No abstract

The relationships between changes in specific complaints and the QoL in individual implantees were highlighted. We suggest that cochlear implant outcome measures should continue for at least 3 years after implantation.

The objective of this study is to develop a parametric ribcage model that can account for morphological variations among the adult population. Ribcage geometries, including 12 pair of ribs, sternum, and thoracic spine, were collected from CT scans of 101 adult subjects through image segmentation, landmark identification (1016 for each subject), symmetry adjustment, and template mesh mapping (26,180 elements for each subject). Generalized procrustes analysis (GPA), principal component analysis (PCA), and regression analysis were used to develop a parametric ribcage model, which can predict nodal locations of the template mesh according to age, sex, height, and body mass index (BMI). Two regression models, a quadratic model for estimating the ribcage size and a linear model for estimating the ribcage shape, were developed. The results showed that the ribcage size was dominated by the height (p=0.000) and age-sex-interaction (p=0.007) and the ribcage shape was significantly affected by the age (p=0.0005), sex (p=0.0002), height (p=0.0064) and BMI (p=0.0000). Along with proper assignment of cortical bone thickness, material properties and failure properties, this parametric ribcage model can directly serve as the mesh of finite element ribcage models for quantifying effects of human characteristics on thoracic injury risks.

No abstract

Summary Many fire accidents of electric vehicles were reported that happened during the charging process. In order to investigate the reasons that lead to this problem, this paper studies the thermal safety of Li‐ion batteries under limited overcharge abuse. A 3D electrochemical‐thermal coupled model is developed for modeling thermal and electrochemical characteristics from normal charge to early overcharge state. This model is validated by experiment at charge rates of 0.5C, 1C, and 2C. The simulation results indicate that irreversible heat contributes most to temperature rise during the normal charge process, but the heat induced by Mn dissolution and Li deposition gradually dominates heat generation in the early overcharge period. Based on this, a threshold selection method for multistage warning of batteries overcharge is proposed. Among them, level 1 should be considered as a critical stage during the early overcharge process due to the deposited lithium starts to react with electrolyte at the end of level 1, where temperature rate increases to 0.5°C min−1 for 1C charge. While the thresholds of levels depend on charge rate and composition of battery. Furthermore, several critical parameters are analyzed to figure out their effects on thermal safety. It is found that the temperature at the end of overcharge is significantly influenced by the change of positive electrode thickness and solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film resistance. The final temperature increases by 17.5°C and 7.9°C, respectively, with positive electrode thickness ranging from 50 to 80 μm and SEI film resistance increasing from 0.002 to 0.03 Ω.

No abstract

No abstract

Objective: With the development of more sophisticated and sensitive measures of auditory dysfunction, both the Audioscan test and B é k é sy audiometry can provide detailed information on hearing status between the octaves, which has clinical importance. This study investigated the reliability and validity of Audioscan and B é k é sy audiometry. Method: Audioscan and Bekesy audiometry were undertaken at a comparable sweep rate in 21 subjects with normal hearing. Each subject underwent conventional pure tone audiometry, Audioscan and B é k é sy audiometry. Test sessions were conducted on four consecutive days. Results: The results indicate that more than 90% of participants had variability of hearing threshold of less than 10dB at all frequencies. Median variances for thresholds obtained from Audioscan were less than 10dB 2 for all frequencies except 4.0 kHz. In contrast, thresholds obtained from B é k é sy showed greater variance, more than 15dB 2 at all frequencies when it was undertaken at the same sweep rate. Audioscan results were in excellent agreement with the PTA at all frequencies except at 0.25, 6 and 8 kHz, whereas B é k é sy results differed signifi cantly from PTA at all frequencies except at 6 kHz. Conclusion: Data from the present study indicate that the Audioscan can provide reliable and valid hearing thresholds. However, a slow sweep rate appears to be more desirable for B é k é sy audiometry to improve its reliability and validity in detecting hearing sensitivity.