The effect of epidural anesthesia on uterine activity and blood pressure

Because of the unresolved controversy regarding the effect of epidural anesthesia upon uterine contractility, it was decided to study its effect on a small number of patients. Intrauterine and intra-arterial continuous pressure, continuous fetal heart rate, and maternal heart rate recordings were obtained from at least 20 minutes before administration of the epidural anesthic until complete dilatation in these patients. Nineteen patients were in spontaneous labor, and 18 had labor stimulated with oxytocin. Plain lidocaine, 1 or 1.5%, was used in 12 patients (30 observations), and lidocaine with epinephrine, 1:200,000 was used in 26 patients (51 observations). Uterine contractions were calculated in Montevideo units for 60 minutes following the epidural anesthetic. The changes, if any, were compared in both groups. There was a significant decrease in uterine activity when epinephrine was added to the anesthetic solution, mainly a lessening of intensity. There were comparable decreases in systolic/diastolic blood pressure in both groups and compensatory tachycardia. In one case, severe hypertension was observed following administration of lidocaine epinephrine. It was concluded that the addition of epinephrine to the anesthetic solution predictably produces diminution of uterine activity, and it does not give "cardiovascular support" to the laboring patient.     

Determination of fibrin and fibrinogen split products by their anticoagulant activity

A new diagnostic method to determine fibrinogen and fibrin splitting products is based on the fact that high-molecular fragments acting as specific inhibitors of fibrin self-assembly compose these products. Fibrinogen and fibrin splitting products are detected and determined quantitatively by prolongation of coagulation time in the test with the standard monomeric fibrin. The number of units of anticoagulating activity in the studied urine are the results of the determinations. Sensitivity of the method if necessary may be increased by adding of a certain amount of the fibrinogen and fibrin splitting products to the test that makes a favourable background for the action of the products. The method is rather sensitive, reliable and simple. It may be used in ordinary clinical laboratories. The method proved to be quite satisfactory when testing renal diseases at the clinic. It is of great significance for early detection of the transplanted kidney rejection. The new method is compared with the known immunological method which consist in determination of the inhibitory effect of the fibrinogen and fibrin splitting products on agglutination of erythrocytes of specific antibodies; the erythrocytes being subjected to "tanning" and "loading" with fibrinogen. A satisfactory correlation is found between the results of two methods.     

Stability analysis of PWM feedback control systems with PID regulators

Stability analysis is of great significance in those feedback control systems in which the power amplifier is operated as a pulse-modulator device, since under these circumstances the whole control system is highly non-linear. Stability in PWM feedback control systems with a proportional type regulator has been amply described in the literature. Only recently, however, have such studies been extended to include systems with a proportional-plus-integral regulator. In this paper the problem is considered for the case involving a PWM control system, where the regulator is a proportional-plus-integral-plus-derivative, the PWM modulator is of a very general type and the controlled process is of arbitrary order. The stability of the system is analysed by means of a discrete version of the second Lyapunov method ; this method in turn leads to an investigation of the positivity region of a quadratic form defined in the parameter space of the regulator. To improve the stability region obtained, a procedure is investigated whereby only a few parameters of the quadratic Lyapunov function need to be varied. The method proposed has proved extremely simple and flexible to apply, even in cases where the system is of arbitrary order.     

APPLICATION OF A PERTURBATION THEORY FOR EVALUATION ALGORITHMS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF A CONTINUOUS PLANT FROM DISCRETE DATA

Abstract

A perturbation theory for evaluation algorithms of arithmetic expressions is applied to the generalized least-squares identification of the continuous parameters by using nonperiodic discrete data. The sampling instants are distributed in such a way that a sequence of the elemental arithmetic expressions of the identification algorithm are suboptimized according to bang-bang rules on the extrema of appropriate variation intervals. The weighting scalars in the generalized least-squares method are updated with the same purpose.     

