Optimisation of a Pump-Controlled Hydraulic System using Digital Displacement Pumps

When electrifying working machines, energy-efficient operation is key to maximise the use of the limited capacity of on-board batteries. Previous research indicate high energy savings by means of component and system design. In contrast, this paper focuses on how to maximise energy efficiency by means of both design and control optimisation. Simulation-based optimisation and dynamic programming are used to find the optimal electric motor speed trajectory and component sizes for a scooptram machine equipped with pump control, enabled by digital displacement pumps with dynamic flow sharing. The results show that a hardware configuration and control strategy that enable low pump speed minimise drag losses from parasitic components, partly facilitated by the relatively high and operation point-independent efficiencies of the pumps and electric motor. 5–10% cycle energy reductions are indicated, where the higher figure was obtained for simultaneous design and control optimisation. For other, more hydraulic-intense applications, such as excavators, greater reductions could be expected.

Classification of non-coding variants with high pathogenic impact

Whole genome sequencing is increasingly used to diagnose medical conditions of genetic origin. While both coding and non-coding DNA variants contribute to a wide range of diseases, most patients who receive a WGS-based diagnosis today harbour a protein-coding mutation. Functional interpretation and prioritization of non-coding variants represents a persistent challenge, and disease-causing non-coding variants remain largely unidentified. Depending on the disease, WGS fails to identify a candidate variant in 20-80% of patients, severely limiting the usefulness of sequencing for personalised medicine. Here we present FINSURF, a machine-learning approach to predict the functional impact of non-coding variants in regulatory regions. FINSURF outperforms state-of-the-art methods, owing to control optimisation during training. In addition to ranking candidate variants, FINSURF also delivers diagnostic information on functional consequences of mutations. We applied FINSURF to a diverse set of 30 diseases with described causative non-coding mutations, and correctly identified the disease-causative non-coding variant within the ten top hits in 22 cases. FINSURF is implemented as an online server to as well as custom browser tracks, and provides a quick and efficient solution to prioritize candidate non-coding variants in realistic clinical settings.

Non-ketotic hemichorea-hemiballismus presenting as generalised tonic-clonic convulsive state in uncontrolled diabetes

We report the case of a 70-year-old diabetic woman who presented to the emergency department with multiple seizure episodes and coma, prompting the need for sedation and mechanical ventilation. She was transferred to our institution for neurosurgical evaluation as the initial CT scan identified hyperdense lesions in the left basal ganglia, interpreted as acute intracranial haemorrhage. On admission, laboratory tests were mostly normal except for blood glucose of 413 mg/dL. Medical records revealed a history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and non-adherence to therapy. After seizure control and lifting sedation, right-sided ataxia/involuntary movements were observed. Considering the patient’s history and these findings, the CT scan was reviewed and the striatal region hyperdensities interpreted as lesions typical of non-ketotic hemichorea-hemiballismus. MRI was latter performed and confirmed the diagnosis, even though the unusual presentation. Levetiracetam initiation and glycaemic control optimisation led to great neurological improvement without seizure recurrence.

Control Optimisation of Overhead Gantry Cranes via Fuzzy Controllers

This study considers a fuzzy logic-based reasoning approach for control and optimising performance of overhead gantry crane. The objective of this study is to minimise load swing and to stabilise the crane in the least possible time. The fuzzy controllers were designed using nine Gaussian and triangular shape membership functions. The results clearly confirmed the effect of shape of memberships on performance of fuzzy controllers. Performance of overhead crane was measured in terms of settling time and overshoot ranges. The study also demonstrates the influence of varying mass of the load, mass of crane, and length of crane bar on stability of the crane. A mathematical model of the crane system has been derived to develop a simulink model of proposed system and performing simulations.