Effect of inoculating thermophilic bacterial consortia on compost efficiency and quality.

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential effects of thermophilic bacterial consortia on compost efficiency and quality. The application of bacterial consortia resulted in an earlier onset of the thermophilic period (THP), an increased upper temperature limit, and an extended duration of the THP by 3-5 days compared to the control group (CK). Microbial inoculation significantly improved the efficiency of organic matter degradation, as well as the content of water-soluble nitrogen (WSN) and humic acid-carbon (HAC). In the case of consortium Ⅱ inoculation (T2), the activities of cellobiohydrolase, ß-glucosidase, and protease were increased by 81.81 %, 70.13 %, and 74.09 % at the THP respectively compared to CK. During the maturation stage, T2 also exhibited the highest PV, n/PIII, n value (1.33) and HAC content (39.53 mg·g-1), indicating that inoculation of consortium Ⅱ effectively promoted substrate maturity and product quality. Moreover, this inoculation effectively optimized the bacterial communities, particularly the growth of Planococcus, Chelatococcus, and Chelativorans during the composting, which were involved in carbon and nitrogen conversion or HAC synthesis. Carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and membrane transport were predominant in the consortia-inoculated samples, with an increased gene abundance, suggesting that inoculation contributed to promoting the biodegradation of lignocellulose and the exchange of favorable factors. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that inoculating thermophilic bacterial consortia has a positive impact on enhancing the resource utilization efficiency of agricultural waste and improving the quality of compost products.

Temperature-dependent development and reproduction of rice leaffolder, Marasmia exigua (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).

Marasmia exigua (Butler) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the major rice leaffolders negatively affecting the rice production in the world. The growth and development of M. exigua was studied at seven constant temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, 27, 30 and 35°C). The results showed that M. exigua eggs failed to hatch at 10°C and the larvae could not complete development at 15 and 35°C. The developmental times of each stage, survival rates of pre-adult, adult longevity, fecundities and oviposition days of M. exigua at 20, 25, 27 and 30°C were investigated using age-stage, two-sex life table. The total pre-adult development time decreased with the increase in temperature decreasing from 61.58 days at 20°C to 28.94 days at 30°C. The highest survival rate was observed at 25°C (73%). Male adult longevities were generally longer than that of females, except at 30°C. The highest mean fecundity, age-stage specific fecundity and age-specific fecundity peak values were all observed at 27°C. The maximum intrinsic rate of increase r and finite rate of increase λ were observed at 27°C, while the maximum net reproduction rate R0 was observed at 25°C. The longest mean generation time occurred at 20°C and the shortest at 27°C. These results provide better understanding on the development, reproduction and dynamic of M. exigua populations, their distribution, and might be utilized to forecast and manage M. exigua outbreaks in China.

Changes in soil microbial community composition and organic carbon fractions in an integrated rice-crayfish farming system in subtropical China.

Integrated rice-crayfish farming system is a highly efficient artificial ecosystem in which the rice (Oryza sativa) variety 'Jianzhen 2' is cultivated in waterlogged paddy fields along with crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). We investigated soil carbon fractions and microbial community structure by phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) analysis in a 10-year field experiment using an integrated rice-crayfish (CR) model and a rice monoculture (MR) model at soil depths of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-30 cm, and 30-40 cm. Compared with the MR model, the CR model had significantly more total organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, and dissolved organic carbon contents in all of the layers examined and microbial biomass carbon content in the 20-40 cm layer. Principal components analysis revealed that microbial community composition in the CR model differed from that in the MR model in the 20-30 cm layer. Higher proportions of gram-negative bacteria, aerobic bacteria and fungi in the 20-30 cm soil layer were observed for the CR model than the MR model. These results indicate that the CR model increases soil carbon levels, and strongly affects microbial community composition and structure in the deeper layers of soil, thereby accelerating subsurface soil nutrient cycling.

[De-noising of Impedance Cardiography Differential Signal and Detection of the Feature Points Based on Wavelet Transformation].

