Leading to the enhancement of smart grid implementation, the peer-to-peer (P2P) energy transaction concept has grown dramatically in recent years allowing the end-users to successfully exchange their ...excess generation and demand in a more profitable way. This paper presents local energy market (LEM) architecture with various market strategies for P2P energy trading among a set of end-users (consumers and prosumers) in a smart residential locality. In a P2P fashion, prosumers/consumers can export/import the available generation/demand in the LEM at a profit relative to utility prices. A common portal known as the transactive energy market operator (TEMO) is introduced to manage the trading in the LEM. The goal of the TEMO is to develop a transaction agreement among P2P players by establishing a price for each transaction based on the price and trading demand provided by the participants. A few case studies on a location with ten residential P2P participants validate the performance of the proposed TEMO.
Background
Orthognathic surgery involves movement of jaws in all three planes, and this being a part of airway complex, displacement of jaws can influence the dimension of airway at all levels. ...Lefort one osteotomy surgery with superior repositioning is a common procedure done for patients with vertical maxillary excess
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the three-dimensional volumetric changes in airway after lefort one impaction surgery using three-dimensional cone beam computed tomography (3D-CBCT) in patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME).
Methods
A prospective analysis of 15 patients who underwent isolated lefort one impaction surgery was done with pre-operative (T0) and 3-months (T1) post-operative 3D-CBCT scans. Airway was divided into three segments, nasopharyngeal, velopharyngeal and oropharyngeal. Volumetric analysis of all these segments was done before and after surgery. Paired ‘t test’ was used to assess the mean difference in airway volume and area between T0 and T1. One-way ANOVA was used to check the mean percentage difference in airway volume and area among the three segments.
Results
The mean percentage of nasopharyngeal volume difference was − 0.6299 ± 0.9146%, velopharyngeal volume difference was − 0.5205 ± 1.107%, oropharyngeal volume difference was − 1.492 ± 2.745%. Though volume and area of pharyngeal airway were decreased after maxillary impaction surgery in all three segments of airway studied, they were not statistically significant.
Conclusion
Among the three segments of airway studied, oropharyngeal airway volume has shown the highest post-surgical reduction though statistically insignificant. ESS scores were within normal limits. Hence, we are of the opinion that there is lack of evidence to conclude that the patients undergoing lefort one superior repositioning for the treatment of VME might develop significant narrowing of PAS that may predispose the patient to breathing disorders.
Abstract Objective The aim of this in situ study was to compare the remineralization potential of pastes containing CPP–ACP and CPP–ACP with 900 ppm fluoride on human enamel softened by a cola drink. ...Design Forty-five enamel specimens obtained from human third molar teeth were eroded in a cola drink for 8 min and then attached to intra-oral devices worn by five volunteers. The specimens were subjected to three different in situ remineralization protocols using: (1) CPP–ACP (Group I), (2) CPP–ACP with 900 ppm fluoride (Group II), and (3) saliva (Group III, control). Vickers microhardness measurements were obtained at baseline followed by demineralization and remineralization stages. Results The CPP–ACP, CPP–ACP with 900 ppm fluoride and saliva controls resulted in 46.24%, 64.25% and 2.98% increase in post-erosion microhardness values, respectively. One-way ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences in the mean microhardness values between pastes containing CPP–ACP and CPP–ACP with 900 ppm fluoride. Conclusions Both CPP–ACP and CPP–ACP with 900 ppm fluoride substantially remineralized the softened enamel, with the CPP–ACP and fluoride combination showing higher remineralization potential than CPP–ACP. This study confirmed the synergistic effect of fluoride with CPP–ACP on remineralization of eroded enamel.
A computer simulation scheme with a rapid thermodynamic model is developed to predict the diesel engine HRR (heat release rate) and performance characteristics with DME as a fuel. The bmeps (MPa) are ...simulated as 0.5 (optimum power output) and 0.3, 0.4, 0.6 (other power outputs) with diesel and with DME in four steps sequentially. Initially, HRR is predicted by modifying four double Wiebe function parameters; the equations of heat release and combustion duration of diffusion phase and the efficiency factors of premixed and diffusion phase as 2.25 and 3.25 respectively (obtained by qualitative and approximate fitting by trial and error method). Obviously 99% combustion efficiency assumption with efficiency factor as 6.9 is excluded. Secondly, all Wiebe parameters are computed by using LCF (load correction factor which is the ratio between mass flow rates of diesel of optimum and other power output) alone and by using LCF and OCF (oxygenate correction factor which is the ratio between mass flow rates of DME and diesel of identical power output) in other steps. Premixed and diffusion phase peaks (J/degree) with DME are 13.73 and 31.47 (0.3 MPa); 23.18 and 47.25 (0.6 MPa). Performance predicted with 1.2% accuracy is validated by SAE and USA Army literature.
