Generalized Centrifugal Force Model for Pedestrian Dynamics

A spatially continuous force-based model for simulating pedestrian dynamics is introduced which includes an elliptical volume exclusion of pedestrians. We discuss the phenomena of oscillations and overlapping which occur for certain choices of the forces. The main intention of this work is the quantitative description of pedestrian movement in several geometries. Measurements of the fundamental diagram in narrow and wide corridors are performed. The results of the proposed model show good agreement with empirical data obtained in controlled experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review E. This version contains minor change

Argan Oil Exerts an Antiatherogenic Effect by Improving Lipids and Susceptibility of LDL to Oxidation in Type 2 Diabetes Patients

In this study, we investigate the effect of argan oil consumption on serum lipids, apolipoproteins (AI and B), CRP, and LDL susceptibility to oxidation in type 2 diabetic patients which are known to have a high level of cardiovascular risk due to lipid abnormalities and lipid peroxidation. For that, 86 type 2 diabetic patients with dyslipidemia were randomized to one group consuming 25 mL/day of argan oil during 3 weeks and control group consuming 20 g/day of butter in breakfast. After argan oil intervention, serum triglycerides decreased by 11.84%, (P = 0.001), total chol by 9.13%, (P = 0.01), and LDL-chol by 11.81%, (P = 0.02). However, HDL-chol and Apo AI increased (10.51%, P = 0.01 and 9.40%,  P = 0.045, resp.). Susceptibility of LDL to lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced by increasing of 20.95%, (P = 0.038) in lag phase after argan oil consumption. In conclusion, we show for the first time that consumption of argan oil may have an antiatherogenic effect by improving lipids, and the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation in type 2 diabetes patients with dyslipidemia, and can therefore be recommended in the nutritional management of type 2 diabetes

THROMBASTHENIE DE GLANZMANN ET GROSSESSE : A PROPOS D’UN CAS COMPLIQUE D’HEMORRAGIE DE LA DELIVRANCE

Glanzmann's thrombasthenia is a rare hereditary, having autosomal recessive transmission, due to a deficiency of platelet membrane glycoprotein GPIIbIIIa, which is responsible for a decrease in platelet aggregation. It is the source of bleeding more or less important, appearing in childhood. Its association with pregnancy is rare, and may be complicated by bleeding. Mrs F.Z, a 23 years old primigravida, reaching Glanzmann’s thrombastenia since its infancy and has a postpartum hemorrhage that could be treated medically. We tried, through this case and a review of the literature, to review the management of this rare association, which may involve the prognosis of the mother.La thrombasthénie de Glanzmann est une maladie héréditaire rare, à transmission autosomale récessive, due à un déficit de la glycoprotéine membranaire plaquettaire GPIIbIIIa responsable d’une diminution de l’agrégation plaquettaire. Elle est à l'origine d'hémorragies plus ou moins importantes, apparaissant dès l'enfance. Son association avec la grossesse est rare, et peut se compliquer de plusieurs accidents hémorragiques. Nous rapportant le cas d’une primigeste de 23ans, connue porteuse d’une thrombasthénie de Glanzmann depuis son bas âge et qui présente une hémorragie de la délivrance qui a pu être jugulée médicalement. Nous avons essayé, à travers ce cas et une revue de la littérature, de mettre le point sur la prise en charge de cette association rare, qui peut mettre en jeu le pronostic vital maternel

L’INCONTINENCE URINAIRE DU POST PARTUM : INTERET DE LA REEDUCATION PERINEALE

The urinary incontinence is defined as the occurrence of involuntary urine leakage responsible for social or hygienic problem. The prevalence of symptoms of urinary incontinence increases during pregnancy and decreases spontaneously in the first three months in the postpartum. Several risk factors can be incriminated, some related to pregnancy and childbirth and others are constitutional. Prevention plays an important role and perineal rehabilitation gives good results.L’incontinence urinaire d’effort se définit comme la survenuede fuites involontaires d'urineresponsables d'un problème hygiénique ou social.La prévalence des symptômes d’incontinence urinaire augmente au cours de la grossesse puis diminue spontanément dans les trois premiers mois du post-partum. Plusieurs facteurs de risque peuvent être incriminés, certains sont liés à la grossesse et l’accouchement et d’autres sont constitutionnels. La prévention joue un rôle important et la rééducation périnéale donne de bons résultats

Increasing the simulation performance of large-scale evacuations using parallel computing techniques based on domain decomposition

Evacuation simulation has the potential to be used as part of a decision support system during large-scale incidents to provide advice to incident commanders. To be viable in these applications, it is essential that the simulation can run many times faster than real time. Parallel processing is a method of reducing run times for very large computational simulations by distributing the workload amongst a number of processors. This paper presents the development of a parallel version of the rule based evacuation simulation software buildingEXODUS using domain decomposition. Four Case Studies (CS) were tested using a cluster, consisting of 10 Intel Core 2 Duo (dual core) 3.16 GHz CPUs. CS-1 involved an idealised large geometry, with 20 exits, intended to illustrate the peak computational speed up performance of the parallel implementation, the population consisted of 100,000 agents; the peak computational speedup (PCS) was 14.6 and the peak real-time speedup (PRTS) was 4.0. CS-2 was a long area with a single exit area with a population of 100,000 agents; the PCS was 13.2 and the PRTS was 17.2. CS-3 was a 50 storey high rise building with a population of 8000/16,000 agents; the PCS was 2.48/4.49 and the PRTS was 17.9/12.9. CS-4 is a large realistic urban area with 60,000/120,000 agents; the PCS was 5.3/6.89 and the PRTS was 5.31/3.0. This type of computational performance opens evacuation simulation to a range of new innovative application areas such as real-time incident support, dynamic signage in smart buildings and virtual training environments

Modeling, Evaluation, and Scale on Artificial Pedestrians: A Literature Review

Modeling pedestrian dynamics and their implementation in a computer are challenging and important issues in the knowledge areas of transportation and computer simulation. The aim of this article is to provide a bibliographic outlook so that the reader may have quick access to the most relevant works related to this problem. We have used three main axes to organize the article's contents: pedestrian models, validation techniques, and multiscale approaches. The backbone of this work is the classification of existing pedestrian models; we have organized the works in the literature under five categories, according to the techniques used for implementing the operational level in each pedestrian model. Then the main existing validation methods, oriented to evaluate the behavioral quality of the simulation systems, are reviewed. Furthermore, we review the key issues that arise when facing multiscale pedestrian modeling, where we first focus on the behavioral scale (combinations of micro and macro pedestrian models) and second on the scale size (from individuals to crowds). The article begins by introducing the main characteristics of walking dynamics and its analysis tools and concludes with a discussion about the contributions that different knowledge fields can make in the near future to this exciting area

Chemical Additives for Corrosion Control in Desalination Plants

The addition of chemical additives has been considered as a standard operation in water treatment systems. This chapter discusses the chemical additives used for the control of corrosion in desalination systems. Specifically, corrosion inhibitors for various metallurgies, biocides, and oxygen scavengers are covered. The pros and cons of the additive chemicals have been highlighted. The need to utilize green corrosion inhibitors based on plants and ionic liquids materials have been emphasized. This class of materials are environmentally friendly, cheap, and readily available