Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion for traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis

To evaluate the clinical outcome, effectiveness and safety of the surgical management of traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) with short segmental instrumentation fixation. A retrospective review of a consecutive series of 24 patients with traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis treated with TLIF procedure was carried out. Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring was used to confirm the peripheral neural function intact during the reduction of the spondylolisthesis. Preoperative clinical and radiographic evaluation of all cases were originally collected prospectively. Data regarding blood loss, operative time, duration of hospital stay, radiographic fusion, instrumentation failure and clinical result were collected and observed at regular follow-up periods. All patients were engaged in high-energy accidents in the lower back and 16 patients had concomitant injuries. The mean operative time was 124 min, mean blood loss was 350 mL, and mean hospital stay was 6.5 days. There were no complications such as incision infection, cerebrospinal fluide (CSF) leakage and nerve root injury and so on. All patients demonstrated a solid lumbar interbody fusion within 4 months, and no evidence of spondylolisthesis correction loss, instrumentation failure and loosing. They all were completely asymptomatic, with normal neurologic findings, and had resumed their previous level of physical activities on the final follow-up. Meticulous clinical examination and careful imaging assessment could assist an early diagonosis in cases of traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis. Performing open reduction and the TLIF procedure as soon as possible could restore segmental stability and painless function. The TLIF procedure was a safe, effective technique to treat traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis.     

Face recognition via adaptive image combination

Dimension reduction and manifold learning are the two most popular feature extraction methods. The two methods focus on spatial locality as a guiding principle to find a low-dimensional basis for describing high-dimensional data, but no bases or features are more spatially localized than the original image pixels. So, adaptive image combination is presented to represent a class by a combined sample. The combined sample is a linear combination of original samples in the same class. Adaptive image combination (AIC) find the best combination coefficients by minimizing the intrapersonal distance and maximizing the interpersonal distance. Experimental results show that AIC is effective.     

Parameter transfer of common-metric attributes in choice analysis: implications for willingness to pay

There is a growing literature that promotes the presence of a mix of compensatory and semi-compensatory processing strategies in the way that individuals evaluate packages of attributes in real or hypothetical markets, and make choices. This paper proposes a specification for the utility form in a choice model to test if, given a pair of attributes with a common-metric (e.g., components of travel time or cost), the attribute with the dominating level defines the marginal (dis)utility that is assigned to both attributes. We refer to this processing strategy as a parameter transfer rule. We use a stated choice data set, in the context of car driving individuals choosing between tolled and non-tolled routes, to estimate a mixed logit model which incorporates the presence of the parameter transfer rule and the conventional fully compensatory rule, both existing up to a probability. We find that if this parameter transfer heuristic is part of the mix, the WTP is more than 30% higher, on average, than when only a fully compensatory rule is imposed. We also contrast the parameter transfer rule with other semi-compensatory heuristics which have been investigated in other papers, and show that the finding adds further support to the accumulating evidence that a semi-compensatory attribute processing rules tend to result in higher mean WTP estimates compared to the fully compensatory attribute processing rule.     

Socio-demographic and built environment influences on the odds of being overweight or obese: The Atlanta experience

This paper explores the association of socio-demographic and built environment characteristics on the odds of being overweight and obese using data from the Atlanta SMARTRAQ travel survey. A new methodological framework based on a multinomial logit (MNL) model and an enhanced odds ratio plot is presented. The use of an MNL model overcomes limitations of many prior studies that employ a sequence of binary logit models to examine multiple weight categories. The use of an enhanced odds ratio plot provides important information into the relative importance of socio-demographic and built environment characteristics. Several new findings for the Atlanta area result from this study. Socio-demographic variables, including age and educational attainment, exhibit a non-linear relationship with the odds of being overweight or obese. Gender, age, ethnicity, and educational attainment are strongly associated with the odds of being overweight or obese, while income and number of students between 5 and 16 years old in the household have smaller effects. Built environment characteristics such as increased net residential densities and enhanced street connectivity are associated with reductions in the odds of being overweight and/or obese. Relative to socio-demographic variables, however, such built environment characteristics have a much smaller impact on describing the odds of being overweight or obese.     

