Missile Guidance Law Design via Backstepping Technique

In this paper a Back-stepping Control technique is proposed for command to line-of-sight missile guidance law design. In this design, the three-dimensional (3-D) CLOS guidance problem is formulated as a tracking problem of a time-varying nonlinear system. Simulation results for different engagement scenarios illustrate the validity of the proposed Backstepping-based Guidance Law

FLCC: Efficient Distributed Federated Learning on IoMT over CSMA/CA

Federated Learning (FL) has emerged as a promising approach for privacy preservation, allowing sharing of the model parameters between users and the cloud server rather than the raw local data. FL approaches have been adopted as a cornerstone of distributed machine learning (ML) to solve several complex use cases. FL presents an interesting interplay between communication and ML performance when implemented over distributed wireless nodes. Both the dynamics of networking and learning play an important role. In this article, we investigate the performance of FL on an application that might be used to improve a remote healthcare system over ad hoc networks which employ CSMA/CA to schedule its transmissions. Our FL over CSMA/CA (FLCC) model is designed to eliminate untrusted devices and harness frequency reuse and spatial clustering techniques to improve the throughput required for coordinating a distributed implementation of FL in the wireless network. In our proposed model, frequency allocation is performed on the basis of spatial clustering performed using virtual cells. Each cell assigns a FL server and dedicated carrier frequencies to exchange the updated model's parameters within the cell. We present two metrics to evaluate the network performance: 1) probability of successful transmission while minimizing the interference, and 2) performance of distributed FL model in terms of accuracy and loss while considering the networking dynamics. We benchmark the proposed approach using a well-known MNIST dataset for performance evaluation. We demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline FL algorithms in terms of explicitly defining the chosen users' criteria and achieving high accuracy in a robust network

Analysis on Wearable Antenna Performance on Different Radiating Elements for GPS Application

This paper presents a study on the performance of self-manufactured electro-textile (SME-T) antenna that was designed at 1.575 GHz based on the allocated spectrum for Global Positioning System (GPS) application. However, due to its known low-conductivity characteristic, the ability of the newly developed material to perform as a good antenna shall be verified. Therefore, the performance of the antennas are compared and studied with respect to established materials such as adhesive copper tape and commercial conductive fabric named SHIELDITTM as the radiating elements. Here, four e-textile antennas having approximately the same size are fabricated and tested. The performance of all antennas, in terms of return loss, radiation pattern, gain, and efficiency; manufactured by using different radiating elements, such as copper, SHIELDITTM and SME-T fabricated on polyester fabric as the substrate are analyzed. The measured return loss and radiation pattern of SME-T antenna has proven that the antenna is well suited for wearable application. The measured antenna gain and efficiency of 0.61 dB and 25.95% are obtained and it is proven that the fabricated SME-T antenna can act as a receiving antenna designed for GPS applications which requires low gain antenna for passive monitoring

Numerical investigation on flame propagation in vented gas explosion

Explosion venting technology is one of the effective and widely used methods in protection measures against accidental internal gas explosions by relieving the pressure generated within the volume. Extensive studies have been carried out to investigate factors governing to the explosion development i.e. ignition position and vent burst pressure. However, the physical and dynamic process of explosion development during the venting to ambient air is yet not well understood. The primary motivation of this research was to gain improved understanding of turbulent flame propagation in vented gas explosion, with a view to develop improved models and methods for assessing explosion risks in the process industries. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analyses using FLUENT is adopted to study the phenomenology underlying vented gas explosions. Computations were run on deflagrating turbulent flames in small-scale combustion chambers with two different volumes (0.02 m3 and 0.0065 m3), with both closed at the rear end and open at the opposite face, in order to replicate the experimental work. All cases are initialised from stagnation. Only stoichiometric concentration of propane and methane-Air mixtures was considered with different ignition positions and vent static burst pressure, Pv. From the finding, end ignition gave higher reduced overpressure on both experimental and simulation results, compared to central ignition. The inclusion of vents in the enclosures provides significant reduction on the peak overpressures. However, it has been recognised on a tendency to a less effective reduction as the vent burst pressure, Pv was further increased. The competition between combustion rate and venting rate allows the explanation on both number and intensity of the overpressure peaks observed in propane-Air explosion

The Potential Clinical Utility of Circulating Tumor DNA in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: From Early Detection to Therapy

