Industrial process tomography offers two key advantages over conventional sensing systems. Firstly, process tomography systems provide information about 2D or 3D distributions of the variables of interest. Secondly, tomography looks inside the processes without penetrating them physically, i.e., sensing is possible despite harsh process conditions, and the operation of the process is not disturbed by intrusive sensors. These advantages open new perspectives for the field of process control, and the potential of closed-loop control applications is one of the main driving forces behind the development of industrial tomography. Despite these advantages and decades of development, closed-loop control applications of tomography are still not really common. This article provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art in the field of control systems with tomographic sensors. An attempt is made to classify the different control approaches, critically assess their strengths and weak points, and outline which directions may lead to increased future utilization of industrial tomography in the closed-loop feedback control.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), place increasing demands on accurate stratification of patients as the starting point for optimal individualized therapy. The present study focused on assessing the association between HLC levels and the HLC-r to parameters of MM activity, prognosis and tumor mass volume.The objective was to assess the correlation of immunoglobulin (Ig), heavy/light chain (HLC) pairs (IgG-κ and-λ, IgA-κ and -λ HLC) and the ratio of monoclonal involved-HLC (i-HLC) to polyclonal uninvolved (u-HLC) Ig concentrations assessed by the Hevylite(TM) method with the free light chain κ/λ ratio (FLC-r), selected prognostic laboratory parameters i.e. Hb, platelets, albumin, β2-microglobulin (β2-M), Ca, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatinine and the Durie-Salmon (D-S) and International Staging System (ISS), stages (1-3) for MM. METHODS: Hevylite assays were done on the sera of 132 MM patients at the time of diagnosis (IgG 94, IgA 38). HLC-r was calculated in the case of i-HLC-κ from the i-HLC-κ/u-HLC-λ ratio and for i-HLC-λ from the i-HLC-λ/u-HLC-κ ratio. D-S and ISS stages were evenly distributed. RESULTS: Md IgG-κ HLC-r was 64.8 (2.7-2222) and of IgG-λ HLC-r 49.6 (0.7-465.1), in the case of IgA-κ, Md HLC-r was 408.9 (3.4-3966) and for IgA-λ HLC-r the Md was 180.0 (0.1-3110). Normal levels of HLC pairs and HLC-r did not always rule out the diagnosis of MM. HLC-r correlated with FLC-r in IgG (r = 0.244, P = 0.018), but not in the IgA type. For IgG, HLC-r values were significantly different in patients with abnormal vs normal levels of Hb (P < 0.0001), albumin (P < 0.043), β2-M (P < 0.0001) and creatinine (P = 0.034) but not thrombocyte count, Ca or LDH. For the IgA isotype, we found a significant difference in HLC-r values only for thrombocyte count (P = 0.026) and β2-M (P = 0.016) but not for Hb, albumin, Ca, LDH or creatinine. For the IgG isotype there was a significant relationship of HLC-r index to stages 1-3 (P = 0.038) and substage A vs B (P = 0.048) according to D-S, and with high significance to stages 1-3 according to ISS (P = 0.005) and between stages 1 vs 3 (P = 0.001). For the IgA isotype, we found significant differences in HLC-r only between stages 1-3 (P = 0.025) according to D-S but not in the case of ISS. There were no significant correlations between i-HLC Ig levels and D-S or ISS stages in both IgG-κ and λ and IgA-κ and λ. Exceptions were significant differences for stages 1 vs 3 (P = 0.012) and 2 vs 3 (P = 0.017) for the IgG-λ isotype. There were no correlations of the HLC-r and u-HLC levels for either D-S or ISS stratifications in all HLC isotypes. CONCLUSION: We found a significant positive contribution of HLC-r using the i-HLC/u-HLC ratio even in the case of i-HLC-λ i.e. i-HLC-λ/u-HLC-κ. Variable results for the relationship of important laboratory parameters and D-S and ISS stratifications (stage 1-3) to HLC-r values in IgG and IgA isotypes make separate interpretation of the Hevylite method results necessary in clinical practice.
