Using a cost-construction model to assess the cost of educating undergraduate medical students at the University of Texas--Houston Medical School

Spontaneous resolution of deformities after excision of facial skin lesions has been known and used for a long time by plastic surgeons. The resorption mechanism of deformity is based on natural skin expansion, and seems to be directly related to the action of the muscles of facial expression and their skin relations. Natural expansion has been shown to be effective in children. Between 1990 and 1994 excision of skin lesions, including congenital nevi, leading to postoperative deformity of the cheek, labial commissure, nose, eyelid and forehead, was performed on 35 patients, aged from 3 month to 12 years. The average follow-up is 24 months. For 26 patients (74%), natural resorption was observed 4 or 6 weeks later with good aesthetic results. For 6 patients (17%), the deformity persisted 3 or 6 months later, but did not require any further surgery. For 3 patients (9%), a second operation was necessary. Using the skins natural capacity for expansion in the treatment of facial skin defects in children is a method of reconstruction which has already been used for excision in enforced position. The platysma and muscles of facial expression by their action on skin mobilisation, allow natural expansion. A better knowledge of cutaneous biomechanical properties enables plastic surgeons to find an alternative to other classical methods.     

Evaluating generalized predictive control for a brushless DC drive

This paper proposes a new control approach for a brushless DC motor drive using the generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm. Based on the same least-squares framework as in the controller design, we further develop the method to design an observer. The GPC algorithm uses the receding horizon approach whereby the control signals are determined by minimizing a quadratic cost function. Our study shows that the rise time and settling time of the servo system have an approximate linear relationship with the prediction horizon. Thus, it is used to tune the controller of the drive. Moreover, the control weighting factor can be used to smooth the controller output. The proposed algorithm has been implemented using a digital signal processor (DSP) and tested in real time with a prototype system. The performance and robustness of the algorithms have been evaluated both in simulation and experiment. The results show that the drive performs reasonably well despite load changes and step changes in the position setpoint. Furthermore, it is fairly robust against motor parameters change     

Off-Site Exposure to Respirable Aerosols Produced during the Disk-Incorporation of Class B Biosolids

Field experiments were conducted at a Class B biosolids land application site in central Arizona to measure, model, and source-track the off-site transport of aerosols emitted when biosolids were disk-incorporated into soils. Real-time PM10 monitoring provided time-resolved aerosol information sufficient for verifying both off-site concentration and off-site exposure time model results. Under the conditions considered and at a distance of 165?m from the aerosol source, biosolids disk-incorporation resulted in an intermittent exposure to biosolids-derived aerosol concentration between 15 and 40?μg/m3 and an inhalable biosolids dose between 2 and 8?μg. Transport modeling predicted that these doses will decrease with increasing wind speed. In addition, three DNA sequence-based biosolids source tracking methods were applied to aerosol samples and confirmed the presence of biosolids in aerosols at 5, 65, and 165?m from the aerosol source. Field measurements and modeling indicate that the nature of biosolids-derived aerosol exposure is a series of intermittent high concentration puffs, rather than a continuous low concentration.     

Efficient Spreadsheet Algorithm for First-Order Reliability Method

A new spreadsheet-cell-object-oriented algorithm for the first-order reliability method is proposed and illustrated for cases with correlated nonnormals and explicit and implicit performance functions. The new approach differs from the writers earlier algorithm by obviating the need for computations of equivalent normal means and equivalent normal standard deviations. It obtains the solution faster and is more efficient, robust, and succinct. Other advantages include ease of initialization prior to constrained optimization, ease of randomization of initial values for checking robustness, and fewer required optimization constraints during spreadsheet-automated search for the design point. Two cases with implicit performance functions, namely an asymmetrically loaded beam on Winkler medium and a strut with complex supports are analyzed using the new approach and discussed. Comparisons are also made between the proposed approach and that based on Rosenblatt transformation.     

