Comparison of resistive index and shear-wave elastography in the evaluation of chronic kidney allograft dysfunction

BACKGROUND Detection of early chronic changes in the kidney allograft is important for timely intervention and long-term survival.Conventional and novel ultrasound-based investigations are being increasingly used for this purpose with variable results.AIM To compare the diagnostic performance of resistive index(RI)and shear wave elastography(SWE)in the diagnosis of chronic fibrosing changes of kidney allograft with histopathological results.METHODS This is a cross-sectional and comparative study.A total of 154 kidney transplant recipients were included in this study,which was conducted at the Departments of Transplantation and Radiology,Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation,Karachi,Pakistan,from August 2022 to February 2023.All consecutive patients with increased serum creatinine levels and reduced glomerular filtration rate(GFR)after three months of transplantation were enrolled in this study.SWE and RI were performed and the findings of these were evaluated against the kidney allograft biopsy results to determine their diagnostic utility.RESULTS The mean age of all patients was 35.32±11.08 years.Among these,126(81.8%)were males and 28(18.2%)were females.The mean serum creatinine in all patients was 2.86±1.68 mg/dL and the mean estimated GFR was 35.38±17.27 mL/min/1.73 m2.Kidney allograft biopsy results showed chronic changes in 55(37.66%)biopsies.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value(PPV),and negative predictive value(NPV)of SWE for the detection of chronic allograft damage were 93.10%,96.87%%,94.73%,and 95.87%,respectively,and the diagnostic accuracy was 95.45%.For RI,the sensitivity,specificity,PPV,and NPV were 76.92%,83.33%,70.17%,and 87.62%,respectively,and the diagnostic accuracy was 81.16%.CONCLUSION The results from this study show that SWE is more sensitive and specific as compared to RI in the evaluation of chronic allograft damage.It can be of great help during the routine follow-up of kidney transplant recipients for screening and early detection of chronic changes and selecting patients for allograft biopsy.

Improving tree health assessment accuracy at low temperatures:considering the effect of trunk ice content on electrical resistance and stress wave tomography

Accurate decay detection and health assessment of trees at low temperatures is an important issue for forest management and ecology in cold areas.Low temperature ice formation on tree health assessment is unknown.Because electric resistance tomography and stress wave tomography are two widely used methods for the detection of tree decay,this study investigated the effect of ice content on trunk electrical resistance and stress wave velocity to improve tree health assessment accuracy.Moisture content,trunk electrical resistance and stress wave velocity using time domain reflectometry were carried out on Larix gmelinii and Populus simonii.Ice content is based on moisture content data.The ice content of both species showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing.This was opposite with ambient temperatures.With the decrease of temperatures,daily average ice content increased,but the range narrowed gradually and both electrical resistance and stress wave velocity increased.Both increased rapidly near 0℃,mainly caused by ice formation(phase change and freezing of free water)in live trees.In addition,both are positively correlated with ice content.The results suggest that ice content should be considered for improving the accuracy of tree decay detection and health evaluation using electric resistance tomography and stress wave velocity methods under low temperatures.

Application of geophysical methods in fine detection of urban concealed karst:A case study of Wuhan City,China

The construction of modern livable cities faces challenges in karst areas,including ground collapse and engineering problems.Wuhan,with a population of 13.74×10^(6) and approximately 1161 km^(2)of soluble rocks in the urban area of 8569.15 km^(2),predominantly consists of concealed karst areas where occasional ground collapse events occur,posing significant threats to underground engineering projects.To address these challenges,a comprehensive geological survey was conducted in Wuhan,focusing on major karstrelated issues.Geophysical methods offer advantages over drilling in detecting concealed karst areas due to their efficiency,non-destructiveness,and flexibility.This paper reviewed the karst geological characteristics in Wuhan and the geophysical exploration methods for karst,selected eight effective geophysical methods for field experimentation,evaluated their suitability,and proposed method combinations for different karst scenarios.The results show that different geophysical methods have varying applicability for karst detection in Wuhan,and combining multiple methods enhances detection effectiveness.The specific recommendations for method combinations provided in this study serve as a valuable reference for karst detection in Wuhan.

