Relationship of Respiratory Diseases and the Lead Level in Tiran & Karvan Region, Iran

Abstract Aims: Lead is emerged as one of the most hazardous elements, existing in the air and soil, which can create irreparable outcomes in the human body due to its highly severe damages. the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between Lead level and the respiratory diseases in Tiran & Karvan Region, Iran. Instrument & Methods: The research methodology was analytical based on the documents and evidence, and library studies and was performed during 2011 to 2015 in Tiran & Karvan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. The respiratory diseases statistics regarding the studied area was gathered from the information and statistics of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and Iran Management Center for Diseases during 2007 to 2009 documents (3215 cases). 110 soil samples and 55 water samples were collected from different positions at Summer 2011, randomly. The variation map of the respiratory diseases and lead spatial distribution for research area were drawn by Arc GIS 10.2 software. Findings: The concentration of lead was 59.4±7.9ppm in soil and 48.2±4.1ppm in water of the region. The lead variation map showed that the soil in the eastern, northern and western areas consists of a relatively high portion of lead. Also special distribution of the respiratory diseases in Tiran & Karvan showed that the disease variation is in a cluster manner and that the disease follows a special centralization. Conclusion: There is a direct relation between respiratory diseases distribution and the existence of lead in Tiran & Karvan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran

Relationship between Weather Components in Polluted Days and the Number Of Hospitalization Due to Cardiovascular Diseases

Aims: Air is the combination of atmospheric components or physical conditions of the current atmosphere in a certain place and a certain time. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between weather components, air atmospheric pollutants and the number of individuals that were hospitalized due to cardiovascular diseases in polluted days. Instrument & Methods: In this descriptive study during 2010 to 2013, the weather parameters in ground and upper levels of Isfahan City, Iran, weather stations were studied and air quality data were collected from 11 different points of the city. The number of cardiovascular patient that were hospitalized was determined by collecting the data of medical record department of 3 hospitals of Isfahan City, Iran; Shahid Chamran, Al-Zahra, and Ali-Asghar. Data were analyzed by SPSS 19 software using Pearson correlation. Findings: There were significant correlations between the number of hospitalizations and minimum temperature (r=0.943; p=0.0001), maximum temperature (r=0.973; p=0.0001), average temperature (r=-0.069; p=0.013), rainfall (r=-0.326; p=0.0001), humidity (r=-0.326; p=0.0001), air pressure (r=0.257; p=0.0001), and wind speed (r=-0.011; p=0.021). There was a significant difference between the average numbers of hospitalizations due to cardiovascular diseases according to the range of AQI. Regarding the air pollutant parameters, the only significant relation was observed for PM10 (p=0.004) and other factors showed no significant relation (p<0.05) to the numbers of hospitalizations. Conclusion: The number of hospitalizations due to cardiovascular diseases is just affected by the PM10 factor of air pollution

Voltage balancing scheme for the multilevel flying capacitor converter using phase-shifted PWM

In flying capacitor (FC) converters, phase-shifted pulse-width modulation (PS-PWM) provides natural voltage balancing. However, for a practical application, a more robust balancing mechanism of maintaining the FC voltages at the desired values is required. This paper proposes a new closed-loop voltage balancing method for multilevel FC converters using PS-PWM. The proposed method balances the voltages of the FCs by modifying the duty cycle of each switch of the FC converter using a proportional (P) controller. The crossed effect between FC currents and duty cycles is considered and is used for FC voltage balancing. The Simulation results verify that the proposed voltage balancing method is very robust to different operating conditions, such as load transients and non-linear loads.Postprint (author’s final draft

Voltage balancing strategy for a five-level flying capacitor converter using phase disposition PWM with sawtooth-shaped arriers

