Structural Stability of the SUPER304H Steel Used in Energetics

This paper describes the influence of technological treatments (i.e., bending or welding) on the structural stability of SUPER304H austenitic steel used in reheaters and superheaters in fossil fuel power plants. Although the worldwide trend is transitioning to green power sources, the lifetime of existing power plants has to be prolonged until the transition is complete. Experimental material was tested in as-received state (straight tubes), bends, and homogeneous weld joints. Part of the specimens was solution-annealed after the technological operation. Afterwards, all the samples were thermally aged in furnace (650, 675 and 700 °C) for 7560–20,000 h. For comparison, bent specimens were placed at experimental sites on an operating powerplant for 10,000+ h. The long-term aging causes the formation of Cr-based carbides on the grain boundaries along with the Fe-Cr sigma phase. Combination of elevated temperature and residual stress accelerates formation of the sigma phase. This can be prevented by solution-annealing after bending. Mechanical properties were evaluated by Vickers hardness and tensile tests. The microstructure was observed using light optical microscopy (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with the energy-dispersive X-ray detector (EDXS). Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) were used to characterize the brittle phases.

Real-time single-frequency precise positioning with Galileo satellites

Following substantial progress achieved recently, the Galileo constellation provides a considerable satellite resource for the GNSS applications. In this regard, the performance assessment of real-time single-frequency precise positioning with Galileo satellites is the main objective of this research. For this purpose, several experimental tests were conducted in this study with two single-frequency positioning models, namely single-frequency code-based positioning and code-phase combination. The results show that Galileo presents an adequate number of visible satellites sufficient for single-frequency positioning. Also, the study demonstrates that, in comparison to GPS observations, Galileo observations have a significantly lower noise level. For the single-frequency code-based positioning, Galileo presents a better positioning accuracy than GPS by 25⋅8% on average. When compared with GPS, a 9⋅4% better positioning accuracy is acquired from Galileo for the single-frequency code-phase combination, with its average convergence time shorter than GPS by a ratio of 24⋅4%.

Multi-omics driven predictions of response to acute phase combination antidepressant therapy: a machine learning approach with cross-trial replication

Combination antidepressant pharmacotherapies are frequently used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there is no evidence that machine learning approaches combining multi-omics measures (e.g., genomics and plasma metabolomics) can achieve clinically meaningful predictions of outcomes to combination pharmacotherapy. This study examined data from 264 MDD outpatients treated with citalopram or escitalopram in the Mayo Clinic Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomic Study (PGRN-AMPS) and 111 MDD outpatients treated with combination pharmacotherapies in the Combined Medications to Enhance Outcomes of Antidepressant Therapy (CO-MED) study to predict response to combination antidepressant therapies. To assess whether metabolomics with functionally validated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) improves predictability over metabolomics alone, models were trained/tested with and without SNPs. Models trained with PGRN-AMPS’ and CO-MED’s escitalopram/citalopram patients predicted response in CO-MED’s combination pharmacotherapy patients with accuracies of 76.6% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.85) without and 77.5% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.86) with SNPs. Then, models trained solely with PGRN-AMPS’ escitalopram/citalopram patients predicted response in CO-MED’s combination pharmacotherapy patients with accuracies of 75.3% (p < 0.05; AUC: 0.84) without and 77.5% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.86) with SNPs, demonstrating cross-trial replication of predictions. Plasma hydroxylated sphingomyelins were prominent predictors of treatment outcomes. To explore the relationship between SNPs and hydroxylated sphingomyelins, we conducted multi-omics integration network analysis. Sphingomyelins clustered with SNPs and metabolites related to monoamine neurotransmission, suggesting a potential functional relationship. These results suggest that integrating specific metabolites and SNPs achieves accurate predictions of treatment response across classes of antidepressants. Finally, these results motivate functional investigation into how sphingomyelins might influence MDD pathophysiology, antidepressant response, or both.

2-D Beam Focusing Control Based on Passive Frequency Selective Surface (FSS)

In this paper, the novel design methodology of 2-D beam focusing control based on passive frequency selective surface (FSS) is proposed and described. The beam focusing antenna is composed of 1-D array source and 2-D FSS having a good transmittance and a full transmission phase variation of 360°. The 2-D FSS is designed to make the phase of wave radiated by one source be in-phase, so the transmission phase of the 2-D FSS is concave in itself. Then, the designed 2-D FSS is integrated to the 1-D array source and the longitudinal and the transverse beam focusing controls can be achieved by changing the phase shape of the array source. The relation between the focusing point and the phase combination of the sources is analyzed by a parabolic formula, and the performance of the beam focusing control system is confirmed by both simulation and measurement. From both results, it is concluded that the focusing spot can be tuned longitudinally and transversely by the proposed methodology at 5.8 GHz. In addition, the electric field intensity of 1-D array source with 2-D FSS increases by about 35% compared to that of only 1-D array source.

Method Development and Validation for Multicomponent Analysis of Emtricitabine and Ritonavir in Bulk Drug by RP-HPLC

A simple, sensitive, economic and specific reverse phase liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of Emtricitabine and Ritonavir in bulk drug. Chromatographic conditions consisted of C-18 Column (Shim-pack) 250 x 4.6 mm, particle size 5 µm , mobile phase combination of methanol and water (80:20), flow rate 1ml per minutes, run time 15 minutes and UV detection at 251nm. . The retention time for Emtricitabine and Ritonavir were found to be 3.25 and 7.8 min and average percentage recoveries 99.42% and 99.63% respectively. The validation parameters were found to comply with ICH guidelines. These methods can be further employed in future for the routine determination of Emtricitabine and Ritonavir in bulk drug and formulation. Keyword: Emtricitabine, Ritonavir, RP-HPLC, accuracy and linearity.

