VERTICAL SPINDLE COTTON HARVESTER WITH SYMMETRIC MOVEMENT OF SPINDLE DRUMS

The article deals with the trends in the development of structures, research work on modernization and creation of new vertical spindle cotton harvesting apparatus (CHA). Authors developed new CHA that works as follows: the CHA with a cotton picker moves on the cotton field; the cotton plants getting into the inter-drum slots are processed, that is, the raw cotton be harvested. The CHA are in their original position before picking raw cotton. When a thick cotton plant gets into the inter-drum slot of the front pair of drums, the spindle drums move apart and the inter-drum slot opens, while the connecting rods and the sliders move forward, providing the symmetrical opening of the slot relative to the longitudinal line of the cotton plant row. Further, this thick plant falls into the inter-drum slot of the second pair of drums, while the inter-drum slot of the second drums opens, while the connecting rods and the sliders move along the guides forward, providing the symmetrical opening of the slot relative to the longitudinal line of the cotton plant rows. With such a pairwise symmetric movement of the SD, depending on the thickness of the cotton plant, the force of spindle pressing on the cotton plant from both sides is identical and symmetrical, since the SD move symmetrically to the longitudinal line passing along the cotton plant row.

Analytical Solution of a New SEIR Model Based on Latent Period-Infectious Period Chronological Order

The Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) and SIR derived epidemic models have been commonly used to analyze the spread of infectious diseases. The underlying assumption in these models, such as Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) model, is that the change in variables E, I or R at time t is dependent on a fraction of E and I at time t. This means that after exposed on a day, this individual may become contagious or even recover on the same day. However, the real situation is different: an exposed individual will become infectious after a latent period (l) and then recover after an infectious period (i). In this study, we proposed a new SEIR model based on the latent period-infectious period chronological order (Liu X., Results Phys. 2021; 20:103712). An analytical solution to equations of this new SEIR model was derived. From this new SEIR model, we obtained a propagated curve of infectious cases under conditions l>i. Similar propagated epidemic curves were reported in literature. However, the conventional SEIR model failed to simulate the propagated epidemic curves under the same conditions. For l<i, the new SEIR models generated bell-shaped curves for infectious cases, and the curve is near symmetrical to the vertical line passing the curve peak. This characteristic can be found in many epidemic curves of daily COVID-19 cases reported from different countries. However, the curve generated from the conventional SEIR model is a right-skewed bell-shaped curve. An example for applying the analytical solution of the new SEIR model equations to simulate the reported daily COVID-19 cases was also given in this paper.

The Economics and Regulation of Network Industries

Have you ever wondered how your telephone company or Internet service provider can give you access to almost all people in the world, or how electricity suppliers can compete with each other if there is only one electric supply line passing through your street? This Element deals with the economics and public regulation of such network industries. It puts particular emphasis on the specific economic concepts used for analyzing them and on the regulatory reform movement and the compatibility of regulation and competition. Worldwide most of these industries have changed dramatically in recent years, telecommunications in particular. Network industries mostly exhibit economies of scale in production and similar economies in consumption. Both of these properties cause market power problems that often require industry-specific regulation. However, due to technological and market changes network policies have moved on from end-user regulation to wholesale regulation and in some cases to deregulation.

Spinor-Based Attitude Determination with Star Sensor Considering Depth

A star sensor is a high-precision satellite attitude measurement device. Since its observation information has only two-dimensional direction vectors, when a star sensor is used for attitude determination the dimension of the observation information is less than the number of attitude angles determined, so mainstream algorithms usually only guarantee the accuracy of the pitch angle and the roll angle. In view of the lack of depth information in the observation's imaging geometric condition, this article proposes a spinor-based attitude determination model, which describes a straight line passing through two stars with the spinor and maps the depth information of the straight line with the pitch, to establish an imaging geometry model of the spinor coplanar condition. Experiments show that the yaw-angle attitude accuracy of the method is an order of magnitude better than that of mainstream algorithms, and the accuracy of the three attitude angles reaches the arc-second level.

