Identification and Position Control of Marine Helm using Artificial Neural Network Neural Network

If nonlinearities such as saturation of the amplifier gain and motor torque, gear backlash, and shaft compliances- just to name a few - are considered in the position control system of marine helm, traditional control methods are no longer sufficient to be used to improve the performance of the system. In this paper an alternative approach to traditional control methods - a neural network reference controller - is proposed to establish an adaptive control of the position of the marine helm to achieve the controlled variable at the command position. This neural network controller comprises of two neural networks. One is the plant model network used to identify the nonlinear system and the other the controller network used to control the output to follow the reference model. The experimental results demonstrate that this adaptive neural network reference controller has much better control performance than is obtained with traditional controllers

The Efficacy and Safety of YAG Laser Vitreolysis for Symptomatic Vitreous Floaters of Complete PVD or Non-PVD

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of YAG laser vitreolysis in treating symptomatic vitreous floaters of complete posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) and non-PVD. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, 51 eyes with symptomatic floaters were treated with YAG laser vitreolysis. Participants were divided into complete PVD and non-PVD groups. Objective visual quality measures including the Strehl ratio (SR), internal spherical aberration (SA), internal comatic aberration (CA), internal high-order aberration (HOA), area ratio of modulation transfer function (MTFa) and Vitreous Floaters Symptom Questionnaire (VFSQ-13) scores were used to compare the efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis treatment between two groups. RESULTS: The mean age of all patients was 56.80 ± 10.82 years old. In total, 36 of 51 (70.59%; 95% CI 58.10–83.10) patients reported their symptoms as significant or complete improvement after YAG laser vitreolysis treatment. Post-treatment MTFa, internal SA and internal HOA were significantly better compared to baseline (26.19 ± 14.73 vs. 29.19 ± 17.98, p = 0.013; 0.05 ± 0.05 vs. 0.04 ± 0.04, p = 0.031 and 0.23 ± 0.22 vs. 0.16 ± 0.07, p = 0.044; respectively) in all eyes. Twenty-nine of 51 (56.86%) eyes had floaters of non-PVD type. Significant or complete subjective improvements in the PVD group and non-PVD group were 72.73% and 68.97% (p = 0.344), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Improved subjective and objective visual quality in participants with symptomatic floaters following YAG laser vitreolysis was found in both groups. The efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis was comparable in floaters of complete PVD and non-PVD types. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40123-021-00422-6

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a superior cell source for bone tissue engineering

Effective bone regeneration through tissue engineering requires a combination of osteogenic progenitors, osteoinductive biofactors and biocompatible scaffold materials. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent the most promising seed cells for bone tissue engineering. As multipotent stem cells that can self-renew and differentiate into multiple lineages including bone and fat, MSCs can be isolated from numerous tissues and exhibit varied differentiation potential. To identify an optimal progenitor cell source for bone tissue engineering, we analyzed the proliferative activity and osteogenic potential of four commonly-used mouse MSC sources, including immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts (iMEF), immortalized mouse bone marrow stromal stem cells (imBMSC), immortalized mouse calvarial mesenchymal progenitors (iCAL), and immortalized mouse adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iMAD). We found that iMAD exhibited highest osteogenic and adipogenic capabilities upon BMP9 stimulation in vitro, whereas iMAD and iCAL exhibited highest osteogenic capability in BMP9-induced ectopic osteogenesis and critical-sized calvarial defect repair. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that, while each MSC line regulated a distinct set of target genes upon BMP9 stimulation, all MSC lines underwent osteogenic differentiation by regulating osteogenesis-related signaling including Wnt, TGF-β, PI3K/AKT, MAPK, Hippo and JAK-STAT pathways. Collectively, our results demonstrate that adipose-derived MSCs represent optimal progenitor sources for cell-based bone tissue engineering