Determinant of Low Birth Weight Infants: A Matched Case Control Study

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a well-known factor associated with neonatal mortality and has contributed to a range of poor health outcomes. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine factors associated with LBW infants. Methods: A matched case control study was conducted in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Data of deliveries were obtained from Total Hospital Information System and medical records. All registered deliveries from January to June 2012 were used as sample populations. There were 180 pairs of cases and controls matched on babies’ gender. Fourteen variables were analyzed: maternal age, ethnicity, gravida, parity, gestational age, maternal booking weight, height and body mass index (BMI), history of low birth weight infants, birth interval, booking hemoglobin levels, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and mode of delivery. Results: Younger mother (t = 6.947, p < 0.001), lower booking BMI (t = 3.067, p = 0.002), prematurity (t = 12.324, p < 0.001), history of LBW infants (OR = 3.0, p = 0.001), LSCS (OR = 0.06, p = 0.001) and current hypertension (OR = 3.1, p = 0.008) were found significant in bivariate analysis. Multivariable conditional logistic regression identified younger maternal age (AOR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.86 -4.51, p 13.58, p = 0.045), prematurity (AOR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.79 -3.26, p < 0.001), and current hypertension (AOR = 4.5, 95% CI = 1.06 -19.22, p = 0.041) as significant factors associated with LBW infants. Conclusion: Younger maternal age, history of LBW infants, prematurity and hypertension have been recognized as predictors of LBW infants. The importance of pre-pregnancy screening, early antenatal booking and proper identification of high risk-mother needs to be strengthened and enforced in effort to reduce incidence of LBW infants.

Optimal Matching Control of a Low Energy Charged Particle Beam in Particle Accelerators

Particle accelerators are devices used for research in scientific problems such as high energy and nuclear physics.In a particle accelerator, the shape of particle beam envelope is changed dynamically along the forward direction. Thus, this reference direction can be considered as an auxiliary "time" beam axis. In this paper, the optimal beam matching control problem for a low energy transport system in a charged particle accelerator is considered. The beam matching procedure is formulated as a finite "time" dynamic optimization problem, in which the Kapchinsky-Vladimirsky(K-V) coupled envelope equations model beam dynamics. The aim is to drive any arbitrary initial beam state to a prescribed target state, as well as to track reference trajectory as closely as possible, through the control of the lens focusing strengths in the beam matching channel. We first apply the control parameterization method to optimize lens focusing strengths, and then combine this with the time-scaling transformation technique to further optimize the drift and lens length in the beam matching channel. The exact gradients of the cost function with respect to the decision parameters are computed explicitly through the state sensitivity-based analysis method. Finally, numerical simulations are illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Dynamic Circulation Control for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine using Virtual Solidity Matching

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with fixed pitch blades have a limited power capture performance envelope as the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) changes. Circulation Control (CC) has been proposed and simulated to possibly increase power capture of a VAWT using constant CC jet momentum, but a practical method of minimizing CC usage has yet to be explored. In addition, VAWTs are typically limited in power capture performance either by a maximum peak at a small set of TSR or wide operating TSR at fractions of the peak performance based on the design solidity. Both the reduced jet usage and solidity limitation were addressed by developing a method of dynamically using CC to perform a virtual solidity change. The developed method described within this work used CC to change blade aerodynamics to specifically match a maximum performing static solidity or wake shape at a given TSR. Simulation results using an existing aerodynamics model indicated a significant reduction in the re-quired CC jet momentum compared to a constant CC system along with control over power capture for a CC-VAWT.

Interaction and Its Solution in Individual Matching Case-control Study

Objective To indicate the deficiency of the classical method for analyzing data on individual matching case-control study in consideration of the interaction between the study factor (exposure) and the matching factor, and to find out a proper method for handling this deficiency. Method First, experimental data with 50 pairs of cases and controls were used for strata analysis according to the values of a matching factor to illustrate the possible interaction between a risk factor (exposure) and the matching factor. Second, a detailed procedure was proposed for analyzing such data. Results Interaction between the study factor and matching factor was demonstrated by using strata analysis and unconditional logistic regression analysis. Therefore the results from the classical analysis for such data might be incorrect. Conclusion Data from individual matching case-control study design should be dealt with strata analysis or multivariate analysis to explore and evaluate the possible interaction between the s

Matching Source Code Using Abstract Syntax Trees in Version Control Systems

Software projects are becoming larger and more complicated. Managing those projects is based on several software development methodologies. One of those methodologies is software version control, which is used in the majority of worldwide software projects. Although existing version control systems provide sufficient functionality in many situations, they are lacking in terms of semantics and structure for source code. It is commonly believed that improving software version control can contribute substantially to the development of software. We present a solution that considers a structural model for matching source code that can be used in version control.

