An anodic voltage sweep rate in the range of 0.05–0.5 V·s−1, with a hydrogenation time of 60 min, increases the anodizing efficiency . The detected radical differences in the time responses and decreased efficiency of the anodic process during the anodizing of the hydrogenated thin films, compared to pure metals, are explained by the presence of hydrogen in the composition of the samples and the increased contribution of side processes, due to the possible features of the formed oxide morphologies.Magnetron-sputtered thin films of titanium and zirconium, with a thickness of 150 nm, were hydrogenated at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 703 K, then anodized in boric, oxalic, and tartaric acid aqueous solutions, in potentiostatic, galvanostatic, potentiodynamic, and combined modes. A study of the thickness distribution of the elements in fully anodized hydrogenated zirconium samples, using Auger electron spectroscopy, indicates the formation of zirconia. The voltage- and current-time responses of hydrogenated titanium anodizing were investigated. In this work, fundamental possibility and some process features of anodizing hydrogenated metals were demonstrated. In the case of potentiodynamic anodizing at 0.6 M tartaric acid, the increase in titanium hydrogenation time, from 30 to 90 min, leads to a decrease in the charge of the oxidizing hydrogenated metal at an anodic voltage sweep rate of 0.2 V·s Anodic oxide films of aluminum (Al) and other valve metals  are promising materials for electronic technology ,3,4,5,6;2 on Ti, during anodizing, has been investigated. Titanium hydrides were formed after cathodizing, profoundly impacting the formation of Nanoporous TiO2 on Ti by anodizing. However, in some studies [However, the analysis of literature sources allows to conclude that the behavior of the hydrogenated thin films of valve metals during electrochemical anodizing has not been studied yet. Short reports on the possibility of electrochemical anodic oxidation of hydrogenated titanium and zirconium appeared for the first time in 1999 ,81. Ther studies ,83, the This work presents the results of Ti and Zr hydrogenated thin film anodizing. The work reveals, firstly, the establishment of the fundamental possibility of the anodizing of thin-film hydrogenated zirconium and titanium in acid aqueous solutions; secondly, the character of voltage- and current-time responses; thirdly, the study of the impact of hydrogenation degree, the nature of electrolyte and anodizing conditions on the oxidation process.−7 mbar, with subsequent sputtering using 99.998% argon at 5 × 10−3 mbar. In the mode of discharge power stabilization, the discharge power was maintained at a level of 0.9 kW. In this case, the discharge current was approximately 3.0 A and the discharge voltage varied from 430 to 560 V. Then, the silicon wafer with the sputtered metal was cut; one part of it was used for hydrogenation, and the other (non-hydrogenated)part was used as a reference sample for subsequent anodizing and analysis. Hydrogenation of thin metal films was carried out at atmospheric pressure in a stream of H2 at a temperature of 703 K within 30, 40, 60 and 90 min in a single-zone multi-pipe diffusion system CД.OM-3/100 .In the experiments, Zr and Ti, with a thickness of 150 nm, were deposited by magnetron sputtering of 99.95% targets on silicon wafer . The deposition chamber was initially evacuated to 5 × 10(1)1% wt. solutions of boric (BA) and tartaric acid (TA) in combined mode;(2)0.6 M solution of TA in galvanostatic mode;(3)0.6 M solution of oxalic acid (OA) and TA in potentiodynamic mode.Acids for anodizing were supplied by the Belaquilion  additional-liability company and manufactured by Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. . A programmable power supply 5751 A  was used as the anodizing unit, controlled by a personal computer (PC) with homemade software written in LabVIEW. Programmable digital multimeters 34470 A  were used to record the voltage-time responses, controlled by a PC with R&D Lab 4.10 developed software. Anodizing of hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated films was carried out with constant stirring in the following:2. The initial anodizing temperature was 293 K, and the increase in anodizing temperature during the entire process did not exceed 2 K.In the combined mode, firstly, anodizing was carried out in potentiodynamic mode. Then, upon reaching a stationary voltage, the process passed into potentiostatic mode. Anodizing was carried out in a specialized PTFE electrochemical cell  with a hThe analysis of literature sources showed that the anodizing of hydrogenated thin films of titanium and zirconium had not previously been carried out; therefore, it was not possible to make the choice of electrolytes on the basis of previous studies. Therefore, electrolytes were selected according to two criteria. Firstly, the possibility of titanium and zirconium activation as a result of hydrogenation was taken into account; therefore, the authors tried to avoid the chemical aggression of electrolytes, leaving only the electrochemical component. The least aggressive electrolytes were selected. Secondly, electrolytes were chosen whose behavior was well known to the authors and the study of which had traditionally been carried out for several decades in the laboratory.6 electron emitter, cylindrical mirror analyzer and a differentially pumped Ar+ ion sputter gun with step-by-step sputtering of the specimen’s surface layer with an energy of 5 keV of argon ions in an ultra-high vacuum (<10−9 torr). Primary electron beam potential and current were 5 kV and 10 nA, respectively. Diameter of electron beam was less than 200 nm, with the depth of penetration into the film being about 2 nm. The intensities of Auger signals for all chemical elements were registered in the energy region 30–1500 eV.The depth distribution of general elements within the films was obtained with the help of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) using a PHI-660 Auger microprobe  equipped with a LaB−1 and a maximum reached potential of 300 V; then, holding in the potentiostatic mode (for 10 min) of hydrogenated Zr (hydrogenation time: 30 min).BA is the least aggressive acid electrolyte for anodizing ,90, in w−1, violent gas evolution occurred, a current of the order of 100 mA flew through the cell, and the anodizing process ended too quickly to conduct a detailed study. A significant increase in the current, in comparison with the anodizing of a pure metal, was also noted by other researchers [Attempts to anodize samples of hydrogenated titanium and zirconium in 0.6 M OA showed that, at anodic voltage sweep rates of the order of a few V·searchers ,83, as wThe latter assumption is supported by the fact that none of the other experiments displayed such a catastrophically rapid completion of the process. It is likely that the nanostructured surface of oxides formed as a result of the anodizing of hydrogenated metals ,85,86,87−1), the maximum anodizing current differed significantly. This indicates that significantly higher electrical conductivity of the anodic oxide formed in the case of the anodizing of the hydrogenated samples. Secondly, the current during the anodizing of the hydrogenated samples changed in a more complex manner than in the case of pure Ti.The optimal electrolyte for studying the anodizing of Ti and Zr hydrides from all the used electrolytes turned out to be the aqueous solution of TA. The combined anodizing time response of both non-hydrogenated and hydrogenated Ti deposited on silicon wafers in a 1% TA solution is shown in A visual observation showed that, during the anodizing of the hydrogenated samples, for several tens of seconds, the formation of anodic oxide of Ti (AOTi) was similar to the anodizing of the non-hydrogenated samples, but after the first minute, the hydrogenated samples became cloudy, and upon further anodizing, they were anodized at a higher potential of 185 V a, and co−1 up to 300 V, and subsequent holding in potentiostatic mode for 13 min).Having anodized hydrogenated Zr samples, destruction did not occur; the AES profile of the distribution of elements over the thickness of one of the anodized samples is shown in During galvanostatic anodizing of the valve metal, as the barrier anodic oxide grows, there should be a linear increase in the anodic voltage ,95,96,97−1 for the case of anodizing in 0.6 M TA, is shown in The investigation of anodized hydrogenated Ti sample features in the potentiodynamic mode showed that the time response of potentiodynamic anodizing depends, to a significant extent, on the time of sample exposure in a hydrogen atmosphere, with all the other conditions being equal. A family of such curves, taken for an anodic voltage sweep rate of 0.2 V·sThe obtained time response curves, which also radically differ from those for pure Ti, are characterized by the presence of two clearly pronounced maxima The first is “sharp” and high, followed by a “bell-shape”, which is lower and stretched. It turned out that the time response of potentiodynamic anodizing depends, to a significant extent, on the time of holding the sample in a hydrogen atmosphere, with all the other conditions being equal. An increase in the holding time of the samples in a hydrogen stream  leads to a decrease in the time of complete oxidation of the film. The shape and ratio of the main peaks on the time response curve also change as follows: the maximum value of anodic current  increases, while, on the contrary, the height of the second, “bell-shaped” maximum decreases. It is especially interesting that a threefold increase in the duration of holding the samples in a hydrogen atmosphere leads, contrary to expectations, to a 25% decrease in the charge consumed for film oxidation. However, the charge corresponding to the first peak still increases. This allows to assume that the first peak corresponds to the electrochemical transformations of hydrogen in the Ti sample, and the second peak corresponds to the actual oxidation of Ti and the production of AOTi.