Search

The use of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) for the classification of electrochemical mechanisms using simulated voltammograms with one cycle of the potential for training has previously been reported. In this paper, it is shown how valuable additional patterns for mechanism distinction become available when a new DNN with advanced architecture is trained simultaneously on images obtained from three cycles of potential using tensor inputs. Significant improvement relative to the single cycle training in achieving correct classification of E, EC1st and EC2nd mechanisms (E = electron transfer step, C1st and C2nd are first and second order follow up chemical reactions, respectively) is demonstrated with noisy simulated data for conditions where all mechanisms are close to chemically reversible and hence difficult to distinguish even by an experienced electrochemist. Challenges anticipated in applying the new DNN to classification of experimental data are highlighted. Directions for future development are also discussed.

Based on the traditional two-layer accumulative roll bonding (TARB), the geometrical variations and mathematical relationship during the four-layer accumulative roll bonding (FARB) were derived and summarized. Furthermore, the multi-layer accumulative roll bonding (MARB) technology was proposed and the geometrical variations and mathematical relationship of MARB were simultaneously derived and summarized. Experimentally, Mg-14Li-3Al-2Gd (LAGd1432) sheets were fabricated by TARB and FARB, respectively. Compared with the TARB, the FARB has a higher accumulative efficiency in terms of accumulative layers, total number of interfaces, interface spacing, total deformation and equivalent strain. Therefore, the FARB-processed sheets in lower cycles have the similar microstructure and mechanical properties of the TARB-processed sheets in higher cycles. In addition, FARB process can further break through the deformation limit of TARB process in a single cycle through adopting two-step rolling in one cycle with 50% deformation in one pass and 75% accumulative deformation in one cycle, which can effectively solve the problem of poor interface bonding of the latest interface brought by the last cycle, and thus significantly improve the phenomenon of unstable performance of the ARB-processed sheets.

To compare the mechanical performance and mode of failure in four-point bending of two different 2.0 mm "string of pearls" locking plates that differ in dimensions.Ten *2.0 mm, 82 mm long, 10-hole (Plate A) and ten 2.0 mm, 69 mm long, 12-hole (Plate B) Cortical Pearl Systems were secured to plate extenders and centred beneath an Instron tensile tester in four-point bending. In all constructs, a simulated fracture gap was maintained at 33 mm. Due to differences in plate dimensions, 33 mm corresponded to four pearls (Plate A) and six pearls (Plate B). Following an initial preload of 10 N, ramped single-cycle load-to-failure at 0.1 mm/second was performed in five Plate A and five Plate B constructs. Load and displacement were recorded. Constant frequency sinusoidal cyclic loading (33 N) at 20 mm/minute was performed on five Plate A and five Plate B constructs following 10 N of preload. Maximum moment and cycle count were recorded. Testing and data analysis were completed in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials F382-14 guidelines. Differences in performance and mode of failure were compared.: Plate A constructs produced higher mean values for bending stiffness (19.8 (SD 2.0) N/mmPlate A, which is wider, thicker and has a greater spacing between pearls, was mechanically superior to Plate B in four-point bending under single-cycle load-to-failure and sinusoidal cyclic loading.Although mechanical differences were identified in four-point bending

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) are the foundation of CNT-based electronics and optoelectronics. For practical applications, s-SWCNTs should be produced with high purity, high structural quality, low cost, and high yield. Currently conjugated polymer wrapping method shows great potential to fulfill these requirements due to its advantages of simple operation process, high purity separation, and easy scaling-up. However, only a small portion of both CNTs and polymers go into the final solution, and most of them are discarded after a single use, resulting in high cost and low yield. In this paper, we introduce a closed-loop recycling strategy, in which raw materials (CNTs and polymers) and solvents were all recycled and reused for multiple separation cycles. In each cycle, high-purity (> 99.9%) s-SWCNTs were obtained with no significant change of structural quality. After 7 times of recycling and separation, the material cost was reduced to ∼ 1% in comparison with commercially available products, and total yield was increased to 36% in comparison with 2%–5% for single cycle separation. Our proposed closed-loop recycling strategy paves the way for low-cost and high-yield mass production of high-quality s-SWCNTs.

