Development of an automated guidance system for rice transplanter1

( Fang-ming Zhang ),( Xi-ming Feng ),( Yuan Li ),( Beom-soo Shin ),( Ru-jiang Shou ) 한국농업기계학회 2012 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.17 No.1

An automated guidance system was developed on a rice transplanter. A distributed embedded computer system, one ECC and 5 ECUs, was constructed. Two Kalman filters were formed. The 1^st one, named as global Kalman filter, integrated data of a RTK-GPS, a strapdown attitude sensor, and two encoders. The 2^nd one, named as local Kalman filter, integrated data of a strapdown attitude sensor and two encoders. A PID controller was applied to row following control, whose offset RMS could less than 4 cm at speed of 1.2 m/s. A U-turn controller was also designed that it could control the transplanter in a go-turn-back mode.

Off-Road Machinery Systms Engineering : Development of a Prototype of Guidance System for Rice-transplanter

( Fang Ming Zhang ),( Beom Soo Shin ),( Xi Ming Feng ),( Yuan Li ),( Ri Jiang Shou ) 한국농업기계학회 2013 바이오시스템공학 Vol.38 No.4

Purpose: It is not easy to drive a rice-transplanter avoiding underlapped or overlapped transplanting in paddy fields. An automated guidance system for the riding-type rice-transplanter would be necessary to operate the rice-transplanter autonomously or to assist the beginning drivers as a driving aid. Methods: A prototype of guidance system was composed of embedded computers, RTK-GPS, and a power-steering mechanism. Two Kalman filters were adopted to overcome sparse positioning data (1 Hz) from the RTK-GPS. A global Kalman filter estimated the posture of rice-transplanter every one second, and a local Kalman filter calculated the posture from every new estimation of the global Kalman filter with an interval of 200 ms. A PID controller was applied to the row-following mode control. A control method of U-turning mode was developed as well. A stepping motor with a reduction gear set was used to rotate the shaft of steering wheel. Results:Test trials for U-turning and row-following modes were done in a paddy field after some parameters have been tuned at the ground speed range of 0.3 ~ 1.2 m/s. The minimum RMS error of offset was 3.13 cm at the ground speed of 0.3 m/s while the maximum RMS error was 13.01 cm at 1.2 m/s. The offset RMS error tended to increase as the ground speed increased. The target point distance, LT also affected the system performance and PID controller parameters should be adjusted on different ground speeds. Conclusions: A target angle-based PID controller plus stationary steering angle controller made it possible for the rice-transplanter to steer autonomously by following a reference line accurately and even on U-turning mode. However, as condition in paddy fields is very complicated, the system should control the ground speed that prevents it from deviating too much due to ditch and slope.

Development of a Prototype of Guidance System for Rice-transplanter

Zhang, Fang-Ming,Shin, Beom-Soo,Feng, Xi-Ming,Li, Yuan,Shou, Ru-Jiang Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery 2013 바이오시스템공학 Vol.38 No.4

Purpose: It is not easy to drive a rice-transplanter avoiding underlapped or overlapped transplanting in paddy fields. An automated guidance system for the riding-type rice-transplanter would be necessary to operate the rice-transplanter autonomously or to assist the beginning drivers as a driving aid. Methods: A prototype of guidance system was composed of embedded computers, RTK-GPS, and a power-steering mechanism. Two Kalman filters were adopted to overcome sparse positioning data (1 Hz) from the RTK-GPS. A global Kalman filter estimated the posture of rice-transplanter every one second, and a local Kalman filter calculated the posture from every new estimation of the global Kalman filter with an interval of 200 ms. A PID controller was applied to the row-following mode control. A control method of U-turning mode was developed as well. A stepping motor with a reduction gear set was used to rotate the shaft of steering wheel. Results: Test trials for U-turning and row-following modes were done in a paddy field after some parameters have been tuned at the ground speed range of 0.3 ~ 1.2 m/s. The minimum RMS error of offset was 3.13 cm at the ground speed of 0.3 m/s while the maximum RMS error was 13.01 cm at 1.2 m/s. The offset RMS error tended to increase as the ground speed increased. The target point distance, LT also affected the system performance and PID controller parameters should be adjusted on different ground speeds. Conclusions: A target angle-based PID controller plus stationary steering angle controller made it possible for the rice-transplanter to steer autonomously by following a reference line accurately and even on U-turning mode. However, as condition in paddy fields is very complicated, the system should control the ground speed that prevents it from deviating too much due to ditch and slope.

