Non-contact System Research Articles

M2-TAMs promote immunoresistance in lung adenocarcinoma by enhancing METTL3-mediated m6A methylation.

Immunotherapy has become the first-line treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but most patients still fail to benefit or have disease progression following treatment. M2 phenotype tumor-associated macrophages (M2-TAMs) are important cellular components in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of NSCLC, but how they contribute to immunoresistance remains unclear. This study was conducted to investigate the role and mechanism of M2-TAMs in NSCLC immunoresistance. We collected postoperative tumor samples for detection of M2-TAMs and other immune cells infiltration by immunofluorescence detection and flow cytometry. We then constructed a non-contact cell co-culture system using Transwell chambers. CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing and invasion assays were performed to evaluated the effect of M2-TAMs on the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells in vitro. Xenograft model were performed to analysis the effect of M2-TAMs on the tumorigenesis and metastasis of LUAD cells in vivo. M2-TAMs were greatly increased in the tumor tissue of patients with immunoresistant LUAD. They could significantly promote the proliferation, invasion, and migration of LUAD cells, and improve their resistance to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) cytotoxicity. Further research showed M2-TAMs could considerably enhance the expression of METTL3 and total m6A RNA level in LUAD cells and interfering with METTL3 could significantly reverse the impairment of M2-TAMs on the efficacy of CTL in killing tumor cells. In conclusion, M2-TAMs could promote LUAD immunoresistance by enhancing METTL3-mediated m6A methylation. Our results suggest METTL3 could be a potential therapeutic target for reversing immunoresistance and shed new light on the mechanism of M2-TAMs promoting LUAD immunoresistance.

Contactless monitoring of respiratory rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) in non-acuity settings: a clinical validity study

ObjectivePatient monitoring in general wards primarily involves intermittent observation of temperature, heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and blood pressure performed by the nursing staff. Several hours can lapse between...

비접촉식 심박 측정 시스템 개발

본 논문에서는 비접촉식 심박 측정을 위한 mmWave 레이더 기반의 시스템을 제안한다. 시스템은 심박 측정 레이더 센서 모듈과 신호 처리 과정으로 구성된다. 시스템을 구현하기 위해 심박수를 추정하는 과정을 설계하였으며, 심박수를 실시간으로 측정하기 위한 모니터링 프로그램을 작성하였다.BR 제안한 시스템의 성능 검증을 위해 피검자 3명에 대해 총 6회의 측정 실험을 하였으며, 레이더 기반 시스템과 접촉식 방식의 시스템으로 심박수를 측정하고 비교하였다. 실험 결과 제안한 시스템을 사용하여 안정적으로 심박수를 측정할 수 있었다.

Quantifying Uncertainties in Nonlinear Dynamics of a Modular Assembly Using the Resonance Decay Method

Modular assembling is a promising approach to constructing large spacecraft beyond the size limitations posed by launch vehicles. However, the uncertainties and nonlinearities of the dynamics associated with the assembled structure are deeply concerned with the design stage of such a spacecraft. Conventionally, this concern can be relieved by performing Ground Vibration Testing (GVT) of the structure. Nevertheless, it is challenging for a modular assembly, in which a very low-frequency behaviour and a lack of dynamic testing procedure that can incorporate nonlinearities are two major obstacles. In this regard, the present paper first introduces a demonstrator of Large Structure Assembly (LSA demonstrator), which includes a soft-bungee suspension system, a 6 m long modular assembly, a vibration control system, and a noncontact measurement system. Secondly, a new quantification procedure for the modular assembly, which utilises the resonance decay method, was proposed in this paper. Detailed test steps were illustrated through the demonstrator, in which the backbone curves were treated as key measurement targets in quantifying its nonlinear dynamics. The uncertainties in nonlinear dynamics were also evaluated by assembling and disassembling the structure multiple times. Results have shown that the proposed procedure can efficiently and accurately quantify the dynamics of a highly flexible, large-scale modular assembly.

