The inherent fog collection mechanism used by the cactus gives inspirations for constructing energy‐efficient and environmentally friendly water collection devices. However, the related studies meet the bottleneck on improving the collection efficiency because it is hard to replicate real natural clusters of branched spines by traditional manufacturing methods. The immersed surface accumulation based 3D printing provides a tool to reproduce branched cactus spines, enabling the study of water collection of artificial spines with various designs. Here, a cactus‐inspired surface decorated with multiple directional artificial spines for highly efficient water collection and transportation is presented. The nanoscale hydrophobic coating is sputtered on the surface of the 3D‐printed spines to accelerate the water growth rate. The results show that the hexagonally arranged clusters enhance the moisture airflow around 3D‐printed spines, and the printed spines with 10° tip angle and hydrophobic coating achieve the highest weight gain of 2 mg min−1 mm−3. This study opens intriguing perspectives for designing next‐generation structural materials with the special spatial distribution of biomimetic features to achieve energy free and highly efficient water collection. The results reported here are believed to be helpful for the development of environmental friendly water collection, water transportation, and water separation devices.
This cohort study examines the association of race/ethnicity with discharge disposition and 90-day hospital readmission overall and stratified by age among patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty.
This paper builds a multiobjective optimization model for solving the taxi carpooling with detour problem and designs a genetic algorithm to determine a fair pricing scheme for riders and drivers. The researches show that it is feasible to share a taxi with detour. It is the key to determine appropriate carpooling payment ratio and detour carpooling payment ratio. The ratio of detour distance to travel distance has an important influence on detour carpooling. It should be limited to less than certain values. Payment ratios and the maximum value of the ratio of detour distance to travel distance are determined by the method proposed in this paper. The method can ensure benefits of passengers and drivers, which makes detour carpooling a reality. These conclusions and the method have a certain guiding significance for formulating taxi policy.
Purpose. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) vascular hyperintensities (FVH) with haemodynamic abnormality and severity of arterial stenosis in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) of the carotid artery system. Patients and Methods. Consecutive inpatients (N = 38) diagnosed with TIAs of the carotid system in a 4-year period (2014–2017) were retrospectively analysed in our study and divided into FVH-negative and FVH-positive groups based on the presence of FVH sign. Each inpatient had undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) followed by computed tomography (CT) perfusion imaging studies. We investigated the degree of arterial stenosis, number of stenosis, watershed regions, and related CT perfusion indexes, including hypoperfusion regions, mean transit time (MTT), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and cerebral blood volume (CBV). Spearman rank correlation was performed between FVHs score, the degree of arterial stenosis, and CT perfusion indexes with significant difference. Results. Thirty-one patients (81.6%) observed with FVH sign were assigned to the FVH-positive group. The hypoperfusion regions, MTT, and CBF values were significantly different between the FVH-negative group and FVH-positive groups. Spearman correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations between hypoperfusion regions, MTT, and FVHs scores (r = 0.755 and 0.674, respectively, p<0.01); a moderate negative correlation was found between CBF and FVHs scores (r = −0.525, p<0.01), whereas the degree of artery stenosis revealed no significant correlation with FVH scores (r = 0.253, p>0.05). Conclusion. Hyperintense vessels on FLAIR were closely associated with hypoperfused regions, MTT, and CBF values, which indicated that the presence of FVHs could be an important and convenient imaging marker of haemodynamic impairment in patients with TIA.
Background A non-invasive tool for tumor regression grade (TRG) evaluation is urgently needed for gastric cancer (GC) treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Purpose To develop and validate a radiomics signature (RS) to evaluate TRG for locally advanced GC after NAC and assess its prognostic value. Material and Methods A total of 103 patients with GC treated with NAC were retrospectively recruited from April 2018 to December 2019 and were randomly allocated into a training cohort (n = 69) and a validation cohort (n = 34). Delineation was performed on both mixed and iodine-uptake images based on dual-energy computed tomography (DECT). A total of 4094 radiomics features were extracted from the pre-NAC, post-NAC, and delta feature sets. Spearman correlation and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were used for dimensionality reduction. Multivariable logistic regression was used for TRG evaluation and generated the optimal RS. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis with the log-rank test was implemented in an independent cohort of 40 patients to validate the prognostic value of the optimal RS. Results Three, five, and six radiomics features were finally selected for the pre-NAC, post-NAC, and delta feature sets. The delta model demonstrated the best performance in assessing TRG in both the training and the validation cohorts (AUCs=0.91 and 0.76, respectively; P>0.1). The optimal RS from the delta model showed a significant capability to predict survival in the independent cohort ( P<0.05). Conclusion Delta radiomics based on DECT images serves as a potential biomarker for TRG evaluation and shows prognostic value for patients with GC treated with NAC.
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