Numerical Modelling of Wash Waves Generated by Ships Moving over An Uneven Bottom

Unsteady wash waves generated by a ship with constant speed moving across an uneven bottom topography are investigated by numerical simulations based on a Mixed Euler–Lagrange(MEL) method. The transition is accomplished by the ship traveling from the depth h1 into the depth h2 via a step bottom. A small tsunami would be created after this transition. However, the unsteady wave-making resistance induced by this new phenomenon has not been well documented by literature. Therefore, the main purpose of the present study is to quantify the effects of an uneven bottom on the unsteady wash waves and wave-making resistance acting on the ship. An upwind differential scheme is commonly used in the Euler method to deal with the convection terms under free-surface condition to prevent waves in the upstream. Evidently, it cannot be applied to the present problem due to upstream waves generated by the ship would be dampened by the upwind scheme. The central differential scheme provides more accurate results,but it is not unconditionally stable. An MEL method is therefore employed to investigate the upstream wave generated by the ship moving over the uneven bottom. Simulation results show that the hydrodynamic interaction between the ship and the uneven bottom could initiate an upstream tsunami, as well as unsteady wave-making resistance on ships.The unsteady wave-making resistance oscillates periodically, and the amplitude and period of the oscillations are highly dependent on speed and water depth.

Analysis of Wave Added Drag and Motion Response of Mid-high-speed Ship against Waves

In order to accurately predict the on-wave resistance and responses to hull motions of ships in actual sea conditions,the k-εmethod of the RNG model is adopted on the basis of the unsteady RANS method.The two-formula turbulence model deals with the viscous flow,the VOF method captures the free surface,the velocity boundary method makes waves,the artificial damping method is used to eliminate waves,and the nested grid technology is used to deal with the motion response of ships on waves.Combined with the 6-DOF motion formula,a three-dimensional numerical wave cell for regular waves is established.For one example,taking a KCS Container ship and fishing boat sailing at a mid-high-speed,the increase of wave resistance and motion response at different wavelengths are analyzed,and the simulation results are compared with the experimental value,the content of strip theory in potential flow theory and the panel method to prove the reliability of CFD method in predicting ship motion.

Numerical Prediction of Added Resistance and Vertical Ship Motions in Regular Head Waves

The numerical prediction of added resistance and vertical ship motions of one ITTC （Intemational Towing Tank Conference） S-175 containership in regular head waves by our own in-house unsteady RANS solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU is presented in this paper. The development of the solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU is based on the open source CFD tool, OpenFOAM. Numerical analysis is focused on the added resistance and vertical ship motions （heave and pitch motions） with four very different wavelengths （ 0.8Lpp 〈 2 〈 1.5L ） in regular head waves. Once the wavelength is near the length of the ship model, the responses of the resistance and ship motions become strongly influenced by nonlinear factors, as a result difficulties within simulations occur. In the paper, a comparison of the experimental results and the nonlinear strip theory was reviewed and based on the findings, the RANS simulations by the solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU were considered competent with the prediction of added resistance and vertical ship motions in a wide range of wave lengths.

THEORETICAL MEAN WAVE RESISTANCE OF PRECURSOR SOLITON GENERATION IN TWO-LAYER FLOW

A new concept of pseudo mean wave resistance is introduced to find theoretical mean wave resistances of the precursor soliton generation in two-layer how over a localized topography at near-resonance in this paper. The pseudo mean wave resistance of the precursor soliton generation of two-layer how is determined in terms of the AfKdV equation. From the theoretical results it is shown that the theoretical mean wave resistance is equal to the pseudo mean wave resistance times 1/m(1), where m(1) is the coefficient of the fKdV equation. From the regional distribution of the energy of the precursor soliton generation at the resonant points, it is shown that ratios of the theoretical mean wave resistance and regional mean energy to the total mean energy are invariant constants, i.e. <(E)over circle (1)>/(E) over circle : <(E)over circle (2)>/(E) over circle: <(E)over circle (3)>(E) over circle :< D > /(E) over circle = (1/2) : (-1/2) : 1 : 1, in which <(E)over circle 1>,<(E)over circle (2)> and <(E)over circle (3)> are the mean energy of the generating regions of the precursor solitons, of the depression and of the trailing wavetrain at the resonant points respectively, (E) over circle and < D > are the total energy of the system and the theoretical mean wave resistance at the resonant points. A prediction of the theoretical mean wave resistances of two-layer how over the semicircular topography is carried out in terms of the theoretical results of the present paper. The comparison shows that the theoretical mean wave resistance is in good agreement with the numerical calculation.

Parametric Hull Form Optimization of Containerships for Minimum Resistance in Calm Water and in Waves

This paper described the process of generating the optimal parametric hull shape with a fully parametric modeling method for three containerships of diferent sizes.The newly created parametric ship hull was applied to another ship with a similar shape,which greatly saved time cost.A process of selecting design variables was developed,and during this process,the infuence of these variables on calm water resistance was analyzed.After we obtained the optimal hulls,the wave added resistance and motions of original hulls and optimal hulls in regular head waves were analyzed and compared with experi-mental results.Computations of the fow around the hulls were obtained from a validated nonlinear potential fow boundary element method.Using the multi-objective optimization algorithm,surrogate-based global optimization(SBGO)reduced the computational efort.Compared with the original hull,wave resistance of the optimal hulls was signifcantly reduced for the two larger ships at Froude numbers corresponding to their design speeds.Optimizing the hull of the containerships slightly reduced their wave added resistance and total resistance in regular head waves,while optimization of their hulls hardly afected wave-induced motions.

Influence of thermal contact resistance on dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous strata

Porous materials can be found in a variety of geophysical and engineering applications.The existence of thermal contact resistance at the interface between bilayered saturated porous strata would result in a significant temperature difference at the interface.An attempt is made to study the thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous strata with thermal contact resistance and elastic wave impedance.The corresponding analytical solutions for the dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous strata under a harmonic thermal load are derived by the operator decomposition method,and their rationality is verified by comparing them with existing solutions.The influences of thermal contact resistance,thermal conductivity ratio,and porosity ratio on the dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous strata are systematically investigated.Outcomes disclose that with the increase of thermal contact resistance,the displacement,pore water pressure and stress decrease gradually,and the temperature jump at the interface between two saturated porous strata increases.

Estimation of Added Resistance for Large Blunt Ship in Waves

Under the background of the energy saving and emission reduction, more and more attention has been placed on investigating the energy efficiency of ships. The added resistance has been noted for being crucial in predicting the decrease of speed on a ship operating at sea. Furthermore, it is also significant to investigate the added resistance for a ship functioning in short waves of large modern ships. The researcher presents an estimation formula for the calculation of an added resistance study in short waves derived from the reflection law. An improved method has been proposed to calculate the added resistance due to ship motions, which applies the radiated energy theory along with the strip method. This procedure is based on an extended integral equation （EIE） method, which was used for solving the hydrodynamic coefficients without effects of the irregular frequency. Next, a combined method was recommended for the estimation of added resistance for a ship in the whole wave length range. The comparison data with other experiments indicate the method presented in the paper provides satisfactory results for large blunt ship.

Effects of increase extent of voltage on wear and corrosion resistance of micro-arc oxidation coatings on AZ91D alloy

The effects of increase extent of voltage on the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of micro-arc oxidation(MAO) coatings on AZ91D magnesium alloy were investigated in silicate electrolyte.The results show that with increasing extent of voltage, both of the thickness and bonding force of MAO coatings first increase,and then decrease.These parameters are all up to their maximum values when the increase extent of voltage is 20 V.The roughness of the coatings always increases.The coating has the best corrosion resistance when the increase extent of voltage is not below 25 V,and the coating has the best wear resistance when the increase extent of voltage is 10 V.The wear mechanisms for the micro-arc oxidation are abrasive wear and micromachining wear. These are related to their microstructures.

Is It Wrong to Apply the Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase to Individuals and Compare It among Genotypes?

In order to gain insights into the seasonal dynamics of genetic variation in insecticide resistance within a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster during population growth, which we considered the most important ecological factor there, we conducted a series of genetic analyses of resistance factors involved in that population and compared individual-based intrinsic rates of natural increase among resistance genotypes. However, some researchers have argued that it is a misconception to apply the intrinsic rate of natural increase to individuals, because it is a population parameter. We consider that their criticisms were incorrect. In this article, I described our research briefly and set forth the reasons why we conducted these studies.

Study on Wave Added Resistance of Ships in Oblique Waves Based on Panel Method

When the ship is sailing at sea,wave added resistance has great influence on the rapidity and economy of the ship.With the increasing pressure of energy and environmental protection,IMO has proposed the EEDI formula of the newly built ships,which restricts the energy consumption standard of civil ships more strictly.Therefore,a panel method based on three dimensional potential flow theory is proposed to study the problem of wave added resistance in this paper.Firstly,the method solves the motion responses of the ship in the time domain,and then calculates the wave added resistance of the ship by near-field pressure integration method.The wave added resistance of S175 container ship in head and oblique waves are calculated and compared with the experimental data,and the accuracy of the proposed method are verified.At last,the influence of Froude number and wave direction angle on wave added resistance is studied.The proposed method provides an approach of satisfactory accuracy and efficiency for the development of high-performance new ship forms,optimization of ship hull lines,comprehensive performance evaluation of ships and practical navigation guidance.