- Keywords
- free light chain ratio, heavy/light chain measurements, heavy/light chain ratio, multiple myeloma, multiple myeloma stratification, prognostic parameters,
- MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Immunoglobulin A metabolism MeSH
- Immunoglobulin G metabolism MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Multiple Myeloma blood classification diagnosis MeSH
- Prognosis MeSH
- Prospective Studies MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains metabolism MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Immunoglobulin A MeSH
- Immunoglobulin G MeSH
- Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains MeSH
In recent years, most countries around the world have struggled with the consequences of budget cuts in health expenditure, obliging them to utilize their resources efficiently. In this context, performance evaluation facilitates the decision-making process in improving the efficiency of the healthcare system. However, the performance evaluation of many sectors, including the healthcare systems, is, on the one hand, a challenging issue and on the other hand a useful tool for decision- making with the aim of optimizing the use of resources. This study proposes a new methodology comprising two well-known analytical approaches: (i) data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the efficiencies and (ii) data science to complement the DEA model in providing insightful recommendations for strategic decision making on productivity enhancement. The suggested method is a first attempt to combine two DEA extensions: flexible measure and cross-efficiency. We develop a pair of benevolent and aggressive scenarios aiming at evaluating cross-efficiency in the presence of flexible measures. Next, we perform data mining cluster analysis to create groups of homogeneous countries. Organizing the data in similar groups facilitates identifying a set of benchmarks that perform similarly in terms of operating conditions. Comparing the benchmark set with poorly performing countries we can obtain attainable goals for performance enhancement which will assist policymakers to strategically act upon it. A case study of healthcare systems in 120 countries is taken as an example to illustrate the potential application of our new method.
- Keywords
- Clustering, Cross-efficiency, Data envelopment analysis, Data science, Flexible measure, Healthcare,
- MeSH
- Resource Allocation methods MeSH
- Global Health MeSH
- Efficiency, Organizational * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Delivery of Health Care * methods organization & administration MeSH
- Decision Making MeSH
- Cluster Analysis MeSH
- Models, Statistical * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Diabetes is a heterogeneous group of diseases that share a common trait of elevated blood glucose levels. Insulin lowers this level by promoting glucose utilization, thus avoiding short- and long-term organ damage due to the elevated blood glucose level. A patient with diabetes uses an insulin pump to dose insulin. The pump uses a controller to compute and dose the correct amount of insulin to keep blood glucose levels in a safe range. Insulin-pump controller development is an ongoing process aiming at fully closed-loop control. Controllers entering the market must be evaluated for safety. We propose an evaluation method that exploits an FDA-approved diabetic patient simulator. The method evaluates a Cartesian product of individual insulin-pump parameters with a fine degree of granularity. As this is a computationally intensive task, the simulator executes on a distributed cluster. We identify safe and risky combinations of insulin-pump parameter settings by applying the binomial model and decision tree to this product. As a result, we obtain a tool for insulin-pump settings and controller safety assessment. In this paper, we demonstrate the tool with the Low-Glucose Suspend and OpenAPS controllers. For average ± standard deviation, LGS and OpenAPS exhibited 1.7 ± 0.6% and 3.2 ± 1.8% of local extrema (i.e., good insulin-pump settings) out of all the entire Cartesian products, respectively. A continuous region around the best-discovered settings (i.e., the global extremum) of the insulin-pump settings spread across 4.0 ± 1.1% and 4.1 ± 1.3% of the Cartesian products, respectively.
- Keywords
- controller, diabetes, in silico, insulin pump, smartcgms,
- MeSH
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 * MeSH
- Hypoglycemic Agents therapeutic use MeSH
- Insulin therapeutic use MeSH
- Insulin Infusion Systems MeSH
- Blood Glucose * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Hypoglycemic Agents MeSH
- Insulin MeSH
- Blood Glucose * MeSH
Blood flows and pressures throughout the human cardiovascular system are regulated in response to various dynamic perturbations, such as changes to peripheral demands in exercise, rapid changes in posture, or loss of blood from hemorrhage, via the coordinated action of the heart, the vasculature, and autonomic reflexes. To assess how the systemic and pulmonary arterial and venous circulation, the heart, and the baroreflex work together to effect the whole-body responses to these perturbations, we integrated an anatomically-based large-vessel arterial tree model with the TriSeg heart model, models capturing nonlinear characteristics of the large and small veins, and baroreflex-mediated regulation of vascular tone and cardiac chronotropy and inotropy. The model was identified by matching data from the Valsalva maneuver (VM), exercise, and head-up tilt (HUT). Thirty-one parameters were optimized using a custom parameter-fitting tool chain, resulting in an unique, high-fidelity whole-body human cardiovascular systems model. Because the model captures the effects of exercise and posture changes, it can be used to simulate numerous clinical assessments, such as HUT, the VM, and cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing. The model can also be applied as a framework for representing and simulating individual patients and pathologies. Moreover, it can serve as a framework for integrating multi-scale organ-level models, such as for the heart or the kidneys, into a whole-body model. Here, the model is used to analyze the relative importance of chronotropic, inotropic, and peripheral vascular contributions to the whole-body cardiovascular response to exercise. It is predicted that in normal physiological conditions chronotropy and inotropy make roughly equal contributions to increasing cardiac output and cardiac power output during exercise. Under upright exercise conditions, the nonlinear pressure-volume relationship of the large veins and sympathetic-mediated venous vasoconstriction are both required to maintain preload to achieve physiological exercise levels. The developed modeling framework is built using the open Modelica modeling language and is freely distributed.
