Neuroevolutionary multiobjective methodology for the optimization of the injection blow molding process

Injection blow molding process is widely used in the industry to produce plastic parts. One of the main challenges in optimizing this process is to find the best manufacturing thickness profiles which provides the desirable mechanical properties to the final part with minimal material usage. This paper proposes a methodology based on a neuroevolutionary approach to optimize this process. This approach focuses on finding the optimal thickness distribution for a given blow molded product as a function of its geometry. Neural networks are used to represent thickness distributions and an evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm is applied to evolve neural networks in order to find the best solutions, i.e., to obtain the best trade-off between material usage and mechanical properties. Each solution is evaluated through finite element analysis simulation considering the design of an industrial bottle. The results showed that the proposed technique was able to find good solutions where the material was distributed along the most critical regions to maintain adequate mechanical properties. This approach is general and can also be applied to different geometries.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia in the scope of the project: PEst-OE/EEI/UI0319/2014 and the European project MSCA-RISE-2015, NEWEX, with reference 73420

The Projected Rotational Velocity Distribution of a Sample of OB stars from a Calibration based on Synthetic He I lines

We derive projected rotational velocities (vsini) for a sample of 156 Galactic OB star members of 35 clusters, HII regions, and associations. The HeI lines at $\lambda\lambda$4026, 4388, and 4471A were analyzed in order to define a calibration of the synthetic HeI full-widths at half maximum versus stellar vsini. A grid of synthetic spectra of HeI line profiles was calculated in non-LTE using an extensive helium model atom and updated atomic data. The vsini's for all stars were derived using the He I FWHM calibrations but also, for those target stars with relatively sharp lines, vsini values were obtained from best fit synthetic spectra of up to 40 lines of CII, NII, OII, AlIII, MgII, SiIII, and SIII. This calibration is a useful and efficient tool for estimating the projected rotational velocities of O9-B5 main-sequence stars. The distribution of vsini for an unbiased sample of early B stars in the unbound association Cep OB2 is consistent with the distribution reported elsewhere for other unbound associations.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXV. The interesting case of HD41248: stellar activity, no planets?

The search for planets orbiting metal-poor stars is of uttermost importance for our understanding of the planet formation models. However, no dedicated searches have been conducted so far for very low mass planets orbiting such objects. Only a few cases of low mass planets orbiting metal-poor stars are thus known. Amongst these, HD41248 is a metal-poor, solar-type star on which a resonant pair of super-Earth like planets has In the present paper we present a new planet search program that is using the HARPS spectrograph to search for Neptunes and Super-Earths orbiting a sample of metal-poor FGK dwarfs. We then present a detailed analysis of an additional 162 radial velocity measurements of HD41248, obtained within this program, with the goal of confirming the existence of the proposed planetary system. We analyzed the precise radial velocities, obtained with the HARPS spectrograph, together with several stellar activity diagnostics and line profile indicators. A careful analysis shows no evidence for the planetary system previously announced. One of the signals, with a period of about 25 days, is shown to be related to the rotational period of the star, and is clearly seen in some of the activity proxies. The remaining signal (P~18 days) could not be convincingly retrieved in the new data set. We discuss possible causes for the complex (evolving) signals observed in the data of HD41248, proposing that they may be explained by the appearance and disappearance of active regions on the surface of a star with strong differential rotation, or by a combination of the sparse data sampling and active region evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

A Post Hoc Analysis on Rhythm and High Intensity Interval Training in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Objectives. Evaluate the effects of a 6-month High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program on (1) functional capacity and health-related quality of life, (2) multiple blood biomarkers, (3) echocardiographic parameters, and (4) exercise performance, in patients in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) stratified by the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF), targeting the following questions: (1) Does CRT provide similar benefits in patients in AF and sinus rhythm (SR)?; and (2) Does HIIT provides similar benefits in patients in AF and SR? Design. Estimates were available at baseline and 6 months after CRT implantation in 37 patients with heart failure. Patients were randomized after CRT to a 24-week HIIT group or to a usual care group (CON). In this sub-analysis, HIIT (AF = 7; SR = 11) and CON (AF = 9; SR = 10) were stratified by the presence of AF. Results. Patients in AF benefitted to a lesser degree from CRT in functional status than patients in SR (23.8-46.0%). However, HIIT induced superior improvements in patients in AF compared to CON (23.9-61.0%). Decreases in TNF-α (8.5-42.9%), BNP (15.3-34.6%) and left ventricular mass (9.6-26.2%) were only observed in patients in SR, whereas increases in peak oxygen uptake were only observed in patients in AF (19.5-23.2%). HIIT improved exercise capacity (8.8-59.4%) in patients in SR. Conclusions. Patients in AF or SR undergoing CRT demonstrated distinct benefits from device implantation and from HIIT as an adjunctive therapeutic strategy. This suggests that both mainstay and adjunctive therapeutics may need to be managed differently in patients in AF and SR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High-Intensity Interval Training in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: a Randomized Control Trial

