Intrahepatic portal venous systems in adult patients with cavernous transformation of portal vein: Imaging features and a new classification

Background: Cavernous transformation of the portal vein(CTPV) due to portal vein obstruction is a rare vascular anomaly defined as the formation of multiple collateral vessels in the hepatic hilum. This study aimed to investigate the imaging features of intrahepatic portal vein in adult patients with CTPV and establish the relationship between the manifestations of intrahepatic portal vein and the progression of CTPV. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 14 CTPV patients in Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital. All patients underwent both direct portal venography(DPV) and computed tomography angiography(CTA) to reveal the manifestations of the portal venous system. The vessels measured included the left portal vein(LPV), right portal vein(RPV), main portal vein(MPV) and the portal vein bifurcation(PVB). Results: Nine males and 5 females, with a median age of 40.5 years, were included in the study. No significant difference was found in the diameters of the LPV or RPV measured by DPV and CTA. The visualization in terms of LPV, RPV and PVB measured by DPV was higher than that by CTA. There was a significant association between LPV/RPV and PVB/MPV in term of visibility revealed with DPV( P = 0.01), while this association was not observed with CTA. According to the imaging features of the portal vein measured by DPV, CTPV was classified into three categories to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment. Conclusions: DPV was more accurate than CTA for revealing the course of the intrahepatic portal vein in patients with CTPV. The classification of CTPV, that originated from the imaging features of the portal vein revealed by DPV, may provide a new perspective for the diagnosis and treatment of CTPV.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Consensus Control for Input Constrained Multi-Agent Systems With a Designable Minimum Inter-Event Time

This paper investigates the consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) with constrained input using the dynamic event-triggered mechanism(ETM).Consider the MASs with small-scale networks where a centralized dynamic ETM with global information of the MASs is first designed.Then,a distributed dynamic ETM which only uses local information is developed for the MASs with large-scale networks.It is shown that the semi-global consensus of the MASs can be achieved by the designed bounded control protocol where the Zeno phenomenon is eliminated by a designable minimum inter-event time.In addition,it is easier to find a trade-off between the convergence rate and the minimum inter-event time by an adjustable parameter.Furthermore,the results are extended to regional consensus of the MASs with the bounded control protocol.Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Research on the longitudinal protection of a through-type cophase traction direct power supply system based on the empirical wavelet transform

This paper proposes a longitudinal protection scheme utilizing empirical wavelet transform(EWT)for a through-type cophase traction direct power supply system,where both sides of a traction network line exhibit a distinctive boundary structure.This approach capitalizes on the boundary’s capacity to attenuate the high-frequency component of fault signals,resulting in a variation in the high-frequency transient energy ratio when faults occur inside or outside the line.During internal line faults,the high-frequency transient energy at the checkpoints located at both ends surpasses that of its neighboring lines.Conversely,for faults external to the line,the energy is lower compared to adjacent lines.EWT is employed to decompose the collected fault current signals,allowing access to the high-frequency transient energy.The longitudinal protection for the traction network line is established based on disparities between both ends of the traction network line and the high-frequency transient energy on either side of the boundary.Moreover,simulation verification through experimental results demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed protection scheme across various initial fault angles,distances to faults,and fault transition resistances.

Radial solution of the Logarithmic Laplacian system

The paper generalizes the direct method of moving planes to the Logarithmic Laplacian system.Firstly,some key ingredients of the method are discussed,for example,Narrow region principle and Decay at infinity.Then,the radial symmetry of the solution of the Logarithmic Laplacian system is obtained.

A frequency domain estimation and compensation method for system synchronization parameters of distributed-HFSWR

To analyze the influence of time synchronization error,phase synchronization error,frequency synchronization error,internal delay of the transceiver system,and range error and angle error between the unit radars on the target detection performance,firstly,a spatial detection model of distributed high-frequency surface wave radar(distributed-HFSWR)is established in this paper.In this model,a method for accurate extraction of direct wave spectrum based on curve fitting is proposed to obtain accurate system internal delay and frequency synchronization error under complex electromagnetic environment background and low signal to noise ratio(SNR),and to compensate for the shift of range and Doppler frequency caused by time-frequency synchronization error.The direct wave component is extracted from the spectrum,the range estimation error and Doppler estimation error are reduced by the method of curve fitting,and the fitting accuracy of the parameters is improved.Then,the influence of frequency synchronization error on target range and radial Doppler velocity is quantitatively analyzed.The relationship between frequency synchronization error and radial Doppler velocity shift and range shift is given.Finally,the system synchronization parameters of the trial distributed-HFSWR are obtained by the proposed spectrum extraction method based on curve fitting,the experimental data is compensated to correct the shift of the target,and finally the correct target parameter information is obtained.Simulations and experimental results demonstrate the superiority and correctness of the proposed method,theoretical derivation and detection model proposed in this paper.

