Solid Circle Research Articles

Clinicopathologic, Immunohistochemical, and Ultrastructural Findings of a Fatal Case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in the United Arab Emirates, April 2014

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection causes an acute respiratory illness and is associated with a high case fatality rate; however, the pathogenesis of severe and fatal MERS-CoV infection is unknown. We describe the histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural findings from the first autopsy performed on a fatal case of MERS-CoV in the world, which was related to a hospital outbreak in the United Arab Emirates in April 2014. The main histopathologic finding in the lungs was diffuse alveolar damage. Evidence of chronic disease, including severe peripheral vascular disease, patchy cardiac fibrosis, and hepatic steatosis, was noted in the other organs. Double staining immunoassays that used anti–MERS-CoV antibodies paired with immunohistochemistry for cytokeratin and surfactant identified pneumocytes and epithelial syncytial cells as important targets of MERS-CoV antigen; double immunostaining with dipeptidyl peptidase 4 showed colocalization in scattered pneumocytes and syncytial cells. No evidence of extrapulmonary MERS-CoV antigens were detected, including the kidney. These results provide critical insights into the pathogenesis of MERS-CoV in humans.

一种基于实心圆靶标的立体视觉系统标定方法

一种基于实心圆靶标的立体视觉系统标定方法

A computational modeling study on the helium atmospheric pressure plasma needle discharge**Project supported partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11465013), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20151BAB212012), and in part by the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (Grant No. 2015DFA61800).

A two-dimensional coupled model of neutral gas flow and plasma dynamics is employed to investigate the streamer dynamics in a helium plasma needle at atmospheric pressure. A parametric study of the streamer propagation as a function of needle tip curvature radius and helium gas flow rate is presented. The key chemical reactions at the He/air mixing layer which drive the streamer propagation are the direct ionization via collision with electrons, the Penning effect being not so crucial. With increasing the gas flow rate from 0.2 standard liter per minute (SLM) to 0.8 SLM, however, the emissions resulting from reactive oxygen and nitrogen species change from a solid circle to a hollow profile and the average streamer propagation velocity decreases. Air impurities (backdiffusion from ambient air) in the helium jet result in a significant increase in the streamer propagation velocity. Besides, with decreasing the tip curvature radiusfrom 200 μm to 100 μm, the electron avalanche process around the near-tip region is more pronounced. However, the spatially resolved plasma parameters distributions (electron, helium metastables, ground state atomic oxygen, etc.) remain almost the same, except that around the near-tip region where their peak values are more than doubled.

Reply to comment by Behzad Ataie‐Ashtiani on “Effects of tidal fluctuations on mixing and spreading in coastal aquifers: Homogeneous case”

