This study predicts the characteristics of a compressible polytropic air spring model. A second-order nonlinear autonomous air spring model is presented. The proposed model is based on the assumption that polytropic p...This study predicts the characteristics of a compressible polytropic air spring model. A second-order nonlinear autonomous air spring model is presented. The proposed model is based on the assumption that polytropic processes occur. Isothermal and isentropic compression and expansion of the air within the spring chambers are the two scenarios that are taken into consideration. In these situations, the air inside the spring chambers compresses and expands, resulting in nonlinear spring restoring forces. The MATLAB/Simulink software environment is used to build a numerical simulation model for the dynamic behavior of the air spring. To quantify the values of the stiffnesses of the proposed models, a numerical solution is run over time for various values of the design parameters. The isentropic process case has a higher dynamic air spring stiffness than the isothermal process case, according to the results. The size of the air spring chamber and the area of the air spring piston influence the air spring stiffness in both situations. It is demonstrated that the stiffness of the air spring increases linearly with increasing piston area and decreases nonlinearly with increasing air chamber length. As long as the ratio of the vibration’s amplitude to the air spring’s chamber length is small, there is good agreement in both scenarios between the linearized model and the full nonlinear model. This implies that linear modeling is a reasonable approximation of the complete nonlinear model in this particular scenario.展开更多
The behavior of beams with variable stiffness subjected to the action of variable loadings (impulse or harmonic) is analyzed in this paper using the successive approximation method. This successive approximation metho...The behavior of beams with variable stiffness subjected to the action of variable loadings (impulse or harmonic) is analyzed in this paper using the successive approximation method. This successive approximation method is a technique for numerical integration of partial differential equations involving both the space and time, with well-known initial conditions on time and boundary conditions on the space. This technique, although having been applied to beams with constant stiffness, is new for the case of beams with variable stiffness, and it aims to use a quadratic parabola (in time) to approximate the solutions of the differential equations of dynamics. The spatial part is studied using the successive approximation method of the partial differential equations obtained, in order to transform them into a system of time-dependent ordinary differential equations. Thus, the integration algorithm using this technique is established and applied to examples of beams with variable stiffness, under variable loading, and with the different cases of supports chosen in the literature. We have thus calculated the cases of beams with constant or variable rigidity with articulated or embedded supports, subjected to the action of an instantaneous impulse and harmonic loads distributed over its entire length. In order to justify the robustness of the successive approximation method considered in this work, an example of an articulated beam with constant stiffness subjected to a distributed harmonic load was calculated analytically, and the results obtained compared to those found numerically for various steps (spatial h and temporal τ ¯ ) of calculus, and the difference between the values obtained by the two methods was small. For example for ( h=1/8 , τ ¯ =1/ 64 ), the difference between these values is 17%.展开更多
目的探究磁共振弹性成像(Magnetic resonance elastography,MRE)在宫颈癌的临床价值。材料与方法本研究前瞻性地招募39名病理诊断为宫颈癌的患者(宫颈癌组),并招募39名年龄、体质指数(body mass index,BMI)相匹配的健康女性志愿者(健康...目的探究磁共振弹性成像(Magnetic resonance elastography,MRE)在宫颈癌的临床价值。材料与方法本研究前瞻性地招募39名病理诊断为宫颈癌的患者(宫颈癌组),并招募39名年龄、体质指数(body mass index,BMI)相匹配的健康女性志愿者(健康对照组)进行宫颈常规磁共振扫描和频率为60 Hz的MRE检查。测量两组受试者宫颈的弹性值以及宫颈癌组肿瘤的体积及浸润深度,收集宫颈癌组患者的肿瘤分期。选择配对样本t检验比较宫颈癌组和健康对照组的弹性值,采用Spearman秩相关系数及受试者工作特征(receiver operating characteristic,ROC)曲线分析弹性值、肿瘤体积和浸润深度与宫颈癌分期间的相关性及诊断宫颈癌分期的效能。结果宫颈癌患者组的平均弹性值[(5.76±0.99)kPa]显著高于健康对照组[(2.94±0.25)kPa;P<0.001]。弹性值、肿瘤体积及浸润深度在早期(≤ⅡA期)、晚期(≥ⅡB期)宫颈癌之间差异存在统计学意义,且与宫颈癌分期呈正相关(r=0.439、0.384、0.322;P均<0.05)。弹性值的诊断效能优于肿瘤体积和浸润深度,ROC曲线下面积(area under the curve,AUC)分别为0.754、0.722、0.687。结论MRE技术可以作为一种非侵入性的辅助检查手段,帮助宫颈癌的诊断和分期评估,在宫颈癌研究和治疗策略的制订中具有潜在的临床应用前景。展开更多
Background: Analysis of arterial stiffness (AS) is a good marker of early arterial disease and an important determinant of cardiovascular risk, independent of other traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Carotid-fem...Background: Analysis of arterial stiffness (AS) is a good marker of early arterial disease and an important determinant of cardiovascular risk, independent of other traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CfPWV) is the gold standard to evaluate arterial stiffness. There is evidence that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a higher arterial stiffness than their age-matched healthy counterparts and thus have higher cardiovascular (CV) risk. However, data on arterial stiffness in African rheumatoid arthritis patients is scarce. Objectives: To determine the patterns of arterial stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis patients in a sub-Saharan African setting, using CfPWV and Augmentation index (AIx). Method: We conducted a case-control study, at the Douala