Research and exploration of direct current power supply and distribution systems for Antarctic research stations

The power supply and distribution systems for Antarctic research stations have special characteristics.In light of a worldwide trend toward a gradual increase in the application of renewable energy,an analysis was performed to assess the feasibility of achieving a direct current power supply and distribution at Antarctic research stations by comparing the characteristics of direct current and alternating current electricity.Research was also performed on the status quo and future trends in direct current power supply and distribution systems in Antarctica research stations in combination with case studies.

Community Perception of Riparian Corridors Ecosystem Services and Implications for Environmental Education in Upper Oueme Catchment in Benin, West Africa

The assessment of the local community perception of the value of riparian corridors is relevant to understand their attitude towards the conservation of such ecosystem. We conducted a semi-structured survey on the perception and importance attributed to the ecosystem services (ESs) provided by riparian corridors in 368 households across 70 villages located in a buffer zone of 5 km of servitude around the permanent rivers of the Upper Oueme watershed in Benin. We found that local communities easily reported provisioning and cultural ESs than regulating and supporting ones, indicating their misunderstanding of the main role of riparian corridor. Moreover, the supply of cropping areas was perceived as the most important ES. Educated respondents and high-income households had more knowledge of regulating ESs and supporting ESs, respectively. Overall, the highly perceived importance of the provision of cropping areas indicates a potential risk of agricultural encroachment of riparian corridors. We suggest the consideration of the current local perception of riparian corridor’s role in designing a sound environmental education aiming at the change of local population’s perception. This perception shift will promote a sustainable management of the riparian corridors.

Designing a Protection Scheme in Micro-Grid Systems with DG Using Central Protection Unite and Multiple Setting Group Protection Relays

Distributed generators now is widely used in electrical power networks, in some cases it works seasonally, and some types works at special weather conditions like photo voltaic systems and wind energy, and due to this continuous changes in generation condition, the fault current level in network will be affected, this changes in fault current level will affect in the coordination between protection relays and to keep the coordination at right way, an adaptive protection system is required that can adaptive its setting according to generation changes, the fault current level in each case is evaluated using ETAP software, and the required relay setting in each case is also evaluated using Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) algorithm, and to select suitable setting which required in each condition, to select the active setting group of protection relay according to generation capacity, central protection unite can be used, and to improve protection stability and minimizing relays tripping time, a proposed method for selecting suitable backup relay is used, which leads to decrease relays tripping time and increase system stability, output settings for relays in all cases achieved our constrains.

How Generative Adversarial Networks Promote the Development of Intelligent Transportation Systems:A Survey

In current years,the improvement of deep learning has brought about tremendous changes:As a type of unsupervised deep learning algorithm,generative adversarial networks(GANs)have been widely employed in various fields including transportation.This paper reviews the development of GANs and their applications in the transportation domain.Specifically,many adopted GAN variants for autonomous driving are classified and demonstrated according to data generation,video trajectory prediction,and security of detection.To introduce GANs to traffic research,this review summarizes the related techniques for spatio-temporal,sparse data completion,and time-series data evaluation.GAN-based traffic anomaly inspections such as infrastructure detection and status monitoring are also assessed.Moreover,to promote further development of GANs in intelligent transportation systems(ITSs),challenges and noteworthy research directions on this topic are provided.In general,this survey summarizes 130 GAN-related references and provides comprehensive knowledge for scholars who desire to adopt GANs in their scientific works,especially transportation-related tasks.

Robust Consensus Tracking Control of Uncertain Multi-Agent Systems With Local Disturbance Rejection

In this paper,a new distributed consensus tracking protocol incorporating local disturbance rejection is devised for a multi-agent system with heterogeneous dynamic uncertainties and disturbances over a directed graph.It is of two-degree-of-freedom nature.Specifically,a robust distributed controller is designed for consensus tracking,while a local disturbance estimator is designed for each agent without requiring the input channel information of disturbances.The condition for asymptotic disturbance rejection is derived.Moreover,even when the disturbance model is not exactly known,the developed method also provides good disturbance-rejection performance.Then,a robust stabilization condition with less conservativeness is derived for the whole multi-agent system.Further,a design algorithm is given.Finally,comparisons with the conventional one-degree-of-freedombased distributed disturbance-rejection method for mismatched disturbances and the distributed extended-state observer for matched disturbances validate the developed method.

Hybrid Optimization Based PID Controller Design for Unstable System

PID controllers play an important function in determining tuning para-meters in any process sector to deliver optimal and resilient performance for non-linear,stable and unstable processes.The effectiveness of the presented hybrid metaheuristic algorithms for a class of time-delayed unstable systems is described in this study when applicable to the problems of PID controller and Smith PID controller.The Direct Multi Search(DMS)algorithm is utilised in this research to combine the local search ability of global heuristic algorithms to tune a PID controller for a time-delayed unstable process model.A Metaheuristics Algorithm such as,SA(Simulated Annealing),MBBO(Modified Biogeography Based Opti-mization),BBO(Biogeography Based Optimization),PBIL(Population Based Incremental Learning),ES(Evolution Strategy),StudGA(Stud Genetic Algo-rithms),PSO(Particle Swarm Optimization),StudGA(Stud Genetic Algorithms),ES(Evolution Strategy),PSO(Particle Swarm Optimization)and ACO(Ant Col-ony Optimization)are used to tune the PID controller and Smith predictor design.The effectiveness of the suggested algorithms DMS-SA,DMS-BBO,DMS-MBBO,DMS-PBIL,DMS-StudGA,DMS-ES,DMS-ACO,and DMS-PSO for a class of dead-time structures employing PID controller and Smith predictor design controllers is illustrated using unit step set point response.When compared to other optimizations,the suggested hybrid metaheuristics approach improves the time response analysis when extended to the problem of smith predictor and PID controller designed tuning.

Practical prescribed-time tracking control for uncertain strict-feedback systems with guaranteed performance under unknown control directions

In this paper,we consider the practical prescribed-time performance guaranteed tracking control problem for a class of uncertain strict-feedback systems subject to unknown control direction.Due to the existence of unknown nonlinearities and uncertainties,it is challenging to design a controller that can ensure the stability of closed-loop system within a predetermined finite time while maintaining the specified transient performance.The underlying problem becomes further complex as the control directions are unknown.To deal with the above problems,a special translation function as well as Nussbaum type function are introduced in the prescribed performance control(PPC)framework.Finally,a PPC as well as preset finite time tracking control scheme is designed,and its effectiveness is confirmed by both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation.

The Impact of Sun Radiation on the Thermal Comfort in Highly Glazed Buildings Equipped with Floor Heating Systems

Occupants of highly glazed buildings often suffer from thermal discomfort during the mid-seasons when no shadings are used in such buildings,especially when inertial heating systems are used.The present study is devoted to evaluating the impact of long solar beam exposure on the internal thermal discomfort in glazed spaces when heating is implemented through a floor system.A comprehensive experimental study is carried out using an experimental bi-climatic chamber which is fully monitored and controlled,allowing realistic simulations of the dynamic movement of the sun patch on a heated slab.The findings show that a period of discomfort as long as 8 h can occur,and persist far after the sunbeam exposure stops.During this period,the heating slab’s surface temperature,considered from an average point of view,can attain 34°C while the indoor temperature reaches 26°C.Simulations conducted using a previously developed model display a good fit with the measurements.

Minimizing FWM Impact in DWDM ROF DP-DQPSK System for Optical

The demonstration of a higher data rate transmission system was amajor aspect to be considered by researchers in recent years. The most relevantaspect to be studied and analyzed is the need for a reliable system to handlenonlinear impairments and reduce them. Therefore, this paper examines theinfluence of Four-Wave Mixing (FWM) impairment on the proposed highdata rate Dual polarization–Differential Quadrature phase shift keying (DPDQPSK)system using the Optisystem software. In the beginning, the impactof varied input power on the proposed system’s performance was evaluated interms of QF and BER metrics. More power is used to improve system performance.However, increasing power would raise theFWMeffects. Accordingly,a−10dBminput power and the proposed system are used to reduce the impactof FWM. Additionally, a hybrid amplification method is proposed to enhancesystem performance by utilizing the major amplification methods of erbiumdopedfiber amplifier (EDFA): semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) andRadio optical amplifier (ROA). The evaluation demonstrates that the OAEDFAoutperformed the other two key amplification techniques of (EDFASOA)and (EDFA-ROA) in improving Quality factor (QF) and Bit error rate(BER) system results for all distances up to 720 km. Consequently, the methodcontributes to minimizing the impact of FWM. In the future, other forms ofnonlinearity will be investigated and studied to quantify their impact on theproposed system.