The flying capacitor (FC) multilevel converter has attracted a great deal of interest in the recent years because of its easier extension to a higher number of levels (n>;3), as compared to its counterpart, the diode-clamped converter (DCC). The main focus of this paper is to develop a voltage balancing scheme of FCs for a five-level FC converter based on phase disposition pulse-width modulation (PD-PWM). Since there are multiple states that produce the same output voltage at the leg of the converter, such a redundancy is used to regulate the FC voltages at their desired levels. The selection of the optimal states is performed by minimizing a cost function. A drawback observed when using standard symmetrical triangular carriers for the PD-PWM, is the additional switching events that are produced due to transitions within the same voltage level. Nevertheless, this fact can be avoided by using sawtooth carrier waveforms instead. Simulation results verify the robustness of the proposed voltage balancing scheme against static and dynamic load conditions. Moreover, using sawtooth carriers a significant reduction of the switching frequency is achieved as compared to the use of standard triangle carriers while maintaining the FC voltage balanced.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

A Reduced-Order Generalized Proportional Integral Observer-Based Resonant Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control for Grid-Connected Power Converters

This article presents a reduced-order generalized proportional-integral observer based resonant super-twisting sliding mode controller (RST-SMC) for the three-phase ac-dc converters. On the contrary to utilizing the proportional-integral controller in regulating the dc-link voltage, which may cause large undershoot/overshoot under the disturbance, the proposed voltage control strategy for the dc-link has high disturbance rejection ability and the settling time has been greatly reduced. In addition, the proposed RST-SMC in the current control loop not only preserve the merits of the sliding mode controller but also achieve the current tracking without steady-state error in the stationary \alpha - \beta frame. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified by a lab-constructed experimental prototype.This work was supported by Shenzhen Overseas High Level Talent Program. The work of Josep M. Guerrerork was supported by VILLUM FONDEN under the VILLUM Investigator Grant (no. 25920): Center for Research on Microgrids (CROM); www.crom.et.aau.dk

Cascade-Free Model Predictive Control for Single-Phase Grid-Connected Power Converters

© 1982-2012 IEEE. In a conventional finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) formulation, active and reactive power control loops rely on the predictive controller, whereas the dc-bus voltage is usually governed by a PI-based control loop. This originates from fact that the dynamic equations for describing the predictions of these variables are heavily coupled. In this paper, a cascade-free FCS-MPC for single-phase grid-connected power converters is presented. The proposed control algorithm is formulated in terms of established dynamic references design, which was originally proposed to directly govern active and reactive power, and dc-voltage in three-phase power converters. In this paper, the dynamic reference design concept is extended to control single-phase grid-connected power converters. The proposed control algorithm does not use instantaneous ac-power calculations; instead, it directly formulates the optimal control problem on the grid-current in the original stationary reference frame. The experimental results obtained with a single-phase grid-connected neutral point clamped (NPC) converter confirm a successful design, where system constraints, e.g., maximum power and weighted switching frequency, are easily taken into account

Transposition and time-warp invariant algorithm for detecting repeated patterns in polyphonic music

Peer reviewe

Mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas in a South Asian population

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer type globally and contributes significantly to burden of disease in South Asia. In Pakistan, HNSCC is anmong the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and females. The increasing regional burden of HNSCC along with a unique set of risk factors merited a deeper investigation of the disease at the genomic level. Whole exome sequencing of HNSCC samples and matched normal genomic DNA (n=7) was performed. Significant somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) were identified and pathway analysis performed to determine frequently affected signaling pathways. We identified significant, novel recurrent mutations in ASNS (asparagine synthetase) that may affect substrate binding, and variants in driver genes including TP53, PIK3CA, FGFR2, ARID2, MLL3, MYC and ALK. Using the IntOGen platform, we identified MAP kinase, cell cycle, actin cytoskeleton regulation, PI3K-Akt signaling and other pathways in cancer as affected in the samples. This data is the first of its kind from the Pakistani population. The results of this study can guide a better mechanistic understanding of HNSCC in the population, ultimately contributing new, rational therapeutic targets for the treatment of the disease