Low-dose diethylhexyl phthalate exposure does not impair the expressive patterns of epigenetics-related genes and DNA methylation of breast cancer-related genes in mouse mammary glands

Shun-Feng Cheng,Ling Li,Bo Li,Jing-Cai Liu,Fang-Nong Lai,Yong Zhao,Xi-Feng Zhang,Wei Shen,Lan Li 대한독성 유전단백체 학회 2018 Molecular & cellular toxicology Vol.14 No.2

Backgrounds: Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), as an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), is widely used in plasticizer and other productions. Ubiquitous human exposure to DEHP has been proposed to be a potential risk to public health. Developmental exposure to DEHP could alter epigenetic programming and result in adult-onset disease. Methods: In this study, we investigated whether DEHP exposure to pregnant mice affected epigenetic changes as a result of increase in breast cancer incidence. Results: Our results showed that the expression of total 143 epigenetics-related genes in mammary gland cells, have no significantly altered after short time and low-dose treated with DEHP from 0.5 days post-coitum (dpc) to 3.5 dpc of pregnant mice. DNA methylation status of some neoplastic development genes, such as EGFr, Esr1, Pgr, Fos and Rassf5 also had no obvious change. Conclusion: These finding showed no impact of DEHP on the expressive patterns of epigenetics-related genes and DNA methylation of breast cancer-related genes in pregnant mouse mammary gland cells.

Relationship between Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Level and Efficacy of Inhaled Corticosteroid in Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome Patients with Different Disease Severity

Jia-Xi Feng,Yun Lin,Jian Lin,Su-Su He,Mei-Fang Chen,Xiao-Mai Wu,You-Zu Xu 대한의학회 2017 Journal of Korean medical science Vol.32 No.3

This study explored the relationship between the fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) level and the efficacy of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS) patients with different disease severity. A total of 127 ACOS patients with ACOS (case group) and 131 healthy people (control group) were enrolled in this study. Based on the severity of COPD, the ACOS patients were divided into: mild ACOS; moderate ACOS; severe ACOS; and extremely severe ACOS groups. We compared FeNO levels, pulmonary function parameters including percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to predicted value (FEV1%pred), ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC), inspiratory capacity to total lung capacity (IC/TLC) and residual volume to total lung capacity (RV/TLC), arterial blood gas parameters, including PH, arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), induced sputum eosinophil (EOS), plasma surfactant protein A (SP-A), plasma soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE), sputum myeloperoxidase (MPO), sputum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores, and COPD Assessment Test (CAT) scores. Compared with pre-treatment parameters, the FeNO levels, RV/TLC, PaCO2, total serum IgE, induced sputum EOS, plasma SP-A, sputum MPO, sputum NGAL, and CAT scores were significantly decreased after 6 months of ICS treatment, while FEV1%pred, FEV1/FVC, IC/TLC, PH, PaO2, plasma sRAGE, and ACT scores were significantly increased in ACOS patients with different disease severity after 6 months of ICS treatment. This finding suggests that the FeNO level may accurately predict the efficacy of ICS in the treatment of ACOS patients.

Prognostic Role of Nucleophosmin in Colorectal Carcinomas

Yang, Yu-Feng,Zhang, Xi-Ying,Yang, Mei,He, Ze-Hua,Peng, Ning-Fu,Xie, Shu-Rui,Xie, Yan-Fang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.5

Aim: Recent research suggests that nucleophosmin (NPM) may be a prognostic marker in colorectal carcinomas (CRC). We here tested its use to predict the survival of CRC patients. Methods: We investigated NPM expression by immunohistochemistry in histologically normal to malignant colorectal tissues and evaluated its association with clinicopathological variables. Overall and disease-free survival after tumor removal were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences in survival curves were analyzed by the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis of prognostic factors. Results: NPM expression was found significantly upregulated in CRC compared to adjacent colorectal tissue, villous adenoma, tubular adenoma and normal colorectal mucosa (p<0.05 for all). NPM expression was statistically linked to cancer embolus, lymph node metastasis, differentiation grade, and recurrence of CRC. Overall and disease-free survival of NPM-negative CRC patients tended to be better than those for patients with NPM-positive lesions (log-rank statistic, p<0.05 for all). Multivariate analysis indicated NPM expression as an independent prognostic indicator for CRC patients (p<0.05 ). Conclusion: Our results suggest that NPM expression can predict the survival of CRC patients. Prognosis of CRC is determined by not only many known prognostic factors but also by NPM expression.

Antioxidant effect of peony seed oil on aging mice

Xiao-Miao Han,Su-Xi Wu,Mei-Fang Wu,Xue-Feng Yang 한국식품과학회 2017 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.26 No.6

D-galactose was injected into mice of ages 4–5 months, and peony seed oil was administered using an oral gavage to assess its possible anti-aging functions. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activities of monoamine oxidase (MAO), glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the brain and liver of these mice were determined using biochemical kits. The significance of the differences in the content of the components associated with aging and anti-aging among each group was analyzed statistically. The MDA content and activities of MAO in the brain and liver of mice in the peony seed oil group were significantly lower than those in the aging group. The activities of GSH-Px, Cu/Zn-SOD, and Mn-SOD in the brain and liver of mice in the peony seed oil group were very significantly higher than those in the aging group. Peony seed oil was determined to have an obvious anti-aging function.

