Batteries investigations of small unmanned aircraft vehicles

In this paper, will be shown and discussed the battery performance of small Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAV) based on the full electric power supplying. The recent small- UAV using the hybrid power systems based on power electrochemical batteries to be energy efficient, have high power density thus reducing weight to achieve the maximum ranges. This paper shows that temperature effect decreasing the conversion efficiency up to 50 %. This could mean decrease in the power density and total capability of vehicular batteries. Therefore, use of UAV and range of application is affected by the variation in temperature. Paper gives brief outline of the investigation of batteries versus temperature effects. The batteries are compared and investigated using experimental method

Photovoltaic Panel Modeling in MATLAB® Environment

This article is focused on the original photovoltaic panel model identification method. The method is based on the measured characteristics for given irradiation. The system can automatically create a mathematical model for a particular panel, and a specific temperature. Attention is paid to the approximation error progress, which is at minimum in the Maximum Power Points (MPP). During the application of well-known Shockley’s equation to the entire panel the nonlinear and parametric power losses are corrected. This approach provides an accurate approximation with good agreement with measured data. The method can be applied to any measured photovoltaic panel. The model identification procedure and its use are demonstrated on the example of a particular panel. A detailed methodology for application is presented for users of the MATLAB environment

Evaluation of Quantitative EEG by Classification and Regression Trees to Characterize Responders to Antidepressant and Placebo Treatment

The study objective was to evaluate the usefulness of Classification and Regression Trees (CART), to classify clinical responders to antidepressant and placebo treatment, utilizing symptom severity and quantitative EEG (QEEG) data. Patients included 51 adults with unipolar depression who completed treatment trials using either fluoxetine, venlafaxine or placebo. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and single electrodes data were recorded at baseline, 2, 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. Patients were classified as medication and placebo responders or non-responders. CART analysis of HAM-D scores showed that patients with HAM-D scores lower than 13 by day 7 were more likely to be treatment responders to fluoxetine or venlafaxine compared to non-responders (p=0.001). Youden’s index γ revealed that CART models using QEEG measures were more accurate than HAM-D-based models. For patients given fluoxetine, patients with a decrease at day 2 in θ cordance at AF2 were classified by CART as treatment responders (p=0.02). For those receiving venlafaxine, CART identified a decrease in δ absolute power at day 7 at the PO2 region as characterizing treatment responders (p=0.01). Using all patients receiving medication, CART identified a decrease in δ absolute power at day 2 in the FP1 region as characteristic of nonresponse to medication (p=0.003). Optimal trees from the QEEG CART analysis primarily utilized cordance values, but also incorporated some δ absolute power values. The results of our study suggest that CART may be a useful method for identifying potential outcome predictors in the treatment of major depression

Mussel seed is highly plastic to settling conditions:The influence of waves versus tidal emergence

Phenotypic plasticity is important for organisms to adjust to a new environment.Therefore, the transplantation success of an organism to a new environment can be increased with knowledge of its capacity for phenotypic plasticity in different life stages, and the phenotypic adjustments it needs to make in specific environmental situations. Both the capacity for phenotypic plasticity and the necessary phenotypic adjustments for transplantation were tested in a mesocosm experiment using blue mussels Mytilus edulis as a model organism. This study tested (1) to what extent mussel seed coming from collectors in the water column are still capable of adjusting their phenotype, and (2) whether exposure to air or wave action is more important as a driver of phenotypic adjustments for mussels living in intertidal conditions. We found that musselseed had a high capacity for phenotypic plasticity, and were capable of adjusting their morphology to accommodate different intertidal hydrodynamic conditions. Exposure to air influenced the shell shape, condition, byssal attachment strength and aggregation behaviour, but exposure to waves played the most important role in determining the phenotype of mussels. Wave-exposedmussels grew bigger, rounder, had thicker shells and a stronger byssal attachment strength than mussels exposed to either calm tidal or calm submerged environments. This knowledge is important for selecting a suitable source population and transplantation location

Concomitant medication use and clinical outcome of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment of Major Depressive Disorder.

BackgroundRepetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is commonly administered to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients taking psychotropic medications, yet the effects on treatment outcomes remain unknown. We explored how concomitant medication use relates to clinical response to a standard course of rTMS.MethodsMedications were tabulated for 181 MDD patients who underwent a six-week rTMS treatment course. All patients received 10 Hz rTMS administered to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), with 1 Hz administered to right DLPFC in patients with inadequate response to and/or intolerance of left-sided stimulation. Primary outcomes were change in Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self Report (IDS-SR30) total score after 2, 4, and 6 weeks.ResultsUse of benzodiazepines was associated with less improvement at week 2, whereas use of psychostimulants was associated with greater improvement at week 2 and across 6 weeks. These effects were significant controlling for baseline variables including age, overall symptom severity, and severity of anxiety symptoms. Response rates at week 6 were lower in benzodiazepine users versus non-users (16.4% vs. 35.5%, p = 0.008), and higher in psychostimulant users versus non-users (39.2% vs. 22.0%, p = 0.02).ConclusionsConcomitant medication use may impact rTMS treatment outcome. While the differences reported here could be considered clinically significant, results were not corrected for multiple comparisons and findings should be replicated before clinicians incorporate the evidence into clinical practice. Prospective, hypothesis-based treatment studies will aid in determining causal relationships between medication treatments and outcome

Mapping the Early Cortical Folding Process in the Preterm Newborn Brain

In the developing human brain, the cortical sulci formation is a complex process starting from 14 weeks of gestation onward. The potential influence of underlying mechanisms (genetic, epigenetic, mechanical or environmental) is still poorly understood, because reliable quantification in vivo of the early folding is lacking. In this study, we investigate the sulcal emergence noninvasively in 35 preterm newborns, by applying dedicated postprocessing tools to magnetic resonance images acquired shortly after birth over a developmental period critical for the human cortex maturation (26-36 weeks of age). Through the original three-dimensional reconstruction of the interface between developing cortex and white matter and correlation with volumetric measurements, we document early sulcation in vivo, and quantify changes with age, gender, and the presence of small white matter lesions. We observe a trend towards lower cortical surface, smaller cortex, and white matter volumes, but equivalent sulcation in females compared with males. By precisely mapping the sulci, we highlight interindividual variability in time appearance and interhemispherical asymmetries, with a larger right superior temporal sulcus than the left. Thus, such an approach, included in a longitudinal follow-up, may provide early indicators on the structural basis of cortical functional specialization and abnormalities induced by genetic and environmental factor

Primary cortical folding in the human newborn: an early marker of later functional development

In the human brain, the morphology of cortical gyri and sulci is complex and variable among individuals, and it may reflect pathological functioning with specific abnormalities observed in certain developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. Since cortical folding occurs early during brain development, these structural abnormalities might be present long before the appearance of functional symptoms. So far, the precise mechanisms responsible for such alteration in the convolution pattern during intra-uterine or post-natal development are still poorly understood. Here we compared anatomical and functional brain development in vivo among 45 premature newborns who experienced different intra-uterine environments: 22 normal singletons, 12 twins and 11 newborns with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dedicated post-processing tools, we investigated early disturbances in cortical formation at birth, over the developmental period critical for the emergence of convolutions (26-36 weeks of gestational age), and defined early ‘endophenotypes' of sulcal development. We demonstrated that twins have a delayed but harmonious maturation, with reduced surface and sulcation index compared to singletons, whereas the gyrification of IUGR newborns is discordant to the normal developmental trajectory, with a more pronounced reduction of surface in relation to the sulcation index compared to normal newborns. Furthermore, we showed that these structural measurements of the brain at birth are predictors of infants' outcome at term equivalent age, for MRI-based cerebral volumes and neurobehavioural development evaluated with the assessment of preterm infant's behaviour (APIB

Inter-hemispheric EEG coherence analysis in Parkinson's disease : Assessing brain activity during emotion processing

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is not only characterized by its prominent motor symptoms but also associated with disturbances in cognitive and emotional functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of emotion processing on inter-hemispheric electroencephalography (EEG) coherence in PD. Multimodal emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) were presented to 20 PD patients and 30 age-, education level-, and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) while EEG was recorded. Inter-hemispheric coherence was computed from seven homologous EEG electrode pairs (AF3–AF4, F7–F8, F3–F4, FC5–FC6, T7–T8, P7–P8, and O1–O2) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. In addition, subjective ratings were obtained for a representative of emotional stimuli. Interhemispherically, PD patients showed significantly lower coherence in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands than HC during emotion processing. No significant changes were found in the delta frequency band coherence. We also found that PD patients were more impaired in recognizing negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) than relatively positive emotions (happiness and surprise). Behaviorally, PD patients did not show impairment in emotion recognition as measured by subjective ratings. These findings suggest that PD patients may have an impairment of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (i.e., a decline in cortical connectivity) during emotion processing. This study may increase the awareness of EEG emotional response studies in clinical practice to uncover potential neurophysiologic abnormalities

Are we drawing the right conclusions from randomised placebo-controlled trials? A post-hoc analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Assumptions underlying placebo controlled trials include that the placebo effect impacts on all study arms equally, and that treatment effects are additional to the placebo effect. However, these assumptions have recently been challenged, and different mechanisms may potentially be operating in the placebo and treatment arms. The objective of the current study was to explore the nature of placebo versus pharmacological effects by comparing predictors of the placebo response with predictors of the treatment response in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial of a phytotherapeutic combination for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. A substantial placebo response was observed but no significant difference in efficacy between the two arms.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A <it>post hoc </it>analysis was conducted on data from 93 participants who completed this previously published study. Variables at baseline were investigated as potential predictors of the response on any of the endpoints of flushing, overall menopausal symptoms and depression. Focused tests were conducted using hierarchical linear regression analyses. Based on these findings, analyses were conducted for both groups separately. These findings are discussed in relation to existing literature on placebo effects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Distinct differences in predictors were observed between the placebo and active groups. A significant difference was found for study entry anxiety, and Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS) scores, on all three endpoints. Attitude to menopause was found to differ significantly between the two groups for GCS scores. Examination of the individual arms found anxiety at study entry to predict placebo response on all three outcome measures individually. In contrast, <it>low </it>anxiety was significantly associated with improvement in the active treatment group. None of the variables found to predict the placebo response was relevant to the treatment arm.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study was a <it>post hoc </it>analysis of predictors of the placebo versus treatment response. Whilst this study does not explore neurobiological mechanisms, these observations are consistent with the hypotheses that 'drug' effects and placebo effects are not necessarily additive, and that mutually exclusive mechanisms may be operating in the two arms. The need for more research in the area of mechanisms and mediators of placebo versus active responses is supported.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>International Clinical Trials Registry ISRCTN98972974.</p

Competitive Tendering In The Netherlands: Central Planning Or Functional Specifications?

Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne