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We study the problem of temperature regulation in a network of building thermal zones. The control objective is to keep zone temperatures within a comfort range while consuming the least energy by using predictive knowledge of weather and occupancy. First, we present a simplified two-mass nonlinear system for modeling thermal zone dynamics. Model identification and validation based on historical measured data are presented. Second, a distributed model-based predictive control (DMPC) is designed for optimal heating and cooling. The DMPC is implemented by using sequential quadratic program and dual decomposition. Simulation results show good performance and computational tractability of the resulting scheme.

Nowadays well over half the new graduates coming out of the medical schools in the United Kingdom are women. Women are found in the highest ranks in the profession and are well represented on the Councils of the Royal Colleges and the other medical institutions. Yet it was only during the second half of the 19th century that a handful of dedicated women invaded what was until then an entirely male profession. Perhaps the most prominent of these was Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson, the first female to graduate in medicine in the UK.

In this paper we argue that two-species models of mutualism may be oversimplifications of the real world that lead to erroneous predictions. We present a four-species model of a pollination mutualism embedded in other types of community interactions. Conclusions derived from two-species models about the destabilizing effect of mutualisms are misleading when applied to the present scenario; although the mutualisms are locally destabilizing, the effect is more than canceled by an increased chance of feasibility. The crucial difference is the interaction of the mutualists with other species in a larger web. Furthermore, community persistence (without unrealistic population explosion), arguably a superior ecological criterion, is greatly enhanced by the presence of mutualisms. Therefore, we predict that mutualisms should be common in the real world, a prediction matching empirial findings and in contrast to the predictions from local stability analysis of basic two-species models. This method of stabilizing a mutualism appears superior in some ways to the often-used method of introducing density dependence in the strength of the mutualism, because it permits obligate mutualisms to exist even at low densities, again matching empirical findings. Lastly, this study is an example of how complex model assemblages can behave qualitatively differently from analogous simpler ones.

We present a laser‐target scaling model which permits approximate prediction of the dependence of ablation pressure, mechanical coupling coefficient, and related parameters in vacuum upon single‐pulse laser intensity (I), wavelength (λ), and pulse width (τ) over extremely broad ranges. We show that existing data for vacuum mechanical coupling coefficient for metallic and endothermic nonmetallic, surface‐absorbing planar targets follows this empirical trend to within a factor of 2 over 7 orders of magnitude in the product (Iλ(τ)1/2). The comparison we present is valid for intensity equal to or greater than the peak‐coupling intensity Imax, where denseplasma formation mediates laser‐target coupling. Mechanical coupling coefficients studied ranged over two orders of magnitude. The data supporting this trend represent intensities from 3 MW/cm2 to 70 TW/cm2, pulse widths from 1.5 ms to 500 ps, wavelengths from 10.6 μm to 248 nm, and pulse energies from 100 mJ to 10 kJ. With few exceptions, data approximating one‐dimensional or planar expansions were selected. Previously, meaningful scaling of ablation pressure parameters with I, λ, τ was not possible because existing data concentrated in a small range of these parameters. Our own data, obtained in the low‐ and midrange of (Iλ(τ)1/2), completes the experimental picture. Since this new data was derived from five separate experiments with specialized character and purpose, detailed accounts of this work will appear separately. In this paper, we summarize the experimental conditions and selectonly those data which are relevant to the scaling issue. We find that laboratory‐scale laser experiments can often give impulse coupling data which agree with results from much higher‐energy experiments without much error, and at much lower cost. We review a theory of vacuum laser ablation, specialize it to a quantitative description of mechanical coupling, and show that the resulting model provides a simple physical description which comes quite close to the observed empirical trend. This is accomplished with minor elaborations of the theory as originally presented to account for the temperature dependence of plasma ionization states, while adhering to the premise that a simple and generally applicable treatment of laser impulse production should be available. The theoretical model can quantitatively predict vacuum ablation pressure foropaque targets without adjustable parameters to the factor‐of‐2 accuracy in which we are interested. Other published scaling models omit one or more of the important variables, lack broad applicability, or deviate more noticeably from the observed trend.

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International audience; Background: Despite the limited evidence, accelerated early postnatal growth (EPG) is commonly believed to benefit neurodevelopment for term-born infants, especially those small for gestational age.Objectives: To investigate the existence of critical time windows in the association of EPG with neurodevelopment, considering birth size groups.Study design: In the French ELFE birth cohort, 12,854 term-born neonates were classified as small, appropriate or large for gestational age (SGA, AGA, LGA, respectively). Parents reported their child's development by using the Child Development Inventory (CDI-score) at age 12 months and the MacArthur-Bates Development Inventory (MAB-score; 100 score units) assessing language ability at age 24 months. Predictions of individual weight, body mass index (BMI), length, and head circumference (HC) from birth to age 24 months were obtained from repeated measurements fitted with the Jenss-Bayley mixed-effects model. For each infant, conditional gains (CG) in these growth parameters were generated at four-time points (3, 6, 12 and 24 months) representing specific variations in growth parameters during 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-24 months, independent of previous measures. Using multivariable linear regression models, we provided the estimate differences of the neurodevelopmental scores according to variation of each growth parameter CG, by birth size group.Results: For SGA infants, the MAB-score differed by 5.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] -0.2, 11.8), 6.7 (95% CI -0.1, 13.3), and 9.7 (95% CI 1.9, 17.5) score units when CG in BMI, weight, and HC at 3 months varied from -2 to 1 standard deviation, respectively. For all infants, MAB-score was linearly and positively associated with length conditional gains at 12 months, with stronger magnitude for SGA infants. Results for the CDI-score were overall consistent with those for MAB-score.Conclusions: For term-born SGA infants, moderate catch-up in HC, BMI and weight within the first 3 months of life may benefit later neurodevelopment, which could guide clinicians to monitor EPG.