−1. The anodizing process was stopped when the voltage reached 100 V. The time dependence of the current and charge consumed for oxidation of the hydrogenated Ti are shown in The voltage sweep rate also affects the nature of the anodizing process. A hydrogenated Ti sample with a holding time in a hydrogen current of 1 h was selected, and its various fragments were anodized in the potentiodynamic mode, with anodic voltage growth rates in the range of 0.05–0.5 V·s(1)The change in the conductivity of the film formed during anodizing of Ti:H.(2)The emergence of the current due to the oxidation of atomic hydrogen, distributed in the volume of the metal.(3)The occurrence of a larger number of side reactions catalyzed by titanium dioxide, formed from hydrogenated samples.It should be noted that, during the anodizing of hydrogenated titanium samples in 0.6 M TA in the potentiodynamic mode, the samples did not fail in any of the cases, and the visually anodized hydrogenated samples did not differ in any way from the anodic oxide of non-hydrogenated titanium. At the same time, during the anodizing of hydrogenated samples, a much higher charge occurred than during the anodizing of pure titanium. Differences in the time responses of anodizing can be due to several reasons, such as the following:In addition, the structure of the anodic oxide formed as a result of the anodizing of hydrogenated titanium may turn out to be nanoporous ,85,86,87−1, leads to a reduction in the anodizing time and in the charge spent on complete implementation of the oxidation process. However, at the same time, this leads to the increase in the charge corresponding to the first, “sharp” maximum and to the radical decrease in the charge corresponding to the second, “bell-shaped” maximum. The efficiency of potentiodynamic anodizing decreases significantly with the decreasing anodic voltage sweep rate from 0.5 to 0.05 V·s−1 for samples held in a hydrogen atmosphere for 60 min.The study of the anodizing behavior and the composition of hydrogenated samples of valve metals, using Ti and Zr models with a thickness of 150 nm as examples, showed that, as a result of anodizing, anodic oxides of the studied metals are formed. The study of the distribution of elements over the thickness in completely anodized aqueous solutions of hydrogenated zirconium samples with boric and tartaric acids, using Auger electron spectroscopy, indicates the formation of zirconia. The nature of the anodizing of pure and hydrogenated Ti is radically different. The process of potentiodynamic anodizing of hydrogenated Ti at 0.6 M tartaric acid is clearly divided into two stages. The current-time response with potentiodynamic anodizing of hydrogenated Ti in 0.6 M tartaric acid is characterized by the presence of a high, “sharp” peak in the first stage, followed by an extended “bell-shaped” maximum in the second stage. The increase in the holding time of Ti, from 30 to 90 min, in a hydrogen stream, at the same sweep rate of the anodic voltage equal to 0.2 V·s


Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry is a valuable tool for investigating cement-based materials. It allows monitoring of pore evolution and water consumption even during the hydration process. The approach relies on the proportionality between the relaxation time and the pore size. Note, however, that this approach inherently assumes that the pores are saturated with water during the hydration process. In the present work, this assumption is eliminated, and the pore evolution is discussed on a more general basis. The new approach is implemented here to extract information on surface evolution of capillary pores in a simple cement paste and a cement paste containing calcium nitrate as accelerator. The experiments revealed an increase of the pore surface even during the dormant stage for both samples with a faster evolution in the presence of the accelerator. Moreover, water consumption arises from the beginning of the hydration process for the sample containing the accelerator while no water is consumed during dormant stage in the case of simple cement paste. It was also observed that the pore volume fractal dimension is higher in the case of cement paste containing the accelerator. Reducing the carbon footprint associated with cement production is an important objective nowadays, and it can be achieved by a better exploitation of the cement composites, for instance, using 3D printing technology . BuildinThe speed of strength development of cement mixtures is controlled by adding accelerators ,4,5 or rLow-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry techniques are valuable instruments for monitoring the cement hydration under the influence of different additives and admixtures ,17,18,192, A = Al2O3, F = Fe2O3 and H = H2O [The cement hydration process starts immediately after mixing the cement grains with water molecules . It prod H = H2O .3+) on the surface of cement grains from the bulk water thus reducing the relaxation rate [It is customary to separate the hydration process of cement paste into five stages: the initial stage, the dormant stage, the hardening stage, the cooling stage and the densification stage ,19,26. Tion rate ,27. DuriIn the NMR relaxometry of porous materials it is routinely considered that the pores are saturated with the filling liquid and the observed transverse relaxation rate of confined molecules is a weighted average between the bulk relaxation rate and the surface relaxation rate of molecules confined inside a thin layer of few molecular diameters, uniformly covering the internal surface of the pores ,28. Howeperiment ,18,27,30Starting with the introduction of fractals by Mandelbrot in 1977 , the geostrength .The basic theory that relates the fractal geometry of the porous structure to the NMR relaxation data is comprehensively described by Zhang and Weller . They ha work in :(2)log(Vribution . T2maxD mstances . Consequ3)2, as accelerator. The echo trains recorded in the Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) [The samples under investigation were the simple cement paste (CP) prepared with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.4 and a cement paste additionally containing 3% by cement weight of Ca(NOl (CPMG) ,33 experl (CPMG) . This inTo monitor the effects of water consumption and the evolution of capillary pores the curves depicted in 3)2). One can observe faster decay of the peak area and of The third peak (the largest one) in the relaxation time distributions, shown in  process .3)2). The relatively constant peak area of the CP capillary pores indicates that the pore volume does not change during the dormancy stage and water is not consumed to form hydration products. Consequently, the reduction of the relaxation time observed in Comparing the area evolution of the capillary water peak for the two samples a it is oThe changes in the pore morphology can be also described by monitoring the volume fractal dimension 3)2 by cement mass. The two samples were prepared with white Portland cement CEM I 52.5 R , fulfilling the European Standard BS EN 197-1. The white cement was chosen here on purpose due to its low content of iron oxide (<0.5%), in order to reduce internal gradients that can be induced by susceptibility difference between the solid matrix and filling liquid [3)2 accelerator was acquired from NORDIC Chemicals SRL, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Before mixing with cement powder, the accelerator was dissolved in water. The ingredients were then mixed for 5 min using a mixer, at 100 rpm. The resulting paste was poured into 10 mm glass tubes and then introduced inside the probe head. The tubes were sealed to prevent water evaporation. The first NMR measurements were always performed at 15 min counting from the initiation of the mixing process and the last after 6 h of hydration.Two samples, with the same water-to-cement ratio of 0.4, were prepared and comparatively investigated in the present study. One sample is a pure cement paste (CP) obtained by mixing Portland cement with water and the other additionally contains 3% Ca technique ,33. In tnversion ,35 of thnversion ,36.The experiments were performed using a Bruker Minispec MQ20 instrument , operating at a proton resonance frequency of 20 MHz. The CPMG echo trains consisting of 1000 echoes were recorded after 32 scans, with an echo time of 80 µs and a recycle delay of 0.5 s. With these parameters, the recording duration of one echo train was short enough to prevent sample changes during the experiment. The measurements were performed at 35 °C, the working temperature of the Bruker Minispec MQ20 instrument, without using the external temperature control unit.Monitoring the evolution of NMR relaxation time under the influence of different parameters can be used as a tool in determining the pore evolution of cement-based materials. Here, the influence of an accelerator on the surface evolution of capillary pores was studied using a low-field NMR instrument. The approach employed here removes the generally used assumption that the capillary pores are saturated with water during the early hydration. Based on the new approach, it was shown that the surface of capillary pores increases during the early hydration (less than 6 h) even during the dormant stage and this effect is higher in the presence of an accelerator. However, in the case of simple cement paste, the pore volume sems to be constant during the dormant stage, and a clear identification of the dormant stage is possible by plotting the area of the peak versus hydration time. In the presence of an accelerator there is a continuous consumption of water in capillary pores, and one cannot clearly identify the dormant stage, at least for the accelerator content and hydration temperature used in the experiments. The volume fractal dimension of capillary pores increases during the hydration in the case of both samples, with higher values in the case of cement paste containing the accelerator. This indicates a more uniform pore distribution in the case of the sample containing the accelerator.


