A comparison of nonlinear control performance assessment techniques for nonlinear processes

Assessing the quality of industrial control loops is an important auditing task for the control engineer. However, there are complications when considering the ubiquitous nonlinearities present in many industrial control loops. If one simply ignores these nonlinearities, there is the danger of over-estimating the performance of the control loop in rejecting disturbances and thereby possibly overlooking loops that need attention. To address this problem, several techniques have been recently developed to extend the control performance assessment (CPA) of single input/single output linear systems to nonlinear systems. This article surveys these nonlinear CPA techniques and compares their performances using three case studies. These results can be used to guide control engineers to select the most suitable CPA techniques for their particular applications

Long-term high frequency measurements of ethane, benzene and methyl chloride at Ragged Point, Barbados: Identification of long-range transport events

Abstract Here we present high frequency long-term observations of ethane, benzene and methyl chloride from the AGAGE Ragged Point, Barbados, monitoring station made using a custom built GC-MS system. Our analysis focuses on the first three years of data (2005–2007) and on the interpretation of periodic episodes of high concentrations of these compounds. We focus specifically on an exemplar episode during September 2007 to assess if these measurements are impacted by long-range transport of biomass burning and biogenic emissions. We use the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion model, NAME, run forwards and backwards in time to identify transport of air masses from the North East of Brazil during these events. To assess whether biomass burning was the cause we used hot spots detected using the MODIS instrument to act as point sources for simulating the release of biomass burning plumes. Excellent agreement for the arrival time of the simulated biomass burning plumes and the observations of enhancements in the trace gases indicates that biomass burning strongly influenced these measurements. These modelling data were then used to determine the emissions required to match the observations and compared with bottom up estimates based on burnt area and literature emission factors. Good agreement was found between the two techniques highlight the important role of biomass burning. The modelling constrained by in situ observations suggests that the emission factors were representative of their known upper limits, with the in situ data suggesting slightly greater emissions of ethane than the literature emission factors account for. Further analysis was performed concluding only a small role for biogenic emissions of methyl chloride from South America impacting measurements at Ragged Point. These results highlight the importance of long-term high frequency measurements of NMHC and ODS and highlight how these data can be used to determine sources of emissions 1000’s km away.ATA would like to thank the GWR and the Met Office for the PhD funding that was useful in the initiation of this research and the Herchel Smith foundation for a Postdoctoral fellowship, and NCAS for funding. The operation of the AGAGE station at Ragged Point is supported by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA, USA) (grants NNX07AE89G and NNX11AF17G to MIT) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, USA) (contract RA133R09CN0062).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioOne via http://dx.doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.00006

Cutaneous Fusarium infection in a renal transplant recipient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Fungal infections in the immunocompromised host are fairly common. Of the mycoses, <it>Fusarium </it>species are an emerging threat. <it>Fusarium </it>infections have been reported in solid organ transplants, with three reports of the infection in patients who had received renal transplants. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of an isolated cutaneous lesion as the only form of infection.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 45-year-old South Indian man who presented with localized cutaneous <it>Fusarium </it>infection following a renal transplant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In an immunocompromised patient, even an innocuous lesion needs to be addressed with the initiation of prompt treatment.</p

Neoliberalisation and 'lad cultures' in higher education

This paper links HE neoliberalisation and ‘lad cultures’, drawing on interviews and focus groups with women students. We argue that retro-sexist ‘laddish’ forms of masculine competitiveness and misogyny have been reshaped by neoliberal rationalities to become modes of consumerist sexualised audit. We also suggest that neoliberal frameworks scaffold an individualistic and adversarial culture among young people that interacts with perceived threats to men’s privilege and intensifies attempts to put women in their place through misogyny and sexual harassment. Furthermore, ‘lad cultures’, sexism and sexual harassment in higher education may be invisibilised by institutions to preserve marketability in a neoliberal context. In response, we ask if we might foster dialogue and partnership between feminist and anti-marketisation politics

Orthogonal decomposition of left ventricular remodeling in myocardial infarction

Left ventricular size and shape are important for quantifying cardiac remodeling in response to cardiovascular disease. Geometric remodeling indices have been shown to have prognostic value in predicting adverse events in the clinical literature, but these often describe interrelated shape changes. We developed a novel method for deriving orthogonal remodeling components directly from any (moderately independent) set of clinical remodeling indices. Results: Six clinical remodeling indices (end-diastolic volume index, sphericity, relative wall thickness, ejection fraction, apical conicity, and longitudinal shortening) were evaluated using cardiac magnetic resonance images of 300 patients with myocardial infarction, and 1991 asymptomatic subjects, obtained from the Cardiac Atlas Project. Partial least squares (PLS) regression of left ventricular shape models resulted in remodeling components that were optimally associated with each remodeling index. A Gram–Schmidt orthogonalization process, by which remodeling components were successively removed from the shape space in the order of shape variance explained, resulted in a set of orthonormal remodeling components. Remodeling scores could then be calculated that quantify the amount of each remodeling component present in each case. A one-factor PLS regression led to more decoupling between scores from the different remodeling components across the entire cohort, and zero correlation between clinical indices and subsequent scores. Conclusions: The PLS orthogonal remodeling components had similar power to describe differences between myocardial infarction patients and asymptomatic subjects as principal component analysis, but were better associated with well-understood clinical indices of cardiac remodeling. The data and analyses are available from www.cardiacatlas.org

Wake response to an ocean-feedback mechanism: Madeira Island case study

This discussion focused on the numerical study of a wake episode. The Weather Research and Forecasting model was used in a downscale mode. The current literature focuses the discussion on the adiabatic dynamics of atmospheric wakes. Changes in mountain height and consequently on its relation to the atmospheric inversion layer should explain the shift in wake regimes: from a 'strong-wake' to a 'weak-wake' scenario. Nevertheless, changes in SST variability can also induce similar regime shifts. Increase in evaporation, contributes to increase convection and thus to an uplift of the stratified atmospheric layer, above the critical height, with subsequent internal gravity wave activity.Comment: Under review proces

Chromosome assignment of two cloned DNA probes hybridizing predominantly to human sex chromosomes

In situ hybridization experiments were carried out with two clones, YACG 35 and 2.8, which had been selected from two genomic libraries strongly enriched for the human Y chromosome. Besides the human Y chromosome, both sequences strongly hybridized to the human X chromosome, with few minor binding sites on autosomes. In particular, on the X chromosome DNA from clone YACG 35 hybridized to the centromeric region and the distal part of the short arm (Xp2.2). On the Y chromosome, the sequence was assigned to one site situated in the border region between Yq1.1 and Yq1.2. DNA from clone 2.8 also hybridized to the centromeric region of the X and the distal part of the short arm (Xq2.2). On the Y, however, two binding sites were observed (Yp1.1 and Yq1.2). The findings indicate that sex chromosomal sequences may be localized in homologous regions (as suggested from meiotic pairing) but also at ectopic sites

Risk stratification by pre-operative cardiopulmonary exercise testing improves outcomes following elective abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery : a cohort study

Background: In 2009, the NHS evidence adoption center and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a review of the use of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). They recommended the development of a risk-assessment tool to help identify AAA patients with greater or lesser risk of operative mortality and to contribute to mortality prediction. A low anaerobic threshold (AT), which is a reliable, objective measure of pre-operative cardiorespiratory fitness, as determined by pre-operative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is associated with poor surgical outcomes for major abdominal surgery. We aimed to assess the impact of a CPET-based risk-stratification strategy upon perioperative mortality, length of stay and non-operative costs for elective (open and endovascular) infra-renal AAA patients. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken. Pre-operative CPET-based selection for elective surgical intervention was introduced in 2007. An anonymized cohort of 230 consecutive infra-renal AAA patients (2007 to 2011) was studied. A historical control group of 128 consecutive infra-renal AAA patients (2003 to 2007) was identified for comparison. Comparative analysis of demographic and outcome data for CPET-pass (AT ≥ 11 ml/kg/min), CPET-fail (AT < 11 ml/kg/min) and CPET-submaximal (no AT generated) subgroups with control subjects was performed. Primary outcomes included 30-day mortality, survival and length of stay (LOS); secondary outcomes were non-operative inpatient costs. Results: Of 230 subjects, 188 underwent CPET: CPET-pass n = 131, CPET-fail n = 35 and CPET-submaximal n = 22. When compared to the controls, CPET-pass patients exhibited reduced median total LOS (10 vs 13 days for open surgery, n = 74, P < 0.01 and 4 vs 6 days for EVAR, n = 29, P < 0.05), intensive therapy unit requirement (3 vs 4 days for open repair only, P < 0.001), non-operative costs (£5,387 vs £9,634 for open repair, P < 0.001) and perioperative mortality (2.7% vs 12.6% (odds ratio: 0.19) for open repair only, P < 0.05). CPET-stratified (open/endovascular) patients exhibited a mid-term survival benefit (P < 0.05). Conclusion: In this retrospective cohort study, a pre-operative AT > 11 ml/kg/min was associated with reduced perioperative mortality (open cases only), LOS, survival and inpatient costs (open and endovascular repair) for elective infra-renal AAA surgery