Cumulative logit model in the analysis of endometrial cancer under a matched pair case-control design

Background: Binary as well as polytomous logistic models are widely used for estimating odds ratios when the exposure of prime interest assumes unordered multiple levels under matched pairs case-control design. In our previous studies, we have shown that the use of a polytomous logistic model for estimating cumulative odds ratios when the outcome (response) variable is ordinal (in addition to being polytomous) under matched pairs case-control design. The cumulative odds ratios were estimated based on separate fitting of the model at each of the cutpoint level as compared to less than equal to that level. In this paper we propose an alternative method of estimating the cumulative odds ratios and reanalyze the Los Angeles Endometrial Cancer data in the context of dose levels of conjugated oestrogen exposure and development of endometrial cancer under the matched pair case-control design. Methods: In the present study, the cumulative logit model is fitted using a single multinomial logit model for the data. For this, the full maximum likelihood estimation procedure is adopted. A test for equality of the cumulative odds ratios across the exposure levels is proposed. Results: The analysis revealed that there is a strong evidence of risk for developing endometrial cancer due to oestrogen exposure above each of the three dose level as compared to less than equal to that level. The estimated values at the three cutpoint levels were found to be 6.17, 3.60 and 5.16 respectively. Conclusions: The odds of developing endometrial cancer are very high for the users of any amount of oestrogen, even if it is the least dose, as compared to the non-users.

Molecular Weight Controllable Degradation of Laminaria japonica Polysaccharides and Its Antioxidant Properties

In this study, molecular weight controllable degradation of algal Laminaria japonica polysaccharides(LPS) was investigated by ultrasound combined with hydrogen peroxide. Three main factors, i.e., ultrasonic power(A), ultrasonic time(B), and H_2O_2 concentration(C) were chosen for optimizing parameters by employing three-factors, three-levels BBD. The influence of degradation on structure change and antioxidant activities was also investigated. A second-order polynomial equation including molecular weight(Y) of Laminaria japonica polysaccharides and each variable parameter, i.e., ultrasonic power(A), ultrasonic time(B), and H_2O_2 concentration(C), was established: Y=20718.67-4273.13A-4000.38B-1438.75C+2333.25AB+1511.00AC+873.00BC+2838.29A^2 + 2490.79B^2+873.04C^2. The equation regression coefficient value(R^2 = 0.969) indicated that this equation was valid. The value of the adjusted determination coefficient(adjusted R^2 = 0.914) also confirmed that the model was highly significant. The results of selected experimental degradation conditions matched with the predicted value. FT-IR spectra revealed that the structures of LPS before and after degradation were not significantly changed. Antioxidant activities of LPS revealed that low Mws possessed stronger inhibitory than the original polysaccharides. The scavenging effects on superoxide radicals was the highest when IC50 of crude LPS was 4.92 mg mL^(-1) and IC50 of Mw 18.576 KDa was 1.02 mg mL^(-1), which was fourfold higher than initial polysaccharide.

Hierarchical adaptive stereo matching algorithm for obstacle detection with dynamic programming

An adaptive weighted stereo matching algorithm with multilevel and bidirectional dynamic programming based on ground control points （GCPs） is presented. To decrease time complexity without losing matching precision, using a multilevel search scheme, the coarse matching is processed in typical disparity space image, while the fine matching is processed in disparity-offset space image. In the upper level, GCPs are obtained by enhanced volumetric iterative algorithm enforcing the mutual constraint and the threshold constraint. Under the supervision of the highly reliable GCPs, bidirectional dynamic programming framework is employed to solve the inconsistency in the optimization path. In the lower level, to reduce running time, disparity-offset space is proposed to efficiently achieve the dense disparity image. In addition, an adaptive dual support-weight strategy is presented to aggregate matching cost, which considers photometric and geometric information. Further, post-processing algorithm can ameliorate disparity results in areas with depth discontinuities and related by occlusions using dual threshold algorithm, where missing stereo information is substituted from surrounding regions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm, we present the two groups of experimental results for four widely used standard stereo data sets, including discussion on performance and comparison with other methods, which show that the algorithm has not only a fast speed, but also significantly improves the efficiency of holistic optimization.

Design and Realization of Liquid Stub Tuner Control System

In microwave circuit and aerial system, impedance matching is very important. Liquid stub tuner is a new type of impedance matching device. In the HT-7 Tokamak Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating ( ICRH ) system, we have already adopted liquid stub tuner to replace the conventional stub tuner. It is urgent to develop a control system of the liquid stub tuner. This paper mainly introduces the design and realization of the liquid stub tuner control system , and briefly introduces its three controlling functions: local control, remote control and computer control.

Robust exponential control of a class of systems with uncertainties

The robust exponential stabilization problem for uncertain systems isstudied. Based on the solution for a nominal linear quadratic regulator problem with a prescribeddegree of stability, the methods of constructing state feedback controllers are developed to ensurethe robust stability of the closed loop system under the conditions weaker than the matchingcondition. Also, the cases where the matching condition is satisfied are considered in detail. Someexamples are included to show the solution methods.

DEVELOPMENT OF A DATA MINING METHOD FOR LAND CONTROL

Land resources are facing crises of being misused,especially for an intersection area between town and country,and land control has to be enforced.This paper presents a development of data mining method for land control.A vector_match method for the prerequisite of data mining i.e., data cleaning is proposed,which deals with both character and numeric data via vectorizing character_string and matching number.A minimal decision algorithm of rough set is used to discover the knowledge hidden in the data warehouse.In order to monitor land use dynamically and accurately,it is suggested to set up a real_time land control system based on GPS,digital photogrammetry and online data mining.Finally,the means is applied in the intersection area between town and country of Wuhan city,and a set of knowledge about land control is discovered.

Proportional integral derivative controller design using Legendre orthogonal functions

The Legendre orthogonal functions are employed to design the family of PID controllers for a variety of plants. In the proposed method, the PID controller and the plant model are represented with their corresponding Legendre series. Matching the first three terms of the Legendre series of the loop gain with the desired one gives the PID controller parameters. The closed loop system stability conditions in terms of the Legendre basis function pole(λ) for a wide range of systems including the first order, second order, double integrator, first order plus dead time, and first order unstable plants are obtained. For first order and double integrator plants, the closed loop system stability is preserved for all values of λ and for the other plants, an appropriate range in terms of λ is obtained. The optimum value of λ to attain a minimum integral square error performance index in the presence of the control signal constraints is achieved. The numerical simulations demonstrate the benefits of the Legendre based PID controller.

Amplitude Control for Ultrasonic Welding of Thermoplastics

The stabilization of vibration amplitude is an important factor for assuring welding quality. In this paper, the electric parameter for monitoring the output vibration amplitude of the transducer is determined by the analysis of electromechanical analogy,and matching circuits of constant current for the ultrasonic transducer are analyzed and compared. Series matching circuit is designed and analyzed using the method of impedance transformation. The output vibration amplitude of the transducer can be kept constant when the value of electric parameter for the matching circuit is chosen reasonably. The results of analysis is verified by technological experiments.

Joint Closed-Loop Power Control and Adaptive Beamforming for Wireless Networks with Antenna Arrays in a 2D Urban Environment

The interference reduction capability of antenna arrays and the power control algorithms have been considered separately as means to decrease the interference in wireless communication networks. In this paper, we propose smart step closed-loop power control (SSPC) algorithm in wireless networks in a 2D urban environment with constrained least mean squared (CLMS) algorithm. This algorithm is capable of efficiently adapting according to the environment and able to permanently maintain the chosen frequency response in the look direction while minimizing the output power of the array. Also, we present switched-beam (SB) technique for enhancing signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) in wireless networks. Also, we study an analytical approach for the evaluation of the impact of power control error (PCE) on wireless networks in a 2D urban environment. The simulation results indicate that the convergence speed of the SSPC algorithm is faster than other algorithms. Also, we observe that significant saving in total transmit power (TTP) are possible with our proposed algorithm. Finally, we discuss three parameters of the PCE, number of antenna elements, and path-loss exponent and their effects on capacity of the system via some computer simulations.

Two-step Design of Critical Control Systems Using Disturbance Cancellation Integral Controllers

An efficient critical control system design is proposed in this paper. The key idea is to decompose the design problem into two simpler design steps by the technique used in the classical loop transfer recovery method （LTR）. The disturbance cancellation integral controller is used as a basic controller. Since the standard loop transfer recovery method cannot be applied to the disturbance cancellation controller, the nonstandard version recently found is used for the decomposition. Exogenous inputs with constraints both on the amplitude and rate of change are considered. The majorant approach is taken to obtain the analytical sufficient matching conditions. A numerical design example is presented to illustrate the effiectiveness of the proposed design.

