Dynamic Analysis of Double Wishbone Front Suspension Systems for Sport Motorcycles

In this paper, two alternative front suspension systems and their influence on motorcycle dynamics are investigated. Based on an existing motorcycle mathematical model, the front end is modified to accommodate both Girder and Hossack suspension systems. Both of them have in common a double wishbone design that varies the front end geometry on certain manoeuvrings and, consequently, the machine’s behaviour. The kinematics of the two systems and their impact on the motorcycle performance is analysed and compared to the well known telescopic fork suspension system. Stability study for both systems is carried out by means of root-loci methods, in which the main oscillation modes, weave and wobble, are studied and compared to the baseline model

Discovering market trends in the biotechnology industry

In this paper we describe our approach to discover trends for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry based on temporal text mining. Temporal text mining combines information extraction and data mining techniques upon textual repositories and our main objective is to identify changes of associations among entities of interest over time. It consists of three main phases; the Information Extraction, the ontology driven generalisation of templates and the discovery of associations over time. Treatment of the temporal dimension is essential to our approach since it influences both the annotation part (IE) of the system as well as the mining part. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Effects of routine hyperventilation on PCO2 and PO2 in normal subjects: implications for EEG interpretations.

There are few data in the EEG literature describing the time course of hyperventilation-(HV) induced changes in blood gases, despite this being a routine activating procedure. We studied changes in blood gases and EEG in nine normal adult subjects before, during, and after HV. The mean PCO2 fell 18 mm Hg from the baseline during HV and recovered in 7 min. The mean PO2 rose 7 mmHg during HV and fell to 25 mm Hg below baseline 5 min after HV. The PCO2 recovery period is longer than is usually assumed in clinical EEG. The PO2 fall to a nadir at 5 min after the end of HV suggests that close attention should be paid to this period, as is confirmed by the re-buildup seen in moyamoya disease. Despite uniform changes in blood gases, the EEG median power frequency change showed marked variability; on average, it dropped by 1 Hz during HV and returned to baseline within 2 min of resumption of normal respiration. The EEG root-mean-square power showed a 200% increase during HV and also had returned to normal within 2 min.Journal Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Antibodies against the node of Ranvier: a real-life evaluation of incidence, clinical features and response to treatment based on a prospective analysis of 1500 sera.

IgG4 antibodies against neurofascin (Nfasc155 and Nfasc140/186), contactin (CNTN1) and contactin-associated protein (Caspr1) are described in specific subtypes of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). Our objective was to assess, in a real-life practice, the incidence, the clinical features and the response to treatment of these forms of CIDP. 1500 sera of patients suspected of having CIDP from France, Belgium and Switzerland were prospectively tested using a flow cytometry technique. The characteristics of patients with antibodies against the node of Ranvier were compared to 100 seronegative CIDP from our department. IgG4 antibodies against Nfasc155, CNTN1, and Caspr1 were, respectively, detected in 15 (prevalence 1%), 10 (0.7%) and 2 (0.2%) sera. Antibodies specific of the Nfasc140/186 were not detected. All subjects with antibodies against the node of Ranvier fulfilled diagnostic criteria for CIDP. CIDP with anti-Nfasc155 were younger, had more sensory ataxia and postural tremor than seronegative CIDP. CIDP with anti-CNTN1 had more frequent subacute onset and facial paralysis, commoner renal involvement with membranous glomerulonephritis and greater disability, than seronegative CIDP. CIDP with anti-Caspr1 had more frequent respiratory failure and cranial nerve involvement but not more neuropathic pain than seronegative CIDP. Intravenous immunoglobulins were ineffective in most seropositive patients. Rituximab produced dramatic improvement in disability and decreased antibodies titres in 13 seropositive patients (8 with anti-Nfasc155 and 5 with anti-CNTN1 antibodies). Although rare, anti-paranodal antibodies are clinically valuable, because they are associated with specific phenotypes and therapeutic response

Parmenides: an opportunity for ISO TC37 SC4?

Despite the many initiatives in recent years aimed at creating Language Engineering standards, it is often the case that different projects use different approaches and often define their own standards. Even within the same project it often happens that different tools will require different ways to represent their linguistic data. In a recently started EU project focusing on the integration of Information Extraction and Data Mining techniques, we aim at avoiding the problem of incompatibility among different tools by defining a Common Annotation Scheme internal to the project. However, when the project was started (Sep 2002) we were unaware of the standardization effort of ISO TC37/SC4, and so we commenced once again trying to define our own schema. Fortunately, as this work is still at an early stage (the project will last till 2005) it is still possible to redirect it in a way that it will be compatible with the standardization work of ISO. In this paper we describe the status of the work in the project and explore possible synergies with the work in ISO TC37 SC4

Motor cortical hyperexcitability in idiopathic scoliosis: could focal dystonia be a subclinical etiological factor?

The aetiology of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) remains unknown; however, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the spine deformity could be the expression of a subclinical nervous system disorder. A defective sensory input or an anomalous sensorimotor integration may lead to an abnormal postural tone and therefore the development of a spine deformity. Inhibition of the motor cortico-cortical excitability is abnormal in dystonia. Therefore, the study of cortico-cortical inhibition may shed some insight into the dystonia hypothesis regarding the pathophysiology of IS. Paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to study cortico-cortical inhibition and facilitation in nine adolescents with IS, five teenagers with congenital scoliosis (CS) and eight healthy age-matched controls. The effect of a previous conditioning stimulus (80% intensity of resting motor threshold) on the amplitude of the motor-evoked potential induced by the test stimulus (120% of resting motor threshold) was examined at various interstimulus intervals (ISIs) in both abductor pollicis brevis muscles. The results of healthy adolescents and those with CS showed a marked inhibitory effect of the conditioning stimulus on the response to the test stimulus at interstimulus intervals shorter than 6 ms. These findings do not differ from those reported for normal adults. However, children with IS revealed an abnormally reduced cortico-cortical inhibition at the short ISIs. Cortico-cortical inhibition was practically normal on the side of the scoliotic convexity while it was significantly reduced on the side of the scoliotic concavity. In conclusion, these findings support the hypothesis that a dystonic dysfunction underlies in IS. Asymmetrical cortical hyperexcitability may play an important role in the pathogenesis of IS and represents an objective neurophysiological finding that could be used clinically