ON THE PERFORMANCE OF GNSS LEVELLING OVER STEEP SLOPES

In geodetic applications variety, one of the main current focuses is recently to determine the heights of ground stations with high accuracy. Specially the possibility of acquiring 3D information of the point positioning with high accuracy is opening up new strategies of investigating the heighting. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for 3D positioning is undergoing rapid developments andGNSS heighting can be an alternative to terrestrial techniques of height measurements. This paper presents a research study on the use of GNSS heighting in the case of steep slopes and multipath issue. Short baseline solution strategieswere performed by using Bernese Software v. 5.0. The analysis results are also compared to the results of techniques of the terrestrial levelling. The results showthat GNSS can be used as an practical surveying method to the terrestrial levelling with comparable accuracies. Furthermore, one can save up to 1 hour using GNSSinstead of geometric levelling over a steep slope of a 100 m. On the other hand, as usual multipath is the primary error source decreasing the efficiency of GNSS, and it has been studied experimentally in this paper

Effect of Mean Platelet Volume on Postintervention Coronary Blood Flow in Patients with Chronic Stable Angina Pectoris

WOS: 000207738600007PubMed ID: 18316827Objectives. In our study we sought to determine whether mean platelet volume (MPV), measured on admission, could be used in determining decreased coronary blood flow (CBF) in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Background. Platelets play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of CAD. MPV reflects platelet function and activity. There are no reports regarding the effect of MPV on CBF in patients with stable CAD undergoing PCI. Methods. A total of 66 consecutive patients (mean age: 58 +/- 5 years, 74% male) with the diagnosis of stable CAD who were hospitalized for PCI were prospectively enrolled in our study. Coronary flow rates of all subjects were documented by corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count (CTFC) for each major coronary artery before and after PCI. Blood samples for MPV estimation, platelet count and other laboratory data obtained on admission were measured on the day of the scheduled PCI. Patients were divided into two groups according to MPV levels measured on admission: 1) high MPV group and 2) normal MPV group. Results. A final TIMI 3 flow was achieved in all patients with no complications. Procedural characteristics of PCI, except left anterior descending artery intervention, were similar in the two groups. Patients with high MPV had significantly higher CTFC than those with a normal MPV (24 +/- 3 vs. 17 +/- 5; p = 0.001). The MPV correlated strongly with post-PCI CTFC (R = 0.625; p = 0.0001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that only MPV was an independent predictor of post-PCI CTFC after adjustment for baseline characteristics (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-2.3; p = 0.001). Conclusions. MPV may be considered a useful hematological marker, allowing for early and easy identification of patients with stable CAD who are at a higher risk of post-PCI low-reflow

Prospective evaluation of preoperative and postoperative sleep quality in carpal tunnel release

WOS: 000459286100008PubMed: 30394830Sleep disturbance is a frequent symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of median nerve decompression on sleep quality of patients with this condition. The study sample consisted of 41 patients with severe carpal tunnel syndrome who were admitted to our clinic and treated with open median nerve decompression. Sensation and functional recovery of the patients were followed using the Boston Function Questionnaire, the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test and the two-point discrimination test. Symptomatic recovery of the patients was followed by the Boston Symptom Questionnaire. The tests were used before surgery and at three and six months afterwards. Sensory, functional and symptomatic recovery from the third month to the sixth month following surgery also affected sleep parameters and improved the sleep quality of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome

Learning Stable Robust Adaptive NARMA Controller for UAV and Its Application to Twin Rotor MIMO Systems

This study presents a nonlinear auto-regressive moving average (NARMA) based online learning controller algorithm providing adaptability, robustness and the closed loop system stability. Both the controller and the plant are identified by the proposed NARMA based input-output models of Wiener and Hammerstein types, respectively. In order to design the NARMA controller, not only the plant but also the closed loop system identification data are obtained from the controlled plant during the online supervised learning mode. The overall closed loop model parameters are determined in suitable parameter regions to provide Schur stability. The identification and controller parameters are calculated by minimizing the einsensitive error functions. The proposed controller performances are not only tested on two simulated models such as the quadrotor and twin rotor MIMO system (TRMS) models but also applied to the real TRMS with having severe cross-coupling effect between pitch and yaw. The tracking error performances of the proposed controller are observed better compared to the conventional adaptive and proportional-integral-derivative controllers in terms of the mean squared error, integral squared error and integral absolute error. The most noticeable superiority of the developed NARMA controller over its linear counterpart, namely the adaptive auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) controller, is observed on the TRMS such that the NARMA controller shows a good tracking performance not only for the simulated TRMS model but also the real TRMS. On the other hand, it is seen that the adaptive ARMA is incapable of producing feasible control inputs for the real TRMS whereas it works well for the simulated TRMS model

