Optimization of the Control System Parameters with Use of the New Simple Method of the Largest Lyapunov Exponent Estimation.

This text covers application of Largest Lapunov Exponent (LLE) as a criterion for control performance assessment (CPA) in a simulated control system. The main task is to find a simple and effective method to search for the best configuration of a controller in a control system. In this context, CPA criterion based on calculation of LLE by means of a new method [3] is compared to classical CPA criteria used in control engineering [1]. Introduction contains references to previous publications on Lyapunov stability. Later on, description of classical criteria for CPA along with formulae is presented. Significance of LLE in control systems is explained. Moreover, new efficient formula for calculation of LLE [3] is shown. In the second part simulation of the control system used for experiment is described. The next part contains results of the simulation in which typical criteria for CPA are compared with criterion based on value of LLE. In the last part results of the experiment are summed up and conclusions are drawn

Role of morphologic characteristics of the uterine septum in the prediction and prevention of abnormal healing outcomes after hysteroscopic metroplasty

STUDY QUESTION: Can morphologic measurements (width, length and surface area) of the uterine septum predict healing-dependent abnormal anatomic results [ARs; residual septum (RS) and intrauterine adhesions in other locations (IUA-OLs)] after complete hysteroscopic metroplasty (HM)? SUMMARY ANSWER: Significant predictors of ARs are the septal width and, to a lesser extent, septal surface area. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Anatomic results after hysteroscopic metroplasty have very large variation. A RS >1 cm and IUA-OLs can aggravate reproductive outcomes, resulting in the need for reoperation. New criteria for diagnosing a uterine septum according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) and European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE) have been suggested (ESHRE-ESGE criteria). Autocross-linked hyaluronic acid gel (autocross-linked polysaccharide) has an antiadhesive effect. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: A prospective, observational cohort study was performed with 96 women consecutively enrolled between 2007 and 2012. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Women who had uterine septum and previous miscarriage or infertility presented for evaluation at a university hospital, private hospital or private medical center were included. Preoperative septal width, length and surface area were determined with three-dimensional sonohysterography. Women were treated by hysteroscopy in a standardized manner with three- or four-dimensional transrectal ultrasound guidance (complete resection). Patients received either no adhesion barrier (49 patients) or adhesion barrier with autocross-linked polysaccharide (47 patients). Anatomic results were assessed with three-dimensional sonohysterography and second-look hysteroscopy. Healing-dependent ARs were reported using both American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) criterion of RS length >1 cm (ASRM>1 cm criterion) and ESHRE-ESGE criteria. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify predictors of RS, IUA-OLs and ARs. MAIN RESULTS AND ROLE OF CHANCE: In patients who had no adhesion barrier, ARs were diagnosed in 11 of 49 patients (23%) using the ASRM > 1 cm criterion and in 20 of 49 patients (41%) using the ESHRE-ESGE criteria for RS [odds ratio (OR)(ESHRE-ESGE:ASRM), 2.4, P = 0.05]. In the patients who had autocross-linked polysaccharide, ARs(ASRM) (>) (1 cm) were diagnosed in 2 of 47 patients (4%) and ARs(ESHRE-ESGE) in 4 of 47 patients (9%). RS(ESHRE-ESGE) was diagnosed significantly more often than RS(ASRM) (>) (1 cm) 19 of 96 (20%) versus 5 of 96 (5%) in all patients (OR(ESHRE-ESGE:ASRM) (>) (1 cm) = 4.5, P < 0.01). In patients who had no adhesion barrier, logistic regression with ASRM > 1 cm and ESHRE-ESGE criteria showed that the width and surface area were predictors of ARs. Models adjusted by patient group confirmed the significance of width as a predictor of ARs(ASRM) (>) (1 cm) [OR for width, 3.5 (P < 0.01); OR for group, 0.22 (P < 0.01)], width as a predictor of ARs(ESHRE-ESGE) [OR for width, 2.2 (P < 0.01); OR for group, 0.26 (P < 0.01)] and surface area as a predictor of ARs(ASRM) (>) (1 cm) [OR for surface area, 1.5 (P < 0.01)]; OR for group, 0.32 (P < 0.01). In patients who had autocross-linked polysaccharide, these predictors were not significant. Receiver-operating characteristic curves showed cutoff values for ARs(ASRM) (>) (1 cm) (septal width, 3.42 cm; septal surface area, 4.68cm(2)) and ARs(ESHRE-ESGE) (septal width, 3.42 cm; septal surface area, 3.51cm(2)). LIMITATIONS AND REASONS FOR CAUTION: Patients were enrolled in the adhesion barrier group in a time-dependent, consecutive and non-randomized manner. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: A wide septum and large surface area may be indications for adhesion barrier. The use of autocross-linked polysaccharide reduces the risk of ARs. The ESHRE-ESGE criteria may cause greater frequency of recognition of RS than the ASRM > 1 cm criterion, which could result in more frequent reoperations with use of the ESHRE-ESGE criteria, possibly without any significant effect on reproductive performance. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): This work was supported by Jagiellonian University (grant no. K/ZDS/003821). The authors have no competing interest to declare

A Shift from 2D Design Paradigm of the 19 th Century to 3D/CityGML, BIM, 3D Printing and Some of Smarter Cities in Poland

A road from paper-based-administration of the 80-ties to Smart Cities of today is being showed in this paper. Shift from paper do digital environment started with regaining of Polish independence in 1989, 26 years ago. The first e-mail from Poland was sent in 1990 year, 19 years after the first e-mail on the world of Ray Tomlinson (1971). Transfter of legal responsibilities, legal power, competences and finance from the top to local levels resulted in revolution in IT sector, which was the first commercial sector running in apost comunist country, in the 80-ties and the beginning of 90ties.Pressure for changes was visible exspecially in the biggest cities, and were initially connected with process of “mucicipalization” – i.e. – transfering of ownership of land from the state level to the level of municipalities. Signum Tempori of this time, was a process of transfer of state owned land to the city property of the City of Gdansk, where more than 30000 real estates of of the market value of 750 million US dollars were transferred and became municipal between 1992 and 1994 years. More and more LIS (Land Information Systems) and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) were implemented, without interoperability rules and standards. Lack of ability to adapt centrain common standards between State Surveying and the biggest cities resulted in appearance of more than 20 graphical applications and more then 20 textual databases applications which required later substantial efforts and costs to overcome information chaos. 10 biggest metropolitan Polish Cities spend more then 3 times than the General Office of Geodesy and Cadasrte of Poland, between 1991 and 1994. Gradual implementaion of INSPIRE Directive and the Law of National Infrastrructure of Spatial Information created unprecedented shitf from paper maps and paper records to almost all digital Poland. Expenditures of c.a. 650 million PLN were assigned to creation of digital representaion of all 34 data layers of INSPIRE Directive for the impelmentaion period of 2010 to 2019. Nevertheless, this amount has been almost doubled in the first 3 years, taking into acccount expenditures of only regional and local GIS/SDI Projects. Polish spatial and economic conditions created spatio-economic background, within which more than 65 % of GDP of Poland is located within 12 metropolitan areas, and at the same time around 67 % of Polish GDP is being generated by more than 4 million of micro or small businesses (often small “family” businesses.).Polish Spatial Planning Law of 2003 has weakened spatial planning regulation, allowing for certain “exception from the rule”, which became a new rule in itself. Basically, this “door” in the law to obtain building permint outside the borders of local development plan – resulted in issuing of more than 700 000 building permits – all located ouside territories of local spatial development plans between 2003 and 2015. Therefore we observe freely flowing process of urban sprawl on one hand and increased land consumption, expecially in the peri-urban zones of all metropolitan cities, and on the other hand, from the economic point of view – Poland has experienced unprecedented GDP growth in recent 10 or 12 years. Nevertheless several really interesting projects have been kicked-off by metropolitan cities, regions and General Survey of Poland (GUGIK). One of the most interesting projects – ISOK (Informatic System of State Protection against Extraordinary Threads) was impelmented between 2011 and 2015, at the cost of c.a. 300 million PLN, resulting in creation of laser scanning data for 92 % of territory of Poland. Continuation of this project was secured in the autumn of 2015 year, devoting budget of 189 million PLN for the project called CAPAP (acronyme from “ Centre of Spatial Analysis of Public Administration), which aim is to provide 3D model of all buildings in Poland, in compliance with CityGML LOD 2 (second Level of Detail), withing the time frame 2016 – 2018. So, all territory of Poland will become 3D in 3 years time in accordance with CityGLM LoD2 and some studies and pilot projects going in this direction are being described in this paper. Some recent exercises with 3D printing of new urban projects are being reported at the end of article

