Safety Barrier Certificates for Stochastic Control Systems with Wireless Communication Networks

This work is concerned with a formal approach for safety controller synthesis of stochastic control systems with both process and measurement noises while considering wireless communication networks between sensors, controllers, and actuators. The proposed scheme is based on control barrier certificates (CBC), which allows us to provide safety certifications for wirelessly-connected stochastic control systems. Despite the available literature on designing control barrier certificates, there has been unfortunately no consideration of wireless communication networks to capture potential packet losses and end-to-end delays, which is absolutely crucial in safety-critical real-world applications. In our proposed setting, the key objective is to construct a control barrier certificate together with a safety controller while providing a lower bound on the satisfaction probability of the safety property over a finite time horizon. We propose a systematic approach in the form of sum-of-squares optimization and matrix inequalities for the synthesis of CBC and its associated controller. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach on a permanent magnet synchronous motor. For the application of automotive electric steering under a wireless communication network, we design a CBC together with a safety controller to maintain the electrical current of the motor in a safe set within a finite time horizon while providing a formal probabilistic guarantee

IoT-Based Smart Management of Healthcare Services in Hospital Buildings during COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

The paper aims to design and develop an innovative solution in the Smart Building context that increases guests' hospitality level during the COVID-19 and future pandemics in locations like hotels, conference locations, campuses, and hospitals. The solution supports features intending to control the number of occupants by online appointments, smart navigation, and queue management in the building through mobile phones and navigation to the desired location by highlighting interests and facilities. Moreover, checking the space occupancy, and automatic adjustment of the environmental features are the abilities that can be added to the proposed design in the future development. The proposed solution can address all mentioned issues regarding the smart building by integrating and utilizing various data sources collected by the internet of things (IoT) sensors. Then, storing and processing collected data in servers and finally sending the desired information to the end-users. Consequently, through the integration of multiple IoT technologies, a unique platform with minimal hardware usage and maximum adaptability for smart management of general and healthcare services in hospital buildings will be created

Reliability of the Thickness Measurement and Histogram of Elbow Flexors by Ultrasonography in Patients with Fascioscapulohumoral Dystrophy and Healthy Subjects

Introduction: Ultrasonography is a non-invasive and available technique used to assess normal and pathological tissue in people with neuromuscular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine relative and absolute reliability of ultrasonography in evaluation of thickness and histogram of elbow flexor muscles in patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD and healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out on an experimental group of six patients with FSHD and a control group comprising 6 healthy individuals. The thickness and histogram of elbow flexors were evaluated while subjects were in sitting position with knees bent, arms at 90 degrees abduction, elbows at 90 degrees flexion and forearms in neutral position. The probe was placed on the anterior surface of arm at 2/3 distance between the lateral tip of acromion and the lateral epicondyle of the humerus. Standard deviation of echogenicity based on histogram curve was also used to estimate the echogenic uniformity of muscle tissue (STDE), subsequently two parameters including L-mean and STDE were recorded. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable changes (MDC) tests were applied to measure relative and absolute reliability and to estimate the measurement errors. Results: The values of the reliability of muscle thickness measurement were ICC=0.95, SEM=2.14 and MDC=5.94 and ICC=0.95, SEM=1.34 and MDC=3.72 in the experimental group and the control group respectively. Additionally, for L-mean measurements it appeared to be ICC=0.89, SEM=1.75 and MDC=4.86 among patients and ICC=0.66, SEM=1.04 and MDC=2.89 in healthy subjects. Finally, the reliability of STDE measurement was revealed to be ICC=0.98, SEM=0.18 and MDC=0.51 and (ICC=0.75, SEM=0.63 and MDC=1.74) among the participants of the experimental and the control groups. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that ultrasonography method used in this study had a high level of accuracy to measure the thickness and histogram of elbow flexors in both healthy subjects and patients with FSHD. The method can be recommended to compare or determine the effectiveness of different treatment methods in patients with FSHD.Key words: Elbow Flexors, Fascioscapulohumoral Dystrophy Histogram, Reliability; Thickness, Ultrasonograph

Effect of Intra-Canal Direct Current Electric Stimulation on Orthodontic Tooth Movement: An Experimental Study in Canines