Performance Analysis of Stable Adaptive NARMA Controller Scheme for Furuta Pendulum

This paper presents a novel stable adaptive controller scheme for Furuta Pendulum via nonlinear auto-regressive moving-average based plant identification. During online learning for the developed controller, input-output data obtained from the rotary inverted pendulum model used to update the parameters of the NARMA controller while ensuring Schur stability for the overall closed-loop control system. The parameters of the plant model and the introduced controller are computed by minimizing the identification and output tracking errors, respectively, both of them are absolute loss functions modified with a regularization parameter. The proposed adaptive controller is tested on Furuta pendulum model and its performance is compared with the performances of proportional integral derivative controller and model reference adaptive controller

Congenital Cervical Teratoma:Anaesthetic Management (The EXIT Procedure)

Ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) is a procedure performed during caesarean section with preservation of fetal-placental circulation, which allows the safe handling of fetal airways with risk of airways obstruction. This report aimed at describing a case of anaesthesia for EXIT in a fetus with cervical teratoma. A 30-year-old woman, 70 kg, 160 cm, gravida 2, para 1, was followed because of polyhydramniosis diagnosed at 24 weeks′ gestation. During a routine ultrasonographic examination at 35 weeks′ gestation, it was noticed that the fetus had a tumoral mass on the anterior neck, the mass had cystic and calcified components and with a size of was 10 x 6 x5 cm. The patient with physical status ASA I, was submitted to caesarean section under general anaesthesia with mechanically controlled ventilation for exutero intrapartum treatment (EXIT). Anaesthesia was induced in rapid sequence with fentanyl, propofol and rocuronium and was maintained with isoflurane in 2.5 at 3 % in O 2 and N 2 O (50%). After hysterotomy, fetus was partially released assuring uterus-placental circulation, followed by fetal laryngoscopy and tracheal intuba-tion. The infant was intubated with an uncuffed, size 2.5 endotracheal tube. Excision of the mass was performed under general anaesthesia. After surgical intervention, on the fourth postoperative day, the infant was extubated and the newborn was discharged to the pediatric neonatal unit and on the seventh day postoperatively to home without complications. Major recommendations for EXIT are maternal-fetal safety, uterine relaxation to maintain uterine volume and uterus-placental circulation, and fetal immobility to help airway handling. We report one case of cervical teratoma managed successfully with EXIT procedure

On the performance of GNSS levelling over steep slopes

In geodetic applications variety, one of the main current focuses is recently to determine the heights of ground stations with high accuracy. Specially the possibility of acquiring 3D information of the point positioning with high accuracy is opening up new strategies of investigating the heighting. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for 3D positioning is undergoing rapid developments and GNSS heighting can be an alternative to terrestrial techniques of height measurements. This paper presents a research study on the use of GNSS heighting in the case of steep slopes and multipath issue. Short baseline solution strategies were performed by using Bernese Software v. 5.0. The analysis results are also compared to the results of techniques of the terrestrial levelling. The results show that GNSS can be used as an practical surveying method to the terrestrial levelling with comparable accuracies. Furthermore, one can save up to 1 hour using GNSS instead of geometric levelling over a steep slope of a 100 m. On the other hand, as usual multipath is the primary error source decreasing the efficiency of GNSS, and it has been studied experimentally in this paper

Searching Optimal Values of Identification and Controller Design Horizon Lengths, and Regularization Parameters in NARMA Based Online Learning Controller Design

This paper presents an analysis on searching the optimal values of the system identification and tracking window lengths, and regularization parameter for the online learning NARMA controller algorithm. Both window lengths and regularization parameter are generally determined with exhaustive searches by researchers. Although the estimation of plant and controller parameters plays the essential role in online learning control algorithms, using non-optimal values of the window lengths and regularization parameter may deteriorate badly the estimation and so the performance of the controller. In the paper, the effects of the window lengths and the regularization parameter on the tracking performance of the NARMA based online learning controller are analyzed with a search method. The considered NARMA based online learning control method is performed on a rotary inverted pendulum model. While the effect of the regularization parameter is examined in the batch mode, the effects of identification and tracking error window lengths are studied for the online mode of the controller learning algorithm. The developed search method can provide the optimum values of the plant identification and tracking horizon lengths, and regularization parameter when a sufficiently large class of possible input, output and reference signals are taken into account in the search. The presented study may be extended, as future research in the direction of developing intelligent control systems, by determining the horizon window lengths and regularization parameter, in an automatic way, with efficient learning algorithms