در این مقاله روشی برای تولید پالس‌های باند فراپهن‌ (UWB) که که اساس کار آن، یک تداخل سنج ماخ‌زندر است با یک تشدیدگر حلقه‌ای کوچک سیلیکونی دارای قابلیت تغییر پیکربندی جفت شده‌است گزارش شده است. سیگنال‌های باند فراپهن‌ تک‌چرخه‌ای و دوتایی با پهنای زمانی پالس پیکوثانیه تولید می‌شوند که تشدیدگر کوچک حلقه‌ای به ترتیب با پالس‌های الکتریکی مربعی و گاوسی مدوله می شود. سیستم‌های فوتونیکی ریزموج که با اجزای بزرگ نوری کار می‌کنند از بزرگی حجم، استفاده زیاد از انرژی، هزینه بالا و آسیب‌پذیری در برابر اختلالات محیط‌زیستی رنج می‌برند. بنابراین،‌ بسیار مطلوب است که سیستم فوتونیکی ریزموج را بر روی یک تراشه جمع کنیم تا فشرده‌تر،‌ ارزان‌تر و کم‌مصرف‌تر بشود.. سیگنال‌های باند فراپهن‌ خواص ذاتی از جمله مصونیت در برابر محو شدن در حرکت چند مسیره، پهنای باند گسترده و چگالی توان طیفی پایین دارند. یکی از کاربردهای آن در مخابرات بی‌سیم کوتاه‌برد و توان بالا برای انتقال بدون تاخیر و بی سیم داده‌های چندرسانه‌ای حجیم قرار دارد. همچنین می‌تواند در حالت سرعت و توان کم برای کاربردهای اینترنت اشیا مانند موقعیت‌یابی دقیق داخلی استفاده بشود. برخلاف تخمین مسافت وای‌فای یا بلوتوثی که بر اساس شدت سیگنال کار می‌کنند، سیگنال باند فراپهن‌ پهنای پالس بسیار باریکی دارد، شبیه پالس رادار، که آن را قادر می‌سازد تا با استفاده از زمان پیشروی پالس و با دقت 10 سانتی‌متر، موقعیت را تخمین بزند. با مدولاتور تشدید که بر اساس فوتونیک سیلیکون می‌باشد،‌ می‌توان به تولید سیگنال ریزموج قابل تنظیم روی تراشه، بسیار امیدوار بود.

For modern remote and closed systems of uninterruptible power supply, a operation of forced discharge of accumulator batteries is in demand. It is advisable to carry out the specified process of forced discharge with recuperation into the network. This way of leads: firstly, to a decrease in the mass of charging and discharging devices due to the exclusion of powerful resistive loads from the latter; secondly, to noticeable energy savings for closed autonomous objects. At the same time, for the regenerative current, increased requirements are imposed on its sinusoidality, the distortion coefficient of which is significantly influenced by the relationship between the EMF of the battery and the amplitude of the mains voltage, the discharge current and the maximum current of the coil of the active rectifier. The influence the frequency of the PWM control signal and the frequency of the regeneration current (mains frequency) is also possible. In uninterruptible systems, storage batteries are used with different total EMF and capacity that determines the discharge current. In addition, the mentioned values change during operation, and at forced discharge, various technique can be used that differ in the ratio of the discharge current to the capacity of the battery and the law of its change. Therefore, in the development of a universal system for forced discharge of a battery into a network with pulse-width control of the regenerative current shape, is relevant information on the dependences of the distortion factor of the sinusoidality on the above ratios of the battery voltage and the amplitude of the mains voltage, the discharge current and the maximum current of the coil of the active rectifier coil, as well as from the number of pulses for the regeneration current period. The article presents the results of work on obtaining diagrams of these dependencies. To obtain the latter, the function of the output current of the active rectifier is formed – of the regeneration current, then its spectral function. Using the latter, the current waveform distortions are estimated based on the spectral approach. The results obtained are in demand in the development of program modules for microcontrollers of the pulse-width regulators of the regeneration current, which implement algorithms for the formation of a current curve with acceptable values of the distortion coefficient of the sinusoidality when changing the parameters of the battery, network and discharge current.

Background Endolaser probes have been designed and sold for single-use only. However, in Brazil, they are not included in the list of single-use medical products that are prohibited from being reprocessed and could potentially be reused if safety requirements are accomplished. Therefore, this study aimed to determine and compare the quality, safety and costs of reprocessed versus original single-use endolaser probes of a specific brand and model. Methods The study, conducted at a university hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was divided in two phases. The first one tested the feasibility, sterility and physical integrity of ten reprocessed laser probes. In the second phase, all vitrectomy procedures using endolaser probes (reprocessed and original ones) from August 2017 to October 2019 were evaluated. The operated cases were followed for any signs of infection and number of defective probes for each group were counted. The cost of acquiring a new probe and for all reprocessing stages were evaluated and quantified in US dollars($). Results Microbiologic, residual ethilen oxide and microscopic evaluation of integrity of reprocessed laser probes were all within acceptable range. The second phase of this study included 590 endolaser probes, of which 375 were original and 215 were reprocessed. Functionality rates differed significantly between groups. Among the original probes, 373 (99.47%) were functioning and 2 (0.53%) were non-functioning. Among the reprocessed ones, 201 (93.5%) were functioning and 14 (6.5%) were non-functioning (p Conclusions Our study showed that a single cycle endolaser probe reprocessing was safe and efficient, not associated with increase in endophthalmitis rate and proved to be significantly cost-effective, even considering a greater malfunction rate when compared to the original devices.

Rationale: Despite the promising results of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted 177Lu radioligand therapy in metastatic castration-resistant prostate carcinoma (mCRPC), some patients do not respond and other patients with initially good response develop resistance to this treatment. In this study, we investigated molecular imaging and biochemical responses after a single cycle of [225Ac]Ac-PSMA-617/[177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 tandem therapy in patients who had progressed on [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 monotherapy. Methods: Seventeen patients with mCRPC were included in a retrospective, monocenter study. Molecular imaging-based response was assessed by modified PERCIST criteria using the whole-body total lesion PSMA (TLP) and molecular tumour volume (MTV) derived from [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT. Biochemical response was evaluated according to PCWG3 criteria using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) serum value. Concordance and correlation statistics as well as survival analyses were performed. Results: Based on the molecular imaging-based response assessment, 5 (29.4%) patients showed partial remission and 7 (41.2%) had stable disease. The remaining 5 (29.4%) patients had further progression, four with an increase in TLP/MTV of >30% and one with stable TLP/MTV but appearance of new metastases. Based on the biochemical response assessment, 5 (29.4%), 8 (47.1%), and 4 (23.5%) patients showed partial remission, stable disease, and progressive disease, respectively. A comparison of the response assessment methods showed a concordance of 100% (17/17) between TLP and MTV and 70.6% (12/17) between TLP/MTV and PSA. Patients with partial remission, independently assessed by each method, had better overall survival (OS) than patients with either stable or progressive disease. The difference in OS was statistically significant for the molecular imaging response assessment (median OS not reached vs. 8.3 m, p = 0.044), but not for the biochemical response assessment (median OS 18.1 m vs. 9.4 m, p = 0.468). Conclusion: Based on both assessment methods, [225Ac]Ac-PSMA-617/[177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 tandem therapy is an effective treatment for the highly challenging cohort of patients with mCRPC who have progressed on [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 monotherapy. Molecular imaging response and biochemical PSA response were mostly concordant, though a considerable number of cases (29.4%) were discordant. Molecular imaging response reflecting the change in total viable tumour burden appears to be superior to PSA change in estimating survival outcome after tandem therapy.

Motion capturing systems produce a large amount of information on the motion of individuals. A growing number of data reduction techniques have been developed to reduce the amount of data while keeping relevant information. An overview that compares and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of these methods on cyclic motion data is, however, lacking. Therefore, this study aims to assess the features of different data reduction techniques by applying them to a large public gait data set. Due to the periodicity of cyclic data, an individual cycle can be isolated and analyzed. The analysis of single cycles requires pre-processing steps to segment and align the individual cycles. The latter is needed to isolate the amplitude variability. Three alignment procedures with different complexity, namely Linear Length Normalization (LLN), Piecewise LNN (PLLN) and Continuous Registration (CR), are assessed based on the amount of resulting variation. Subsequently three data reduction techniques (i.e. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Principal Polynomial Analysis (PPA) and Multivariate Functional PCA (MFPCA)) are applied to the aligned single gait cycles. The data reduction techniques are evaluated based on the in-sample error, the out-of-sample error, the compactness and the computation time to produce a model. The curves aligned with CR have the lowest remaining variation and thus the lowest amount of remaining phase variation. The differences between the different data reduction techniques appear to be minimal PPA shows to be the most compact and is therefore recommended when compactness is crucial and out-of-sample performance is less essential. The use of MFPCA is advised when one wants to include data from different sources. PCA is suggested when computation time is key. Copyright (C) 2021 The Authors.

The synthesis method of logic circuits based on the RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory) devices is of great concern in recent years. Inspired by the CMOS-like RRAM based logic gates, this work proposes a NMOS-like RRAM gate family. The advantages of the proposed NMOS-like RRAM gates include: (1) all the gate circuits are array-implementable; (2) the gate family is logic complete; (3) the NOR, AND and NOT gates only consume single cycle respectively in the computation phase; (4) the gate circuits save half number of RRAM devices compared with the CMOS-like RRAM based counterparts. Furthermore, the synthesis method of logic circuits based on the NMOS-like RRAM gates is proposed and discussed. The single-cycle NMOS-like RRAM gates are utilized in priority under the constraints of the logic block. The features of the proposed synthesis method are: (1) it generates the high-performance logic circuits because the NMOS-like RRAM based gates work in parallel; (2) the logic block based on the proposed NMOS-like gates can be realized in the RRAM array; (3) the large-scale logic functions can be implemented by cascading the logic blocks. The in-array full-adder circuit generated by the proposed synthesis method only consumes three cycles in minimum, which outperforms the previous RRAM based counterpart. The synthesis results on the benchmark circuits show that the proposed synthesis method is able to generate the high-performance circuit in RRAM arrays for arbitrary logic functions.