The aim of this study was to compare the dental effects, impact on quality of life, and pain perception of adolescents wearing Mini Hyrax and Hyrax expanders in rapid palatal expansion.Thirty-four adolescents aged 11 to 16 years, with maxillary transverse deficiency , were randomly allocated into two groups, Mini Hyrax group and Hyrax group (1:1 ratio). Dental effects were evaluated by digitally superimposed pretreatment and postretention three-dimensional intraoral scans on the palatal rugaes using the software 3DSlicer. Impact on quality of life was assessed with the OHIP-14 questionnaire applied in the pretreatment, posttreatment and postretention. Visual analog scale was applied 24, 48, and 72 h and 7 days after the first activation of the expander.p > 0.05). There were no differences in pain perception between groups. Considering intra-group comparison, the reduction in pain perception among adolescents in the Mini Hyrax group was gradual. Among adolescents in the Hyrax group, a statistically significant reduction between 48 and 72 h was observed.Thirty of the 34 adolescents recruited completed the study. There were no statistically significant differences in dentoalveolar effects between groups. OHIP-14 scores across time among Mini Hyrax wearers were similar to those of the Hyrax wearers. The inter-group comparisons showed no difference between groups with respect to the OHIP-14 scores in posttreatment and postretention (There were no significant differences in dental effects, impact on quality of life and pain perception between adolescents wearing Mini Hyrax and Hyrax expanders in rapid palatal expansion. Maxillary constriction is the result of deficiency in the growth of the maxilla in the transverse direction. The most representative clinical finding of maxillary constriction is a unilateral or bilateral posterior crossbite . Among aIn order to provide greater comfort and less impairment of speech and oral hygiene practices, a 2-point palatal expander using Hyrax jackscrew with two arms  and anchorage only in the first permanent molars was introduced as an alternative to Hyrax for the treatment of individuals in mixed dentition and in the early phase of permanent dentition . Though A comparative study introduced another tooth-borne expander; the two-arm Hyrax, with improvement of the dental anchorage including anterior extension of the arms bilaterally and contour of the palatal surfaces of the premolars . It has To date, no comparison of the dental effects of treatment with Mini Hyrax and treatment with Hyrax and/or Haas expanders has been found in the literature to answer the question: does the absence of 2 anterior arms in Mini Hyrax provoke different expansion in maxillary arch than that obtained with 4 arms expanders? In addition, the assessment of the impact on patients’ quality of life and the perception of pain during the wearing of the expander devices have not been in the scope of dental research as well. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the dental effects of Mini Hyrax with those of Hyrax after RPE in adolescents in a randomized controlled clinical trial that also assessed the impact of treatment on individuals’ quality of life and their perception of pain. The null hypothesis was that there were no differences regarding dental effects, impact on quality of life, and pain perception between wearers of Mini Hyrax and wearers of Hyrax.This randomized controlled clinical trial with 2-parallel arms followed the guidelines of Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-2010 . There wThis study was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03846518) in December 2018, after recruitment of participants was concluded. Approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Pontíficia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais was obtained under protocol number: 84651618.0.0000.51370.The recruitment of participants was conducted at Department of Dentistry of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais and at public schools close to the university. The inclusion criteria were individuals in permanent dentition with transverse maxillary deficiency and uni- or bilateral crossbite. The correct diagnosis of the transverse maxillary deficiency excluded cases with only dental posterior crossbite . Restrictions on ethnicity or sagittal and vertical malocclusion were not imposed in anyway. The following exclusion criteria were applied: individuals who were 17 years or older, individuals with missing teeth (except canines and upper second molars), dental caries, periodontal disease, cleft lip and palate, syndromes, and those reporting previous orthodontic treatment.In the experimental group, the mini expander jackscrew  was used and in the comparison group, the Hyrax jackscrew  was used. The expanders had bands placed on the first molars. The expansion jackscrew size of the Mini Hyrax was 8 mm and of the Hyrax was 9 mm. The positioning of the expander jackscrew was standardized: in the occlusal view, perpendicular to the median palatal raphe, between the second premolars and the first molars; and in the vertical view, parallel to the occlusal plane, 3 mm apically to the palatal gingival contour of the first permanent molars. After placement of the device, the first and second premolars were bonded to the expanders with composite resin Fig. . The actIn this study, the main outcome was the correction of the transverse discrepancy, clinically characterized by the posterior crossbite.Intraoral scans were performed with the intraoral scanner  in the pre-treatment (T0) and posttreatment time, after the 6-month retention period had been completed, until 4 h after the removal of the expander (T2). Digital models in .stl file format were obtained. The primary outcome was transverse linear measurement of the first molars. The secondary outcomes were transverse linear measurement of the first and second premolars; rotation of the first and second premolars, and first molars; buccolingual inclination of the first and second premolars, and first molars.The short version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire validated in the Brazilian portuguese  was applPatients were asked about the highest pain level they had experienced in 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 7 days, during the period of activation of the expanders. The instrument used for pain measurement was the visual analog scale (VAS) of 100 mm in length printed on paper in four units. Each participant was instructed to mark with a pen the point that represented the intensity of pain felt in each of the four times, with the extreme left end representing “no pain” and the extreme right end representing “worst possible pain” . The meawww.slicer.org). Initially, these models were positioned so that the mesiopalatal cusps of the first molars, bilaterally, and the midpoint of the incisal border of the upper right central incisor touched the axial plane. In an occlusal view, the median palatal raphe was positioned coincidentally to the sagittal plane with the incisive papilla coinciding with the coronal plane.The pre-treatment digital models in the .stl file format were oriented in the three planes of the space using the “Transforms” tool of the 3D Slicer open source software  of the first and second premolars and centroid  of the first molars Fig. .From these points, linear and angular measurements were performed with the 3D Slicer software using the tools “Q3DC/Calculate Distance Between Two Landmarks” and “Q3DC/Calculate Angle Between Two Lines,” respectively. Angles formed by the clockwise displacement of lines in the considered plane  had positive values; if counterclockwise, negative values were provided.For the transverse linear measurements of the first and second premolars (secondary outcomes), and of the first molars (primary outcome), the distance between the centroid points for each pair of homologous teeth, both at T0 and T2 was considered. The angular measurements performed by the 3D Slicer software can be decomposed in the three planes of the space to determine the “Pitch,” “Roll,” and “Yaw.” In view of the objectives of this research, the following angular measures (secondary outcomes) were recorded:a) Rotation of the first and second premolars: angle formed in the axial plane between the lines resulting from the connection of the tips of the buccal and palatal cusps at T0 and T2 (“Yaw”).b) Rotation of the first molars: angle formed in the axial plane between the lines resulting from the connection of the tips of the mesiobuccal and mesiopalatal cusps in T0 and T2 (“Yaw”).c) Buccolingual inclination of the first and second premolars: angle formed in the coronal plane between the lines resulting from the connection of the tips of the buccal and palatal cusps in T0 and T2 (“Roll”).d) Buccolingual inclination of the first molars: angle formed in the coronal plane between the lines resulting from the connection of the tips of the mesio-buccal and mesiopalatal cusps in T0 and T2 (“Roll”).The sample size was calculated prospectively prior to trial onset. Considering the standard deviation of 0.9 mm , a test Thirty-four individuals  participated. Before the beginning of the screening of the participants, a stratified randomization by sex was performed electronically generated by the program “Random Allocation Software” . The indBlinding of the researchers who performed the treatments was unfeasible, but blinding of the researcher who had performed the measurements was guaranteed. The researcher did not have access to any information that allowed him to identify to which intervention group the digital models, quality of life questionnaires, and visual analog scales belonged. The participants were not informed about what type of expander they were wearing.p > 0.05. Data presented normal distribution and parametric tests were used. For VAS, the results of the normality test were p < 0.05. Data presented non-normal distribution and non-parametric tests were used. The Pearson’s chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used for comparisons between groups with respect to adolescents’ sex, posterior crossbite, and angle classification. The Student t test (independent samples) was used for comparison between groups with respect to adolescents’ age and number of activations of the orthodontic device. The Student t test (independent samples) was employed to assess whether any difference between groups regarding the dental outcomes and OHIP-14 scores at baseline (T0) existed. In addition, the chi-square test and the Student t test were deployed to compare excluded individuals and individuals who participated in the entire trial regarding sex, age, posterior crossbite, and angle classification as well as transverse linear measurements and quality of life at T0. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.Descriptive statistics of participants’ age (mean and standard deviation), sex, posterior crossbite, and angle classification was conducted. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was employed to assess the distribution of quantitative data on the dental effects OHIP-14 scores and VAS. For the dental effects and the OHIP-14 scores, the results of the normality test were The calculation of the error of the method was performed for the measurements of transverse distances, rotation, inclination, and vertical displacement. These measures were evaluated in nine individuals twice with an interval of 30 days between the first and the second evaluation. The calculation of the systematic error of the method was done by means of the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). To calculate the random error, the Dahlberg formula was used .t test (independent samples) was used. Regression analysis assessing differences between Mini-Hyrax and Hyrax groups with respect to dental changes (T2–T0), controlling for the dental measures at T0, participants’ age, and number of activations of the appliance was also performed. Effect size and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were provided. The effect size was also calculated dividing the mean difference between the Mini Hyrax and Hyrax groups by the pooled standard deviation. A value of 0.20 represented a small effect size, 0.50 denoted a medium effect size and 0.80 indicated a large effect size [To calculate the differences between the Mini Hyrax and Hyrax groups with respect to the linear and angular measurements, the Student ect size .t test was used for comparisons of pairs  in both groups. Bonferroni correction was applied. The level of significance was p < 0.016. Comparisons of OHIP-14 scores at T1 and OHIP-14 scores at T2 between Mini Hyrax and Hyrax groups, controlling for the OHIP-14 scores at T0 were performed with a regression analysis. In this final analysis, coefficients and 95% CI were provided. The significance was set at p < 0.05.For intra-group comparisons of data of OHIP-14 at different times , the ANOVA test for repeated measures was applied. The paired p < 0.05. All tests were run in SPSS program, version 20.0 .For the results of VAS, the Wilcoxon test was applied in the intra-group comparisons of times. In the inter-group comparison between expander wearers, the Mann-Whitney test was used instead. In the inter-group comparison, the effect size was also calculated dividing the mean difference between the Mini Hyrax and Hyrax groups by the pooled standard deviation. A value of 0.20 represented a small effect size, 0.50 denoted a medium effect size and 0.80 indicated a large effect size. Effect size was provided along with 95% CI. The level of significance was set at p = 0.348), age (p = 0.06), posterior crossbite (p = 0.99), angle classification (p = 0.765), transverse linear molar measurements at T0 (p = 0.384), and the total score of OHIP-14 at T0 (p = 0.375) was observed. The treatments were performed from February 2019 to February 2020, and outcome measurements were performed from March 2019 to February 2020, when the retention period of the last participant had been finished.A total of 1338 individuals from the Department of Dentistry and 6 public schools in the same region underwent intraoral clinical examination from April to November 2018. Forty individuals met the inclusion criteria. Thirty-four individuals, 16 boys and 18 girls, participated. The age of individuals ranged from 11 to 16 years. Of the 34 individuals, 4 were excluded . Distribution of sex, type of posterior crossbite, and angle classification is showed in Table p = 0.51). The mean number of activations among Mini Hyrax wearers was 30.67 (± 1.49) and among Hyrax wearers was 31.27 (± 2.86) (p = 0.48). In the Mini Hyrax group, after the losses, eight males and seven females remained in the study, and in the Hyrax group, seven males and eight females remained (p = 0.99). The values of transverse distances in the Mini Hyrax and Hyrax group were, respectively, inter first premolars 34.35 (± 2.46) mm and 33.85 (± 2.0) mm (p = 0.58), inter seconds premolars of 38.62 (± 5.33) mm and 39.76 (± 3.34) mm (p = 0.48), and inter-first molars of 46.12 (± 3.27) and 45.76 (± 3.96) mm (p = 0.79).Considering the variables sex, age, type of posterior crossbite, angle classification, and dental outcomes, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in baseline. No difference between groups regarding number of activations of the orthodontic device was observed as well . The effect of the expanders on tooth rotation was low (maximum mean difference was 1.77o) and did not present a specific pattern, given the size of the standard deviations. The first and second premolars showed an increase in the buccal inclination approximately in 10o, while the molars had values close to 2o. In the regression analysis assessing differences between Mini-Hyrax and Hyrax groups of the dental changes (T2–T0), controlling for the dental measurements at T0, participants’ age, and number of activations of the appliance, the results remained . For the other domains and the OHIP-14 total score, no difference was observed (p > 0.05) (Table p < 0.016). In both groups, the handicap scores were significantly higher in T0 than in T2, indicating an improvement of this domain 6 months after the placement of expanders (p < 0.016). In both groups, the social disability scores and the total scores were significantly higher in T1 than in T2, indicating an improvement 6 months after the activation of the expander (p < 0.016). The inter-group comparisons demonstrated no difference between groups with respect to the OHIP-14 scores at T1 and OHIP-14 scores at T2, controlling for the scores at T0 (p > 0.05).The comparison between Mini Hyrax and Hyrax groups with respect to the OHIP-14 scores at T0 showed a significant difference only in the psychological disability domain (5) Table . The resThe highest scores related to the perception of pain during the activation phase of the devices were found in 24 h and from this point forward, there was a reduction in scores up to 7 days for both expander wearers. The pain reduction in the Mini Hyrax group was gradual over the four times, while in the Hyrax group, there was a significant reduction between 48 h and 72 h. Considering the inter-group comparison for each of the four observation times, no statistical difference was observed Table .Table 5Gingival retraction, white spot lesion, and severe pain were not identified in the participants. The side effect observed was inflammation of the palatal marginal gingiva of the first premolars in four Hyrax wearers and three Mini Hyrax wearers, due to the displacement of the anterior portion of the devices against the gingiva. This change was completely reversed after removing the expanders. In 1 individual among the 15 wearing Hyrax and in 1 among the 15 wearing Mini Hyrax, the predetermined transverse overcorrection was not obtained due to the expansion limit of the jackscrews. These two subjects were included in the sample and shortly after the observation period, a second expansion was carried out.According to systematic reviews published in recent years, scientific evidence on RPE is basically limited to the assessment of the effects of orthodontic expanders on hard and soft tissues of the stomatognathic system –25. ReseThe present study was not restricted to the evaluation of the dental effects of Hyrax and Mini Hyrax. The assessments of the impact on the quality of life and the pain perception of patients contributed to reduce the gap of knowledge on orthodontic devices used in RPE. In addition, this is the first randomized controlled clinical trial, in which the Mini Hyrax has been evaluated.o to 1.77o, without a specific direction for each type of expander and without a statistically significant difference between them, as reported in another study [The wearing of both expanders increased the transverse distances of premolars and molars, varying from 5.93 to 6.55 mm, similar to what has been reported elsewhere –25. The er study , in whicer study .o to 12.17o, and of molars, from 1.53o to 2.79o. Herein, the magnitude of the increase in the buccal inclination of premolars was greater than the findings of the literature [o, with no relevant clinical significance.There was an increase in the buccal inclination of premolars, from 9.25terature , 24, 29.Several studies have used the palatal rugaes as reference structures in model superimpositions for assessing changes in tooth position resulting from growth and aging as well as orthodontic treatment , 30–34. The 3D Slicer software allows an operator to select an area by means of the determination of reference points and the size of the regions of interest (ROI), according to the reliability of each region of the palate for the type of tooth movement evaluated in the model superimposition. Thus, the medial end of the second and third rugaes was selected. No point was marked on the first rugae because changes in the position of the incisors during RPE, such as incisor extrusion and palatal inclination  cause chOur trial demonstrated that the impact on quality of life across time among Mini Hyrax wearers was very much alike to that of the Hyrax wearers. The worsening of function and discomfort 14 days after the bonding of the expander may be explained by the placement of the orthodontic device itself and the activation of screw and forces applied for the expansion. The improvement in handicap, social disability and the overall quality of life 6 months after treatment onset may be due to the recognition of the adolescent that he/she is on the way towards malocclusion treatment and the wearing of an orthodontic device is perceived as a normal circumstance over the course of treatment. This information is useful to clinicians during the counseling of adolescents wearing rapid maxillary expanders and their parents/guardians .The absence of differences in the impact on quality of life between the wearers of both orthodontic expanders (inter-group comparison) may be related to the vertical position of the expander jackscrew. The small size of Mini Hyrax, initially considered an advantage, may also represent a limitation, if the jackscrew is placed too far from the palatal vault, since there is less area of contact between the device and the tongue.The vertical position of the jackscrew can have influence on bone expansion and on the type of movement of the anchored teeth , 42. FroThe scores of pain perception of the wearers of Mini Hyrax reduced from 24 h to 7 days during the activation of the expander, with no significant statistical differences between consecutive observation intervals. Indeed, the reduction in pain perception between the observation times was subtle and only between 24 h and 7 days, a significant difference was observed. On the other hand, pain perception among Hyrax wearers reduced significantly between 48 h and 72 h during the activation of the expander. This information may be helpful for the clinician during the counseling of patients wearing Mini Hyrax or Hyrax regarding pain and discomfort.In this study, assessment of bone maturation of participants was not carried out. It can be considered that this confounding factor might have been evenly distributed across the two groups due to the randomization; however, as long as this parameter was not measured, its possible influence on the outcomes cannot be ruled out with certainty.Another possible limitation is the use of the palate as a reference for the digital model superimposition, since the lowering of the palate during RPE has already been reported , 39. TheFinally, the number of participants in our study was determined by means of a sample size calculation and the number of losses was minimal. However, we do recognize that the present study may be underpowered to identify large, moderate, or small effects regarding the outcomes assessed herein.There were no significant differences regarding dental effects during RPE between adolescents Mini Hyrax wearers and Hyrax wearers.There was no significant difference regarding the impact of RPE on quality of life between adolescents wearing Mini Hyrax and those wearing Hyrax.There was no significant difference regarding pain perception during RPE between adolescents wearing Mini Hyrax and those wearing Hyrax.The null hypothesis was accepted:


Power optimization is an important part of network-on-chip(NoC) design. This paper proposes an improved algorithm based on genetic algorithm on how to properly map IP  cores to 3D NoC. First, in view of the randomness of the traditional genetic algorithm in individual selection, an improved greedy algorithm is used in the initial population generation stage to make the generated individuals reach the optimal. Secondly, in view of the weak local optimization ability of the traditional genetic algorithm and prone to premature problems, the simulated annealing algorithm is added in the crossover operation stage to make the offspring reach the global optimum. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional genetic algorithm, the algorithm has better convergence and low power consumption performance, which can quickly search for a better solution, in the case of a large number of cores (124 IP cores), the average power consumption can be reduced by 42.2%. As the mainstream design technology of next-generation IC, NoC will be the inevitable trend of system-on-chip development . AlthougAt present, the related research of 3D NoC mainly focuses on the topological structure, quality of service, routing algorithm and communication power consumption of 3D NoC ,6. With Many international experts and scholars have proposed many ways to reduce power consumption for 3D NoC in different aspects and levels, which are mainly reflected in logic signal design, routing algorithm optimization and design, and low-power mapping of network topology . 