Dynamic Mathematical Modeling and Simulation Study of Small Scale Autonomous Hovercraft

Nowadays, various mechanical, electrical systems or combination of both systems are used tohelp or ease human beings either during the daily life activity or during the worst condition faced by them. The system that can be used to increase human life quality are such as in military operations, pipeline survey, agricultural operations and border patrol. The worst condition that normally faced by human are such as earthquake, flood, nuclear reactors explosion and etc. One of the combinations of both systems is unmanned hovercraft system which is still not thoroughly explored and designed. Hovercraft is a machine that can move on the land surface or water and it is supported by cushion that has high compressed air inside. The cushion is a close canvas and better known as a skirt. A hovercraft moves on most of surfaces either in rough, soft or slippery condition will be developed. The main idea for this project is to develop a dynamic modelling and controller for autonomous hovercraft. The model of the hovercraft will be initially calculated using Euler Lagrange method. The model of the hovercraft is derived using Maple software. The model that is developed then needs to be tested with open loop simulation in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The LQR controller to regulate the small scale autonomous hovercraft then will be developed and tested with MATLAB

Development of Hexapod Robot with Manoeuvrable Wheel

The necessity to utilize the usage of the robot cannot be denied since there are a lot of natural disasters occur everywhere around the world. The robot that can be used in this situation may be a remotely controlled by human or moves autonomously. Hexapod robot is one of the robots used in this situation because of its stability and flexibility during the motion on any type of surface. Hexapod robot is a robot that has six legs to walk or move. Since the robot has many legs, the robot is easily programmed to move around because it can be configured to many types of gait such as alternating tripod, quadruped and crawl. There are various designs of hexapod with certain function and advantages. In this research, a hexapod robot with manoeuvrable wheel is designed and developed. The purpose of the hexapod robot with manoeuvrable wheel is to ease the movement either on the flat surface or on the inclined surface. On the flat surface, the robot will move using the manoeuvrable wheel while on incline surface, the robot will climb using its legs. The decisions for the robot to use either wheel or legs are based on the sensory devices and algorithm develops at the controller attached to the robot

Quel est l’intérêt des enseignants marocains pour l’épistémologie et l’histoire des sciences ? Le cas des sciences physiques

L’enseignement des sciences au sein de l’école marocaine connaît une situation paradoxale où les enseignants sont tiraillés entre les contraintes liées à l’enseignement et les demandes institutionnelles de changement par rapports aux contenus et aux méthodes. Cet article travaille les liens entre la formation aux didactiques disciplinaires, d’une part, et les dimensions de l’épistémologie et de l’histoire des sciences, d’autre part. Il présente les résultats d’une enquête menée auprès des enseignants pour savoir comment ils intègrent les dimensions épistémologiques et historiques dans la préparation de leurs enseignements. Il plaide pour un renforcement de ces dimensions dans la formation initiale et continue des enseignants.Science teaching in Moroccan schools is in a paradoxical situation where teachers are coping with the constraints of teaching practices while dealing with institutional demands for change in contents and methods. This article discusses the links between disciplinary training of teachers on the one hand and epistemological and historical aspects on the other hand. It presents the results of a survey carried out with teachers in order to understand ho they integrate epistemological and historical dimensions in their teaching practice. It also advocates reinforcing these dimensions in intial and continuing training of teachers

Moisture sorption isotherms and isosteric heat of sorption of dry persimmon leaves

Moisture sorption isotherms of persimmon leaves were determined at 20, 30 and 40 °C using the standard gravimetric static method over a range of relative humidity from 0.06 to 0.9. The experimental sorption curves were fitted by seven equations: Henderson, Halsey, Smith, Oswin, BET, GAB and Caurie. The Halsey, Smith, GAB and BET models were found to be the most suitable for describing the sorption curves. The isosteric heat of sorption of water was determined from the equilibrium data at different temperatures. It decreased as moisture content increased and was found to be a polynomial function of moisture content.The authors acknowledge the support of the Universtitat Politecnica de Valencia.Martínez Las Heras, R.; Heredia Gutiérrez, AB.; Castelló Gómez, ML.; Andrés Grau, AM. (2014). Moisture sorption isotherms and isosteric heat of sorption of dry persimmon leaves. Food Bioscience. 7:88-94. doi:10.1016/j.fbio.2014.06.002S8894

Leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) during inflammatory complications after allogeneic stem cell transplantation and CAR-T cell therapy

Background Previous data indicated that the leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) pathway contributes to vascular dysfunction during cancer growth. Therapeutic targeting of LRG1 normalized tumor vessel dysfunction and enhanced the efficacy of anti-cancer adoptive T cell therapy. A major clinical problem after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) and after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is the induction of hyperinflammatory side effects, which are typically associated with severe endothelial dysfunction. Methods We investigated LRG1 in preclinical models and in patient samples. Results In prospective studies, we found elevated LRG1 serum levels in patients with cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome after CAR-T-cell therapy as well as in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) after alloHSCT. In preclinical models of aGVHD, we found vasculature-associated LRG1 upregulation as well as LRG1 pathway gene upregulation. The genetic deletion of LRG1 in alloHSCT donors and in alloHSCT recipients led to reduced clinical and histological aGVHD. In line with this, LRG1 deletion led to clinically and histologically reduced disease severity in experimental inflammatory models of colitis (dextran sulfate sodium colitis) and paw edema. LRG1 deletion reduced inflammation-related vascular leakiness, endothelial cell proliferation, and migration. Conclusions The current data support the hypothesis that LRG1 is an attractive therapeutic target after alloHSCT and after CAR-T cell therapy for cancer because of its role in dysfunctional tumor vessels as well as in inflammatory complications

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Postoperative outcomes following pancreaticoduodenectomy: how should age affect clinical practice?