Calculation of cardiac hemodynamic parameters is based on accurate detection of feature points in impedance cardiogram. According to these parameters, doctors can determine heart conditions, so it is very important to accurately detect the feature point of impedance differential signals. This article presents a process in which we used wavelet threshold method to de-noise signals, and then detected the feature points after six layers wavelet decomposition by using bior3. 7. The experimental data were collected from healthy persons in our laboratory and twenty two clinical patients in Chongqing Daping Hospital by using KF_ICG instrument. The results indicated that this method could precisely detect feature points whether it was from healthy people or clinical patients. This helps to achieve the application of noninvasive detection cardiac hemodynamic parameters in clinical treatments by using impedance method.

[Nutrient spatial variability of tobacco soil restoration area and fertility suitability level evaluation].

By using geographic information system technology (GIS) and geostatistics methods, this paper studied the spatial variability of soil properties and available nutrients in the new regulation area units located in Qingjiangyuan modern tobacco agriculture science and technology park (Enshi, Hubei), suburb of Enshi City and the Baiyang base of Lichuan City, and further evaluation of the soil fertility suitability index (SFI) was carried out by use fuzzy mathematics. The results indicated that the effects of land restoration on the soil available phosphorus content variability and spatial distribution were very obvious, possibly due to the landform characteristics and restoration extent. The effect of land restoration on soil pH was small, however, serious soil acidification was detected in the soil sampled from Baiyang (pH < 5.5). Low SFI was found in 77.6%, 17.1% and 31.4% of the soils taken from the suburb, Baiyang and Qingjiangyuan, respectively. In conclusion, attentions should be paid on soil acidification in Baiyang, soil fertility and equalization in the suburb, and soil fertility in the region of Qingjiangyuan with low SFI.

[The principles and research status of noninvasive glucose detection based on near-infrared spectrum].

It is of great clinical significance to investigate noninvasive glucose detection. As one of the most potential methods, the noninvasive glucose detection based on near-infrared has become a hot research area recently. In this paper the principles and research methods of noninvasive glucose detection based on near-infrared spectrum are introduced. With the comparison between the research status at home and abroad in recent years, we summarize and discuss crucial issues in near-infrared noninvasive glucose detection, such as the selection of measurement method, selection of measurement position and choice of wavelength, and, furthermore, setting up models.

Identification and field bioassay of the sex pheromone of Trichophysetis cretacea (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).

The jasmine bud borer Trichophysetis cretacea (Butler) (Lepidoptera Crambidae) is an important agricultural pest of jasmine flowers Jasminum sambac in China. The extract from the pheromone gland of the female moth was analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16:Ac), (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald),and (Z)-11-hexadecenol (Z11-16:OH) were identified as the probable sex pheromone components. The electroantennogram (EAG) bioassay confirmed the results from the chemical analysis. Field bioassays conducted in the late summer and fall in Quanwei, Sichuan, China, showed that the synthetic chemical blend of Z11-16:Ac, Z11-16:Ald, and Z11-16:OH was highly attractive to male T. cretacea moths, and none of the three components was attractive by itself. All three components were necessary and the ratio of the three was critical. The highest number of male moths was captured when the ratio of Z11-16:Ac: Z11-16:Ald:Z11-16:OH was 10:10:1 at a dosage per lure of 200 microg Z11-16:Ac. The binary mixture of 200 microg Z11-16:Ac and 25 microg Z11-16:OH captured a number of Nymphicula mesorphna (10.3 +/- 4.4). The results indicate that traps with synthetic pheromone lures can be used to monitor jasmine bud borer populations in the field and potentially to control this pest.

Waveform descriptor for pulse onset detection of intracranial pressure signal.

We present an algorithm to identify the onset of intracranial pressure (ICP) pulses. The algorithm creates a waveform descriptor to extract the feature of each local minimum of the waveform and then identifies the onset by comparing the feature with a customized template. The waveform descriptor is derived by transforming the vectors connecting a given point and the local waveform samples around it into log-polar coordinates and ranking them into uniform bins. Using an ICP dataset consisting of 40933 normal beats and 306 segments of artifacts and noise, we investigated the performance of our algorithm (waveform descriptor, WD), global minimum within a sliding window (GM) and two other algorithms originally proposed for arterial blood pressure (ABP) signal (slope sum function, SSF and pulse waveform delineator, PUD). As a result, all the four algorithms showed good performance and WD showed overall better one. At a tolerance level of 30 ms (i.e., the predicted onset and ground truth were considered as correctly matched if the distance between the two was equal or less than 30 ms), WD achieved a sensitivity of 0.9723 and PPV of 0.9475, GM achieved a sensitivity of 0.9226 and PPV of 0.8968, PUD achieved a sensitivity of 0.9599 and PPV of 0.9327 and SSF, a sensitivity of 0.9720 and PPV of 0.9136. The evaluation indicates that the algorithms are effective for identifying the onset of ICP pulses.

