Robust Tracking Commitment

Many engineering problems that involve hierarchical control applications, such as demand side ancillary service provision to the power grid, can be posed as a robust tracking commitment problem. In this setting, the lower-level controller commits a set of possible reference trajectories over a finite horizon to an external entity in exchange for a reward corresponding to the size of the reference set and the allowed margin of tracking error. If the commitment is accepted, the lower-level system is required to track any reference trajectory that can be sampled from the committed set. This paper presents the framework of robust tracking commitment and a method to solve the optimal commitment problem for constrained linear systems subject to uncertain disturbance and reference signals. The proposed method allows tractable computations via convex optimization for conic representable uncertainty sets and lends itself to distributed solution methods. We demonstrate the proposed method in a simulation based case study with a commercial building that offers frequency regulation service to the power grid

Can Initial Torque Value Predict the Success of Orthodontic Mini-Screws?

Objective:To investigate the correlation between initial torque and removal torque of orthodontic mini-screws.Materials and Method:Sixty-four orthodontic mini-screws (measuring 1.5 × 4.4 mm, 1.6 × 4.7 mm, 1.7 × 5.5 mm, and 1.8 × 5.6 mm) were used. All mini-screws were inserted into the fibulas of 8 male rabbits. The initial torque values were immediately recorded using a digital torque gauge. For 2 months, 115 g force was applied to mini-screws inserted into the right fibula of the rabbits. The same procedure was followed for inserting the mini-screws into the left fibula of the rabbits but without applying any force. After 2 months, the removal torque values were recorded for all mini-screws. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 14.0 for Windows. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationships between initial and removal torque values.Results:Intragroup comparison of all brands of mini-screws showed similar features. There were no statistically significant differences between the initial torque values of all mini-screws (p > 0.05). The Spearman correlation coefficient showed that correlations between the initial and removal torque values were insignificant (p>0.05).Conclusion:The results of this study suggest that the initial torque value is not a reliable method for predicting the success of a mini-screw

Challenges and perspectives of CRISPR-based technology for diagnostic applications

The precision and versatility of CRISPR-based techniques, combined with the advantages of nucleic acid-based nanotechnology, hold great promise in transforming the landscape of molecular diagnostics. While significant progress has been made, current CRISPR-based platforms primarly focus on nucleic acid detection. To expand the applicability and fully leverage the advantages offered by CRISPR-based diagnostics, ongoing efforts explore molecular strategies to develop CRISPR sensors capable of detecting a diverse range of analytes beyond nucleic acids. In addition, challenges still persist in the adaptation of CRISPR platforms for point-of-care (POC) applications, involving concerns such as portability and automation, as well as the complexities associated with multiplexing. Here, we provide a detailed classification and comprehensive discussion of molecular strategies facilitating the conversion of non-nucleic acid target binding into CRISPR-powered outputs with an emphasis on their corresponding design principles. Furthermore, the second part of the review outlines current challenges and potential solutions for seamlessly integrating these strategies into user-friendly platforms and rapid tests specifically tailored for point-of-care (POC)

General lack of global dosage compensation in ZZ/ZW systems? Broadening the perspective with RNA-seq

Background Species with heteromorphic sex chromosomes face the challenge of large-scale imbalance in gene dose. Microarray-based studies in several independent male heterogametic XX/XY systems suggest that dosage compensation mechanisms are in place to mitigate the detrimental effects of gene dose differences. However, recent genomic research on female heterogametic ZZ/ZW systems has generated surprising results. In two bird species and one lepidopteran no evidence for a global dosage compensating mechanism has been found. The recent advent of massively parallel RNA sequencing now opens up the possibility to gauge the generality of this observation with a broader phylogenetic sampling. It further allows assessing the validity of microarray-based inference on dosage compensation with a novel technology. Results We here expemplify this approach using massively parallel sequencing on barcoded individuals of a bird species, the European crow (Corvus corone), where previously no genetic resources were available. Testing for Z-linkage with quantitative PCR (qPCR,) we first establish that orthology with distantly related species (chicken, zebra finch) can be used as a good predictor for chromosomal affiliation of a gene. We then use a digital measure of gene expression (RNA-seq) on brain transcriptome and confirm a global lack of dosage compensation on the Z chromosome. RNA-seq estimates of male-to-female (m:f) expression difference on the Z compare well to previous microarray-based estimates in birds and lepidopterans. The data further lends support that an up-regulation of female Z-linked genes conveys partial compensation and suggest a relationship between sex-bias and absolute expression level of a gene. Correlation of sex-biased gene expression on the Z chromosome across all three bird species further suggests that the degree of compensation has been partly conserved across 100 million years of avian evolution. Conclusions This work demonstrates that the study of dosage compensation has become amenable to species where previously no genetic resources were available. Massively parallele transcriptome sequencing allows re-assessing the degree of dosage compensation with a novel tool in well-studies species and, in addition, gain valuable insights into the generality of mechanisms across independent taxonomic group for both the XX/XY and ZZ/ZW system

