Modeling of the dynamics of GBB1005 Ball & Beam Educational Control System as a controlled mechanical system with a redundant coordinate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ya. Krasinskii

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The method of research stability and stabilization of equilibrium of systems with geometrical constraints is elaborated and used for equilibrium for real mechatronic arrangement GBB1005 Ball & Beam. For mathematical model construction is used Shul'gin's equations with redundant coordinates. The through differentiation geometrical constraints obtained kinematic (holonomic constraints is necessary add for stability analysis. Asymptotic stability equilibrium for mechanical systems with redundant coordinates is possible , in spite of formal reduction to Lyapunov's especial case, if the number zero roots is equal the number constraints . More exact nonlinear mathematical model of the mechanical component Ball &Beam is considered in this paper. One nonlinear geometric constrain in this problem is allow find the new equilibrium position. The choice of linear control subsystem is depend from the choice of redundant coordinate.

Design, synthesis, and actions of a novel chimeric natriuretic peptide: CD-NP.

Science.gov (United States)

Lisy, Ondrej; Huntley, Brenda K; McCormick, Daniel J; Kurlansky, Paul A; Burnett, John C

2008-07-01

Our aim was to design, synthesize and test in vivo and in vitro a new chimeric peptide that would combine the beneficial properties of 2 distinct natriuretic peptides with a biological profile that goes beyond native peptides. Studies have established the beneficial vascular and antiproliferative properties of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP). While lacking renal actions, CNP is less hypotensive than the cardiac peptides atrial natriuretic peptide and B-type natriuretic peptide but unloads the heart due to venodilation. Dendroaspis natriuretic peptide is a potent natriuretic and diuretic peptide that is markedly hypotensive and functions via a separate guanylyl cyclase receptor compared with CNP. Here we engineered a novel chimeric peptide CD-NP that represents the fusion of the 22-amino acid peptide CNP together with the 15-amino acid linear C-terminus of Dendroaspis natriuretic peptide. We also determined in vitro in cardiac fibroblasts cyclic guanosine monophosphate-activating and antiproliferative properties of CD-NP. Our studies demonstrate in vivo that CD-NP is natriuretic and diuretic, glomerular filtration rate enhancing, cardiac unloading, and renin inhibiting. CD-NP also demonstrates less hypotensive properties when compared with B-type natriuretic peptide. In addition, CD-NP in vitro activates cyclic guanosine monophosphate and inhibits cardiac fibroblast proliferation. The current findings advance an innovative design strategy in natriuretic peptide drug discovery and development to create therapeutic peptides with favorable properties that may be preferable to those associated with native natriuretic peptides.

Atrial natriuretic peptides in plasma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goetze, Jens Peter; Hansen, Lasse H; Terzic, Dijana

2014-01-01

Measurement of cardiac natriuretic peptides in plasma has gained a diagnostic role in the assessment of heart failure. Plasma measurement is though hampered by the marked instability of the hormones, which has led to the development of analyses that target N-terminal fragments from the prohormone....... These fragments are stable in plasma and represent surrogate markers of the actual natriuretic hormone. Post-translational processing of the precursors, however, is revealing itself to be a complex event with new information still being reported on proteolysis, covalent modifications, and amino acid...

Atrial natriuretic peptides in plasma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goetze, Jens P; Holst Hansen, Lasse; Terzic, Dijana

2015-01-01

Measurement of cardiac natriuretic peptides in plasma has gained a diagnostic role in the assessment of heart failure. Plasma measurement is though hampered by the marked instability of the hormones, which has led to the development of analyses that target N-terminal fragments from the prohormone....... These fragments are stable in plasma and represent surrogate markers of the actual natriuretic hormone. Post-translational processing of the precursors, however, is revealing itself to be a complex event with new information still being reported on proteolysis, covalent modifications, and amino acid...

Three molecular forms of atrial natriuretic peptides: quantitative analysis and biological characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagai-Okatani, Chiaki; Kangawa, Kenji; Minamino, Naoto

