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Enhanced colour encoding of materials discrimination information for multiple view dual-energy x-ray imaging
No full textThis thesis reports an investigation into dual-energy X-ray discrimination techniques. These techniques are designed to provide colour-coded materials discrimination information in a sequence of perspective images exhibiting sequential parallax. The methods developed are combined with a novel 3D imaging technique employing depth from motion or kinetic depth effect (KDE). This technique when applied to X-ray images is termed KDEX imaging and was developed previously by the university team for luggage screening applications at security checkpoints. A primary motivation for this research is that the dual-energy X-ray techniques, which are routinely incorporated into ‘standard’ 2D luggage scanners, provide relatively crude materials discrimination information. In this work it was critical that robust materials discrimination and colour encoding process was implemented as the sequential parallax exhibited by the KDEX imagery may introduce colour changes, due to the different X-ray beam paths associated with each perspective image. Any introduction of ‘colour noise’ into the resultant image sequences could affect the perception of depth and hinder the ongoing assessment of the potential utility of the dual-energy KDEX technique. Two dual-energy discrimination methods have been developed, termed K-II and W-E respectively. Employing the total amount of attenuation measured at each energy level and the weight fraction of layered structures, a combination of the K-II and the W-E techniques enables the computation and extraction of a target objects’ effective atomic number (Zeff) and its surface density (ρS) in the presence of masking layers
Service robotics : robot-assisted training for stroke rehabilitation
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Raymond Kai-yu TongVersion of RecordPublishedC
The etiology of esophageal cancer in high- and low- risk areas of Jiangsu province, China
No full text [Background]Esophageal cancer (EC) remains one of the most common and fatal malignancies worldwide. The geographic variation in EC occurrence is striking, and China is an area with one of the highest incidences of EC. A number of epidemiological studies have been conducted toward EC in the past decades, results suggested that tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy dietary factors and chronic injuries of the esophageal mucosa are important in the development of this disease. Genetic polymorphisms in enzymes involved in metabolism of carcinogens may also influence individual susceptibility. However, the effects of major lifestyle and hereditary risk factors on the development of EC remain poorly understood in China. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the etiological heterogeneity between similar areas with great risk gradient. [Methods]From 2003 to 2007, a large population-based case-control study of EC has been conducted in a selected high-risk area and a selected low-risk area of Jiangsu Province, one of the highest cancer incidence areas in China. In total, 1,520 cases and 3,879 controls were recruited. In this thesis, we evaluated the role of major lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and dietary factors, as well as inherited determinants including family history of cancer and genetic polymorphisms of alcohol-metabolizing related genes on the risk of EC. In addition, we investigated how much of the risk gradient between two areas could be explained by variation in the distributions of major risk factors. [Results] Tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking moderately increased the risk of EC, while the positive associations were only found among men but not among women. Dietary factors were observed to play important roles in the development of EC. Specific dietary habits i.e., fast eating speed, and hot eating and/or drinking substantially elevated EC risk and could explain more than 20% of EC cases each. High intake of salty foods and fried foods, low consumption of raw garlic were also observed to increase the risk of EC. In addition to environmental and lifestyle factors, we confirmed that a positive family history can significantly increase EC risk, and found the inheritance may modify the effect of some unhealthy lifestyles. Moreover, we further explored the relationship between EC and single nucleotide polymorphismsof ADH1B, ADH1C and ALDH2 genes. Results showed that the slow metabolizing ADH1B G allele, ADH1C G allele and ALDH2 A allele significantly increased EC risk among moderate-to-heavy alcohol drinkers, and a significant interaction was observed between ALDH2 gene and alcohol consumption. Lastly, we found that more than 60% of EC cases could be attributable to major lifestyle risk factors in the study population; furthermore, dissimilar distribution of several lifestyle factors, together with variations of hereditary factors may be largely responsible for the incidence difference between two study areas. [Conclusion]The findings in this thesis confirm that unhealthy lifestyles including smoking, alcohol drinking and some dietary factors are the predominant risk factors of EC in China, and a large proportion of incidence difference between regions at varying risk could be attributed to the different prevalence of lifestyle factors. As most of the identified risk factors are modifiable, these could be translated into risk reduction prevention programs in China, and a substantial proportion of new EC cases are expected to be prevented by eliminating or avoiding these risk factors in the population. </p
