Model-Based Evaluation of Energy Systems for Multirotor UAV Based on Batteries and Fuel Cells

In this study, two multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) energy systems are comparatively evaluated via a modelling process, namely a battery electric system and a hybrid fuel cell and battery system. Technical, economic, and ecological evaluation parameters are considered. The evaluation is performed on three different mission types: a 10 km delivery mission, a 3000 m2 facade inspection, and a nine-minute drone show, to represent the transport, monitoring, and event sectors. Results are calculated via a modelling process first simulating the required power profiles for each mission and then simulating both energy systems’ operational behavior during each mission. The resulting technical parameters show that the battery electric UAV has 1.7 times higher efficiency than the fuel cell hybrid UAV. However, the fuel cell hybrid UAV allows potential flight durations 3.1 times longer than the battery electric UAV. Considering economic parameters, the battery electric UAV is the more economical choice due to the higher investment costs of the fuel cell hybrid UAV, even when considering future cost developments for investment and energy costs. For ecological parameters, the fuel cell hybrid UAV has the potential to produce significantly less emissions, but only when using hydrogen produced from renewable energy (green hydrogen). All in all, the battery electric UAV is sufficient for the three concrete missions considered and should be chosen over the fuel cell hybrid UAV. However, the fuel cell hybrid UAV should be considered for missions with longer required flight times than the battery electric UAV is capable of, especially in the transport and monitoring sectors

Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs zwischen Gesichtsausdruck und Sympathie- sowie Attraktivitätsbeurteilung

Die Wahrnehmung des ersten Eindrucks einer Person nimmt in der Kommunikation eine entscheidende Rolle ein. Innerhalb von Sekunden gibt sie Aufschluss darüber, ob das Gegenüber als sympathisch bzw. unsympathisch und attraktiv bzw. unattraktiv empfunden wird. Mit Sympathie und Attraktivität emotionaler Gesichter befasste sich eine vorhergehende Untersuchung, die gegenwärtige Studie untersucht die Wirkung von Sympathie und Attraktivität derselben Gesichter mit neutralem Ausdruck. Frühere Studien weisen darauf hin, dass Personen mit positiver Emotion sympathischer und attraktiver erscheinen. Aus der Literatur geht jedoch nicht einheitlich hervor, ob Frauen oder Männer mit neutralem Gesichtsausdruck im Gegensatz zum emotionalen Gesichtsausdruck sympathischer und attraktiver empfunden werden. Die gegenwärtige Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang von Sympathie und Attraktivität bei Beurteilung neutraler Gesichtsausdrücke. Sie stellt einen Vergleich zu einer durchgeführten Studie dar, die den Zusammenhang bei emotionalen Gesichtsausdrücken untersuchte. In vorliegender empirischen Untersuchung wurden 101 gesunde, rechtshändige Personen (51 Frauen, 50 Männer, Durchschnittsalter: 49,31) hinsichtlich Geschlecht, Alter und Bildung ausgewählt. Zu Beginn bearbeiteten die Teilnehmer ein Rating, in welchem neutrale Gesichtsausdrücke hinsichtlich Sympathie und Attraktivität auf einer Skala zwischen -4 und +4 beurteilt wurden. Danach bearbeiteten sie ein Verfahren, in dem es galt fünf Basisemotionen und den neutralen Ausdruck zu erkennen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Frauen gegenwärtiger Studie mehr Sympathiepunkte und Männer mehr Attraktivitätspunkte vergaben. Dass weibliche Gesichter im Gegensatz zu männlichen Gesichter sympathischer und V attraktiver beurteilt wurden, steht in Einklang zu Herzl (2007). Die gegenwärtige Untersuchung zeigt weiters, dass zwischen der Sympathie- und Attraktivitätsempfindung emotionaler und neutraler Gesichtsausdrücke Unterschiede zu finden sind.The first impression about a person plays an important role in communication. Within seconds we realize, whether we like another person and find him or her “attractive” or not. In a previous study likeability and attractiveness were associated with emotional facial expressions while in the current study it is to be analysed the same faces with neutral facial expressions, to find out whether there is a difference or not. Prior studies have indicated that people with a positive facial expression were regarded as being more likeable and attractive than those with negative ones. However, the existing literature doesn’t agree whether women or men with neutral facial expressions are considered to be more likeable and attractive than those with emotional expressions. The present study examines the effect of likability and attractiveness when analysing neutral facial expressions and draws a comparison with a previous study, focusing on the same effects in connection with emotional facial expressions. 101 healthy, right-handed participants (51 women, 50 men, mean age: 49.31) were chosen according to sex, age and education. At first, they worked on a program, where pictures with neutral expressions were presented and likability and attractiveness were rated on a numeric scale ranging from -4 to +4. In addition, they performed an emotion recognition test, where pictures with five basic emotions and neutral expressions where shown. The results have pointed out that the women participating in the current study considered more people to be likeable than attractive while - for men - it was the other way round. Furthermore, Herzl’s finding (2007) that women’s faces are regarded to be more likeable and attractive than men’s, is confirmed with this study. The current findings state that the evaluation of likeability and attractiveness from faces depends on emotional and neutral expressions

Model-Based Development of Multirotor UAV Power Profiles for Performance Investigation of Different Flight Missions

In this study, a model is developed for a comparative assessment of three flight missions of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on their power profiles in order to identify future technical research priorities and possible improvements in operational management. The model describes the missions (transport, facade inspection, drone show) based on the maneuver-specific parameters for hovering flight, vertical flight, and horizontal flight and calculates the respective power profiles of the missions based on the input parameters of a reference UAV with a battery-powered electric motor. The power profiles of the investigated missions show that the maximum powers occur during accelerated climb in each case. The greatest difference in maximum power occurs between the transport mission and the facade inspection. Considering the small difference in the respective payload, the significantly higher maximum power during the transport mission can mainly be attributed to the higher acceleration assumed for this mission. Consequently, the necessary power can be influenced by the choice of maximum acceleration. This also applies to the drone show, but the difference in power cannot only be linked to the acceleration since for the considered mission the mass differs significantly because no payload is needed. Concerning the different maneuvers, horizontal flight with constant flight speed has the largest time share and the largest energy requirement in all missions. Accordingly, this is where the greatest potential for energy savings is seen. It is shown that an ideal speed for minimizing the energy demand in horizontal flight results for each total mass

Editorial: Rhizosphere Spatiotemporal Organisation

Formation of the rhizosphere, interface between living plant roots and soil, leads to changes in soil properties, nutrient and water distribution and biogeochemical cycling, and to a selection of unique populations of microorganisms and invertebrates. Dynamic feedback processes between the plant, the soil and the biota govern rhizosphere formation. The Frontiers Research Topic on “Rhizosphere Spatiotemporal Organization” presents contributions which aim to advance our understanding of rhizosphere processes. All of the six articles took the challenge to elaborate on the dynamic interactions and feedback processes in both spatial and temporal contexts

Innate immunity and monocyte-macrophage activation in atherosclerosis

Innate inflammation is a hallmark of both experimental and human atherosclerosis. The predominant innate immune cell in the atherosclerotic plaque is the monocyte-macrophage. The behaviour of this cell type within the plaque is heterogeneous and depends on the recruitment of diverse monocyte subsets. Furthermore, the plaque microenvironment offers polarisation and activation signals which impact on phenotype. Microenvironmental signals are sensed through pattern recognition receptors, including toll-like and NOD-like receptors - the latter of which are components of the inflammasome - thus dictating macrophage behaviour and outcome in atherosclerosis. Recently cholesterol crystals and modified lipoproteins have been recognised as able to directly engage these pattern recognition receptors. The convergent role of such pathways in terms of macrophage activation is discussed in this review

Efficacy and safety of Privigen® in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: results of a prospective, single-arm, open-label Phase III study (the PRIMA study)

This prospective, multicenter, single-arm, open-label Phase III study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Privigen (R) (10% liquid human intravenous immunoglobulin [IVIG], stabilized with l-proline) in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Patients received one induction dose of Privigen (2g/kg body weight [bw]) and up to seven maintenance doses (1g/kg bw) at 3-week intervals. The primary efficacy endpoint was the responder rate at completion, defined as improvement of 1 point on the adjusted Inflammatory Neuropathy Cause and Treatment (INCAT) disability scale. The preset success criterion was the responder rate being 35%. Of the 31 screened patients, 28 patients were enrolled including 13 (46.4%) IVIG-pretreated patients. The overall responder rate at completion was 60.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 42.41%-76.43%). IVIG-pretreated patients demonstrated a higher responder rate than IVIG-naive patients (76.9% vs. 46.7%). The median (25%-75% quantile) INCAT score improved from 3.5 (3.0-4.5) points at baseline to 2.5 (1.0-3.0) points at completion, as did the mean (standard deviation [SD]) maximum grip strength (66.7 [37.24] kPa vs. 80.9 [31.06] kPa) and the median Medical Research Council sum score (67.0 [61.5-72.0] points vs. 75.5 [71.5-79.5] points). Of 108 adverse events (AEs; 0.417 AEs per infusion), 95 AEs (88.0%) were mild or moderate in intensity and resolved by the end of study. Two serious AEs of hemolysis were reported that resolved after discontinuation of treatment. Thus, Privigen provided efficacious and well-tolerated induction and maintenance treatment in patients with CIDP

High-throughput multivariable Mendelian randomization analysis prioritizes apolipoprotein B as key lipid risk factor for coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: Genetic variants can be used to prioritize risk factors as potential therapeutic targets via Mendelian randomization (MR). An agnostic statistical framework using Bayesian model averaging (MR-BMA) can disentangle the causal role of correlated risk factors with shared genetic predictors. Here, our objective is to identify lipoprotein measures as mediators between lipid-associated genetic variants and coronary artery disease (CAD) for the purpose of detecting therapeutic targets for CAD. METHODS: As risk factors we consider 30 lipoprotein measures and metabolites derived from a high-throughput metabolomics study including 24 925 participants. We fit multivariable MR models of genetic associations with CAD estimated in 453 595 participants (including 113 937 cases) regressed on genetic associations with the risk factors. MR-BMA assigns to each combination of risk factors a model score quantifying how well the genetic associations with CAD are explained. Risk factors are ranked by their marginal score and selected using false-discovery rate (FDR) criteria. We perform supplementary and sensitivity analyses varying the dataset for genetic associations with CAD. RESULTS: In the main analysis, the top combination of risk factors ranked by the model score contains apolipoprotein B (ApoB) only. ApoB is also the highest ranked risk factor with respect to the marginal score (FDR <0.005). Additionally, ApoB is selected in all sensitivity analyses. No other measure of cholesterol or triglyceride is consistently selected otherwise. CONCLUSIONS: Our agnostic genetic investigation prioritizes ApoB across all datasets considered, suggesting that ApoB, representing the total number of hepatic-derived lipoprotein particles, is the primary lipid determinant of CAD