In this paper we consider the input delay compensation of linear systems with both state and input delays. Under the condition that the open-loop time-delay systems in the absence of input delay can ...be stabilized by (delayed) state feedback, a nested predictor based approach is established to predict the future states so that the delays in the input are compensated. It is shown that the compensated closed-loop system in the presence of input delay possesses the same characteristic equation as the closed-loop system in the absence of input delay. The proposed approach can be generalized to general linear systems having multiple state delays and/or multiple input delays. To implement the nested predictor based controllers by applying numerical integration approaches, an augmented nested predictor based approach by adding input filters is proposed. Two numerical examples are worked out to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
This paper is concerned with stabilization of (time-varying) linear systems with a single time-varying input delay by using the predictor based delay compensation approach. Differently from the ...traditional predictor feedback which uses the open-loop system dynamics to predict the future state and will result in an infinite dimensional controller, we propose in this paper a pseudo-predictor feedback (PPF) approach which uses the (artificial) closed-loop system dynamics to predict the future state and the resulting controller is finite dimensional and is thus easy to implement. Necessary and sufficient conditions guaranteeing the stability of the closed-loop system under the PPF are obtained in terms of the stability of a class of integral delay operators (systems). Moreover, it is shown that the PPF can compensate arbitrarily large yet bounded input delays provided the open-loop (time-varying linear) system is only polynomially unstable and the feedback gain is well designed. Comparison of the proposed PPF approach with the existing results is well explored. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Classical swine fever (CSF) remains one of the most economically important viral diseases of domestic pigs and wild boar worldwide. The causative agent is CSF virus, it is highly contagious, with ...high morbidity and mortality rates; as such, it is an OIE-listed disease. Owing to a nationwide policy of vaccinations of pigs, CSF is well-controlled in China, with large-scale outbreaks rarely seen. Sporadic outbreaks are however still reported every year. In order to cope with future crises and to eradicate CSF, China should strengthen and support biosecurity measures such as the timely reporting of suspected disease, technologies for reliable diagnoses, culling infected herds, and tracing possible contacts, as well as continued vaccination and support of research into drug and genetic therapies. This mini-review summarizes the epidemiology of and control strategies for CSF in China.
We study in this paper the consensus problem for multi-agent systems with agents characterized by high-order linear systems with time delays in both the communication network and inputs. Provided ...that the open-loop dynamics of the agents is not exponentially unstable, but may be polynomially unstable, and the communication topology contains a directed spanning tree, a truncated predictor feedback approach is established to solve the consensus problem. It is shown that, if the delays are constant and exactly known, the consensus problems can be solved by both full state feedback and observer based output feedback protocols for arbitrarily large yet bounded delays. If it is further assumed that the open-loop dynamics of the agents only contains zero eigenvalues, the delays are allowed to be time-varying and unknown. Numerical examples are worked out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
As of June 8, 2020, the global reported number of COVID-19 cases had reached more than 7 million with over 400 000 deaths. The household transmissibility of the causative pathogen, severe acute ...respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains unclear. We aimed to estimate the secondary attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 among household and non-household close contacts in Guangzhou, China, using a statistical transmission model.
In this retrospective cohort study, we used a comprehensive contact tracing dataset from the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate the secondary attack rate of COVID-19 (defined as the probability that an infected individual will transmit the disease to a susceptible individual) among household and non-household contacts, using a statistical transmission model. We considered two alternative definitions of household contacts in the analysis: individuals who were either family members or close relatives, such as parents and parents-in-law, regardless of residential address, and individuals living at the same address regardless of relationship. We assessed the demographic determinants of transmissibility and the infectivity of COVID-19 cases during their incubation period.
Between Jan 7, 2020, and Feb 18, 2020, we traced 195 unrelated close contact groups (215 primary cases, 134 secondary or tertiary cases, and 1964 uninfected close contacts). By identifying households from these groups, assuming a mean incubation period of 5 days, a maximum infectious period of 13 days, and no case isolation, the estimated secondary attack rate among household contacts was 12·4% (95% CI 9·8–15·4) when household contacts were defined on the basis of close relatives and 17·1% (13·3–21·8) when household contacts were defined on the basis of residential address. Compared with the oldest age group (≥60 years), the risk of household infection was lower in the youngest age group (<20 years; odds ratio OR 0·23 95% CI 0·11–0·46) and among adults aged 20–59 years (OR 0·64 95% CI 0·43–0·97). Our results suggest greater infectivity during the incubation period than during the symptomatic period, although differences were not statistically significant (OR 0·61 95% CI 0·27–1·38). The estimated local reproductive number (R) based on observed contact frequencies of primary cases was 0·5 (95% CI 0·41–0·62) in Guangzhou. The projected local R, had there been no isolation of cases or quarantine of their contacts, was 0·6 (95% CI 0·49–0·74) when household was defined on the basis of close relatives.
