Experimental control for initiating and maintaining rotation of parametric pendulum

In this paper, the authors have studied experimentally the control methods of a parametric pendulum excited harmonically to initiate and maintain a period one rotation – the most superior response for energy harvesting. For initiating the period one rotation inherent in the system, first the bang-bang method is applied. Then a new method where velocity is monitored is proposed and applied and finally the time-delayed feedback method with multi-switching is considered. Ultimately the problem of maintaining the rotation of the pendulum is addressed. For first time, robustness and sensitivity of the latter method to change of frequency and amplitude of excitation and added noise are studied. Finally, it has been demonstrated how the delayed feedback method can be applied in a system of two pendula to ensure synchronized rotation

Staphylococcus lugdunensis, an aggressive coagulase-negative pathogen not to be underestimated

The new emerging coagulase-negative pathogen Staphylococcus lugdunensis is responsible for severe cardiac and joint infections. Since the biochemical phenotypic systems designed for the identification of CoNS do not appear to be species specific and are hardly reliable for the discrimination of S. lugdunensis from other staphylococci, its precise identification requires fine molecular methods. The pathogenic mechanisms by which S. lugdunensis causes severe infections are not yet completely elucidated and in this review its virulence and toxic determinants are surveyed as well as its adhesins and biofilm production