Everywhere regularity for a class of vectorial functionals under subquadratic general growth conditions

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A quasi-static nonlinear analysis for assessing the fire resistance of 3d frames exploiting time-dependent yield surface

In this work an automatic procedure for evaluating the axial force-biaxial bending yield surface of reinforced concrete sections in fire is proposed. It provides an accurate time-dependent expression of the yield condition by a section analysis carried out once and for all, accounting for the strength reduction of the materials, which is a function of the fire duration. The equilibrium state of 3D frames with such yield conditions, once discretized using beam finite elements, is formulated as a nonlinear vectorial equation defining a curve in the hyperspace of the discrete variables and the fire duration. A generalized path-following strategy is proposed for tracing this curve and evaluating, if it exists, the limit fire duration, that is the time of exposure which leads to structural collapse. Compared to the previous proposals on the topic, which are limited to local sectional checks, this work is the first to present a global analysis for assessing the fire resistance of 3D frames, providing a time history of the fire event and taking account of the stress redistribution. Numerical examples are given to illustrate and validate the proposal

Local boundedness for solutions of a class of nonlinear elliptic systems

In this paper we are concerned with the regularity of solutions to a nonlinear elliptic system of m equations in divergence form, satisfying p growth from below and q growth from above, with p <= q; this case is known as p, q-growth conditions. Well known counterexamples, even in the simpler case p = q, show that solutions to systems may be singular; so, it is necessary to add suitable structure conditions on the system that force solutions to be regular. Here we obtain local boundedness of solutions under a componentwise coercivity condition. Our result is obtained by proving that each component u(alpha) of the solution u = (u(1),..., u(m)) satisfies an improved Caccioppoli's inequality and we get the boundedness of u(alpha) by applying De Giorgi's iteration method, provided the two exponents p and q are not too far apart. Let us remark that, in dimension n = 3 and when p = q, our result works for 3/2 < p <= 3, thus it complements the one of Bjorn whose technique allowed her to deal with p <= 2 only. In the final section, we provide applications of our result

Is type 2 diabetes really resolved after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy? Glucose variability studied by continuous glucose monitoring

The study was carried out on type 2 diabetic obese patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Patients underwent regular glycemic controls throughout 3 years and all patients were defined cured from diabetes according to conventional criteria defined as normalization of fasting glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin in absence of antidiabetic therapy. After 3 years of follow-up, Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) was performed in each patient to better clarify the remission of diabetes. In this study, we found that the diabetes resolution after LSG occurred in 40% of patients; in the other 60%, even if they showed a normal fasting glycemia and A1c, patients spent a lot of time in hyperglycemia. During the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), we found that 2 h postload glucose determinations revealed overt diabetes only in a small group of patients and might be insufficient to exclude the diagnosis of diabetes in the other patients who spent a lot of time in hyperglycemia, even if they showed a normal glycemia (<140 mg/dL) at 120 minutes OGTT. These interesting data could help clinicians to better individualize patients in which diabetes is not resolved and who could need more attention in order to prevent chronic complications of diabetes

Co-transport-induced instability of membrane voltage in tip-growing cells

A salient feature of stationary patterns in tip-growing cells is the key role played by the symports and antiports, membrane proteins that translocate two ionic species at the same time. It is shown that these co-transporters destabilize generically the membrane voltage if the two translocated ions diffuse differently and carry a charge of opposite (same) sign for symports (antiports). Orders of magnitude obtained for the time and lengthscale are in agreement with experiments. A weakly nonlinear analysis characterizes the bifurcation

Planning in answer set programming while learning action costs for mobile robots

For mobile robots to perform complex missions, it may be necessary for them to plan with incomplete information and reason about the indirect effects of their actions. Answer Set Programming (ASP) provides an elegant way of formalizing domains which involve indirect effects of an action and recursively defined fluents. In this paper, we present an approach that uses ASP for robotic task planning, and demonstrate how ASP can be used to generate plans that acquire missing information necessary to achieve the goal. Action costs are also incorporated with planning to produce optimal plans, and we show how these costs can be estimated from experience making planning adaptive. We evaluate our approach using a realistic simulation of an indoor environment where a robot learns to complete its objective in the shortest time

On the H\uf6lder continuity for a class of vectorial problems

In this paper we prove local H\uf6lder continuity of vectorial local minimizers of special classes of integral functionals with rank-one and polyconvex integrands. The energy densities satisfy suitable structure assumptions and may have neither radial nor quasi-diagonal structure. The regularity of minimizers is obtained by proving that each component stays in a suitable De Giorgi class and, from this, we conclude about the H\uf6lder continuity. In the final section, we provide some non-trivial applications of our results

Laparoscopic Gastric Sleeve and Micronutrients Supplementation: Our Experience

Background. Laparoscopic gastric sleeve (LGS) has been recently introduced as a stand-alone, restrictive bariatric surgery. Theoretically, LGS attenuates micronutrients deficiencies and associated complications that were typically observed following malabsorptive procedures. The aim of this study was to assess some micronutrients and mineral deficiencies in patients undergoing LGS. Methods. In the period between July 2008 and April 2010, 138 obese patients (110 females and 28 males) with mean BMI 44.4 kg/m2 ± 6.5, mean age 43.9 ± 10.9 years were enrolled and underwent LGS. Patients were followed up with routine laboratory tests and anthropometric measurements and assessed for nutritional status, as regards vitamin B12, folic acid, iron, hemoglobin, calcium, and vitamin D, every three months throughout 12 months. Results. 12 months after sleeve, patients did not show iron deficiency and/or anemia; plasma calcium levels were in the normal range without supplementation from the sixth month after the operation. Vitamin B12 and folic acid were adequately supplemented for all the follow-up period. Vitamin D was in suboptimal levels, despite daily multivitamin supplementation. Conclusion. In this study, we showed that LGS is an effective surgery for the management of morbid obesity. An adequate supplementation is important to avoid micronutrients deficiencies and greater weight loss does not require higher dosage of multivitamins

Planning in action language BC while learning action costs for mobile robots

The action language BC provides an elegant way of formalizing dynamic domains which involve indirect effects of actions and recursively defined fluents. In complex robot task planning domains, it may be necessary for robots to plan with incomplete information, and reason about indirect or recursive action effects. In this paper, we demonstrate how BC can be used for robot task planning to solve these issues. Additionally, action costs are incorporated with planning to produce optimal plans, and we estimate these costs from experience making planning adaptive. This paper presents the first application of BC on a real robot in a realistic domain, which involves human-robot interaction for knowledge acquisition, optimal plan generation to minimize navigation time, and learning for adaptive planning