In this paper, a soft switching interleaved boost converter (SS-IBC) using auxiliary resonant circuit for electric vehicles (EV) applications is proposed. Several phases of the proposed converter can ...be connected to make a multiphase interleaved boost converter. The operation of multiphase interleaved boost converter is identical to that of the one phase boost converter. All phases are ideally identical with shifted control signals and are controlled by PWM control strategy of equal switching frequency and duty cycle. The proposed converter can be considered as a cost effective retrofit to the grid integrated battery charging applications. It affords a steady electrical power for the load not only from the utility or classical energy storage systems as batteries, but also from renewable energy systems like photovoltaic (PV), wind or fuel cell systems. An appropriate design example demonstrates the size of the design circuit components and parameters are investigated. Analysis, design, and simulation of the presented converter are verified using PSIM simulation software on an 8.2 kW setup system with a conversion efficiency more than 97% over a wide output power conversion range from rated power to a minimum power of 460 W with complete soft switching operation. The converter performance is also validated experimentally on a downsized hardware rated 1.0 kW and the maximum efficiency is found to be 98.78%.
: To compare the effect of premodulated interferential current (PREMOD IFC) and diadynamic current (DD) with exercise training on the management of lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET).
: One hundred and ...four patients with unilateral LET from both genders (55 females and 49 males) were randomly allocated into two groups. Group A received PREMOD IFC in addition to the exercises, and group B received DD with the same exercises. The outcomes were maximum grip strength assessed by the hand dynamometer, the pinch strength assessed by the pinch gauge dynamometer, and pain and functional disability of the forearm assessed by a patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation (PRTEE) questionnaire. All participants received electrical stimulation, consisting of three sessions per week for six weeks.
: The mean PRTEE score, and grip strength were significantly improved after six weeks in favour of group A, while there was no significant difference between the two groups in pinch strength. (p < 0.05).
: The results revealed that the combination of PREMOD IFC with exercises could improve pain, functional disability, and grip strength compared to DD with exercises in LET patients without a significant difference between the two groups in pinch strength.
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FSPLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK
This study offers a comprehensive approach to precisely analyze the complexly distributed length of stay among HIV admissions in Portugal.
To provide an illustration of statistical techniques for ...analysing count data using longitudinal predictors of length of stay among HIV hospitalizations in Portugal.
Registered discharges in the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) facilities Between January 2009 and December 2017, a total of 26,505 classified under Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) created for patients with HIV infection, with HIV/AIDS as a main or secondary cause of admission, were used to predict length of stay among HIV hospitalizations in Portugal. Several strategies were applied to select the best count fit model that includes the Poisson regression model, zero-inflated Poisson, the negative binomial regression model, and zero-inflated negative binomial regression model. A random hospital effects term has been incorporated into the negative binomial model to examine the dependence between observations within the same hospital. A multivariable analysis has been performed to assess the effect of covariates on length of stay.
The median length of stay in our study was 11 days (interquartile range: 6-22). Statistical comparisons among the count models revealed that the random-effects negative binomial models provided the best fit with observed data. Admissions among males or admissions associated with TB infection, pneumocystis, cytomegalovirus, candidiasis, toxoplasmosis, or mycobacterium disease exhibit a highly significant increase in length of stay. Perfect trends were observed in which a higher number of diagnoses or procedures lead to significantly higher length of stay. The random-effects term included in our model and refers to unexplained factors specific to each hospital revealed obvious differences in quality among the hospitals included in our study.
This study provides a comprehensive approach to address unique problems associated with the prediction of length of stay among HIV patients in Portugal.
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CEKLJ, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
The aim of this study is to compare outcomes for neonates and infants with Hirschsprung’s disease undergoing a laparoscopically assisted transanal pull-through (LAPT) with those undergoing ...a complete transanal pull-through (TERPT) using Swenson procedure in both groups.
Method
Forty patients with Hirschsprung’s disease were operated between January 2018 and January 2022. Twenty patients underwent transanal endorectal pull through TERPT while the other 20 patients underwent laparoscopic assisted pull through (LAPT) using Swenson procedure (TERPT) in both groups.