We would like to thank Prof. Behzad Ataie-Ashtiani for his explanatory comment on our paper [Ataie-Ashtiani, 2015]. He notes that in confined aquifers with a vertical seaside boundary, a tidal overheight does not develop. This is in contrast to an unconfined aquifer for which a tidal overheight may develop when the tidal amplitude is significant relative to the saturated thickness, in particular in the presences of a sloping land surface. As Prof. Ataie-Ashtiani points out, the absence of a tidal overheight in the case of a confined aquifer makes that the difference in the model outcomes for a specified head and a specified flux at the inland boundary will be less pronounced than for an unconfined aquifer. Whilst we agree with this observation in principle, we do wish to add that Prof. Ataie-Ashtiani's assertion that our results are applicable to confined aquifers only may be perhaps too restrictive. We have in fact shown that the effect of tides on the development of the intruded wedge and the mixing zone depends critically on the aquifer storativity, with the highest values of this parameter having the greatest impact on the simulated salinity distribution. We attributed this to the fact that the interaction between the tidally driven circulation and local dispersion related to the spatially nonuniform time-dependent velocity field that strongly influences the mixing behavior. There is no tidally induced mixing and spreading when the flow response to the hydraulic perturbation is instantaneous. As the storativity of unconfined aquifers is much larger than that of confined aquifers, our findings have important implications for the modeling of unconfined systems. It is indeed true that our results are not directly transferable to aquifers in which a tidal overheight develops, or where complex flow cells due to a sloping beach develop, but indeed our models can be approximative of unconfined aquifers with a near-constant transmissivity. Flow conditions similar to those that we considered can potentially exist in unconfined aquifers that have a large saturated thickness relative to the tidal amplitude, or for those with an inland extent far enough so that small-scale complications arising from the beach morphology can be considered negligible. We would further like to point out here that while the differences between models with a specified head or specified freshwater flux at the inland boundary were small enough to make that our general findings and conclusions were independent of the inland boundary condition, differences could be observed. Figure 1 shows the numerical results for the salt mass fraction distribution and the diagnostics defined in Pool et al. [2014], considering a prescribed flux and a prescribed head along the inland boundary and for different storativity values. In the three tested scenarios, the horizontal component of the center of mass for the prescribed head models penetrates further inland than those to the prescribed flux (Figure 1c, top). Moreover, based on visual inspection of the salinity contours, a constant head landward boundary condition slightly increases the effects of tidal fluctuations on the interface, which is consistent with the results described by Ataie-Ashtiani et al. [1999]. However, although small differences are observed between the results, the salt mass fraction distributions for the inland prescribed flux models are quite similar to that obtained from the prescribed head models (Figure 1a) and the diagnosis follow an identical trend as a function of the tidal mixing number (Figures 1b and 1c). (a) Normalized salinity contours (25, 50, and 75%) for the numerical models under tidal conditions imposing the head (dashed lines) and a freshwater flux (solid lines) at the landward boundary for three different values of the storativity. (b) Numerical results for the width of the mixing zone, longitudinal mixing length, and (c) the components of the center of mass with respect to the nontidal situation, in terms of the dimensionless constant . Note that where the open circle is not visible it is overprinted by the solid circle. This difference in behavior is attributed to the fact that the freshwater inflow in the case of a prescribed head boundary is variable with time, whereas it is constant with time if the flux is specified. This effect is expected to be more pronounced for studies where the inland boundary is closer to the coast, and when the effect of tidal fluctuations on the horizontal head gradient increases. As such, and in line with Prof. Ataie-Ashtiani's observations, there is further scope for investigations of smaller-scale systems, both confined and unconfined, but these were not the focus of our Pool et al. [2014] study. The data used in this paper can be obtained upon request from the corresponding author.

Study The Effect Of Different Common Beam Sections Having A Constant Cross Sectional Area On The Critical Buckling Load

A simply supported beam is used to calculate the critical buckling load. A common beam sections with constant cross sectional area are used to analyze the results using ANSYS11 program which gives a good results as comparing with the theoretical equation. The critical buckling load depends on the shape and dimensions of beam section which has constant cross sectional area. It observed that the critical buckling load is higher with a wide range of width for thinner hollow rectangular-section than the thicker section and lower for ( I, T & L-sections). Changing the width or thickness for U & Z-sections gave a small effect on the critical buckling load. Increasing the thickness of hollow circle beam section gives a decreasing in the critical buckling load. The last beam section gives a higher critical buckling load as comparing with solid circle section of the same cross sectional area. The same phenomenon is found for hollow rectangular-section as comparing with the solid section.

