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Filibryum, a new genus of the family Hypnaceae, is described to include three species from East Asia. Filibryum ogatae and F. yakoushimae are transferred to it from the genus Glossadelphus, while F...

This paper presents a passivity-based control (PBC) for a type 2 static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) based on an Euler-Lagrange model. The proposed method is designed based on a Lyapunov function by considering dissipation to improve transient performance. An additional nonlinear damping term is designed to regulate the capacitor voltage. It is guaranteed that the equilibrium point of the system is locally exponentially stable in the operating range. The performance of the proposed method is validated via a 100 Mvar STATCOM system connected to the 345-kV grid system in SimPowerSystems, MATLAB/Siumlink. To compare with the input-output feedback linearization method, the proposed control method has improved convergence and reduction of oscillations of the active current and DC voltage, as shown in simulation results. Lastly, it shows that the proposed method is robust to model mismatches as the variation of the grid voltage and the degradation of the capacitance.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare intubation performance between blind intubation through supraglottic airway devices and direct laryngoscopy by novices under manikin simulation. We hypothesized that the intubation time by novices using supraglottic airway devices was superior to that with the Macintosh laryngoscope (MCL). METHODS A prospective, randomized crossover study was conducted with 95 participants, to evaluate i-gel, air-Q, LMA Fastrach, and MCL devices. Primary outcomes were the intubation time and the success rate for intubation. RESULTS The i-gel showed the shortest insertion and tube passing time among the four devices; the i-gel and air-Q also showed the shortest total intubation time (all P

We propose a torque-overlay-based robust steering wheel angle (SWA) control method of electrical power steering (EPS) for a lane-keeping system of automated vehicles. The proposed method consists of an augmented observer and a nonlinear damping controller to guarantee the semiglobal uniform ultimate boundedness of the SWA tracking error using only SWA feedback. The key idea of the proposed method is that the system functions with unknown parameters and external disturbance, along with their derivatives, are combined into an augmented state variable for designing the nonlinear observer in the absence of Lipschitz conditions. The augmented observer is designed to estimate the full state and disturbance. The nonlinear damping controller is developed via backstepping to suppress the angle tracking error using the input-to-state stability property when the estimation error becomes large. Since the proposed method is designed based on torque overlay, a torque integration using basic functions of the EPS for SWA control is available for driver convenience. Furthermore, no modification of the EPS is required. The performance of the proposed method was validated through experimentation with a test vehicle.

In previous methods designed based on field oriented (and/or weakening) control, high performance of current control is required for position control of permanent magnet (PM) stepper motors. This paper proposes a simplified torque modulated microstepping (STMMS) based on singular perturbation theory for position control of the PM stepper motors. Since a two phase frame PM stepper motor model involves slow and fast dynamics, singular perturbation theory is applied to improve the transient response and to reduce the ripple. The torque modulated microstepping method is applied with a simplified current tracking control law obtained from singular perturbed system analysis. Using applied conditions and stability proofs, we find that the proposed control design procedure is simplified. This eliminates the high-bandwidth control efforts for the current tracking required in the previous methods. Furthermore, the STMMS does not use current feedback for the current tracking. It is shown that high performance in the current tracking does not necessarily entail high performance in the position tracking. The proposed method was validated by simulation and experimental results. It is observed that the STMMS not only improved transient response but also reduced ripple in position control over the previous method. Furthermore, the STMMS used the input voltages less than the previous method does.

This paper proposes microstepping via a proximate in-phase current estimator (PIpCE) to improve position control performance with reduced torque ripples in permanent-magnet (PM) stepping motors. In conventional microstepping control, low-pass filters (LPFs) are used to filter out measurement noise resulting from the implemented current feedback loops. However, the phase lag caused by LPFs can degrade position control performance. In this paper, we propose a current tracking controller with PIpCE. The globally uniformly ultimately bounded current tracking error is proved via the Lyapunov theory. The proposed PIpCE also enhances current tracking performance over that of the conventional method. The proposed controller not only reduces the torque ripple caused by the phase lag but also increases the operational range of microstepping by pushing the electromechanical resonance frequency to a high-frequency region. We experimentally validated the effectiveness of the proposed method and observed that this method provides uniform position tracking performance without step-out or speed reversal, even in high-speed operation.

In this paper, we propose a method of enhanced nonlinear damping control for a class of singularly perturbed interconnected nonlinear systems (SPINSs). Instead of simply canceling out the interconnection between slow and fast subsystems, the proposed method transforms SPINS into a feedback connection of two output strictly passive subsystems. Then, enhanced nonlinear damping is implemented to improve the transient behavior of slow subsystem. The proposed method provides weighting factors for each tracking error which enable the energy function to be designed to shape the tracking performance for each state. We also design an augmented state observer to estimate unknown disturbances and unmeasurable states. Using a composite Lyapunov function, we prove that the origin of the tracking error dynamics is globally exponentially stable. It is also analyzed that the tracking errors are globally uniformly ultimately bounded for a time-varying bounded disturbance. Experiments were performed to evaluate the tracking performance of the proposed method and our results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Lithium ion battery with ultra-thick electrode is hardly manufactured in practice due to its poor rate capability and large unusable capacity caused by high internal resistances in spite of the potential benefits of a high capacity and cost reduction by less inactive material usage in the same volume. In this work, we report the effectiveness of laser structuring of ultra-thick electrodes for high-energy battery. Lithium cobalt-oxide cathode (700 μm) and graphite anode (650 μm) are prepared with the areal discharge capacity, 25 mAh cm−2. After laser structuring, electrode surface morphology and chemistry are investigated. Internal resistances and diffusion characteristics are analyzed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy using symmetric cells with non-intercalating salt. Geometric changes of ultra-thick electrode by laser structuring contributes to decrease of tortuosity, decrease of electronic and ionic resistances, and enhancement of diffusion characteristics in both laser-structured cathode and anode without chemically negative reaction, thermal damage or a failure of electrode structure. The rate capability and areal discharge capacity of laser-structured cells increases by 5 times than that of unstructured one at 0.1 C condition. Therefore, laser structuring of ultra-thick electrodes is a viable approach for the high-energy battery with practical use of space.

Neural cell adhesion molecules 1 (NCAM1) and 2 (NCAM2) belong to the cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily and have been shown to regulate formation, maturation, and maintenance of synapses. NCAM1 and NCAM2 undergo proteolysis, but the identity of all the proteases involved and how proteolysis is used to regulate their functions are not known. We report here that NCAM1 and NCAM2 are BACE1 substrates in vivo. NCAM1 and NCAM2 overexpressed in HEK cells were both cleaved by metalloproteinases or BACE1, and NCAM2 was also processed by γ-secretase. We identified the BACE1 cleavage site of NCAM1 (at Glu 671) and NCAM2 (at Glu 663) using mass spectrometry and site-directed mutagenesis. Next, we assessed BACE1-mediated processing of NCAM1 and NCAM2 in the mouse brain during aging. NCAM1 and NCAM2 were cleaved in the olfactory bulb of BACE1+/+ but not BACE1−/− mice at postnatal day 10 (P10), 4 and 12 months of age. In the hippocampus, a BACE1-specific soluble fragment of NCAM1 (sNCAM1β) was only detected at P10. However, we observed an accumulation of full-length NCAM1 in hippocampal synaptosomes in 4-month-old BACE1−/− mice. We also found that polysialylated NCAM1 (PSA-NCAM1) levels were increased in BACE1−/− mice at P10 and demonstrated that BACE1 cleaves both NCAM1 and PSA-NCAM1 in vitro. In contrast, we did not find evidence for BACE1-dependent NCAM2 processing in the hippocampus at any age analyzed. In summary, our data demonstrate that BACE1 differentially processes NCAM1 and NCAM2 depending on the region of brain, subcellular localization, and age in vivo.

Li-ion transport which is the fundamental driving force affects to lithium-ion batteries performance thermodynamically and kinetically. A facile and accurate tool is needed to analyze Li-ion transport affected by the electrode structure and electrolyte. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a well-known tool to evaluate a battery system. The actual interface of electrode-electrolyte and Li-ion transport can be confirmed quantitatively by analyzing low frequency region of EIS. Herein, symmetric cells with SOC 0 state electrodes are analyzed with complex capacitance. In low frequency, Li-ion is accumulated along the electrode surface in the symmetric cell assembled with SOC 0 state electrodes (SC-SOC 0). Therefore, the interface of electrode-electrolyte can be investigated using this cell configuration. The accumulated amount of Li-ion is expressed as a real capacitance (C') (Figure 1a). In addition, the time constant (τ) is the value representing double-layer formation time related with the transport of Li-ion (Figure 1b). This approach can be used as a fundamental tool to understand Li-ion batteries performance by studying the interface of electrode-electrolyte (Figure 1c). Figure 1

The variation in the outcome of traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (TOHCA) patients according to the mechanism of injury has been relatively unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether the mechanism of injury is associated with survival to hospital discharge and good neurological outcome at hospital discharge in TOHCA.The study population comprised cases of TOHCA drawn from the national Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry (2012-2016). Traumatic causes were categorized into 6 groups: traffic accident, fall, collision, stab injury, and gunshot injury. Data were retrospectively extracted from emergency medical service and Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention records. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with survival to discharge and good neurological outcome.The final analysis included a total of 8546 eligible TOHCA patients (traffic accident 5300, fall 2419, collision 572, stab injury 247, and gunshot injury 8). The overall survival rate was 18.4% (traffic accident 18.0%, fall 16.4%, collision 32.0%, stab injury 14.2%, and gunshot injury 12.5%). Good neurological outcome was achieved in 0.8% of all patients (traffic accident 0.8%, fall 0.8%, collision 1.2%, stab injury 0.8%, and gunshot injury 0.0%). In the multivariate analysis, injury mechanisms showed no significant difference in neurological outcomes, and only collision had a significant odds ratio for survival to discharge (odds ratio: 2.440; 95% confidence interval: 1.795-3.317) compared to the traffic accident group.In this study, the mechanism of injury was not associated with neurological outcome in TOHCA patients. Collision might be the only mechanism of injury to result in better survival to discharge than traffic accident.

In this paper, we propose a nonlinear position control using only position feedback to guarantee the tolerances for position tracking errors and yaw. In the proposed method, both mechanical and electrical dynamics are considered. The proposed method consists of the nonlinear position controller and nonlinear observer. The nonlinear position controller is designed by a backstepping procedure using the barrier Lyapunov function to satisfy the constraints of position error and yaw. The nonlinear observer is developed to estimate full state using only position feedback. The stability of the closed-loop system is proven using Lyapunov and input-to-state stabilities. Consequently, the proposed method satisfies the constraints of position error and yaw using only position feedback for the planar motor.

SeS2 is a promising cathode material that has both advantages of S and Se. In a carbonate-based electrolyte, Li-SeS2 batteries show good cycle performance but work at low discharge voltage due to slow Li-ion diffusion. Here, we report a simple solvent treatment method for synthesizing cathode composite materials to overcome the disadvantage of carbonate-based electrolytes. The solvent washing treatment can effectively remove excess SeS2 that blocks carbon pores, which act as an electrolyte pathway. Additionally, the SeS2/OMC composite (w-SeS2/OMC) maintains the SeS2 configuration, thus leading to both the advantages of S and Se. As a result, enhanced Li-ion diffusion helps to reduce polarization and elevate the discharge voltage to ~2 V. In addition, it shows excellent capacity retention (360 mAh g−1) for 2,000 cycles at a 1C rate.

Introduction. Capnometer can be readily malfunctioned by fluid exposure during treatment of critically ill patients. This study aimed to determine whether placing capnometer distant from the endotracheal tube by connecting direct connect catheter mount (DCCM) is effective in yielding reliable end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) by reducing capnometer malfunctioning caused by water exposure. Methods. In 25 healthy adults, a prospective, open label, crossover study was conducted to examine the effect of DCCM in mainstream and microstream capnometers under water exposing conditions. The primary endpoint was the comparison of ETCO2 between proximal DCCM (pDCCM) and distal DCCM (dDCCM). Results. For mainstream capnometers, mean ETCO2 was significantly (p < 0.001) higher in dDCCM compared to pDCCM under water exposing conditions (29.5 vs. 19.0 with 5 ml; 33.8 vs. 21.2 with 10 ml; mmHg). Likewise, for microstream capnometers, ETCO2 was greatly higher (p < 0.001) in dDCCM compared to pDCCM (30.5 vs. 13.9 with 5 ml; 29.9 vs.11.4 with 10 mL; mmHg). ETCO2 measured by dDCCM was reliable in microstream settings, whereas it was unreliable in mainstream (correlation coefficient 0.88 vs. 0.27). Conclusions. Application of DCCM onto the capnometer setting seems to be effective in reducing capnometer malfunctioning under fluid exposing conditions, which is obvious in microstream capnometer by producing more reliable ETCO2.

In this paper, we present a practical approach to address the vehicle lateral control problem. The proposed method can overcome practical problems associated with vehicle lane changes on highways. The vehicle state with respect to the road, which is called lateral offset, jumps in camera vision sensors when the vehicle changes lanes. Thus, in this study, we solve the state jump problem by translating it into a new domain called the cylinder domain. In addition, we proposed the design of a parameter-varying controller to overcome the nonlinear term of vehicle dynamics by considering it as a varying parameter. The proposed method does not consider the lateral offset jump when changing lanes. Furthermore, its significant advantage in terms of computation time makes it suitable for implementation in low-cost electronic control units (ECUs). The proposed algorithm is validated using MATLAB/Simulink with the vehicle dynamics analysis program CarSim.

Objective Cardiac dysfunction may worsen outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). This study quantitatively assessed the prognostic value of left ventricular dysfunction with respect to functional outcomes and mortality in patients with aneurysmal SAH. Methods We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases to retrieve relevant studies evaluating echocardiographic left ventricular dysfunction following aneurysmal SAH. Fourteen relevant observational studies evaluating 2234 patients were finally included in this study. Results Echocardiographic regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) and neurogenic cardiomyopathy (NCM) of the left ventricle occurring after SAH were significantly related to an increase of in-hospital mortality (in 8 studies for RWMA, odds ratio [OR] 2.37; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.74–3.25 and in 5 studies for NCM, OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.2–6.6). Decreased ejection fraction on echocardiography was not associated with the increase of in-hospital mortality (in 4 studies, OR 1.76; 95% CI 0.86–3.61). The heterogeneities of decreased ejection fraction and NCM were significantly resolved by analyzing only the studies based on echocardiogram measurements obtained within 72 hours after admission. Conclusions The present meta-analysis suggests that the identification of echocardiographic left ventricular dysfunction identified by RWMA and NCM after SAH could provide better prognostic information for in-hospital mortality.

In this paper, we propose an observer-based super-twisting sliding mode control with fuzzy variable gains (OST-FVG) for general second-order nonlinear systems. First, the super-twisting observer with fuzzy variable gains is designed for state estimation, for which we show finite-time convergence of the estimation error to zero under the bounded disturbance. Then, together with the proposed observer, the sliding mode control with fuzzy variable gains is designed to ensure precise tracking control performance and to alleviate the chattering phenomenon. We apply the OSTFVG to the overactuated quadrotor modeled by the second-order nonlinear system within the quaternion framework, which resolves underactuation and singularity problems appeared in standard quadrotors. In simulation results of attitude and position control, the fuzzy mechanism implemented in the OSTFVG guarantees faster convergence of the quadrotor to the desired position and more precision tracking performance compared to the standard observer-based super-twisting sliding mode control.

Decreased thyroid hormone (TH) has been considered as one of the potential predictors of mortality in sepsis. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of decreased TH on mortality in septic patients during intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We included studies that assessed thyroid function by measuring the serum thyroid hormone level and in-hospital mortality in adult septic patients. Reviews, case reports, editorials, letters, commentaries, animal studies, duplicate studies, and studies with irrelevant populations and inappropriate controls were excluded. A total of 1,578 patients from eight studies were included. Triiodothyronine levels in non-survivors were relatively lower than that of survivors (6 studies; standardized mean difference [SMD] 2.31; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.52–4.10; I2 = 97%; P = 0.01). Thyroxine levels in non-survivors were also lower than that of survivors (5 studies; SMD 2.40; 95% CI, 0.91–3.89). There were no statistically significant differences in thyroid-stimulating hormone levels between non-survivors and survivors. The present meta-analysis suggested that the decreased TH during ICU admission might be associated with the increase in mortality in adult septic patients. Hence, the measurement of TH could provide prognostic information on mortality in adult septic patients.

Aims This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic accuracy of the gray matter to white matter ratio (GWR) in predicting neurological outcomes in post-cardiac arrest patients treated with target temperature management. Data sources We systematically searched MEDLINE and EMBASE (Search date: 09/13/2017). Included studies were those evaluating neurological outcomes using the cerebral performance categories scale. We performed a subgroup analysis based on the location of the measurement. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Results In total, 1150 patients from 10 observational studies were included. GWR of the basal ganglia (BG) average showed the highest value (area under the curve [AUC] 0.96, SE 0.02, Q 0.90) compared with the putamen/posterior limb of internal capsule (AUC 0.93, SE 0.05, Q 0.87), overall average (AUC 0.91, SE 0.02, Q 0.85), and cerebrum (AUC 0.89, SE 0.05, Q 0.82) for prognostic accuracy. Furthermore, the highest pooled diagnostic odd ratio of GWR for predicting poor neurological outcomes was shown for the BG average (21.00, 95% CI 6.85–64.40) followed by the overall average (20.71, 95% CI 9.53–44.98), putamen/posterior limb of internal capsule (16.08, 95% CI 4.36–59.23), and cerebrum (13.96, 95% CI 4.26–45.76). Conclusions GWR in the early cranial computed tomography scan had high prognostic value in predicting poor neurological outcomes in post-cardiac arrest patients. The BG GWR had the highest prognostic accuracy when compared to other locations of the brain.

We performed a meta-analysis to seek evidence for the usefulness of the delta neutrophil index (DNI) as a prognostic blood biomarker for mortality in the early stage of sepsis in adults. A literature search was performed using criteria set forth in a predefined protocol. Studies of adults with sepsis that provided a DNI measurement and that had mortality as the outcome, were included. Review articles, editorials, and non-human studies were excluded. The methodological quality of identified studies was assessed independently by two authors using the Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool. A total of 1,822 patients from eleven studies were ultimately included. Standardized mean differences between non-survivors and survivors were compared. An elevated DNI was associated with mortality in patients with sepsis (standardized mean difference [SMD] 1.22; 95% confidence interval 0.73–1.71; I2 = 91%). After excluding two studies—one that included paediatric patients and one with a disproportionately low mortality rate—heterogeneity was minimized (SMD 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.53–0.94; I2 = 43%). Overall, the findings suggest that high DNI values are associated with mortality in septic patients.

Inflatable technologies have proven useful in consumer goods as well as in more recent applications including civil structures, aerospace, medical, and robotics. However, inflatable technologies are typically lacking in their ability to provide rigid structural support. Particle jamming improves upon this by providing structures which are normally flexible and moldable but become rigid when air is removed. Because these are based on an airtight bladder filled with loose particles, they always occupy the full volume of its rigid state, even when not rigidized. More recent developments in layer jamming have created thin, compact rigidizing surfaces replacing the loose volume of particles with thinly layered surface materials. Work in this area has been applied to several specific applications with positive results but have not generally provided the broader understanding of the rigidization performance as a function of design parameters required for directly adapting layer rigidization technology to other applications. This paper presents a parametric design study of a new layer jamming vacuum rigidization architecture: tile-based vacuum rigidization. This form of rigidization is based on layers of tiles contained within a thin vacuum bladder which can be bent, rolled, or otherwise compactly stowed, but when deployed flat, can be vacuumed and form a large, flat, rigid plate capable of supporting large forces both localized and distributed over the surface. The general architecture and operation detailing rigidization and compliance mechanisms is introduced. To quantitatively characterize the rigidization behavior, prototypes rigidization surfaces are fabricated and an experimental technique is developed based on a 3-point bending test. Performance evaluation metrics are developed to describe the stiffness, load-bearing capacity, and internal slippage of tested prototypes. A set of experimental parametric studies are performed to better understand the impact of variations in geometric design parameters, operating parameters, and architectural variations on the performance evaluation metrics. The results of this study bring insight into the rigidization behavior of this architecture, and provide design guidelines and expose tradeoffs to form the basis for the design of tile-based rigidization surfaces for a wide range of applications.

Introduction This study aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of adding copeptin to cardiac troponin (cTn) on admission to the emergency department (ED) for non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) compared to cTn alone. Materials and methods A literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library was performed (search date: April 13, 2018). Primary studies were included if they accurately reported on patients with symptoms suggestive of acute myocardial infarction and measured both cTn alone and cTn with copeptin upon admission to the ED. The patients with evidence of ST elevation myocardial infarction were excluded. To assess the risk of bias for the included studies, the QUADAS-2 tool was used. Results The study participants included a total of 7,998 patients from 14 observational studies. The addition of copeptin to cTn significantly improved the sensitivity (0.81 [0.74 to 0.87] vs. 0.92 [0.89 to 0.95], respectively, p

Background β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the production of amyloid beta (Aβ), the toxic peptide that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. Our previous studies have shown that the clathrin adaptor Golgi-localized γ-ear-containing ARF binding protein 3 (GGA3) plays a key role in the trafficking of BACE1 to lysosomes, where it is normally degraded. GGA3 depletion results in BACE1 stabilization both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, levels of GGA3 are reduced and inversely related to BACE1 levels in post-mortem brains of AD patients. Method In order to assess the effect of GGA3 deletion on AD-like phenotypes, we crossed GGA3 −/− mice with 5XFAD mice. BACE1-mediated processing of APP and the cell adhesion molecule L1 like protein (CHL1) was measured as well as levels of Aβ42 and amyloid burden. Results In 5XFAD mice, we found that hippocampal and cortical levels of GGA3 decreased while BACE1 levels increased with age, similar to what is observed in human AD brains. GGA3 deletion prevented age-dependent elevation of BACE1 in GGA3KO;5XFAD mice. We also found that GGA3 deletion resulted in increased hippocampal levels of Aβ42 and amyloid burden in 5XFAD mice at 12 months of age. While levels of BACE1 did not change with age and gender in GGAKO;5XFAD mice, amyloid precursor protein (APP) levels increased with age and were higher in female mice. Moreover, elevation of APP was associated with a decreased BACE1-mediated processing of CHL1 not only in 12 months old 5XFAD mice but also in human brains from subjects affected by Down syndrome, most likely due to substrate competition. Conclusion This study demonstrates that GGA3 depletion is a leading candidate mechanism underlying elevation of BACE1 in AD. Furthermore, our findings suggest that BACE1 inhibition could exacerbate mechanism-based side effects in conditions associated with APP elevation (e.g. Down syndrome) owing to impairment of BACE1-mediated processing of CHL1. Therefore, therapeutic approaches aimed to restore GGA3 function and to prevent the down stream effects of its depletion (e.g. BACE1 elevation) represent an attractive alternative to BACE inhibition for the prevention/treatment of AD. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13024-018-0239-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The authors propose a robust output feedback control for unknown non-linear systems with external disturbance. The main contribution of this study is that the proposed method guarantees the global uniform ultimate boundedness of the output tracking error using only output feedback for unknown non-linear systems with external disturbance. The key idea of the proposed method is that the plant non-linearities and external disturbance, and their derivatives are lumped into augmented state variables. The robust high order augmented observer (RHOAOB) is developed to estimate the lumped augmented state variables and full state. The benefit to using the RHOAOB is that the estimation error can be reduced without increasing the bandwidth of the RHOAOB. The backstepping controller is designed to guarantee the global uniform ultimate boundedness of the output tracking error occurred by the disturbance estimation error. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it might be the first attempt of the analysis of the estimation and output tracking performance of the RHOAOB-based controller with the measurement noise in both time and frequency domains. The analysis shows that very small estimation error is not necessarily required to obtain the precise output tracking using an input-to-state stability property. This merit results in avoiding the amplification of the measurement noise.

Feedback devices are used to improve chest compression (CC) quality related to survival rates in cardiac arrest. However, several studies have shown that feedback devices are not sufficiently reliable to ensure adequate CC depth on soft surfaces. Here, we determined the proper target depth of feedback (TDF) using an accelerometer during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in hospital beds.In prospective randomized crossover study, 19 emergency physicians performed CCs for 2 minutes continuously on a manikin in 2 different beds with 3 TDFs (5, 6, and 7 cm). We measured CC depth, the proportion of accurate compression depths, CC rate, the proportion of incomplete chest decompressions, the velocity of CC (CC velocity), the proportion of time spent in CC relative to compression plus decompression (duty cycle), and the time spent in CC (CC time).Mean (SD) CC depths at TDF 5, 6, and 7 were 45.42 (5.79), 52.68 (4.18), and 58.47 (2.48) on one bed and 46.26 (4.49), 53.58 (3.15), and 58.74 (2.10) mm on the other bed (all P.001), respectively. The proportions of accurate compression depths and CC velocity at TDF 5, 6, and 7 differed significantly according to TDF on both beds (all P.001).The CC rate, CC time, and proportion of incomplete chest decompression did not differ on both beds (all P.05). The duty cycle differed significantly on only B2.The target depth of the real-time feedback device should be at least 6 cm but should not exceed 7 cm for optimal CC on patients on hospital beds.

