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Introduction. A major obstacle in islet transplantation and graft survival pre and post transplantation is islet apoptosis due to mainly inflammatory bio molecules released during islet harvesting and post graft transplantation and hence, subsequent graft fibrosis and failure. This study aimed to investigate if incorporation of the anti-inflammatory anti-hyperlipidaemic drug probucol (PB) would improve islet-graft survival and function, post transplantation in Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Methods. T1D was induced in mice, and biological profiles of the diabetic mice transplanted PB-microencapsulated islets harvested from healthy syngeneic mice were measured. Results and Conclusion. Compared with sham (no PB), the treated group showed significant reduction in serum levels of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-12, interleukin-17, and tumour necrosis factor-α, accompanied by a 3-fold increase in survival duration, which suggests PB islet-protective effects, post transplantation.

The utilisation of bioartificial organs is of significant interest to many due to their versatility in treating a wide range of disorders. Microencapsulation has a potentially significant role in such organs. In order to utilise microcapsules, accurate characterisation and analysis is required to assess their properties and suitability. Bioartificial organs or transplantable microdevices must also account for immunogenic considerations, which will be discussed in detail. One of the most characterized cases is the investigation into a bioartificial pancreas, including using microencapsulation of islets or other cells, and will be the focus subject of this review. Overall, this review will discuss the traditional and modern technologies which are necessary for the characterisation of properties for transplantable microdevices or organs, summarizing analysis of the microcapsule itself, cells and finally a working organ. Furthermore, immunogenic considerations of such organs are another important aspect which is addressed within this review. The various techniques, methodologies, advantages, and disadvantages will all be discussed. Hence, the purpose of this review is providing an updated examination of all processes for the analysis of a working, biocompatible artificial organ.

Aging is considered a contributing factor to many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and hearing loss. Age-related hearing loss, also termed presbycusis, is one of the most common sensory impairments worldwide, affecting one in five people over 50 years of age, and this prevalence is growing annually. Associations have emerged between presbycusis and detrimental health outcomes, including social isolation and mental health. It remains largely untreatable apart from hearing aids, and with no globally established prevention strategies in the clinical setting. Hence, this review aims to explore the pathophysiology of presbycusis and potential therapies, based on a recent advancement in bile acid-based bio-nanotechnologies. A comprehensive online search was carried out using the following keywords: presbycusis, drugs, hearing loss, bile acids, nanotechnology, and more than 150 publications were considered directly relevant. Evidence of the multifaceted oxidative stress and chronic inflammation involvement in cellular damage and apoptosis that is associated with a loss of hair cells, damaged and inflamed stria vascularis, and neuronal signalling loss and apoptosis continues to emerge. New robust and effective therapies require drug delivery deeper into the various layers of the cochlea. Bile acid-based nanotechnology has gained wide interest in its permeation-enhancing ability and potential for numerous applications in treating presbycusis.

Many processes in industry are highly-coupled Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. In this paper, a methodology, based on the Kissing Circle (KC) tuning method, is proposed to tune a fractional-order PI controller for these types of systems. The KC method relies on frequency domain specifications and emphasizes improving robustness. The method does not require a model, a single sine test suffices to obtain the controller parameters. Hence, the method can be categorized as an auto-tuner. For comparison, an integer-order PI is tuned with the same requirements. To evaluate and analyze the performance of both controllers an experimental test bench is used, i.e. a landscape office lighting system. A direct low-order discretization method is used to implement the controller in a real process. Both controllers are subjected to simulation experiments to test the performance in time and frequency domain and they are subjected to process variations to evaluate their robustness. The fractional controller manages to control a process that is susceptible to 85% variation in time constant mismatch as opposed to 79% for the integer-order controller. An Integer Absolute Error evaluation of experimental results show that the fractional-order PI controller and integer-order PI controller have similar control performance, as expected from the frequency domain analysis. As model uncertainty can add up in MIMO systems, improved robustness is crucial and with this methodology the control performance does not deteriorate. Moreover, a decrease in power consumption of 6% is observed.

For complex systems, it is not easy to obtain optimal designs for the hardware architecture and control configurations. Every design aspect influences the final performance, and often the interactions of the different components cannot be clearly determined in advance. In this work, a novel co-design optimization method was applied that allows the optimal placement and selection of actuators and sensors to be performed simultaneously with the determination of the control architecture and associated controller tuning parameters. This novel co-design method was applied to a state-space model of a downscaled active car suspension laboratory setup. This setup mimics a car driving over a specific road surface while active components in the suspension have to increase the driver’s comfort by counteracting unwanted vibrations. The result of this co-design optimization methodology is a Pareto front that graphically represents the trade-off between the maximum performance and the total implementation cost; the co-design results were validated with measurements of the physical active car suspension setup. The obtained controller tuning parameters are compared herein with existing controller tuning methods to demonstrate that the co-design method is able to determine optimal controller tuning parameters.

In the economic activities enterprises set goals which, if achieved, enable performance improvement. In this regard, it becomes necessary to develop forecasts mentioned in budgets, which are used as tools for enterprise performance management. Creating an effective budget system, closely related to the medium and long-term plans of the company, is the key to profitable economic activity, which allows to find the right path to achieving the proposed objective and to promptly detect any obstacles. The budget is thus a strategy to improve performance by achieving better productivity, more efficient money spending, and to motivate employees to fulfil the budgetary provisions. In the process of budgeting, the starting point is the sales budget, based on the sales program to which the company aims. Within it, the quantity, the selling price and the projected turnover are broken down into different time periods. Preparing a budget of marketing expenditures constitutes a logical consequence of the commercial activity as defined in the sales budget, thus allowing the establishment of the costs for the sale of the company’s products and the commercial margin.

Time is money. Every accountant knows that. In our country, the taxes are changing frequently. The accountants have to update their fiscal knowledge. The purpose of the article is to find how the accountants manage their time, taking into consideration the number of fiscal declarations and the fiscal changes. In this article we present some ways to improve time management for accountants.

Launching a new business or project leads managers to make decisions and choose strategies that will then apply in their company. Most often, they take decisions only on instinct, but there are also companies that use benchmarking studies. Benchmarking is a highly effective management tool and is useful in the new competitive environment that has emerged from the need of organizations to constantly improve their performance in order to be competitive. Using this benchmarking process, organizations try to find the best practices applied in a business, learn from famous leaders and identify ways to increase their performance and competitiveness. Thus, managers gather information about market trends and about competitors, especially about the leaders in the field, and use these information in finding ideas and setting of guidelines for development. Benchmarking studies are often used in businesses of commerce, real estate, and industry and high-tech software.

Bile acids have recently been studied for potential applications as formulation excipients and enhancers for drug release; however, some bile acids are not suitable for this application. Unconjugated lithocholic acid (ULCA) has recently shown drug formulation-stabilizing and anti-inflammatory effects. Lipophilic drugs have poor gut absorption after an oral dose, which necessitates the administration of high doses and causes subsequent side effects. Probucol (PB) is a highly lipophilic drug with poor oral absorption that resulted in restrictions on its clinical prescribing. Hence, this study aimed to design new delivery systems for PB using ULCA-based matrices and to test drug formulation, release, temperature, and biological effects. ULCA-based matrices were formulated for PB oral delivery by applying the jet-flow microencapsulation technique using sodium alginate as a polymer. ULCA addition to new PB matrices improved the microcapsule’s stability, drug release in vitro (formulation study), and showed a promising effect in ex vivo study (p < 0.05), suggesting that ULCA can optimize the oral delivery of PB and support its potential application in diabetes treatment.

This paper presents a calibration approach of a manipulator robot controller using an auto-tuning technique. Since the industry requires machines to run with increasing speed and precision, an optimal controller is too demanding. Even though the robots make use of an internal controller, usually, this controller does not fulfill the user specification with respect to their applications. Therefore, in order to overcome the user requirements, an auto-tuning method based on a single sine test is employed to obtain the optimal parameters of the proportional–integral–derivative PID controller. This approach has been tested, validated and implemented on a UR10 robot. The experimental results revealed that the performances of the robot increased when the designed controller, using the auto-tuning technique, was employed.

The purpose of this work is to present some recent results in an ongoing research project between Ghent University and Chess Medical Technology Company Belgium. The overall aim of the project is to provide a fast method for identification of the human respiratory system in order to allow for an instantaneously diagnosis of the patient by the medical staff. A novel parametric model of the human respiratory system as well as the obtained experimental results is presented in this paper. A prototype apparatus developed by the company, based on the forced oscillation technique is used to record experimental data from 4 patients in this paper. Signal processing is based on spectral analysis and is followed by the parametric identification of a non-linear mechanistic model. The parametric model is equivalent to the structure of a simple electrical RLC-circuit, containing a non-linear capacitor. These parameters have a useful and easy-to-interpret physical meaning for the medical staff members.