A systematic printability study of direct ink writing towards high-resolution rapid manufacturing

Direct ink writing(DIW)holds enormous potential in fabricating multiscale and multi-functional architectures by virtue of its wide range of printable materials,simple operation,and ease of rapid prototyping.Although it is well known that ink rheology and processing parameters have a direct impact on the resolution and shape of the printed objects,the underlying mechanisms of these key factors on the printability and quality of DIW technique remain poorly understood.To tackle this issue,we systematically analyzed the printability and quality through extrusion mechanism modeling and experimental validating.Hybrid non-Newtonian fluid inks were first prepared,and their rheological properties were measured.Then,finite element analysis of the whole DIW process was conducted to reveal the flow dynamics of these inks.The obtained optimal process parameters(ink rheology,applied pressure,printing speed,etc)were also validated by experiments where high-resolution(<100μm)patterns were fabricated rapidly(>70 mm s^(-1)).Finally,as a process research demonstration,we printed a series of microstructures and circuit systems with hybrid inks and silver inks,showing the suitability of the printable process parameters.This study provides a strong quantitative illustration of the use of DIW for the high-speed preparation of high-resolution,high-precision samples.

Nonlinear direct data-driven control for UAV formation flight system

This paper proposes the nonlinear direct data-driven control from theoretical analysis and practical engineering,i.e.,unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)formation flight system.Firstly,from the theoretical point of view,consider one nonlinear closedloop system with a nonlinear plant and nonlinear feed-forward controller simultaneously.To avoid the complex identification process for that nonlinear plant,a nonlinear direct data-driven control strategy is proposed to design that nonlinear feed-forward controller only through the input-output measured data sequence directly,whose detailed explicit forms are model inverse method and approximated analysis method.Secondly,from the practical point of view,after reviewing the UAV formation flight system,nonlinear direct data-driven control is applied in designing the formation controller,so that the followers can track the leader’s desired trajectory during one small time instant only through solving one data fitting problem.Since most natural phenomena have nonlinear properties,the direct method must be the better one.Corresponding system identification and control algorithms are required to be proposed for those nonlinear systems,and the direct nonlinear controller design is the purpose of this paper.

Open banking and inclusive finance in the European Union:perspectives from the Dutch stakeholder ecosystem

In the European Union(EU),the revised Payment Services Directive(PSD2)aims to provide more convenient and customized financial products through open banking(OB)platforms.However,little attention has been paid to the role of OB in improving the financial well-being of the growing number of the EU’s underserved groups,which currently constitute approximately a quarter of its population.This study examines how the PSD2 and OB impact inclusive finance in the EU based on the perspectives of the Netherlands’ecosystem,one of the leaders in the EU’s financial technology(FinTech)landscape.A fundamental distinction can be drawn between the OB users and the ecosystem’s players.Regarding the impact of financial services on the users’inclusivity,while the PSD2 strengthens the infrastructure necessary for financial inclusion,many challenges remain,mainly because it was not designed for this purpose.This study identifies several areas of improvement that include adjustments to the know your customer and anti-money laundering processes for underserved customers,innovative ways to communicate the PSD2’s potential,and the regulation of technology providers’activities to build trust.Meanwhile,from the ecosystem’s position,there is a need to strengthen and improve microfinance regulation according to the opportunities provided by the PSD2 to support microfinance institutions(MFIs)in scaling up and reaching underserved clients across borders with innovative services.OB improvements can also be achieved by organizations formed by MFIs and FinTechs in collaboration with banks.Such hybrid institutions will combine the best features of each of them:knowledge of the needs of local underserved clients from MFIs,technological innovations from FinTechs,and large and trusted customer bases,infrastructures,and access to institutional investments and governments from banks.Finally,an EU inclusive OB sector depends on the centrality of trusted regulators as coordination bodies.The PSD2 requires adjustments for underserved populations’specific needs.OB improvements can be achieved by organizations formed by MFIs and Fin-Techs in collaboration with banks.Regulated technical service providers(TSPs)are crucial to building trust and customer adoption in OB.The European Banking Authority(EBA)may function as coordination body to design inclusive rules by engaging with OB stakeholders.As inclusive finance moves into open-finance and data eras,an increasing regulatory complexity and scope will require networks of innovative and trusted regulators.

Rooted Tree Optimization for Wind Turbine Optimum Control Based on Energy Storage System

The integration of wind turbines(WTs)in variable speed drive systems belongs to the main factors causing lowstability in electrical networks.Therefore,in order to avoid this issue,WTs hybridization with a storage system is a mandatory.This paper investigates WT system operating at variable speed.The system contains of a permanent magnet synchronous generator(PMSG)supported by a battery storage system(BSS).To enhance the quality of active and reactive power injected into the network,direct power control(DPC)scheme utilizing space-vector modulation(SVM)technique based on proportional-integral(PI)control is proposed.Meanwhile,to improve the rendition of this method(DPC-SVM-PI),the rooted tree optimization technique(RTO)algorithm-based controller parameter identification is used to achieve PI optimal gains.To compare the performance ofRTO-based controllers,they were implemented and tested along with some other popular controllers under different working conditions.The obtained results have shown the supremacy of the suggested PIRTO algorithm compared to competing controllers regarding total harmonic distortion(THD),overshoot percentage,settling time,rise time,average active power value,overall efficiency,and active power steadystate error.

Systemic right ventricle complications in levo-transposition of the great arteries: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND Congenitally corrected levo-transposition of the great arteries(L-TGA)is a congenital heart disease in which the ventricles and great arteries are transposed from their typical anatomy.In L-TGA,the double discordance,atrioventricular and ventriculoarterial,create an acyanotic milieu which allows patients to survive their early decades,however,progressive systemic right ventricle(sRV)dys-function creates complications later in life.sRV dysfunction and remodeling predisposes patients to intracardiac thrombus(ICT)formation.CASE SUMMARY A 40-year-old male with L-TGA presented with symptoms of acute decom-pensated heart failure.In childhood,he had surgical repair of a ventricular septal defect.In adulthood,he developed sRV dysfunction,systemic tricuspid valve(sTV)regurgitation,and left-bundle branch block for which he underwent cardiac resynchronization therapy.Transthoracic echocardiogram showed a sRV ejection fraction of 40%,severe sTV regurgitation,and a newly identified sRV ICT.ICT was confirmed by ultrasound-enhancing agents and transesophageal echocardio-graphy.Our patient was optimized with guideline-directed medical therapy and diuresis.Anticoagulation was achieved with a vitamin K antagonist(VKA)and he was later referred for evaluation by advanced heart failure and heart transplant services.CONCLUSION Anticoagulation with VKA is the mainstay of treatment in the absence of conclusive data supporting direct oral anticoagulant use in ICT in patients with congenital heart disease.This case illustrates the natural history of L-TGA and highlights the importance of surveillance and monitoring with dedicated cardiac imaging to identify complications.

Design and Implementation of Smart Power Voltage and Frequency Synchroniser in Power Distribution System

Voltage and frequency are usually considered and assessed independently in the design and operation of electrical networks. However, these two are linked. Each and every malfunctioning electrical system has an impact on both voltage and frequency. This paper presents the opportunity for monitoring the distributed electrical energy by means of a system that monitors, controls, and provides a breakpoint based on high or low voltage and frequency tripping mechanism that avoids any damage to the load. The designed system comprised a switch mode power supply (SMPS), a direct digital synthesizer (DDS), and PIC16F876A microcontroller techniques for stable voltage and frequency outputs. Proteus design suite version 8.11 software and Benchcope SDS1102CN were used for modeling and simulation. The hardware prototype was implemented at a telecom cell site for data capturing and analysis. Test results showed that the implementation of the prototype provided stable and constant outputs of 222 V/50 Hz and 112 V/60 Hz which constituted 99% and 99.8% efficiency for voltage and frequency performance respectively. The paper also discusses different technologies that can be adopted by the system to mitigate voltage and frequency effects on customer appliances.