Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 618

Abstract: Bitter melon seed oil (BMSO) extracted by supercritical CO₂ was determined in the present study. At first, a single factor and orthogonal experiment were performed to explore the parameters of extraction pressure, temperature and time on the yield of oil. Then the constituents of extracted fatty acid were analyzed by GC-MS. The results showed that under the best conditions of extraction pressure (25MPa), extraction temperature (50°C) and extraction time (100 minutes), the yield of oil from shelling bitter melon seed was 36.1% with the CO₂ flow rate kept at 10kf/h. Moreover, BMSO was rich in linolenic acid and stearic acid, accounting for 42.362% and 31.481% respectively.

Abstract: A novel approach to insect recognition is presented in this paper. The difference between the proposed method with traditional methods is that it starts from the perspective of image and combines voice processing algorithms with image processing algorithms. The classification is done based on voice activity detection (VAD) and spectrogram. We show, by means of example that this approach can recognize different insects correctly. However, despite the potential of correct recognition, further justification of the reliability of the method need to be provided by a larger scale of experiments. Hence, some improvements will be proposed latterly.

Abstract: In this study, Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was used for polysaccharides extraction from Potentilla anserina. A computer-stimulated artificial neural network (ANN) was developed to get a correlation between the input variables and the output parameter. Finally, the optimal process conditions were obtained as follows: extraction temperature 55 °C, extraction time 55 min, ratio of liquid to solid 20:1, power 175 W. Under optimized conditions, ultrasound-assisted extraction had obviously higher yield of polysaccharides than the traditional heat reflux method. The optimization procedure showed a close interaction between the experimental and simulated values for polysaccharides extraction. The R² (0.99271) and MSE (0.0425) values of model suggested good fitness and generalization of the ANN. Moreover, the results also indicated that polysaccharides have inhibitory effect on ADP-induced platelet aggregation.

Abstract: Membrane bioreactor is a combination of membrane and sewage biological treatment technology, which is the new wastewater treatment technology .In this paper, the effect of pH and NH₃-N load on membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment is studied. Through the use of artificial mixed wastewater experiments,the results are as follows:The effect of pH on the effluent COD is not obvious, on the removal of NH₃-N is very large. Taking into account of removal of organics and NH₃-N, the pH should be controlled at 8.0.The removal rate of NH₃-N decreased significantly with the increase of the NH₃-N load. When the NH₃-N load is 0.023 Kg/m³· d, the removal rate reach the maximum value. In this case,the load of COD is 1.1 Kg/ m³.d.

Abstract: This experiment was conducted on the 4 years old Eucalyptus plantation in Beihai of Guangxi, southern China. From January to December 2013, in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, seasonal variation and diurnal variation of the soil respiration and its environmental factors had been observed, respectively. The results showed that: (1) Soil respirations has obvious seasonal characteristics, the soil respiration rate in each seasons showed that: summer> spring > autumn > winter. The heterotrophic respiration rate was higher than the autotrophic respiration rate. The contribution of autotrophic respiration rate in winter was higher than that in other three seasons. (2) Soil respiration has obvious diurnal characteristic, it could be expressed as a single-peak curve. But the maximum value of soil respiration appeared in different times in different seasons. (3) There existed positive correlation index exponential relationships between the soil temperature and the soil respiration rate and its components. Soil temperature changes could explain soil respiration, autotrophic respiration and heterotrophic respiration by 90.2%, 27.5% and 92.8%. Temperature sensitivity showed following order: the heterotrophic respiration rate> the soil respiration rate> the autotrophic respiration rate, in terms of affected by temperature, the heterotrophic respiration was higher than the autotrophic respiration. (4) There were notable positive correlations between soil moisture content and soil respiration rate. Obviously, soil moisture content could promote soil respiration in a certain range.

Abstract: Object:To explore the feasibility and effects of external drainage from intestinal cavity in the surgical treatment for the neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conduct on 22 cases of newborns with extensive and multiple intestinal necrosis found intraoperatively, all of which could not accept first-stage resected, treated by traditional operation or by external drainage from intestinal cavity between January, 2008 to January 2013. Duration of operation, amount of bleeding, and the survival rate after operation were compared between the two groups, which were divided by surgical methods. Results: No significant difference was observed in age, amount of bleeding and body weight (P>0.05) between the two groups. However, duration of operation and the survival rate after operation were significantly shorter in the patients by external drainage from intestinal cavity than the patients by traditional operation (P<0.05). Conclusion: To compare traditional operation or external drainage from intestinal cavity of necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates, a retrospective analysis conducted by us showed the feasibility and effects of external drainage from intestinal cavity of necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates, and a significant advantage in duration of operation and the survival rate after operation.

Abstract: Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) was one common pathogen that caused pneumonia, meningitis, otitis media, and sepsis. The traditional culture methods costed long time and omission often existed. A new method was developed based on Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP). A series of primers of autolysin (lytA) from S. pneumoniae were designed with specific primers soft, and set up LAMP system in detection of S. pneumoniae. Comparison of specificity and sensitivity results with culture and PCR method in 50 samples collected from patients with respiratory infections. The data demonstrated that the selected primers and reaction system in LAMP were respond to S. pneumoniae,not cross reacted to others bacteria. The detection of sensitivity to LAMP was 10² CFU/mL. All of clinical specimens in the test, 9 cases (18.0%) were confirmed to be positive as S. pneumoniae,whereas, only 4(8.0%) were diagnosed by culture method. The LAMP technology has a specific, simple and accurate characteristic in differentiation S. Pneumoniae from clinical specimen.

Abstract: Retracted paper: Object: To explore the feasibility of laparoscopic repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in neonates. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conduct on 14 cases of newborns with congenital diaphragmatic hernia treated by laparoscopic diaphragmatic repair or laparotomy between September 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013. Duration of operation, amount of bleeding, and length of stay were compared between the two groups, which were divided by surgical methods. Results: No significant difference was observed in duration of operation and amount of bleeding (P>0.05) between the two groups. However, length of stay was significantly shorter in the patients by laparoscopic diaphragmatic repair than the patients by laparotomy (P<0.05). Conclusion: To compare laparoscopic and open repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in neonates, a retrospective analysis conducted by us showed the feasibility of laparoscopic repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in neonates, and a significant advantage in length of stay.

Abstract: Retracted paper: Object: To investigate effects of the high ligation of hernia sac with absorbable string for children with indirect inguinal hernia. Method: A retrospective analysis of 92 patients with inguinal hernia who underwent the high ligation of hernia sac was conducted in the present study, in which 20 cases underwent the high ligation of hernia sac with absorbable string while 72 cases treated with the high ligation of hernia sac with non-absorbable suture. The mean operation time, mean intraoperative blood loss and average postoperative hospital stay and postoperative pain rating were analyzed. Results: Though no statistical difference existed in the mean operation time, mean intraoperative blood loss, average postoperative hospital stay between the two groups (P>0.05). However, the postoperative pain in the high ligation of hernia sac with absorbable string group was significantly lower than that of the non-absorbable group. Conclusion: Compared with that of the high ligation of hernia sac with non-absorbable string, there is lower grade postoperative pain in the high ligation with absorbable suture.

Abstract: In order to solve the difficult problem in lung CT image segmentation, the segmentation method based on Mixture Active Contour Model is proposed and the learning algorithm is presented. It gets the prior information of lung CT image segmentation through Gaussian Mixture Model, couples the penalty term and edge detection of the level set function. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the method based on MACM in solving lung CT image segmentation.