The Effect of Two Types of Foot Orthoses on the Knee Valgus Angle Within Single-Leg Landing: Implications for ACL Damage Hazard Decrease

Background: Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries commonly occur when athletes land in high risk positions such as knee valgus. The impact of foot orthoses during exercises that recreate a non-contact ACL harm system (i.e., landing) in any case will be obscured. Objectives: The purpose of the current study research was to evaluate the effect of two foot orthoses (semi-hard foot orthoses and hard foot orthoses) on knee valgus angle during single-leg drop landing. Methods: Twenty male leisure volleyball gamers performed landing in one-leg step from 30 cm height in 3 conditions (without foot orthoses, mid-hard foot orthoses, and hard foot orthoses). A motion capture system was used to measure lower extremity kinematics. Two risk factors of ACL injury, maximum knee valgus angle (KVA), and maximum knee flexion was measured. ANOVA was used for statistical analysis (P < 0.05). Results: With mid-hard foot, orthoses provide the maximum level of knee flexion and the minimum level of knee valgus during single-leg drop landing. Conclusions: It may be concluded showed that foot orthoses affect knee kinematics. More knee flexion and less knee valgus brought about by mid-hard foot orthoses can reduce injuries of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Design of a measurement system for measuring geometric errors of a workpiece table during two-axis synchronous motion

With the increasing customer demand for high-precision workpieces, the accuracy performance of CNC machine tools has become an increasingly important hot topic for almost all machine tool manufacturers. For fine surface finish workpieces, the performance of multi-axis synchronous motion has a significant impact on lathe processing. Accordingly, it is necessary to calibrate and identify the geometric errors of the workpiece table during multiple-axis synchronous motion. Therefore, this study proposes a novel noncontact optical measurement system for measuring the geometric errors of the workpiece table while the two axes are moving simultaneously. In addition, the horizontal CNC lathe machine iTC-2000LM, produced by Tongtai machine & tool Co., Ltd., was taken as the research vehicle. The proposed measurement system comprises an optics module composed of several reflectors, lenses, and cubic beam splitters; a sensing module composed of multiple two-dimensional position-sensitive detectors (PSDs); and a laser. Based on the principle of geometric optics theory and the optical triangulation method, complete mathematical models that describe the geometric errors of the workpiece table during two-axis synchronous motion were established using the skew-ray tracing method. Additionally, the essential features of the proposed measurement system were verified using the optical design software Zemax. Finally, a laboratory prototype system was constructed to experimentally verify the proposed measurement system. As mentioned above, the main contribution of this study is to design a novel and highly efficient measurement system with established measurement mathematical models and experimental verifications.

Experimental Consideration on Suppression Effect of Elastic Vibration in Electromagnetic Levitation System for Flexible Thin Steel Plate with Curvature

Recently, research on non-contact conveyance systems using electromagnetic levitation technology has accelerated. We have constructed an electromagnetic levitation control system that keeps the relative distance between the electromagnet and steel plate constant. To investigate the levitation stability of thin steel plates, we performed magnetic levitation experiments on a thin steel plate with curvature. A physical disturbance was applied to the electromagnet units by vibrators. The electromagnet units were vibrated up and down by a vibrator. We investigated whether the bending magnetic levitation improved the levitation performance even if the magnetic levitation system was in a vibrating environment. We determined that it was possible to realize stable levitation for a steel plate under external disturbances during levitation at the optimal bending angle.

Lead the folding motion of the thick origami model under gravity

ABSTRACT Origami have been focused on by the researchers for its foldability and deployability owing to the huge potential in architectural engineering. However, origami was rarely used in practical construction projects as structures due to the lack of systematic investigation of motion control with respect to thickness and gravity. To clarify the lifting process of the origami structure, a preliminary folding test is carried out with a small-scaled single-DOF physical origami model. Folding paths are obtained by the non-contact measurement system and the force-displacement measurement system. The experimental results are confirmed by the numerical simulation of thick origami. The invariant relationship is observed between the folding process and the driving force. Furthermore, the final configuration of the model is found to be strongly related to the location of the suspension points. The methods to realize the complete folding are suggested. Moreover, the multi-unit model is simulated aiming for the application of rapid foldable structures.

Sensor-Based Technologies in Effective Solid Waste Sorting: Successful Applications, Sensor Combination, and Future Directions.

The increase in global population and improvement of living standards have stirred up a continuous increase in solid waste generation, while simple incineration and landfilling bring about serious environmental and health concerns. In order to improve resource recovery and mitigate pollution, noncontacting and nondestructive sensor-based waste sorting systems are applied to enhance solid waste classification. In recent years, in addition to the rapid development of computer hardware, especially improvements of GPU computing capacity, complicated and efficient classification algorithms have emerged and been widely used in industrial sectors. These advances allow computers to process signals from sensors more quickly and accurately and to classify matters automatically. This article introduces widely applied sensor-based technologies in solid waste sorting and analyzes applicable conditions for each specific method. The latest developed algorithms are critically compared with competitive counterparts. Successful practices are described, and findings are highlighted. Though spectroscopic-based and vision-based waste classifications have achieved high performance in accuracy and detection speed, challenges and future directions can still provide wide development opportunities. Concretely, these opportunities generally comprise classification of indistinct plastics, application of the latest object detection algorithms, appropriate data set formulating, and sensor combination for multiple sorting tasks within a single system.

