SMART SOP ARCHITECTURES AND POWER CONTROL MANAGEMENTS BETWEEN LIGHT DC RAILWAY AND LV DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

This paper presents different architectures of smart soft open points to interface electrified DC railways and low voltage power distribution networks. Both networks have similar objectives of power losses reduction, preserve network stability even with a high penetration of renewable energy sources, and accommodate new energy sectors such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems. The proposed smart soft open points will enable a flexible inter-exchange of electrical power between the two networks in order to achieve these challenging objectives. Different power management control approaches are provided in this paper according to the traffic conditions on the railway network as well as the power and voltage conditions of the distribution network

The relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and creativity in architectural design studio

Creativity is a cognitive ability that enables individuals to come up with both original and functional ideas and products. As architectural design requires producing aesthetic and practically useful solutions, it is a primary concern to enhance creativity in design disciplines. Many theorists argued that design is a non-linear process and many components of design problems are not clear at the beginning. At the start of the process, designers are always working at the periphery of a solution space where there is less coherence and more ambiguity. Thus, they must deal with a lot of ambiguity in every design situation. These states of uncertainty and confusion can be annoying for architecture students. On the other hand, tolerance of ambiguity is a personality trait that has been linked to creative thinking. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the correlation between tolerance of ambiguity of architectural students and their creativity via a qualitative study. The researchers implemented a mixed-method approach and recruited 18 architecture students. The results from this study revealed that there is a significant correlation between students’ creative thinking abilities and their tolerance for ambiguity. Our results also indicated that there is no statistically significant correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their design creativity. Article in English. Santykis tarp tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir kūrybiškumo architektūrinio projektavimo studijoje Santrauka Kūrybiškumas kaip kognityvinis gebėjimas sudaro sąlygas asmenims sukurti originalių ir funkcionalių idėjų bei produktų. Kadangi architektūrinis projektavimas reikalauja priimti estetinius ir praktine prasme naudingus sprendimus, todėl pirmiausia reikia rūpintis kūrybiškumo stiprinimu su projektavimu susijusiose disciplinose. Dauguma teoretikų įrodinėja, kad projektavimas yra nelinijinis procesas, o didžioji dalis projektavimo problemų sudedamųjų dalių nuo pat pradžių sudaro neaiškumų. Prasidedant procesui, projektuotojai bet kuriuo atveju darbuojasi sprendimo erdvės paribyje, kuriame yra mažai darnumo, tačiau kur kas daugiau – dviprasmiškumo. Tad jiems tenka spręsti klausimus, susijusius su dideliu dviprasmiškumu bet kurioje projektavimo situacijoje. Šios netikrumo ir painiavos būsenos gali erzinti architektūros studentus. Kita vertus, tolerancija dviprasmiškumui – tai asmenybės bruožas, siejamas su kūrybiniu mąstymu. Todėl šiame straipsnyje siekiama išnagrinėti koreliaciją tarp architektūros studentų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir jų kūrybiškumo, atliekant kokybinį tyrimą. Tyrėjai taikė mišrų metodą, o jų tyrimo objektu tapo 18 architektūros studentų. Šio tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad yra reikšminga koreliacija tarp studentų kūrybinio mąstymo gebėjimų ir jų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui. Rezultatai, kuriuos gavome, taip pat parodė, kad nėra statistiškai reikšmingos koreliacijos tarp studentų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir to, ar jų atliekamas projektavimas yra kūrybiškas. Reikšminiai žodžiai: architektūros studentai, kūrybiškumas, projektavimo problemos, projektavimo procesas, tolerancija dviprasmiškumui

Exhaled breath condensate nitric oxide end products and pH in controlled asthma

AbstractObjectivesAsthma imposes a growing burden on the society in terms of morbidity, quality of life, and healthcare costs. It has the highest morbidity amongst inflammatory lung diseases and its prevalence continues to increase over the world. Inquiry into recent day or nighttime symptoms alone underestimates the burden of asthma and may lead to inadequate treatment of asthma. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the role of nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen ion concentration (pH) levels in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in cases of controlled bronchial asthma.Patients and methodsThe present study was conducted on 49 controlled asthmatic patients and 12 control subjects. All patients were subjected to thorough history taking, complete clinical examination and plain postero-anterior chest X-ray. All asthmatics and control subjects were subjected to routine laboratory investigations, spirometric study, EBC collection, processing and analysis for its content of both nitric oxide end products: nitrite and nitrate (NOx) and pH.ResultsAll asthmatics represented Group IT which was further divided into Group Ia: 34 patients on regular inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy and Group Ib: 15 patients on no regular therapy. The control subjects represented Group II. The forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced expiratory flow during the middle portion of a forced expiration (FEF 25–75%) were significantly lower in asthmatics than control subjects. The EBC-NOx mean±SD in μmol/L in Group IT (5.99±1.63), in Group Ia (5.27±1.26) and in Group Ib (7.63±1.15) were significantly higher than in Group II (3.66±0.67) with, respectively (p=0.000), (p=0.000) and (p=0.000); and was significantly higher in Group Ib than Group Ia (p=0.000). The EBC-pH mean±SD in Group IT (7.32±0.27), in Group Ia (7.35±0.25) and in Group Ib (7.27±0.3) were significantly lower than in Group II (7.82±0.09) with, respectively (p=0.000), (p=0.000) and (p=0.000); with no significant difference between Group Ia and Group Ib. The EBC-NOx was significantly directly correlated to eosinophils count (p=0.017) and neutrophils count (p=0.002); and inversely correlated to FEV1 (p=0.016), FEV1/FVC (p=0.001), PEFR (p=0.030) and EBC-pH (p=0.003). The EBC-pH was significantly inversely correlated to eosinophils count (p=0.017) and neutrophils count (p=0.036); and directly correlated to FVC (p=0.004), FEV1 (p=0.004) and PEFR (p=0.000).ConclusionEBC-NOx is significantly higher and EBC-pH is significantly lower in asthmatic patients than in control subjects. Asthmatics receiving ICS have a lower EBC-NOx level than those not. EBC-NOx and EBC-pH were significantly correlated and both of them showed significant correlations with spirometric parameters of airway obstruction

Evidence that Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins self-medicate with invertebrates in coral reefs

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) have been observed queueing up in natural environments to rub particular body parts against selected corals (Rumphella aggregata, Sarcophyton sp.) and sponges (Ircinia sp.) in the Egyptian Northern Red Sea. It was hypothesized that the presence of bioactive metabolites accounts for this selective rubbing behavior. The three invertebrates preferentially accessed by the dolphins, collected and analyzed by hyphenated high-performance thin-layer chromatography contained seventeen active metabolites, providing evidence of potential self-medication. Repeated rubbing allows these active metabolites to come into contact with the skin of the dolphins, which in turn could help them achieve skin homeostasis and be useful for prophylaxis or auxiliary treatment against microbial infections. This interdisciplinary research in behavior, separation science, and effect-directed analysis highlighted the importance of particular invertebrates in coral reefs, the urgent need to protect coral reefs for dolphins and other species, and calls for further vertebrate-invertebrate interaction studies