general hospital over four months (February to May 2018) on 63 subjects among which 31 RA patients matched for age and sex with 32 healthy subjects. AIx and CfPWV were determined non-invasively by radial pulse wave analysis and carotid femoral wave analysis respectively, using a sphygmocor Atcor device (SphygmoCor, PWV Medical, Sydney, Australia). Results: The mean age of RA patients was 47 ± 14 years with most of them being females (n = 26, 83.9%). CfPWV was significantly higher in RA patients compared to the control group (mean: 8.85 ± 2.1 vs 7.45 ± 1.38;p ≤ 0.01) as well as was AIx (Median: 33 [26 - 43] vs 26 [20 - 31];p = 0.01). RA (OR: 6.105;95% CI: 1.52 - 24.54;p 1.34;95% CI: 1.14 - 5.17;p = 0.05), elevated CRP levels (OR: 4.01;95% CI: 1.16 - 13.68;p = 0.03) and Hypertension (OR: 5.75;95% CI: 1.24 -11.60;p Conclusion: Arterial stiffness, a well-recognized marker of cardiovascular risk is increased among patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis when compared to a healthy control group.展开更多
Truck frames should be designed and fabricated with enough rigidity to avoid excessive deflections. Finite element analysis (FEA) plays an important role in all stages of frame designs. While being accurate, 3D solid ...Truck frames should be designed and fabricated with enough rigidity to avoid excessive deflections. Finite element analysis (FEA) plays an important role in all stages of frame designs. While being accurate, 3D solid element FEA models are built upon frame configuration details which are not feasible in the preliminary design stage, partially because of limited available design data of frames and heavy computation costs. This research develops 1D beam element FEA models for simulating frame structures. In this paper, the CAD model of a truck frame is first created. The solid element FEA analysis, which is adopted as the baseline in this study, is subsequently conducted for the stiffness of the frame, Next, beam element FEA analysis is performed for validating the feasibility of the beam element FEA model by comparing the results from the solid and beam element FEA models. It is found that the beam element FEA model can predict the frame stiffness with acceptable accuracy and reduce the computation cost significantly.展开更多
文摘This study predicts the characteristics of a compressible polytropic air spring model. A second-order nonlinear autonomous air spring model is presented. The proposed model is based on the assumption that polytropic processes occur. Isothermal and isentropic compression and expansion of the air within the spring chambers are the two scenarios that are taken into consideration. In these situations, the air inside the spring chambers compresses and expands, resulting in nonlinear spring restoring forces. The MATLAB/Simulink software environment is used to build a numerical simulation model for the dynamic behavior of the air spring. To quantify the values of the stiffnesses of the proposed models, a numerical solution is run over time for various values of the design parameters. The isentropic process case has a higher dynamic air spring stiffness than the isothermal process case, according to the results. The size of the air spring chamber and the area of the air spring piston influence the air spring stiffness in both situations. It is demonstrated that the stiffness of the air spring increases linearly with increasing piston area and decreases nonlinearly with increasing air chamber length. As long as the ratio of the vibration’s amplitude to the air spring’s chamber length is small, there is good agreement in both scenarios between the linearized model and the full nonlinear model. This implies that linear modeling is a reasonable approximation of the complete nonlinear model in this particular scenario.
文摘The behavior of beams with variable stiffness subjected to the action of variable loadings (impulse or harmonic) is analyzed in this paper using the successive approximation method. This successive approximation method is a technique for numerical integration of partial differential equations involving both the space and time, with well-known initial conditions on time and boundary conditions on the space. This technique, although having been applied to beams with constant stiffness, is new for the case of beams with variable stiffness, and it aims to use a quadratic parabola (in time) to approximate the solutions of the differential equations of dynamics. The spatial part is studied using the successive approximation method of the partial differential equations obtained, in order to transform them into a system of time-dependent ordinary differential equations. Thus, the integration algorithm using this technique is established and applied to examples of beams with variable stiffness, under variable loading, and with the different cases of supports chosen in the literature. We have thus calculated the cases of beams with constant or variable rigidity with articulated or embedded supports, subjected to the action of an instantaneous impulse and harmonic loads distributed over its entire length. In order to justify the robustness of the successive approximation method considered in this work, an example of an articulated beam with constant stiffness subjected to a distributed harmonic load was calculated analytically, and the results obtained compared to those found numerically for various steps (spatial h and temporal τ ¯ ) of calculus, and the difference between the values obtained by the two methods was small. For example for ( h=1/8 , τ ¯ =1/ 64 ), the difference between these values is 17%.
