The domain of function: who''s got it? Who''s competing for it?

We report on two patients with sulbactam/ampicillin (SBT/ABPC)-induced pneumonitis. Both patients were being treated with SBT/ABPC for respiratory-tract infections. Following the initiation of SBT/ABPC chemotherapy, however, chest X-ray films showed a shift of shadow in patient 1 and new pulmonary infiltration shadows in patient 2. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) findings showed a marked increase in the total cell count and percentage of eosinophils in patient 1 and of lymphocytes in patient 2. The results of lymphocyte stimulation tests were SBT/ABPC positive for both patients. SBT/ABPC therapy was therefore discontinued and corticosteroid therapy started. Both patients were subsequently relieved of their symptoms demonstrated significantly lower and pulmonary infiltrate levels. Based on these findings, both patients were given a diagnosis of SBT/ABPC-induced pneumonitis. It has been widely reported that CD 4/CD 8 ratio in BALF decreases in cases of drug-induced pneumonitis. However, some reports have cited increase in the CD 4/CD 8 ratio. In our two patients as well, the CD 4/CD 8 ratio increased. These results, together with the findings from several other case reports, indicate that the CD 4/CD 8 ratio may not be good basis for diagnosing drug-induced pneumonitis. Recently, the incidence of drug-induced pneumonitis has been rising. To our knowledge this is the first report documenting cases of SBT/ABPC-induced pneumonitis.     

Corrosion fatigue of extruded magnesium alloys

Corrosion fatigue tests were carried out on extruded AZ31 (3% Al, 1% Zn, 0.3% Mn, Mg—the rest), AM50 (5% Al, 0.4% Mn, Mg—the rest) and ZK60 (5% Zn, 0.5% Zr, Mg—the rest) Mg alloys in air, NaCl-based and borate solutions. N_sol/N_air ratios (the relative fatigue life) were used for the analysis of the corrosion fatigue behavior of Mg alloys in various environments, where N_sol and N_air are the numbers of cycles to failure in the solution and in air, respectively. Extruded ZK60 alloy reveals very high fatigue and corrosion fatigue properties in comparison with other alloys. However, it has the lowest relative fatigue life (N_sol/N_air 10⁻³–10⁻²) or the highest sensitivity to the action of NaCl-based solutions in comparison with that of AM50 and AZ31 alloys (N_sol/N_air 10⁻²–10⁻¹). Under the same stress, the corrosion fatigue life of extruded alloys is significantly longer than that of die-cast alloys (N_sol for extruded AM50 in NaCl is two to three times longer than that of die-cast AM50).     

A new view of anti‐windup design for uncertain linear systems in the frequency domain

This paper presents a new perspective on the stability problem for uncertain LTI feedback systems with actuator input amplitude saturation. The solution is obtained using the quantitative feedback theory and a 3 DoF non‐interfering control structure. Describing function (DF) analysis is used as a criterion for closed loop stability and limit cycle avoidance, but the circle or Popov criteria could also be employed. The novelty is the combination of a controller parameterization from the literature and describing function‐based limit cycle avoidance with margins for uncertain plants. Two examples are given. The first is a benchmark problem and a comparison is made with other proposed solutions. The second is an example that was implemented and tested on an X‐Y linear stage used for nano‐positioning applications. Design and implementation considerations are given. An example is given on how the method can be extended to amplitude and rate saturation with the help of the generalized describing function, and a novel anti‐windup compensation structure inspired by previous contributions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model reference adaptive control of state delayed system with actuator failures

This paper develops adaptive state feedback control schemes for a class of linear systems with state delay in the presence of unknown actuator failures. The main contributions of this paper are the development of two controller parametrizations which attempt to anticipate the future states, the introduction of an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii type functional to design the new class of adaptation algorithms, and a stability proof.     

Evaluation of intranasal zinc sulfate treatment on olfactory discrimination in rats

The effects of intranasal syringing with 5% zinc sulfate were assessed in rats trained in a wind-tunnel olfactometer to detect the presence of an odor or to discriminate odors of graded intensities. The syringing produced a severe but brief interference in olfactory performance. Full recovery of detection performance occurred within 72 hr after treatment. Initial recovery of odor intensity discrimination occurred in 2-8 days and full recovery within 8-10 days. These results suggest that intranasal syringing with ZnSO4 is not an adequate control for the effects of anosmia produced by olfactory bulbectomy.     

The rebinder effect in corrosive and weak surface-active media

The manifestation of the Rebinder effect in weak surface-active and corrosive aggressive media was experimentally demonstrated. It was shown that this effect in corrosive media is associated with the presence of surface-active components.     

Corrosion of deformed boiler steel in flushing solutions

The effect of work hardening of boiler steel on the kinetics of electrochemical reactions in acid flushing solutions was studied. It was shown that by selecting suitable corrosion inhibitors it is possible to counteract the corrosion accelerating effect of work hardening (the mechanicochemical effect) and to eliminate the electrochemical heterogeneity of steel due to work hardening.