Feasibility of a Low-Power, Low-Resolution Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Instrument for Analysis of Nickel Alloys: Quantification of the Major Alloying Elements and Classification.

A simple cost-effective laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument was used for quantification of major elements in several nickel alloys and also sorting them. A compact low-power diode-pumped solid-state laser and a miniature low-resolution spectrometer were assembled for the LIBS instrument. Material properties of the nickel alloys depend mainly on the composition of the major elements, Ni, Cr, and Fe, ranging from a few to ∼60 wt%. The emission peaks at 547.7 nm, 520.4 nm, and 438.1 nm for Ni, Cr, and Fe, respectively, were chosen for this analysis. The analytical performance was found to be enough for the quantification of Ni, Cr, and Fe in the nickel alloys. Limits of detection and accuracy were estimated to be a few weight percent (wt%) and measurement precisions were less than 10% in terms of relative standard deviation. The calibration performance of this intensity-based method was compared with that of the "ratio method" which is used in conventional optical emission spectroscopy analyses. The comparison indicates that the intensity-based method is more appropriate with the low-performance LIBS instrument that detects emission peaks of only a few major elements. Also, multivariate modeling of the six different nickel alloy samples based on the emission peak intensities of Ni, Cr, and Fe was performed using k-nearest neighbors (KNN) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The KNN and ordinary LDA models showed 95.0% and 98.3% classification correctness for the separate test data set, respectively. To improve classification performance further, the two-step LDA model was trained. In this approach, the two closest sample classes responsible for the decrease in the classification correctness were separately modeled in the second step to exploit their difference effectively. The two-step LDA model showed 100% correctness in classifying the test objects. Our results indicate that such a low-performance LIBS instrument can be effectively utilized for quantitative analysis of the major elements in the nickel alloys and their rapid identification or sorting in combination with an appropriate multivariate modeling algorithm.

Floristic inventory and distribution characteristics of algific talus slopes in a specific area of forest biodiversity in South Korea.

Background: This study conducted a survey for establishing in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures for northern lineage plants that are vulnerable to climate change and for designating Forest Genetic Resource Reserve for 25 algific talus slope sites, which are specific areas of forest biodiversity. The survey was conducted in South Korea within a distance of 50 m to the east, west, north and south from the core area where wind blows to the algific talus slopes. The study was conducted once or twice per season from April 2016 to November 2021. New information: Vascular plants of 25 algific talus slope sites in South Korea included a total of 1,052 taxa of 125 families, 486 genera, 947 species, 23 subspecies, 75 variety and 7 forma. The maximum surveyed area was 0.09 km2, accounting for only 0.00014% of the 62,860 km2 forest area in Korea, but comprise 22.27% of the 4,724 species of vascular plants in Korea. The algific talus slopes are areas rich in forest biodiversity. Six taxa were categorized as endangered, including Paeoniaobovata Maxim. Sixty-seven taxa, including Astilboidestabularis (Hemsl.) Engl.; 58 taxa endemic to the Korean Peninsula, including Weigelasubsessilis (Nakai) L.H. Bailey; and 317 taxa of floristic target plants were categorized as rare plants in the Red list. Further, 181 taxa were identified as northern lineage plants and 32 taxa, including Sillaphytonpodagraria (H. Boissieu) Pimenov, were limestone area plants. Regarding alien plants, 75 taxa, including Oenotherabiennis L., were identified and the naturalization and urbanization rates were 7.13% and 12.12%, respectively. Plants specific to the phytogeography of the 25 algific talus slope sites in this study were Vacciniumvitis-idaea L., Rosakoreana Kom., SyringavillosaVahlsubsp.wolfii (C.K. Schneid.) Jin Y.Chen & D.Y. Hong, Lonicerachrysantha Turcz. ex Ledeb., Tephroserisflammea (Turcz. ex DC.) Holub, among others.

Visual Algorithm of VR E-Sports for Online Health Care.

