Search

Compact and safe charging platforms have been one of the main goals in wireless power transfer (WPT) research and development. Here we propose a compact hybrid metasurface-inspired resonator with a uniform magnetic field distribution for WPT. It consists of two orthogonally oriented layers of parallel printed wires with high-permittivity dielectric pads between them. This design allows to spatially separate electric and magnetic fields, which provide high WPT efficiency and electromagnetic safety simultaneously. The prototype with 28~cm~ $\times$ ~28~cm working area with uniform magnetic field was fabricated and experimentally studied. The measured coefficient of variation of the magnetic field in the working area of the resonator is 6.8\%. The maximum achievable WPT efficiency reaches 70\% over the working area. The numerically assessed specific absorption rate in human tissues placed on the proposed structure is 11~mW/kg, which is 30 times lower than on a conventional planar spiral coil. Our results pave the way to compact and safe WPT platforms for one-to-many charging occasions.

The paper is devoted to the issue of blood donation and possible ways to promote this activity using modern information technologies. Existing software solutions are analyzed and new Web application is proposed to implement all features required for potential blood donors to make this process clearer and more comfortable.

Wireless power transfer—the transmission of electromagnetic energy without physical connectors such as wires or waveguides—typically exploits electromagnetic field control methods that were first proposed decades ago and requires some essential parameters (such as efficiency) to be sacrificed in favour of others (such as stability). In recent years, novel approaches to electromagnetic field manipulation have been developed that can be used to create advanced forms of wireless power transfer. Here we review the development of novel physical effects and materials for wireless power transfer. We explore techniques based on coherent perfect absorption, parity–time symmetry and exceptional points, and on-site power generation. We also explore the use of metamaterials and metasurfaces in wireless power transfer, and the use of acoustic power transfer. Finally, we highlight potential routes for the further development of wireless power transfer technology. This Review examines the development of novel physical effects and materials for wireless power transfer, considering techniques based on coherent perfect absorption, parity–time symmetry and exceptional points, and on-site power generation, as well as the use of metamaterials and metasurfaces, and acoustic power transfer.

Last year, in Russia there was started a new government long-term initiative, that aims reduction for Russian greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70 percent compared to the 1990 level in less than next 10 years (by 2030).On the one hand such ambitious goal to includes massive technical and industrial modernization and other hand – supposed to provide valid, verified and globally recognized scientific data on the runoff and emission of greenhouse gases from ecosystems all around Russia. Thus, a large-scale program for the development of carbon stations has started with running of carbon polygons, which should combine both research-methodological and educational functions, and, eventually, contribute to the achievement of the specified state objective. The educational function of the polygons includes training personnel with interdisciplinary competencies to work on "carbon" topics, including the highest qualifications.Starting to design and equip the first running polygon in the Tyumen region (by University of Tyumen), we initially stated concept of creating an ecological and climatic transect across the whole of Russia from north to south. The general idea is connect the new carbon polygon near Tyumen with carbon monitor infrastructure in proposed polygons and stations in Tobolsk and Ishim, Khanty-Mansiysk (Mukhrino) and Yamalo-Nenets (Labytnangi)Autonomous Disctricts. With potential sites in partners, that University of Tyumen has in Central Asian republics, there are prospect to continue this meridional transect further to the south. And in this case, we have the prospect of getting a global-scale monitoring system in the center of Eurasia across all natural zones from north to south, that provide massive raw data set for global observation system.

Diamond is a form of carbon that has been attracting attention for hundreds of years, owing to its physical and chemical properties of hardness, thermal conductivity, chemical inertness, and transparency. Labor and the long-term impact of a diverse workforce, is one of the most important factors in diamond mining and production and must be considered when assessing economic benefits. In the present study, we examined the labor input required to obtain one carat of diamond, via three methods: open-cast mining, high-pressure high-temperature synthesis and 2.45-GHz microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. We discovered that to produce a carat of (near-) colorless diamond, the labor inputs are approximately 1.83 h and 3.43 h of work using the HPHT and 2.45-GHz MP CVD methods, respectively. We noted a lower labor input of work per carat for the mining of diamonds of assorted sizes and colors from the two main DeBeers diamond fields in Botswana (Orapa and Jwaneng). This paper is based on our observations and public reports, and we think that our findings will be helpful in understanding the labor input per carat for the analyzed methods, understanding the main technological challenges facing the diamond industry that could potentially affect future labor productivity.

