Holographic Beamforming

This chapter presents the fundamentals of the holography technique to form the beam in electromagnetic (EM) structures. The application of holography in leaky-wave antennas, metasurface reflectors, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) is explained. Consequently, different methods to analyze and realize an EM hologram are presented. A comparison is made between forming the beam via holographic-based radiators, phased-array antennas, and MIMO systems. The thing which is common between these three is that all of them can contain a number of elements that are repeated in a fashion. However, the functionality of these elements in the three mentioned structures is totally different from each other. This concept is explained in detail in this chapter

Application of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space Method for Solving a Class of Nonlinear Integral Equations

A new approach based on the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space Method is proposed to approximate the solution of the second-kind nonlinear integral equations. In this case, the Gram-Schmidt process is substituted by another process so that a satisfactory result is obtained. In this method, the solution is expressed in the form of a series. Furthermore, the convergence of the proposed technique is proved. In order to illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the method, four sample integral equations arising in electromagnetics are solved via the given algorithm

Effect of milrinone on short-term outcome of patients with myocardial dysfunction undergoing coronary artery bypass graft: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Myocardial dysfunction needing inotropic support is a typical complication after on-pump cardiac surgery. In this study, we evaluate the effect of milrinone on patients with ventricular dysfunction undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Methods: Seventy patients with impaired left ventricular function [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 35%] undergoing on-pump CABG were enrolled. Patients were randomized to receive either an intraoperative bolus of milrinone (50 &#956;g/kg) or saline as placebo followed by a 24-hour infusion of each agent (0.5 &#956;g/kg/min). Hemodynamic parameters and transthoracic echocardiographic measurement of systolic and diastolic functions were the variables evaluated. Results: Serum levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), the MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB), occurrence of myocardial ischemia or infarction, and mean duration of using inotropic agents were significantly lower in the milrinone group (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the development of ventricular arrhythmia, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, intra-aortic balloon pump and inotropic support requirement, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of intensive care unit stay and mortality rate. Although mean pre-operative LVEF was significantly lower in the milrinone group, there was no significant difference between post-operative LVEFs. Conclusions: We suggest that perioperative administration of milrinone in patients undergoing on-pump CABG, especially those with low LVEF, is beneficial. (Cardiol J 2010; 17, 1: 73-78

Chaos in Sandpile Models

We have investigated the "weak chaos" exponent to see if it can be considered as a classification parameter of different sandpile models. Simulation results show that "weak chaos" exponent may be one of the characteristic exponents of the attractor of \textit{deterministic} models. We have shown that the (abelian) BTW sandpile model and the (non abelian) Zhang model posses different "weak chaos" exponents, so they may belong to different universality classes. We have also shown that \textit{stochasticity} destroys "weak chaos" exponents' effectiveness so it slows down the divergence of nearby configurations. Finally we show that getting off the critical point destroys this behavior of deterministic models.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Wpływ stosowania milrinonu na wczesne wyniki leczenia pacjentów z dysfunkcją mięśnia sercowego poddawanych pomostowaniu aortalno-wieńcowemu: badanie kontrolowane z randomizacją

