Optimization of CC-Coil Design for Wireless Power Transfer System with Series-Series Magnetic Resonance Compensation Technique

This study aims to increase the coupling coefficient of the coils and power transfer efficiency (PTE) of the wireless power transfer (WPT) system. WPT system has a severe issue with the PTE as the transfer distance between the transmitter and receiver increases. Therefore, the transmitter and receiver of the single-circular coil (CC-coil) need to be optimized in geometry to maintain high coupling at an optimum distance. Ferrite and aluminum shielding are also crucial on CC-coil optimization. Implementing the series-series (S-S) magnetic resonance compensation technique can increase the PTE of the WPT system. Therefore, the CC-coil is optimized using Ansys Electronics Desktop and co-simulated with the magnetic resonance circuit using Ansys Twin Builder. The results show that the CC-coils' coupling coefficient increased by 21.38% with the shielding implementation. The maximum optimum transfer distance of 37 mm for horizontal misalignment and 30 mm for vertical misalignment. Implementing the S-S magnetic resonance compensation technique can improve the PTE and output power of the WPT system. The power transmitted also varied with the transfer distance, which caused the system's variation of input impedance. Hence, it is essential to consider the coil design and compensation circuit to achieve high PTE and output power at a higher transfer distance.

Impact of ICU transfers on the mortality rate of patients with COVID-19: insights from comprehensive national database in France

Background The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic confronted healthcare systems around the world with unprecedented organizational challenges, particularly regarding the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. One strategy implemented in France to alleviate healthcare pressure during the first COVID-19 wave was inter-hospital transfers of selected ICU patients from overwhelmed areas towards less saturated ones. At the time, the impact of this transfer strategy on patient mortality was unknown. We aimed to compare in-hospital mortality rates among ICU patients with COVID-19 who were transferred to another healthcare facility and those who remained in the hospital where they were initially admitted to. Method A prospective observational study was performed from 1 March to 21 June 2020. Data regarding hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were collected from the Ministry of Health-affiliated national SI-VIC registry. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Results In total, 93,351 hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients were registered, of which 18,348 (19.6%) were ICU admissions. Transferred patients (n = 2228) had a lower mortality rate than their non-transferred counterparts (n = 15,303), and the risk decreased with increasing transfer distance (odds ratio (OR) 0.7, 95% CI: 0.6–0.9, p = 0.001 for transfers between 10 and 50 km, and OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2–0.4, p < 0.0001 for transfer distance > 200 km). Mortality decreased overall over the 3-month study period. Conclusions Our study shows that the mortality rates were lower for patients with severe COVID-19 who were transferred between ICUs across regions, or internationally, during the first pandemic wave in France. However, the global mortality rate declined overall during the study. Transferring selected patients with COVID-19 from overwhelmed regions to areas with greater capacity may have improved patient access to ICU care, without compounding the short-term mortality risk of transferred patients.

The influence of seed transfer distance on the growth of Calotropis procera (ait) provenances in dry lands of South Eastern Kenya

In a study to domesticate the species Calotropis procera, for wool production in drylands, investigations were done to determine the effects of seed transfer distance on the growth of the species in a typical farm setting. The objectives of the research were to determine the growth of three provenances of C. procera and to determine the influence of seed transfer distance on the growth parameters. Diameter and height data were used to generate horizontal and vertical growth curves respectively and further subjected to Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) to isolate existence of significant differences across the three provenances. Pearson correlation analysis was used to establish existence of relationships across the growth parameters. Results showed that C. procera is a multi-stemmed plant. Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) showed no significant statistical differences (p<0.5) in diameter growth though Pearson correlation analysis, showed strong positive correlations (Pearson, p<0.01) between branching and DBH Test of homogeneity of variances showed significant statistical differences (p<0.5) in vertical growth The study concluded that C. procera is a multi-stemmed plant that can reach a height of 4.48m and a diameter of 7.4cm in two years. It is recommended that C. procera seeds for raising nursery stock should be sourced from the nearest source possible. This will reduce the environmental and climatic effects associated with long distance seed transfers and ensure the species benefits from home-site advantages.

