Co-seismic deformation for the 2015 M_(W)7.8 Gorkha earthquake(Nepal)using near-field GPS data

Seasonal variations and common mode errors affect the precision of the Global Positioning System(GPS)time series.In this paper,we explore to improve the precision of coordinate time series,thereby providing a better detection of weak or transient deformation signals,particularly co-seismic signals.Based on 97 GPS stations,including the campaign and continuous GPS stations in Nepal and southern Tibet,we first consider seasonal variations and common errors,then obtain co-seismic deformation of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal and southern Tibet.Our co-seismic rupture model is characterized by a shallow ramp and a deeper detachment fault,in agreement with the relocated aftershock sequence.Our results indicate that the earthquake rupture is mainly distributed in the upper-crustal fault,and the maximum slip is up to 8.0 m at~15.0 km depth located in the approximate-80 km east of the epicenter.The average slip is more than 5 m,and the total modelled magnitude is M_(W)7.84,consistent with the observed seismic moment.Our rupture model for the 2015 Gorkha earthquake suggests that the rupture zone is not only in the upper crustal Main Himalayan Thrust(MHT),but also spreads to the northern segment of the MHT.

Use of specific acupuncture techniques in lingering nummular eczema:A case report

Background:Nummular eczema(NE)is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by pruritic coinshaped lesions and a long-lasting and easy-relapsing course,which severely decreases patients’quality of life.This case was designed to observe the effects of specific acupuncture techniques on pruritic NE management.Case presentation:A 22-year-old female was first diagnosed with pruritic NE three years earlier.No allergies were found in the patch test;while emotional stress would trigger and aggravate the NE.External application of 0.1%tacrolimus failed to reverse this condition over a long period of treatment.Treatment&outcomes:An individualized acupuncture treatment protocol was identified.Half needling and encircling needling were applied at local eczematous lesions,with routine needling at meridian points,once per week,for 12 treatment sessions.All outcome measures,including the Eczema Area and Severity Index,Visual Analogue Scale score for pruritus,Self-Rating Anxiety Score,and Dermatology Quality Life Index,substantially improved over 6 months from pre-treatment to 3 months posttreatment.Conclusion:Acupuncture might be a promising non-pharmacological treatment method for patients with NE,especially for those with emotional stress.A randomized controlled trial with an adequate sample size and rigorous study design is required to verify the results of the study.

Efficient Anti-Glare Ceramic Decals Defect Detection by Incorporating Homomorphic Filtering

Nowadays the computer vision technique has widely found applicationsin industrial manufacturing process to improve their efficiency. However, it ishardly applied in the field of daily ceramic detection due to the following twokey reasons: (1) Low detection accuracy as a result of ceramic glare, and (2) Lackof efficient detection algorithms. To tackle these problems, a homomorphic filtering based anti-glare ceramic decals defect detection technique is proposed in thispaper. Considering that smooth ceramic surface usually causes glare effects andleads to low detection results, in our approach, the ceramic samples are takenin low light environment and their luminance and details restored by a homomorphic filtering based image enhancement technique. With relatively high quality preprocessed images, an effective ceramic decal defect detection algorithm isthen designed to rapidly locate those out-of-bounds defects and further estimatetheir size. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme could achieveits desired performance.

Comparative pilot study on the effects of pulsating and static cupping on non-specific neck pain and local skin blood perfusion

