Power-efficient low-stray field hybrid magnets for MAGLEV technology

A hybrid suspension system is proposed for maglev transport that utilizes electromagnets (EM) in combination with permanent magnets (PM). Several design schemes are compared searching for optimum performance. Sufficient reduction of power consumption and stray field is achieved on the hybrid configuration as compared to conventional EM suspension systems.

Effective vaccine allocation strategies, balancing economy with infection control against COVID-19 in Japan

Due to COVID-19, many countries including Japan have implemented a suspension of economic activities for infection control. It has contributed to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 but caused severe economic losses. Today, several promising vaccines have been developed and are already being distributed in some countries. Therefore, we evaluated various vaccine and intensive countermeasure strategies with constraint of economic loss using SEIR model to obtain knowledge of how to balance economy with infection control in Japan. Our main results were that the vaccination strategy that prioritized younger generation was better in terms of deaths when a linear relationship between lockdown intensity and acceptable economic loss was assumed. On the other hand, when a non-linearity relationship was introduced, implying that the strong lockdown with small economic loss was possible, the old first strategies were best in the settings of small basic reproduction number. These results indicated a high potential of remote work when prioritizing vaccination for the old generation. When focusing on only the old first strategies as the Japanese government has decided to do, the strategy vaccinating the young next to the old was superior to the others when a non-linear relationship was assumed due to sufficient reduction of contact with small economic loss.

Virucidal Efficacy of Household Dishwashers

Not only since SARS-CoV-2, have transmission routes of viruses been of interest. Noroviruses e.g., can be transmitted via smear infection, are relatively stable in the environment and very resistant to chemical disinfection. Some studies determined the virucidal efficacy of laundering processes, but few studies focused on the virucidal efficacy of dishwashing processes. Here, especially consumer related conditions are of interest. Households for example are a hotspot of norovirus infection and thus a sufficient reduction of these and other viruses from dishes must be insured to avoid an infection via this route. The likelihood of such an event should not be underestimated, since it was shown that the washing machine can be a reservoir for the transmission of extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing bacteria in newborns. Although viruses do not replicate in these devices a transmission via contaminated cutlery e.g., cannot be excluded. Using a consumer related approach to determine the virucidal efficacy of dishwashers, we found a combination of a bleach containing dishwasher detergent, a cleaning temperature of 45 °C for 45 min and a rinsing temperature of 50 °C, to be sufficient to reduces viral titer of bovine corona virus, murine norovirus and modified vaccinia virus by 4.8, 4.2 and 3.8 logarithmic stages respectively.

Highly Selective Partial Neurectomy for Lower-Extremity Spasticity: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

Spasticity is a common debilitating condition after central nervous system injury. The principal therapies—sedating antispasticity medications and focal therapies (eg, botulinum toxin)—may not provide sufficient reduction in tone, have intolerable side effects, and lose efficacy over time. Selective neurectomy is a surgical option for durable reduction in tone.1-6 Although commonly performed internationally, neurectomies are used less often within the USA. We present the surgical case of a 23-yr-old woman with cerebral palsy and severe spastic diplegia. Medications, injections, and tendon surgeries had failed to relieve her spastic lower extremities. She presented with crouch gait, adductor scissoring, and bilateral equinovarus. She had previously benefitted significantly from bilateral hamstring and obturator neurectomies, with improvement in mobility. She desired tibial neurectomies for her bilateral equinovarus, which impacted her gait substantially. To reduce unwanted plantarflexion and internal rotation tone, selective neurectomies of the motor nerves to the medial and lateral gastrocnemius, soleus, and posterior tibialis muscles were performed. The surgical video details a technique for longitudinally opening the epineurium, separating small nerves into their individual fascicles, and subdividing submillimeter fascicles by approximately 50% to 60% of the fascicle cross-sectional area. She reported significant improvement in gait, her modified Ashworth score dropped from 3 to 0, and her motor power remained unchanged, which is equivalent or better than most published results.2,7 Neurectomies are a highly effective procedure for focal extremity spasticity. Additional clinical series or trials would help establish the appropriate indications and durability and quantify the risks and benefits. The patient consented to treatment and publication.

Timed Automata Relaxation for Reachability

Timed automata (TA) have shown to be a suitable formalism for modeling real-time systems. Moreover, modern model-checking tools allow a designer to check whether a TA complies with the system specification. However, the exact timing constraints of the system are often uncertain during the design phase. Consequently, the designer is able to build a TA with a correct structure, however, the timing constraints need to be tuned to make the TA comply with the specification.In this work, we assume that we are given a TA together with an existential property, such as reachability, that is not satisfied by the TA. We propose a novel concept of a minimal sufficient reduction (MSR) that allows us to identify the minimal set S of timing constraints of the TA that needs to be tuned to meet the specification. Moreover, we employ mixed-integer linear programming to actually find a tuning of S that leads to meeting the specification.

TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF OBTAINING FRIT OF HEAT-RESISTANT ENAMEL FOR THE PROTECTION OF CORROSION-RESISTANT STEELS

The technological aspects of producing frit based are studied for heat-resistant enamel EV-300-60M in experimental industrial conditions. It was found that in the temperature range of 1200–1250 °C, intensive foaming of the charge occurs due to the active release of oxygen by manganese oxide. Due to the combination of technological operations, it is possible to ensure a sufficient reduction, but not complete exclusion of foaming when cooking frit. In this regard, the further direction of work on improving heat-resistant enamels for the protection of corrosion-resistant steels determines the need to develop a technological composition of frit.

Probable Dates of Flex, Substantial Reduction in the Number of COVID–19 Positive Confirmed Cases and Fatalities in the State of Maharashtra (India)

In this paper, we analyse the COVID-19 data of the number of confirmed positive infectious COVID-19 cases (I) in Maharashtra, the second most populous state of India, having a population of nearly 123 million – more than the population of most of the European countries. For this analysis, we use COVID-19 data for the period from April 1, 2020 to August 24, 2020 to find the flex in the I - t curve, where the second derivative of the curve becomes negative. i.e. the date from which the rate of growth of the number of infections starts decreasing – or a peak occurs in the daily new COVID – 19 positive cases. Here I is the total number of cumulative COVID-19 positive cases and t is the time (in days). The observed data are fitted by employing the Gauss error function formulaa + b erf(cx - d),(with four adjustable arbitrary parameters a, b, c, and d) following the prescriptions adopted by Ciufolini and Paolozzi [1] for the analysis of the COVID-19 data from Italy and China. The date of flex is found using data from April 1 to August 11, then the data from April 1 to August 12, and so on, till the data from April 1 to August 24. There is a variation in the dates of flex for these 14 sets of data; however, the date of flex converges to a definite date towards the later sets. We also calculate the standard deviation of these values to calculate the uncertainty in the expected date of flex. Using these parameter values, we also calculate the expected values of COVID–19 positive cases for future. From this data, we estimate the date(s) at which there is sufficient reduction in the number of new daily positive cases and the number of such cases are likely to increase by say, 1000.The data for the number of fatalities in the city is also fitted to a Gauss error function with four parameters of the above type and we estimate in this case also, the date of flex as well as the dates at which the number of fatalities reduces in proportion to sufficient reduction in the number of new COVID-19 cases, which in this case is approximately 34 (for 1000 new infections). The data for the above analysis has been taken from the website covid19India.org and Aarogya Setu App [2] of the Government of India.

Prediction of the Date of Flex and of the Date of Substantial Reduction in the Number of COVID – 19 Confirmed Cases and Fatalities in Delhi (India)

In this paper, we analyse the covidCovid-19 data of the number of confirmed positive infectious cases (I) in Delhi - the capital of India – a city with a population of nearly 20 million - from April 1, 2020 to July 27th 2020 to find the flex in the I-t curve, where the second derivative of the I - t curve becomes negative. i.e. the date from which the rate of growth of the number of infections starts decreasing. The data isare fitted to the Gauss error function formulaa + b erf(cx-d)with four parameters a, b, c and d as was done by Ciufolini and Paolozzi [1] for analysis of the covid-19 data of Italy and China. The date of flex is also found by plotting the second derivative of I evaluated numerically and agrees with the date found by the Gauss error function method. We also determinedetermined the date at which the number of new daily infections iswas sufficiently reduced to aboutapproximately 100. An estimate of the number of future cases is calculated using the Gauss error function. The data for the number of fatalities in the city isare also fitted to the Gauss error function with four parameters, and we estimate the date at which the number of fatalities reduces in proportion to a sufficient reduction in the number of new Covid-19 cases, which in this case is approximately 3. The data for the analysis hashave been taken from the website covid19India.org and Aarogya Setu App [6] of the Government of India.

Regioselective biocatalytic self-sufficient Tishchenko-type reaction via formal intramolecular hydride transfer

Alcohol dehydrogenases catalyze the regioselective lactonization of dialdehydes via a bio-Tishchenko-like reaction. The nicotinamide-dependent self-sufficient reduction–oxidation sequence proceeds through a formal intramolecular hydride shift.