A Mathematical Model of a Ship with Wings Propelled by Waves

This paper discusses mathematical modeling of a ship equipped with energy-saving wing devices.Therewith,the ship is mathematically represented by an elongated hull with high-aspect-ratio wings mounted near its bow and stern.Equations,describing ship motions in regular oncoming waves,are written in the spirit of strip theory with account of inertial and damping influence of energy-saving wing elements with the use of linear expansion of wing-related forces with respect to heave and pitch perturbations.This approach readily yields fast numerical solutions for the propulsion of a ship with wings in waves.The latter solutions are then used as an input for calculation of thrust on wing elements on the basis of classical unsteady foil theories corrected for finite aspect ratio.To evaluate speed of the ship in the modes which allow cruising exclusively by wave power,it is hypothetically assumed that in this case,the wave-generated thrust on the wings equals total drag of the ship-plus-wings system,the latter being defined as a sum of its viscous,wave-making,induced(for wing elements)and added-wave components.Excepting the added-wave term and wings’contributions,the total drag is calculated herein by Holtrop method whereas added-wave resistance is evaluated with Beukelman-Gerritsma formula involving kinematic parameters of heaving and pitching motions of the ship calculated both without and with account of the wings.Also discussed in the paper is a decrease of added wave resistance for a ship with wings as compared to that of ship without wings.Finally,the energy efficiency design index(EEDI)introduced by the International Maritime Organization(IMO)is discussed for representative sea conditions as a measure of ship environmental friendliness.

Resistance and Seakeeping Investigation for Optimization of the Floating Hull of Wave Glider

Wave glider is the first unmanned autonomous marine robot to use only the ocean’s endless supply of wave energy for propulsion. Wave glider comprises fin system, tether and float which harvest all of its energy from waves and sun to produce forward thrust. As a consequence of the lack of design information and data for the wave glider, the main aim of the study is using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to present a method to predict calm water resistance for the floating hull through calculations of 3 different hull forms using the same mesh generation under the same conditions. Calculations are carried out using 3 different mesh sizes for Froude number in the range of 0.10 to 0.40 and compared for accuracy of the solution parameters. Wigley parabolic hull, high speed round bilge form (NPL) and Series 60 have been comparatively investigated in order to estimate the hydrodynamics performance of the hull. The linear seakeeping analysis, coupled heave and pitch motions, roll motion, in irregular waves, with one parameter Bretschneider and JONSWAP spectra. Numerical computations have been performed for motion response predictions of the three hulls which cover wave angles from 0? to 180? at 45? intervals for six different forward speeds from 0 to 4.304 knots using Maxsurf Motion software. The close agreement between the numerical predictions shows the importance of CFD applications in estimating the hydrodynamics performance to design the floating hull and the numerical method is useful in glider design. The fine grid is fit to the calculation and shows the most appropriate results because convergent results are obtained as the mesh size decrease so the fine grid is the one which will be applied for the other hulls. Also it can be observed that the added resistance and the RAOs for NPL hull are less than the other hulls. Therefore from the comparisons, the NPL hull is the optimum hull compared to the other hulls from the resistance and seakeeping point of view.

A CFD Study of the Resistance Behavior of a Planing Hull in Restricted Waterways

The demand for high-speed boats that operating near to shoreline is increasing nowadays.Understanding the behavior and attitude of high-speed boats when moving in different waterways is very important for boat designer.This research uses a CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics)analysis to investigate the shallow water effects on prismatic planing hull.The turbulence fl ow around the hull was described by Reynolds Navier Stokes equations RANSE using the k-ɛturbulence model.The free surface was modelled by the volume of fl uid(VOF)method.The analysis is steady for all the ranges of speeds except those close to the critical speed range Fh=0.84 to 1.27 due to the propagation of the planing hull solitary waves at this range.In this study,the planing hull lift force,total resistance,and wave pattern for the range of subcritical speeds,critical speeds,and supercritical speeds have been calculated using CFD.The numerical results have been compared with experimental results.The dynamic pressure distribution on the planing hull and its wave pattern at critical speed in shallow water were compared with those in deep water.The numerical results give a good agreement with the experimental results whereas total average error equals 7%for numerical lift force,and 8%for numerical total resistance.The worst effect on the planing hull in shallow channels occurs at the critical speed range,where solitary wave formulates.

Influence of an emulsifier on the pressure desensitization of emulsion explosives

The desensitization degree of emulsion explosives （EE） was calculated with the peak pressure of explosion shock waves tested in water. To an explosive, the less the desensitization degree, the better the compression resistance, so the compression resistance of an explosive can be compared and analyzed quantificationally with the desensitization degree. The influence of an emulsifier on the pressure desensitization of EE was studied, including the content and category of emulsifiers. Three kinds of emulsifiers （Span-80, compound emulsifier, and T-152） were used in the tests. The experimental results show that both the content and category of emulsifiers make a great effect on the pressure desensitization of EE. The desensitization degree of EE reduces with the emulsifier content being increased, but there is an optimal content of an emulsifier for the compression resistance of EE. While the content of Span-80 reaches 4wt%, the desensitization degree of EE becomes a minimal value, and augments somewhat if the emulsifier content is increased more. That is to say, the compression resistance of EE becomes the highest while the content of Span-80 is 4wt%, and the compression resistance will decline if the content of Span-80 is increased more. The compression resistance of the explosive emulsified by compound emulsifier is the highest among all the explosives, when the content of the whole components and manufacturing engineering are kept invariable.

The relationship of high-intensity cross-training with arterial stiffness

Background'.Central arterial stiffness is a cardiovascular risk factor that can be readily affected through engagement in physical exercise training,with resistance and aerobic exercise having disparate affects.Despite the growing popularity of high-intensity cross-training(HICT),little is currently known about the effects of this mixed modality exercise stimulus on arterial stiffness.Therefore,the purpose of this study was to characterize the arterial stiffness of habitual HICT participants vs.aerobically active and sedentary controls using a cross-sectional design.Methods'.A total of 30 participants were recruited:10 middle-aged long-term participants of HICT(CrossFit)and 20 age,sex,and height matched controls(10 recreationally active,10 sedentary).Central and peripheral pulse wave velocities were measured for the carotid-femoral and femoral-dorsalis pedis arterial segments.Aerobic fitness(maximal oxygen uptake,VChmax)was measured and typical exercise participation rates were self-reported for each group.Results'.HICT participants manifested central pulse wave velocity(PWV)(5.3±1.0 m/s,mean±SD)and VChmax(43±6 mL/kg/min)values nearly identical to active controls.Both active groups had significantly better values than sedentary controls(7.1±1.0 m/s,p≤0.001;and 32±7 mL/kg/min,p=0.01).No differences were observed in peripheral PWV between groups.Conclusion'.Habitual participation in HICT exercise was not associated with increased central nor peripheral arterial stiffness.Long-term HICT participants presented with similar fitness and arterial stiffness as compared with participants who practiced traditional aerobic exercise.Compared to sedentary living,HICT may offer musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health benefits without negatively impacting arterial stiffness.

Study on Wave-influenced resistance to erosion of silty soil in Huanghe (Yellow) River Delta

Along with the reduction of sediment yield of the Huanghe （Yellow） River, the erosion of the Huanghe River Delta aggravates, which has becomes an important factor that threatens the coastal protection structures. Starting from the study of the erosion resistibility of the sediment, this paper explores the internal mechanism of erosion phenomenon. This paper takes Diaokou as the study area and takes soils as samples which are mixed with clay into reconstructed samples whose ratio of clay content are 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% respectively, then dynamic tri-axial apparatus is applied to simulate wave loads of different intensity; then the resistibility of soil to erosion is determined via concentrated flow test and the structural property is determined via the disintegration test. Finally, the resistibility to erosion and the structural property of the non-compressed soil samples are compared with the compressed data. The results indicates that liquefaction failure exerts significant influence on the resistibility to erosion and the structural property of the silty soil in the Huanghe River Delta. Therefore, in the future erosion studies, the liquefaction phenomenon shall be fully considered.

Study of algorithms of new slender ship theory of wave resistance

In this paper, Noblesse's New Slender-Ship Wave-Making Theory was investigated numerically. Detailed expressions of zeroth and lst order wave resistance have been derived and calculation programs have also been compiled. In the single and double integral terms of Green function, the kernel function of wave resistance expression, special function expansion method and Chebyshev polynomials approach have been adopted respectively, which greatly simplify the calculation and increase the convergence speed.