Modelling and cruise control of a mobile machine with hydrostatic power transmission

A parallel hydrostatic power transmission is studied and the possible constraint which can effect on the fluid division in the system is analyzed. The dynamic model of the machine is studied in two sections: a simplified model and a complicated model. In both of the models all the acting forces and their effect on the vehicle’s motion are studied and the dynamic behavior of the machine is calculated using mathematical equations. The speed of the machine cannot be controlled by a simple feedback control. It is concluded that a simple feedback controller does not provide the best performance for this application. The gain-scheduled PID controller is used for this application. This Type of controller can adapt itself with the variable dynamic characteristics of the hydraulic system. Gain scheduling is the major key in gain-scheduled PID controller. The results of tuning with different gains are shown and the Bode & step diagrams are presented. Several static tests on the machine have been done to monitor the behavior of the HST. For the first test the diesel engine rotational speed is kept constant at 1200 RPM and the displacement of hydraulic pump is modified. For the second test the displacement of hydraulic pump is kept constant at 60% and the diesel engine rotational speed RPM is modified. In both of the tests the vehicle is moved in a straight direction and on a smooth terrain. The result of comparison between the open loop & closed loop control response is presented. The behavior of the open loop & closed loop controllers is studied in the presence and absence of an external disturbance. The external disturbance is considered to be a gradient terrain. In the last section, the conclusion of the thesis is presented. Some useful hints are recommended to overcome the difficulties that the cruise control of the machine is faced

Could Fampridine Attenuate the Severity of COVID-19 in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis?

Since the onset of COVID-19 in December 2019, millions of people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 across the world and many have died of the disease. Therefore, the search for any drug with a positive effect on the course of this disease is of great value. Fampridine is a drug widely used to improve gait disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis. The mentioned drug is a potassium channel blocker that increases the conduction of action potentials in damaged axons. However, it is not evident whether this drug can affect potassium channels on the surface of other cells. Some studies have revealed that potassium-blocking drugs can play a role in reducing the incidence or severity of infectious diseases. Hence, the question of whether fampridine could also have a protective effect on patients with MS in the face of COVID-19 should be attended to. The incidence and severity of COVID-19 in patients with MS receiving fampridine (Dalfyra®, Arvand Pharmed) were evaluated to address the mentioned question. In the present study conducted in November 2020, 117 MS patients receiving fampridine were tested for COVID-19. The majority of these patients (55.6%) were receiving rituximab. Of these 117 patients, nine were infected by the COVID-19 virus. Of these nine patients, five and four were female and male, respectively. Eight of the infected patients took rituximab, and one did not take any disease modulatory drug (DMD). One of these nine patients required to be hospitalized. She was a 40-year-old woman with MS disease duration of 3.5 years and was treated with rituximab. Her symptoms were manifested by fever, shortness of breath, and dry cough. The mentioned patient was hospitalized for three days due to the conditions associated with COVID-19. She did not need to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and was discharged with a good medical condition after three days. The incidence of COVID-19 in these patients was 7%, and the hospitalization rate was 11% in patients receiving fampridine. None of the patients with COVID-19 required hospitalization in the ICU, and no fatalities were reported. In a previous study conducted on 4,647 patients with MS in Iran, the incidence rate was reported to be 1.46% during the first wave of COVID-19 (May 2020). The incidence rate in our study was 7%, which was significantly higher than the percentage of the previous report. It should be noted that our study was conducted at the height of the second wave of COVID-19 in Iran, during which a much larger number of people were infected with COVID-19, according to official statistics. In the previous study, the hospitalization rate was 25%. However, fampridine users, despite being more infected, had a lower hospitalization rate (11%), which indicated a lower severity of the disease in these patients. The mentioned finding could be due to the possible protective effect of fampridine on the exacerbation of COVID-19 in these patients. This hypothesis requires further examination in more detail

A Novel Neural Network Approach for Predicting the Arrival Time of Buses for Smart On-Demand Public Transit

Among the major public transportation systems in cities, bus transit has its problems, including more accuracy and reliability when estimating the bus arrival time for riders. This can lead to delays and decreased ridership, especially in cities where public transportation is heavily relied upon. A common issue is that the arrival times of buses do not match the schedules, resulting in latency for fixed schedules. According to the study in this paper on New York City bus data, there is an average delay of around eight minutes or 491 seconds mismatch between the bus arrivals and the actual scheduled time. This research paper presents a novel AI-based data-driven approach for estimating the arrival times of buses at each transit point (station). Our approach is based on a fully connected neural network and can predict the arrival time collectively across all bus lines in large metropolitan areas. Our neural-net data-driven approach provides a new way to estimate the arrival time of the buses, which can lead to a more efficient and smarter way to bring the bus transit to the general public. Our evaluation of the network bus system with more than 200 bus lines, and 2 million data points, demonstrates less than 40 seconds of estimated error for arrival times. The inference time per each validation set data point is less than 0.006 ms

Improvement in Activity of Daily Living and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: the Impact of Nutrition Education

Background: Fatigue is one of the most common complications of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, a few studies are available on the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in patients with MS. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and ability to perform ADL in patients with MS. Methods: This quasi-experimental one group, pretest and posttest study was performed on 40 patients with MS, who were conveniently recruited among patients, registered at the Iranian MS Society. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), a standard ADL scale, and a 24-hour food recall for two days. The instruments were completed at the start and two months after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and paired t test were used to analyze the data. Results: Sixty percent of the patients had severe fatigue before the intervention while, 90% of them reported mild fatigue after the intervention. The mean posttest ADL was increased by 12.45 units after the intervention when compared with the pretest value (P<0.001). Moreover, the daily intake of vitamin D and E, calcium and omega3 were lower than 75% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) in most of the patients. Conclusions: The present study showed the beneficial effects of nutritional training on fatigue and ADL in patients with MS. Therefore, nurses and dietitians should regularly assess the patients’ dietary pattern and train them and their families about appropriate diet

Modulation of the Expression of the GABAA Receptor β1 and β3 Subunits by Pretreatment with Quercetin in the KA Model of Epilepsy in Mice -The Effect of Quercetin on GABAA Receptor Beta Subunits-

Objectives: Quercetin is a flavonoid and an important dietary constituent of fruits and vegetables. In recent years, several pharmacological activities of quercetin, such as its neuroprotective activity and, more specifically, its anti-convulsant effects in animal models of epilepsy, have been reported. This study evaluated the role of quercetin pretreatment on gene expression of γ-amino butyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor beta subunits in kainic acid (KA)-induced seizures in mice. Methods: The animals were divided into four groups: one saline group, one group in which seizures were induced by using KA (10 mg/kg) without quercetin pretreatment and two groups pretreated with quercetin (50 and 100 mg/kg) prior to seizures being induced by using KA. Next, the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels of the GABAA receptor β subunits in the hippocampus of each animal were assessed at 2 hours and 7 days after KA administration. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was used to detect mRNA content in hippocampal tissues. Results: Pretreatments with quercetin at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg prevented significant increases in the mRNA levels of the β1 and the β3 subunits of the GABAA receptor at 2 hours after KA injection. Pretreatment with quercetin (100 mg/kg) significantly inhibited β1 and β3 gene expression in the hippocampus at 7 days after KA injection. But, this inhibitory effect of quercetin at 50 mg/kg on the mRNA levels of the β3 subunit of the GABAA receptor was not observed at 7 days after KA administration. Conclusion: These results suggest that quercetin (100 mg/kg) modulates the expression of the GABAA receptor β1 and β3 subunits in the KA model of epilepsy, most likely to prevent compensatory responses. This may be related to the narrow therapeutic dose range for the anticonvulsant activities of quercetin

Effects of designed feeding patterns on fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients

زمینه و هدف: بیماری مولتیپل اسکلروزیس (MS) شایع ترین بیماری نورولوژیک در بالغین جوان است که آنها را ناتوان می سازد. خستگی یکی از شایع ترین علائم این بیماری است که نه تنها فعالیت و توانایی بیماران بلکه کیفیت زندگی آنها را نیز کاهش می‌دهد. تغذیه صحیح یکی از روش هایی است که می‌تواند برای کاهش خستگی مورد استفاده قرار گیرد. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی تأثیر الگوی تغذیه‌ای طراحی شده بر خستگی بیماران مولتیپل اسکلروزیس مراجعه کننده به انجمن MS ایران انجام شد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه نیمه تجربی، 40 بیمار مبتلا به مولتیپل اسکلروزیس به روش نمونه گیری هدفمند و در دسترس انتخاب شدند. ابزار گردآوری داده ها، پرسشنامه محقق ساخته بود. آموزش رعایت الگوی غذایی به مدت 12 هفته بر روی بیماران انجام شد. پرسشنامه ها توسط بیماران قبل و بعد از مداخله تکمیل گردیدند. آنالیز داده ها با استفاده از شاخص های توصیفی (میانگین، انحراف معیار) و آمار استنباطی نظیرt زوجی، انجام شد. یافته ها: میانگین سنی نمونه های مورد مطالعه 5/1 ± 8/35 سال بود. میانگین شدت خستگی نمونه های مورد پژوهش قبل از مطالعه 77/0 ± 9/14 و بعد از رعایت الگوی غذایی 44/0 ± 6/25 بود که نشان می دهد شدت خستگی کاهش معنی داری داشته است (001/0>P). نتیجه گیری: الگوی غذایی ارائه شده در این مطالعه به عنوان یک روش ساده، ارزان، بدون عارضه و غیر تهاجمی برای کاهش خستگی بیماران مبتلا به مولتیپل اسکلروزیس موثر و قابل استفاده است