Age at operation, presenting symptoms, operative time complications, and degree of continence were evaluated. Bowel functions were assessed using the Cleveland Clinic Incontinence Score.
Results
The mean age of the patients at the time of operation were 18.9 months for the transanal group versus 21.3 months for the laparoscopic group. The mean follow-up period was 6 months, ranging from 3 to 12 months. The rate of enterocolitis occurred in 15% of cases in transanal group versus 10% of cases in the laparoscopic group. Constipation was found in 25% of cases of TERPT group versus 10% of cases in the LAPT group. The rates of normal continence (score 0:4) was 60% vs 50% for TERPT vs LAPT respectively while the rate of severe incontinence (score 15:20) was 20% vs 5% for TERPT vs LAPT respectively.
Conclusion
The functional outcomes after LAPT was satisfactory in term of fecal soiling compared to trans anal approach this may be due to less pelvic dissection compared to transanal pull through.
Many Internet of Things (IoT) applications can benefit from Social Web of Things (S-WoT) methods that enable knowledge discovery and help solving interoperability problems. The semantic modeling of ...S-WoT is the main emphasis of this work where we suggest a novel solution, evolutionary clustering for ontology matching (ECOM), to explore correlations between S-WoT data using clustering and evolutionary computation methodologies. The ECOM approach uses a variety of clustering techniques to aggregate S-WoT data's strongly related ontologies into comparable categories. The principle is to match concepts of similar groups rather than full concepts of two ontologies, which necessitates splitting examples of each ontology into similar groups. We design two clustering algorithms for ontology matching using conventional methods, as well as sophisticated clustering techniques. Moreover, we develop an intelligent matching algorithm that uses evolutionary computation to quickly converge to (or ideally identify) optimal matches. Numerous simulations have been conducted using various ontology databases to demonstrate the application and precision of ECOM. Our findings clearly show that ECOM has better results when compared to cutting-edge ontology matching methods. The F-measure of ECOM exceeds 95% whereas it does not reach 90% for all baseline methods. The results also confirm that ECOM scales with big data in S-WoT environments.
This paper introduces an interleaved buck-boost converter with reduced power electronics devices count in comparison with the conventional topology. The proposed converter consists of a single buck ...converter followed by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">n </tex-math></inline-formula> parallel interleaved boost converters. The buck switch is gated only if any of the boost switches is gated. In addition to the reduced switches count, the proposed converter offers the following advantages, soft start-up and shutdown capabilities. In addition, the buck stage gives the ability to protect the power electronic devices and to isolate the supply during load failure or overload. Moreover, the proposed converter performs as an interleaved boost converter for high voltage gain requirements with the same switching scheme. Furthermore, it offers fast dynamic performance with smooth transition from the buck mode to the boost mode. This paper investigates the eight different operating zones of the proposed three-phase interleaved buck-boost converter for non-overlapping gate signals operation. The detailed analysis and zones of operation are presented and experimentally validated. In addition, a simple control system is presented to operate the proposed converter as dc-dc converter or ac-dc converter. More study cases are carried out to evaluate the different capabilities of the proposed converter.
Metal coins discovered during archaeology have artistic and cultural value. Careful cleaning is required for artifact conservation. Metal artifacts must be cleaned to remove corrosion, which can ...range from tarnishing to a thick crust, in addition to dust, previous coatings, and burial deposits. Cleaning corrosion is still a challenging conservation process, but the advantages of using traditional cleaning methods outweigh the disadvantages. The current study aimed to evaluate the use of a nanosecond infrared Q-switched Nd: YAG pulsed laser for biodeteriogen elimination by laser cleaning and elemental analysis via LIBS analysis on old, corroded coins. The corroded coins used in this study were found in Egyptian burial dirt. Four different varieties of unknown corroded coins were exposed to laser cleaning testing. Throughout the cleaning process, LIBS diagnostics was used to monitor the laser ablation process as it removed various types of corrosion products. The coins were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer before and after the laser cleaning to assess the efficacy of the suggested laser setup technique used in this experiment (SEM-EDX). The results show a reduction in the spectral lines of corroded metals (Cu, Ca, and Mg) in the investigated coins after cleaning when compared to the original analyses. However, the surface morphology of each coin changes somewhat due to the presence of CuOx, which was recognized by increasing the strength of O lines, ensuring the viability of utilizing LIBS to identify the unknown coins tested.