Oral propranolol is the treatment of choice for infantile hemangiomas. The growth relapse rate following oral propranolol therapy is not well established in the literature. The present study aimed at determining predictors of growth relapse of infantile hemangiomas after discontinuation of oral propranolol therapy. A retrospective analysis was performed of all cases of infantile hemangiomas aged ≤ 12 months undergoing oral propranolol therapy in a 6-year period. Of the 198 cases, regrowth after oral propranolol therapy was observed in 35 patients (18%). Facial hemangiomas showed a higher (p = 0.003) relapse rate as compared with other hemangiomas (27 out of 107 facial cases vs. 8 out of 91 with other location, respectively 25% and 8.8%). Of 35 growth relapses cases, 66% of cases (23 in total, 18 facial and 5 otherwise located hemangiomas) underwent a second cycle of oral propranolol therapy (median length of treatment 3 months, interquartile range 2-3). All cases had a successful outcome, either after a single cycle oral propranolol therapy (163 cases, 82%), or in case of regrowth, after a second therapy cycle (23 cases, 12%) or further conservative management (12 cases, 6%).Conclusion: Facial infantile hemangiomas relapse earlier and more frequently after oral propranolol therapy. We suggest to closely monitor these patients, as a second cycle of propranolol may be indicated. Prolonged oral propranolol therapy might be considered for facial infantile hemangiomas. What is Known: • Oral propranolol is the treatment of choice for infantile hemangiomas. • The growth relapse rate following oral propranolol is not well established. What is New: • The present study points out that facial infantile hemangioma relapse earlier and more frequently after oral propranolol therapy. • Patients with facial infantile hemangiomas should be monitored after propranolol therapy discontinuation.

The iMemComp is a family of logic gates based on RRAM devices. It has potential advantage on the design of high-performance logic circuits, since the NAND, AND, NOT and transmission iMemComp gates only consume single cycle, respectively. However, the synthesis method of logic circuits based on the iMemComp gates has not been systematically studied before. This work proposes the synthesis method of the row-oriented logic circuits based on the multi-input single-cycle iMemComp gates. The synthesis results show that the circuits generated from the proposed method outperform most of those RRAM based counterparts generated from the previous methods. Furthermore, the synthesis method of the array-oriented iMemComp logic circuits is proposed. The proposed array-oriented method generates the relatively high-performance logic circuits since both the row-based and the column-based single-cycle iMemComp gates are applied, and the generated circuits are relatively area-efficient because the intra-row and inter-row redundancies are utilized in the circuit mapping.

A graph U is an induced universal graph for a family F of graphs if every graph in F is a vertex-induced subgraph of U . Recently, for the family of all undirected graphs on n vertices, Alon [Geom. Funct. Anal. 2017] [3] proved the existence of an induced universal graph with ( 1 + o ( 1 ) ) ⋅ 2 ( n − 1 ) ∕ 2 vertices improving the previous best bound of 16 ⋅ 2 n ∕ 2 by Alstrup et al. (2015) and matching the lower bound of 2 ( n − 1 ) ∕ 2 by Moon (1965) up to lower order additive terms. We continue this line of research of finding the size of the smallest induced universal graph up to lower order additive terms for some basic graph families. For the family of graphs with n vertices and bounded degree D = O ( 1 ) , Alon and Nenadov [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 2017] [4] showed that the smallest induced universal graph has size Θ n D ∕ 2 , but it remains to find the constant hidden in the O -notation. For even D the bound O n D ∕ 2 was already shown by Butler (2009). In order to find the correct constants for general D > 0 , it is natural first to consider the case D = 2 . For D = 2 , Butler gave an induced universal graph of size 6 . 5 n and subsequently, Esperet et al. (2008) found an induced universal graph for D = 2 of size 2 . 5 n . We construct for D = 2 an even smaller induced universal graph with 2 n − 1 vertices. This proves a conjecture by Esperet et al. stating the existence of such a graph with 2 n + o ( n ) vertices. For the family of acyclic graphs on n vertices with maximum degree 2 we show that the smallest induced universal graph has size 3 n 2 . We also introduce the notion of size oblivious and size aware decoding, and relate this to families of induced universal graphs. For the family of graphs consisting of a single cycle we prove new upper and lower bounds on the complexity of size aware and size oblivious decoders. These new bounds separate the two notions.

