Vibration suppression using fractional-order disturbance observer based adaptive grey predictive controller

A novel control strategy is proposed for vibration suppression using an integration of a fractional-order disturbance observer (FDOB) and an adaptive grey predictive controller (AGPC). AGPC is utilized to realize outer loop control for better transient performance by predicting system outputs ahead with metabolic GM(1,1) model, and an adaptive step switching module is adopted for the grey predictor in AGPC. FDOB is used to obtain disturbance estimate and generate compensation signal, and as the order of Q-filter is expanded to real-number domain, FDOB has a wider range to select a suitable tradeoff between robustness and vibration suppression. For implementation of the fractional order Q-filter, broken-line approximation method is introduced. The proposed control strategy is simple in control-law derivation, and its effectiveness is validated by numerical simulations

Paxillin facilitates timely neurite initiation on soft-substrate environments by interacting with the endocytic machinery.

Neurite initiation is the first step in neuronal development and occurs spontaneously in soft tissue environments. Although the mechanisms regulating the morphology of migratory cells on rigid substrates in cell culture are widely known, how soft environments modulate neurite initiation remains elusive. Using hydrogel cultures, pharmacologic inhibition, and genetic approaches, we reveal that paxillin-linked endocytosis and adhesion are components of a bistable switch controlling neurite initiation in a substrate modulus-dependent manner. On soft substrates, most paxillin binds to endocytic factors and facilitates vesicle invagination, elevating neuritogenic Rac1 activity and expression of genes encoding the endocytic machinery. By contrast, on rigid substrates, cells develop extensive adhesions, increase RhoA activity and sequester paxillin from the endocytic machinery, thereby delaying neurite initiation. Our results highlight paxillin as a core molecule in substrate modulus-controlled morphogenesis and define a mechanism whereby neuronal cells respond to environments exhibiting varying mechanical properties

Life's Essential 8 in Relation to Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Individuals With Diabetes

Background: Evidence regarding the potential health effects of Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is limited. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of LE8 score with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality among individuals with T2D. Methods: We prospectively followed 19,915 Chinese participants with T2D at baseline or diagnosed during follow-up (Kailuan Study: 2006-2020), who were free of CVD at diagnosis of diabetes. Diet, lifestyle, and health conditions were repeatedly assessed every 2 years. The LE8 score (range 0-100), was calculated based on 8 components: diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, sleep health, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. We used time-varying cox models to model the associations. Results: During a median follow-up of 11.5 years in participants with T2D, there were 3,295 incident CVD cases and 3,123 deaths. Higher LE8 score was associated with lower risk of CVD incidence and total mortality among participants with diabetes. The multivariate-adjusted HRs for the highest quintile of LE8 score compared with the lowest quintile were 0.56 (95% CI: 0.53-0.59) for CVD, 0.57 (95% CI: 0.53-0.62) for heart disease, 0.53 (95% CI: 0.49-0.57) for stroke, and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.69-0.78) for total mortality (all P trend &lt;0.001). Furthermore, compared with participants with stable or decreased LE8 score after diabetes diagnosis, those with increased LE8 score had 17% to 42% lower risk of CVD, heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Conclusions: A higher LE8 score was associated with a substantially lower risk of CVD incidence and total mortality among adults with T2D.</p

Life's Essential 8 in Relation to Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Individuals With Diabetes

Background: Evidence regarding the potential health effects of Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is limited. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of LE8 score with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality among individuals with T2D. Methods: We prospectively followed 19,915 Chinese participants with T2D at baseline or diagnosed during follow-up (Kailuan Study: 2006-2020), who were free of CVD at diagnosis of diabetes. Diet, lifestyle, and health conditions were repeatedly assessed every 2 years. The LE8 score (range 0-100), was calculated based on 8 components: diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, sleep health, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. We used time-varying cox models to model the associations. Results: During a median follow-up of 11.5 years in participants with T2D, there were 3,295 incident CVD cases and 3,123 deaths. Higher LE8 score was associated with lower risk of CVD incidence and total mortality among participants with diabetes. The multivariate-adjusted HRs for the highest quintile of LE8 score compared with the lowest quintile were 0.56 (95% CI: 0.53-0.59) for CVD, 0.57 (95% CI: 0.53-0.62) for heart disease, 0.53 (95% CI: 0.49-0.57) for stroke, and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.69-0.78) for total mortality (all P trend &lt;0.001). Furthermore, compared with participants with stable or decreased LE8 score after diabetes diagnosis, those with increased LE8 score had 17% to 42% lower risk of CVD, heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Conclusions: A higher LE8 score was associated with a substantially lower risk of CVD incidence and total mortality among adults with T2D.</p

