The goal of this manuscript is to establish a novel computational model for stretch-induced skin growth during tissue expansion. Tissue expansion is a common surgical procedure to grow extra skin for reconstructing birth defects, burn injuries, or cancerous breasts. To model skin growth within the framework of nonlinear continuum mechanics, we adopt the multiplicative decomposition of the defor...

In this paper we propose a new method to implement turbo codes over fading channels by extending the idea of turbo DPSK [3] to include turbo outer codes. An analytical tool has been developed to estimate the performance of extended turbo DPSK. A simulation study shows that extended turbo DPSK performs worse than BPSK modulated turbo codes with coherent detection. The energy inefficiency of exte...

Conceptual design of scroll expander and scroll compressor for 10 kW-class Stirling engine utilizing solar energy as heat source has been carried out. CO2 was chosen as the working fluid, since it is nontoxic, inflammable and it has relatively higher density among probably usable gases. Gas temperature at the expander inlet was set at 700 C, and that at the compressor inlet was at 40°C. System ...

Expander graphs are highly connected sparse nite graphs. The property of being an expander seems signi cant in many of these mathematical, computational and physical contexts. For practical applications it is very important to construct expander and Ramanujan graphs with given regularity and order. In general, constructions of the best expander graphs with a given regularity and order is no eas...

Expander graphs are relevant to theoretical computer science in addition to the construction of high-performance switching networks. In communication network applications, a high degree of symmetry in the underlying topology is often advantageous, as it may reduce the complexity of designing and analyzing switching and routing algorithms. We give explicit constructions of expander graphs that a...

In order to improve the coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat pump cycle by using carbon dioxide (CO2), an expander that recovers rotation power from the large pressure difference in the cycle to use the power to partially drive the cycle was developed. In the cycle a two stage rotary expander was adopted because the suction control mechanism is not necessary in it. In the development proc...

A mathematical model has been built which includes thermodynamic, mechanical and generator models. Then, the starting procedure of scroll expander driven by compressed air has been simulated. The rotating speed and stable time influenced by the suction pressure, discharge pressure and load resistance have been analyzed. The results show that the starting procedure of scroll expander is determin...

BACKGROUND Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been administered since the 1990s and is now one of the major treatments for breast cancer. It can achieve extremely positive results in some patients. Whether NAC affects immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) using an expander, however, remains unclear. METHODS A retrospective study was performed at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) hosp...

The convergence rate of LDPC decoding is comparatively slower than turbo code decoding: 25 LDPC iterations versus 8-10 iterations for turbo codes. Recently, Mansour proposed a ‘turbo-schedule’ to improve the convergence rate of LDPC decoders. In this letter, we first extend the turbo-scheduling principle to the check messages. Second, we show analytically that the convergence rate of both turbo...

BACKGROUND The authors aimed to quantify overall patient satisfaction with three breast reconstruction techniques and identify factors that have influenced satisfaction. METHODS Two hundred sixty-eight questionnaires were mailed at least 6 months after immediate breast reconstruction to consecutive breast reconstruction patients over a 3-year period. A second questionnaire was sent out 9 mont...