Experimental and kinetic analysis of a chemical system combines autocatalytic amplification of 2-alkynyl-5-pyrimidyl alkanol 2 and 6-alkynyl-3-pyridyl akanol 4 in which 2 acts as a chiral trigger and 4 being the subsequent autocatalyst. Starting from a very low initial ee, both alkanols are produced with high enantiopurity in one single cycle. This provides insight into a dual nonlinear amplification of chirality observed with amplifying trigger 2 and accelerated amplification of autocatalyst 4. These kinetic studies reveal a five-fold magnitude superior amplification rates of 4 associated with trigger's enantiopurity at the outset.

We previously reported that eBAT, an EGF-targeted angiotoxin, was safe and it improved the overall survival for dogs with splenic haemangiosarcoma when added to the standard of care in a single cycle of three administrations in the minimal residual disease setting. Our objective for the SRCBST-2 trial was to assess whether increased dosing through multiple cycles of eBAT would be well tolerated and would further enhance the benefits of eBAT. Eligibility was expanded to dogs with stage 3 haemangiosarcoma, provided that gross lesions could be surgically excised. The interval between eBAT and the start of chemotherapy was reduced, and the experimental therapy was expanded to three cycles, each administered at the biologically active dose (50 μg/kg) on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule following splenectomy, and scheduled 1 week prior to the first, second and fifth doxorubicin chemotherapy. Twenty-five dogs were enrolled; six experienced acute hypotension with two requiring hospitalization. Self-limiting elevation of ALT was observed in one dog. A statistically significant survival benefit was not seen in this study in eBAT-treated dogs compared with a Contemporary comparison group of dogs with stages 1-3 haemangiosarcoma treated with standard of care alone. Our results indicate that repeated dosing cycles of eBAT starting 1 week prior to doxorubicin chemotherapy led to greater toxicity and reduced efficacy compared with a single cycle given between surgery and a delayed start of chemotherapy. Further work is needed to understand the precise mechanisms of action of eBAT in order to optimize its clinical benefits in the treatment of canine haemangiosarcoma and other tumours. IACUC Protocols 1110A06186 and 1507-32804A.

The theoretical analysis for the absorption cooling system of the multi-ejectors flash tank has been investigated. In this research, the analysis of the energy balance is conducted to predict the possibility of improvement in the thermal loads components of the absorption cooling system with multi-ejectors -flash tank. The computer program of simulation has been used to assess the single, double and triple ejectors for the absorption cooling system performance by utilizing a solution of the water ammonia as a working liquid, which operated under stable conditions. The results indicate that the cycle with three ejectors has the lower generator and evaporator thermal loads than the other cycles. It is also showed that the generator load for a cycle using double ejectors is higher than other cycles, while the evaporator thermal load is found permanently less than the basic and single cycle and slightly higher than the cycle which has three ejectors. As well as the improvement in overall COPs of the combined cycle using double ejectors under different operating conditions is higher than that of the other combined cycles. It was found that the total COPs for the double ejector cycle are higher by ratios (9.2% and 5%) at higher and lower operation conditions, respectively, than the combined triple ejectors’ cycle.

Background: This study was conducted to analyze clinical factors that can affect pregnancy rates in normal responders undergoing the freeze-all policy in in vitro fertilization. Methods: We evaluated 153 embryo transfer cycles in 89 infertile women with normal response to controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). After COS, all embryos were cultured to the blastocyst stage, and good quality blastocysts were vitrified for elective frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Clinical variables associated with COS and the results of COS and culture, including the number of retrieved oocytes, fertilized oocytes, and frozen blastocysts were compared between the pregnant group and the non-pregnant group. Results: After a single cycle of COS for each patient, 52 patients became pregnant while 37 did not. Significant differences were observed in the number of matured oocytes, fertilized oocytes, frozen blastocysts, and transferred embryos. The number of frozen blastocysts in the pregnant group was almost twice that in the non-pregnant group (5.6±3.1 vs. 2.8±1.9, p

The article examines the problems of doctrinal approaches and practical implementation of the principle of legal certainty at the stage of verification of judicial acts in civil process. The principle of legal certainty was accepted by the Russian judicial system with Russia’s accession to the Council of Europe. The development of this principle has been continued with the assessment by the European Court of human rights on the effectiveness of verification courts in civil procedural law. The criteria proposed for compliance with legal certainty have come into conflict with the need to correct erroneous judicial acts. The extension of the application of the principle of legal certainty has limited the procedural regimes of the supervisory and then cassation courts. Such a situation creates the possibility of ignoring judicial errors only on the grounds that the appealed judicial act has entered into legal force. The author analyzes the current domestic conditions of judicial verification and the revision of court decisions that have entered into force. The domestic judicial verification activity is of an urgent nature, which excludes the indefinite review of the judicial acts that have entered into force, since the implementation of such a review takes place within a single cycle, involving strict deadlines for appeal and its consideration. Verification of judicial acts in any member state of the Council of Europe, including the Russian Federation, is intended to correct significant judicial errors, and only on the initiative of the persons involved in the case. Given these circumstances, the conclusion can be made about the inapplicability of the principle of legal certainty as the evaluation of the effectiveness of the entire system of verification of judicial acts, or parts of its procedural means, and by the courts in the revision of court decisions that entered into legal force.

We develop, for the first time, and validate through some illustrative examples a new neuro-processor based concept for solving (single-vehicle) traveling salesman problems (TSP) in complex and dynamically reconfigurable graph networks. Compared to existing/competing methods for solving TSP, the new concept is accurate, robust, and scalable. Also, the new concept guarantees the optimality of the TSP solution and ensures subtours avoidance and thus an always-convergence to a single-cycle TSP solution. These key characteristics of the new concept are not always satisfactorily addressed by the existing methods for solving TSP. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is to develop a systematic analytical framework to model (from a nonlinear dynamical perspective) the TSP, avoid/eliminate subtours, and guarantee/ensure convergence to the true/exact TSP solution. Using the stability analysis (nonlinear dynamics), analytical conditions are obtained to guarantee both robustness and convergence of the neuro-processor. Besides, a bifurcation analysis is carried out to obtain ranges (or windows) of parameters under which the neuro-processor guarantees both TSP solution's optimality and convergence to a single-cycle TSP solution. In order to validate the new neuro-processor based concept developed, two recently published application examples are considered for both benchmarking and validation as they are solved by using the developed neuro-processor.

The iMemComp (Intelligent memristive computing) gates are a family of logic gates based on the RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory) devices. It has potential advantage for the design of high-performance logic circuits, because the iMemComp NAND, AND, NOT, and transmission gates only consume single cycle, respectively. However, the original two-input iMemComp OR gate, which requires three cycles, is a relatively slow gate. It decreases the performance of some logic circuits. This work proposes an improved iMemComp OR gate with only one cycle and three RRAM cells. Both the circuit performance and area consumption of the full-adder and LFSR circuits are improved by the application of the proposed OR gate. Furthermore, we propose a general synthesis method of logic circuits based on the improved logic gate. The synthesis results show that the circuits generated from the proposed synthesis method outperform the previous RRAM based counterparts for most cases of the MCNC benchmark circuits.

Background and ObjectivesAdapted ketogenic diet (AKD) and caloric restriction (CR) have been suggested as alternative therapeutic strategies for multiple sclerosis (MS), but information on their impact on neuroaxonal damage is lacking. Thus, we explored the impact of diets on serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) levels in patients with relapsing-remitting MS.MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated a prospective randomized controlled trial of 60 patients with MS who were on a common diet or ketogenic diet or fasting. We examined sNfL levels of 40 participants at baseline and at the end of the study after 6 months using single molecule array assay.ResultssNfL levels were investigated in 9 controls, 14 participants on CR, and 17 participants on AKD. Correlation analysis showed an association of sNfL with age and disease duration; an association was also found between sNfL and the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite. AKD significantly reduced sNfL levels at 6 months compared with the common diet group (p = 0.001).DiscussionFor clinical or study use, consider that AKD may incline sNfL levels independent of relapse activity up to 3 months after initiation. At 6 months, AKD, which complements current therapies, reduced sNfL levels, therefore suggesting potential neuroprotective effects in MS. A single cycle of seven-day fasting did not affect sNfL. AKD may be an addition to the armamentarium to help clinicians support patients with MS in a personalized manner with tailored diet strategies.Trial Registration InformationClinical trial registration number NCT01538355.

Aim: The field of nanotechnology promotes the development of innovative and more effective cancer therapies. This work is aimed to develop a hybrid system that combines the capacity of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) to be internalized by tumor cells and the ability of nickel ferrite nanoparticles to efficiently release heat by induced AC magnetic heating. Materials & methods: The systems studied were characterized by using x-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Results: The ferrite nanoparticles attached to BNNT were able to achieve the required temperatures for magnetohyperthermia therapies. After cellular internalization, AC induced magnetic heating of BNNT@NiFe2O4 can kill almost 80% of Hela cells lineage in a single cycle. Conclusion: This system can be a highly efficient magnetohyperthermia agent in cancer therapy.