Wise-Pattern Superomedial Dermoglandular Pedicle Technique: Improves Breast Upper Pole Fullness and Breast Proportions

Background: This study aimed to analyze postoperative upper pole fullness, upper/lower pole ratios, bottoming-out deformity, and complication rates for patients who underwent planned bilateral reduction mammoplasty for gigantomastia using the superomedial dermoglandular pedicle technique and Wise-pattern skin excision. Methods: A total of 105 consecutive patients were evaluated postoperatively within a year in full lateral position, and the upper pole was between the lines drawn horizontally from the nipple meridian, where the breast became evident on the chest wall. Flat and slightly convex upper pole slopes were considered well-rounded; the concave ones were evaluated as exhibiting decreased fullness. The lower pole was the height between the horizontal line passing through the level of the inframammary fold and nipple meridian. Bottoming-out deformity was evaluated according to the 45/55% ratio developed by Mallucci and Branford, where the bottom pole was above 55%, at which it was held to be leaning toward bottoming-out deformity. Results: The upper and lower pole ratios were 44.79% ± 2.80% and 55.21% ± 2.80%, respectively. In 4 cases, a lower pole distance of >55% was leaning toward bottoming-out deformity. A minimum of 12 months was required after surgery to detect upper pole fullness and any possible bottoming-out deformity. The upper pole fullness was achieved in 94% of cases that underwent superomedial dermoglandular pedicle Wise-pattern breast reduction. Conclusion: The use of the superomedial dermoglandular pedicle technique with the Wise-pattern in breast reduction operations helps in ensuring upper pole fullness, resulting in less bottoming-out deformity and requiring less revision.

Hemispheric Latinidad

Hemispheric Latinidad describes various aspects of cultural proximity across the diverse ethnic, national, and geopolitical terrains of the Americas. The prefix “hemi,” from the Greek word meaning “half,” is joined to the Latin word “sphera,” which denotes a round, solid formation, such as a ball or globe. The planet, envisioned in terms of two halves (hemispheres) is conceived as a division of the Earth from either north to south or east to west by an imaginary line passing through the poles. As such, hemispheric Latinidad constitutes a 21st-century reconfiguration of the panethnic identity “Latino/Latina” (or Latinx) that emerged during the final quarter of the 20th century to replace the “Hispanic” designation for peoples of Latin American extraction contributing to the US national project. As a site of continual political contest (rather than a finished product), Latinidad has garnered skepticism from observers and scholars who argue that political opportunism and governmental expedience undergird attempts to consolidate Latinx subjects across divisions of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, migratory patterns, religion, language, and other axes of social difference to formulate a single, homogenous identity. However, contemporary scholarship that engages the conceptual framework of hemispheric Latinidad endeavors to take into account both the limitations, and the liberatory prospects, of approaches that emphasize interrelationships across Latinx and Latin American experiences. Hemispheric Latinidad hones in on the notion of overlap, as populations across the Americas contend with interlocking levels of domination that stem from the consequences of colonization, patriarchal hegemony, late capitalism, and other hemispheric structures that consolidate institutional powers and privileges along corporatist agendas. This interstitial approach to hemispheric experience informs projects of documentation, theorization, transformation, and rehabilitation of Latin American and Latinx peoples who share common experiences of national rejection within the US context, while contending with US economic, political, cultural, and military interventions and incursions into Latin American, the Caribbean, and indigenous territories in the Western Hemisphere that shape hemispheric patterns of migration, mobility, and immobility. Proponents of hemispheric Latinidad argue that these cumulative, interstitial encounters with Western domination and resistance occasion the need for conversations under an expansive rubric to describe a range of inter/intranational circumstances.

A remarkable property of cycloidal curves

The purpose of this theoretical work is to establish a connection between the most important properties of plane curves: cycloids and sinusoids. For this, a drawing mechanism is considered, which simultaneously draws a sinusoid and two cycloids. Based on the results obtained using this mechanical method of obtaining curves, the following important, previously unknown, theoretical facts are established. Firstly, new in theoretical terms is that the sinusoid is not represented as a graph of a trigonometric function, but as a locus of points equidistant from the current points of two cycloids: an ordinary and another cycloid congruent to the original one, inverted and shifted along the axis by half a period. Secondly, the line passing through the current points of these cycloids is nothing like a normal to the resulting sinusoid. This property greatly simplifies the graphical construction of such a normal. And, finally, a simple trigonometric relationship was established between the angle of rotation of the generating circle and the angle of deviation of the normal from the vertical.