Destructive methods in uterine bleeding outpatient treatment

Wprowadzenie w latach 80. ubiegłego stulecia ablacji jako nowej techniki leczenia zachowawczego krwawień macicznych spowodowanych nieprawidłowym rozrostem endometrium znacząco ograniczyło odsetek histerektomii wykonywanych z tego powodu. Metoda ta zyskuje coraz więcej zwolenników. Ablacja endometrium przy użyciu histeroskopii dotyczy trzech sposobów usuwania endometrium, które są określane jako techniki pierwszej generacji. Są to: przezszyjkowa resekcja endometrium, destrukcja endometrium elektrodą obrotową i destrukcja endometrium przy użyciu lasera. W oparciu o materiał własny histeroskopowej ablacji endometrium, obejmujący 876 przypadków histeroskopowej resekcji endometrium i 51 przypadków destrukcji endometrium przy użyciu elektrody obrotowej, przedstawiono doświadczenia i obserwacje oraz skuteczność tych zabiegów. W latach 90. ubiegłego stulecia zaczęto wprowadzać metody wykorzystujące różne rodzaje energii do destrukcji endometrium, określane jako techniki ablacji drugiej generacji. Są to: termiczne balony śródmaciczne (system therma choice), metoda wodno-termiczna (system hydroterm), wieloelektrodowy system balonowy, metoda mikrofalowa, krioablacja endometrium oraz endometrialna wewnątrzmaciczna terapia laserowa. Warunkiem stosowania tych metod jest wykluczenie atypii endometrium i możliwość następowej kontroli lekarskiej. Najbardziej powszechną metodą ablacji endometrium drugiej generacji jest system therma choice. Mimo że najskuteczniejszą metodą jest histeroskopowa resekcja endometrium, to jednak techniki destrukcyjne są łatwiejsze do wykonania, mniej inwazyjne i powodują mniejszą liczbę powikłań.Introduction of the ablation, in the 1980s, as a new technique of conservative management of metrorrhagia due to endometrial hyperplasia has significantly decreased the percentage of hysterectomies and is gaining more attention. Endometrial ablation with the use of hysteroscopy refers to three methods of endometrial removal, which are defined as the first generation techniques. This group comprises transcervical endometrial resection, endometrial destruction with the revolving electrode and the laser endometrial destruction. Based on our own hysteroscopic endometrial ablation material, which comprises 876 cases of hysteroscopic endometrial resection and 51 cases of endometrial destruction by the revolving electrode, our observations, experience and the efficacy of these procedures have been discussed. In the 1990s new methods using different types of energy for endometrial destruction, known as the second generation techniques, were introduced. This group consists of thermal intracavitary balloons (ThermaChoice System), hydro-thermic method (Hydrotherm System), multielectrode balloon system, microwave method, endometrial cryoablation and endometrial intrauterine laser therapy. These methods may be used provided that endometrial atypia had been excluded and a regular follow-up is possible. The most common method of endometrial ablation is one of the second generation techniques: ThermaChoice System. Although hysteroscopic endometrial resection is the most efficient method, the destructive methods are less invasive, easier to perform and involve fewer complications

Age-related trends in anti-Mullerian hormone serum level in women with unilateral and bilateral ovarian endometriomas prior to surgery

Background: Endometriosis is a well-known cause of infertility, and the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is an accepted biomarker of ovarian reserve and response to artificial reproductive technology procedures. The present study was a prospective analysis of age-dependent AMH serum concentration in women with bilateral and unilateral ovarian endometriomas before therapy onset compared with healthy controls. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 384 women aged 18–48 years. AMH serum concentration was assessed between days 3 and 6 of the menstrual cycle in 78 patients with bilateral and 157 patients with unilateral ovarian endometriomas and compared with 149 healthy controls. Ovarian endometriosis was confirmed histopathologically, and data were presented as medians with interquartile range (IQR). Results: Stage III endometriosis was diagnosed in 53.2 %, stage IV in 18.3 %, stage V in 23.4 % and stage VI in 5.4 % of the patients. Patients with bilateral ovarian endometriomas showed the lowest median AMH levels compared with patients suffering from unilateral ovarian endometriosis (0.55; IQR: 0.59 vs. 2.00; IQR: 2.80; p < 0.001) and the control group (0.55; IQR: 0.59 vs. 2.84; IQR: 3.2; p < 0.001). Median AMH concentration values were not significantly different between patients with unilateral ovarian endometriosis and the healthy controls (2.00; IQR: 2.80 vs. 2.84; IQR: 3.2; p = 0.182). A strongly negative correlation between AMH levels and age was confirmed in healthy individuals (R = −0.834; p < 0.001) and women with unilateral ovarian endometriomas (R = −0.774; p < 0.001). Patients with bilateral ovarian endometriosis showed a significantly negative but only moderate correlation between AMH levels and age (R = −0.633; p < 0.001), which was significantly lower than in the healthy controls (R = −0.633 vs. R = −0.834; p = 0.006) but not in the patients with unilateral ovarian endometriosis (R = −0.663 vs. R-0.774; p = 0.093). Based on a multivariate regression analysis, only bilateral localization of ovarian endometrial cysts (p = 0.003) and patient age (p < 0.001), but not left/right localization of unilateral cyst or cyst volume, were negatively associated with AMH serum concentration. Conclusion: According to our data, unilateral ovarian endometriosis had a moderately negative and nonsignificant effect on AMH-based ovarian reserve evaluated prior to surgery, irrespective of age. In contrast, the ovarian reserve was significantly reduced in women with bilateral ovarian endometriomas