Objective:To compare the effects of pulsating and static cupping on non-specific neck pain and local skin microcirculation blood perfusion,which is a pilot study.Methods:Seventy participants with non-specific neck pain were randomized to the following groups:low-frequency pulsating cupping(LF,n=20);high-frequency pulsating cupping(HF,n=20);static cupping(SC,n=20),or waiting list(WL,n=10).The LF,HF,and SC received a bilateral 10-minute cupping treatment at Jianzhongshu(SI 15).Outcomes were pain intensity(visual analog scale,VAS),functional status(Neck Disability Index,NDI),and skin blood perfusion at the SI 15,Dazhui(GV 14),and Shenzhu(GV 12)acupoint areas,measured using Laser Speckle Contrast Analysis technology.Results:Both LF and HF groups showed a significant reduction in VAS scores compared with the SC group(9.00,95%Cl 1.05-16.95,P=.027;8.75,95%CI 0.80-16.70,P=.031).There was no significant difference in VAS scores between the LF and HF groups(P>.05)and between NDI scores measured 3 days after intervention among the four groups(P>.05).In the SI 15 area,blood perfusion in the three treatment groups was higher than that in WL group(P<.01),and the perfusion unit(PU)of the HF pulsating group at 5 minutes after intervention was significantly higher compared with the SC group(P<.05).In the GV 14 area,blood perfusion in the two pulsating cupping groups was higher compared with the WL and SC groups after cupping(P<.05).In the GV 12 area,the PU of the LF group was higher compared with the other three groups only at the time of cup removal(P<.05).Conclusion:This study showed that pulsating cupping may have more favorable analgesic effects on non-specific neck pain compared with static cupping,which may be related to its better effect on improving the local skin blood perfusion.

Influence of colloidal nanosilica on hydration kinetics and properties of CaO/CaSO_(4)-activated slag binder

To solve the energy consumption and CO_(2) emission during cement production,the new binders must be developed as an alternative to cement.CaO/CaSO_(4)-activated slag binder is an eco-friendly and safe cementitious material;however,its low strength during initial stages limits its applications.In this study,colloidal nanosilica(CNS)was employed as an additive to improve the strength of CaO/CaSO_(4)-activated slag binder,and the effects of CNS on the workability,hydration kinetics,hydration products(type,quantity,and polymerization degree),and binder microstructure were thoroughly investigated.A moderate CNS content,through its nucleation effect,significantly increased the hydration rate of the nucleation and crystal growth(NG),phase boundary interaction(I)and diffusion(D)processes,which generated large quantities of calcium aluminosilicate hydrate(C-A-S-H)gel in the initial hydration stage.Meanwhile,the addition of CNS improved the polymerization degree of C-A-S-H gel.This amorphous reactant well-filled the pore space between slag particles and yielded a compact microstructure,consequently enhancing the binder strength.Considering the reduction in fluidity and the increase in production cost,the CNS mass fraction was controlled as3%,and the binder reached the satisfactory strengths of 3.87,24.47,31.43,and 41.78 MPa at 1,3,7,and 28 d,respectively.

An Effective Steganalysis Algorithm for Histogram-Shifting Based Reversible Data Hiding

To measure the security for hot searched reversible data hiding(RDH)technique,especially for the common-used histogram-shifting based RDH(denoted as HS-RDH),several steganalysis schemes are designed to detect whether some secret data has been hidden in a normal-looking image.However,conventional steganalysis schemes focused on the previous RDH algorithms,i.e.,some early spatial/pixel domain-based histogram-shifting(HS)schemes,which might cause great changes in statistical characteristics and thus be easy to be detected.For recent improved methods,such as some adaptive prediction error(PE)based embedding schemes,those conventional schemes might be invalid,since those adaptive embedding mechanism would effectively reduce the embedding trace and thus increase the difficulty of steganalysis.Therefore,a novel steganalysis method is proposed in this paper to detect recent adaptive RDH schemes and provide a more effective detection tool for RDH.The contributions of this paper could be summarized as follows.(1)By analyzing the characteristics for those adaptive HS-RDH,an effective“flat ground”based detection method is designed to fast identify whether the given image is used to hide secret data;(2)According to the empirical statistical model,double check mechanism is provided to improve the detection accuracy;(3)In addition,to further improve detection ability,some detailed information for secret data,i.e.,its content and embedding location are further estimated.Compared with conventional steganalysis methods,experimental results indicate that our proposed algorithm could achieve a better detection accuracy and meanwhile acquire more detailed information on secret data.