- Keywords
- Baroreflex, Computational model, Exercise, Head-up tilt, Valsalva maneuver, Vascular network,
- MeSH
- Baroreflex * physiology MeSH
- Exercise * MeSH
- Cardiovascular System * MeSH
- Blood Pressure physiology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Posture physiology MeSH
- Heart Rate physiology MeSH
- Systems Analysis MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
Substantial knowledge is available on the association of the indoor school environment and its effect among schoolchildren. In the same context, the SINPHONIE (School indoor pollution and health: Observatory network in Europe) conducted a study to collect data and determine the distribution of several indoor air pollutants (IAPs), physical and thermal parameters and their association with eye, skin, upper-, lower respiratory and systemic disorder symptoms during the previous three months. Finally, data from 115 schools in 54 European cities from 23 countries were collected and included 5175 schoolchildren using a harmonized and standardized protocol. The association between exposures and the health outcomes were examined using logistic regression models on the environmental stressors assessed in classroom while adjusting for several confounding factors; a VOC (volatile organic compound) score defined as the sum of the number of pollutants to which the children were highly exposed (concentration > median of the distribution) in classroom was also introduced to evaluate the multiexposure - outcome association. Schoolchildren while adjusting for several confounding factors. Schoolchildren exposed to above or equal median concentration of PM2.5, benzene, limonene, ozone and radon were at significantly higher odds of suffering from upper, lower airways, eye and systemic disorders. Increased odds were also observed for any symptom (sick school syndrome) among schoolchildren exposed to concentrations of limonene and ozone above median values. Furthermore, the risks for upper and lower airways and systemic disorders significantly increased with the VOCs score. Results also showed that increased ventilation rate was significantly associated with decreased odds of suffering from eye and skin disorders whereas similar association was observed between temperature and upper airways symptoms. The present study provides evidence that exposure to IAPs in schools is associated with various health problems in children. Further investigations are needed to confirm our findings.
- Keywords
- Allergy, Indoor air pollution, Multi-pollution, Sick building syndrome, Thermal parameters, VOC,
- MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Air Pollutants analysis MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Schools MeSH
- Temperature MeSH
- Air Pollution analysis MeSH
- Air Pollution, Indoor analysis MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Air Pollutants MeSH
Air pollution has changed ecosystem and atmosphere. It is dangerous for environment, human health, and other living creatures. This contamination is due to various industrial and chemical pollutants, which reduce air, water, and soil quality. Therefore, air quality monitoring is essential. Flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) are an effective solution for intelligent air quality monitoring and evaluation. A FANET-based air quality monitoring system uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to measure air pollutants. Therefore, these systems have particular features, such as the movement of UAVs in three-dimensional area, high dynamism, quick topological changes, constrained resources, and low density of UAVs in the network. Therefore, the routing issue is a fundamental challenge in these systems. In this paper, we introduce a Q-learning-based routing method called QFAN for intelligent air quality monitoring systems. The proposed method consists of two parts: route discovery and route maintenance. In the part one, a Q-learning-based route discovery mechanism is designed. Also, we propose a filtering parameter to filter some UAVs in the network and restrict the search space. In the route maintenance phase, QFAN seeks to detect and correct the paths near to breakdown. Moreover, QFAN can quickly identify and replace the failed paths. Finally, QFAN is simulated using NS2 to assess its performance. The simulation results show that QFAN surpasses other routing approaches with regard to end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio, energy consumption, and network lifetime. However, communication overhead has been increased slightly in QFAN.
- MeSH
- Algorithms MeSH
- Ecosystem MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Computer Simulation MeSH
- Computer Communication Networks * MeSH
- Air Pollution * prevention & control MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
The liquid state NMR chemical shift of protons is a parameter frequently used to characterize host-guest complexes. Its theoretical counterpart, that is, the 1H NMR chemical shielding affected by the solvent (1H CS), may provide important insights into spatial arrangements of supramolecular systems, and it can also be reliably obtained for challenging cases of an aggregation of aromatic and antiaromatic molecules in solution. This computational analysis is performed for the complex of coronene and an antiaromatic model compound in acetonitrile by employing the GIAO-B3LYP-PCM approach combined with a saturated basis set. Predicted 1H CS values are used to generate volumetric data, whose properties are thoroughly investigated. The 1H CS isosurface, corresponding to a value of the proton chemical shift taken from a previous experimental study, is described. The presence of the 1H CS isosurface should be taken into account in deriving structural information about supramolecular hosts and their encapsulation of small molecules.
- Keywords
- B3LYP, GIAO, antiaromaticity, chemical shielding, proton NMR,
- MeSH
- Acetonitriles chemistry MeSH
- X-Ray Diffraction MeSH
- Carbon Isotopes MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy methods MeSH
- Macromolecular Substances MeSH
- Nickel chemistry MeSH
- Normal Distribution MeSH
- Polycyclic Compounds chemistry MeSH
- Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy MeSH
- Protons MeSH
- Solvents chemistry MeSH
- Iron chemistry MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- acetonitrile MeSH Browser
- Acetonitriles MeSH
- Carbon-13 MeSH Browser
- coronene MeSH Browser
- Carbon Isotopes MeSH
- Macromolecular Substances MeSH
- Nickel MeSH
- Polycyclic Compounds MeSH
- Protons MeSH
- Solvents MeSH
- Iron MeSH
OBJECTIVE: of this paper is to compare observed values of immune parameters obtained in the CESAR study (The Central Europe Study of Air Pollution and Respiratory Health, funded by EC PHARE program) with ranges derived from other large population-based studies. STUDY DESIGN: Data were collected in healthy school children aged 9-11 years, in 6 countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic with the same standard approach in 1996. Random samples of 85 children per country, from 19 communities were selected from children having completed the health questionnaire, in total 495 children were analyzed. Lymphocyte subsets were determined by two-colour flow cytometric immunophenotyping using the lysed whole blood method (Becton-Dickinson). For determination of immunoglobulin concentration in sera nephelometric method (Behring Nephelometer system) was used. RESULTS: Medians, (5th-95th percentiles) of the lymphocyte subsets absolute count (x 10(9)/l) were as follows: CD19+ B cells 0.36 (0.13-0.66), total CD3+ T cells 1.74 (0.98-2.90), CD3+CD4+ helper-inducer T cells 0.95 (0.47-1.78), CD3+CD8+ suppressor/cytotoxic T cells 0.71 (0.38-1.22), CD3-CD16+56+ NK cells 0.36 (0.14-0.78), and for CD3+CD4+/CD3+CD8+ ratio 1.4 (0.8-2.4). Medians, (5th-95th percentiles) of percentages of lymphocyte subpopulations (%) were as follows: CD19+ B 13 (7-22), CD3+ T 70 (59-80), CD3+CD4+ T 38 (27-48), CD3+CD8+ T 28 (20-39), CD3-CD16+56+ NK cells 14 (6-27). Medians, (2.5th-97.5th percentiles) of the total immunoglobulin [g/l] were 11.7 (7.4-18.2) for IgG, 1.2 (0.5-2.5) for IgM, and 1.5 (0.5-3.4) for IgA. Based on the aspects of the size of the CESAR immune biomarker study and on the use of the standardized protocols we recommend to use the reference ranges on lymphocyte subsets and immunoglobulin in Europe as provided by this study.
- MeSH
- Biomarkers blood MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Immunoglobulins blood MeSH
- Cohort Studies MeSH
- Air Pollutants immunology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Lymphocytes blood classification immunology MeSH
- Urban Population MeSH
- Flow Cytometry MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Child Welfare statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe, Eastern MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Biomarkers MeSH
- Immunoglobulins MeSH
- Air Pollutants MeSH
Force-field parameters of the first row transition metals together with a few additional common elements such as those from the second (Rh, Ru) and third (Hg, Pt) rows of elements in ligated forms were determined based on the density functional theory calculations. Bonding characteristics were determined by averaging metal-ligand force constants in optimal geometries from several chosen complexes of each metal in the most common oxidation numbers and structural arrangements. Parameters of Lennard-Jones potential were determined based on a supermolecular model. Our determined molecular mechanical parameters are compared with presently available parameters published by other groups. We performed two different kinds of testing in order to demonstrate the reliability of these parameters in the case of ligated metallo complexes. First, the nonbonding potential was constructed for an additional set of 19 larger systems containing common complexes with organic molecules. The second test compares the Pt-O and Pt-H radial distribution functions for cisplatin in a box of TIP3P water with lately published studies.
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