The thermal behaviour of Ag2[PtCl4] and Ag2[PtCl6] complex salts in inert and reducing atmospheres has been studied. The thermolysis of compounds in a helium atmosphere is shown to occur in two stages. At the first stage, the complexes decompose in the temperature range of 350-500°C with the formation of platinum and silver chloride and the release of chlorine gas. At the second stage, silver chloride is sublimated in the temperature range of 700-900 °C, while metallic platinum remains in the solid phase. In contrast to the thermolysis of Ag2[PtCl6], the thermal decomposition of Ag2[PtCl4] at 350 °C is accompanied by significant heat release, which is associated with disproportionation of the initial salt to Ag2[PtCl6], silver chloride, and platinum metal. It is confirmed by DSC measurements, DFT calculations of a suggested reaction, and XRD. The thermolysis of Ag2[PtCl6] and Ag2[PtCl6] compounds is established to occur in a hydrogen atmosphere in two poorly separable steps. The compounds are decomposed within 170-350°C, and silver and platinum are reduced to a metallic state, while a metastable single-phase solid solution of Ag0.67Pt0.33 is formed. The catalytic activity of the resulting nanoalloy Ag0.67Pt0.33 is studied in the reaction of CO total (TOX) and preferential (PROX) oxidation. Ag0.67Pt0.33 advanced Pt nanopowder in activity in CO TOX, but was not selective in CO PROX.

Specific traits of the U.S. policies in Eastern Europe in the first months of the Joe Biden presidency are pre-determined primarily by the Democrats’ desire to normalize the U.S. relationship with the major Western European allies and the EU as a whole, spoiled under Donald Trump. This task makes it necessary to abandon artificial opposing of Eastern Europe to Western Europe. The Biden administration attaches major importance to the issue of common liberal values, which creates certain problems in relations with some East European governments, like Hungary or Poland. Political and diplomatic steps of the new administration in the region, both in a bilateral format and through multilateral forums (in particular the Three Seas Initiative), have revealed, on the one hand, the U.S. desire to keep protecting the security of the region in the face of the Russian and, increasingly Chinese, challenge; on the other hand, lower priority attached to "energy wars" with Russia, gradual waiving of sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, as well as Biden's unwillingness to sacrifice relations with Germany and other Western European allies for the sake of specific interests of countries like Poland, which were conceived by the Trump administration as a counterweight to Western Europe.

Background The additional benefit of methotrexate (MTX) as a concomitant treatment in PsA has not been fully elucidated for TNF inhibitors (TNFi) and no real-world data on this currently exist for ustekinumab (UST). We investigated the additive effect of MTX on the ability to reach composite treatment targets beyond monotherapy with UST or TNFi, and the ability to improve patient-reported outcomes in a real-world clinical setting in 8 European countries. Methods The PsABio study (NCT02627768) evaluates persistence, effectiveness and tolerability of 1st, 2nd or 3rd-line UST or TNFi in patients with PsA. Proportions of patients reaching minimal disease activity (MDA)/very low disease activity (VLDA) and clinical Disease Activity in Psoriatic Arthritis (cDAPSA) low disease activity (LDA) or remission, as well as the patient acceptable symptom state (PASS; score ≤4) of the 12-item Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease questionnaire (PsAID-12) were evaluated. Here we present 6-month follow-up data using intention to treat (ITT) analysis; patients who stopped/switched initial treatment were imputed as non-responders. The effect of MTX co-therapy was investigated within UST and TNFi cohorts, as well as between the cohorts, using multivariate logistic regression including interaction terms, and propensity score (PS) analysis to adjust for imbalanced, potentially prognostic, baseline covariates. Results Of 930 patients, data was available for 868 ITT patients, including patients who switched/stopped before 6 months (UST: n = 28/426 [6.6%], TNFi: n = 44/442 [10.0%]). At baseline there were no relevant differences in demographics and disease activity, however there were significant differences in skin involvement as well as csDMARD and NSAID exposure. Co-therapy with MTX did not increase the likelihood of achieving any of the outcomes in either the UST or TNFi cohorts (Table 1). After PS adjustment, co-treatment with MTX did not influence treatment effects differently when added to UST compared with TNFi. concomitant use of csDMARDs other than MTX yielded very similar results. Conclusion In a real-world setting, concomitant treatment with MTX in addition to UST or TNFi was not associated with enhanced effects across a broad variety of disease outcomes, including disease activity, disease impact, and skin involvement within or between treatment cohorts, after PS adjustment for baseline confounders. Disclosures S. Siebert: Consultancies; AbbVie, UCB, Pfizer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Novartis. Grants/research support; Pfizer, Janssen, BMS, Celgene, UCB, Boehringer Ingelheim. E. Gremese: Consultancies; AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Roche, Pfizer. P. Bergmans: Shareholder/stock ownership; Johnson & Johnson. Other; Employee of Janssen. K. de Vlam: Consultancies; Johnson & Johnson. B. Joven-Ibáñez: Member of speakers’ bureau; Celgene, Novartis, MSD, Pfizer, AbbVie, Janssen. G. Katsifis: None. T.V. Korotaeva: Consultancies; Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, AbbVie, Celgene, Biocad, Janssen, UCB, Lilly, Novartis-Sandoz. W. Noël: Other; Employee of Janssen. C. Selmi: None. P.P. Sfikakis: None. P. Smirnov: Other; Employee of Janssen. E. Theander: Other; Employee of Janssen. M.T. Nurmohamed: Grants/research support; Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, Celgene. L. Gossec: Honoraria; AbbVie, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Sanofi, UCB. Grants/research support; Pfizer. J.S. Smolen: Consultancies; AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Celgene, Celtrion, GlaxoSmithKline, ILTOO Pharma, Janssen, Lilly, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, UCB. Grants/research support; AbbVie, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Pfizer, Roche.