A decoded neurofeedback method for MEG/SSVEF

Event Abstract Back to Event A decoded neurofeedback method for MEG/SSVEF Hiroki Ora1, 2 and Kenji Kansaku1, 2* 1 Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Function, Japan 2 The University of Electro-Communications, Brain Science Inspired Life Support Research Center, Japan Decoded neurofeedback method was recently proposed to lead brain activity to a target state (Shibata, et al., 2011). While researchers utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging in the former studies, little is focused on magnetoencephalography (MEG). Real-time magnetoencephalography (rtMEG) is an emerging neurofeedback technology that could potentially benefit multiple areas of basic and clinical neuroscience, and in this study, we used an rtMEG system to perform decoded neurofeedback training for MEG/steady-state visual evoked field (SSVEF). Five able-bodied participants (age 33.2 years old, 5 females) participated in this study. The visual stimuli were displayed on a screen in front of the participant, and consisted of a circular checkerboard patch on the left and a circular checkerboard patch on the right. The checkerboard patches flickered at 5 (left) or 6 (right) Hz. They were asked to attend to the left, right, or middle of the screen in a SSVEF task. The used MEG scanner was a 306-channel Elekta Neuromag system (Elekta Oy, Helsinki, Finland). We constructed a sparse multinomial logistic regression (SMLR) decoder from MEG signals during the SSVEF task in each participant. We then conducted 3-day MEG neurofeedback training. In a trial, a white fixation cross was turned green for 5 second, then a green solid circle, whose radius indicated a score of the SMLR decoder, was presented. Participants were asked to “somehow regulate your brain activity to make the green solid circle bigger while the fixation cross is green.” During the trainings, no flickering visual stimuli were presented. After the trainings, the SSVEF task was used again to evaluate the training effects. Furthermore, we analyzed weights of the SMLR decoders to determine a subset of MEG sensors that contributed to decode the attended orientation. The SMLR decoder was able to classify the MEG signals into 3 attentional directions (left, right or middle) (88.2 %). The participants were able to increase decoder scores through the trainings (p<0.05). In the post-training SSVEF tasks, accuracy for the target orientation was higher than that for the non-target orientation (p<0.05). Analysis of weights of the decoders demonstrated that sensors on the occipital region contributed to decode the attended orientation (p<0.05, Bonferroni corrected). The results suggest that the decoded neurofeedback training was effective for MEG/SSVEF, and the method may enhance robustness of steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, decoded neurofeedback, Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Real-time magnetoencephalography, Steady-state visual evoked field Conference: 2015 International Workshop on Clinical Brain-Machine Interfaces (CBMI2015), Tokyo, Japan, 13 Mar - 15 Mar, 2015. Presentation Type: Poster 1-6 Topic: Clinical Brain-Machine Interfaces Citation: Ora H and Kansaku K (2015). A decoded neurofeedback method for MEG/SSVEF. Conference Abstract: 2015 International Workshop on Clinical Brain-Machine Interfaces (CBMI2015). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.218.00007 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 23 Apr 2015; Published Online: 29 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Kenji Kansaku, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Function, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan, kansakuk@dokkyomed.ac.jp Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. 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Study The Effect Of Different Common Beam Sections Having A Constant Cross Sectional Area On The Critical Buckling Load

A simply supported beam is used to calculate the critical buckling load. A common beam sections with constant cross sectional area are used to analyze the results using ANSYS11 program which gives a good results as comparing with the theoretical equation. The critical buckling load depends on the shape and dimensions of beam section which has constant cross sectional area. It observed that the critical buckling load is higher with a wide range of width for thinner hollow rectangular-section than the thicker section and lower for ( I, T &amp; L-sections). Changing the width or thickness for U &amp; Z-sections gave a small effect on the critical buckling load. Increasing the thickness of hollow circle beam section gives a decreasing in the critical buckling load. The last beam section gives a higher critical buckling load as comparing with solid circle section of the same cross sectional area. The same phenomenon is found for hollow rectangular-section as comparing with the solid section.

Locating Method for Character 2D Barcode

This paper studies the locating method for character 2D barcode. In this kind of character 2d barcode, the solid circle is designed as the position detection patterns. The locating method for character 2D barcode is different with the traditional method for DM barcode. In this paper, according to the geometric characteristics of the solid circle, connected region regarded as suspected solid circle can be filtered through the cross method rapidly. Then the edge of connected area is detected through the shape angle and the solid circle can be found through the circularity values. Experiment results show that this method can locate the character 2D barcode rapidly and effectively.

Tensionless–frictionless interaction of flexible annular foundation with a transversely isotropic multi‐layered half‐space

SummaryA transversely isotropic multi‐layered half‐space, with axis of material symmetry perpendicular to the free surface, supports a flexible either annular or solid circle foundation. The contact area of the foundation and the half‐space is considered to be both frictionless and tensionless. The foundation is assumed to be affected by a vertical static axisymmetric load. Detailed analysis of the interaction of these two systems with different thickness of layers is the target of this paper. With the use of ring load Green's functions for both the foundation and the continuum half‐space, an integral equation accompanied with some inequalities is introduced to model the complex BVP. With the incorporation of ring‐shape FEM, we are capable of capturing both regular and singular solution smoothly. The validity of the combination of the analytical and numerical method is proved with comparing the results of this paper with a number of benchmark cases of both linear and nonlinear interaction of circular and annular foundation with half‐space. Some new illustrations are presented to portray the aspect of the anisotropy and layering of the half‐space. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

The Difference in the Incidence and the Trend of Malignant Lymphomas in Japan and the United States.

