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There is an increasing interest in achieving global climate change mitigation targets that target environmental protection. Therefore, electric vehicles (as linear metros) were developed to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, which negatively impact the climate. Hence, this paper proposes a finite set-model predictive-based current control (FS-MPCC) strategy of linear induction motor (LIM) for linear metro drives fed by solar cells with a beta maximum power extraction (B-MPE) control approach to achieve lower thrust ripples and eliminate a selection of weighting factors, the main limitation of conventional model predictive-based thrust control (which can be time consuming and challenging). The B-MPE control approach ensures that the solar cells operate at their maximum power output, maximizing the energy harvested from the sun. Considering a single cost function of primary current errors between the predicted values and their references in αβ-axes, the proposed method eliminates the need for weighting factor selection, thus simplifying the control process. A comparison between the conventional and the presented control method is conducted using MATLAB/Simulink under different scenarios. Comprehensive simulation results of the presented system on a 3 kW LIM prototype revealed that the introduced system based on FS-MPCC surpasses the conventional technique, resulting in a maximum power extraction from solar cells and a suppression of the thrust ripples as well as an avoidance of weighting factor tuning, leading to fewer computational steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Administration of Gum Arabic (GA) was associated with an increase in estimated Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at three months (pre 24.64 ± 8.89 vs 26.20 ± 10.1p = 0.02). Subsequently there was no significant fall in eGFR. This translated to positive change in Δ eGFR within quarter at three months, (Δ eGFR 4.89 ml/min/year p=

Patients with End-stage Renal Disease being immunocompromised; are prone to a variety of infections, sometimes, rare ones, more than the general population. This fact should alert the physicians to be more vigilant and have a broader scope when considering the etiology of infections in such patients. We report the case of a 65-year-old man who had a very stormy hospital stay secondary to cerebral nocardiosis with multiple brain abscesses, prolonged unconsciousness and neurological deficits. However, the patient was treated successfully, surgically and chemotherapeutically. He was discharged home in a good condition.

Objective: To assess health awareness in patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Saudi Arabia., Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey using a 22-item questionnaire in 143 randomly selected adult RRT patients [40 on hemodialysis (HD), 61 on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 42 with renal transplant (TX)]. The study was carried out at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh in April 2006. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate patients' knowledge in 5 areas: 1. causes of renal failure, 2. biology of the kidneys, 3. symptoms of kidney disease, 4. therapeutic options available, 5. national kidney patients support facilities. The association between the level of awareness (the percentage of correct answers) to different demographic factors was assessed., Results: Three fifths of the patients had less than secondary education. The average mark for correct responses of all patients was 45.9% with a highest (58%) for the category on biology of the kidney and lowest (36.8%) for national kidney patients support facilities. The PD group had the highest score (54.4%) followed by HD (44.3%) and finally TX (35.1%)., Conclusion: The level of our patients; health awareness is lower than satisfactory. Level of education seems to be a contributory factor.