[Research progress on key technology of power and signal transmission in neuroprosthetic].

The power and signal transmission technology is one of the key technologies in neuroprosthetic research. This paper proposes firstly the related theory of power and signal transmission technology in neuroprosthetic, then summarizes the three key aspects of the power and signal transmission technology in neuroprosthetic. After analyzed the development of the inductive wireless power harvesting technology, the wireless telemetry technology and the wireless power harvesting telemetry technology, the emphasis on research contents will be proposed and discussed, which will help accelerate the further research of prosthetic.

[Review of the active locomotion system for capsule endoscope].

This review summarized the progress of researches on the active locomotion system for capsule endoscope, analyzed the moving and controlling principles in different locomotion systems, and compared their merits and shortcomings. Owing to the complexity of human intestines and the limits to the size and consumption of locomotion system from the capsule endoscope, there is not yet one kind of active locomotion system currently used in clinical practice. The locomotive system driven by an outer rotational magnetic field could improve the commercial endoscope capsule, while its magnetic field controlling moving is complex. Active locomotion system driven by shape memory alloys will be the orientated development and the point of research in the future.

[Study of principles of non-invasive glucose monitoring and instruments with the methods].

Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring will be the development direction for detecting the blood glucose concentration of body in time. In this way, the concentration of the blood glucose can be controlled effectively, then the complicating diseases of diabetes can be reduced, so it is of great significance for diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. The recent developments of non-invasive blood glucose concentration monitoring technologies, including basic principles, results of verification test and instruments, are discussed, especially three methods with instruments facing market. The existing problems of these methods are also discussed. Finally, some difficult points of current non-invasive blood glucose monitoring methods are further discussed and the future trend of the technologies has been pointed out according to the above analysis.

[A modified fast independent component analysis and its application to ERP extraction].

Feature extraction of event-related potentials (ERP) plays an important part in both basic and clinical researches for cerebral neurophysiology. ICA is a method for separating blind signals based on signal statistic characteristics. In this paper, the fundamental principle, the discrimination condition and the practical algorithm of Independent Component Analysis are discussed. Then, a fast Independent Component Analysis algorithm (Fast ICA) is introduced. But like Fast ICA, its convergence is dependent on initial weight. We bring in a revision factor into the algorithm; thus the new algorithm could implement convergence on a largescale. In this paper, the revision factor is calculated by gradient. By modifying kernel iterate course, several iterations of Fast ICA are merged into one iteration of Modified Fast ICA, so the convergence of ICA will be accelerated. Finally, Modified ICA is applied to ERP extraction. The simulation shows that the convergence speed can be increased by using the improved algorithm.

[A discussion about key issues in retinal prosthesis].

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are two predominant causes of visual deterioration. Retinal prosthesis embeds a micro-electric chip or a micro-photoelectric diode array in the sub-retina or epi-retina, which is used to stimulate the remainder of inner retina, so as to restore some degree of sight. Retinal prosthesis has attracted most attention in the field of artificial visual function recovery, and along with deep-going research, many issues need to be resolved. In this paper, the theory of retinal prosthesis and the status quo of research in many countries are introduced, the key issues which influence the application of the retinal prosthesis are discussed in detail, and some notions and advices are presented.

[An improved morphological edge detection algorithm of medical image based on multi-structure element].

An improved edge detection algorithm is proposed in this paper for the medical images with strong noises and fuzzy edges. The algorithm modified the combination of morphological operations, so that the unclear edges of the images are avoided. In this paper is also introduced the algorithm of multi-structure elements which can reserve integrated edges from different directions of the images. Furthermore, the contrast enhancement and morphological filter processing are implemented. This method can detect the edges efficiently, keep the detected edges smooth and obtain coherent image edges. Experiments demonstrate that this edge detector has a better performance of noise reduction and keeps the edges more accurate than do the traditional edge detectors; thus its practicality is enhanced.