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a lethal cancer requiring improved screening strategies and treatment options due to poor detection methods, aggressive progression, and therapeutic resistance. Emerging circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) technologies may offer a unique non-invasive strategy to better characterize the highly heterogeneous cancer and more clearly establish the genetic modulations leading to disease progression. The presented review describes the potential advantages of ctDNA methodologies as compared to current clinical strategies to improve clinical detection, enhance disease surveillance, evaluate prognosis, and personalize treatment. Specifically, we describe the ctDNA-targetable genetic markers of prognostic significance to stratify patients into risk of progression from benign to malignant disease and potentially offer cost-effective screening of established cancer. We also describe the application of ctDNA to more effectively characterize the heterogeneity and particular mutagenic resistance mechanisms in real-time to improve prognosis and therapeutic monitoring strategies. Lastly, we discuss the inconsistent clinical responses to currently approved therapies for EAC and the role of ctDNA to explore the dynamic regulation of novel targeted and immunotherapies to personalize therapy and improve patient outcomes. Although there are clear limitations of ctDNA technologies for immediate clinical deployment, this review presents the prospective role of such applications to potentially overcome many of the notable hurdles to treating EAC patients. A deeper understanding of complex EAC tumor biology may result in the progress toward improved clinical outcomes

Characterization of Lens Antenna in Wireless Communication System

The focus of this paper is to design lens and analyze the lens behavior in lens antenna. This lens antenna is designed to enhance the gain of conventional antenna. A few factors that influenced the design of lens and gain of lens antenna is investigated. CST software is used to design the lens. At the end of this experiment, the lens gain increased from 8.782 dB to 11.07 dB

Prognostic value and targeted inhibition of survivin expression in esophageal adenocarcinoma and cancer-adjacent squamous epithelium

Background: Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis and its over expression is associated with poor prognosis in several malignancies. While several studies have analyzed survivin expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, few have focused on esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and/or cancer-adjacent squamous epithelium (CASE). The purpose of this study was 1) to determine the degree of survivin up regulation in samples of EAC and CASE, 2) to evaluate if survivin expression in EAC and CASE correlates with recurrence and/or death, and 3) to examine the effect of survivin inhibition on apoptosis in EAC cells. Methods: Fresh frozen samples of EAC and CASE from the same patient were used for qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis, and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue was used for immunohistochemistry. EAC cell lines, OE19 and OE33, were transfected with small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to knockdown survivin expression. This was confirmed by qRT-PCR for survivin expression and Western blot analysis of cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase 3 and survivin. Survivin expression data was correlated with clinical outcome. Results: Survivin expression was significantly higher in EAC tumor samples compared to the CASE from the same patient. Patients with high expression of survivin in EAC tumor had an increased risk of death. Survivin expression was also noted in CASE and correlated with increased risk of distant recurrence. Cell line evaluation demonstrated that inhibition of survivin resulted in an increase in apoptosis. Conclusion: Higher expression of survivin in tumor tissue was associated with increased risk of death; while survivin expression in CASE was a superior predictor of recurrence. Inhibition of survivin in EAC cell lines further showed increased apoptosis, supporting the potential benefits of therapeutic strategies targeted to this marker. © 2013 Malhotra et al

Back reaction, emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy

Recently, an interesting work, which reformulates the tunneling framework to directly produce the Hawking emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy in the tunneling picture, has been received a broad attention. However, during the emission process, most related observations have not incorporated the effects of back reaction on the background spacetime, whose derivations are therefore not the desiring results for the real physical process. With this point as a central motivation, in this paper we suitably adapt the \emph{reformulated} tunneling framework so that it can well accommodate the effects of back reaction to produce the Hawking emission spectrum and entropy spectroscopy. Consequently, we interestingly find that, when back reaction is considered, the Parikh-Wilczek's outstanding observations that, an isolated radiating black hole has an unitary-evolving emission spectrum that is \emph{not} precisely thermal, but is related to the change of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, can also be reproduced in the reformulated tunneling framework, meanwhile the entropy spectrum has the same form as that without inclusion of back reaction, which demonstrates the entropy quantum is \emph{independent} of the effects of back reaction. As our final analysis, we concentrate on the issues of the black hole information, but \emph{unfortunately} find that, even including the effects of back reaction and higher-order quantum corrections, such tunneling formalism can still not provide a mechanism for preserving the black hole information.Comment: 16 pages, no figure, use JHEP3.cls. to be published in JHE

Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout. Methods The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function. Findings Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function. Interpretation Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI