Topology-Based Interlocking of Electrical Substations

Conventional interlocking of substations is usually expressed by Boolean expressions and realized by electro-mechanical relays. Since these expressions are generated by applying verbally stated interlocking rules to a specific substation configuration, any change of the substation or of the operational philosophy affects them in such a complex way that the problem has to be tackled again in most cases from the very beginning. The proposed topology-based approach suited for microprocessors decouples knowledge-base and implementation, i.e. interlocking rules, and substation configuration. It results in interlocking rules that are independent of a single line diagram and can be applied to all known substation configurations. The rules are divided into mandatory and dependent on operational philosophy. The modularity allows for applying exactly those rules specified in the special project. Any new substation does not require new programming. The inherently fault-tolerant implementation in a 765 kV GIS is briefly described.     

Primary targets for photoinactivation of vesicular stomatitis virus by AIPcS4 or Pc4 and red light

BACKGROUND: In a previous clinical trial, the authors disclosed that the expression of tumor cell motility factor gp78hAMFR correlates with tumor progression in patients with bladder carcinoma. This study was initiated to evaluate whether the combination of cytostatic drugs with an antimotility factor has an effect on chemotherapy-resistant bladder carcinoma. METHODS: In a Phase II trial, the authors evaluated the influence of paclitaxel, carboplatin, and an antimotility factor (acellular pertussis vaccine [APV]) in 18 patients with cisplatin- and methotrexate-resistant metastatic bladder carcinoma. Intramuscular injection of APV 3 times in the first week, on Days 1, 4, and 7, was followed by paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 and carboplatin 400 mg/m2. After an interval of 1 week APV was given again on Days 15 and 19. Each cycle lasted 3 weeks. On Day 22 the cycle was repeated. RESULTS: Four of 18 patients had objective responses (2 had complete remissions and 2 had partial remissions). After a median number of 2.5 cycles, side effects did not exceed World Health Organization Grade 4. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this clinical Phase II study demonstrate that the combination of paclitaxel-based therapy causes complete remissions previously not obtained with second-line chemotherapy, although no conclusions can be drawn as to the effectiveness of the individual substances. Further trials have to be evaluated with regard to the individual components.     

Hb Malm? [beta-97(FG-4)His-->Gln] leading to polycythemia in a Dutch family

We have examined six individuals from a two-generation Dutch family for a suspected hemoglobin (Hb) abnormality. The propositus presented with polycythemia and complained of persistent weakness, headache, and epistaxis. All family members initially showed a normal Hb-electrophoretic pattern, but on isoelectric focusing, three of them displayed a fast-moving band associated with high packed red cell volumes (PCV) and increased red blood cell count. The Hb mutant was analyzed at the DNA level by specific gene fragment amplification (PCR), followed by direct DNA sequencing, and the mutation was confirmed by restriction enzyme analysis. We found a C-->G transversion (CAC-->CAG) at codon 97 of the beta-chain, which corresponded to the His-->Gln amino acid substitution previously described as Hb Malm?. We report here the clinical history of the patient, the effects of phlebotomy treatment, and the effect of subnormal iron conditions on the erythropoietic recovery after phlebotomy. The mechanism responsible for the induction of the higher oxygen affinity is discussed, as are some aspects concerning the occurrence, pathology treatment, and the genetic risk of Hb variants with high O2 affinity.     

Effect of calcium and magnesium on binding of beta, gamma-methylene ATP to sarcoplasmic reticulum

Isolated sarcotubular membranes (SR) from skeletal muscle bound 3.7 nmol of beta, gamma-methylene [8-3H]ATP (AMP-PCP) per mg of membrane protein. Only one class of binding site was identified and the dissociation constant (K) for this site was 1.5 X 10(-5) M. Addition of 0.05% Triton X-100 increased the number of binding sites to 5.7 nmol/mg. ATP and ADP competitively inhibited AMP-PCP binding. The dissociation constants for ATP and ADP were 3.5 X 10(-5) M and 3.3 X 10(-6) M, respectively. Since this data was obtained in the presence of 5 mM EDTA, it was established that the sarcoplasmic reticulum has a high affinity for the metal free forms of ATP, ADP, and AMP-PCP. Magnesium concentrations in excess of 1 X 10(-4) M inhibited AMP-PCP binding. Lower concentrations of magnesium had little effect on AMP-PCP binding. The effect of calcium on AMP-PCP binding was biphasic. Calcium concentration between 1 X 10(-6) and 1 X 10(-4) M inhibited AMP-PCP binding. Inhibition was maximal at 1 X 10(-5) M. Calcium concentration above 1 X 10(-4) M facilitated analogue binding. Possible sites of magnesium and calcium actions are discussed.     

Variational principles for steady heat conduction with mixed boundary conditions

Summary For the boundary value problem of steady heat conduction with general boundary conditions a variational problem is formulated by adding a simple surface integral to Butler's volume integral.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant GK-108.     

Systems-in-foil – Devices,fabrication processes and reliability issues

Systems-in-foil are a new class of electronics in which a full system is integrated into a flexible end product. In this paper, we discuss current research activities and state-of-the-art in this field. Furthermore, some of the associated and expected reliability issues will be addressed on the basis of three examples. As a first example we discuss a flexible large area polymeric organic light-emitting (OLED) device. The reliability targets of these devices require protection against the detrimental influence of water. As a second example, we describe a technology for embedding thinned Si chips between polymeric foils where a careful selection of the base materials is important to account for thermal expansion differences. Finally, as a third example, a novel technology for embedding conductive circuitry in a polymeric foil is discussed in which a good matching of the elastic moduli of the polymeric foil and the embedded circuitry is crucial for the flexibility robustness.     

Training visual attention in a naturalistic visual environment

The efficiency of training visual attention in the central and peripheral visual field was investigated by means of a visual detection task that was performed in a naturalistic visual environment including numerous, time-varying visual distractors. We investigated the minimum number of repetitions of the training required to obtain the top performance and whether intra-day training improved performance as efficiently as inter-day training. Additionally, our research aimed to find out whether exposure to a demanding task such as a microsurgical intervention may cancel out the effects of training.

Results showed that performance in visual attention peaked within three (for tasks in the central visual field) to seven (for tasks in the periphery) days subsequent to training. Intra-day training had no significant effect on performance. When attention training was administered after exposure to stress, improvement of attentional performance was more pronounced than when training was completed before the exposure. Our findings support the implementation of training in situ at work for more efficient results.

Practitioner Summary: Visual attention is important in an increasing number of workplaces, such as with surveillance, inspection, or driving. This study shows that it is possible to train visual attention efficiently within three to seven days. Because our study was executed in a naturalistic environment, training results are more likely to reflect the effects in the real workplace.     

A computational literature review of football performance analysis through probabilistic topic modeling

This research aims to illustrate the potential use of concepts, techniques, and mining process tools to improve the systematic review process. Thus, a review was performed on two online databases (Scopus and ISI Web of Science) from 2012 to 2019. A total of 9649 studies were identified, which were analyzed using probabilistic topic modeling procedures within a machine learning approach. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation method, chosen for modeling, required the following stages: 1) data cleansing, and 2) data modeling into topics for coherence and perplexity analysis. All research was conducted according to the standards of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses in a fully computerized way. The computational literature review is an integral part of a broader literature review process. The results presented met three criteria: (1) literature review for a research area, (2) analysis and classification of journals, and (3) analysis and classification of academic and individual research teams. The contribution of the article is to demonstrate how the publication network is formed in this particular field of research, and how the content of abstracts can be automatically analyzed to provide a set of research topics for quick understanding and application in future projects.