An Analysis of Female University Students’ Attitudes towards Gender Equality and the Associated Factors

IntroductionThe emergence of feminism, movement of women and consequently, ever-increasing presence of women in the society, and social evolutions, as well as egalitarianism and development of egalitarian values, especially among women, have significantly increased to the point that women want to play a more prominent role in various facets of the society today. Gender equality has been described as equal rights and responsibilities for men and women and equality in all opportunities in the society. Gender equality and the sense of equality can boost the motivation for community activities and efforts, especially among women, besides being a milestone for the presence of women in different social, political, and cultural fields. Additionally, women’s positive perspective toward gender equality in the public and private spheres of their lives enhances social livelihood, feeling of being seen, and lack of social discrimination among women, thus laying the ground for their activities in social, cultural, and economic levels in the society. It appears that an increase in the levels of social awareness and education can play a significant role in forming egalitarian beliefs and views among women. Therefore, with the assumption that this is the case, in this research, we attempted to analyze the egalitarian viewpoint and some of the factors affecting it among female university students. This study aimed to answer the following questions: Do female university students’ levels of education and ages affect their egalitarian views? Considering the effect of socialization along with social beliefs and values, do the girls have some views on matters, such as marriage and relationship with boys, as well as individualistic views associated with their egalitarian views?  Materials & Methods This research was based on qualitative methodology. It was an applied survey. The questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. Hence, the data in this analysis was the result of a cross-sectional survey. that They were gathered through a structured questionnaire conducted in 2019. The statistical population consisted of the female university students of faculties of Technical and Engineering, Humanities, Basic Sciences, Art, Foreign Languages, and Physical Education. They were studying as undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students at Tehran University in 2019. The sample size was estimated to be 379 by using Cochran formula. Upon predicting the possibility that not all the questionnaires would be filled out and there would be a drop in the number of the students, the sample size was risen up to 400 people. To determine the essential samples, we applied stratified relative sampling and simple random sampling in this research.To analyze the research data, we utilized SPSS, as well as multivariate and bivariate tests. To examine and test the research hypotheses, we first conducted a bivariate analysis and then a multivariate analysis. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the bivariate correlation between the dependent variable, which was an interval (the female university students’ egalitarian views, and the independent variables of age, education, individualism, view toward relationships between girls and boys, and interest in marriage at an interval scale. Furthermore, as both the dependent and independent variables were interval, a multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to have a multivariate assessment between the dependent and independent variables.Discussion of Results & ConclusionsThe research results revealed that age and education had a significant correlation with the female university students’ egalitarian views. This meant that egalitarian views among the female university students increased with age and education. Additionally, the findings indicated that there was a significant correlation of the girls and boys with egalitarian views. The correlation of individualism and interest in marriage with egalitarian views was significant too. According to the findings, individualism had an inverse correlation with egalitarian views, namely positive egalitarian views increased as individualism declined among the students. Moreover, the results demonstrated that there was a significant correlation between interest in marriage and egalitarian views among the girls, i.e., egalitarian views increased as interest in marriage rose up.Due to this different finding, the inverse correlation between individualism and egalitarian views requires more investigation and a qualitative research is recommended for achieving a more precise analysis. Nonetheless, in the evolving community of Iran, it appears that women and girls’ demands for gender equality have increased due to changes in the society. They want a more prominent share of the society in different social, economic, and political fields. Despite socialization, i.e., the theory of gender socialization, and internalization of values and norms, girls still hold values for marriage and are interested in starting a family. The changes in the values and modern beliefs among girls are significant and have revealed not only individualistic values and positive views on the relationship between girls and boys, but also women’s views on gender equality. Furthermore, they have been manifested under the influence of social context and values in the society

The Challenges of Implementing the New Civil Liability System due to Violation of Competition Rules in the European Union

With the adoption of the EU Compensation Guidelines for the 2014 EU Anti-Monopoly Act to compensate for all damages and even profits and lost profits (direct and indirect purchasers), absolute liability was foreseen for violators of competition law. There are exceptions to this rule, of course. This did not happen until the end of 2016, despite the Member States' requirement to implement these rules in their national legal system due to legislative and administrative challenges. Some of the challenges are related to being possibility to turn us over to absolute responsibility or agree contrary to the rules of procedure, the deterrence aspect, litigation, challenges associated with indirect buyers at the end of the supply chain and informing buyers These challenges and other challenges that have arisen have led to the Union issuing a statement on how to implement the provisions of this directive in the legal system of the Member States. Identifying these challenges and the solutions offered in this regard can pave the way for legislative policy-making for the development and enhancement of competition law rules in the Iranian legal system