A Vehicular Traffic Flow Model Based on a Stochastic Acceleration Process

A new vehicular traffic flow model based on a stochastic jump process in vehicle acceleration and braking is introduced. It is based on a master equation for the single car probability density in space, velocity and acceleration with an additional vehicular chaos assumption and is derived via a Markovian ansatz for car pairs. This equation is analyzed using simple driver interaction models in the spatial homogeneous case. Velocity distributions in stochastic equilibrium, together with the car density dependence of their moments, i.e. mean velocity and scattering and the fundamental diagram are presented.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

Distributional and classical solutions to the Cauchy Boltzmann problem for soft potentials with integrable angular cross section

This paper focuses on the study of existence and uniqueness of distributional and classical solutions to the Cauchy Boltzmann problem for the soft potential case assuming $S^{n-1}$ integrability of the angular part of the collision kernel (Grad cut-off assumption). For this purpose we revisit the Kaniel--Shinbrot iteration technique to present an elementary proof of existence and uniqueness results that includes large data near a local Maxwellian regime with possibly infinite initial mass. We study the propagation of regularity using a recent estimate for the positive collision operator given in [3], by E. Carneiro and the authors, that permits to study such propagation without additional conditions on the collision kernel. Finally, an $L^{p}$-stability result (with $1\leq p\leq\infty$) is presented assuming the aforementioned condition.Comment: 19 page

Quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients prior to and after pancreas and kidney transplantation in relation to organ function

Improvement of the quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with severe late complications is one of the main goals of pancreas and/or kidney grafting. To assess the influences of these treatment modalities on the different aspects of the quality of life a cross-sectional study in 157 patients was conducted. They were categorized into patients pre-transplant without dialysis (n=29; Group A), pre-transplant under dialysis (n=44; Group B), post-transplant with pancreas and kidney functioning (n=31; Group C), post-transplant with functioning kidney, but insulin therapy (n=29; Group D), post-transplant under dialysis and insulin therapy again (n=15; Group E) and patients after single pancreas transplantation and rejection, with good renal function, but insulin therapy (n=9; Group F). All patients answered a mailed, self-administered questionnaire (217 questions) consisting of a broad spectrum of rehabilitation criteria. The results indicate a better quality of life in Groups C and D as compared to the other groups. In general the scores are highest in C, but without any significant difference to D. Impressive significant differences between C or D and the other groups were found especially in their satisfaction with physical capacity, leisure-time activities or the overall quality of life. The satisfaction with the latter is highest in C (mean±SEM: 4.0±0.2 on a 1 to 5-rating scale; significantly different from A: 3.1±0.1, B: 2.7±0.2 and E: 2.6±0.3; p<0.01), followed by D (3.8±0.2; significantly different from B and E; p<0.01). Group F shows a mean of 3.1±0.4, which is not significantly different from C. The percentages of patients in each group, who are not working: A: 38 %, B: 64 %, C: 74 %, D: 66 %, E: 87 % and F: 78 % indicate that there is no marked improvement in the vocational situation after successful grafting

On the number of signals in multivariate time series

We assume a second-order source separation model where the observed multivariate time series is a linear mixture of latent, temporally uncorrelated time series with some components pure white noise. To avoid the modelling of noise, we extract the non-noise latent components using some standard method, allowing the modelling of the extracted univariate time series individually. An important question is the determination of which of the latent components are of interest in modelling and which can be considered as noise. Bootstrap-based methods have recently been used in determining the latent dimension in various methods of unsupervised and supervised dimension reduction and we propose a set of similar estimation strategies for second-order stationary time series. Simulation studies and a sound wave example are used to show the method's effectiveness

Moon phases and moon signs do not influence morbidity, mortality and long-term survival, after living donor kidney transplantation

Background: Approximately 11% of the German population are convinced that certain moon phases and moon signs may impact their health and the onset and clinical course of diseases. Before elective surgery, a considerable number of patients look to optimize the timing of the procedure based on the lunar cycle. Especially patients awaiting living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) commonly look for an adjustment of the date of transplantation according to the moon calendar. This study therefore investigated the perioperative and long-term outcome of LDKT dependent on moon phases and zodiac signs. Methods: Patient data were prospectively collected in a continuously updated kidney transplant database. Two hundred and seventy-eight consecutive patients who underwent LDKT between 1994 and December 2009 were selected for the study and retrospectively assigned to the four moon phases (new-moon, waxing-moon, full-moon, and waning-moon) and the corresponding zodiac sign (moon sign Libra), based on the date of transplantation. Preexisting comorbidities, perioperative mortality, surgical outcome, and long-term survival data were analyzed. Results: Of all LDKT procedures, 11.9, 39.9, 11.5, and 36.5% were performed during the new, waxing, full, and waning moon, respectively, and 6.2% during the moon sign Libra, which is believed to interfere with renal surgery. Survival rates at 1, 5, and 10 years after transplantation were 98.9, 92, and 88.7% (patient survival) and 97.4, 91.6, and 80.6% (graft survival) without any differences between all groups of lunar phases and moon signs. Overall perioperative complications and early graft loss occurred in 21.2 and 1.4%, without statistical difference (p > 0.05) between groups. Conclusion: Moon phases and the moon sign Libra had no impact on early and long-term outcome measures following LDKT in our study. Thus, concerns of patients awaiting LDKT regarding the ideal time of surgery can be allayed, and surgery may be scheduled independently of the lunar phases

Cable-driven parallel robot for curtain wall module installation

A cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR) was developed for the installation of curtain wall modules (CWM). The research addressed the question of whether the CDPR was capable installing CWMs with sufficient accuracy while being competitive compared to conventional manual methods. In order to develop and test such a system, a conceptual framework that consisted of three sub-systems was defined. The tests, carried out in two close-to-real demonstration buildings, revealed an absolute accuracy of the CWM installation of 4 to 23 mm. The working time for installing a CWM was reduced to 0.51 h. The results also show that the system is competitive for a workspace greater than 96 m2 compared to conventional manual methods. However, improvements such as reducing the hours for setting up the CDPR on the one hand and achieving a faster and more robust MEE on the other hand will be still necessary in the future.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 73251

Polygenic risk for obesity and its interaction with lifestyle and sociodemographic factors in European children and adolescents

Background Childhood obesity is a complex multifaceted condition, which is influenced by genetics, environmental factors, and their interaction. However, these interactions have mainly been studied in twin studies and evidence from population-based cohorts is limited. Here, we analyze the interaction of an obesity-related genome-wide polygenic risk score (PRS) with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors for BMI and waist circumference (WC) in European children and adolescents. Methods The analyses are based on 8609 repeated observations from 3098 participants aged 2-16 years from the IDEFICS/I.Family cohort. A genome-wide polygenic risk score (PRS) was calculated using summary statistics from independent genome-wide association studies of BMI. Associations were estimated using generalized linear mixed models adjusted for sex, age, region of residence, parental education, dietary intake, relatedness, and population stratification. Results The PRS was associated with BMI (beta estimate [95% confidence interval (95%-CI)] = 0.33 [0.30, 0.37], r(2) = 0.11, p value = 7.9 x 10(-81)) and WC (beta [95%-CI] = 0.36 [0.32, 0.40], r(2) = 0.09, p value = 1.8 x 10(-71)). We observed significant interactions with demographic and lifestyle factors for BMI as well as WC. Children from Southern Europe showed increased genetic liability to obesity (BMI: beta [95%-CI] = 0.40 [0.34, 0.45]) in comparison to children from central Europe (beta [95%-CI] = 0.29 [0.23, 0.34]), p-interaction = 0.0066). Children of parents with a low level of education showed an increased genetic liability to obesity (BMI: beta [95%-CI] = 0.48 [0.38, 0.59]) in comparison to children of parents with a high level of education (beta [95%-CI] = 0.30 [0.26, 0.34]), p-interaction = 0.0012). Furthermore, the genetic liability to obesity was attenuated by a higher intake of fiber (BMI: beta [95%-CI] interaction = -0.02 [-0.04,-0.01]) and shorter screen times (beta [95%-CI] interaction = 0.02 [0.00, 0.03]). Conclusions Our results highlight that a healthy childhood environment might partly offset a genetic predisposition to obesity during childhood and adolescence.Peer reviewe

Effect of Constitution on Mass of Individual Organs and Their Association with Metabolic Rate in Humans—A Detailed View on Allometric Scaling

Resting energy expenditure (REE)-power relationships result from multiple underlying factors including weight and height. In addition, detailed body composition, including fat free mass (FFM) and its components, skeletal muscle mass and internal organs with high metabolic rates (i.e. brain, heart, liver, kidneys), are major determinants of REE. Since the mass of individual organs scales to height as well as to weight (and, thus, to constitution), the variance in these associations may also add to the variance in REE. Here we address body composition (measured by magnetic resonance imaging) and REE (assessed by indirect calorimetry) in a group of 330 healthy volunteers differing with respect to age (17–78 years), sex (61% female) and BMI (15.9–47.8 kg/m2). Using three dimensional data interpolation we found that the inter-individual variance related to scaling of organ mass to height and weight and, thus, the constitution-related variances in either FFM (model 1) or kidneys, muscle, brain and liver (model 2) explained up to 43% of the inter-individual variance in REE. These data are the first evidence that constitution adds to the complexity of REE. Since organs scale differently as weight as well as height the “fit” of organ masses within constitution should be considered as a further trait