The paper proposes a block method for estimating the deformation field for image sequences using a stochastic adaptation procedure. As a target function, the paper considers mean square inter-frame difference and interframe correlation coefficient. The developed algorithm has a high noise resistance and allows one to reduce the influence of global inter-frame geometric changes. Also, by adjusting the size of the blocks, it makes it possible to remove or highlight moving objects of small size (rain, snow, falling leaves, etc.).

The thermal behaviour of Ag2[PtCl4] and Ag2[PtCl6] complex salts in inert and reducing atmospheres has been studied. The thermolysis of compounds in a helium atmosphere is shown to occur in two stages. At the first stage, the complexes decompose in the temperature range of 350–500 °C with the formation of platinum and silver chloride and the release of chlorine gas. At the second stage, silver chloride is sublimated in the temperature range of 700–900 °C, while metallic platinum remains in the solid phase. In contrast to the thermolysis of Ag2[PtCl6], the thermal decomposition of Ag2[PtCl4] at 350 °C is accompanied by significant heat release, which is associated with disproportionation of the initial salt to Ag2[PtCl6], silver chloride, and platinum metal. It is confirmed by DSC measurements, DFT calculations of a suggested reaction, and XRD. The thermolysis of Ag2[PtCl4] and Ag2[PtCl6] compounds is shown to occur in a hydrogen atmosphere in two poorly separable steps. The compounds are decomposed within 170–350 °C, and silver and platinum are reduced to a metallic state, while a metastable single-phase solid solution of Ag0.67Pt0.33 is formed. The catalytic activity of the resulting nanoalloy Ag0.67Pt0.33 is studied in the reaction of CO total (TOX) and preferential (PROX) oxidation. Ag0.67Pt0.33 enhanced Pt nano-powder activity in CO TOX, but was not selective in CO PROX.

In our research, we analyzed the energy and water consumption in diamond mining and laboratory synthesis operations. We used publicly available reports issued by two market leaders, DeBeers and ALROSA, to estimate water and energy use per carat of a rough diamond. The efficiency of the two most popular synthesis technologies for artificial diamonds—High-Pressure-High-Temperature (HPHT) and Microwave-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (M-CVD)—was examined. We found that the modern HPHT presses, with open cooling circuits, consume about 36 kWh/ct when producing gem-quality and average-sized (near-) colorless diamonds. ALROSA and DeBeers use about 96 kWh/ct and 150 kWh/ct, respectively, including all energy required to mine. Energy consumption of M-CVD processes can be different and depends on technological conditions. Our M-CVD machine is the least energy-efficient, requiring about 215 kWh/ct in the single-crystal regime, using 2.45-GHz magnetron for the support synthesis. The M-CVD methods of individual synthetic companies IIa Technology and Ekati Mine are different from our results and equal 77 and 143 kWh/ct, respectively. Water consumption for the HPHT and M-CVD methods was insignificant: approximately zero and 0.002 m3/ct, respectively, and below 0.077 m3/ct for ALROSA-mined diamonds. This study touches upon the impact of the diamond production methods used on the carbon footprint.

Background The link between obesity and disease activity in PsA is unclear. Obesity has been associated with a poorer therapeutic response and higher treatment discontinuation rates in patients with PsA being treated with tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). Recent data confirm the favourable effect of weight reduction on these factors. There are no data available for other biologics. Objectives To investigate the relationship between baseline overweight/obesity and disease activity, patient-reported outcomes and disability, in a large real-world cohort of patients with PsA starting biologic treatment with either ustekinumab (UST) or TNFi. Methods The PsABio study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02627768) is an ongoing observational study evaluating efficacy, tolerability and persistence of 1st, 2nd- and 3rd-line UST or TNFi in PsA in 8 European countries1 when introduced as part of standard clinical care. Baseline data of the study population were collected and analysed for BMI, disease activity (cDAPSA, psoriasis BSA), patient-perceived impact (PsAID-12), disability (HAQ-DI) and presence or history of CVD/MET. Descriptive statistics on available data and 3 exploratory multiple regression models are shown, to investigate the relationship of cDAPSA, PsAID-12 and HAQ-DI (dependent variables) with BMI, adjusted for age, sex, smoking, BSA, CRP, disease duration and biologic treatment. Results In all, 917 patients were included, starting either UST (n=450) or TNFi (n=467): mean (SD) age 49.7 (12.5) years, 55.5% female. The mean (SD) baseline BMI (N=827) was 28.1 (5.8) kg/m2, with 40.0% and 30.4% in BMI categories overweight (>25–30) and obese (>30), respectively. In univariate analyses, obesity was linked to worse outcomes (Table 1). More severe disease was associated with higher BMI (Table 2). In multiple regression modelling, higher BMI was independently linked to higher cDAPSA (BMI: β=0.09 p=0.026); to higher patient-perceived disease impact measured by PsAID-12 (BMI: β=0.16, p Conclusion This multi-country routine-care PsA cohort of patients in need of biologic treatment confirms the high prevalence of overweight/obesity and indicates an independent association between high BMI and disease activity as well as patient-reported impact of disease and disability. These results emphasize the need for lifestyle-directed approaches in PsA, such as overweight management in parallel with joint- and skin-focused treatment. Reference [1] Gossec L, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018;77(Suppl):A1033. Acknowledgement This study was sponsored by Janssen Disclosure of Interests Stefan Siebert Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Novartis, Pfizer, Janssen, BMS, Celgene, UCB, and Boehringer Ingelheim, Consultant for: AbbVie, UCB, Pfizer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, and Novartis, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, UCB, Pfizer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, and Novartis, Paul Bergmans Shareholder of: Johnson & Johnson, Employee of: Janssen, Kurt de Vlam Consultant for: Pfizer Inc, Consultant for: Johnson & Johnson, Elisa Gremese Consultant for: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Roche, and Pfizer, Speakers bureau: BMS, Speakers bureau: Roche, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Roche, and Pfizer, Beatriz Joven-Ibanez Speakers bureau: Celgene, Novartis, MSD, Pfizer, AbbVie, and Janssen, Tatiana Korotaeva Consultant for: Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, AbbVie, Celgene, Biocad, Janssen, UCB, Lilly and Novartis-Sandoz, Speakers bureau: Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, AbbVie, Celgene, Biocad, Janssen, UCB, Lilly and Novartis-Sandoz, Wim Noel Employee of: Janssen, M.T. Nurmohamed Grant/research support from: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Grant/research support from: Pfizer, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Eli Lilly, Celgene & Sanofi, Consultant for: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Speakers bureau: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Eli Lilly, Celgene & Sanofi, Petros Sfikakis: None declared, Ana Laiz Consultant for: Lilly, Novartis, AbbVvie, MSD, UCB and Janssen, Speakers bureau: Lilly, Novartis, Abvvie, MSD, UCB and Janssen, Pavel Smirnov Employee of: Janssen, Elke Theander Employee of: Janssen, Josef S. Smolen Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Consultant for: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Celgene, Celtrion, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, ILTOO, Janssen, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, UCB, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Celgene, Celtrion, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, ILTOO, Janssen, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, UCB, Laure Gossec Grant/research support from: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Sanofi, and UCB, Consultant for: AbbVie, Biogen, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Nordic Pharma, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, and UCB, Consultant for: L Gossec has received honoraria from Celgene as investigator for this study

Background The link between reaching a state of remission or LDA1,2 and patient-reported outcomes in PsA has been little explored in an observational setting. Objectives This analysis investigates the potential effect of reaching remission or LDA according to cDAPSA and achievement of VLDA/MDA on patient-reported outcomes such as HRQoL, functioning and pain in an observational cohort of PsA patients. Methods PsABio (NCT02627768) is an ongoing real-world observational study in 8 European countries where PsA patients receive 1st-, 2nd- or 3rd-line biologics (starting either ustekinumab [UST] or a TNFi. Of 563 UST- or TNFi-treated patients enrolled Dec 2015 – Aug 2017, 303 had data available from their 6-month follow-up. Disease states were defined using cDAPSA ≤4 for remission and ≤13 for LDA (data available for 250 patients) and VLDA 7/7 and MDA 5/7 criteria (data available for 206 and 260 patients, respectively). HRQoL was assessed by the generic instrument EQ5D and the PsA specific tool PsAID-12. Physical functioning was measured by the HAQ-DI and pain with a Pain VAS (0–100). Assessment of Psoriasis Skin Disease (68/299=22.7%) was the most frequently missed MDA component, while enthesitis was the least frequently missed (6/299=2.0%). The other 5 components were all missed with equal frequency (8–9%). Available observed data on univariate associations are presented, with no imputation of missing data or adjustment for baseline imbalances. Results For the 303 patients, mean age was 49.7 (standard deviation [SD] 12.8) years, mean disease duration was 7.2 (SD, 8.2) years, and 50.5% were women. Figure 1 shows data at 6 months for cDAPSA remission, cDAPSA LDA, VLDA, and MDA in UST- and TNFi-treated patients. Start of treatment with either UST or TNFi did not significantly influence the rates of these outcomes at 6 months. cDAPSA remission/LDA and VLDA/MDA achievement (Yes vs No) was associated with better general and disease-specific HRQoL assessments, (EQ5D VAS, PsAID-12) physical function (HAQ-DI) and Pain (VAS) shown by non-overlapping confidence intervals in Figure 2. Conclusion In real-life, treatment with either UST or a TNFi leads to considerable and comparable numbers of patients reaching LDA or remission. Reaching such LDA is associated with clinically important improvements exceeding minimal clinically important differences for QoL, functioning and pain experience. Our data therefore strongly support a treat-to-target strategy in routine care for PsA. References [1] Gossec L, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016;75:499–510; 2. Smolen JS,et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018;77:3–17. Acknowledgement This study was sponsored by Janssen Disclosure of Interests Laure Gossec Grant/research support from: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Sanofi, and UCB, Consultant for: AbbVie, Biogen, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Nordic Pharma, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, and UCB, Consultant for: L Gossec has received honoraria from Celgene as investigator for this study, Paul Bergmans Shareholder of: Johnson & Johnson, Employee of: Janssen, Kurt de Vlam Consultant for: Pfizer Inc, Consultant for: Johnson & Johnson, Elisa Gremese Consultant for: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Roche, and Pfizer, Speakers bureau: BMS, Speakers bureau: Roche, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, BMS, Celgene, Janssen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Roche, and Pfizer, Beatriz Joven-Ibanez Speakers bureau: Celgene, Novartis, MSD, Pfizer, AbbVie, and Janssen, Tatiana Korotaeva Consultant for: Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, AbbVie, Celgene, Biocad, Janssen, UCB, Lilly and Novartis-Sandoz, Speakers bureau: Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, AbbVie, Celgene, Biocad, Janssen, UCB, Lilly and Novartis-Sandoz, Wim Noel Employee of: Janssen, M.T. Nurmohamed Grant/research support from: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Grant/research support from: Pfizer, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Eli Lilly, Celgene & Sanofi , Consultant for: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Speakers bureau: Pfizer, AbbVie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Lilly, Sanofi, and Celgene., Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, MSD, Mundipharma, UCB, Janssen, Menarini, Eli Lilly, Celgene & Sanofi , Petros Sfikakis: None declared, Stefan Siebert Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Novartis, Pfizer, Janssen, BMS, Celgene, UCB, and Boehringer Ingelheim, Consultant for: AbbVie, UCB, Pfizer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, and Novartis, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, UCB, Pfizer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, and Novartis, Pavel Smirnov Employee of: Janssen, Elke Theander Employee of: Janssen, Josef S. Smolen Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Janssen, MSD, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Consultant for: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Celgene, Celtrion, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, ILTOO, Janssen, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, UCB, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Celgene, Celtrion, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, ILTOO, Janssen, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer Inc, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, UCB

This article discusses the issue of TEM cell testing for electromagnetic compatibility testing. A comparison is made of the parameters of the open and closed structures, such as the electric field strength in the cross section and the reflection coefficient. The frequency dependences of the electric field intensity in the open cell section are obtained.

A novel design of a neutralizer-free plasma thruster is proposed. This setup features a capacitively coupled RF discharge for plasma generation combined with a magnetic nozzle configuration for acceleration. Characteristics of the plasma plume and ions flux are investigated with the help of emissive probes and retarding potential analyzers (RPA). Essential parameters of the thruster like ions energy, ions flux, utilization efficiencies, and thrust are estimated. The investigated system produces a beam of ions accelerated to an energy of 10 eV when operated at power levels of ~20 W and a mass flow of 1.2 mg/s. The ion energy coincides with the potential drop in the plasma plume indicating that the acceleration takes place due the formation of an ambipolar electric field in the expanding plasma. The design is compared to the data available of other similar thrusters.

The commonly employed highly efficient and robust Q -estimate of the scale parameter proposed by Rousseeuw and Croux (1993) has been approximated using computationally fast Huber M -estimates. The suggested M -estimates were shown to be robust and highly efficient for an arbitary underlying data distribution due to correctly choosing the approximation parameters. The following indicators of the efficiency and robustness of M -estimates of scale were computed: their asymptotic variances, influence functions and breakdown points. Special attention was given to the particular cases of the Gaussian and Cauchy distributions. It is noteworthy that for the Cauchy distribution, the suggested robust estimate of scale coincides with the maximal likelihood estimate. Finally, the computation time of these highly efficient and robust estimates of scale is 3-4 times less than for the corresponding Q -estimates.

The modern development of wireless power transfer (WPT) technologies brings various products that improve the lives of users. It has become an urgent demand to simultaneously charge multiple mobile devices operating under different WPT standards on a charging platform regardless of their position and orientation with respect to each other. Recent advances in metasurfaces make it possible to control the near electromagnetic fields with much more degrees of freedom in comparison to conventional resonators. Here, we develop a compact multi-mode metamaterial-inspired resonator formed as an array of sub-wavelength parallel strip conductors. This resonator aims to replace conventional flat coil resonators and offers multiple modes with different profiles of electromagnetic field distribution for various near-field WPT applications. The first three eigenmodes are numerically and experimentally studied, and their potential applications for design of multi-mode WPT systems capable of charging multiple receivers simultaneously are discussed.

Adaptive undersampling is a method for accelerating the rendering process by replacing the calculation of a volume integral with an interpolation procedure for a number of pixels. In this paper, we propose a method for accelerating the volume integral calculation for the rest of the pixels, i.e. those pixels for which interpolation can not be done with sufficient accuracy. This method requires two passes through the input data. On the first pass, rendering is done into a low-resolution texture. At this stage, the values of the volume integral on a set of intervals of a given length are calculated and saved into a special G-buffer alone with the pixel’s color. On the second pass, these values are used to determine colors of the pixels. For those pixels whose result is not precise enough, the volume integral is calculated on one or several intervals, rather than the whole ray. The proposed method allows one to accelerate adaptive undersampling by a factor of 1.5 on average, depending on the input data.

The goal of this study was to develop an algorithm that enhances the temporal resolution of two-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography (2D CDE) by reordering all the acquired frames and filtering out the frames corrupted by out-of-plane motion and arrhythmia. The algorithm splits original frame sequence into the fragments based on the correlation with a reference frame. Then, the fragments are aligned temporally and merged into a resulting sequence that has higher temporal resolution. We evaluated the algorithm with 10 animal epicardial 2D CDE datasets of the right ventricle and compared it with the existing approaches in terms of resulting frame rate, image stability and execution time. We identified the optimal combination of alternatives for each step, which resulted in an increase in frame rate from 14 ± 0.87 to 238 ± 93 Hz. The average execution time was 7.23 ± 0.48 s in comparison with 0.009 ± 0.001 s for ECG gating and 1167.37 ± 587.85 s for flow reordering. Our approach demonstrated a significant (p

A parametric family of M-estimators of scale based on the Rousseeuw–Croux Qn-estimator is proposed; estimator’s bias and efficiency are studied. A low-complexity one-step M-estimator is obtained allowing a considerably faster computation with greater than 80% efficiency and the highest possible 50% breakdown point. Analytical and Monte Carlo modeling results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

This paper presents new experimental results concerning the PeTa effect—infrared characteristic radiation under first order phase transitions, especially during deposition and condensation of vapours/gases and the crystallisation of melts. The abbreviation “PeTa effect” means Perel’man-Tatartchenko’s effect. The nature of the PeTa effect is transient radiation that a particle (i.e., atom, molecule or/and cluster) emits during a transition from a meta-stable higher energetic level (in a super-cooled melt or super-saturated vapour) to the stable condensed lower level (in a crystal or liquid). The radiation removes latent heat with photons of characteristic frequencies that are generated under this transition. This paper is the second in a set describing the appearance of PeTa radiation under air cooling with deposition and condensation of air components. The radiation was recorded using an IR Fourier Spectrometer with a highly sensitive MCT detector. Certain peculiarities of the recorded radiation as well as its applications in the physics of the atmospheres of Earth and Jupiter are analysed.

This paper presents new experimental evidence of the PeTa effect—infrared characteristic radiation under first order phase transitions, especially the crystallization of melts and the deposition and condensation of vapours/gases. The PeTa effect describes the transient radiation that a particle (i.e., atom, molecule or/and cluster) emits transient radiation during a transition from a meta-stable higher energetic level (in a super-cooled melt or a super-saturated vapour) to the stable condensed lower level (in a crystal or a liquid). The radiation removes latent heat with photons of characteristic frequencies that are generated under this transition. The abbreviation “PeTa effect” means Perel’man-Tatartchenko’s effect.

This paper is the third one from the series of papers with the same titles published in this journal. The papers consider the infrared characteristic radiation (IRCR) during the first order phase transitions of water: crystallization, water vapor condensation, and water vapor deposition. Experimental results are analyzed in terms of their correspondence to the theoretical model. This model is based on the assertion that the particle's (atom, molecule, or cluster) transition from the higher energetic level in a metastable phase (vapor or liquid) to a lower level in a stable phase (liquid or crystal) produces an emission of one or more photons. The energy of these photons depends on the latent energy of the phase transition and the character of bonds formed by the particle in the new phase. For all investigated substances, this energy falls in the infrared range. Recorded in the atmosphere, numerous sources of the infrared radiation seem to be a result of crystallization, condensation and deposition of water during fog and cloud formation. The effect under investigation must play a very important role in atmospheric phenomena: it is one of the sources of Earth's cooling; formation of hailstorm clouds is accompanied by intensive IRCR that could be detected for process characterization and meteorological warnings. IRCR seems to be used for atmospheric energy accumulation and together with the wind, falling water, solar and geothermal energies makes available the fifth source of ecologically pure energy.

The Lyapunov stability of the crystal-melt system and the solidification rate is studied for the growing of lithium niobate crystals by the low melt level Czochralski technique. The relaxation time is calculated as a function of growth conditions. The curves of transient processes are plotted at various variable perturbations. It is shown that, for optically homogeneous crystals to be produced, the stability of the solidification rate rather than the crystal-melt system as a whole should be ensured. The stability of the solidification rate is found to be maximal at the maximum temperature gradient at the solidification interface and the minimum melt level in a crucible.

The microscopic structure and dynamic properties of water, methanol, and acetonitrile confined in mesoporous MCM-41 materials have been investigated under monolayer and capillary-condensation conditions as a function of pore size and temperature by in situ FTIR and X-ray diffraction and quasi-elastic neutron scattering techniques. Both interfacial and confinement effects on the structure and dynamics of the liquids in hydrophilic pores are discussed at the molecular level.

The structure and complex formation of concentrated aqueous gallium(III) bromide (GaBr3) solutions have been investigated over a temperature range 80–333 K by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), and X-ray diffraction. The Raman spectra obtained at various [Br−]/[Ga3+] molar ratios and temperatures have shown that complex formation between Ga3+ and Br− occurs as a predominant species, with [GaBr4]− at [Ga3+] as high as 1∼2 M (M = mol−dm −3) and [Br−]/[Ga3+] ratios > ∼2, and that cooling of the solutions favors the formation of the aqua Ga3+. The intermediate species were not seen in the Raman spectra. The XAFS data have revealed that the aqua complex has a sixfold coordination as [Ga(H2O)6]3+ with a Ga3+–H2O distance of (1.96 ± 0.02) A, whereas the [GaBr4]− complex has a Ga3+–Br− distance of (2.33± 0.02) A, and that vitrification of the aqueous GaBr3 solution at liquid nitrogen temperature shifts the equilibrium toward the aqua complex. The X-ray diffraction data at different subzero temperatures have shown a tendency of decreasing Ga3+–Br− and increasing Ga3+–H2O interactions with lowering temperature, confirming the preference of aqua Ga3+ in the supercooled liquid state as well as in the glassy state. The Ga3+–H2O distance of ∼1.8 A for the tetrahedral coordination was found in a 2.01 M gallium(III) bromide solution with a [Br−]/[Ga3+] ratio of 3.7 and gradually increased to a value of 1.92 A for octahedral geometry with decreasing temperature, suggesting that equilibrium shifts from [GaBr4]− to [Ga(H2O)6]3+ through intermediate species, [GaBr n ](3−n)+ (n = 2 and 3). The Ga3+–Br− and Br−–Br− distances within [GaBr4]− with an almost tetrahedral symmetry are (2.35± 0.02) and (3.82± 0.03) A, respectively. The Ga3+ has the second hydration shell at (4.03± 0.03) A and the hydration of Br− is characterized with a Br−–H2O distance of (3.35± 0.02) A at all temperatures investigated.

The Gibbs energies of transfer, Δ t G 0 for 9 monovalent ions from water to triethylphosphite are reported. The Gibbs energies of transfer have been determined from solubility product measurements of 1:1 salts. The extrathermodynamic tetraphenylarsonium tetraphenylborate (TATB) assumption has been applied in order to calculate the contribution from the individual ions. It is shown that soft electron-pair acceptors such as the silver(I) ion are strongly solvated in triethylphosphite, while hard electron acceptors with low charge density such as the alkali metal ions are almost equally solvated in triethylphosphite and water. The inorganic anions are so weakly solvated in triethylphosphite that solubility product measurements were not possible to perform with sufficient accuracy on salts with inorganic anions due to low solubilities. The only anions studied are tetraphenylborate and picrate.

A few historical remarks on the notion of correlation, as well as a brief review of robust estimators of the correlation coefficient are given. A family of M-estimators of the correlation coefficient for bivariate independent component distributions is proposed. Consistency and asymptotic normality of these estimators are established, and the explicit expression for their asymptotic variance is obtained. A minimax variance (in the Huber sense) M-estimator of the correlation coefficient for \(\varepsilon\)-contaminated bivariate normal distributions is designed. Although the structure of this new result generally is similar to the former minimax variance M-estimator of the correlation coefficient proposed by Shevlyakov and Vilchevski (Stat. Probab. Lett. 57, 91–100, 2002b), the efficiency of this new estimator is considerably greater than that of the former one as it generalizes the maximum likelihood estimator of the correlation coefficient of the bivariate normal distribution. Furthermore, highly efficient and robust estimators of correlation are obtained by applying highly efficient and robust estimators of scale. Under the \(\varepsilon\)-contaminated bivariate normal, t- and independent component Cauchy distributions, the proposed robust estimators dominate over the sample correlation coefficient. The comparative analytical and Monte Carlo study of various robust estimators confirm the effectiveness of the proposed M-estimator of the correlation coefficient.

The transfer thermodynamic functions for 19 monovalent ions from water to N,N′-dimethylpropyleneurea (1,3-dimethyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2(1H)-pyrimidione) are reported. The Gibbs energies of transfer, ΔtGo, have been determined from solubility product or potentiometric measurements, and the heats of transfer, ΔtHo, have been determined calorimetrically. The entropies of transfer, ΔtSo, have been calculated from these ΔtGo and ΔtHo values. The extrathermodynamic tetraphenylarsonium tetraphenylborate (TATB) assumption has been applied in order to calculate the contribution from the individual ions. The hard alkali metal ions are strongly solvated by N,N′-dimethylpropyleneurea as is the soft silver(I) ion. The inorganic anions are all more strongly solvated in water than in N,N′-dimethylpropyleneurea, and the ΔtSo values are markedly negative. In spite of the stronger solvation of the anions in water, the heats of transfer for some of these are exothermic. The exothermic heats of transfer arise from the difference in bulk order between water, which is well-ordered through hydrogen bonding, and N,N′-dimethylpropyleneurea, which has a significantly lower bulk order than water. The solvation of monovalent ions shows a similar pattern in N,N′-dimethylpropyleneurea to that previously found in dimethylsulfoxide.

The need for fast on-line algorithms to analyze high data-rate measurements is a vital element in production settings. Given the ever-increasing number of data sources coupled with increasing complexity of applications, and workload patterns, anomaly detection methods should be light-weight and must operate in real-time. In many modern applications, data arrive in a streaming fashion. Therefore, the underlying assumption of classical methods that the data is a sample from a stable distribution is not valid, and Gaussian and non-parametric based methods such as the control chart and boxplot are inadequate. Streaming data is an ever-changing superposition of distributions. Detection of such changes in real-time is one of the fundamental challenges. We propose low-complexity robust modifications to the conventional Tukey boxplot based on fast highly efficient robust estimates of scale. Results using synthetic as well as real-world data show that our methods outperform the Tukey boxplot and methods based on Gaussian limits.

This paper describes an idea of visual modeling tool for knowledge bases. The tool is planned to be an interactive multimedia application, which intuitively demonstrates complicated ontological structures and makes cognition process more effective and interesting. This work is a part of project concerning the optics ontology development and building an educational portal to introduce it into Optics Museum of ITMO University. The tool visualizes ontology in form of a graph and is planned to be used on tablet PC-s or info-stands installed in the museum.

An achievement of military parity and following arms rate of antagonistic superpowers resulted not only in the contamination of large territories for nuclear weapons testing grounds and, because of accidents, areas around some industrial reactors. The USA and the former Soviet Union (FSU) NPS use led to wrecking several submarines of both countries in the diverse regions of the Global ocean with submerged up to now their power installations and, in some cases, nuclear weapons [1-3],Fig.1.

Systems and methods for ultrasonic imaging of a jaw and coupling cushions suited for use in the mouth. The system includes a specially configured ultrasonic probe, a position locator module for defining a probe location and transmitting the definition to a central processing unit (CPU) and the CPU. The CPU is capable of receiving digital data from transducers in the probe and receiving the location of the probe and producing an image of at least a portion of a jaw. The method includes providing the ultrasonic probe, defining its location and communicating the location to a CPU and transmitting an signal from a transducer and receiving at least a portion of the signal at at least one of the transducers. The CPU receives transducer data and a location of the probe and produces an image of the at least a portion of the jaw. An ultrasonic coupling cushion is further disclosed.