Limitations associated with demineralised bone matrix and other grafting materials have motivated the development of alternative strategies to enhance the repair of large bone defects. The growth plate (GP) of developing limbs contain a plethora of growth factors and matrix cues which contribute to long bone growth, suggesting that biomaterials derived from its extracellular matrix (ECM) may be uniquely

Prevention of biomaterial-associated infections (BAI) remains a challenging problem, in particular due to the increased risk of resistance development with the current antibiotic-based strategies. Metallic orthopaedic devices, such as non-cemented implants, are often inserted under high mechanical stress. These non-cemented implants cannot be protected by e.g. antibioticreleasing bone cement or other

This paper elaborates on a new class of orthonormal power-based algorithms for fast estimation and tracking of the principal or minor subspace of a vector sequence. The proposed algorithms are closely related to the natural power method that has the fastest convergence rate among many power-based methods such as the Oja method, the projection approximation subspace tracking (PAST) method, and the novel

Abstract. Purpose: Deformable registration problems are conventionally posed in a regularized optimization framework, where balance between fidelity and prescribed regularization usually needs to be tuned for each case. Even so, using a single weight to control regularization strength may be insufficient to reflect spatially variant tissue properties and limit registration performance. In this study

People experience different types of landscapes every day. The quality of these landscapes has a major effect on their psychological well-being and general satisfaction of a place. Determining the quality of landscapes is an important issue for policy makers and planners, especially when making decisions about the conservation or transformation of urban landscapes. Defining quality based on people’s

Population dynamics of a predator-prey system is usually simulated by the classical Lotka-Volterra models, which were successfully applied to the population dynamics of snowshoe hare and lynx and many other predator-prey systems. Attempts were made to apply them also to insect predator-prey systems, but in terms of biological control, they did not reveal the features of the predators that control the

Menochilus sexmaculatus and Propylea dissecta (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are predaceous ladybird beetles with immense biological control potential. The morphology of the antennae of the adults along with the diversity and distribution of sensilla were investigated using a scanning electron microscope as they are the main sensory organs involved in chemical communication, thermo-reception, materecognition

Hyptis suaveolens is an exotic plant that has become established in Nigeria because it is grows vigorously and produces allelochemicals that adversely affect the growth of adjacent plants. In this study, we predict the distribution of Hyptis suaveolens in Nigeria using a Maximum Entropy modelling approach. Pearson correlations were used to select five bioclimatic variables to which type of soil and

Stable isotopes are increasingly being used in many scientific fields, including environmental sciences. In this study we measured the variation in the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope composition of fog water, rain water (in the form of bulk falling precipitation) and throughfall water in the Šumava (the Bohemian Forest), Krkonoše (the Giant Mts.) and Jizerské hory (the Jizera Mts.) Mts. in October-November

This paper proposes a comparison of machine learning (ML) algorithm known as the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and naive Bayes (NB) in identifying and diagnosing the harmonic sources in the power system. A single-point measurement is applied in this proposed method, and using the S-transform the measurement signals are analyzed and extracted into voltage and current parameters. The voltage and current features

Recently, several cutaneous manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported. However, there is a paucity of published images. Those that have been published so far tend to fall under distinct morphologic categories. We present a 52-year-old patient with an ill-defined skin eruption that preceded mild gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and without respiratory symptoms who tested

Varicella-zoster virus infection causes 2 distinct forms of disease: varicella (commonly known as chickenpox) and herpes zoster (HZ)(commonly known as shingles). Primary varicella-zoster virus infection results in the diffuse vesicular rash that is characteristic of chickenpox. Following primary infection, varicella-zoster virus remains dormant in the dorsal root ganglia. This latent phase usually

This study aimed to describe the use of medicinal plants for the relief and treatment of pediatrics pathologies performed by parents of children registered in a Basic Health Unit. This is a cross-sectional, observational and analytical study that occurred from March until May 2016, with the participation of 176 individuals, using a semi-structured questionnaire as a research instrument. Descriptive

The validation of many anuran species is based on a strictly descriptive, morphological analysis of a small number of specimens with a limited geographic distribution. The Scinax Wagler, 1830 genus is a controversial group with many doubtful taxa and taxonomic uncertainties, due a high number of cryptic species. One example is the pair of species Scinax constrictus and Scinax nebulosus, which share

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of sheep manure in agricultural soils on the behavior of Folsomia candida and initial growth and development of Avena sativa. For this, an Oxisol was submitted to different doses of sheep manure and was subsequently evaluated for Folsomia candida survival and avoidance behavior through standardized ecotoxicological assays, the initial performance of