Dynamic combination control of phase movement at signal intersection under the automated vehicle environment

With the continuous perfection of the technology of automated vehicles (AV), data exchange can be conveniently carried out between different vehicles and infrastructures, which makes it easier to collect different types of traffic parameters. Therefore, under AV environment, the vehicle status can be determined to obtain the periodic arrival rate of movements and a more efficient control strategy can be designed. The combination styles of phase movement (PM), an important factor of the signal control, will also become more complicated for intersection signal control. The current methods about the PM combination styles only considered two kinds of movement combination styles, and cannot get the extensive phase combination (PC) schemes in AV environment. This paper documents a new PM combination method by fractionalized movement compatibility relations, and uses discrete mathematics to calculate overall PC schemes. Then, a PM dynamic combination control method is proposed to optimize cyclically signal control. The analysis results of numerical tests showed that the average vehicle of the proposed method is reduced by 6.9 % and 14.5 % for 20 signal cycles, respectively, and the total throughput can be increased by 4.3% and 7.8%, respectively, compared with the dynamic timing control mode and the fixed control mode. Results show that the proposed method could significantly improve intersection control effectiveness.

Imbalanced Sensory Eye Dominance of Surgically Aligned Late-onset Acute Acquired Concomitant Esotropes with normal stereopsis

Background: Adults with late-onset acute acquired concomitant esotropia (AACE) have chance to develop normal binocular functions including a balanced ocular dominance before the onset of esotropia. For most patients, strabismus surgery re-establishing the ocular alignment indeed effectively restore stereopsis and visual acuity to the normal level. However, it is unclear whether they have already acquired balanced two eyes.Methods: 11 surgically aligned patients with AACE (24.3 ± 1.5 years; mean ± SE) and 14 adults with normal vision (26.1±1.2 years) participated in our experiments. All patients had normal binocularity and stereopsis. Using binocular phase combination paradigm, sensory eye dominance was quantified as the interocular contrast ratio, termed balance point, at which the contribution of each eye to the perception of cyclopean grating were equal.Results: Normal controls had a mean balance point value close to unity (0.95±0.01), while AACE group exhibited evident binocular imbalance (0.76±0.05), which was significantly different from control group (t (10.45) = -3.485, p = 0.006) . The balance point value didn’t depend on the interval from AACE onset to strabismus surgery (r = -0.357, p = 0.281) or the interval from the surgery to examination of sensory eye dominance (r = -0.105, p = 0.759).Conclusions: Although strabismus surgery effectively straightened AACE patients’ ocular alignment and even conferred them normal stereopsis, late-onset AACE patients’ two eyes were still not balanced. These results indicated that binocular imbalance might be a risk factor for adult AACE.

OPTIMIZATION OF INTERSECTION CONTROL SCHEME CONSIDERING PHASE-MOVEMENT-COMBINATION UNDER AUTOMATED VEHICLES ENVIRONMENT

For signal control intersection, the Phase-Movement-Combination (PMC) styles could directly impact the control performance of the signal scheme. Automated vehicles use mechatronics technology to drive autonomously and safely according to the predetermined lane trajectory, which caused the phase movement combination and Phase Combination (PC) schemes become more and more complicated. Therefore, this paper proposed a method to consider the extensive PMC styles by fractionalizing movement compatibility relationships, and used discrete mathematics to calculate overall Feasible Phase Combination (FPC) schemes according to the requirements of the signal phase. A corresponding optimal timing model was also established for FPC schemes by minimizing the average vehicle delay and maximizing the intersection capacity. Results were compared against the conventional PC schemes for a variety of demand scenarios. It was concluded that the proposed signal control optimization method was effective to optimize the intersection control scheme, depending on different demand scenarios.

Ocular Dominance Plasticity: Measurement Reliability and Variability

In the last decade, studies have shown that short-term monocular deprivation strengthens the deprived eye’s contribution to binocular vision. However, the magnitude of the change in eye dominance after monocular deprivation (i.e., the patching effect) has been found to be different between for different methods and within the same method. There are three possible explanations for the discrepancy. First, the mechanisms underlying the patching effect that are probed by different measurement tasks might exist at different neural sites. Second, test-retest variability in the measurement might have led to inconsistencies, even within the same method. Third, the patching effect itself in the same subject might fluctuate across separate days or experimental sessions. To explore these possibilities, we assessed the test-retest reliability of the three most commonly used tasks (binocular rivalry, binocular combination, and dichoptic masking) and the repeatability of the shift in eye dominance after short-term monocular deprivation for each of the task. Two variations for binocular phase combination were used, at one and many contrasts of the stimuli. Also, two variations of the dichoptic masking task was tested, in which the orientation of the mask grating was either horizontal or vertical. This makes five different measurement methods in all. We hope to resolve some of the inconsistencies reported in the literature concerning this form of visual plasticity. In this study, we also aim to recommend a measurement method that will allow us to better understand its physiological basis and the underpinning of visual disorders.