Preoperative X-ray C2C6AR is applicable for prediction of difficult laryngoscopy in patients with cervical spondylosis

Background Airway management is one of the most important techniques in anesthesia practice and inappropriate airway management is related with airway injury, brain hypoxia, and even death. The patients with cervical spondylosis are often confronted with difficult laryngoscopy who are more prone to appear difficult airway, so it is important to figure out valuable predictors of difficult laryngoscopy in these patients. Methods We randomly enrolled 270 patients undergoing elective cervical spine surgery and analyzed the cervical mobility data in predicting difficult laryngoscopy. The preoperative X-ray radiological indicators were measured by an attending radiologist. Cormack-Lehane scales were assessed during intubation, and patients with a class III or IV view were assigned to the difficult laryngoscopy group. Results Univariate analysis showed that the hyomental distance (HMD, the distance between the hyoid bone and the tip of the chin) and the hyomental distance ratio (HMDR, the ratio between HMD in the extension position and the one in the neutral position) might not be suitable indicators in patients with cervical spondylosis. Binary multivariate logistic regression (backward-Wald) analyses identified two independent correlative factors from the cervical mobility indicators that correlated best as a predictor of difficult laryngoscopy: modified Mallampati test (MMT) and C2C6AR (the ratio of the angle between a line passing through the bottom of the second cervical vertebra and a line passing through the bottom of the sixth cervical vertebra in the extension position and the one in the neutral position). The odds ratio (OR) and 95 % CI were 2.292(1.093–4.803) and 0.493 (0.306–0.793), respectively. C2C6AR exhibited the largest area under the curve (0.714; 95 % CI 0.633–0.794). Conclusions C2C6AR based on preoperative X-ray images may be the most accurate predictor of cervical mobility indicators for difficult laryngoscopy in patients with cervical spondylosis. Trial registration The study was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn; identifier: ChiCTR-ROC-16,008,598) on June 6, 2016.

Calculation of temperature and thermoelastic stresses in backups with collars of the unit of combined continuous casting and deformation in steel billets production. Report 2

The problem statement and boundary conditions for calculation of axial thermoelastic stresses in backups with collars of the unit of combined continuous casting and deformation are provided for production of three steel billets. The scheme of calculations for determination of thermoelastic stresses in backups with collars in known temperature field was stated using ANSYS software. The results of calculation of thermoelastic stresses in shaped dies were performed in four sections of a backup with collars. In each section, calculation results are given for four typical lines and seven points. Values of axial thermoelastic stresses for seven typical points of each section are given for the contact surface of a backup with collars and the contact layer at a depth of 5 mm from the contact surface. The stress state of a shaped backup in the middle of depression between the middle collars was determined and the regularities of distribution of axial and equivalent stresses over the thickness, length and width of a backup were established during slab compression and at idle. The results of calculation of thermoelastic stresses in the top of the middle collar of a shaped backup on the contact surface and in the contact layer during slab compression and at idle are presented. Graphs of thermoelastic stresses distribution along the line passing through the top of a collar are given, which show the zones of compressive and tensile thermoelastic stresses during slab compression and at idle. The character of the stress state in the base of extreme collar was determined for production of three steel billets in the unit of combined process of continuous casting and deformation.

A Rare Case of an Iliac Fracture at the Iliac Fossa Immediately after Salter Innominate Osteotomy

This report presents the unusual case of a 5-year-old girl with iliac fracture just after Salter innominate osteotomy for developmental dysplasia of the hip. The iliac fracture was diagnosed two days after Salter innominate osteotomy, and computed tomography (CT) revealed that it was at the extremely thin portion of the iliac wing called the “iliac fossa.” We were able to reduce the fracture by pulling the left leg distally, and after reducing the iliac bone, the ilium was fixed by Kirschner wire from the anteroinferior iliac spine and anterosuperior iliac spine. The patient was in a hip-spica cast for 6 weeks postoperatively and allowed to walk from 3 months after the surgery. At the last follow-up one year after the surgery, bone union was completely obtained, and she had no complications. The cause of the fracture seems to be the stress concentration on the iliac fossa due to the cranked iliac osteotomy line passing through the iliac fossa. The current case indicates the importance of careful evaluation by CT before surgery and ensuring that the osteotomy line does not extend near the iliac fossa.