Wstęp: Dysfunkcja mięśnia sercowego wymagająca stosowania leczenia inotropowego jest częstym powikłaniem zabiegów kardiochirurgicznych z wykorzystaniem krążenia pozaustrojowego. W niniejszym badaniu podjęto próbę oceny wpływu stosowania milrinonu u pacjentów z nieprawidłową czynnością mięśnia sercowego, poddawanych pomostowaniu aortalno-wieńcowemu. Metody: Do badania włączono 70 pacjentów z upośledzoną funkcją lewej komory (frakcja wyrzutowa lewej komory - LVEF < 35%), u których wykonano pomostowanie aortalno-wieńcowe. Zostali oni losowo podzieleni na dwie grupy. Osoby z jednej z nich otrzymywały w trakcie operacji milrinon w bolusie (50 &#956;g/kg mc.), natomiast chorzy z drugiej grupy roztwór soli fizjologicznej jako placebo. Następnie w każdej grupie zastosowano 24-godzinny wlew wcześniej podanej substancji w przepływie 0,5 &#956;g/kg mc./min. Analizie poddano dane hemodynamiczne oraz pomiary skurczowej i rozkurczowej funkcji serca uzyskane podczas echokardiografii przezklatkowej. Wyniki: Osoczowe stężenie kinazy fosfokreatynowej (CPK), izoenzymu MB kinazy kreatynowej (CK-MB), częstość występowania niedokrwienia lub zawału serca oraz średni czas leczenia inotropowego były znacząco niższe w grupie pacjentów otrzymujących milrinon (p < 0,05). Nie stwierdzono istotnych różnic między grupami w występowaniu arytmii komorowych, długości trwania krążenia pozaustrojowego i wentylacji mechanicznej, konieczności stosowania kontrapulsacji wewnątrzaortalnej i leczenia inotropowego, długości pobytu na oddziale intensywnej opieki medycznej oraz śmiertelności. Mimo że średnia LVEF była istotnie niższa u pacjentów otrzymujących milrinon, nie stwierdzono istotnych różnic w średniej LVEF w pooperacyjnej obserwacji badanych grup. Wnioski: Okołooperacyjne stosowanie milrinonu jest korzystne u pacjentów poddawanych pomostowaniu aortalno-wieńcowemu z wykorzystaniem krążenia pozaustrojowego, zwłaszcza u chorych z obniżoną LVEF. (Folia Cardiologica Excerpta 2010; 5, 5: 266-272

Genetic analysis of water loss of excised leaves associated with drought tolerance in wheat

BACKGROUND: . Wheat is widely affected by drought. Low excised-leaf water loss (ELWL) has frequently been associated with improved grain yield under drought. This study dissected the genetic control of ELWL in wheat, associated physiological, morphological and anatomical leaf traits, and compared these with yield QTLs. Methods. Ninety-four hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) doubled haploids, mapped with over 700 markers, were tested for three years for ELWL from detached leaf 4 of glasshouse-grown plants. In one experiment, stomata per unit area and leaf thickness parameters from leaf cross-sections were measured. QTLs were identified using QTLCartographer. Results. ELWL was significantly negatively correlated with leaf length, width, area and thickness. Major QTLs for ELWL during 0-3 h and 3-6 h were coincident across trials on 3A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 5D, 6B, 7A, 7B, 7D and frequently coincident (inversely) with leaf size QTLs. Yield in other trials was sometimes associated with ELWL and leaf size phenotypically and genotypically, but more frequently under non-droughted than droughted conditions. QTL coincidence showed only ELWL to be associated with drought/control yield ratio. Discussion. Our results demonstrated that measures of ELWL and leaf size were equally effective predictors of yield, and both were more useful for selecting under favourable than stressed conditions

Advances in Computational Social Science and Social Simulation

Aquesta conferència és la celebració conjunta de la "10th Artificial Economics Conference AE", la "10th Conference of the European Social Simulation Association ESSA" i la "1st Simulating the Past to Understand Human History SPUHH".Conferència organitzada pel Laboratory for Socio­-Historical Dynamics Simulation (LSDS-­UAB) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Readers will find results of recent research on computational social science and social simulation economics, management, sociology,and history written by leading experts in the field. SOCIAL SIMULATION (former ESSA) conferences constitute annual events which serve as an international platform for the exchange of ideas and discussion of cutting edge research in the field of social simulations, both from the theoretical as well as applied perspective, and the 2014 edition benefits from the cross-fertilization of three different research communities into one single event. The volume consists of 122 articles, corresponding to most of the contributions to the conferences, in three different formats: short abstracts (presentation of work-in-progress research), posters (presentation of models and results), and full papers (presentation of social simulation research including results and discussion). The compilation is completed with indexing lists to help finding articles by title, author and thematic content. We are convinced that this book will serve interested readers as a useful compendium which presents in a nutshell the most recent advances at the frontiers of computational social sciences and social simulation researc