The mortality of the Alabama argillacea and Chrysodeixis includens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae caused by the kaolin inert powder and the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana were determined under laboratory conditions. Using the caterpillar submersion method, the CG 138 B. bassiana isolate was more pathogenic to A. argillacea than the CG 70, GC 82, ESALQ 634, and ESALQ 645. All five tested

Although currently there is already a set of studies regarding ecological aspects of some particular reptile and amphibian species living in Brazilian sandy coastal plains (including the so-called "restinga" and "campo nativo" habitats), there is comparatively few information on the species composition usually associated to these environments. During 31 years (1988-2019) of herpetological studies carried

Apoptosis is a sequential order of cell death occurring regularly to ensure a homeostatic balance between the rate of cell formation and cell death. However, a misplaced of this balancing function can contribute to an abnormal cell growth / proliferation or autoimmune disorders etc. Apoptosis is therefore said to be crucial from the point of development of an embryo throughout the growth of an organism

The bats usually inhabit shelters with favorable conditions for fungal proliferation, including pathogenic and opportunistic species. The fungal diversity present on bats is little known and the studies are scarce in Brazil, which only a work has been performed in Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. Therefore, the objective of this study was evaluating the occurrence of filamentous fungi on the rostral region

The exponential rise in the Nigerian population has necessitated the use of agrochemicals for enhanced agricultural yields to meet the ever-rising demand for food. However, agrochemicals such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have caused several devastating health and ecological challenges. The study was therefore aimed at assessing the bioaccumulation of OCPs and the associated parasitological and

Regarding the proven anticonvulsant effect of Zhumeria majdae essential oil (ZMEO) in previous studies we were prompted to investigate the ZMEO effects on the tolerance to the anticonvulsant effects of morphine and the morphine withdrawal syndrome. Tolerance to the morphine anticonvulsant effect was induced in mice by subcutaneous injection of 2.5 mg/kg of morphine for 4 days. Subsequent doses of ZMEO

The aim of present study is to characterize the resistance and virulence profile of enterococci isolated from aquaculture excavated ponds and masonry tanks (6 samples) in southern Brazil. Samples were cultured in selective medium, 10 colonies were randomly selected from each sample, which were identified by MALDI-TOF and tested against 13 antimicrobials. The presence of resistance (tetL, tetM, tetS

The trahira or wolf fish - Hoplias malabaricus- is a valid species, although recent cytogenetic and molecular studies have indicated the existence of a species complex. In this context, the present study analyzed the mitochondrial COI marker to determine the levels of genetic diversity of specimens from the Brazilian state of Maranhão, and verify the occurrence of distinct lineages within the study

One aquatic coleopteran species from family Dytiscidae and two aquatic coleopteran genera from family Hydrophilidae were recorded in the summer period and represent first records in the Egyptian lakes. Beetles were collected from two northern lakes, Lake Idku and Lake Burullus. They were identified by morphological characteristics as well as the mtDNA barcoding method. A molecular phylogenetic approach

Contamination of Lekki lagoon by petrogenic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) has been widely reported. The study was aimed at investigating the bioaccumulation of PAH and BTEX in Malapterurus electricus collected from Lekki lagoon in Lagos, Nigeria. BTEX was analyzed in the intestine, water, and sediment samples using 8260B

Lycosa erythrognatha Lucas, 1833 (Araneae: Lycosidae) is a predatory arthropod with potential for conservation biological control. In addition to being considered a bioindicator of environmental quality, this arthropod provides an important service for agriculture by reducing insect-pest populations. In this work we seek to understand how the plants Andropogon bicornis L., Saccharum angustifolium Nees

Experiments were performed investigating citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt) as a repellent to honeybee Apis mellifera (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Egypt, it was conducted in laboratory in the Department of Entomology and Pesticides Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, to check long-term survival of honeybee when exposed to different nano insecticides alone or combined with citronella

Snails infected by trematodes may increase or decrease their reproductive activity in response to the presence of infection. Our aim was to verify the reproductive alterations in Subulina octona after infection by Paratanaisia bragai. The infected snails were individually exposed for 24 hours to 20 parasite eggs and four groups were formed (10, 20, 30 and 40 d.p.i.- days after infection), along with

Medicinal plants have a significant role in preventing and curing several diseases, and Tanacetum L. is one of these plants. The aim of the present study is to determine the fatty acid, lipid-soluble vitamin, sterol, phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity of Tanacetum densum subsp. laxum and Tanacetum densum subsp. amani, to compare the effect of altitude on the biochemical content and to compare

Nowadays food borne illness is most common in people due to their epidemic nature. These diseases affect the human digestive system through bacteria, viruses and parasites. The agents of illness are transmitted in our body through various types of food items, water and uncooked. Pathogens show drastic changes in immunosuppressant people. This review gives general insights to harmful microbial life

Silicon (Si) is an element that can improve the growth and development of rice plants in water-deficient environments because it is an enzymatic stimulant, signaling for production of antioxidant compounds. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between water deficiency and the effect of Si on two rice cultivars whose seeds were treated with dietholate. The experimental design

The number of individuals with empty stomachs in a population (i.e. the proportion of individuals "running on empty") can be used as a simple index of instantaneous energy balance of some organisms such as lizards and fishes. In this study, we aimed to analyze the proportion of empty stomachs in 16 populations of five cnemidophorine species (Glaucomastix abaetensis, Ameivula ocellifera, Glaucomastix

The present study was taken to test the hypothesis that the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) of echolocating neotropical bats with different foraging behavior will exhibit morphological variations in relative size, degree of complexity and spatial distribution. The brains were collected from six male adult bats of each species: Noctilio leporinus (fish-eating), Phyllostomus hastatus (carnivorous/

During the present study thirteen Megaderma lyra bats were observed roosting in dark, domed shaped room of Rohtas Fort, district Jhelum. Out of these, six specimens were captured from the roosting site, using hand net. All captured specimens were male. These bats were identified through their unique facial features, an erect and elongated nose-leaf, large oval ears that joined above the forehead and

The tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) is a fish of primary importance in South American aquaculture, principally in the Amazon region and has a particularly unique diet in the wild. Oryza spp, or Wild rice as it is commonly known, is native to the floodplains of muddy rivers in the Amazon region. The aim of this study was to analyze the physical performance and the effects of dietary levels of Oryza

Species of Trichogramma Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammtidae) are frequently used as biological control agents against Lepidoptera, but practical application of these egg endoparasitoids are complicated because of their complex taxonomy. This study aimed to compare sequences of internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA (ITS2-rDNA) of Trichogramma accessions with those deposited

Bacillus thuringiensis is the most commonly used entomopathogen in the control of Aedes aegypti, which is a vector for different etiological agents that cause serious infections in humans. Several studies aim to isolate strains of this bacterium from different environments, with the perspective of selecting isolates with larvicidal activity for mosquitoes. Aiming at the insecticidal action of B. thuringiensis

This checklist of parasites of Kerodon rupestris, an endemic rodent from the Brazilian semiarid region, revealed records of 25 enteroparasite taxa comprising Cestoda (Anoplocephalidae), Trematoda, Acanthocephala and Nematoda (Ancylostomidae, Ascarididae, Heterakidae, Oxyuridae, Pharyngodonidae, Trichuridae, Capillariidae, Trichostrongylidae, and Strongyloididae), and two taxa of coccidian. Paleoparasitological

This letter confluences ideas from distributed model reference adaptive control (MRAC) architecture for multi-agent systems and closed-loop reference model (CRM) based MRAC algorithm. The concept of CRM is recently proposed in literature for single-agent MRAC problems, where the reference model (leader) gets feedback from the plant (agent/follower) to facilitate improved transient performance. This

In this letter, we consider the problem of invariant set computation for black-box switched linear systems using merely a finite set of observations of system trajectories. In particular, this letter focuses on polyhedral invariant sets. We propose a data-driven method based on the one step forward reachable set. For formal verification of the proposed method, we introduce the concepts of $\lambda

This letter considers the problem of piecewise affine abstraction with polytopic partitions of nonlinear systems, i.e., the over-approximation of nonlinear dynamics by a pair of piecewise affine functions over polytopic subdomains/partitions in the sense of the inclusion of all possible trajectories. Specifically, to tackle the “boundary effect” that may make the over-approximation incorrect for polytopic

Approximate Differentiators have been extensively used in the estimation of joint velocity measurements of industrial manipulators. In this letter, we exploit key differences between the continuous-time model of the first-order Approximate Differentiator, commonly known as the Dirty-derivatives Filter (DF), and its discrete-time model. We show that the discrete-time filter shares the characteristics

This letter deals with the input-output admissibility analysis of the continuous descriptor system with a time-varying delay. A two-term approximation transformation-model has been used to convert the original system into two interconnected subsystems. Based on the scaled small gain theorem and a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, a delay-dependent sufficient condition has been presented to ensure

We propose a new framework to design controllers for high-dimensional nonlinear systems. The control is designed through the iterative linear quadratic regulator (ILQR), an algorithm that computes control by iteratively applying the linear quadratic regulator on the local linearization of the system at each time step. Since ILQR is computationally expensive, we propose to first construct reduced-order