Changes of dendritic cells and fractalkine in type 2 diabetic patients with unstable angina pectoris: a preliminary report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been shown that dendritic cells (DCs) and fractalkine play a role in accelerating progression of the inflamed atherosclerotic lesions and plaque rupture. We evaluated the numbers and functional changes of DCs and its subsets in human type 2 diabetes with or without unstable angina pectoris (UAP).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study population consisted of 39 diabetic patients (DM:18 without CAD; DM + UAP: 21 with UAP), 18 non-diabetic UAP patients (UAP), and 15 healthy control (Normal). Peripheral blood DCs and its subsets were measured by three color flow cytometry. Serum levels of fractalkine, IL-12, and IFN-α were also measured. The functional status of the monocyte-derived DCs was analyzed by flow cytometry and allogeneic mixed T lymphocytes reaction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The percent and absolute numbers of DCs and mDC within the total leukocyte population was similar for Normal and DM, while significantly lower in DM + UAP. pDC numbers were not significantly altered. Serum fractalkine in DM + UAP was highest among the four groups (<it>p </it>= 0.04 vs. UAP, <it>p </it>= 0.0003 vs. DM, <it>p </it>< 0.0001 vs. Normal). Circulating mDC inversely correlated with serum fractalkine (r = -0.268, <it>p </it>= 0.01) level. Compared with DM and UAP, the costimulatory molecules CD86 and proliferation of T cells stimulated by DCs were significantly increased in DM + UAP group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study suggested that increases in the fractalkine level and the number and functional changes of blood DCs might contribute to diabetic coronary atherosclerosis and plaque destabilization.</p

Auditory affective content facilitates time-to-contact estimation of visual affective targets

Reacting to a moving object requires an ability to estimate when a moving object reaches its destination, also referred to as the time-to-contact (TTC) estimation. Although the TTC estimation of threatening visually moving objects is known to be underestimated, the effect of the affective content of auditory information on visual TTC estimation remains unclear. We manipulated the velocity and presentation time to investigate the TTC of a threat or non-threat target with the addition of auditory information. In the task, a visual or an audiovisual target moved from right to left and disappeared behind an occluder. Participants’ task was to estimate the TTC of the target, they needed to press a button when they thought that the target contacted a destination behind the occluder. Behaviorally, the additional auditory affective content facilitated TTC estimation; velocity was a more critical factor than presentation time in determining the audiovisual threat facilitation effect. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to auditory affective content can influence TTC estimation and that the effect of velocity on TTC estimation will provide more information than presentation time

Pathological Brain Detection by a Novel Image Feature—Fractional Fourier Entropy

Aim: To detect pathological brain conditions early is a core procedure for patients so as to have enough time for treatment. Traditional manual detection is either cumbersome, or expensive, or time-consuming. We aim to offer a system that can automatically identify pathological brain images in this paper.Method: We propose a novel image feature, viz., Fractional Fourier Entropy (FRFE), which is based on the combination of Fractional Fourier Transform(FRFT) and Shannon entropy. Afterwards, the Welch’s t-test (WTT) and Mahalanobis distance (MD) were harnessed to select distinguishing features. Finally, we introduced an advanced classifier: twin support vector machine (TSVM). Results: A 10 x K-fold stratified cross validation test showed that this proposed “FRFE +WTT + TSVM” yielded an accuracy of 100.00%, 100.00%, and 99.57% on datasets that contained 66, 160, and 255 brain images, respectively. Conclusions: The proposed “FRFE +WTT + TSVM” method is superior to 20 state-of-the-art methods

Gas protection of two-dimensional nanomaterials from high-energy impacts

Two-dimensional (2D) materials can be produced using ball milling with the help of liquid surfactants or solid exfoliation agents, as ball milling of bulk precursor materials usually produces nanosized particles because of high-energy impacts. Post-milling treatment is thus needed to purify the nanosheets. We show here that nanosheets of graphene, BN, and MoS2 can be produced by ball milling of their bulk crystals in the presence of ammonia or a hydrocarbon ethylene gas and the obtained nanosheets remain flat and maintain their single-crystalline structure with low defects density even after a long period of time; post-milling treatment is not needed. This study does not just demonstrate production of nanosheets using ball milling, but reveals surprising indestructible behaviour of 2D nanomaterials in ammonia or hydrocarbon gas under the high-energy impacts; in other milling atmospheres such as air, nitrogen or argon the same milling treatment produces nanosized particles. A systematic study reveals chemisorption of ammonia and hydrocarbon gases and chemical reactions occurring at defect sites, which heal the defects by saturating the dangling bonds. Density functional theory was used to understand the mechanism of mechanochemical reactions. Ball milling in ammonia or hydrocarbon is promising for mass-production of pure nanosheets

Doped phosphorene for hydrogen capture: A DFT study

This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (Sept 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy Supplementary data to this article is available from the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.09.243Hydrogen capture and storage is the core of hydrogen energy application. With its high specific surface area, direct bandgap, and variety of potential applications, phosphorene has attracted much research interest. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) is utilized to study the interactions between doped phosphorenes and hydrogen molecules. The effects of different dopants and metallic or nonmetallic atoms on phosphorene/hydrogen interactions is systematically studied by adsorption energy, electron density difference, partial density of states analysis, and Hirshfeld population. Our results indicate that the metallic dopants Pt, Co, and Ni can help to improve the hydrogen capture ability of phosphorene, whereas the nonmetallic dopants have no effect on it. Among the various metallic dopants, Pt performs very differently, such that it can help to dissociate H2 on phosphorene. Specified doped phosphorene could be a promising candidate for hydrogen storage, with behaviors superior to those of intrinsic graphene sheet