The need for non-face-to-face online health care has emerged through the era of "untact". However, there is a lack of standardization work and research cases on the exercise effect of immersive content. In this study, the possibility of the exercise effect of VR e-sports among e-sports cases were presented through a visual algorithm analysis. In addition, the evaluation criteria were established. The research method compares and analyzes e-sports cases and VR e-sports cases by applying existing evaluation research cases. It also sets up a new evaluation standard. As for the analysis result, the device immersion method and interaction range were set through an algorithm analysis; FOV and frame immersion were set through typification; the user recognition method and interaction method were set through the visual diagram. Then, each derived result value was quantified and a new evaluation criterion was proposed.

χ-separation: Magnetic susceptibility source separation toward iron and myelin mapping in the brain.

Obtaining a histological fingerprint from the in-vivo brain has been a long-standing target of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In particular, non-invasive imaging of iron and myelin, which are involved in normal brain functions and are histopathological hallmarks in neurodegenerative diseases, has practical utilities in neuroscience and medicine. Here, we propose a biophysical model that describes the individual contribution of paramagnetic (e.g., iron) and diamagnetic (e.g., myelin) susceptibility sources to the frequency shift and transverse relaxation of MRI signals. Using this model, we develop a method, χ-separation, that generates the voxel-wise distributions of the two sources. The method is validated using computer simulation and phantom experiments, and applied to ex-vivo and in-vivo brains. The results delineate the well-known histological features of iron and myelin in the specimen, healthy volunteers, and multiple sclerosis patients. This new technology may serve as a practical tool for exploring the microstructural information of the brain.

A Novel Model on Reinforce K-Means Using Location Division Model and Outlier of Initial Value for Lowering Data Cost.

Today, semi-structured and unstructured data are mainly collected and analyzed for data analysis applicable to various systems. Such data have a dense distribution of space and usually contain outliers and noise data. There have been ongoing research studies on clustering algorithms to classify such data (outliers and noise data). The K-means algorithm is one of the most investigated clustering algorithms. Researchers have pointed out a couple of problems such as processing clustering for the number of clusters, K, by an analyst through his or her random choices, producing biased results in data classification through the connection of nodes in dense data, and higher implementation costs and lower accuracy according to the selection models of the initial centroids. Most K-means researchers have pointed out the disadvantage of outliers belonging to external or other clusters instead of the concerned ones when K is big or small. Thus, the present study analyzed problems with the selection of initial centroids in the existing K-means algorithm and investigated a new K-means algorithm of selecting initial centroids. The present study proposed a method of cutting down clustering calculation costs by applying an initial center point approach based on space division and outliers so that no objects would be subordinate to the initial cluster center for dependence lower from the initial cluster center. Since data containing outliers could lead to inappropriate results when they are reflected in the choice of a center point of a cluster, the study proposed an algorithm to minimize the error rates of outliers based on an improved algorithm for space division and distance measurement. The performance experiment results of the proposed algorithm show that it lowered the execution costs by about 13-14% compared with those of previous studies when there was an increase in the volume of clustering data or the number of clusters. It also recorded a lower frequency of outliers, a lower effectiveness index, which assesses performance deterioration with outliers, and a reduction of outliers by about 60%.

Beet root (Beta vulgaris) protects lipopolysaccharide and alcohol-induced liver damage in rat.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effects of beet root (Beta vulgaris var. rubra) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and alcohol induced liver damage. Beta vulgaris ethanol extract (BVEE) showed good antioxidant activity in the contents of polyphenol and flavonoid compounds, and the electron-donating ability and ABTS+ radical scavenging activity. As for anti-inflammatory effect in RAW 264.7 cells, inhibition rate of nitric oxide production was increased in dose dependent manner. In hepatotoxicity model induced by LPS and alcohol in rat, BVEE significantly decreased serum AST, ALT and γ-GTP concentrations in a dose-dependent manner. The histopathological changes after H&E staining showed that fat accumulation and inflammatory cell infiltration were decreased by BVEE. The collagen fibers around the central lobule observed by Masson's trichrome staining were also decreased by BVEE. In addition, as for the immunohistochemical staining and Transmission electron microscopy, BVEE improved morphological characteristics of damaged liver lesion. The increased mRNA expressions of NF-κB, MAPK1, MAPK3, CYP2E1, and α-SMA were significantly decreased in BVEE treated group. These results indicated that BVEE would have protective effects in hepatotoxicity by altering various indicators related to the liver damage induced by LPS or alcohol.

Correction to: Beet root (Beta vulgaris) protects lipopolysaccharide and alcohol­induced liver damage in rat.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s43188-019-00030-4.].

Face Recognition at a Distance for a Stand-Alone Access Control System.

Although access control based on human face recognition has become popular in consumer applications, it still has several implementation issues before it can realize a stand-alone access control system. Owing to a lack of computational resources, lightweight and computationally efficient face recognition algorithms are required. The conventional access control systems require significant active cooperation from the users despite its non-aggressive nature. The lighting/illumination change is one of the most difficult and challenging problems for human-face-recognition-based access control applications. This paper presents the design and implementation of a user-friendly, stand-alone access control system based on human face recognition at a distance. The local binary pattern (LBP)-AdaBoost framework was employed for face and eyes detection, which is fast and invariant to illumination changes. It can detect faces and eyes of varied sizes at a distance. For fast face recognition with a high accuracy, the Gabor-LBP histogram framework was modified by substituting the Gabor wavelet with Gaussian derivative filters, which reduced the facial feature size by 40% of the Gabor-LBP-based facial features, and was robust to significant illumination changes and complicated backgrounds. The experiments on benchmark datasets produced face recognition accuracies of 97.27% on an E-face dataset and 99.06% on an XM2VTS dataset, respectively. The system achieved a 91.5% true acceptance rate with a 0.28% false acceptance rate and averaged a 5.26 frames/sec processing speed on a newly collected face image and video dataset in an indoor office environment.

Trans-tendon suture bridge rotator cuff repair with tenotomized pathologic biceps tendon augmentation in high-grade PASTA lesions.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether trans-tendon suture bridge repair with tenotomized pathologic biceps tendon augmentation improves mid-term clinical outcomes for high-grade partial articular-sided supraspinatus tendon avulsion (PASTA) lesions or not. METHODS: A retrospective review of a consecutive series of arthroscopic trans-tendon suture bridge repair with tenotomized pathologic biceps tendon augmentation was conducted. Total 115 patients (44 men and 71 women) with minimum 2 years follow-up were enrolled in our study. Their mean age was 59.7 ± 7.6 (38-77) years and mean follow-up were 6.9 ± 2.5 (2 ~ 10) years. Clinical assessment and radiological outcomes using post-operative MRI were evaluated at last follow-up. RESULTS: All these tears were high-grade PASTA lesions in which mean cuff tear size (exposed footprint) was anteroposterior length 15.7 ± 6.3 mm (5-25 mm) and mediolateral width 10.1 ± 3.6 mm 6.4 mm (5-16 mm). At last follow-up, mean pain VAS, ASES, UCLA, and SST scores were improved from pre-operative values of 5, 59, 21, and 7 to post-operative values of 1, 84.4, 29.5, and 9.4, respectively (p value < 0.001). ROM such as forward flexion, abduction, and internal rotation to the back were improved from a pre-operative mean of 148° (±24), 144° (±24), L2 (Buttock-T7) to a post-operative mean of 161° (±10), 160.0° (±12), and T12 (L3-T5), respectively (p value < 0.001). Follow-up MRI showed Sugaya classification type I in 24 patients (20.9%), type II in 78 patients (67.8%), type III in 11 patients (9.6%) and type 4 in 2 patients (1.7%) were found. As complications, shoulder stiffness was found in five patients, Popeye deformity in two patients and retear in two patients. Revision surgery of the retear was performed in 2 patients. At the last follow-up, 17% (20/115 patients) reported occasional discomfort at the extremes of range of motion during a heavy work or sports activities. CONCLUSIONS: In high-grade PASTA lesions, arthroscopic trans-tendon suture bridge repair with tenotomized pathologic biceps tendon augmentation could be a useful treatment modality capable of preserving rotator cuff footprint, providing simultaneous biceps tenodesis, inducing better tendon healing and possibly preventing tendon buckling and residual pain of the conventional trans-tendon repair methods. These specific methods showed satisfactory outcomes and decreased residual shoulder discomfort (17%) at mid-term follow-up. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, Retrospective case study.

