MSCT 3D Analysis of Nasopharyngeal Airway After Le Fort I Maxillary Setback Surgeries.

In recent years, maxillary Le Fort I osteotomy setback has been widely applied in correcting maxilla prognathism. In the meantime, airway considerations have attracted more and more attention. The aim of this research was to observe the alteration of nasopharyngeal airway indexes after maxilla setback and offer evidence for the effectiveness and safety of maxillary Le Fort I setback surgeries. As for a retrospective cross-sectional study, 40 patients diagnosed with maxilla prognathism and undergoing maxillary setback surgeries were enrolled. They were grouped by the type of maxillary setback operations as group A (integral maxillary setback, n=19) and group B (segmental maxillary setback, n=21). Multislice computed tomography data were collected 1 week before (T0) and more than 3 months (T1) after surgery. 3D reconstruction and evaluation of the pharyngeal airway were conducted to analyze nasopharyngeal airway index variation before and after surgery and the difference between group A and group B. Preoperative and postoperative nasopharyngeal airway volume showed no statistical significance in group A (P=0.872) and group B (P=0.169) as well as other indexes of the nasopharynx. The comparison of postoperative airway changes between group A and group B also showed no significant difference. Both integral and segmental maxillary Le Fort I osteotomy setbacks have slight impact on nasopharyngeal airway dimensions and are safe within a specific setback range.

Study of Pavement Micro- and Macro-Texture Evolution Due to Traffic Polishing Using 3D Areal Parameters.

Pavement micro- and macro-texture have significant effects on roadway friction and driving safety. The influence of traffic polish on pavement texture has been investigated in many laboratory studies. This paper conducts field evaluation of pavement micro- and macro-texture under actual traffic polishing using three-dimensional (3D) areal parameters. A portable high-resolution 3D laser scanner measured pavement texture from a field site in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Then, the 3D texture data was decomposed to micro- and macro-texture using Fourier transform and Butterworth filter methods. Twenty 3D areal parameters from five categories, including height, spatial, hybrid, function, and feature parameters, were calculated to characterize pavement micro- and macro-texture. The results demonstrate that the 3D areal parameters provide an alternative to comprehensively characterize the evolution of pavement texture under traffic polish from different aspects.

The heterogeneous time and income effects in Kuznets curves of municipal solid waste generation: comparing developed and developing economies.

In rapidly developing countries, it is imperative to study the changes in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation for planning waste management and treatment. This study took the largest 11 economies in the world as cases, comprising half of the global population, analyzed the variations of definition of MSW among these economies. Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis and using parametric model, Feasible General Least Squares (FGLS) regression, and nonparametric models, Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs), it was expected that the change features and its socioeconomic drivers of total MSW generation and per capita MSW (PCMSW) since the 1960s would be determined. Efforts were also made to find the turning/stabilizing point in the relationship between PCMSW and per capita gross domestic product (PCGDP) in each economy. It shows that population has the most important impact on total MSW, however, the economic indicators might be ignored. The United States and Germany have the highest PCMSW generation, while China and India indicate the lowest. The turning/stabilizing point in the relationship between PCMSW and PCGDP perfermed in most developed economies, Singapore and Korea reached the turning point around 1990, while for other developed economies it was 2000. Germany came to a stabilizing point in 1990, and with some arbitrary, so did the United States. The developing economies seem to be still in their early stage of the potential EKC. In developed economies, heterogeneous time effects on PCMSW seem to be more significant than heterogeneous income effects, which is contrary to developing economies.