Bone remodeling is a key process in vertebrate organisms, since it is responsible for maintaining skeleton’s integrity. However, in some pathological conditions, such as osteoporosis or Paget’s disease, bone’s function becomes compromised. To gain a better understanding about these conditions, bone remodeling has become a determinant subject of research. Remodeling implies resorption of bone by osteoclasts followed by formation of new tissue by osteoblasts. The interaction between these two bone cells is reproduced in this work by extending the bone remodeling model of Ayati et al. (Biol Direct 5:28, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-6150-5-28). Also, for the first time, a discrete numerical method—finite element method (FEM)—is applied to solve the remodeling equations and analyze the results. A single cycle of remodeling is simulated using a two-dimensional bone patch. Results show that the developed mathematical model is able to correlate bone cell dynamics with different phases of the remodeling process, allowing to obtain the transient spatial distribution of bone’s apparent density along time. Thus, the presented model reveals itself as a successful approach, producing an accurate temporal-spatial evolution of bone cells during an event of bone remodeling.

There is a large demand for models able to predict the future capacity retention and internal resistance (IR) of Lithium-ion battery cells with as little testing as possible. We provide a datacentric model accurately predicting a cell’s entire capacity and IR trajectory from one single cycle of input data. This represents a significant reduction in the amount of input data neededover previous works. Our approach characterises the capacity and IR curve through a small number of key points, which, once predicted and interpolated, yield the full curve. With this approach the remaining-useful-life is predicted with an 8.6% mean absolute percentage error when the input-cycle is within the first 100 cycles. Keywords: capacity degradation, internal resistance degradation, prediction of full degradation curve, knee and elbow-points, lithium-ion cells, machine learning, remaining-useful-life.

Formation of a barrier capable of protecting tissue from external damage, chemical factors, and pathogens is one of the main functions of the epidermis. Furthermore, upon development and during aging, mechanoprotective epidermal functions change dramatically. However, comparative studies between embryonic and adult skin in comparison to skin equivalents are still scarce which is especially due to the lack of appropriate measurement systems with sufficient accuracy and long-term tissue compatibility. Our studies fill this gap by developing a combined bioreactor and tensile testing machine for biomechanical analysis of living epithelia. Based on this tissue stretcher, our data clearly show that viscoelastic and plastic deformation behavior of embryonic and adult skin differ significantly. Tissue responses to static strain compared to cyclic strain also show a clear dependence on differentiation stage. Multilayered unkeratinized epidermis equivalents, on the other hand, respond very similar to mechanical stretch as adult tissue. This mechanical similarity is even more evident after a single cycle of mechanical preconditioning. Our studies therefore suggest that skin equivalents are well suited model systems to analyze cellular interactions of epidermal cells in natural tissues.

The motto of this paper is to develop a production inventory model in real life situation. In reality, demand of a certain product becomes highly effected by on-hand stock level in stores and the selling price of the product. In the proposed model, demand of the product is dependent on these two vital deceive factors. In real life production systems, always there are some defective products which requires reworking in order to make them useful. The possibility of producing some defective items in regular production process and their reworking has been taken into account in the model. In case of inventories of highly demandable products, it is observed that production rate is proportional to demand. The situation also arises in case of launching a new product or in a multi-stage production system. In this model, production rate is a variable and it varies with the demand rate. Shortages are allowed and it is backlogged fully. Based on these assumptions, several researchers worked on but they considered that the associated inventory cost parameters are fixed real numbers. However, these are not fixed in reality and may vary time to time depending upon some scenario. Main objective of the paper is to develop a production inventory model under those assumptions considering various cost parameters as interval numbers. As a result the corresponding optimization problem is also interval valued. Quantum behaved particle swarm optimization technique has been applied to find the maximum profit in a single cycle. Numerical example and sensitivity analysis are given to illustrate the proposed inventory model.

Electron beam melting (EBM) has emerged as an important additive manufacturing technique. In this study, Alloy 718 produced by EBM was investigated in as-built and post-treated conditions for microstructural characteristics and hardness. The post-treatments investigated were hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and combined HIP + heat treatment (HIP + HT) carried out as a single cycle inside the HIP vessel. Both the post-treatments resulted in significant decrease in defects inevitably present in the as-built material. The columnar grain structure of the as-built material was found to be maintained after post-treatment, with some sporadic localized grain coarsening noted. Although HIP led to complete dissolution of δ and γ′′ phase, stable NbC and TiN (occasionally present) particles were observed in the post-treated specimens. Significant precipitation of γ′′ phase was observed after HIP + HT, which was attributed to the two-step aging heat treatment carried out during HIP + HT. The presence of γ′′ phase or otherwise was correlated to the hardness of the material. While the HIP treatment resulted in drop in hardness, HIP + HT led to ‘recovery’ of the hardness to values exceeding those exhibited by the as-built material.