[Application of feedback techniques in motor function rehabilitation].

Feedback is an important way of information transmission in motor function output. Movement-related information can be transmitted as proprioceptive, haptic, visual and/or audial information to the central nervous system for control and modification of the temporal and spatial precision of motor output. Here presented is a systematic discussion on the principle, technique and effect for some typical motor function rehabilitation methods such as treatment based on EMG feedback, robot-aided movement therapy, high-level perceptional feedback and motor training effect with 3-D virtual reality environment.

[Review of the design of power supply in retinal implants].

The energy supply for the stimulation arrays is the key component in retinal implants. Usually, the thin film solar cell is used to supply energy, but it can not supply enough stimulation power. One of the general idea of incident energy supply is radio frequency (RF) circuit. Another method is to convert near infrared (NIR) radiation and enable retina cell stimulation. In this paper, firstly, we aim at listing these two energy supply methods, and introduce the characteristics of RF circuit and NIR conversion method. Especially, we present the design procedure in detail. The next part is a discussion on the advantage and disadvantage of adopting these two methods. At last, we explicate the new research and application of the energy supply for the use as retinal implants, and we envisage the future.

[Research and development of artificial retina material].

The application of artificial retina was introduced. The principal characteristics of artificial retina material were reviewed in particular. Moreover, the recent research development and application prospect were discussed.

[Development of a video image system for wireless capsule endoscopes based on DSP].

A video image recorder to record video picture for wireless capsule endoscopes was designed. TMS320C6211 DSP of Texas Instruments Inc. is the core processor of this system. Images are periodically acquired from Composite Video Broadcast Signal (CVBS) source and scaled by video decoder (SAA7114H). Video data is transported from high speed buffer First-in First-out (FIFO) to Digital Signal Processor (DSP) under the control of Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). This paper adopts JPEG algorithm for image coding, and the compressed data in DSP was stored to Compact Flash (CF) card. TMS320C6211 DSP is mainly used for image compression and data transporting. Fast Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) algorithm and fast coefficient quantization algorithm are used to accelerate operation speed of DSP and decrease the executing code. At the same time, proper address is assigned for each memory, which has different speed;the memory structure is also optimized. In addition, this system uses plenty of Extended Direct Memory Access (EDMA) to transport and process image data, which results in stable and high performance.

[Three-dimension reconstruction of ocular fundus image].

The mathematical model for 3D reconstruction of ocular fundus images is constructed according to both the reduced eye model and the simplified model of fundus camera optical system. The relationship between the images of emmetropic and ametropic eye and the true shape of ocular fundus retina is analyzed, and then the mapping relationship from 2D ocular fundus plan image to 3D surface image is obtained. As a result, the real example of 3D reconstruction for ocular fundus images is given. The max visual field of ocular fundus image for three-dimensional reconstruction is decided by the max visual field angle of fundus camera, which limits a size of the visual field of 3D reconstruction image and a range of z axis. According to the formulas of 3D mapping, the 2D data of ocular fundus image is mapped to 3D data and then veins mapping is carried out; thereafter, the 3D surface image of ocular fundus can be drawn immediately. This method makes use of the existing 2D imaging equipments to provide 3D surface image of patient's ocular fundus, and can provide ophthalmologist with beneficial reference and help to their clinical diagnosis and treatment.

[Research progress of subretinal implant based on electronic stimulation].

Subretinal prosthesis is one kind of retinal prosthesis, which means that a microimplant based on MEMS technology is inserted in the subretinal space to stimulate the optic nerve and elicit an electrical-evoked response on the cortical region. The subretinal implant is made up of extraocular part and intraocular part. As an important part, the latter consists of accessorial setting and stimulation chip that contains microphotodiode array (MPDA) and microelectrodes. The paper main body is made up of four parts. Firstly significance of the retinal prosthesis is given out; secondly fundamentals on both in retina physiology and retinal prosthesis theory are introduced simply. Then the key segment about the subretinal microimplant is presented in detail. In the third segment, first of all is its design concept, the second is fabrication of MPDA which consists of several parts. First is microscopic configuration, electric prototype schematic and chip image CMOS. The second is detailed fabrication flow with several special materials. Then is situation of its dimension. The fourth segment presents challenge and outlook.