Clinical Application of a Modified Local Transposition Flap Surgery in Repairing Fingertip Defects

Purpose: A modified local transposition flap surgery was performed for fingertip injuries. Given the shape of the flap turnover resembling a parallelogram, we called it a parallelogram flap. This transposition flap surgery allows a more significant transfer distance with good outcomes.Method: The study collected patients who underwent parallelogram transposition flaps to repair fingertip defects from 2017 to 2020. 32 cases (32 fingers) were included in our study, including 20 males and 12 females, aged 17 to 60 years, with an average age of 36 years. The causes of injury were crush injury in 13 cases, punch injury in 11 cases and sharp cutting injury in 8 cases. There were 6 cases in thumbs, 6 cases in index fingers, 14 cases in middle fingers, 4 cases in ring fingers and 2 cases in little fingers. The area of fingertip defects was 1.2 cm × 2~3 cm × 4 cm, with bone exposure. The interval between the injury and operation was 5.78 h (the mean value was 4.7-8.4 h). All operations were performed by one surgical team, and the average operation time was 31.2 min.Record The length and width of the finger，two-point discrimination（2PD），Total Active Movement (TAM)and the MHQ (Michigan Hand Questionnaire) of the injured fingers to evaluate the therapeutic effect.Results: all our parallelogram flaps had survived postoperatively.，At last follow-up,There was no difference between the length and width of the reconstructed finger and that of the healthy side（P>0.05）. The qualification rate of the static 2PD of the flaps were 84.37% .The qualification rate of the TAM of injured figures were 100% . Evaluation of the MHQ subscale performance showed that the score of the overall hand function is 93.71, activities of daily living is 95.22, work performance is 94.23,pain score is 4.34 , aesthetics is 92.15 and satisfaction score is 92.45.All of these were perform well.Conclusion: This transposition flap surgery allows a more significant transfer distance with good outcomes.

Research on the Scheduling of Tractors in the Major Epidemic to Ensure Spring Ploughing

When the outbreak of COVID-19 began, people could not go out. It was not allowed to provide agricultural machinery services in different places across regions to reduce the flow and gathering of people. Improvement of utilization efficiency of agricultural machinery resources is required through scientific scheduling of agricultural machinery. With seizing the farming season and stabilizing production as the goal, this paper studied the scientific scheduling of tractors within the scope of town and established agricultural machinery operation scheduling model with the minimization of total scheduling cost as the optimization objective. Factors such as farmland area, agricultural machinery, and farmland location information and operating time window are considered in this model to improve the accuracy of the agricultural machinery operation scheduling model. The characteristics of multiple scheduling algorithms are analyzed comprehensively. The scheduling requirements of agricultural machinery operation to ensure spring ploughing are combined to design the agricultural machinery scheduling algorithm based on the SA algorithm. With Hushu Street, Jiangning District, Nanjing City, as an example, a comparative experiment is conducted on the simulated annealing algorithm (SA) designed in this paper and the empirical algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). The results suggest that the total cost of the scheduling scheme generated by the SA algorithm is 19,042.07 yuan lower than that by the empirical scheduling algorithm and 779.19 yuan lower than that by the genetic algorithm on average. Compared with the GA algorithm, the transfer distance, waiting cost, and delay cost of the SA algorithm are reduced by 11.6%, 100%, and 98.1% on average, indicating that the transfer distance of agricultural machinery in the scheduling scheme generated by the SA algorithm is shorter, so is the waiting and delay time. Meanwhile, it can effectively obtain the near-optimal solution that meets the time window constraint, with good convergence, stability, and adaptability.

Intuitive Use of Tangible Toys

Interfaces for children have continued to evolve in terms of complexity, with toys ranging from traditional tangible interfaces to apps with digital interfaces and hybrid toys with mixed physical and digital interfaces. However, there is limited research done to investigate their potential for intuitive use. This research study compares a tangible toy and an equivalent toy in the digital world (app) for intuitive use. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test results showed that the tangible toy was more intuitive than the intangible counterpart. Tangible systems are less complex to use and they require less time to encode and retrieve associated knowledge to use them intuitively. They are associated with low domain transfer distance and easily discoverable features. Intangible interfaces, on the other hand, require greater complexity and time to encode and retrieve associated experiential knowledge. Intangibles are associated with larger domain transfer distance and undiscoverable features which affects their intuitive use. Design implications and future work are discussed, emphasising the need for investigating aspects that make tangible systems intuitive to use. Keywords: Intuitive Interaction; Tangibles; Intangibles; Sensorimotor

Intuitive Use of Tangible Toys

Interfaces for children have continued to evolve in terms of complexity, with toys ranging from traditional tangible interfaces to apps with digital interfaces and hybrid toys with mixed physical and digital interfaces. However, there is limited research done to investigate their potential for intuitive use. This research study compares a tangible toy and an equivalent toy in the digital world (app) for intuitive use. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test results showed that the tangible toy was more intuitive than the intangible counterpart. Tangible systems are less complex to use and they require less time to encode and retrieve associated knowledge to use them intuitively. They are associated with low domain transfer distance and easily discoverable features. Intangible interfaces, on the other hand, require greater complexity and time to encode and retrieve associated experiential knowledge. Intangibles are associated with larger domain transfer distance and undiscoverable features which affects their intuitive use. Design implications and future work are discussed, emphasising the need for investigating aspects that make tangible systems intuitive to use. Keywords: Intuitive Interaction; Tangibles; Intangibles; Sensorimotor