The unfolded protein response is an intricate system of sensor proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that recognizes misfolded proteins and transmits information via transcription factors to ...either regain proteostasis or, depending on the severity, to induce apoptosis. The main transmembrane sensor is IRE1α, which contains cytoplasmic kinase and RNase domains relevant for its activation and the mRNA splicing of the transcription factor XBP1. Mast cell leukemia (MCL) is a severe form of systemic mastocytosis. The inhibition of IRE1α in the MCL cell line HMC-1.2 has anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects, motivating us to elucidate the IRE1α interactors/regulators in HMC-1.2 cells. Therefore, the TurboID proximity labeling technique combined with MS analysis was applied. Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the majority of the enriched proteins are involved in vesicle-mediated transport, protein stabilization, and ubiquitin-dependent ER-associated protein degradation pathways. In particular, the AAA ATPase VCP and the oncoprotein MTDH as IRE1α-interacting proteins caught our interest for further analyses. The pharmacological inhibition of VCP activity resulted in the increased stability of IRE1α and MTDH as well as the activation of IRE1α. The interaction of VCP with both IRE1α and MTDH was dependent on ubiquitination. Moreover, MTDH stability was reduced in IRE1α-knockout cells. Hence, pharmacological manipulation of IRE1α-MTDH-VCP complex(es) might enable the treatment of MCL.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Mercury is a global environmental pollutant, accumulating mainly in the kidney and liver inducing hepatorenal toxicity, oxidative stress, and tissue damage. Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance ...between free radicals’ production and cellular antioxidant defense systems. In the present study, we investigated the effect of N N′-diphenyl-1, 4-phenylenediamine (DPPD) antioxidant activity against mercury chloride- (HgCl2-) induced renal and hepatic toxicity. Thirty adult female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into three equal groups: the first group was injected with saline only and served as a control, the second group was injected with HgCl2, and the third group received DPPD + HgCl2 rats injected with HgCl2 without treatment showing a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, creatinine, and uric acids compared to control. Moreover, the second group showed a significant reduction in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH)) in addition to a marked increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, histopathological alterations, collagen deposition, CD8%, CD4%, and TGF-β% in kidney and liver tissues compared with the control group. Treatment with DPPD showed significant recovery (p≤0.001) in all previous parameters and histopathological examination. In conclusion, we suggested that DPPD may have a promising antioxidant capacity, gives it the applicability to be used as a prophylactic agent against mercury-induced hepatorenal cytotoxicity in the future.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper presents a new electric powertrain for solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The proposed system structure is based on the development of the power supply system for both the Solong ...and Zyphyr aircraft models. The proposed UAV model incorporates the Zyphry UAV use of an AC line feeder instead of DC power lines to power the propellers. The proposed powertrain includes solar panels, an energy management system based on lithium sulfide battery, inverter, AC bus-line and active output filter (AOF). AOF topology is composed of a high switching frequency H-bridge inverter with a reduced size LC filter. The utilization of AOF system reduces the size and weight of the power transmission system and significantly improves its conversion efficiency by introducing an emulated series resistance with the H-bridge stage to ensure high quality pure sinusoidal waveform of the line voltage. This emulated series resistance produces an injected voltage across it to diminish unwanted harmonics created from the non-linear load. A simulation model and experimental setup are created to simulate the proposed system and the system is tested under non-linear load condition with closed-loop feed-back control strategy. The obtained simulation and experimental results demonstrate that high-quality sinusoidal line voltage waveforms can be obtained using the active resistance compensation technique with total harmonic distortion factor less than 3%. Moreover, power losses analysis and conversion efficiency calculation of the proposed system are performed and compared with that of the conventional three-phase PWM inverter, which proved that the power losses are reduced by 31%.
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