文摘目的探究磁共振弹性成像(Magnetic resonance elastography,MRE)在宫颈癌的临床价值。材料与方法本研究前瞻性地招募39名病理诊断为宫颈癌的患者(宫颈癌组),并招募39名年龄、体质指数(body mass index,BMI)相匹配的健康女性志愿者(健康对照组)进行宫颈常规磁共振扫描和频率为60 Hz的MRE检查。测量两组受试者宫颈的弹性值以及宫颈癌组肿瘤的体积及浸润深度,收集宫颈癌组患者的肿瘤分期。选择配对样本t检验比较宫颈癌组和健康对照组的弹性值,采用Spearman秩相关系数及受试者工作特征(receiver operating characteristic,ROC)曲线分析弹性值、肿瘤体积和浸润深度与宫颈癌分期间的相关性及诊断宫颈癌分期的效能。结果宫颈癌患者组的平均弹性值[(5.76±0.99)kPa]显著高于健康对照组[(2.94±0.25)kPa;P<0.001]。弹性值、肿瘤体积及浸润深度在早期(≤ⅡA期)、晚期(≥ⅡB期)宫颈癌之间差异存在统计学意义,且与宫颈癌分期呈正相关(r=0.439、0.384、0.322;P均<0.05)。弹性值的诊断效能优于肿瘤体积和浸润深度,ROC曲线下面积(area under the curve,AUC)分别为0.754、0.722、0.687。结论MRE技术可以作为一种非侵入性的辅助检查手段,帮助宫颈癌的诊断和分期评估,在宫颈癌研究和治疗策略的制订中具有潜在的临床应用前景。
文摘Background: Analysis of arterial stiffness (AS) is a good marker of early arterial disease and an important determinant of cardiovascular risk, independent of other traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CfPWV) is the gold standard to evaluate arterial stiffness. There is evidence that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a higher arterial stiffness than their age-matched healthy counterparts and thus have higher cardiovascular (CV) risk. However, data on arterial stiffness in African rheumatoid arthritis patients is scarce. Objectives: To determine the patterns of arterial stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis patients in a sub-Saharan African setting, using CfPWV and Augmentation index (AIx). Method: We conducted a case-control study, at the Douala general hospital over four months (February to May 2018) on 63 subjects among which 31 RA patients matched for age and sex with 32 healthy subjects. AIx and CfPWV were determined non-invasively by radial pulse wave analysis and carotid femoral wave analysis respectively, using a sphygmocor Atcor device (SphygmoCor, PWV Medical, Sydney, Australia). Results: The mean age of RA patients was 47 ± 14 years with most of them being females (n = 26, 83.9%). CfPWV was significantly higher in RA patients compared to the control group (mean: 8.85 ± 2.1 vs 7.45 ± 1.38;p ≤ 0.01) as well as was AIx (Median: 33 [26 - 43] vs 26 [20 - 31];p = 0.01). RA (OR: 6.105;95% CI: 1.52 - 24.54;p 1.34;95% CI: 1.14 - 5.17;p = 0.05), elevated CRP levels (OR: 4.01;95% CI: 1.16 - 13.68;p = 0.03) and Hypertension (OR: 5.75;95% CI: 1.24 -11.60;p Conclusion: Arterial stiffness, a well-recognized marker of cardiovascular risk is increased among patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis when compared to a healthy control group.
文摘Truck frames should be designed and fabricated with enough rigidity to avoid excessive deflections. Finite element analysis (FEA) plays an important role in all stages of frame designs. While being accurate, 3D solid element FEA models are built upon frame configuration details which are not feasible in the preliminary design stage, partially because of limited available design data of frames and heavy computation costs. This research develops 1D beam element FEA models for simulating frame structures. In this paper, the CAD model of a truck frame is first created. The solid element FEA analysis, which is adopted as the baseline in this study, is subsequently conducted for the stiffness of the frame, Next, beam element FEA analysis is performed for validating the feasibility of the beam element FEA model by comparing the results from the solid and beam element FEA models. It is found that the beam element FEA model can predict the frame stiffness with acceptable accuracy and reduce the computation cost significantly.