A Comparison of Open-Construct PEEK Suture Anchor and Non-Vented Biocomposite Suture Anchor in Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: A Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: To compare radiologic bone ingrowth and the clinical outcomes of an open-construct (PEEK) (polyether ether ketone) suture anchor with those of a non-vented biocomposite suture anchor in patients with arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. METHODS: Sixty-nine patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups based on type of suture anchors used for rotator cuff repair; group 1: open-construct PEEK anchor (36 patients), group 2: non-vented biocomposite anchor (33 patients). The status of bone ingrowth into the anchor and the presence of cyst formation were evaluated at 6 months postoperatively by computed tomography scan using the Modified Barber's ossification scale. The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, Constant score, and visual analog scale score for pain and range of motion were evaluated. Magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasonography was performed at 12 months postoperatively to examine the integrity of the repaired rotator cuff tendon. RESULTS: Significant improvements in shoulder function and pain relief were observed regardless of the anchor used (both Group 1 and 2; P < .001). No differences were found in functional scores and range of motion between the 2 groups. Group 1 showed better bone ingrowth grades than group 2 (poor 2.8 vs 24.2%, fair 27.8 vs 39.4%, good 38.9 vs 33.3%, and excellent 30.6 vs 3.0%; P < .001). The rate of cyst formation around the anchor on the 6 months' postoperative computed tomography (group 1: 14% and group 2: 12%) and re-tear rate at 12 months (5% each) showed no difference between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Shoulder function was improved after complete rotator cuff repair and similar clinical outcomes were achieved regardless of suture anchor material and shape. However, the open-construct PEEK anchor provided better bone ingrowth into the anchor than the non-vented biocomposite anchor at 6 months after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I; Prospective Randomized Trial.

The Frequency of Occult Intertrochanteric Fractures among Individuals with Isolated Greater Trochanteric Fractures.

PURPOSE: Isolated greater trochanteric (GT) fractures are often identified using plain radiography of patients with post-traumatic hip pain. In many cases, the fracture extends to form an occult intertrochanteric fracture. We conducted a study to determine the frequency of occult intertrochanteric fractures in patients diagnosed with isolated GT fractures using plain radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among 3,017 individuals who visited our emergency department with a trauma-induced pertrochanteric femur fracture between July 2004 and March 2018, 100 patients diagnosed with isolated GT fractures using plain radiographs were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups, those with: i) isolated GT fractures (group A) and ii) occult intertrochanteric fractures (group B). In addition, plain radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging results, and treatment methods were further analyzed in each group. If surgery treatment was needed, it was performed by one surgeon, and in all cases, a 2-hole dynamic hip screw was used. RESULTS: Among the 100 cases of isolated GT fractures diagnosed using plain radiograph, additional examinations revealed that 10 (10.0%) were suffering from isolated GT fractures alone, while the remaining 90 (90.0%) were further diagnosed with occult intertrochanteric fracture. Gender, age, mechanism of injury, and bone mineral density did not correlate with fracture type. CONCLUSION: In our analysis, 90% of injuries initially diagnosed as isolated GT fractures were found to extend into occult intertrochanteric fractures upon further examination with additional imaging modalities. Therefore, additional evaluation should be performed to test for the potential presence of occult intertrochanteric fractures and to establish appropriate treatment plans.

Enhanced Cr(vi) removal using iron nanoparticle decorated graphene.

Nanoscale iron particles decorated graphene sheets synthesized via sodium borohydride reduction of graphene oxide, showed enhanced magnetic property, surface area and Cr(vi) adsorption capacity compared to bare iron nanoparticles.