a few possible stable endpoints. However, in nature, we typically observe continuous change in community composition, which is often ascribed to environmental change. But continuous changes in community composition can also arise in deterministic, time‐invariant community models, especially food web models. Our goal was to determine why some models produce continuous assembly and others do not. We investigated a simple two‐trophic‐level community model to show that continuous assembly is driven by the relative niche width of the trophic levels. If predators have a larger niche width than prey, community assembly converges to a stable equilibrium. Conversely, if predators have a smaller niche width than prey, then community composition never stabilizes. Evidence that food webs need not reach a stable equilibrium has important implications, as many ecological theories of community ecology based on equilibria may be difficult to apply to such food webs.