Tian yu hua: san shi hui. v.1
No full text陶貞懷.綫裝.框14.9x10.3公分, 106行28字. 黑口, 左右雙邊, 單黑魚尾. 版心上鐫回次, 下鐫葉次.書名據內封面 ; 作者據原序.內封面鐫"道光辛丑春鐫, 鑒定秘本, 宏道堂藏板".Tao Zhenhuai.Xian zhuang.Kuang 14.9 x 10.3 gong fen, 10 hang 28 zi. Hei kou, zuo you shuang bian, dan hei yu wei. Ban xin shang juan hui ci, xia juan ye ci.Shu ming ju nei feng mian ; zuo zhe ju yuan xu.Nei feng mian juan "Daoguang xin chou chun juan, jian ding mi ben, Hong dao tang cang ban"
Toward an understanding of thermal X-ray emission of pulsars
No full textWe present a theoretical model for the thermal X-ray emission properties and cooling behaviors of isolated pulsars, assuming that pulsars are solid quark stars. We calculate the heat capacity for such a quark star, including the component of the crystalline lattice and that of the extremely relativistic electron gas. The results show that the residual thermal energy cannot sustain the observed thermal X-ray luminosities seen in typical isolated X-ray pulsars. We conclude that other heating mechanisms must be in operation if the pulsars are in fact solid quark stars. Two possible heating mechanisms are explored. Firstly, for pulsars with little magnetospheric activities, accretion from the interstellar medium or from the material in the associated supernova remnants may power the observed thermal emission. In the propeller regime, a disk-accretion rate M similar to 1% of the Eddington rate with an accretion onto the stellar surface at a rate of similar to 0.1%M could explain the observed emission luminosities of the dim isolated neutron stars and the central compact objects. Secondly, for pulsars with significant magnetospheric activities, the pulsar spindown luminosities may have been as the sources of the thermal energy via reversing plasma current flows. A phenomenological study between pulsar bolometric X-ray luminosities and the spin energy loss rates presents the probable existence of a 1 /2-law or a linear law, i.e. L-bol(infinity) proportional to (E) over dot(1/2) or L-bol(infinity) proportional to (E) over dot. This result together with the thermal properties of solid quark stars allow us to calculate the thermal evolution of such stars. Thermal evolution curves, or cooling curves, are calculated and compared with the 'temperature-age' data obtained from 17 active X-ray pulsars. It is shown that the bolometric X-ray observations of these sources are consistent with the solid quark star pulsar model. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Astronomy & AstrophysicsPhysics, Particles & FieldsSCI(E)EI3ARTICLE6493-5023
Correction to: IGFM: An Enhanced Graph Similarity Computation Method with Fine-Grained Analysis (Data Science and Engineering, (2025), 10.1007/s41019-024-00278-3)
No full textIn this article Min Pei was incorrectly denoted as the corresponding author but it should have been Jianke Yu. The original article has been corrected
Myoelectrically controlled wrist robot for stroke rehabilitation
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Kai-yu Tong2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishedC
Evidence for the decay X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ
No full textEvidence for the decay mode X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ in B+→X(3872)K+ decays is found with a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb−1, collected with the LHCb detector, at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The ratio of the branching fraction of the X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ decay to that of the X(3872)→J/ψγ decay is measured to be
where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The measured value does not support a pure molecular interpretation of the X(3872) state
Anomalous response of an elastic-plastic structural model to impulsive loading
No full textTo simulate the response of a pin-ended elastic-plastic beam, a nonlinear structural model, i.e., a double-tier-spring model is analyzed to follow its deformation process after it is subjected to impulsive loading. After examining the first integral of the equation of motion, in the final elastic vibration, combined with other conditions, a region in the parameter's map is found in which the anomalous behavior (i.e., a negative-negative vibration) appears. This model is proved to be equivalent to the Shanley-type model adopted in previous analyses, but the present approach provides new results in a more complete way.SCI(E)EI0ARTICLE4868-8735
Spatially dispersing Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in the unconventional superconductor FeTe<sub>0.55</sub>Se<sub>0.45</sub>
No full textBy using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) we find and characterize dispersive, energy-symmetric in-gap states in the iron-based superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45, a material that exhibits signatures of topological superconductivity, and Majorana bound states at vortex cores or at impurity locations. We use a superconducting STM tip for enhanced energy resolution, which enables us to show that impurity states can be tuned through the Fermi level with varying tip-sample distance. We find that the impurity state is of the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) type, and argue that the energy shift is caused by the low superfluid density in FeTe0.55Se0.45, which allows the electric field of the tip to slightly penetrate the sample. We model the newly introduced tip-gating scenario within the single-impurity Anderson model and find good agreement to the experimental data.QN/van der Zant La
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