An efficient algorithm for the minimum cost min-max load terminal assignment problem

One of the main issues to be addressed in topological design of centralized networks is that of assigning terminals to concentrators in such a way that each terminal is assigned to one (and only one) concentrator and the total number of terminals assigned to any concentrator (which is referred to as load in this paper) does not overload that concentrator, i.e. is within the concentrator's capacity. Under these constraints, an assignment with the lowest possible cost is sought. An assignment of terminals to concentrators which minimizes the maximum load among the concentrators (which qualitatively represents congestion at some hot spots in a network service area) is referred to as a min-max load assignment. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding a min-max load assignment with the-lowest cost. We call this problem the Minimum Cost Min-Max Load Terminal Assignment Problem (MCMLTAP). We present an algorithm for MCMLTAP and prove that the problem is optimally solvable in polynomial time using our proposed algorithm.     

Coordinating Agents in Shop Floor Environments From a Dynamic Systems Perspective

In this paper, we address agent coordination from a dynamic systems perspective and propose a dynamic coordination model, which is inspired by biological metabolic systems. A new coordination mechanism through dynamic local adjustment (CDLA) is presented, and coordination is achieved when every agent utilizes explicitly the global system dynamics and performs iteratively a dynamic local adjustment procedure. The CDLA mechanism is investigated in an example multiagent shop floor system. The results show that the example manufacturing process is well-coordinated and the coordination approach is practically applicable and effective     

Integrating heterogeneous distributed COTS discrete-event simulation packages: an emerging standards-based approach

This paper reports on the progress made toward the emergence of standards to support the integration of heterogeneous discrete-event simulations (DESs) created in specialist support tools called commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) discrete-event simulation packages (CSPs). The general standard for heterogeneous integration in this area has been developed from research in distributed simulation and is the IEEE 1516 standard The High Level Architecture (HLA). However, the specific needs of heterogeneous CSP integration require that the HLA is augmented by additional complementary standards. These are the suite of CSP interoperability (CSPI) standards being developed under the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO-http://www.sisostds.org) by the CSPI Product Development Group (CSPI-PDG). The suite consists of several interoperability reference models (IRMs) that outline different integration needs of CSPI, interoperability frameworks (IFs) that define the HLA-based solution to each IRM, appropriate data exchange representations to specify the data exchanged in an IF, and benchmarks termed CSP emulators (CSPEs). This paper contributes to the development of the Type I IF that is intended to represent the HLA-based solution to the problem outlined by the Type I IRM (asynchronous entity passing) by developing the entity transfer specification (ETS) data exchange representation. The use of the ETS in an illustrative case study implemented using a prototype CSPE is shown. This case study also allows us to highlight the importance of event granularity and lookahead in the performance and development of the Type I IF, and to discuss possible methods to automate the capture of appropriate values of lookahead.     

A comprehensive approach for the eigenproblem of beams with arbitrary boundary conditions

A fundamental but reliable and comprehensive approach of obtaining the exact roots for the frequency equation of given beam systems is presented. The frequency equation is incorporated with the boundary conditions, which depend on the physical components attached to the beam's ends. The eigenvalues are evaluated without knowing the explicit form of the frequency equation. The validity of the proposed algorithm is confirmed by considering an illustrated model with three case studies.     

Rapid determination of chlorophylls in vegetable oils by laser-based fluorometry

The presence of chlorophylls in vegetable oils is considered undesirable due to their adverse effects on oxidative deterioration, bleachability and hydrogenation. The usual methods for determination of chlorophylls in vegetable oils are absorption spectrophotometry, fluorometry and liquid chromatography using fluorescence detectors. This paper outlines a fluorometric method using a laser as the excitation source. The chlorophylls in crude palm oil, rapeseed oil, soya bean oil and olive oil were determined directly by laser-based fluorometry using (a) a helium-neon laser (632-8 nm, 5 mW) as the excitation source and an optical-multichannel analyser (OMA) with an intensified diode array as the detector, and (b) a helium-neon laser and a photomultiplier tube as the detector. The method is especially suitable for the detection of chlorophylls in crude palm oil since no pre-extraction step is required. The levels of chlorophylls measured in vegetable oils using the laser technique was also compared against values obtained by conventional spectrophotometric methods. The simplicity and rapid quantification of laser based fluorometry suggest that this technique can be readily applied to the detection or a wide variety of fluorescing species in vegetable oils.