Off-set crack propagation analysis under mixed mode loadings

An assessment was carried out herein to study the eccentricity of cracks subjected to mixed-mode loadings. Several loading locations relative to a central line were selected to induce mixed-mode loadings, which were computed using a finite element method. An adaptive meshing technique was adopted during the simulation of crack propagation to ensure the singularity of stress at the tip of the crack. The stress intensity failure criterion was used and programmed, and the node splitting technique was used when the stress intensity factor reached the fracture toughness of the material to simulate crack propagations. It was found that large variations in the stress intensity factor were observed when off-set cracks were used, and that K _II decreased when loading distance increased, but increased when the off-set crack distance was increased. Both crack eccentricity and loading distance played important roles in producing mixed-mode loading, compared to the influence of central cracks. Correction factors were introduced to modify the calculation of stress intensity factors under mixed-mode loadings. Simulations of crack propagation were also conducted to study the effects of crack eccentricities and loading distances. It was found that the crack length, the loading distance relative to the central crack and the crack eccentricity dominated calculations of the integrity of cracked structures.     

Development of a semi-empirical friction model in automotive driveshaft joints

High speed and sport utility vehicles with large joint articulation angle demand lower friction in automotive driveshaft joints to meet noise and vibration comfort levels. Thus a more thorough understanding of internal friction characteristics and mechanisms is required. In this paper, a friction model in automotive driveshaft joints was developed through the use of test data from an instrumented Constant Velocity (CV) joint friction apparatus with actual driveshaft assemblies. Experiments were conducted under different realistic operating conditions of oscillatory speeds, CV joint articulation angles, lubrication, and torque. The experimental data was used to develop a physics-based semi-empirical CV joint internal friction model as a function of different CV joint operating parameters. It was found that the proposed friction model captures the experimental results well. Also the friction model estimates the generated axial force (GAF) in tripod CV joints well, which is the main source of force that causes vehicle vibration problems.     

Development of a low-noise cooling fan for an alternator using numerical and doe methods

An alternator, which converts mechanical rotational energy into electrical energy, is an important component of a vehicle. Alternators operate over a broad range of rotational speeds, typically from 3,000 RPM to 18,000 RPM, which demands a cooling fan producing sufficient airflow, ideally with a minimum of noise. In the current study, an optimized alternator-cooling fan was developed through a linked DOE(Design OF Experiment) process and numerical analysis. The SC/Tetra and FlowNoise S/W programs were used to calculate flow rates and noise levels, respectively, for the newly developed fan. Compared with original model, the numerical results predicted a 3 dBA noise reduction; the measured reduction was 4 dBA.     

Model-based design of a variable nozzle turbocharger controller

Variable Nozzle Turbocharger (VNT) was invented to solve the problem of matching an ordinary turbocharger with an engine. VNT can harness exhaust energy more efficiently, enhance intake airflow response and reduce engine emissions, especially during transient operating conditions. The difficulty of VNT control lies in how to regulate the position of the nozzle at different engine working conditions. The control strategy designed in this study is a combination of a closed-loop feedback controller and an open-loop feed-forward controller. The gain-scheduled proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller was implemented as the feedback controller to overcome the nonlinear characteristic. As it is difficult to tune the parameters of the gain-scheduled PID controller on an engine test bench, system identification was used to identify the plant model properties at different working points for a WP10 diesel engine on the test bench. The PID controller parameters were calculated based on the identified first-order-plus-dead-time (FOPDT) plant model. The joint simulation of the controller and the plant model was performed in Matlab/Simulink. The time-domain and frequency-domain performances of the entire system were evaluated. The designed VNT control system was verified with engine tests. The results indicated that the real boosting pressure traced the target boosting pressure well at different working conditions.     

Deflection test and transmission error measurement to identify hypoid gear whine noise

T-Hypoid gears are commonly used in rear-drive and 4WD (4 Wheel Drive) vehicle axles. Investigating their sensitivity to deflections is one of the most important aspects of their design and optimization procedures. Therefore, a deflection test was performed in this study in the actual gear mounting using completely processed gear. This test covered the full operating range of gear loads from “no load” to “peak load”. Under peak load, the contact pattern extended to the tooth boundaries without showing a concentration of the contact pattern at any point on the tooth surface. The transmission error was tested under an axle assembly triaxial-real-car-load condition.