AIMS: To determine the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) following cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantation in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), on noninvasive estimates of systolic ventricular function, exercise performance, severity of symptoms and quality of life. METHODS: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, resting transthoracic echocardiogram and health-related quality of life assessment were obtained before and at 6 months after CRT implantation in 37 patients with moderate-to-severe CHF. Patients were randomized after CRT to either a 24-week HIIT group (90-95% peak heart rate, 2 days per week) or to a usual care group (CON). Mixed design 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA were used to test for differences within and in-between groups. RESULTS: Improvements in health-related quality of life (HIIT = 98.54%, CON = 123.47%), NYHA class (HIIT = 43.44%, CON = 38.30%) HR recovery at minute 1 (HIIT = 32.32%, CON = 42.94%), pulse pressure at peak effort (HIIT = 14.06%, CON = 9.52%, LVEF (HIIT = 42.17%, CON = 51.10%) and LV Mass (HIIT = 13.26%, CON = 11.88%) were similar in both groups (p > 0.05). Significant increases in CPET duration in the HIIT group (25.94%), and increases in peak VO2 (HIIT = 8.64%, CON = 4.85%) and percent-predicted VO2 (HIIT = 10.57%, CON = 4.26%) in both groups, were observed in the intention-to-treat analysis. CONCLUSION: Six months of HIIT in patients in CRT did not further improved indices of functional capacity and health-related quality of life, and LV structure and function, compared to CRT alone. However, HIIT led to further improvements in exercise performance. It remains unclear whether HIIT benefits patients in CRT to a similar degree as more conventional forms of exercise training previously shown to maximize benefits in CRT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Kalb-Ramond excitations in a thick-brane scenario with dilaton

We compute the full spectrum and eigenstates of the Kalb-Ramond field in a warped non-compact Randall-Sundrum -type five-dimensional spacetime in which the ordinary four-dimensional braneworld is represented by a sine-Gordon soliton. This 3-brane solution is fully consistent with both the warped gravitational field and bulk dilaton configurations. In such a background we embed a bulk antisymmetric tensor field and obtain, after reduction, an infinite tower of normalizable Kaluza-Klein massive components along with a zero-mode. The low lying mass eigenstates of the Kalb-Ramond field may be related to the axion pseudoscalar. This yields phenomenological implications on the space of parameters, particularly on the dilaton coupling constant. Both analytical and numerical results are given.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, and 2 tables. Final version to appear in The European Physical Journal

Rare germline variants in DNA repair genes and the angiogenesis pathway predispose prostate cancer patients to develop metastatic disease

Background Prostate cancer (PrCa) demonstrates a heterogeneous clinical presentation ranging from largely indolent to lethal. We sought to identify a signature of rare inherited variants that distinguishes between these two extreme phenotypes. Methods We sequenced germline whole exomes from 139 aggressive (metastatic, age of diagnosis < 60) and 141 non-aggressive (low clinical grade, age of diagnosis ≥60) PrCa cases. We conducted rare variant association analyses at gene and gene set levels using SKAT and Bayesian risk index techniques. GO term enrichment analysis was performed for genes with the highest differential burden of rare disruptive variants. Results Protein truncating variants (PTVs) in specific DNA repair genes were significantly overrepresented among patients with the aggressive phenotype, with BRCA2, ATM and NBN the most frequently mutated genes. Differential burden of rare variants was identified between metastatic and non-aggressive cases for several genes implicated in angiogenesis, conferring both deleterious and protective effects. Conclusions Inherited PTVs in several DNA repair genes distinguish aggressive from non-aggressive PrCa cases. Furthermore, inherited variants in genes with roles in angiogenesis may be potential predictors for risk of metastases. If validated in a larger dataset, these findings have potential for future clinical application