3D NoC 3D NoC mapping algorithms can be divided into two categories: the traditional mapping optimization algorithm used in the early days and the new intelligent mapping algorithm based on heuristics. Traditional mapping algorithms mainly include exhaustive method, linear programming algorithm, and branching algorithm, which mainly solve the situation where the early structure of the on-chip network is simple and the application is rare . Most ofThe 3D NoC mapping platform is composed of resource nodes, routing, and physical links. This article uses a regular 3D NoC topology, as shown in Network mapping on a chip refers to assigning the logical IP cores with known communication relations and traffic volumes on a given task characteristic graph (TCG) to the corresponding resource nodes of the architecture characteristic graph (ARCG) under specified system constraints, so that various applications can be completed smoothly and efficiently under the constraints ,17. The Definition 1.The task graph TCG is an acyclic directed graph, the vertex Among them, Definition 2.Structural feature graph ARCG is also a directed graph, vertex Definition 3.When the task graph TCG and the structural feature graph ARCG are the same in size, that is, Definition 4.For 3D-Mesh NoC, Therefore, the communication volume Therefore, for a given task graph TCG and feature structure graph ARCG, when it satisfies Definition 3, the objective function of the NoC mapping problem can be defined as:The power consumption of a 3D NoC system is mainly the power consumption generated by data communication between arbitrary resource nodes. Therefore, in order to maximize the reduction of power consumption, this paper adopts the power consumption model proposed in , which iAmong them, Therefore, the formula for calculating the energy consumed by 1-bit data from node Among them, Then the communication power consumption of the entire NoC system is:From Equation (3), we can get:Among them, all are constants except Combining the above formula, it can be seen that the key factor of low-power mapping is Due to the emergence of TSV technology, the line length of 3D NoC in the vertical direction is much smaller than the length in the horizontal direction. Therefore, to transmit the same amount of data, the energy consumption in the vertical direction is much smaller than the energy consumption in the horizontal direction.The genetic algorithm is to construct an adaptive value function according to the solution of the problem to generate a population composed of multiple solutions. Individuals in the population are selected for genetic operation to generate a new population according to the adaptive value. When the evolution reaches the termination condition, individuals with good adaptive value are selected as the solution of the problem. The idea of genetic algorithm is easy to implement, the algorithm is highly efficient, has strong global search ability, and is suitable for solving discrete problems. Therefore, genetic algorithm is very suitable for solving 3D NoC mapping problems .The initial population of the traditional genetic algorithm is generated randomly, the individual distribution of the initial population is not uniform, and the quality of the population is low. At the same time, the traditional genetic algorithm has strong global search ability, but poor local search ability, and easy to fall into the trap of precocity, it takes a long time to get the optimal solution. Therefore, the traditional genetic algorithm needs to be improved to solve the 3D NoC mapping problem ,21,22.In view of the shortcomings of traditional genetic algorithm that generate the initial population with large randomness and low population quality, this paper adds an improved greedy algorithm in the selection operation stage; in view of the shortcomings of traditional genetic algorithm of strong global optimization ability and poor local optimization ability, this work adds a simulated annealing algorithm in the crossover operation stage. The improved genetic algorithm realizes the optimization of the initial population and the global optimization of the offspring.The process of improving genetic algorithm is shown in Implementation steps of improved genetic algorithm:Step l. Initialize the population with an improved greedy algorithm.i is less than or equal to the maximum number of iterations, continue to step 3, otherwise it ends, and the optimal solution is returned.Step 2. When Step 3. Calculate the individual fitness value.Step 4. The male parent is selected according to the fitness value, the male parent with the higher fitness value is selected, and the male parent with the lower fitness value is eliminated.Step 5. The simulated annealing algorithm is used to crossover the parent chromosomes to generate offspring.Step 6. Perform mutation operations on the offspring’s chromosomes to generate new offspring.Step 7. Obtain the optimal individual, update the population, and return to step 2 until the optimal solution is produced.Individual vector representation is the first problem to be solved when designing genetic algorithms, and it is also a key step in it. The way of vector representation will affect the calculation methods of crossover and mutation operators, and determines the efficiency of genetic evolution.X = , n is the number of IP cores of the TCG, and ix is the number of the IP core. The code of individual X is a sequence from 1 to n, and a mapping scheme can be obtained by decoding the code of individual X [Since each processing unit can send data to any other processing unit, the IP core in the TCG can be mapped to any processing unit. In the 3D NoC mapping, the population individuals are coded by integers, assuming that the individual vidual X .A simple task graph PIP is shown in t0 to t7, t0 to t3 represent the first layer, and t4 to t7 represent the second layer, as shown in The IP cores in the task map are represented by numbers 0 to 7, mapping PIP to a 2 × 2 × 2 3D NoC. Each processing unit on the 3D NoC is represented by numbers X =  means to map IP cores  to processing units , the mapping result is shown in Individual After all IP cores are mapped to the 3D NOC, calculate the total amount of communication between all nodes on the 3D NoC. The genetic algorithm calculates its fitness value based on the total amount of communication on the 3D NoC. The larger the total amount of communication, the smaller the fitness value. The genetic algorithm performs genetic operations based on the fitness value.The initial population selection of traditional genetic algorithms is generally random, the quality of the obtained population is usually low while the iteration speed is slow. In response to this situation, this paper proposes an initialization method based on an improved greedy algorithm to generate population Pop, which can greatly increase the iteration speed of the population, effectively reduce the amount of data communication, and reduce power consumption .The initial population optimization process of the improved greedy algorithm is shown in The initial population optimization steps of the improved greedy algorithm:i , and then map this random number i to the first position of individual X, and use an improved greedy algorithm to generate an array of the smallest spanning tree with i as the first node.Step l. Randomly generate a number P = {1, 2, …, n}, where n is the number of IP cores of the TCG, and delete i from the available set P.Step 2. Initialize the available set n in the available set P, put n into all available positions of the individual X, and calculate the fitness value of X after putting them in these positions. Find the maximum fitness value itf from these fitness values, mark the position m of the maximum fitness value itf after n is placed in X, and save the element <n, m, itf> to the set F.Step 3. Traverse the number F, find a group of elements <n, m, itf> with the largest itf value, put n into the m-th position of the individual X, delete n from the available set P, and delete m from the available positions.Step 4. Traverse the set P is empty. When P is empty, it means that a new individual X has been produced, and X is added to the temporary population Temppop.Step 5. Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 until the available set n individuals.Step 6. Repeat Step 5 above to generate X to generate a neighbor individual of X. Use this method to generate 20 neighbor individuals for the individual X generated by the above steps, and put these neighbor individuals into the temporary population Temppop.Step 7. Exchange any two coordinate numbers of individual n times to generate n individuals obtained by the improved greedy algorithm and 20 neighbor individuals of these individuals.Step 8. Repeat all the above steps Step 9. Select multiple individuals with the largest fitness value from Temppop and put them into Pop as the initial population.The simulated annealing algorithm is based on the Monte-Carlo iterative solution strategy to find the optimal solution randomly. It can probabilistically jump out of the local optimal solution during the solution process and obtain the final global optimal solution. The simulated annealing algorithm overcomes the poor local optimization ability of the traditional genetic algorithm and its premature phenomenon. Combining it with the traditional genetic algorithm will better exert the global optimization ability of the traditional genetic algorithm and the local optimization ability of the simulated annealing algorithm .Based on this consideration, this work adds the simulated annealing algorithm to the crossover operation stage of the traditional genetic algorithm to ensure that the generated offspring will not fall into the local optimum, so that the population jumps out of the local optimum and finally reaches the global optimum.The population global optimization process of the simulated annealing algorithm is shown in f, and the threshold of change is f′. When f > f′, the new individual is accepted; otherwise, the new individual is accepted with a certain probability T represents temperature.Suppose the fitness value of the newly generated individual is The population global optimization steps of the simulated annealing algorithm:T0 and the lowest temperature Tfinal.Step 1. Set the starting temperature T = T0, i = 0.Step 2. Initialize temperature T > Tfinal, execute the next step; otherwise, it ends and returns the optimal solution.Step 3. When i ≤ the number of crossover operations, execute the next step; otherwise, it ends and returns to the optimal solution.Step 4. If n pairs of individuals from the population as male parents, and perform the following operations on each male parent:Step 5. Select P1 and P2 to generate offspring S1 and S2, and the fitness values of S1 and S2 are calculated.Step 5.1. The crossover operation is performed on the parents P1 and P2 with S1 and S2; otherwise, keep P1 and P2 with the probability of Step 5.2. If i = i + 1.Step 6. Cool down according to method Step 7. Go to Step 4.T0 and Tfinal represent the initial temperature and the end temperature, respectively.Among them, The simulation experiment is under the Ubuntu 14.04 operating system, using C++ language to write the algorithm implementation program; under the Codeblocks 13.11 environment, using Access Noxim 0.2 as the simulation software to simulate the 3D NoC mapping algorithm .(1)Topology SelectionThe 3D Mesh structure is obtained by directly extending the 2D Mesh to the three-dimensional structure, so its structure is relatively simple. At the same time, it also has certain advantages in terms of layout and routing. As the TSV technology is used in the vertical direction, the overall wiring length is reduced and the transmission efficiency is improved. Therefore, this work chooses to use the 3D Mesh structure for experiments .(2)RoutingIn terms of routing algorithm, this article adopts XYZ dimension order routing algorithm: XYZ routing algorithm is simple to implement and it is the most commonly used routing algorithm in 3D NoC .(1)Algorithm Parameter SettingsSuppose the experimental population size is 200, the number of genetic iterations is 100, the crossover rate is 0.9, and the mutation rate is 0.02.(2)Parameter Setting of Simulation SoftwareThe data packet is injected using Memory-less Poisson Distribution, and the packet injection rate is 0.02; the size of the data packet ranges from 2 flits to 10 flits; the buffer size of each channel of the router is 8 flits. The simulation software counts the total power consumption of 5000 cycles.The hardware environment configuration of the simulation experiment: A PC with an Intel Core i5-3470 CPU, 3.2 GHz main frequency, and 8 GB memory is used.In the experiment, two mapping algorithms, improved genetic algorithm and traditional genetic algorithm, were used to compare and analyze the convergence speed and power consumption of a given task graph and its mapping model.The simulation experiment uses three classic task maps MWD (Multi Window Displayer), VOPD (Video Object Plane Decoder), and DVOPD (Double Video Object Plane Decoder) for simulation experiments. Among them, MWD has 12 nodes, which are mapped to a 2 × 2 × 3 3D NoC. VOPD has 16 nodes, which are mapped to a 2 × 2 × 4 3D NoC. DVOPD has 32 nodes, which are mapped to a 2 × 2 × 4 3DNoC. As shown in Three classic task graphs MWD, VOPD and DVOPD are simulated, which MWD has 12 nodes, VOPD has 16 nodes, and DVOPD has 32 nodes. The number of simulation iterations is 100. The abscissa in the figure represents the number of iterations, and the ordinate represents the fitness value. The fitness value is negatively correlated with the communication volume of NoC. The lower the communication volume, the greater the fitness value.