Phenomenology of ultrafine particle concentrations and size distribution across urban Europe

The 2017-2019 hourly particle number size distributions (PNSD) from 26 sites in Europe and 1 in the US were evaluated focusing on 16 urban background (UB) and 6 traffic (TR) sites in the framework of Research Infrastructures services reinforcing air quality monitoring capacities in European URBAN & industrial areaS (RI-URBANS) project. The main objective was to describe the phenomenology of urban ultrafine particles (UFP) in Europe with a significant air quality focus. The varying lower size detection limits made it difficult to compare PN concentrations (PNC), particularly PN10-25, from different cities. PNCs follow a TR > UB > Suburban (SUB) order. PNC and Black Carbon (BC) progressively increase from Northern Europe to Southern Europe and from Western to Eastern Europe. At the UB sites, typical traffic rush hour PNC peaks are evident, many also showing midday-morning PNC peaks anti-correlated with BC. These peaks result from increased PN10-25, suggesting significant PNC contributions from nucleation, fumigation and shipping. Site types to be identified by daily and seasonal PNC and BC patterns are: (i) PNC mainly driven by traffic emissions, with marked correlations with BC on different time scales; (ii) marked midday/morning PNC peaks and a seasonal anti-correlation with PNC/BC; (iii) both traffic peaks and midday peaks without marked seasonal patterns. Groups (ii) and (iii) included cities with high insolation. PNC, especially PN25-800, was positively correlated with BC, NO2, CO and PM for several sites. The variable correlation of PNSD with different urban pollutants demonstrates that these do not reflect the variability of UFP in urban environments. Specific monitoring of PNSD is needed if nanoparticles and their associated health impacts are to be assessed. Implementation of the CEN-ACTRIS recommendations for PNSD measurements would provide comparable measurements, and measurements of <10 nm PNC are needed for full evaluation of the health effects of this size fraction

Prenatal ultrasound and postmortem histologic evaluation of tooth germs: an observational, transversal study

Introduction: Hypodontia is the most frequent developmental anomaly of the orofacial complex, and its detection in prenatal ultrasound may indicate the presence of congenital malformations, genetic syndromes and chromosomal abnormalities.To date, only a few studies have evaluated the histological relationship of human tooth germs identified by two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonography. In order to analyze whether two-dimensional ultrasonography of tooth germs may be successfully used for identifying genetic syndromes, prenatal ultrasound images of fetal tooth germs obtained from a Portuguese population sample were compared with histological images obtained from fetal autopsies.Methods: Observational, descriptive, transversal study. The study protocol followed the ethical principles outlined by the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Dental Medicine, University of Porto (FMDUP, Porto, Portugal) and of the Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho (CHVNG/EPE, Porto, Portugal) as well as by the CGC Genetics Embryofetal Pathology Laboratory. Eighty-five fetuses examined by prenatal ultrasound screening from May 2011 to August 2012 had an indication for autopsy following spontaneous fetal death or medical termination of pregnancy. Of the 85 fetuses, 37 (43.5%) were randomly selected for tooth germ evaluation by routine histopathological analysis. Fetuses who were up to 30 weeks of gestation, and whose histological pieces were not representative of all maxillary tooth germs was excluded. Twenty four fetus between the 13th and 30th weeks of gestation fulfilled the parameters to autopsy.Results: Twenty four fetuses were submitted to histological evaluation and were determined the exact number, morphology, and mineralization of their tooth germs. All tooth germs were identifiable with ultrasonography as early as the 13th week of gestation. Of the fetuses autopsied, 41.7% had hypodontia (29.1% maxillary hypodontia and 20.9% mandibular hypodontia).Conclusions: This results indicateinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio