Modeling of Conflicting Traffic Flows

A model of a network with conflicting input traffic flows is proposed. A Monte Carlo algorithm is formulated to evaluate the number of customers in queues by every light signal in real time. An algorithm is proposed that makes it possible to identify the traffic light mode (if exists) ensuring the stability of the network. A numerical example is considered.     

Markov model of a digital stochastic generator

A stochastic process generator based on a chain of modulo-two adders with asynchronous feedback loops is investigated. The generator dynamics is described by the Erlang equations. A mathematical model of the generated stochastic process is proposed. The implementation of the generator using modern electronic devices is considered.     

Improvement in the sociomedical support for the urban family under current conditions

Medico-demographic processes and socio-hygienic characteristics of the population of a large city, both at an individual and familial levels, as well as territorial characteristics of residence, should be taken into consideration when developing measures for medicosocial care of the population. Analysis of the attitude of 380 city families to the activities, personality, and professional skills of local therapists and pediatricians and to the idea of primary health care rendered by a physician of a general profile demonstrated an increased activity of the families in the "physician-patient" system and confirmed the necessity of improving medicosocial care of a city family, expansion of prophylactic work with the population with due consideration for factors which have an impact on population health.     

Strategic questions for consumer-based health communications

Using the consumer-oriented approach of social and commercial marketers, this article presents a process for crafting messages designed to improve people's health behaviors. The process, termed consumer-based health communications (CHC), transforms scientific recommendations into message strategies that are relevant to the consumer. The core of CHC is consumer research conducted to understand the consumer's reality, and thereby allowing six strategic questions to be answered. The immediate result of the CHC process is a strategy statement--a few pages that lay out who the target consumer is, what action should be taken, what to promise and how to make the promise credible, how and when to reach him or her, and what image to convey. The strategy statement then guides the execution of all communication efforts, be they public relations, mass media, direct marketing, media advocacy, or interpersonal influence. It identifies the most important "levers" for contact with the consumer. Everyone from creative specialists through management and program personnel can use the strategy statement as a touchstone to guide and judge the effectiveness of their efforts. The article provides a step by step illustration of the CHC process using the 5 A Day campaign as an example.     

Agent-based time delay margin in consensus of multi-agent systems by an event-triggered control method: Concept and computation

This paper deals with defining the concept of agent-based time delay margin and computing its value in multi-agent systems controlled by event-triggered based controllers. The agent-based time delay margin specifying the time delay tolerance of each agent for ensuring consensus in event-triggered controlled multi-agent systems can be considered as complementary for the concept of (network) time delay margin, which has been previously introduced in some literature. In this paper, an event-triggered control method for achieving consensus in multi-agent systems with time delay is considered. It is shown that the Zeno behavior is excluded by applying this method. Then, in a multi-agent system controlled by the considered event-triggered method, the concept of agent-based time delay margin in the presence of a fixed network delay is defined. Moreover, an algorithm for computing the value of the time delay margin for each agent is proposed. Numerical simulation results are also provided to verify the obtained theoretical results.     

Electrochemical properties and solubility of URh<Subscript>3</Subscript> in nitric acid solutions

Electrochemical properties of the intermetallic compound URh₃ in 0.5–8 M HNO₃ solutions were studied by linear voltammetry. The electrochemical characteristics of URh₃ in nitric acid solution were determined for the first time using the Tafel equation. URh₃ is highly resistant to both chemical and anodic dissolution, which is due to formation of passive films on the electrode surface. All the anodic oxidation processes observed on the electrode led to secondary passivation of the alloy and not to its dissolution. The conclusions based on the electrochemical data were confirmed by experiments in 8 M HNO₃.     

Modeling of the evaporation of liquids and condensation of their vapor during distillation

This paper considers the evaporation process in an evaporator–connecting tube–condenser system under conditions such that the evaporation rate is determined by the evaporation and condensation mechanisms and the hydraulic resistances of the evaporation and condensation compartments and connecting tube. We present a mathematical model and numerical simulation results that demonstrate quantitative patterns of a steady-state evaporation process in a closed evaporation–condensation system. For a particular example of selenium vacuum distillation, we have determined the evaporation coefficient of selenium from experimental data on the temperature dependences of the selenium evaporation rate and saturated vapor pressure.     

Experimental estimation of the influence of the droplet evaporation process on the conditions of movement in an oncoming high-temperature gas flow

By means of high-speed video registration, the cross-correlation system, and panoramic optical methods of trace visualization, experimental estimation of the influence of liquid (water) droplet evaporation on the conditions of droplet movement (acceleration and deceleration) through the high-temperature (about 1100 K) gases was made. The experiments were conducted with droplets about 1–6 mm in diameter at start velocities of 1–5 m/s. We compare the integral characteristics of the droplet movement in the air at a temperature of about 300 K (in the ongoing flow and through the steady gas medium) and in the combustion product flow at a temperature of about 1100 K. The gas and the air flow velocities were about 1.5 m/s. The typical difference in the droplet velocities under essentially different ambient temperatures was discovered. The contribution of water evaporation and the ongoing gas movement into droplet deceleration was discovered.     

Prognosis of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy for superficial bladder cancer by immunological urinary measurements: statistically weighted syndrome analysis

PURPOSE: The goal of this research was to discover new biological indicators in urine which could be used for short-term prognosis of local Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy outcome in patients with superficial bladder cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We measured and statistically evaluated soluble immunological molecules in urine from bladder cancer patients (n = 34) receiving BCG intravesically. Urine was collected following each of 6 weekly treatments, processed and assayed. The data base included measurements of interleukin-1 (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha), soluble CD14 (sCD14), interferon-gamma (IFN gamma), GM-CSF, volume of urine and its pH. The clinical response was evaluated by urine histology and random quadrant biopsy 3 months after the start of therapy. Patients were divided into 2 groups, with good and poor therapeutic effect. The initial complete response rate was 62% (21/34). The data base was analyzed using traditional multivariate statistical methods and a pattern recognition method which deals with combinatorial-statistical analysis (statistically weighted syndromes (SWS) method) of the gradated features. The SWS method is capable of identifying robust patterns in small "fuzzy" sets with high dimensional objects and some missing values. RESULTS: Only one parameter gave significant differences at p < 0.05, GM-CSF at instillation 6. Repeated measurement analysis of variance, backward stepwise multiple logistic regression and linear discriminant analysis failed to show any significance. However, significant differences in the structure of correlation between features in the groups with and without therapeutic effect were observed and four highly informative variables (the masses of sICAM-1, TNF alpha, sCD14 and pH) relating to 5th-6th installations were selected by SWS. These features provided accurate individual prediction of therapeutic outcome for all our patients. Cross-validation analysis and computer simulation showed the statistically significant stability of the prediction. CONCLUSION: We have selected a set of urinary variables that could be considered as a perspective combination of indicators (syndromes) of outcome of pre-operation BCG therapy of patients with superficial bladder cancer. A larger patient database will provide testing and evaluation of the biological and clinical significance of selected features. The computational syndrome-disease approach should be applicable for the solution of decision-making problems for management of cancer.