基于ISM的高铁工程全生命周期成本影响因素研究

运用问卷调查、专家论证等方式,识别与提取影响高铁工程全生命周期成本影响因素,并从各参与方维度出发,对识别的影响因素进行分类;构建基于ISM的高铁工程全生命成本解释结构模型,对识别的关键因素进行层次关系与作用机理的深入挖掘梳理.在上述分析基础上,提出高铁工程全生命周期成本控制重点及高铁全生命周期成本智能估算基础数据库建设建议.     

铅锌尾矿重金属释放影响因素的探讨

铅锌尾矿废渣若不经过处理,会通过风蚀、径流对环境造成重金属污染,对尾矿废渣污染的研究一直是大家关注的方向。多年来,pH被证实是影响重金属释放的重要因素。本文通过实验,研究了浸提方法、pH和盐度对铅锌尾矿废渣重金属元素释放的影响。结果表明,Pb、Zn、Cd、As在pH值呈酸性和碱性时浸出率都较高,Cu、Ni则在pH值为碱性时浸出率更高,盐度对Pb的释放影响效果更为明显。     

Progress towards a methodology for high throughput 3D reconstruction of soot nanoparticles via electron tomography

The aim of this work is to make progress towards the development of 3D reconstruction as a legitimate alternative to traditional 2D characterization of soot. Time constraints are the greatest opposition to its implementation, as currently reconstruction of a single soot particle takes around 5–6 h to complete. As such, the accuracy and detail gains are currently insufficient to challenge 2D characterization of a representative sample (e.g. 200 particles). This work is a consideration of the optimization of the steps included within the computational reconstruction and manual segmentation of soot particles. Our optimal process reduced the time required by over 70% in comparison to a typical procedure, whilst producing models with no appreciable decrease in quality.     

机器人柔性关节前馈力/位混合控制策略研究

针对机器人关节柔性引起的轨迹跟踪误差问题和末端执行器残余振动现象,在PD反馈控制律基础上,提出一种基于柔体动力学模型的前馈力矩补偿控制算法和后置多模态自适应输入整形算法前馈力/位混合控制策略。建立六轴工业机器人柔体动力学简化模型,在不附加关节编码器和外设的情况下进行柔体动力学参数辨识,再将动力学模型改写为力矩计算方程,经计算得到前馈力矩并加入控制律中进行补偿;计算前馈力矩所用的期望轨迹需经过输入整形器处理,考虑机器人系统的时变性问题,采用后置多模态自适应输入整形算法对期望输入位移信号进行命令整形,从而抑制末端的残余振动现象。结果表明：所提出的前馈力/位混合控制策略能有效减少轨迹跟踪误差,抑制机器人末端的残余振动现象。     

Stability of composite systems with an asymptotically hyperstable subsystem

In this note, it is proved that stability of composite systems including parallel subsystems can be achieved for certain sets of initial conditions and additional stability assumptions for the non-hyperstable subsystems. It is required that at least one subsystem be asymptotically hyperstable.     

Hydrology of peat-forming wetlands in Scotland

Peatlands cover approximately 14% of Scotland, although only part of this area is active (peat-forming) mire. Mires are important for the biodiversity of the specialist plant and animal communities they support. Study of mire ecosystems has revealed intimate relationships between their organic components and water, which mean that it is impossible to understand their ecology without considering hydrology. Whilst ecohydrological studies have concentrated on the internal functioning of mires, the insights gained are relevant to runoff generation in peat-covered river catchments. This paper reviews our knowledge of processes occurring in mires and relates these to wider catchment hydrology, on the basis of published information and recent research in Scotland. The influence of different types of land management is considered, and it emerges that mire is most effective in delaying storm run-off, in preventing soil erosion and in retaining inorganic nutrients when it is undrained; although there can be adverse effects on water quality under certain conditions. In the context of global warming, mire ecosystems are sensitive but at the same time robust to climate change, and thus contain archives of climatic data for the Holocene. Moreover, peatlands store significant quantities of carbon, and influence directly the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Various issues related to conservation and restoration of peatland biodiversity have been addressed constructively in recent decades, although approaches and objectives are not always consistent between sites. These are reviewed, and some outstanding issues and research needs are identified.