(1)Convergence Rate Analysis for MWDThe convergence speed comparison of MWD iteration 100 times is shown in (2)Convergence Rate Analysis for VOPDThe convergence speed comparison of VOPD iteration 100 times is shown in (3)Convergence Speed Analysis for DVOPDThe comparison of the convergence speed of DVOPD iteration 100 times is shown in Comparative experiments show that as the number of iterations increases, the improved genetic algorithm has a greater advantage in convergence speed. With the increase in the number of IP cores and the amount of communication, this advantage will become more obvious.Because the traditional genetic algorithm has a certain degree of randomness, in the experiment, the traditional genetic algorithm and the improved genetic algorithm are used to solve the three task graphs 10 times respectively, and the average value is taken.(1)Power Consumption Analysis for MWDThe experimental results of the two algorithms of MWD are shown in (2)Power Consumption Analysis for VOPDThe experimental results of the two VOPD algorithms are shown in (3)Power Consumption Analysis for DVOPDThe experimental results of the two DVOPD algorithms are shown in Comparative experiments show that as the number of IP cores increases, the total amount of communication decreases more and more, which means that the system power consumption will decrease more and more. Therefore, the improved genetic algorithm proposed is effective to reduce the power consumption for classic task graphs.The task generator TGFF is used to generate random task graphs with IP cores of 45, 60, 80, 98, and 124 . For tas(1)Analysis of Average Power ConsumptionWhen the number of IP cores is 45, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 36.8% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 60, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 39.0% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 98, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 39.3% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 124, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 42.2% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. The average power consumption comparison of the two algorithms is shown in (2)Analysis of Maximum Power ConsumptionWhen the number of IP cores is 45, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 16.3% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 60, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 37.7% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 98, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 26.4% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. When the number of IP cores is 124, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 25.6% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm. The maximum power consumption comparison of the two algorithms is shown in (3)Analysis of Minimum Power ConsumptionCompared to the traditional genetic algorithm, when the number of IP cores is 45, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 43.6%; when the number of IP cores is 60, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 47.8%; when the number of IP cores is 98, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 21.0%; and finally when the number of IP cores is 124, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is reduced by 40.5%. The minimum power consumption comparison of the two algorithms is shown in It can be seen from the above experimental data analysis that when the number of IP cores is small, the reduction in power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm compared with the traditional genetic algorithm is not obvious. This is because when the number of tasks is small, the initial population improvement of the improved genetic algorithm and the selection of good genes are not outstanding, and the algorithm may converge earlier. However, with the increase in the number of IP cores, from the overall trend, the reduction in power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is gradually greater than that of the traditional genetic algorithm.Through the above experiments, the following conclusions can be drawn:In terms of convergence speed, when the task graph is small, the traditional genetic algorithm is easy to fall into local optimization, and the advantages of the improved genetic algorithm over the traditional genetic algorithm are not obvious. As the scale of the task graph increases and the number of iterations increases, the convergence speed of the improved genetic algorithm is faster than that of the traditional genetic algorithm. The maximum fitness value obtained by the improved genetic algorithm in the early stage of the algorithm is larger than that of the traditional genetic algorithm, while the improved genetic algorithm in the later period of the algorithm has a faster convergence speed and a larger fitness value.In terms of the power consumption of the classic task graph, when the task graph is small, the power consumption of the improved genetic algorithm is sometimes higher than that based on the traditional genetic algorithm. This is because when there are too few nodes in the task graph, the initial population obtained by improving the greedy strategy may sometimes fall into a local optimum. After the task scale gradually increases, this situation will be improved, the advantages of the improved genetic algorithm will be reflected, and the system power consumption will be reduced more significantly.In terms of power consumption of random task graphs, when the task graph is small, the advantages of improved genetic algorithms over traditional genetic algorithms are not obvious, and the reduction in power consumption is small. This is because when the number of IP cores is small, it is easy to cause the two algorithms to fall into the local optimum. However, judging from the overall trend, as the number of IP cores increases, the advantages of improved genetic algorithms are gradually revealed, and the reduction in power consumption has increased significantly.In view of the randomness of the traditional genetic algorithm when generating the initial population, adding an improved greedy algorithm in the population initialization stage can optimize the individual of the initial population and improve the quality of the initial population. Then in view of the lack of local optimization ability in the traditional genetic algorithm in the crossover operation stage, adding the simulated annealing algorithm to the crossover operator can realize the global optimization of the offspring population and improve the quality of the offspring population. The improved genetic algorithm proposed not only retains the fast random search characteristics of the traditional genetic algorithm, but also solves the shortcomings of the traditional genetic algorithm in the 3D NoC mapping process. Experimental results show that the improved genetic algorithm makes the layout of IP cores more reasonable, reduces the long-distance communication between IP cores, and significantly reduces the power consumption of the chip.This paper first introduces the 3D NoC power mapping algorithm based on traditional genetic algorithm, analyzes the problems of traditional genetic algorithm, and proposes an improved genetic mapping algorithm based on initial population selection and genetic operator selection. After that, for the 3D NoC model, its coding scheme, topology, routing algorithm and genetic parameter settings are given, and the convergence speed and power consumption of the two algorithms are compared for the classic task graph and the random task graph. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional genetic algorithm, the improved genetic algorithm proposed in this paper has a good effect in solving 3D NoC low-power mapping. With the increase in the number of IP cores, improved genetic algorithms have more significant advantages in reducing power consumption, and can better reduce the power consumption of 3D NoC compared to traditional genetic algorithms.


For this purpose, a solution of dye/contrast was ultrasound-guide injected into six canine cadavers. The results were assessed through computed tomography and dissection, showing that the proposed technique is viable, safe, and stained the median and caudal abdominal nerves and the sympathetic trunk up to T13 consistently. However, our modified technique of QL block did not increase the cranial distribution of dye/contrast to the thoracic spinal nerves, and may not provide adequate somatic analgesia of the cranial abdominal wall.The quadratus lumborum (QL) block is an ultrasound-guided locoregional anesthesia technique. Its objective is to promote both visceral and somatic analgesia for abdominal procedures. Previous spread studies carried out in canine cadavers demonstrated its viability in this species but failed in consistently reach the spinal nerves responsible for the cranial abdominal wall innervation. Therefore, we hypothesize that a modified QL block technique, based on the administration of a higher volume of solution (0.6 mL kg−1 of a mixture of methylene blue and iopromide) injected between the psoas minor muscle and the vertebral body of L1. Anatomical features of the area of interest were studied in two cadavers. In another six dogs, QL blocks were performed bilaterally under ultrasound-guidance. The distribution of contrast was evaluated by computed tomography (CT). Hypaxial abdominal muscles were dissected to visualize the dye spread  in 5 cadavers. The remaining cadaver was refrozen and cross-sectioned. CT studies showed a maximum distribution of contrast from T10 to L7. The methylene blue stained T13 (10%), L1 (100%), L2 (100%), L3 (100%), L4 (60%) and the sympathetic trunk T10 (10%), T11 (20%), T12 (30%), T13 (70%), L1 (80%), L2 (80%), L3 (60%) and L4 (30%). These findings may suggest that despite the high volume of injectate administered, this modified QL block could not produce somatic analgesia of the cranial abdomen, although it could provide visceral analgesia in dogs.The quadratus lumborum (QL) block targets the fascial plane surrounding the QL muscle providing abdominal somatic and visceral analgesia. The extension of its analgesic effects is a subject of research, as it could not cover areas of the cranial abdomen in dogs. This study assesses in eight thawed canine cadavers, the distribution of high-volume injections (0.6 mL kg A quadratus lumborum (QL) block is an ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia technique that targets the fascial plane of the QL muscle and could provide a sensorial blockade of multiple areas of the abdomen . In receThe QL muscle extends from the last three thoracic to the last lumbar vertebrae . The ven−1 were injected per hemiabdomen. In another study, Alamán et al. [−1 of injectate (methylene blue) administered between the QL muscle and the vertebral body of L1. The results of these studies showed a consistent spread in the L1, L2 and L3 spinal nerves and in the sympathetic trunk, although the spreading of dye in the last thoracic nerves was limited. More recently, Viscasillas et al. [Several techniques to perform this block have been studied in canine cadavers, involving different injection sites and approaches in relation to the QL muscle and its related structures. Garbin et al. injected a mixture of dye and iohexol in the interfascial plane formed between the PM and QL muscles . In anotn et al.  investigs et al.  evaluate−1 on each hemiabdomen.The objective of this study is to analyze, in canine cadavers, the pattern of distribution and the staining of the ventral branches of the spinal nerves and sympathetic trunk of a mixture of methylene blue and iopromide (50%) solution injected in a dorso-medial location compared with the approach described by Garbin et al. , betweenOur hypothesis was that the proposed modification of the QL block technique would facilitate the distribution of the dye/contrast mixture within the targeted ventral branches of the spinal nerves, closer to the communicating branches and sympathetic trunk. This fact, together with the administration of high volumes of injectate, would enhance its cranial spread, promoting, more reliably, a sensory blockade of the cranial aspects of the abdominal wall.This study was approved by the Biosafety Committee in Experimentation (CBE 433/2021) and the Ethical Committee for Animal Experimentation (CEEA 740/2021) of the University of Murcia. A total of eight canine cadavers of different breeds were employed in the study. The dogs were humanely euthanized for reasons unrelated to the study and did not present any visible anatomical changes in the vertebrae or in the abdominal wall that could affect the technique. Animals were frozen immediately after death and thawed 72 h before the study.The study was divided into two phases . In the Then, the animals were placed in dorsal recumbency and eviscerated after the incision of the linea alba. The path of the same nerves was then observed in the retroperitoneal region, to establish their location and its relationship with the QL, PM, psoas major muscles and with the sympathetic trunk, before piercing the aponeurosis of the transverse abdominal muscle. Two researchers  performed all the dissections.