Effect of water depth in productivity enhancement of fouling-free non-contact nanostructure desalination system

Water scarcity is a major global challenge that requires utmost attention. Solar desalination could be one of the possible solutions to this problem. In this work, a non-contact nanostructure (NCNS) has been designed and developed that is physically and thermally decoupled from the water inside the solar still. The NCNS first absorbs the thermal radiation and then transfers its absorbed energy to water via infrared radiation, developing a contactless mode of heat transfer. The optical characterization for the absorber and emitter surface was done using state-of-the-art ultraviolet–visible-near-infrared (UV–vis-NIR), Agilent Cary 5000 spectrophotometer, and 410-Vis-IR portable emissometer and solar reflectometer. The absorptivity of the nanocoated absorber top surface was 90 %, while the emissivity of the emissive bottom surface was 85 %. Experiments were performed using synthetic saline water for six days without and with reflector at different water depths such as 0.5 cm, 1 cm, and 1.5 cm, respectively. The increase in water depth did not show a significant enhancement in productivity due to the interfacial heating effect of the NCNS. Analytical modeling, fouling study, accelerated corrosion study, and water quality assessment were also performed, and the results were so promising that the freshwater obtained was safe for drinking.

Performance analysis of non-contact nanostructure solar desalination system by varying water depth at a constant air gap

Solar desalination could be one potential solution to the grandest challenge of water scarcity. Recent works have been carried out in developing high solar energy-absorbing materials in direct contact with water to enhance the productivity of the solar still. However, due to the direct contact with contaminated water, the solar absorbing materials undergo degradation/fouling over time. To overcome this fouling problem, in this work, we have designed and developed a novel non-contact nanostructure (NCNS) through chemical oxidation and coating process that is physically and thermally decoupled from the water inside the solar still. The developed non-contact nanostructure absorbs solar radiation due to the high absorptive nanocoating on top, converts the absorbed solar energy to infrared radiations through thermal down-conversion, and emits the infrared (IR) radiations from the bottom through the high emissive coating. Water, an excellent absorber of IR radiations, readily absorbs the IR radiations and evaporates through the perforations, thus producing a desalination effect. Due to this non-contact mode of heat transfer, fouling is wholly avoided. Experiments were performed to analyze the effect of water depth at a constant air gap. It was found that enhancement in productivity for 1 cm water depth case, when compared with 2 cm and 3 cm water depth case, was 11.11% and 25%, respectively. Analytical modeling, fouling study, accelerated corrosion study, and in-depth water quality assessments were also performed, and the results were so promising that the freshwater obtained was safe for drinking and free from impurities, bacteria, and viruses.

Sistem Pemantauan Pertumbuhan Anggrek Berdasarkan Pengolahan Citra Digital

Growth monitoring and plant protectionis the major aspect of horticulture because its productivity depends on the health of the plants. Manual direct measurement methods tend to be destructive towards observed plants. In this research, a smart non-contact growth monitoring system was implemented on a chamber with orchid plants asthe objectsobserved. The images of the orchids were taken and became the input of the system to be processed to estimate the height of the plants.The contour of the orchid plant as the object was obtained and the height was calculated based on the highest and the lowest contour.The result shows that the developed system is proven to be capable of measuring orchid’s height in real-time with accuracy more than 95,7%. Thus, this system will effectively help farmers to improve the quality and the quantity of the plant’s productivity.

Advances in Vitreoretinal Surgery.

Advances in vitreoretinal surgery provide greater safety, efficacy, and reliability in the management of the several vitreoretinal diseases that benefit from surgical treatment. The advances are divided into the following topics: scleral buckling using chandelier illumination guided by non-contact visualization systems; sclerotomy/valved trocar diameters; posterior vitrectomy systems and ergonomic vitrectomy probes; chromovitrectomy; vitreous substitutes; intraoperative visualization systems including three-dimensional technology, systems for intraoperative optical coherence tomography, new instrumentation in vitreoretinal surgery, anti-VEGF injection before vitrectomy and in eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and new surgical techniques; endoscopic surgery; the management of subretinal hemorrhages; gene therapy; alternative techniques for refractory macular hole; perspectives for stem cell therapy and the prevention of proliferative vitreoretinopathy; and, finally, the Port Delivery System. The main objective of this review is to update the reader on the latest changes in vitreoretinal surgery and to provide an understanding of how each has impacted the improvement of surgical outcomes.

