Eosinophil markers in seasonal allergic rhinitis. Intranasal fluticasone propionate inhibits local and systemic increases during the pollen season

BACKGROUND: The purpose was to study activation markers of the eosinophil granulocytes in seasonal allergic rhinitis, and the impact of topical steroid therapy thereupon. METHODS: Sixty-three rhinitis patients with monoallergy to grass were examined before and at peak pollen season. Blood eosinophil count, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), and eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) in serum and nasal lavage fluid were measured. During the season, patients were randomized to treatment with intranasal fluticasone propionate 0.1 mg o.d. (n=26), 0.2 mg o.d. (n=25), or placebo (n=12). Six healthy persons served as controls. RESULTS: During the season, all parameters, except nasal lavage ECP, increased in the placebo group (P<0.001-P<0.05). Significant differences were seen between the steroid groups and the placebo group for all parameters (P<0.001-P<0.05). Higher eosinophil count (P<0.05), serum EPO (P<0.02), and nasal lavage EPO (P<0.05) were found in patients before season than in controls. The following winter, 44 patients returned for repeated measurement. Lower levels of nasal lavage EPO were observed for patients than levels at the beginning of the season (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Intranasal fluticasone propionate reduced inflammation of the nasal mucosa, demonstrated locally by nasal lavage ECP and EPO, and systemically by blood eosinophils, serum ECP, and serum EPO. EPO seemed more sensitive than ECP as indicator of allergic inflammation. EPO demonstrated some perennial eosinophil activity in hay fever patients, increasing locally during spring.     

A note on geodesic polyhedra: Triangulation and contouring of spheres

A technique for the triangulation of surfaces is presented here, with examples of contouring on the resulting polyhedra.     

Adjoint sensitivity analysis in nuclear reactor fuel behavior modeling

A computer program, SCODE, has been developed for calculating sensitivities for EPRI's SPEAR-ALPHA nuclear fuel performance code FCODE-ALPHA. Eleven critical parameters are assessed for the effects of their independent variations on 33 basic variables in the FCODE-ALPHA model. The enormous wealth of sensitivities that result, consisting of 363 quantities per axial node per time step, are calculated following FCODE-ALPHA computations on each time step. SCODE is based on adjoint sensitivity analysis, which is an analytic technique, obviating the need for numerical differentiation via repeated code runs at varied parameter values. Evaluation of sensitivities is reduced to a problem in linear algebra and is handled by standard matrix manipulations. Compared with the customary numerical differentiation approach, SCODE offers advantages of significant runtime reduction, exactitude of results, and on-line computation of sensitivities.     

The measurement of paste content in hardened concrete using automatic image analyzing technique

This paper describes a technique for the measurement of paste contents of mortars and concretes. The technique involves etching the polished surfaces of samples with a saturated solution of salicylic acid in 80:20 methyl alcohol: water mixture which does not affect limestone aggregates. The contrast difference between the exposed aggregates and the etched areas is then enhanced by painting the aggregates black and filling the etched areas with a white powder. An automatic image analyzer can then measure either the blackened aggregates or the whitened etched areas.     

节省微处理器资源的电压／脉宽转换器

虽然这种电压/脉宽转换器并非经典"1.0流"意义的ADC.但它产生的逻辑电平输出脉冲的可变宽度代表了输入电压的模拟值.     

EXPERIMENTS WITH ONLINE REINFORCEMENT LEARNING IN REAL-TIME STRATEGY GAMES

Real-time strategy (RTS) games provide a challenging platform to implement online reinforcement learning (RL) techniques in a real application. Computer, as one game player, monitors opponents’ (human or other computers) strategies and then updates its own policy using RL methods. In this article, we first examine the suitability of applying the online RL in various computer games. Reinforcement learning application depends on both RL complexity and the game features. We then propose a multi-layer framework for implementing online RL in an RTS game. The framework significantly reduces RL computational complexity by decomposing the state space in a hierarchical manner. We implement an RTS game—Tank General—and perform a thorough test on the proposed framework. We consider three typical profiles of RTS game players and compare two basic RL techniques applied in the game. The results show the effectiveness of our proposed framework and shed light on relevant issues in using online RL in RTS games.     

Dynamic Tracking of The Steady State Power System Magnitude and Frequency Using Linear Kalman Filter a Variable Frequency Model

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the application of Kalman Filtering algorithm for tracking the power system voltage magnitude, the rate of change of the frequency, the frequency deviation as well as the voltage phase angle, when the the frequency of the voltage signal varies linearly with the time during the data window size. The proposed algorithm uses the digitized samples of the voltage signal at the relay location. Effects of sampling rate, data window size and the harmonics contaminating the voltage signal on the performance of the algorithm are studied. Furthermore, effects of the noise level are also investigated. A sample of the results obtained is reported in this paper.     

A/B-Ratio and Transport Properties of (La0.85Sr0.15)sCoO3−δ Perovskites

The perovskites (La_0.85Sr_0.15)_0.98CoO_{3 –} and (La_0.85Sr_0.15)_1.00CoO_{3 –} have been investigated using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrical conductivity relaxation (ECR). This system was chosen in order to investigate the influence of cation vacancies on the transport properties in the materials. From ECR-measurements it is concluded that no difference in the chemical diffusion coefficient for oxide ions between the two samples can be found. The activation energy for the chemical diffusion coefficient has been found to be 107 ± 5 kJ mol^{– 1}. However, the surface exchange coefficient differs between the two samples. The Co-rich sample has a significantly higher surface exchange coefficient than the A/B-stoichiometric sample. For both samples the surface exchange coefficient was almost independent of the temperature. At all temperatures the Co-rich sample had a significantly higher electrical conductivity. The difference in electrical conductivity between the two samples diminished when going to higher temperatures. Both materials can be assigned to a single phase hexagonal perovskite. An annealed sample of (La_0.85Sr_0.15)_0.98CoO_{3 –} did however contain an unidentified secondary phase on the surface.     

Electro-thermal and -mechanical model of thermal breakdown in multilayered dielectric elastomers

Multiple breakdown phenomena may take place when operating dielectric elastomers. Thermal breakdown, which occurs due to Joule heating, becomes of special importance when using multilayered stacks of dielectric elastomers, due to the large volume-to-surface-area-ratio. In this article, a 2D axisymmetric finite-element model of a multilayered stack of dielectric elastomers is set up in COMSOL Multiphysics®. Both the electro-thermal and electro-mechanical couplings are considered, allowing for determination of the onset of thermal breakdown. Simulation results show that an entrapped particle in the dielectric elastomer drastically reduces the possible number of layers in the stack. Furthermore, the possible number of layers is greatly affected by the ambient temperature and the applied voltage. The performance of three hyperelastic material models for modeling the elastomer deformation are compared, and it is established that the Gent model yields the most restrictive prediction of breakdown point, while the Ogden model yields the least restrictive estimation.