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether intra-canal application of controlled direct electric current (DEC) could accelerate the amount of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) in young adult mixed breed dogs.Methods: Fourth premolars of both jaws of five young adult mixed breed dogs were divided into two groups of control and experimental groups. Orthodontic force was applied to both groups using an active NiTi push coil spring. Direct electric stimulation (15µA DC) was conducted by intra-canal usage of electric potential (1.5v). The experimental teeth were compared with controls in terms of clinical OTM results measured with an electronic caliper every two weeks (four time intervals). The animals were sacrificed one month (T2) or two months (T4) after initiation; and tissue sections were decalcified for histological evaluation. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16, Shapiro-Wilk test and paired t-test.Results: Measurements revealed a statistically significant increase in OTM at electrically stimulated sites compared to the control sites in just one time interval (T3: after four weeks) (P< 0.05). Histological sections also showed increased osteoblastic and osteoclastic activity at tension and compression sides of the experimental group compared to the control group, respectively at both time intervals (T2 and T4).Conclusion: Direct intra-canal electric current applied by a miniature electric device is effective for increasing the rate and amount of OTM in canine experimental model

Toxicological Analysis of Insects on the Corpse: a Valuable Source of Information in Forensic Investigations

Background: Entomotoxicology as a subset of forensic entomology can be used by analysis of carcass feeding in­sects to detecting of drugs or toxins, as well as the cause and manner of death in cases of ante-mortem drugs intoxi­cation. Morphine is one of the deacetylate metabolites of heroin. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and quantity of morphine in insects on the carcass and compare them with decomposing carcass. Methods: Field of this study was in Chalabeh District and toxicological tests were carried out at the Department of Forensic Toxicology, Legal Medicine Center, Kermanshah, Iran in 2017. Morphine was inoculated into live rabbit as experimental model at concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50mg/ml, similar to those normally encountered in human over­doses, then quality and quantity of morphine were determined in insects such as Chrysomya albiceps (as the first wave of insect succession on human cadavers) fed on carcass. Results: Quantitative assessment at larvae showed that morphine was detected in all larvae (feeding and post feeding stage) fed on tissues from carcasses administered morphine, except for post-feeding larvae from R1 which received 12.5mg/ml dosage of morphine. Conclusions: Necrophagous insects are an indicator on the scene of crime and a potential source of information about the antemortem situation. Detection of drug in insects which is actually a reflection of the cause of death is possible

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Effect of Cobalt Catalyst Confinement in Carbon Nanotubes Support on Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Performance

Pre-treating the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) support by refluxing in 35 vol% nitric acid followed by heating at the temperature of 600 to 900 °C resulted in the formation of defects on the CNTs. Increasing the temperature of the pre-treatment of the CNTs from 600 °C to 900 °C, enhanced the fraction of cobalt-oxide nanoparticles encapsulated in the channels of CNTs from 31% to 70%. The performance of Co/CNTs in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was evaluated in a fixed-bed micro-reactor at a temperature of 240 °C and a pressure of 2.0 MPa. The highest CO conversion obtained over Co/CNTs.A.900 was 59% and it dropped by ~3% after 130 h of time-on-stream. However, maximum CO conversion using Co/CNTs.A.600 catalysts was 28% and it decreased rapidly by about 54% after 130 h of time-on-stream. These findings show that the combined acid and thermal pre-treatment of CNTs support at 900 °C has improved the stability and activity of the Co/CNTs catalyst in FTS

Effect of Manganese on Co–Mn/CNT Bimetallic Catalyst Performance in Fischer–Tropsch Reaction

Cobalt (Co) catalyst is supported by carbon nanotubes (CNT) using a strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA) method. To promote activity and selectivity as well as find the optimum loading percentage and its effect on catalyst performance, manganese (Mn) has been added to the Co/CNT catalyst. Samples were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), hydrogen temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), Zeta potential, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray spectroscopy (XPS). TEM images illustrated an intake of metal particles which were highly dispersed, having a narrow particle size distribution of 6–8 nm to the external and internal CNT support. H2-TPR showed a lower temperature reduction with Mn at 420 °C for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reaction. The Co–Mn/CNT catalyst performance test for FTS was performed at a temperature of 240 °C in a fixed-bed micro-reactor at a pressure of 2.0 MPa. The addition of manganese resulted in a lower methane selectivity and a higher C5+ product with an optimum percentage of 5% of manganese. CO conversion was 86.6% and had a C5+ selectivity of 81.5%, which was higher than the catalysts obtained using only Co on pretreated CNT

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Co-Mn BIMETALLIC CATALYST ON CARBON NANOTUBES SUPPORT FOR FISCHER-TROPSCH REACTION

In this study, cobalt-based catalysts were synthesized on carbon nanotubes support using strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA) method and their performance in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was evaluated. The catalysts were characterized using transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2-physisorption, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The catalytic testing was carried out in a fixed-bed micro reactor at 473 to 573 K, 1 to 25 atm and of H2:CO ratio of0.5 to 4.5