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This paper attempts a Jungian approach to Margaret Drabble's novel "The Realms of Gold." Jungian reading has been taken up to unravel the distinctive characteristics which make this novel so unique and popular. The focus of the paper is to classify the main characters of the novel in terms of their psychological types. In this novel from the beginning the reader is introduced to an atmosphere which is related to the personality of the main character Frances Wingate. Her thoughts are introduced to the readers in form of monologues. By the usage of these monologues and the narrator's judgments on the characters their psychological types can be implied. The protagonist is compared with the other major characters to illuminate to what extent different types can get along with each other. In Jungian psychology knowing about our psychological type is a crucial issue in the process of individuation. It gets more significant when it comes to opposite sex relationships or generally any kinds of interaction.

This paper proposes an extended state observer (ESO)‐based second‐order sliding mode control (SMC) for dynamic voltage restorers (DVRs). Unlike the conventional first‐order SMC and some second‐order SMC (SOSMC) methods that suffer from chattering, the proposed control method can alleviate chattering and achieve finite‐time convergence. Chattering suppression (i.e. eliminating discontinuities) is achieved via continuous control input which is also used to generate the pulse width modulation signals. However, while removing the discontinuities in the control input, the performance of the control method is degraded when it is subjected to disturbances. Therefore, an active disturbance rejection (ADR) based on an ESO is proposed to enhance the performance. In addition, an advanced single‐phase phase‐locked loop (PLL) using linear observer and quasi‐type‐1 PLL is also proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experimental results which are compared with the results of the existing SMC methods applied to DVR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an adaptive sliding mode control (SMC) method with a variable boundary layer for single-phase voltage source inverters. This strategy offers a very simple sliding function without any derivative term while preserving unique characteristics of the sliding mode control like fast dynamic response and robustness against parameter variations while also possessing the variable boundary layer method to reject the chattering phenomena. Chattering excites the high frequencies in the system and leads to inaccuracy and instability. It is shown that despite the conventinal approches, the proposed variable boundary layer method can both alleviate the chattering and generating the minimum steady state error. Owing to the adaptive nature of the suggested control approach which adjusts the thickness of the boundary layer, the whole mechanism can be controlled successfully under unpredictable parameter variations. The accomplishment of the suggested strategy is investigated by simulations in MATLAB/Simulink. The outcomes are compared with the outcomes obtained without boundary layer, with constant boundary layer and super twisting sliding control methods. The comparison reveals that the proposed control technique outperforms the other control methods for the voltage source inverter. The results demonstrate that while the conventional, SMC with constant boundary layer and super twisting sliding control (STSMC) methods have 50%, 8% and 10% chattering over their control input respectively, the proposed method has less than 3% chattering over the control input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 could cause severe complications in those with pre-existing conditions such as cancer. Here, we aimed to assess the outcome of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients with a history of cancer. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we extracted medical records of patients with any cancer history among hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Our patients were admitted between February 20th and July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was death, and the secondary outcomes were overall survival, COVID-19-specific mortality, admission to intensive care unit (ICU), and hospital stay. A group of individuals without cancer history was selected from the COVID-19 cohort and matched for age, gender, and pre-existing conditions. We utilized univariate and multivariate logistic regression to analyze the association between studied variables and primary outcomes. Results: We identified 46 patients with cancer and COVID-19. The median age was 63, and 54.3% were male. According to the univariate logistic regression analysis, death was 5.3 (CI95%: 1.75-15.85) times more probable in cancer patients than controls (p=0.003). The multivariate analysis adjusted for having cancer and sex, age, and having any comorbidity showing this figure was 5.5 (CI95%:1.8-16.8) (p=0.003). The 30- and 90-day COVID-19 specific mortality was 30% (CI95%:17-43) and 33% (CI95%: 20-46), respectively. Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 with a history of cancer have a considerably higher risk of death irrespective of age, gender, and other pre-existing conditions. Patients with advanced cancers and concurrent bacterial infections need the most vigorous care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an improved method for determining the contribution of harmonic distortion generated by utility and customer at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) in radial distribution systems. For this purpose, first the magnitude and phase of voltage and current at the PCC in each frequency are estimated by adaptive Kalman filter. Then the parameters of Thevenin equivalent circuits of load and utility sides are estimated using the recursive least squares technique based on singular value decomposition (SVD). Finally, the contribution of utility and customer in harmonic distortion of the 3-phase voltage waveforms has been calculated by three approaches. A case study has been made to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Also, the presented method has been used in a 13-bus IEEE standard distribution system. Presented simulation results show that the proposed method can accurately determine the harmonic contributions of utility and customer for measurements made at the PCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a worldwide epidemic disease and a major cause of death and disability. The present study aimed to elucidate pharmacological effects of adipose derived stromal cells (ASCs) on pathological and biochemical factors in a guinea pig model of COPD. Guinea pigs were randomized into 5 groups including: Control, COPD, COPD + intratracheal delivery of PBS as a vehicle (COPD-PBS), COPD + intratracheal delivery of ASCs (COPD-ITASC) and COPD + intravenous injection of ASCs (COPD-IVASC). COPD was induced by exposing animals to cigarette smoke for 3 months. Cell therapy was performed immediately after the end of animal exposure to cigarette smoke and 14 days after that, white blood cells, oxidative stress indices and pathological changes of the lung were measured., Results: Compared with control group, emphysema was clearly observed in the COPD and COPD-PBS groups (p < 0.001). Lung histopathologic changes of COPD-ITASC and COPD-IVASC groups showed non-significant improvement compared to COPD-PBS group. The COPD-ITASC group showed a significant increase in total WBC compared to COPD-PBS group but there was not a significant increase in this regard in COPD-IVASC group. The differential WBC showed no significant change in number of different types of leukocytes. The serum level of malondialdehyde (MDA) significantly decreased but thiol groups of broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) increased in both cell treated groups (p < 0.05 for all cases). Weight of animals decreased during smoke exposure and improved after PBS or cell therapy. However, no significant change was observed between the groups receiving PBS and the ones receiving ASCs., Conclusion: Cell therapy with ASCs can help in reducing oxidative damage during smoking which may collectively hold promise in attenuation of the severity of COPD although the lung structural changes couldn't be ameliorated with these pharmacological therapeutic methods.