Lassa fever is a frequently severe human disease that is endemic to several countries in West Africa. To date, no licensed vaccines are available to prevent Lassa virus (LASV) infection, even though Lassa fever is thought to be an important disease contributing to mortality and both acute and chronic morbidity. We have previously described a vaccine candidate composed of single-cycle LASV replicon particles (VRPs) and a stable cell line for their production. Here, we refine the genetic composition of the VRPs and demonstrate the ability to reproducibly purify them with high yields. Studies in the guinea pig model confirm efficacy of the vaccine candidate, demonstrate that single-cycle replication is necessary for complete protection by the VRP vaccine, and show that postexposure vaccination can confer protection from lethal outcome.

Power amplification allows animals to produce movements that exceed the physiological limits of muscle power and speed, such as the mantis shrimp’s ultrafast predatory strike and the flea’s jump. However, all known examples of nonhuman, muscle-driven power amplification involve anatomical structures that store energy from a single cycle of muscular contraction. Here, we describe a nonhuman example of external power amplification using a constructed device: the web of the triangle-weaver spider, Hyptiotes cavatus , which uses energy stored in the silk threads to actively tangle prey from afar. Hyptiotes stretches its web by tightening a separate anchor line over multiple cycles of limb motion, and then releases its hold on the anchor line when insects strike the web. Both spider and web spring forward 2 to 3 cm with a peak acceleration of up to 772.85 m/s 2 so that up to four additional adhesive capture threads contact the prey while jerking caused by the spider’s sudden stop subsequently wraps silk around the prey from all directions. Using webs as external “tools” to store energy offers substantial mechanical advantages over internal tissue-based power amplification due to the ability of Hyptiotes to load the web over multiple cycles of muscular contraction and thus release more stored energy during prey capture than would be possible with muscle-driven anatomical elastic-energy systems. Elastic power amplification is an underappreciated component of silk’s function in webs and shows remarkable convergence to the fundamental mechanical advantages that led humans to engineer power-amplifying devices such as catapults and ballistae.

In this study, an extensive examination of ammonium removal and recovery from highly concentrated digestate wastewater was systematically performed. The treatability and ammonium recovery potential of the real digestate wastewater was assessed by enhanced Flowed Channel Membrane Capacitive Deionization (fcMCDI), which was introduced in our previous study. The fcMCDI cell was found efficient to remove ammonium ions from a synthetic mixture of glucose and Ca2+ and Na+ ions, which are the major components of the anaerobic digestate liquid. Specific ammonium removal performance of the system was investigated in the presence of other ions. In a single cycle experiment, the process was able to remove the Mg2+, Ca2+, K+ and NH4+ ions from real digestate wastewater at percentages of 90.4%, 85%, 67.9% and 54.4%, respectively. A comparison of the conventional MCDI operation with an increased voltage application method with the fcMCDI cell was presented. Ammonium was successfully recovered in the form of ammonia gas by increasing the cell's working voltage, and simultaneous deionization of the other ions in the digestate wastewater was achieved. The obtained ammonium removal efficiencies were 89% and 67% with synthetic and real digestate wastewater, respectively. The results demonstrated that the enhanced MCDI technology holds a great potential to be an energy-efficient process for ammonium removal and recovery while also removing other contaminants effectively from highly concentrated wastewater sources. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the present study, calorimetric investigations are performed on Na2S2O3.5H2O to determine the dissociation temperature(s), decomposition temperature and reaction enthalpies due to dehydration and hydration, using the DTG-60H instrument. Towards this, heating and single cycle (comprising of sequential dehydration and hydration reactions) tests are performed. The heating tests are performed to measure the dissociation and decomposition temperatures by heating the material’s sample for a temperature up to 600 °C at a heating rate of 5/ 10/ 20 °C/min. The single cycle tests are performed at different hydration temperatures (30 and 50 °C) and durations (30, 60 and 120 min). The results indicate that the dissociation and decomposition temperatures increase with heating rate. The heating tests also helped in determining the material’s reaction enthalpy due to dehydration. Reaction enthalpy due to hydration increases with its duration and decreases as its temperature increases. For the single cycle with 120 min duration and 30 °C temperature of hydration, the calculated energy storage densities are respectively 1.90 and 1.81 GJ/m3. These values are far superior to that of materials used for conventional thermal energy storage methods.