Synchronized Control for Five-Story Building under Earthquake Loads

Synchronized control is implemented for a five-story building under earthquake loads and its capabilities are investigated for protection of building under earthquake. In this regard, we applied H2/LQG control algorithm in form of synchronized control for structural vibration reduction. Simulation results of modeling indicated that not only the provided control is able to reduce the responses of vibrations for the structure, but also it is even capable of supplying the objectives of synchronized control at the same time. Numerical results for uncontrolled, traditional H2/LQG control and synchronized control coupled with H2/LQG algorithm are presented. It is shown that for El Centro and Bam earthquakes the synchronized control is more efficient to reduce damage to the given structures

Cooperative Output Regulation of Multiagent Linear Parameter-Varying Systems

The output regulation problem is examined in this paper for a class of heterogeneous multiagent systems whose dynamics are governed by polytopic linear parameter-varying (LPV) models. The dynamics of the agents are decoupled from each other but the agents’ controllers are assumed to communicate. To design the cooperative LPV controllers, analysis conditions for closed-loop system are first established to ensure stability and reference tracking. Then, the LPV control synthesis problem is addressed, where the offline solution to a time-varying Sylvester equation will be used to determine and update in real time the controller state-space matrices. Two numerical examples will be finally given to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed cooperative design method

A cross-sectional multicenter linkage study of hospital admissions and mortality due to methanol poisoning in Iranian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract A methanol poisoning outbreak occurred in Iran during the initial months of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of the outbreak in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. A cross-sectional linkage study was conducted based on the hospitalization data collected from thirteen referral toxicology centers throughout Iran as well as mortality data obtained from the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (LMO). Patient data were extracted for all cases aged > 19 years with toxic alcohol poisoning during the study period from February until June 2020. A total of 795 patients were hospitalized due to methanol poisoning, of whom 84 died. Median [interquartile ratio; IQR] age was 32 [26, 40] years (range 19–91 years). Patients had generally ingested alcohol for recreational motives (653, 82.1%) while 3.1% (n = 25) had consumed alcohol-based hand sanitizers to prevent or cure COVID-19 infection. Age was significantly lower in survivors than in non-survivors (P < 0.001) and in patients without sequelae vs. with sequelae (P = 0.026). Twenty non-survivors presented with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score > 8, six of whom were completely alert on presentation to the emergency departments. The time from alcohol ingestion to hospital admission was not significantly different between provinces. In East Azerbaijan province, where hemodialysis was started within on average 60 min of admission, the rate of sequelae was 11.4% (compared to 19.6% average of other provinces)—equivalent to a reduction of the odds of sequelae by 2.1 times [95% CI 1.2, 3.7; p = 0.009]. Older patients were more prone to fatal outcome and sequelae, including visual disturbances. Early arrival at the hospital can facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment and may reduce long-term morbidity from methanol poisoning. Our data thus suggest the importance of raising public awareness of the risks and early symptoms of methanol intoxication