A non-contact displacement measurement system based on a portable smartphone with digital image methods

Bridges are an indispensable element of modern infrastructure, while the difference in maintenance between the small and medium-sized bridges and large bridges is huge. At present, the health assessments of the small and medium-sized bridges still depend on manual detection, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources with limited efficiency. To overcome these issues, this study proposes a novelty vision-based displacement measurement solution utilizing a smartphone, which includes multiple image recognition methods for different application scenarios and further constructs a complete management and maintenance system. The proposed system is validated in the laboratory tests with a cable-stay bridge and field tests on a continuous plate bridge. Moreover, the field experiments on a continuous girder bridge with far measuring distance under diverse lighting conditions were conducted, investigating the measurement effects of various image methods and providing beneficial explorations for the development of detection and monitoring technology on the small and medium-sized bridges.

Development of a Multisensor-Based Non-Contact Anthropometric System for Early Stunting Detection

The stunting prevalence in Indonesia is still above the WHO minimum standard of 20%. An important aspect of early detection of stunting is to monitor the nutritional status of children under five periodically. In daily practice, nutritional status is obtained through anthropometry. The main anthropometric parameters are body mass, height, and head circumference. This research entails the development of an integrated and non-contact anthropometric system for measuring body mass, height, and head circumference for children aged 12–60 months. This non-contact method can prevent the transmission of infectious diseases, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the development of a prototype, three types of sensors are used: load, proximity, and temperature sensor. In addition, a load cell sensor is used to measure body mass, an infrared sensor to measure height and head circumference, ultrasonic sensor to measure height. In addition, the anthropometric system developed is equipped with an MLX90614-DCI sensor to measure temperature, a thermal printer to print measurement results, and sound output. The results of the tests showed that this anthropometric system had an average error less than 5%. Therefore, it is suitable to measure the body mass, height, and head circumference of children under five.

Retrieval of Water Quality Parameters Based on Near-Surface Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Algorithm

With the development of industrialization and urbanization, the consumption and pollution of water resources are becoming more and more serious. Water quality monitoring is an extremely important technical means to protect water resources. However, the current popular water quality monitoring methods have their shortcomings, such as a low signal-to-noise ratio of satellites, poor time continuity of unmanned aerial vehicles, and frequent maintenance of in situ underwater probes. A non-contact near-surface system that can continuously monitor water quality fluctuation is urgently needed. This study proposes an automatic near-surface water quality monitoring system, which can complete the physical equipment construction, data collection, and processing of the application scenario, prove the feasibility of the self-developed equipment and methods and obtain high-performance retrieval results of four water quality parameters, namely chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), and dissolved oxygen (DO). For each water quality parameter, fourteen machine learning algorithms were compared and evaluated with five assessment indexes. Because the ensemble learning models combine the prediction results of multiple basic learners, they have higher robustness in the prediction of water quality parameters. The optimal determination coefficients (R2) of COD, turbidity, NH3-N, and DO in the test dataset are 0.92, 0.98, 0.95, and 0.91, respectively. The results show the superiority of near-surface remote sensing, which has potential application value in inland, coastal, and various water bodies in the future.

Non-Contact Crack Visual Measurement System Combining Improved U-Net Algorithm and Canny Edge Detection Method with Laser Rangefinder and Camera

Cracks are the main damages of concrete structures. Since cracks may occur in areas that are difficult to reach, non-contact measurement technology is required to accurately measure the width of cracks. This study presents an innovative computer vision system combining a camera and laser rangefinder to measure crack width from any angle and at a long distance. To solve the problem of pixel distortion caused by non-vertical photographing, geometric transformation formulas that can calculate the unit pixel length of the image captured at any angle are proposed. The complexity of crack edge calculation and the imbalance of data in the image are other problems that affect measurement accuracy, and a combination of the improved U-net convolutional networks algorithm and Canny edge detection method is adopted to accurately extract the cracks. The measurement results on the different concrete wall indicate that the proposed system can measure the crack in a non-vertical position, and the proposed algorithm can extract the crack from different background images. Although the proposed system cannot achieve fully automated measurement, the results also confirm the ability to obtain the crack width accurately and conveniently.