SARS-CoV-2 is more transmissible in households than SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Older individuals (aged ≥60 years) are the most susceptible to household transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In addition to case finding and isolation, timely tracing and quarantine of close contacts should be implemented to prevent onward transmission during the viral incubation period.
US National Institutes of Health, Science and Technology Plan Project of Guangzhou, Project for Key Medicine Discipline Construction of Guangzhou Municipality, Key Research and Development Program of China.
Phylogenomic evidence from an increasing number of studies has demonstrated that different data sets and analytical approaches often reconstruct strongly supported but conflicting relationships. In ...this study, 785 single‐copy nuclear genes and 75 complete plastomes were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships and estimate the historical biogeography of the apple genus Malus sensu lato, an economically important lineage disjunctly distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and involved in known and suspected hybridization and allopolyploidy events. The nuclear phylogeny recovered the monophyly of Malus s.l. (including Docynia); however, the genus was supported to be biphyletic in the plastid phylogeny. An ancient chloroplast capture event in the Eocene in western North America best explains the cytonuclear discordance. Our conflict analysis demonstrated that ILS, hybridization, and allopolyploidy could explain the widespread nuclear gene tree discordance. One deep hybridization event (Malus doumeri) and one recent event (Malus coronaria) were detected in Malus s.l. Furthermore, our historical biogeographic analysis integrating living and fossil data supported a widespread East Asian‐western North American origin of Malus s.l. in the Eocene, followed by several extinction and dispersal events in the Northern Hemisphere. We also propose a general workflow for assessing phylogenomic discordance and biogeographic analysis using deep genome skimming data sets.
Phylogenomic conflict analyses in the apple genus Malus s.l. reveal widespread hybridization and allopolyploidy driving diversification, provide insights into the complex biogeographic history in the Northern Hemisphere, and inspire a general workflow for assessing phylogenomic discordance and biogeographic analysis using deep genome skimming datasets.
A critical component in the interpretation of systems-level studies is the inference of enriched biological pathways and protein complexes contained within OMICs datasets. Successful analysis ...requires the integration of a broad set of current biological databases and the application of a robust analytical pipeline to produce readily interpretable results. Metascape is a web-based portal designed to provide a comprehensive gene list annotation and analysis resource for experimental biologists. In terms of design features, Metascape combines functional enrichment, interactome analysis, gene annotation, and membership search to leverage over 40 independent knowledgebases within one integrated portal. Additionally, it facilitates comparative analyses of datasets across multiple independent and orthogonal experiments. Metascape provides a significantly simplified user experience through a one-click Express Analysis interface to generate interpretable outputs. Taken together, Metascape is an effective and efficient tool for experimental biologists to comprehensively analyze and interpret OMICs-based studies in the big data era.
The uniaxial fatigue and ratcheting behavior of commercial pure titanium (CP‐Ti) was investigated by asymmetric cyclic stress‐controlled experiments at room temperature. The effects of mean stress, ...stress amplitude, stress ratio, and peak stress on ratcheting behavior and fatigue life were discussed. It was found that increasing mean stress, stress amplitude, and peak stress or decreasing stress ratio reduced fatigue life and promoted ratcheting behavior. The applicability of different fatigue life models was analyzed, and a new stress ratio‐related failure model was proposed based on the exponential increase of fatigue life with stress ratio. Among all the models investigated in this study, the exponential stress ratio‐related model has more advantage in fatigue life predictions for CP‐Ti under ratcheting‐fatigue interaction.
Ti6Al4V components with complex structures, excellent performance and good surface quality, can be fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM). The conventional SLM process is carried out in an inert ...gas filled chamber, at slightly greater pressure than ambient, to avoid oxidation at high temperature. However, the inert gas may cause pores in as-fabricated parts. In this study, the SLM process was carried out under vacuum in order to improve the quality of the SLM-fabricated Ti6Al4V samples. The as-fabricated Ti6Al4V samples then were subjected to hot-isostatic pressure (HIP). The remaining porosity was evaluated using X-ray computed tomography (CT). The microstructures and mechanical properties of the samples were evaluated with and without HIP. The test results showed that SLM under vacuum could reduce the porosity of Ti6Al4V samples, compared to material that was produced using the conventional SLM process. After HIP, porosity could be further reduced and the Ti6Al4V samples could achieve better elongation.
PDF