AbstractAbstract 2695 Background:Malignant lymphomas (ML) are heterogeneous groups that the detailed classification is evolving dramatically. An incidence of malignant disease in certain population reflects cumulative exposure to environment, genetics and their combination overtime. Therefore, a comparison of incidences in various population and their secular trends is very helpful to understand etiology of disease. The aim of this study is to assess the incidence and the trend of each ML subtypes and to evaluate the difference between Japan and US. Materials and Methods:We used the data from a population-based cancer registry in Japan and from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program 9. Registry data of the US, SEER 9 included 95,155 cases and the data of Japan included 48,658 cases. The period covered in this analyses was 1993 to 2006 in Japan and 1993 to 2008 in the US. Rates of sex-specific, age-standardized incidence with 95% confidence intervals were estimated and standardized by age-adjustment according to the world standard population. We also estimated the annual percent change using joinpoint regression analysis and evaluated the significance of the trend. Results:The overall age-standardized incidence rate of all malignant lymphomas per 100,000 in 2006 was 22.4 for males and 16.0 for females in the US, 7.4 for males and 4.9 for females in Japan. The incidence is higher in the US than Japan with most of the subtypes especially for the nodular sclerosis HL, CLL/SLL and FL. In general, B-cell lymphomas showed large difference in incidence while T-cell lymphomas (TCL) showed similar incidence between Japan and the US. The total numbers of ML are constantly increasing in Japan but not in the US as shown in the figure {annual percent change (95%CI), Japan; +2.6% (2.1, 3.1), US; +0.2% (−0.0, 0.4)}. As for details, follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma and the total numbers of TCL are constantly increasing in both countries. Conclusion:In conclusion, we showed the marked difference in the incidence and the trend of hematologic malignancies between Japan and the US. The incidence of hematologic malignancies is lower in Japan than the US, but is increasing significantly. The most remarkable difference in the incidence was seen with nodular sclerosis HL, CLL/SLL and FL which was consistent with previous reports. Even with the TCL, the incidence seems to be similar to higher in the US except for the ATLL. The improvement in the quality of cancer registry systems and the organization of these registries between countries enables us to unite the data worldwide that will bring us new insights. [Display omitted] Solid line and circle are the data of the US. Dashed line and hollow circle are the data of Japan. Disclosures:No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Secondary eyes mediate the response to looming objects in jumping spiders ( Phidippus audax , Salticidae)

Some species have sensory systems divided into subsystems with morphologically different sense organs that acquire different types of information within the same modality. Jumping spiders (family Salticidae) have eight eyes. Four eyes are directed anteriorly to view objects in front of the spider: a pair of principal eyes track targets with their movable retinae, while the immobile anterior lateral (AL) eyes have a larger field of view and lower resolution. To test whether the principal eyes, the AL eyes, or both together mediate the response to looming stimuli, we presented spiders with a video of a solid black circle that rapidly expanded (loomed) or contracted (receded). Control spiders and spiders with their principal eyes masked were significantly more likely to back away from the looming stimulus than were spiders with their AL eyes masked. Almost no individuals backed away from the receding stimulus. Our results show that the AL eyes alone mediate the loom response to objects anterior to the spider.

Optimal three-material wheel assemblage of conducting and elastic composites

We describe a new type of three material microstructures which we call wheel assemblages, that correspond to extremal conductivity and extremal bulk modulus for a composite made of two materials and an ideal material. The exact lower bounds for effective conductivity and matching laminates was found in Cherkaev (2009) and for anisotropic composites, in Cherkaev and Zhang (2011). Here, we show different optimal structures that generalize the classical Hashin–Shtrikman coated spheres (circles). They consist of circular inclusions which contain a solid central circle (hub) and radial spikes in a surrounding annulus, and (for larger volume fractions of the best material) an annulus filled with it. The same wheel assemblages are optimal for the pair of dual problems of minimal conductivity (resistivity) of a composite made from two materials and an ideal conductor (insulator), in the problem of maximal effective bulk modulus of elastic composites made from two linear elastic material and void, and the dual minimum problem.