换相失败场景下构网型风机对送端暂态过电压影响因素分析及抑制策略研究

随着构网型直驱风机(GFM-PMSG)在风场中的逐步应用,混合型风场通过电网换相高压直流输电(LCC-HVDC)产生的换相失败问题,使得系统暂态稳定性面临严峻挑战。首先分析了暂态过电压发生机理,并研究了GFM-PMSG控制参数、电网强度对过电压的影响;然后提出了一种协同控制策略,通过优化GFM-PMSG与跟网型直驱风机(GFL-PMSG)在故障穿越期间的无功电流指令及其切换阀值,有效抑制了暂态峰值过电压,最后,基于PSCAD/EMTDC仿真平台搭建混合风场经直流外送仿真模型,验证了该策略的有效性。

匹配控制构网型直驱风电场经LCC-HVDC 送出 系统的次同步振荡特性及机理分析

在“沙戈荒”地区风电经电网换相高压直流输电(line-commutated-converter based high voltage direct current,LCC-HVDC)外送系统中,采用基于匹配控制的构网型直驱风机(matching control permanent magnet synchronous generator,MC-PMSG)可以提升送端电网的稳定性。然而,当MC-PMSG位于LCC-HVDC整流站近区时,系统的次同步振荡(sub-synchronous oscillation,SSO)特性尚未明确。针对上述问题,该文采用模块化建模法建立MC-PMSG经LCC-HVDC送出系统的小信号模型,通过特征值法研究MC-PMSG与LCC-HVDC对系统各SSO模态的参与情况与系统运行方式变化对次同步振荡阻尼特性的影响,通过阻尼重构法分析LCC-HVDC并网对系统振荡风险的影响机理。研究结果表明,系统存在匹配控制型风机主导、LCC-HVDC参与的SSO模态,MC-PMSG与LCC-HVDC间的次同步交互作用为SSO提供负阻尼;当混合型风电场中的MC-PMSG占比增大、MC-PMSG风电场容量增大或短路比减小、LCC-HVDC定电流控制器的比例系数增大、风机网侧换流控制器外环积分系数减小、直流电容增大时,SSO阻尼增大。通过PSCAD/EMTDC电磁暂态仿真证明理论分析结果的有效性。

燃料电池氢气流量控制系统变负载匹配设计与仿真

针对车载质子交换膜燃料电池供氢系统负载工况多变时的氢气流量控制问题,提出一种基于比例减压阀与流量控制阀的氢气流量负载匹配控制系统架构与方法。建立了从高压储氢瓶至燃料电池堆的供氢系统整体模型,基于该模型设计了比例减压阀、流量控制阀与氢气循环泵的控制策略,并就某一型号电堆的变负载工况对系统模型与控制策略进行仿真验证。结果表明:电堆阳极压力可快速跟踪给定压力,响应时间约2~3s;氢气流量可适应负载变化需求,其瞬时超调量与压力响应速度成正相关;稳态时氢气利用率维持在95%以上,供氢过量比维持在1.27以上,供气氮含量维持在5%以下,满足电堆性能需求。

城市轨道交通全自动运行线路多专业速度控制与匹配设计研究

城市轨道交通多专业间的协调性是决定能否充分实现预期能力、发挥投资效益的关键环节,列车运行速度是其中一个重要方面,是城市轨道交通技术装备、技术标准、运营管理水平的重要标志。针对不同专业速度控制存在的重叠防护问题,通过剖析通信、信号、车辆、线路、环境等对全自动运行(FAO)线路列车运行速度的限制,提出列车自动运行(ATO)模式、列车自动防护(ATP)模式、蠕动模式和洗车模式4种典型运行模式下的速度匹配控制方案,讨论了根据线路等级速度拟定正线区间结构设计速度、车辆构造速度、车辆超速防护触发速度、车辆最大动态包络线计算速度、最高ATP顶篷速度、最高ATO目标速度的方法,并给出多专业匹配设计关键速度建议值。同时借助仿真手段,结合不同站间距设置与最短时间速度曲线计算,进一步针对速度等级为80,100 km/h以及120 km/h的线路分别讨论了站间距的匹配设计,建议三者站间距分别不少于1.0,1.4 km以及2.5 km。开展多专业速度控制与匹配设计的优化,有助于最大化发挥系统和设备性能,保证线路整体运营水平。

考虑人机信任匹配的人机协同控制策略

人机互信水平是影响人机协同系统表现的关键因素之一。提出了一种考虑人机信任匹配的主从博弈协同控制策略。建立评估驾驶人和机器相互信任程度的方法,在此基础上根据人机信任匹配程度进行协同驾驶中的权重分配;采用模型预测控制框架并结合主从博弈进行最优化求解,得出最优的协同控制策略;通过驾驶人在环实验,验证了所提出的协同控制策略的有效性。结果表明,对于不同信任匹配程度的驾驶人,所提出的策略使得驾驶人路径跟踪精度平均提高了70.91%,驾驶负担平均降低了44.03%。所提出的策略能提升车辆的驾驶表现,减轻驾驶人操作负担。