Investigation of structural responses and dynamic characteristics of a supertall building during Typhoon Kompasu

In this paper, comprehensive field measurements were conducted on a 600-m-high skyscraper in Shenzhen during Typhoon Kompasu based on structural health monitoring (SHM) system and a remotely non-contact interferometric radar system called IBIS-FS. The SHM system recorded wind field and structural responses, including accelerations at 10 building heights by accelerometers and horizontal displacements atop the building by global positioning system (GPS). Meanwhile, the IBIS-FS simultaneously measured the horizontal displacements of the building at multiple heights. This is the first time that the interferometric radar system, i.e., IBIS-FS, is applied to the displacement monitoring of a supertall building under typhoon conditions. The effectiveness of the IBIS-FS is verified through comparing the building responses measured by the IBIS-FS with those measured by the SHM system. Then, based on the field-measured responses, the mean, background, and resonant responses of the monitored supertall building are extracted and analyzed; and the amplitude dependencies and time-varying characteristics of the structural modal parameters (i.e., natural frequencies and damping ratios) are presented and discussed. The results show that the IBIS-FS can provide convenient and accurate displacement measurements of the skyscraper under severe weather conditions. This paper aims to provide useful information for SHM and wind-resistant design of supertall buildings in tropical cyclone-prone regions.

Single optical element to generate a meter-scale THz diffraction-free beam.

Diffraction-free electromagnetic beam propagates in free space without change in its two-dimensional transverse profile. Elongating diffraction-free length can benefit the practical application of this beam. Here, we demonstrate that a THz diffraction-free beam with meter-scale length can be achieved by using only one optical element. By circumscribing the line-shape of spherical harmonic function on a traditional axicon, such optical element is designed, and then can be fabricated by 3D-printing technique. Simulated, experimental, and theoretical results all show that the diffraction-free length of generated beam is over 1000 mm. Further analysis based on Fourier optics theory indicates that the spatial frequency of this beam has a comb distribution, which plays a key role during the beam generation process. Moreover, such distribution also demonstrates the beam generated by our invented optical element is not the Bessel beam, but a new diffraction-free beam. It is believed that this meter-scale THz diffraction-free beam can be useful in a non-contact and non-destructive THz imaging system for large objects.

Luminescence Thermometry - Crossing the Limits of Operating Range

Temperature is one of the fundamental thermodynamic parameters that affects and regulates the rate and nature of the chemical, physical and biological processes. A precise and accurate measurement of temperature is essential across a broad spectrum of areas, such as nanomedicine, electronics, aerospace, climate, food storage, etc. Therefore, there is a great variety of temperature sensors (which currently account for ≈80% of the worldwide sensor market), and their operating modes can be divided into two main groups: contact and noncontact techniques. However, in some specific cases, only non-contact systems may provide accurate information about temperature and its distribution over an area. These are as follows: harsh environments (for example inside turbines), fast-moving objects (gas jets), intense magnetic fields that prevent the use of metals or materials with free electric charges (NMR therapies) or when the size of the system to measure is smaller than 10 μm (cellular tracking or microelectronic circuits). One promising solution that can break through those limitations is luminescence thermometry (LT). LT is a non-contact and non-invasive spectroscopic technique based on the changes in a phosphor emission when temperature changes (e.g., the intensity of a band, relative intensities, band shapes, excited-state lifetimes, etc.).We shall present our original approach to use intra- and inter- configurational transitions of Pr3+ ion for accurate temperature reading with high relative sensitivity over an outstandingly wide range of temperatures. Studies were focused on Y2SiO5:0.05%Pr and its chemically modified version by a bandgap engineering approach (replacing Si with Ge). The addition of Ge to replace Si was expected to decrease the host bandgap – energetic separation of its valence and conduction bands. Consequently, we expected that the 5d→4f luminescence would be more susceptible to temperature quenching. This, in turn, allowed to control the range of temperatures within which the 5d→4f/4f→4f emission intensity ratio could be utilized for thermometry. Furthermore, possibilities to further improve such sensors will be discussed by widening the operating range of distinct thermometers.This presentation will show that luminescence thermometers working in unprecedented board operating range can be effectively constructed and managed. Further analysis of such an approach will be carefully discussed. This research was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland under grant #2020/37/N/ST5/02507 Figure 1