This letter presents a closed-form solution to estimate space-dependent transport parameters of a linear one dimensional diffusion-transport-reaction equation. The infinite dimensional problem is approximated by a finite dimensional model by 1) taking a frequency domain approach, 2) linear parameterization of the unknown parameters, and 3) using a semi-discretization. Assuming full state knowledge

This letter considers the rigid body attitude stabilization problem with actuator saturation. This problem has been considered in the literature before, but most approaches achieve stability at the expense of strict constraints on the control gains, thereby limiting small-signal performance. The approach proposed here removes the constraints on the gains of the nominal controller and instead deals

This letter presents a new data-driven controller synthesis based on the Koopman operator and the extended $\mathcal {H}_{2}$ norm characterization of discrete-time linear systems. We model dynamical systems as polytope sets which are derived from multiple data-driven linear models obtained by the finite approximation of the Koopman operator and then used to design robust feedback controllers combined

This letter discusses the eco-driving problem, considering both electric and conventional powertrains, and presents a pathway to solving it numerically using an indirect collocation method. Despite the low-order system dynamics, the piecewise fuel/efficiency map, gear shifting, and real-world traffic/road situations bring system discontinuities/switchings and pure state constraints into the problem

This letter is concerned with the decentralized $H_{\infty }$ control problem of discrete-time interconnected systems. The studied interconnected system is transformed equivalently into a single linear time invariant system with matrix inversion terms in the system matrices. This letter derives novel necessary and sufficient conditions such that the considered interconnected system is asymptotically

The plug-and-play nature of distributed generation (DG) units in converter-interfaced microgrids imposes significant challenges from the control point of view, mainly caused by the time-varying microgrid structure. In this letter, we propose a systematic plug-and-play decentralized voltage control solution for DC microgrids. The proposed control approach guarantees the stable operation and satisfactory

Keeping the blood glucose levels within the safe range during meals and exercise still represents a major hurdle not only for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), but also for Artificial Pancreas (AP) systems. One of the reasons a fully (autonomous) closed-loop solution has not been released onto the market yet is the slow action of current insulin analogs. To partially overcome this limitation, the

Rotating equipment is widespread in the process industry, where pumps, compressors, and turbines are used to drive continuous manufacturing lines. This class of machinery is meant to run without interruption, but invariably experiences degradation that can lead to equipment failure. Any break in a continuous manufacturing line can halt production, so there is a pressing need to diagnose rotating equipment

This letter proposes a novel distributed control scheme for heterogeneous robot networks (kinematically and dynamically different), modeled as Euler-Lagrange systems, that solves the leaderless consensus problem in the Special Euclidean space of dimension three (SE(3)). The controller does not rely on velocity measurements and it is robust to variable time-delays in the communication channels. The

Distributed learning can enable scalable and effective decision making in numerous complex cyber-physical systems such as smart transportation, robotics swarm, power systems, etc. However, stability of the system is usually not guaranteed in most existing learning paradigms; and this limitation can hinder the wide deployment of machine learning in decision making of safety-critical systems. This letter

This letter addresses the problem of emulation-based dynamic output-feedback control for discrete-time linear parameter varying systems under actuator saturation. Sufficient conditions based on linear matrix inequalities (LMI) are derived to design the parameters of two dependent event-triggering rules handling the sensor-to-controller and controller-to-actuator communication and to guarantee the regional

Majority voting is often employed as a tool to increase the robustness of data-driven decisions and control policies, a fact which calls for rigorous, quantitative evaluations of the limits and the potentials of majority voting schemes. This letter focuses on the case where the voting agents are binary classifiers and introduces novel bounds on the probability of misclassification conditioned on the

We study stochastic optimization problems with chance and risk constraints, where in the latter, risk is quantified in terms of the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). We consider the distributionally robust versions of these problems, where the constraints are required to hold for a family of distributions constructed from the observed realizations of the uncertainty via the Wasserstein distance. Our

Increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) within distribution feeders provides unprecedented flexibility at the distribution-transmission interconnection. To exploit this flexibility and to use the capacity potential of aggregate DERs, feasible substation power injection trajectories need to be efficiently characterized. This paper provides an ellipsoidal inner approximation of

Insulin stacking is one of the major concerns in intensive insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes. Despite the development of several control strategies for constraining the insulin-on-board (IOB), the benefits and drawbacks of this type of constraint under hypo- and hyperglycemia sensitivity scenarios have not been deeply analyzed for model-based controllers. Here, a safety layer based on IOB estimation

It is an important decision-making problem for a miner in the blockchain networks if he/she participates in the mining so that he/she earns a reward by creating a new block earlier than other miners. We formulate this decision-making problem as a noncooperative game, because the probability of creating a block depends not only on one’s own available computational resources, but also those of other