Power enhancement of pontoon-type wave energy convertor via hydroelastic response and variable power take-off system

Wave energy has gained its popularity in recent decades due to the vast amount of untapped wave energy resources. There are numerous types of wave energy convertor (WEC) being proposed and to be economically viable, various means to enhance the power generation from WECs have been studied and investigated. In this paper, a novel pontoon-type WEC, which is formed by multiple plate-like modules connected by hinges, are considered. The power enhancement of this pontoon-type WEC is achieved by allowing certain level of structural deformation and by utilizing a series of optimal variable power take-off (PTO) system. The wave energy is converted into useful electricity by attaching the PTO systems on the hinge connectors such that the mechanical movements of the hinges could produce electricity. In this paper, various structural rigidity of the interconnected modules are considered by changing the material Young's modulus in order to investigate its impact on the power enhancement. In addition, the genetic algorithm optimization scheme is utilized to seek for the optimal PTO damping in the variable PTO system. It is observed that under certain condition, the flexible pontoon-type WEC with lesser connection joints is more effective in generating energy as compared to its rigid counterpart with higher connection joints. It is also found that the variable PTO system is able to generate greater energy as compared to the PTO system with constant/uniform PTO damping.</p

DROID QUEUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DQMS)

help assist in smoothening the queue they have in their office. With the awareness of paperless community at the rise, the society is trying to cut down on the usage of papers nowadays. The Droid Queue Management System (DQMS) is an Android application is an application which supports the paperless community idea by replacing paper tickets with digital form of queue tickets besides providing the alert system service for the customer’s convenience. DQMS will be serving as an alternative for the current queue management system which dispenses paper tickets and lacks of alert system in the phone. The method which DQMS will be using is by capturing the QR Codes on to the users’ smartphones and sending the QR details to the database server and the numbers will be updated in the server itself. Notifications will be sent out from the queue management system to the users when the queue number of user is approaching. To develop DQMS, rapid application development methodology is being applied which consist of planning phase, analysis phase, design phase, prototyping phase and implementation phase. As for the development of this application, Android SDK development tool will be used while the programming language involved will be JAVA and Google Chart API library. In order to gather data and information from the public, surveys and distributions of questionnaire was being done to collect their opinions and feedback on the current system

A porcine model of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction:magnetic resonance imaging and metabolic energetics

Aims A significant proportion of heart failure (HF) patients have HF preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The lack of effective treatments for HFpEF remains a critical unmet need. A key obstacle to therapeutic innovation in HFpEF is the paucity of pre-clinical models. Although several large animal models have been reported, few demonstrate progression to decompensated HF. We have established a model of HFpEF by enhancing a porcine model of progressive left ventricular (LV) pressure overload and characterized HF in this model including advanced cardiometabolic imaging using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and hyperpolarized carbon-13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Methods and results Pigs underwent progressive LV pressure overload by means of an inflatable aortic cuff. Pigs developed LV hypertrophy (50% increase in wall thickness, P <0.001, and two-fold increase in mass compared to sham control, P <0.001) with no evidence of LV dilatation but a significant increase in left atrial volume (P = 0.013). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated T1 modified Look-Locker inversion recovery values increased in 16/17 segments compared to sham pigs (P <0.05-P <0.001) indicating global ventricular fibrosis. Mean LV end-diastolic (P = 0.047) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressures (P = 0.008) were elevated compared with sham control. One-third of the pigs demonstrated clinical signs of frank decompensated HF, and mean plasma BNP concentrations were raised compared with sham control (P = 0.008). Cardiometabolic imaging with hyperpolarized carbon-13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy agreed with known metabolic changes in the failing heart with a switch from fatty acid towards glucose substrate utilization. Conclusions Progressive aortic constriction in growing pigs induces significant LV hypertrophy with cardiac fibrosis associated with left atrial dilation, raised filling pressures, and an ability to transition to overt HF with raised BNP without reduction in LVEF. This model replicates many aspects of clinical HFpEF with a predominant background of hypertension and can be used to advance understanding of underlying pathology and for necessary pre-clinical testing of novel candidate therapies

Postgraduate ethics training programs: a systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND: Molding competent clinicians capable of applying ethics principles in their practice is a challenging task, compounded by wide variations in the teaching and assessment of ethics in the postgraduate setting. Despite these differences, ethics training programs should recognise that the transition from medical students to healthcare professionals entails a longitudinal process where ethics knowledge, skills and identity continue to build and deepen over time with clinical exposure. A systematic scoping review is proposed to analyse current postgraduate medical ethics training and assessment programs in peer-reviewed literature to guide the development of a local physician training curriculum. METHODS: With a constructivist perspective and relativist lens, this systematic scoping review on postgraduate medical ethics training and assessment will adopt the Systematic Evidence Based Approach (SEBA) to create a transparent and reproducible review. RESULTS: The first search involving the teaching of ethics yielded 7669 abstracts with 573 full text articles evaluated and 66 articles included. The second search involving the assessment of ethics identified 9919 abstracts with 333 full text articles reviewed and 29 articles included. The themes identified from the two searches were the goals and objectives, content, pedagogy, enabling and limiting factors of teaching ethics and assessment modalities used. Despite inherent disparities in ethics training programs, they provide a platform for learners to apply knowledge, translating it to skill and eventually becoming part of the identity of the learner. Illustrating the longitudinal nature of ethics training, the spiral curriculum seamlessly integrates and fortifies prevailing ethical knowledge acquired in medical school with the layering of new specialty, clinical and research specific content in professional practice. Various assessment methods are employed with special mention of portfolios as a longitudinal assessment modality that showcase the impact of ethics training on the development of professional identity formation (PIF). CONCLUSIONS: Our systematic scoping review has elicited key learning points in the teaching and assessment of ethics in the postgraduate setting. However, more research needs to be done on establishing Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA)s in ethics, with further exploration of the use of portfolios and key factors influencing its design, implementation and assessment of PIF and micro-credentialling in ethics practice. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-021-02644-5

Are C-Reactive Protein Associated Genetic Variants Associated with Serum Levels and Retinal Markers of Microvascular Pathology in Asian Populations from Singapore?

Introduction:C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and systemic inflammation. We assessed whether CRP-associated loci were associated with serum CRP and retinal markers of microvascular disease, in Asian populations.Methods:Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) for serum CRP was performed in East-Asian Chinese (N = 2,434) and Malays (N = 2,542) and South-Asian Indians (N = 2,538) from Singapore. Leveraging on GWAS data, we assessed, in silico, association levels among the Singaporean datasets for 22 recently identified CRP-associated loci. At loci where directional inconsistencies were observed, quantification of inter-ethnic linkage disequilibrium (LD) difference was determined. Next, we assessed association for a variant at CRP and retinal vessel traits [central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE) and central retinal vein equivalent (CRVE)] in a total of 24,132 subjects of East-Asian, South-Asian and European ancestry.Results:Serum CRP was associated with SNPs in/near APOE, CRP, HNF1A and LEPR (p-values ≤4.7×10-8) after meta-analysis of Singaporean populations. Using a candidate-SNP approach, we further replicated SNPs at 4 additional loci that had been recently identified to be associated with serum CRP (IL6R, GCKR, IL6 and IL1F10) (p-values ≤0.009), in the Singaporean datasets. SNPs from these 8 loci explained 4.05% of variance in serum CRP. Two SNPs (rs2847281 and rs6901250) were detected to be significant (p-value ≤0.036) but with opposite effect directions in the Singaporean populations as compared to original European studies. At these loci we did not detect significant inter-population LD differences. We further did not observe a significant association between CRP variant and CRVE or CRAE levels after meta-analysis of all Singaporean and European datasets (p-value >0.058).Conclusions:Common variants associated with serum CRP, first detected in primarily European studies, are also associated with CRP levels in East-Asian and South-Asian populations. We did not find a causal link between CRP and retinal measures of microvascular disease