First-principles study of the switching characteristics of the 15,16-dinitrile DDP/CPD-based optical molecular switch with carbon nanotube electrodes

Peng Zhao,Chang-feng Fang,Yi-ming Wang,Ya-xi Zhai,De-sheng Liu 한국물리학회 2009 Current Applied Physics Vol.9 No.6

We have studied the switching characteristics of an optical molecular switch based on the 15,16-dinitrile dihydropyrene/cyclophanediene (DDP/CPD) molecule with two single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes using first-principles transport calculations. It is shown that the DDP shows an overall higher conductance than the CPD at low bias which is independently of the SWCNT chirality. Meantime, the conductance of the molecular switch can be tuned by the chirality of the SWCNT. We have studied the switching characteristics of an optical molecular switch based on the 15,16-dinitrile dihydropyrene/cyclophanediene (DDP/CPD) molecule with two single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes using first-principles transport calculations. It is shown that the DDP shows an overall higher conductance than the CPD at low bias which is independently of the SWCNT chirality. Meantime, the conductance of the molecular switch can be tuned by the chirality of the SWCNT.

A Digital Twin-Driven Approach for On-line Controlling Quality of Marine Diesel Engine Critical Parts

De-Jun Cheng,Jie Zhang,Zhong-Tai Hu,Sheng-Hao Xu,Xi-Feng Fang 한국정밀공학회 2020 International Journal of Precision Engineering and Vol.21 No.10

This paper aims to propose a digital twin-driven (DTD) approach that consists of the machining data (MD) in twin data (TD), design of MD acquisition methodology, construction of intelligent algorithm, real-virtual data interaction analysis and fusion technology, which improvs the predictability and management of on-line quality control of marine diesel engine (MDE) critical parts. Firstly, this paper introduces the theoretical framework of DTD on-line quality control in machining process. Secondly, we construct the process of DTD on-line quality control and introduce the digital twin model of on-line quality control based on TD-driven; the operation of data-driven quality on-line control based on digital twin including description and modeling of MD; acquisition of MD based on digital twin; TD-driven on-line tool life prediction and data fusion on-line machining parameters optimization methods. Finally, a case study is applied to validate the accuracy and availability of the DTD approach. The proposed approach provides a new way for the on-line quality control of MDE critical parts in machining process.

Comparison of carcass and meat quality traits between lean and fat Pekin ducks

Ding, Si-Ran,Li, Guang-Sheng,Chen, Si-Rui,Zhu, Feng,Hao, Jin-Ping,Yang, Fang-Xi,Hou, Zhuo-Cheng Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2021 Animal Bioscience Vol.34 No.7

Objective: According to market demand, meat duck breeding mainly includes 2 breeding directions: lean Pekin duck (LPD) and fat Pekin duck (FPD). The aim of the present study was to compare carcass and meat quality traits between 2 strains, and to provide basic data for guidelines of processing and meat quality improvement. Methods: A total of 62 female Pekin ducks (32 LPDs and 30 FPDs) were slaughtered at the age of 42 days. The live body weight and carcass traits were measured and calculated. Physical properties of breast muscle were determined by texture analyzer and muscle fibers were measured by paraffin sections. The content of inosine monophosphate (IMP), intramuscular fat (IMF) and fatty acids composition were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, Soxhlet extraction method and automated gas chromatography respectively. Results: The results showed that the bodyweight of LPDs was higher than that of FPDs. FPDs were significantly higher than LPDs in subcutaneous fat thickness, subcutaneous fat weight, subcutaneous fat percentage, abdominal fat percentage and abdominal fat shear force (p<0.01). LPDs were significantly higher than FPDs in breast muscle thickness, breast muscle weight, breast muscle rate and breast muscle shear force (p<0.01). The muscle fiber average area and fiber diameter of LPDs were significantly higher than those of FPDs (p<0.01). The muscle fiber density of LPDs was significantly lower than that of FPDs (p<0.01). The IMF of LPDs in the breast muscle was significantly higher than that in the FPDs (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the 2 strains in IMP content (p>0.05). The polyunsaturated fatty acid content of LPDs was significantly higher than that of FPDs (p<0.01), and FPDs had higher saturated fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acid levels (p<0.05). Conclusion: Long-term breeding work resulted in vast differences between the two strains Pekin ducks. This study provides a reference for differences between LPD and FPD that manifest as a result of long-term selection.