Vertical transmission of HPV in pregnancy. A prospective clinical study of HPV-positive pregnant women

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Data reporting vertical transmission of HPV from the mother to the fetus are inconsistent and scant. Vertical transmission may occur by hematogenic route (transplacental), or by ascending contamination, or through the birth canal, which may result in the dreaded and rare laryngeal papillomatosis. Infected sperm at fertilization is a potential route of infection, too. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the rate of vertical transmission of HPV in HPV-positive pregnant women to their newborn infants, as well as the risk factors of HPV vertical transmission. Material and methods: The clinical material was provided by 136 pregnant women, aged 18-45 years. Out of this group, 30 (22.05%) women with abnormal Pap test and positive DNA HPV test were prospectively observed. Neonatal status, i.e. DNA HPV from the nasopharyngeal smear, was recorded in all infants during the perinatal period. The conventional Pap test was performed with the cervix brush in all women. The Bethesda 2011 classification system was applied. Results: An average C Reactive Protein (CRP) concentration in the studied pregnant women was 11.6083 (Std Dev – 12.93). The most frequent cytological findings in the cervical smears from the examined women were ASCUS, n=13 (43.3%), then – LSIL, n=10 (33.3%), HSIL- n=5 (16.7%) and AGC- n=2 (6.7%). In the neonates, the presence of LR HPV DNA was detected in 9 cases (30.0%) and HR HPV DNA in 7 cases (23.3%). Fourteen neonates (46.7%) tested HPV DNA negative in the perinatal period. Conclusions: HPV infection (incidental or chronic) is observed in approximately 22% of pregnant women from the Małopolska province. Neonatal HPV infection in HPV-positive women was observed in 53.3% of the subjects. CRP concentration > 10 mg/dl in the serum of pregnant women statistically significantly (p 0.001) reduces the risk of vertical transmission of HPV from the mother to the fetus

Russian influence in Hungarian energy sector

One of the consequences of the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine, which began in February 2014, has been the consolidation of efforts by most Western countries seeking to support the freedom-fighting Ukrainians: politically, financially, militarily and humanitarily. Support for Ukraine, expressed by the vast majority of the media, has grown as the scale of Russian crimes in Ukraine has been revealed and the resistance of Ukrainians has become more effective. From the dominant anti-Russian rhetoric in Europe, also expressed by the organs of the European Union and the Visegrad Group, the position of the Hungarian government clearly diverged in some aspects. The purpose of this paper is to try to clarify this position based on the facts about the importance of Russia in the Hungarian energy sector and the priorities of Hungarian foreign policy in maintaining stable supplies and prices of energy resources. Based on the events that have taken place since the beginning of the political transition, the author discusses the impact that the mechanisms of the Russian Falin-Kvitsynsky doctrine have on Hungary's energy security policy.Jednym z następstw rozpoczętej w lutym 2014 roku zbrojnej agresji Federacji Rosyjskiej na Ukrainę jest konsolidacja wysiłków większości państw zachodnich, starających się wspierać walczących o wolność Ukraińców: politycznie, finansowo, militarnie i humanitarnie. Poparcie dla Ukrainy, wyrażane przez ogromną większość mediów, wzrastało w miarę, jak ujawniana była skala rosyjskich zbrodni na Ukrainie i jak coraz skuteczniejszy okazywał się opór Ukraińców. Od dominującej w Europie antyrosyjskiej retoryki, wyrażanej także przez organy Unii Europejskiej i Grupy Wyszehradzkiej, w niektórych aspektach wyraźnie odbiegało stanowisko węgierskiego rządu. Celem niniejszej pracy jest próba wyjaśnienia tego stanowiska w oparciu o fakty dotyczące znaczenia Rosji w węgierskiej energetyce oraz priorytety węgierskiej polityki zagranicznej w zakresie utrzymania stabilnych dostaw i cen surowców energetycznych. W oparciu o wydarzenia jakie miały miejsce od początku transformacji ustrojowej, autor dyskutuje wpływ, jaki na politykę bezpieczeństwa energetycznego Węgier wywierają mechanizmy rosyjskiej doktryny Falina-Kwicińskiego