•A new scheme of performance simulation for DME fuelled diesel engine is developed.•Heat release rates and power outputs are predicted by a 0D thermodynamic model.•Double Wiebe parameters are predicted by oxygenate and load correction factors.•Engine performance simulated is validated by the experimental data in the literature.•The performance parameters are predicted with an over all accuracy of 1.2%.
COPD is a well-known independent risk factor that is associated with primary lung cancer. There is, however, a striking paucity of women in studies demonstrating this association. The purpose of this ...study was to compare the prevalence of COPD as determined by pulmonary function tests (PFTs) between women and men at around the time of lung cancer diagnosis.
We retrospectively reviewed patients with newly diagnosed primary lung cancer who had undergone PFTs prior to their treatment. The diagnosis of airflow obstruction was made according to American Thoracic Society guidelines. Comparisons of the prevalence of COPD between men and women were performed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Of the 294 patients in the study, 151 patients (51.4%) were men and 143 patient (48.6%) were women. Of the men, 110 patients (72.8%) had COPD compared with 75 patients (52.5%) among the women. This represented a significantly lower prevalence of COPD in women than in men (odds ratio OR, 0.41; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.25 to 0.67; p = 0.0003). When adjusted for age and smoking status, a sustained lower prevalence of COPD was noted in women compared to men (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.74; p = 0.002). In a subset of 256 smokers, there remained a lower prevalence of COPD in women compared to men (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.77; p = 0.003). Adjusted analysis to control for age and number of pack-years of smoking in this subset again showed a sustained reduction in the OR for women presenting with COPD (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.83; p = 0.009).
When COPD was examined as an end point among patients who had newly diagnosed lung cancer, a significantly higher proportion of women had normal PFT results. Gender-based differences on PFT results should be considered during the screening of lung cancer, because the stratification of high-risk patients based on the presence of COPD may miss a significant proportion of women with lung cancer.
Recently, thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) gained renewed attention as they can circumvent the brittleness problem of bulk metallic glasses. When sputtered from a multicomponent cast target, the ...composition control of TFMG is always challenging. Here, we demonstrate the tight composition control of sputtered Ti-Zr-Cu-Ni-Al TFMG by a spark plasma sintered multicomponent target and investigate their structural and nanoscratch properties. The radio frequency (RF) power and Ar pressure were tuned to optimize nanoscratch properties. The highest hardness (~16.2 GPa) and thus best nanoscratch resistance was obtained at an RF power of 160 W and Ar pressure of 7 Pa. The best nanoscratch properties originated from the dense, fine column morphology of the TFMG. Moreover, it was found that the scratch mechanism changed from plowing to a combination of plowing and stick-slip under a ramping scratching load of 10 mN. The transition happened progressively at lower loads when the hardness of the TFMG decreased. This study provides a useful guideline for developing TFMG as a scratch-resistant protective coating.
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•Multicomponent target fabricated through low-temperature spark plasma sintering allowed precise composition control of TFMG.•A wide range of RF power and Ar pressure (160-240 W and 4–7 Pa) can produce glassy phase in the Ti-Zr-Cu-Ni-Al system.•Optimum nano-scratch resistance and hardness achieved for TFMG deposited at lower power and higher pressure (160 W and 7 Pa).
Abstract
Cardiovascular disorder is a primary cause of mortality throughout the world in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Continuous cardiac monitoring enables clinicians to identify ...arrhythmias and other heart conditions. Tele-cardiology introduces remote monitoring devices for tracking the cardiac activity of the patients. The large volume of Electrocardiogram (ECG) data needs to be stored, processed and transmitted by these portable health care devices. The implementation of ECG compression in hardware platform is crucial for continuous health monitoring applications. The aim of this work is to implement field programmable gate array based set partitioning in hierarchical trees-based electrocardiogram compression. Discrete wavelet transform method is employed to break up the signal into sub bands. The transformed coefficients after discrete wavelet transform are passed through dead zone quantization which rejects low magnitude values of transformed coefficients lying around zero. These quantized coefficients are then encoded by lossless set partitioning used in hierarchical trees compression approach. The introduction of dead zone quantization in the proposed technique is found to be effective and yields an increased compression ratio of 10.33 with decreased distortion value of 1.04 percent for ECG record 117 of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database.
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