−1 of a 50/50 solution of methylene blue  at a concentration of 0.5% and radiopaque contrast medium (Iopromide 300 mg mL−1)  was injected on each abdominal side. Ultrasound-guided injections, using an ultrasound equipment with a linear array of 3–13 MHz , were performed. For this purpose, sonovisible needles  were used. The same researcher (Eliseo Belda) performed all of the injections.For the second phase of the study, six cadavers were used (one injection per each hemiabdomen). The animals were placed in lateral recumbency, and a wide trichotomy of the abdominal region was performed. Then, 0.6 mL kgComputed tomography  scans were carried out immediately after the injections. The cadavers were placed in sternal recumbency and transverse CT scans, at a thickness of 3 mm, were obtained from T8 to S1 by selecting bone and soft tissue algorithms. Reformatted images were obtained and evaluated by two radiologists  in the dorsal and sagittal planes to assess the location and distribution of the contrast medium in all directions: medial-to-lateral, dorsal-to-ventral and cranial-to-caudal, and to establish a correlation with the posterior dissection findings.After the CT scans, all the cadavers but one (5/6) were placed in dorsal recumbency, an incision was made in the linea alba, and a sternotomy was performed. The organs and cavities  were observed for the presence of dye. After removal of the organs, the dye distribution in large abdominal vessels, diaphragm and retroperitoneal space was analyzed. Ventral branches of the spinal nerves were individually dissected and evaluated macroscopically to assess the presence of staining and its location. The intercostals , costoabdominal (T13), cranial iliohypogastric (L1), caudal iliohypogastric (L2), ilioinguinal (L3), genitofemoral (L3), lateral femoral cutaneous (L4) and femoral (L4–L6) nerves were evaluated. Finally, the abdominal great vessels and the PM muscle were removed to observe the presence and extension of dye along the sympathetic trunk. Three researchers  performed all the dissections and, later, an analysis of the dye spread. It was considered that the staining of the target nerves in a length of 1 cm, for all quadrants, was adequate to induce a clinical blockade. Weakly stained nerves were considered as not dyed, because of the possibility that their coloring was an artifact produced during anatomical dissection.Finally, the remaining canine cadaver (1/6) was refrozen at a temperature of −80 °C after the CT scan. Three days later, this cadaver was cross sectioned into 1 cm thickness sections. These sections were used for a topographic study of the dye distribution.All cadavers were placed in lateral recumbency, and the probe was placed transversally to the hypaxial musculature, caudal and parallel to the last rib, at the level of L1 . The proOnce the injection point was identified, the needle was slowly introduced “in plane” in a ventro-dorsal and latero-medial direction. The needle was advanced through the external and internal oblique muscles. At this point, the transverse abdominal aponeurosis was pierced, and the needle advanced through the QL and PM muscles until the tip of the needle reached the vertebral body of L1. Following this, the needle tip was placed between the ventro-lateral aspect of the vertebral body of L1 and the dorso-medial aspect of the PM muscle. A test injection with 0.5 mL of injectate was carried out. If the distribution of the injectate was considered adequate, the complete volume of dye/contrast solution was administered. The same technique of injection was repeated on the contralateral hemiabdomen.The statistical tests were performed using SPSS, version 24.0 . Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD), median and range or number of animals as it was considered more relevant in any case. Normality was assessed using a Shapiro-Wilk test.Two dogs (Spanish Mastiff and Labrador Retriever) were used in the anatomical study. They weighed 42 and 28 kg, with a body condition score (BCS) of 4/9 and 5/9, respectively .The hypaxial muscles PM and psoas major were easily identified. The QL muscle was located dorso-laterally to these muscles, and extended from the last three thoracic vertebrae to the last lumbar vertebrae. From L1 to L4, the QL muscle was covered by the PM minor and then, caudally to L4 by the psoas major. Vertebral bodies delimited the QL dorsally, and the last two ribs and the transverse processes laterally.At the thoracolumbar level, the ventral branches of the spinal nerves passed through the interfascial space located between the QL and PM muscles. Then, they were run laterally between the transversal fascia and the aponeurosis of the transverse abdominal muscle. Finally, they emerged and ran ventrally through the interfascial space located between the transverse abdominal muscle and the internal oblique muscle.Below the PM and the greater vessels, the communicating branches, sympathetic trunk, and splanchnic nerves were identified. The communicating branches exited the spinal nerves shortly after emerging from the intervertebral foramen. These branches established communication between the spinal nerves and the sympathetic chain.The reference points for performing the technique were easily identified in most animals. The hyperechoic line and the acoustic shadow caused by the L1 transverse process were identified in 12/12 injections. The transverse abdominal muscle aponeurosis was identified in 10/12, while the interfascial plane between the QL and PM muscles was identified in 9/12. As the tip of the needle advanced, two “pops” were felt for 12/12 injections. The first “pop” corresponded with the transverse abdominal muscle aponeurosis, and the second with the interfascial plane between the QL and the PM muscles. In 4/12 injections, the tip of the needle could not be visualized. In these cases, the injectate was injected once the tip of the needle was in contact with the vertebral body of L1 .The contrast medium was detected in the target area for 100% of th hemiabdomens (12/12) . The sprThe cadavers used in this study were of different breeds: Yorkshire, Poodle, Belgian Malinois, Pointer and German Shepherd, with a mean weight of 19.1 ± 13.06 kg and BCS ranging from 2 to 5 out of 9 . The disThe nerve-staining results are shown in The dissection demonstrated the presence of dye in the sympathetic trunk and communicating branches after 8/10 injections in a median of 4 (0–7) vertebral segments. The staining of these structures occurred occasionally at a level of T10 10% (1/10), T11 20% (2/10), T12 30% (3/10) and L4 30% (3/10), and more consistently at the level of T13 70% (7/10), L1 80% (8/10), L2 80% (8/10) and L3 60% (6/10) . The injA 6 kg and BCS 6/9 mongrel dog was used in this phase . This an−1) of solution between the PM muscle and the vertebral body of L1 could be considered as a valid and viable technique to perform QL blocks in dogs. The point of injection employed here was situated at the dorsal and medial to the interfascial site, between the QL and PM muscles, which was proposed as an injection site by Garbin et al. [−1) [The results obtained in this study showed that the administration of higher volumes   and lateal. [−1)  groups.−1 of injectate per hemiabdomen to evaluate whether higher volumes than those used in previous studies [−1 of bupivacaine or ropivacaine, lower than convulsive [Contrary to our hypothesis, a further cranial spread of injectate was not evidenced, despite the modified point of injection and the higher volumes of injectate administered in this study. Similar to our findings, Garbin et al. ,3, Alamá studies ,3,4,5 convulsive ,21 and lnvulsive ,23.The major splanchnic nerves arise from the thoracic sympathetic ganglion at the level of T13, and the minor splanchnic nerves from the sympathetic chain at the level of the first lumbar vertebrae . These nThe staining of the thoracic sympathetic trunk reached the T10 level. The intercostal nerves were not stained in any of the cases, which could limit the efficacy of this block to provide somatic analgesia of the cranial abdomen. Some studies have described the relevant role of the endothoracic fascia in the distribution of solutions through the paravertebral thoracic space ,25,26. TThe genitofemoral nerve was stained in 4/10 of the injections. The areas of innervation of this nerve are the inguinal region and the inguinal mammary glands . TherefoA computed tomography analysis revealed a caudal spread of the injectate from the injection point (L1) to L5–L7. The contrast was visualized more ventro-laterally and further away from vertebrae and spinal nerves at the lumbar caudal level. This may justify why the femoral nerves were not dyed. These findings are in agreement with those observed by Viscasillas et al.  also repThe analgesic efficacy of the QL block was studied in a recent meta-analysis carried out in adult human beings . This woBased on our results, the modified QL block technique described here could produce adequate analgesia for procedures involving caudal and median aspects of the abdominal wall and visceral manipulation; but it might not be able to provide somatic analgesia for procedures in the cranial abdomen. Further clinical studies are required to assess its analgesic efficacy in a real clinical setting.Our study has several limitations. The researcher responsible for the injections (EB), also performed the dissections. This fact could bias the assessment of the dissections. The number of cadavers available for this research was limited, which may have influenced the results. The injections were evaluated in small and medium sized animals (2 to 28 kg). It is understood that the visualization of important ultrasonographic structures to guide the block could be impaired in larger dogs. The injection point selected in our study could be more difficult to access or visualise in detail in larger dogs. It is also important to point out that the QL block is a challenging technique. Therefore, it should be performed by clinicians who are experienced in ultrasound-guided techniques. Finally, the pattern of distribution of the injectate solution could differ in cadavers to live animals. Besides, a histological study has not been performed so as to assess the integrity of the muscular tissue after the thawing process. The refreezing process could also have caused some bias in the cross-section study. In addition, differences in physical and chemical properties of the injected mixtures of methylene blue and iopromide, compared to those of the local anaesthetics, may alter the patterns of distribution of the injectate along the area of interest.The modified QL block technique that was evaluated in this study showed a consistent spread of the injectate between the L1 and L3 spinal nerves and the sympathetic trunk. Thus, it may be useful to provide analgesia for surgical procedures involving the median and caudal aspects of the abdomen of dogs. Further studies are needed to assess the efficacy of this technique in real clinical scenarios. Despite the increase in the administered volume of solution, and the use of a dorso-medial injection point, the described technique was unable to provide a consistent and effective staining of the last thoracic nerves. This finding could suggest its relative inefficacy as a somatic analgesia for procedures involving cranial aspects of the abdominal wall.


