The Impact of a Ketogenic Diet and Liver Dysfunction on Serum Very Long-Chain Fatty Acids Levels

Peroxisomes play an essential role in mammalian cellular metabolism, particularly in oxidation fatty acid pathways. Serum very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA), the main biochemical diagnostic parameters for peroxisomal disorders, were examined in 25 neurological patients with epilepsy on a ketogenic diet and 27 patients with liver dysfunction. The data show that patients on a ketogenic diet have increased levels of C22:0 and C24:0, but not C26:0, and normal C24:0/C22:0 and C26:0/C22:0. Patients with liver insufficiency showed a slightly elevated level of C26:0, a normal level of C24:0 and a decreased level of C22:0; thus in 21/27 the ratio of C24:0/C22:0 was increased and 15/27 the ratio of C26:0/C22:0 was increased.     

Modeling and experimental validation of a humidification–dehumidification desalination unit solar part

This paper presents the modeling and the experimental validation of air and water solar collectors used in humidification-dehumidification (HDH) solar desalination unit. The solar desalination process is currently operating under the climatological conditions of Sfax (34 N, 10 E), Tunisia. To numerically simulate the air and water solar collectors, we have developed dynamic mathematical models of the solar collectors. The resulting distributed parametric systems of equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using the orthogonal collocation method (OCM). A comparison between numerical and experimental data was conducted. It was found that the two-temperature mathematical model describes more precisely the real behaviour of the water solar collector than the one-temperature mathematical model. It was also shown that the developed mathematical models are able to predict accurately the trends of the thermal characteristic of the water and air solar collectors. As a result, the proposed models can be used to size and test the behaviour of such a type of water and air solar collectors.     

Consistency problems in ER-schemas for database systems

At a conceptual level data modelling consists in providing a structured form of relevant information and to accompany structures with constraints in order to capture more semantics. Cardinality constraints are among the most popular classes of constraints in database models. While each constraint class is now well understood, little is done about their interaction since possible conflicts among them may appear. The global coherence of these constraints must be considered before creating the physical corresponding database. In order to help in database design, our aim is then to propose a tool for reasoning about a set of Cardinality constraints. We will treat the global coherence using mathematical programming technique. The analyses and the detection of invalid sub-schemas will be done using Fourier-Motzkin elimination.     

Safe and time-optimized power transfer between two induction loadssupplied by a single generator

The paper deals with the problem of transferring power between different induction loads supplied by the same current generator, in as short a time as possible. In the reference solution, the system is completely stopped: it needs a long time for the current to reach zero and, afterwards, its new value, because the DC link inductance must be demagnetized and remagnetized; moreover an auxiliary starter is needed. In the proposed solution, the input of the current inverter is short-circuited whenever a transfer must be performed; the inductance remains magnetized and the current at the output of the inverter varies very quickly. The transfer time is minimal, and no starter is needed; the specific inverter control laws used to insure natural commutation are described. The paper also, presents control models of the system, obtained by using the first harmonic modeling method     

Experimental validation of the distillation module of a desalination station using the SMCEC principle

This paper presents the simulation and the experimental validation of the distillation module of a desalination unit, currently operating in Sfax, Tunisia. The desalination process is based on the Solar Multiple Condensation Evaporation Cycle (SMCEC) principle.The work presented in this paper focuses on modelling the desalination module as it is supplied with either water heated by solar energy or geothermal water. Geothermal water resources are abundant in Tunisia with salinity levels of 1–50 g/l. The simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the desalination module with and without disturbances on the inlet temperature was carried out to predict the variations of key output variables subjected to thermal variations. Such variables include water temperature, air temperature, humidity in the evaporation and condensation chambers and the amount of produced distilled water. To validate the dynamic model of the distillation module, a series of experiments was conducted. Experimental results were compared with the simulation results. It was shown that the developed model is able to predict accurately the trends of the heat and mass characteristics of the evaporation and condensation chambers. As a result, the proposed model can be used to design and test the behaviour of such a type of desalination unit.     

Architecturing large integrated complex information systems: an application to healthcare

The global enterprise-wide approaches help organizations to model and understand the enterprise key components and their relationships and manage the organizations’ transformations and change. However, many of these approaches lack of insights into how to manage complexities related to the multitude of applications developed in silos such as the various systems in health organizations that were designed independently from each other. This paper contributes to the solutions addressing this issue by proposing a methodology and tools to create foundations based on key components to help develop the information architecture at the heart of the enterprise architecture that can guarantee the evolution of the organization. These core components are a set of reusable Field Actions representing the non-contextual persistent information, a common canonical Corporate Conceptual Data Model capturing all the vital data in the organization, and Views or sub-schema of this global data model that represent information for different stakeholders in the organization. To show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and to gain more insights into its practical value, the architecturing approach is applied in the healthcare domain to create the information architecture and the enterprise architecture for the Quebec healthcare network.     

On the modelling of uncertainty in radar CFAR detection

In this paper, we propose a model for a constant false alarm detection that uses fuzzy logic to describe the uncertainty on the decision about the presence or the absence of a target. The received signal is processed in a sequential manner so that the test is performed after each observation. Each time an observation is taken, the membership function to three regions, namely; “signal present”, “signal absent” and “Uncertainty” is evaluated. Then, the received signals from different observations are combined according to some fuzzy fusion rules to obtain the global decision. The simulation results obtained showed that the bounded product rule gives the best detection performance among all the others.