Dynamic characteristics of multisensory facilitation and inhibition

Multimodal integration, which mainly refers to multisensory facilitation and multisensory inhibition, is the process of merging multisensory information in the human brain. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the dynamic characteristics of multimodal integration are not fully understood. The objective of this study is to investigate the basic mechanisms of multimodal integration by assessing the intermodal influences of vision, audition, and somatosensory sensations (the influence of multisensory background events to the target event). We used a timed target detection task, and measured both behavioral and electroencephalographic responses to visual target events (green solid circle), auditory target events (2kHz pure tone) and somatosensory target events (1.5±0.1mA square wave pulse) from 20 normal participants. There were significant differences in both behavior performance and ERP components when comparing the unimodal target stimuli with multimodal (bimodal and trimodal) target stimuli for all target groups. Significant correlation among reaction time and P3 latency was observed across all target conditions. The perceptual processing of auditory target events (A) was inhibited by the background events, while the perceptual processing of somatosensory target events (S) was facilitated by the background events. In contrast, the perceptual processing of visual target events (V) remained impervious to multisensory background events.

The Compare and Analysis to the Hollow or Solid Circle Cross Section Shafts Being Twisted

From the angle of saving material, the author make the related computing, as well as compare and analysis to the biggest torsion shearing stress of the hollow or solid circle cross section shaft. Simultaneously it is elaborated, when the most torsion shearing stress of the hollow circular cross-section axis is smaller than the solid circular cross-section axis, the rule of economizing material and the change of the appearance size. Elaborate further, the related reasonable sizes are given, in order to have the prior adoptions during the design or transform. For example, the ratio of the hollow circle cross section shaft external diameter and inner diameter is two in the engineering, and the economical material is in 15%-inside 25% ranges.

Heat Stimulation on the Skin for Medical Treatment: Can It Be Controlled?

It has become increasingly important for evidence-based medicine to have a proper control for randomized-controlled trials. However, appropriately controlling manual therapies such as moxibustion has proved challenging. Our team designed a novel device based on sensory illusion, and tested its feasibility. A sham moxibustion device was constructed to allow participants to feel moxibustion treatment without actually stimulating the corresponding acupoint. The device consisted of two pieces of aluminum, each shaped like a horseshoe, so that the center of the device would not touch the skin. Participants perceived two heat stimuli as one when the distances of two heat sources were within 15 mm on the forearm. The thermal stimulation of the sham device was adjusted to the lowest possible temperature, but enough to elicit a heat sensation (39°C), while that of verum was set at around 44°C. The subject blinding, tested in 30 healthy volunteers, was successful. With the exception of 1 subject, subjects in the sham group described the sensation as a warm solid circle, unable to differentiate between two-pieced sham moxibustion and verum moxibustion. This preliminary study indicates that this device may serve as an appropriate control for clinical studies of moxibustion, but more research is clearly needed. A validated sham moxibustion device based on sensory illusion may contribute in expanding knowledge of somatosensory studies.

Effects of breathing variation on gating window internal target volume in respiratory gated radiation therapya)

To investigate the effects of breathing variation on gating window internal target volume (ITVGW) in respiratory gated radiation therapy. Two-dimensional dynamic MRI (dMRI) of lung motion was acquired in ten volunteers and eight lung cancer patients. Resorted dMRI using 4DCT acquisition method (RedCAM) was generated for selected subjects by simulating the image rebinning process. A dynamic software generated phantom (dSGP) was created by moving a solid circle (to mimic the "tumor") with dMRI-determined motion trajectories. The gating window internal target area (ITAGw, 2D counterpart of ITVGW) was determined from both RedCAM and dSGP/dMRI. Its area (A), major axis (L1), minor axis (L2), and similarity (S) were calculated and compared. In the phantom study of 3 cm tumor, measurements of the ITAGW from dSGP (A =10.0 +/- 1.3 cm2, L1=3.8 +/- 0.4 cm, and L2=3.3 +/- 0.1 cm) are significantly (p <0.001) greater than those from RedCAM (A=8.5 +/- 0.7 cm(2), L1 =3.5 +/- 0.2 cm, and L2=3.1 +/- 0.1 cm). Similarly, the differences are significantly greater (p <0.001) for the 1 cm tumor (A=1.9 +/- 0.5 cm(2), L1 =1.9 +/- 0.4 cm, and L2=1.3 +/- 0.1 cm in dSGP; A=l1.3 +/- 0.1 cm(2), L1=1.5 +/- 0.2 cm, and L2 = 1.1 +/- 0.1 cm in RedCAM). In patient studies, measurements of the ITAGW from dMRI (A =15.5 +/- 8.2 cm(2), Ll=5.0 +/- 1.1 cm, and L2=3.8 +/- 1.2 cm) are also significantly greater (p <0.05) than those from RedCAM (A=13.2 +/- 8.5 cm(2), L1=4.3 +/- 1.4 cm, and L2=3.7 +/- 1.2 cm). Similarities were 0.9 +/- 0.1, 0.8 +/- 0.1, and 0.8 +/- 0.1 in the 3 cm tumor phantom, 1 cm tumor phantom, and patient studies, respectively. ITVGW can be underestimated by 4DCT due to breathing variations. An additional margin may be needed to account for this potential error in generating a PTVGW. Cautions need to be taken when generating ITVGW from 4DCT in respiratory gated radiation therapy, especially for small tumors (<3 cm) with a large motion range (>1 cm).