The performance of the SPR sensor proposed was compared with control simulations utilizing zinc oxide (ZnO) and molybdenum oxide (MoO3). The numerical results indicate that the figure-of-merits (FOM) of the SPR sensor was achieved around 150/RIU, corresponding to the sensor sensitivity of 162.79°/RIU with the optimized thicknesses of the TiO2, Ag, and AlAs layers of 140 nm, 60 nm, and 25 nm, respectively. This refractive index sensor shows the FOM to have high detection accuracy and high sensitivity that lead to finding potential application in bio-chemical detection with a small volume of liquid used in biological diagnosis.In this work, the multilayer of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor was optimized to achieve the maximum sensor sensitivity. By optimizing the thickness of the silver layer (Ag) and dielectric films (TiO Over the last few decades, the optical detection technique has been widely used for biochemical applications for the study of biological binding and recognition ,2,3,4. M2), molybdenum oxide (MoO3), and zinc oxide (ZnO)) have offered great benefits for the enhancement of sensor sensitivity by combining them with plasmonic materials [3 has been utilized for a chemo-resistive sensor for the selective monitoring of H2 [The choice of metal layer for the surface is needed for optimizing the FOM of the sensor. Typically, gold (Au) and silver (Ag) are commonly used for SPR sensing platforms. The use of Au is widely adopted for the sensor surface due to its chemical stability ,33,34. Haterials ,38,39. Taterials ,38,39. Rng of H2 . This le2/Ag/aluminum arsenide (AlAs)/sensing medium for foodborne bacterial detection. The theoretical modeling and analysis are also presented with a detailed description. The design structure is optimized based on different modulation thicknesses of Ag layer and dielectric materials (TiO2 and AlAs), with a refractive index of sensing in the medium range of 1.33–1.351 (RIU). The change in refractive index corresponds to an E. coli concentration of 103 cfu/mL [3). The results show that the SPR sensor performance with a wavelength of 1064 nm exhibited an enhancement of the FOM, i.e., sensitivity and detection accuracy for the combination structure of prism/TiO2/Ag/AlAs. This work aims to enhance the sensor’s FOM with a new SPR structure based on a prism with a three-layer combination, comprising TiO3 cfu/mL . Further2/Ag/AlAs with the semiconductor layer exposed to sensing mediums of varying refractive indices. The additional layer of TiO2 enhanced the adhesion between the plasmonic Ag layer and the prism and achieved high efficiency in light trapping for plasmonic excitation [A BK7 prism was utilized for the design of the optical sensor, which is depicted in citation . In addicitation ,43,44. Tcitation . It shoucitation ,46. For excitation of the surface plasmon wave, a collimated beam of IR laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm was incident to the prism surface by passing through a polarizer to obtain the transverse magnetic (TM) polarization light. To perform the simulation for the multilayer optical sensor, the simulated parameters are given in tE1 and tH1 are the electric and magnetic field components at the first interface (TiO2/Ag). Similarly, tE3 and tH3 are the electric and magnetic field components at the third interface (AlAs/sensing medium). In addition, M is the characteristic matrix of the N-layer combination, as given belowThe transfer matrix regression method was utilized to evaluate the reflection coefficient for the multilayer model of the sensor structure. In this model, the relationship between tangential field components at the first and the last interfaces is given below ,53(1)[Ek is denoted for the kth layer; kd is the thickness of the kth layer; BK7ε is the dielectric constant of the prism used; kε is the dielectric constant of the kth–layer; sε is the dielectric constant of the sensing medium. The reflection coefficient of TM field (p-polarization) and its amplitude are given below, respectively,2) layers, and the refractive index of the sensing medium (water). The thickness of all layers, including Ag, AlAs, and TiO2, were investigated for optimizing the sensor structure under the change in refractive index of the sensing medium. In this work, the sensor sensitivity was estimated based on the ratio between the change in the resonant angle (Δφ) of the reflection curve and the change in the refractive index of the sensing medium (Δn). From the simulated results concerning the reflectance as a function of incident angle, we estimated the sensor sensitivity, detection accuracy, and FOM as given below,S is the sensor sensitivity and n is the refractive index of the sensing medium; DL is the detection accuracy and FWHM is the full-width at haft-maximum.After the laser light was reflected from the sensor surface, the SPR characterization was investigated based on the reflectance versus the incident angle. The resonant angle corresponded to the minimum reflectance. The resonant angle and the minimum reflectance depended on the excitation wavelength, the thicknesses of the metal (Ag), semiconductor (AlAs), and dielectric  was estimated at around 163.22 (a.u.), as shown in R2) were higher than 0.85, indicating that the model proposed, i.e., the second−order quadratic model, fit well into the simulated data.To find an ideal characteristic shape for energy transfer based on the thickness of the Ag layer’s change, we used the parabolic curve with a quadratic second−order equation 2 layer was introduced to the sensor structure between the Ag layer and the BK7 substrate, with the optimum thickness of Ag (60 nm). 2/Ag/sensing medium for different thicknesses of TiO2 from 80 to 160 nm. It was observed that the SPR resonant angle did not change, and the contrast of the SPR curve was lightly changed  based on the multilayer structure was around 94.45°/RIU for the case of the AlAs layer, as illustrated in R2) was higher than 0.98, indicating that the model proposed, i.e., the second-order quadratic model, fit well into the estimated data. The parabolic shape with a quadratic second-order equation 2 (140 nm)/Ag (60 nm)/AlAs (25 nm)) can be suitable for the implementation of a SPR sensor based on BK7 glass subtrate for an improvement in the detection efficiency of a small amount of bio-chemical agents, due to the enhancement of the evanescent field’s penetration depth into the sensing medium, leading to an enhancement of the sensor sensitivity and the FOM. Based on this prediction model, the thicker the AlAs layer is, the more sensitive the sensing performance is. However, when an increment in the AlAs layer was over 25 nm, this caused an increment in reflectance of around 70%. The reflectivity was higher than 50%, leading to the fact that there was a smaller coupling effect between the TM wave and the evanescent wave to generate SPR. This led us to obtain a lower value of FOM, as shown in 3, which are usually used as the outermost layer in place of AlAs. 2/Ag/ZnO with various thicknesses of ZnO. Similar to 2/Ag/ZnO are shown in 2/Ag/ZnO, respectively. The results show that the maximum sensitivity and the FOM in the case of BK7/TiO2/Ag/ZnO were 1.5 times and 1.45 times lower than that of the case of BK7/TiO2/Ag/AlAs, respectively. In addition, 3 film in BK7/TiO2/Ag/MoO3 configuration with the optimum thickness of TiO2 (140 nm) and Ag film (60 nm). A similar phenomenon in the case of ZnO film was observed. The resonance angle and contrast, as well as the width of the SPR curves changed with an increase in the MoO3 thickness, as shown in 2/Ag/MoO3 are shown in 3 thickness of 25 nm, as seen in 2/Ag/AlAs /Ag (60 nm)/AlAs (25 nm); prism/TiO2 (140 nm)/Ag (60 nm)/ZnO (25 nm); and prism/TiO2 (140 nm)/Ag (60 nm)/MoO3 (25 nm), as shown in 2 (140 nm)/Ag (60 nm)/AlAs (25 nm) was stronger than that of the other ones. This was in agreement with the results of the sensitivity analysis and FOM, as discussed above. This phenomenon could be caused by the contribution of the imaginary part of the dielectric constant of the Ag layer, combined with the large real part of the dielectric constant of the AlAs layer, as shown in 2 (140 nm)/Ag (60 nm)/AlAs (25 nm) can be utilized for the detection of analytes with a larger size, such as bacteria, proteins, and cells. To demonstrate our point, we plotted the field profiles for three different sensor structures including BK7/TiO2 and AlAs for implementation of the SPR sensor with the operating wavelength of 1064 nm offers several benefits. The FOM of the SPR sensor based on the combination of TiO2/Ag/AlAs is better than that of the sensor using expensive materials such as Au. In addition, the use of TiO2 between the prism and the Ag layer provides higher detection accuracy, allowing possible reproducibility of the sensor performance for the detection of bio-targets. Moreover, the simulated results present the possibility of the use of the combination materials with the IR laser for SPR excitation, offering a new research area for bio-sensing applications.The combination of Ag with the other materials such as TiO2/Ag/AlAs and an operating wavelength of 1064 nm. The resonant spectra can be efficiently realized by adjusting the thicknesses of the TiO2, Ag, and AlAs layers. The FOM of the proposed sensor was achieved around 150/RIU, corresponding to the sensor sensitivity of 162.79°/RIU with the optimized thicknesses of the TiO2, Ag, and AlAs layers of 140, 60, and 25 nm, respectively. The sensors’ responses were compared with two SPR sensor configurations using ZnO and MoO3 in place of AlAs. It is anticipated that the proposed SPR sensor structure can be utilized for various applications such as the quantitative detection of bio-molecules with enhanced figure of merits.This work presented the numeric investigation of the SPR sensor with a structure comprising prism/TiO