In this paper, we propose a new approach for a robust multirate lane-keeping control scheme with predictive virtual lanes. First, the multirate lane-keeping control scheme is proposed to improve the lane-keeping performance and to reduce the ripple in the yaw rate. To improve the lane-keeping performance on a curved road, the integral of the lateral offset error is added to the state feedback controller. A multirate Kalman filter (KF) has been developed to resolve the problems caused by slow lane detection due to the vision processing system. This multirate KF estimates vehicle states at a fast rate using a microprocessor. Utilizing the estimated states, the linear quadratic state feedback control operates at the same fast update rate of the microprocessor. Thus, a multirate control scheme can reduce the ripple in the yaw rate. Second, we propose a virtual lane prediction method that compensates for the momentary failure of lane detection from unexpected problems. If the camera sensor momentarily fails while obtaining lane information, the predicted virtual lane can be substituted for the lane detection using the camera sensor in the proposed control scheme. Thus, the proposed control scheme can normally operate when the lane information is momentarily unavailable. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated via experiments.

We propose a high-gain disturbance observer (HGDOB)-based backstepping control with position tracking error constraint for electro-hydraulic systems to improve the position tracking performance in the presence of disturbances. The HGDOB is designed to estimate the disturbances that include the friction, the load force, and the parameter uncertainties. Auxiliary state variables are proposed to avoid amplification of the measurement noise in the HGDOB. To compensate for the disturbances while guaranteeing tolerance of the position tracking error, the backstepping controller is proposed by using the barrier Lyapunov function. As a result, the proposed method satisfies the output constraint and improves the position tracking performance in the presence of disturbances. Its performance is validated via simulations and experiments.

We propose a disturbance observer (DOB) based backstepping control which improves the position tracking performance in the presence of both friction and load force in an electro-hydraulic systems. The DOB is designed to estimate the disturbance including friction and load force, while avoiding amplification of the measurement noise. We use an auxiliary state variable to avoid the use of the derivative of the measured signal. This results in the avoidance of the amplification of the measurement noise. For position tracking with compensation of disturbances, a backstepping controller is design. The backstepping controller guarantees the ultimate boundedness of the tracking error in the presence of both friction and load force. The closed-loop stability is proven using Lyapunov’s theory.

In this paper, a flatness-based nonlinear controller is proposed to improve the position-tracking performance and to reduce the current input ripple in electrohydraulic systems (EHSs). The proposed method consists of feedforward control using a flatness concept and feedback control to yield a stable control system. This paper presents an analysis on the problem of tracking a reference position, conditions for open-loop stability, as well as an analysis on the flatness of EHS. These results are used for a nonlinear feedforward control design. To further improve the position-tracking performance, feedforward control is augmented with a nonlinear feedback control, which is designed based on the flatness property of EHSs. Moreover, the state variable derivatives are not used so that the measurement noise and structural vibration are not amplified, which in turn can increase the machinery's life expectancy because the current inputs' ripples are reduced.

In this paper, we develop a sliding mode control for steering wheel angle control based on torque overlay in order to resolve the problem of previous methods for Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems in the Lane Keeping System (LKS) of autonomous vehicles. For the controller design, we propose a 2nd order model of the electric power steering system in an autonomous LKS. The desired state model is designed to prevent a rapid change of the steering wheel angle. The sliding mode steering wheel angle controller is developed for the robustness of the disturbance. Since the proposed method is designed based on torque overlay, torque integration with basic functions of the EPS system for the steering wheel angle control is available for the driver’s convenience. The performance of the proposed method was validated via experiments.

GGA3 deletion does not increase levels of BACE1-generated APP-CTFs age in 12 months old 5XFAD mice. (A) Representative immunoblots of hippocampus homogenates from 12 months old GGA3WT;5XFAD, GGA3Het;5XFAD, and GGA3KO;5XFAD males (left) and females (right) probed with anti-APP C-terminal (C1/6.1) and anti-GAPDH (MAB374) antibodies. (B) Densitometry levels of full-length APP (fAPP), pC99, C99, and pC89 were quantified, and normalized to GAPDH or fAPP. Table shows the summary of total APP levels (fAPP/GAPDH) and BACE1-mediated processing of APP (pC99/fAPP, C99/fAPP, pC89/fAPP) in hippocampus homogenates from 12 months old GGA3WT;5XFAD, GGA3Het;5XFAD, and GGA3KO;5XFAD mice. One-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc tests was applied to each genotype group. (PDF 531 kb)

Levels of transgenic human APP increase with age in APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice. Representative immunoblot of hippocampus and cortex homogenates from 4 and 10 months old APPswe/PS1ΔE9 female mice probed with anti-APP C-terminal (C1/6.1) and anti-GAPDH (MAB374) antibodies. Increased BACE1 levels are observed in cortex, but not in hippocampus homogenates from 10 months of APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice compared to 4 months old mice. Old APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice have significantly increased transgenic APP levels in both hippocampus and cortex compared to 4 months old mice. (PDF 525 kb)

CHL1 expression is similar in 5XFAD and 5XFAD mice. (A) mRNA expression levels for CHL1 were analyzed in the hippocampus of non-5XFAD (non-5XFAD) and 5XFAD (5XFAD) mice by RT-qPCR. 5XFAD mice had similar level of mRNA Chl1. (B) mRNA Chl1 levels were analyzed in the hippocampus of 5XFAD males and females, indicating no sex difference in 5XFAD mice. Total number of mice in each group is indicated within bars. All graphs represent mean ± SEM. Unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction was performed. (PDF 337 kb)

BACE1-mediated cleavage of CHL1 is reduced in old 5XFAD mice. (A) Representative immunoblot of PBS soluble fraction (Soluble) and membrane fraction (Membrane) from the hippocampus of BACE1KO, BACEHet, wild type (indicated as GGA3WT), GGA3KO, 5XFAD, and BACE1Het;5XFAD mice using anti-CHL1 (AF2147), anti-calnexin (610523), anti-BACE1 (D10E5), and anti-GAPDH (MAB374) antibodies. Increased levels of CHL1_FL were observed in mice with reduced BACE1 (BACE1Het, BACE1Het;5XFAD, and BACE1KO) compared to GGA3WT mice while a decrease in CHL1_FL levels was only observed in mice with elevated BACE1 (GGA3KO). Levels of CHL1_FL were increased in old 5XFAD mice compared with wild type mice. Soluble CHL1_βNTF was also increased in 5XFAD mice compared to wild type mice. A soluble CHL1 fragment was detected in BACEKO mice (asterisk), which may be derived by compensatory increased ADAM8 or ADAM 10 cleavage. (B) Graphs represent the ratio CHL1_FL/Calnexin, CHL1_βNTF/GAPDH, and CHL1_βNTF/CHL1_FL in five different genotypes. GGA3KO mice showed significantly increased ratio of CHL1_βNTF/CHL1_FL compared with GGA3WT mice. BACE1Het, 5XFAD, and BACE1Het;5XFAD mice exhibited reduced ratio of CHL1_βNTF/CHL1_FL, suggesting these mice has reduced BACE1-mediated CHL1 processing. Total number of mice in each group is indicated within bars. All graphs represent mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc tests were applied to each genotype group. * p

Comparison of Aβ42 levels and amyloid burden in male and female 5XFAD mice at 12 months of age. The graphs represent human Aβ42 levels (A) and quantification of Thioflavin-S positive plaques (B-D) in hippocampus and cortex from 12 months old GGA3WT;5XFAD, GGA3Het;5XFAD and GGA3KO;5XFAD male and female mice. Levels of Aβ42 are significantly higher in hippocampus and cortex from females than from males with the same genotype (A). Amyloid burden was not significantly different between males and females, except in the cortex from GGA3KO;5XFAD mice (B). (C-D) The graphs represent the average size of amyloid plaques (μm2) and the number of amyloid plaques in hippocampus (C) and cortex (D) of GGA3WT;5XFAD and GGA3KO;5XFAD mice. The number of amyloid plaques, but not their size, was significantly higher in the cortex of females compared to males. Total number of mice in each group is indicated within bars. All graphs represent mean ± SEM. Two-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc tests was applied to each sex group. # p

Supplemental material, hkj809499 for Comparison of the efficacy of three cervical collars in restricting cervical range of motion: A randomized study by Jae Guk Kim, Sung Hwan Bang, Gu Hyun Kang, Yong Soo Jang, Wonhee Kim, Hyun Young Choi and Gyoung Mo Kim in Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine

Detection of soluble and membrane-bound CHL1 fragments in mouse hippocampus. Representative immunoblot of soluble and membrane fractions compared to total protein extracts from BACE1WY, BACE1Het and BACE1KO mice. Snap frozen hippocampi from 12 months old BACE1WT, BACE1Het, and BACE1KO mice were separated in PBS soluble fraction (Soluble), membrane fraction (Membrane), and total protein extract (Total) as described in method. Samples were separated in 3–8% Tris-acetate gels to detect CHL1_FL and CHL1_NTF using anti-CHL1 (AF2147) antibody. Western blot analysis of CHL1 clearly detected two membrane bound CHL1 fragments in the membrane fraction, corresponding to CHL1_FL (~ 185 kDa) and the ~ 175 kDa band (arrowhead) also detected in the total extract (Figs. 4b and 9a). CHL1_FL levels were increased in BACE1KO in the membrane fraction and total extract. CHL1_βNTF was detected in the soluble fraction and corresponds to the ~ 165 kDa band detected in the total extract. A fragment of lower molecular weight (indicated by an asterisk) was detected in the soluble fraction from BACE1KO mice. Such soluble fragment is most likely derived by a compensatory increased cleavage of CHL1 by ADAM8 or ADAM10. As expected membrane proteins including calnexin and BACE1 were absent in the soluble fraction. (PDF 1089 kb)

GGA3 deletion does not increase levels of BACE1-generated APP-CTFs at 4 months of age in 5XFAD mice.(A) Representative immunoblots of hippocampus (left) and cortex (right) homogenates from 4 months old GGA3WT;5XFAD, GGA3Het;5XFAD, and GGA3KO;5XFAD mice probed with anti-APP C-terminal (C1/6.1) and anti-GAPDH (MAB374) antibodies. C99 and C89 fragments are BACE1-mediated APP C-terminal fragments (APP-CTFs), while C83 fragment is alpha-secretase-mediated APP-CTF. APP-CTFs are present as phosphorylated (pC99, pC89, and pC83) and nonphosphorylated (C99, C89, and C83) forms. (B) Densitometry levels of full-length APP (fAPP), pC99, C99, and pC89 were quantified, and normalized to GAPDH or fAPP. Table shows the summary of total APP levels (fAPP/GAPDH) and BACE1-mediated processing of APP (pC99/fAPP, C99/fAPP, pC89/fAPP) in hippocampus and cortex homogenates from 4 months old GGA3WT;5XFAD, GGA3Het;5XFAD, and GGA3KO;5XFAD mice. One-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc tests was applied to each genotype group. (PDF 543 kb)

Objectives. Early airway management is very important for severely ill patients. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of face to face intubation in four different types of laryngoscopes (Macintosh laryngoscope, Pentax airway scope (AWS), Glidescope video laryngoscope (GVL), and C-MAC video laryngoscope (C-MAC)).Method. Ninety-five nurses and emergency medical technicians were trained to use the AWS, C-MAC, GVL and Macintosh laryngoscope with standard airway trainer manikin and face to face intubation. We compared VCET (vocal cord exposure time), tube pass time, 1st ventilation time, VCET to tube pass time, tube pass time to 1st ventilation time, and POGO (percentage of glottis opening) score. In addition, we compared success rate according to the number of attempts and complications.Result. VCET was similar among all laryngoscopes and POGO score was higher in AWS. AWS and Macintosh blade were faster than GVL and C-MAC in total intubation time. Face to face intubation success rate was lower in GVL than other laryngoscopes.Conclusion. AWS and Macintosh were favorable laryngoscopes in face to face intubation. GVL had disadvantage performing face to face intubation.

Although there is a well-established connection between father involvement and children’s positive behavioral development in general, this relation has been understudied in more vulnerable and high-risk populations. The aims of this study were to examine how the quantity (i.e., the amount of shared activities) and quality (i.e., perceived quality of the father-child relationship) of father involvement are differently related to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems among preadolescents at risk of maltreatment and test if these associations are moderated by father type and child maltreatment. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). Generalized estimating equations analysis was performed on a sample of 499 preadolescents aged 12 years. The results indicated that higher quality of father involvement was associated with lower levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems whereas greater quantity of father involvement was associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The positive association between the quantity of father involvement and behavior problems was stronger in adolescents who were physically abused by their father. The association between father involvement and behavior problems did not differ by the type of father co-residing in the home. The findings suggest that policies and interventions aimed at improving the quality of fathers’ relationships and involvement with their children may be helpful in reducing behavior problems in adolescents at risk of maltreatment.

We present an innovative approach to risk assessment using cooperation concept for collision avoidance of side crash for autonomous lane change system. The cooperation concept is proposed to check an available space in the target lane for lane change in a short period of the future. Before moving to the target lane, the ego vehicle needs to check whether the object vehicle is cooperative or not for the lane change. The object vehicles are indexed as cooperative driver (CD) or non-cooperative driver (NCD) through the conditions based on the relative longitudinal acceleration and the collision free time. If the object vehicle is CD, the ego vehicle moves toward the target lane within the original lane for the preparation of the lane change. The ego vehicle should keep its lateral position within the original lane until the situation for the lane change becomes safe. As soon as the risk assessment becomes safe, the lane change is performed. Therefore, lane change can be started in advance compared to the conventional methods. The proposed method was validated via computational simulation and experimental results.

While many studies have identified a significant relation between child maltreatment and adolescent substance use, the developmental pathways linking this relation remain sparsely explored. The current study examines posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, mother-child relationships, and internalizing and externalizing problems as potential longitudinal pathways through which child maltreatment influences adolescent substance use. Structural equation modeling was conducted on 883 adolescents drawn from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). The pathways of PTS symptoms linked physical and sexual abuse to substance use, and the pathways of mother-child relationships linked emotional abuse and neglect to substance use. None of the four types of maltreatment affected substance use via internalizing or externalizing problems. The findings suggest that intervention efforts aimed at addressing posttraumatic stress symptoms and improving mother-child relationship quality may be beneficial in reducing substance use among adolescents with child maltreatment histories.