Study on Lateral Stiffness for Flexicoil Circle Springs with Rubber Pads

In order to accurately obtain lateral stiffness of flexicoil circle spring with rubber pads, based on shear shape coefficient of solid and hollow thin-wall circle section, the shear shape coefficient of hollow circle section with different ratios between inner and outer diameter was obtained by difference method. By means of curve’s differential equations of elastic straight bar with uniform section, relations between forces and displacements as well as moments and rotation angles on end surfaces of spring and rubber pads was set up. According to the principle that force and moment under the connection surface between spring and rubber pad are the same and their signs are opposite, lateral stiffness of flexicoil circle spring with rubber pads was obtained. Calculation results show that in order to obtain accurate solution, correction factor of stiffness matrix must be considered when only lateral stiffness of spring is calculated, but the correction factor can not be considered when lateral stiffness of spring with rubber pads is calculated.

Marburg Virus in Fruit Bat, Kenya

Marburg Virus in Fruit Bat, Kenya

Shift of temporal responsivity curve of pattern reversal visually evoked potentials to lower frequencies in patients after recovery from optic neuritis

To investigate the responsivity of the visual system to pattern reversal stimuli of different reversal rates in optic neuritis patients after a full recovery of visual acuity. Thirty eyes with optic neuritis and 30 eyes of age-matched normal controls were studied. Steady-state pattern reversal visually evoked potentials (P-VEPs) were recorded using reversal rates of 2, 10, 20 and 30 Hz. The relationship between the amplitudes of the P-VEPs and reversal rate was analysed. The temporal responsivity curves of the two groups were compared. The means ± standard deviations (SDs) of the P-VEP amplitudes in the normal controls were 7.08 ± 2.97, 8.60 ± 2.37, 4.69 ± 1.99 and 2.11 ± 1.24 μV at reversal rates of 2, 10, 20 and 30 Hz, respectively. The comparable amplitudes from the recovered optic neuritis patients were 8.01 ± 2.45, 6.57 ± 2.54, 2.73 ± 1.76 and 0.94 ± 1.27 μV. The mean amplitude of the P-VEPs elicited at a reversal rate of 2 Hz was not significantly different from that of normal controls. However, the amplitudes of the P-VEPs at reversal rates of 10, 20 and 30 Hz were significantly smaller in the recovered optic neuritis patients than in the controls. In addition, the average maximum amplitude of the P-VEPs was obtained at 10 Hz in normal subjects and at 2 Hz in the recovered optic neuritis patients. These results indicate that the peak of the temporal tuning curve of the P-VEP shifts to lower frequencies in recovered optic neuritis eyes, and that the reduced amplitudes at higher frequencies seem to be characteristic of the visual system of patients with recovered optic neuritis.

Atomistic study of the mechanical response of copper nanowires under torsion

The length, loading rate and thermal effects on the torsional response of hollow copper nanowires are investigated with molecular dynamics simulation. Evolution of atomic configuration is studied, which shows that partial dislocations nucleated from the surfaces accommodate the plastic deformation of the nanowires under torsion. With the increase in torsional angle, necking appears and the corresponding cross-section transforms from a hollow square to a solid circle. Meanwhile, atomic rearrangement from being amorphous to fcc occurs, which becomes more obvious at higher loading rates. To understand the relation between material and geometrical instabilities, the torsional buckling mode is also investigated and found to strongly depend on both wire length and temperature.