Linear motor motion control using a learning feedforward controller

The design and realization of an online learning motion controller for a linear motor is presented, and its usefulness is evaluated. The controller consists of two components: (1) a model-based feedback component, and (2) a learning feedforward component. The feedback component is designed on the basis of a simple second-order linear model, which is known to have structural errors. In the design, an emphasis is placed on robustness. The learning feedforward component is a neural-network-based controller, comprised of a one-hidden-layer structure with second-order B-spline basis functions. Simulations and experimental evaluations show that, with little effort, a high-performance motion system can be obtained with this approach

Compliance with TRIPS: The Emerging World View

This Article provides an overview of the substantive provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The authors begin by explaining how the TRIPS Agreement signals a new emphasis on protecting intellectual property in the international trading system and the World Trade Organization. They then discuss the Agreement\u27s obligations on substantive protection, as well as its enforcement and dispute resolution mechanisms. Finally, the authors address the international plans for the Agreement\u27s implementation and administration. Otten and Wager conclude that, while it does not solve all the problems related to international intellectual property matters, the TRIPS Agreement represents the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property protection to date and a basis for the further development of international rules

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

Muscle architecture in relation to function

Animal muscles generate forces and induce movements at desirable rates. These roles are interactive and must be considered together. Performance of the organism and survival of the species also involve potential optimization of control and of energy consumption. Further, individual variability arising partly via ontogeny and partly from phylogenetic history often has pronounced and sometime conflicting effects on structures and their uses. Hence, animal bodies are generally adequate for their tasks rather than being elegantly matched to them. For muscle, matching to role is reflected at all levels of muscular organization, from the nature of the sarcoplasm and contractile filaments to architectural arrangements of the parts and whole of organs.Vertebrate muscles are often analyzed by mapping their placement and then "explaining" this on the basis of currently observed roles. A recent alternative asks the obverse; given a mass of tissue that may be developed and maintained at a particular cost, what predictions do physical principles permit about its placement. Three architectural patterns that deserve discussion are the classical arrangement of fibers in pinnate patterns, the more recent assumption of sarcomere equivalence, and the issue of compartmentation. All have potential functional implications. 1. 1. The assumption of equivalence of the sarcomeres of motor units allows predictions of the fiber length between sites of origin and insertion. In musculoskeletal systems that induce rotation, the observed (but not the pinnation-associated) insertion angle will differ with the radial lines on which the fibers insert. In a dynamic contraction inducing rotation, a shift of moment arm has no effect for muscles of equal mass.2. 2. Classical pinnate muscles contain many relatively short fibers positioned in parallel but at an angle to the whole muscle, reducing the per fiber force contribution. However, the total physiological cross-section and total muscle force are thus increased relative to arrangements with fibers parallel to the whole muscle. Equivalent muscles may be placed in various volumetric configurations matching other demands of the organism. The loss of fiber force due to (pinnate, not equivalent) angulation is compensated for by the reduced shortening of fibers in multipinnate arrays.3. 3. Compartmentation, i.e., the subdivision of muscles into independently controlled, spatially discrete volumes, is likely ubiquitous. Differential activation of the columns of radial arrays may facilitate change of vector and with this of function. Compartmentation is apt to be particularly important in strap muscles with short fiber architecture; their motor units generally occupy columnar, rather than transversely stacked, subdivisions; this may affect recovery from fiber atrophy and degeneration. Transverse and columnar stacking occur; both may have historical, as well as functional causes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29529/1/0000616.pd

Machine Learning in High Energy Physics Community White Paper

Machine learning has been applied to several problems in particle physics research, beginning with applications to high-level physics analysis in the 1990s and 2000s, followed by an explosion of applications in particle and event identification and reconstruction in the 2010s. In this document we discuss promising future research and development areas for machine learning in particle physics. We detail a roadmap for their implementation, software and hardware resource requirements, collaborative initiatives with the data science community, academia and industry, and training the particle physics community in data science. The main objective of the document is to connect and motivate these areas of research and development with the physics drivers of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider and future neutrino experiments and identify the resource needs for their implementation. Additionally we identify areas where collaboration with external communities will be of great benefit

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 CountriespublishedVersio

Interim report for the International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC)

The International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC) [1] was established in 2020 following the recommendations of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) and the implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics-Accelerator R&D Roadmap by the Laboratory Directors Group [2], hereinafter referred to as the the European LDG roadmap. The Muon Collider Study (MuC) covers the accelerator complex, detectors and physics for a future muon collider. In 2023, European Commission support was obtained for a design study of a muon collider (MuCol) [3]. This project started on 1st March 2023, with work-packages aligned with the overall muon collider studies. In preparation of and during the 2021-22 U.S. Snowmass process, the muon collider project parameters, technical studies and physics performance studies were performed and presented in great detail. Recently, the P5 panel [4] in the U.S. recommended a muon collider R&D, proposed to join the IMCC and envisages that the U.S. should prepare to host a muon collider, calling this their "muon shot". In the past, the U.S. Muon Accelerator Programme (MAP) [5] has been instrumental in studies of concepts and technologies for a muon collider.Comment: This document summarises the International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC) progress and status of the Muon Collider R&D programm