BACKGROUND: Pancreaticoduodenectomy is an increasingly common procedure performed for both benign and malignant disease. There are conflicting data regarding the safety of pancreatic resection in older patients. Potentially modifiable perioperative risk factors to improve outcomes in older patients have yet to be determined. METHODS: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database for 2008 to 2009 was used for this retrospective analysis. Patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy were identified and divided into those above and below the age of 65. Preoperative risk factors and postoperative morbidity and mortality were evaluated. RESULTS: Among 2,045 patients included in this analysis, 994 patients were >65 years (48.6%) while 1,051 were (less than or equal to) 65 years (51.4%). Thirty-day mortality was higher in the older age group compared to the younger age group 3.6% vs. 1.9% respectively, P = 0.017, odds ratio 1.94. Older patients had a higher incidence of unplanned intubation, ventilator support >48 h and septic shock compared with younger patients. On multivariate logistic regression, after adjusting for other 30-day postoperative occurrences (significant at the P <0.1 level) only septic shock was independently associated with a higher odds of mortality, unplanned intubation, and ventilator support >48 h in older patients compared with younger patients. CONCLUSIONS: This report from a population-based database is the first to highlight postoperative sepsis as an independent risk factor for mortality and morbidity in older patients undergoing pancreatic resection. Careful perioperative management addressing this issue is essential for patients over the age of 65

Biohydrogen production in semicontinuous system using immobilized cell membrane

Hydrogen is considered to be the fuel of the future because of its high energy content (122 kJ/g), and water is the only byproduct of its use. Moreover, the production of hydrogen via fermentation of organic wastes is carbon neutral. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of immobilized cells on PVDF membrane for biohydrogen production using a sequencing batch reactor by varying the hydraulic retention times (HRT) of the system and to compare the efficiency between suspended and attached systems on the production of biohydrogen. It was found that the biohydrogen fermentation performance was improved in a semi-continuous system, especially with immobilized cells. The optimum HRT that supports the highest biohydrogen yield was for an HRT of 12 hours, where the performance of hydrogen production was improved and in which the maximum hydrogen yield was achieved at 2.43 mol H2/mol and maximum hydrogen production rate (HPR) of 2.46 L H2/L.d as compared to other HRT for both systems. Therefore, the result of this study can be applied as the benchmark for scaling up the process

Development of Hexapod Robot with Manoeuvrable Wheel

The necessity to utilize the usage of the robot cannot be denied since there are a lot of natural disasters occur everywhere around the world. The robot that can be used in this situation may be a remotely controlled by human or moves autonomously. Hexapod robot is one of the robots used in this situation because of its stability and flexibility during the motion on any type of surface. Hexapod robot is a robot that has six legs to walk or move. Since the robot has many legs, the robot is easily programmed to move around because it can be configured to many types of gait such as alternating tripod, quadruped and crawl. There are various designs of hexapod with certain function and advantages. In this research, a hexapod robot with manoeuvrable wheel is designed and developed. The purpose of the hexapod robot with manoeuvrable wheel is to ease the movement either on the flat surface or on the inclined surface. On the flat surface, the robot will move using the manoeuvrable wheel while on incline surface, the robot will climb using its legs. The decisions for the robot to use either wheel or legs are based on the sensory devices and algorithm develops at the controller attached to the robot

Synergistic enhancement of biohydrogen production by supplementing with green synthesized magnetic iron nanoparticles using thermophilic mixed bacteria culture

The production of biohydrogen can be improved by focusing on the nutrients needed by fermentative bacteria like iron. Iron reacts with the [Fe-Fe]-hydrogenase enzyme within the mixed bacteria culture for optimum hydrogen release. Iron nanoparticles (NPs) are attractive due to its unique properties and high reactivity. It can be produced through green synthesis, a more eco-friendly and relatively lower cost process, by using iron salt as precursor and green coconut shell extracted by deep eutectic solvent (DES) as reducing agent. The coconut shell extract consists of phytochemicals that help in producing poly�disperse magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles at ~75 nm in size. The addition of optimum concentration of 200 mg Fe/L magnetic iron NPs resulted in the maximum cumulative hydrogen production, glucose utilization and hydrogen yield of 101.33 mL, 9.12 g/L and 0.79 mol H2/mol glucose respectively. Furthermore, the kinetic analysis on Gompertz model using the optimum magnetic iron NPs concentration showed that the hydrogen production potential (P) and hydrogen production rate (Rm) increased to 50.69 mL and 3.30 mL/h respectively and the lag phase time reduced about 7.12 h as compared with the control experiment (0 mg Fe/L). These results indicated the positive effects of magnetic iron NPs supplementation on fermentative biohydrogen production of mixed bacteria culture and proved the feasibility of adding the magnetic iron NPs as the micronutrient for enhancement of such hydrogen production system