2017-07-01

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is primarily produced in the heart tissue and plays a pivotal role in maintaining cardiovascular homeostasis in endocrine and autocrine/paracrine systems and has clinical applications as a biomarker and a therapeutic agent for cardiac diseases. ANP is synthesized by atrial cardiomyocytes as a preprohormone that is processed by a signal peptidase and stored in secretory granules as a prohormone. Subsequent proteolytic processing of ANP by corin during the secretion process results in a bioactive form consisting of 28 amino acid residues. Mechanical stretch of the atrial wall and multiple humoral factors directly stimulates the transcription and secretion of ANP. Secreted ANP elicits natriuretic and diuretic effects via cyclic guanosine monophosphate produced through binding to the guanylyl cyclase-A/natriuretic peptide receptor-A. Circulating ANP is subjected to rapid clearance by a natriuretic peptide receptor-C-mediated mechanism and proteolytic degradation by neutral endopeptidase. In humans, ANP is present as three endogenous molecular forms: bioactive α-ANP, a homodimer of α-ANP designated as β-ANP, and an ANP precursor designated as proANP (also referred to as γ-ANP). The proANP and especially β-ANP, as minor forms in circulation, are notably increased in patients with cardiac diseases, suggesting the utility of monitoring the pathophysiological conditions that result in abnormal proANP processing that cannot be monitored by inactive N-terminal proANP-related fragments. Emerging plate-based sandwich immunoassays for individual quantitation of the three ANP forms enables evaluation of diagnostic implications and net ANP bioactivity. This new tool may provide further understanding in the pathophysiology of cardiac diseases. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The human endolymphatic sac expresses natriuretic peptides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Martin Nue; Kirkeby, Svend; Vikeså, Jonas

2017-01-01

: Several natriuretic peptides were found expressed significantly in the ES, including uroguanylin and brain natriuretic peptide, but also peptides regulating vascular tone, including adrenomedullin 2. In addition, both neurophysin and oxytocin (OXT) were found significantly expressed. All peptides were...... verified by immunohistochemistry. CONCLUSION: The present data support the hypothesis that the human ES may have an endocrine/paracrine capacity through expression of several peptides with potent natriuretic activity. Furthermore, the ES may influence the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and may regulate...... vasopressin receptors and aquaporin-2 channels in the inner ear via OXT expression. We hypothesize that the ES is likely to regulate inner ear endolymphatic homeostasis, possibly through secretion of several peptides, but it may also influence systemic and/or intracranial blood pressure through direct...

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide: From Posttranslational Processing to Clinical Measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goetze, Jens P

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND:Plasma cardiac natriuretic peptides and peptide fragments from their molecular precursors are markers of heart disease. Clinical studies have defined the current diagnostic utility of these markers, whereas biochemical elucidation of peptide structure and posttranslational processing has...... revealed new plasma peptide forms of potential clinical use.CONTENT:Natriuretic propeptide structures undergo variable degrees of endo- and exoproteolytic cleavages as well as amino acid modifications, which leave the plasma phase of the peptides highly heterogeneous and dependent on cardiac......-atrial natriuretic peptide and pro-B-type natriuretic peptide are useful plasma markers in heart failure. New data have defined cardiac myocytes as competent endocrine cells in posttranslational processing and cellular secretion....

Redundancy and cooperativity in the mechanics of compositely crosslinked filamentous networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moumita Das

Full Text Available The cytoskeleton of living cells contains many types of crosslinkers. Some crosslinkers allow energy-free rotations between filaments and others do not. The mechanical interplay between these different crosslinkers is an open issue in cytoskeletal mechanics. Therefore, we develop a theoretical framework based on rigidity percolation to study a generic filamentous system containing both stretching and bond-bending forces to address this issue. The framework involves both analytical calculations via effective medium theory and numerical simulations on a percolating triangular lattice with very good agreement between both. We find that the introduction of angle-constraining crosslinkers to a semiflexible filamentous network with freely rotating crosslinks can cooperatively lower the onset of rigidity to the connectivity percolation threshold-a result argued for years but never before obtained via effective medium theory. This allows the system to ultimately attain rigidity at the lowest concentration of material possible. We further demonstrate that introducing angle-constraining crosslinks results in mechanical behaviour similar to just freely rotating crosslinked semflexible filaments, indicating redundancy and universality. Our results also impact upon collagen and fibrin networks in biological and bio-engineered tissues.

Atrial natriuretic peptide and feeding activity patterns in rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliveira M.H.A.

1997-01-01

Full Text Available This review presents historical data about atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP from its discovery as an atrial natriuretic factor (ANF to its role as an atrial natriuretic hormone (ANH. As a hormone, ANP can interact with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-A and is related to feeding activity patterns in the rat. Food restriction proved to be an interesting model to investigate this relationship. The role of ANP must be understood within a context of peripheral and central interactions involving different peptides and pathways

Kinematics analysis of a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qu, Haibo; Guo, Sheng [Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing (China)

2017-04-15

In this paper, a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy is proposed. First, the Degrees of freedom (DOF) of the whole parallel manipulator and the Relative DOF (RDOF) between the moving platform and fixed base are studied. The results indicate that the proposed mechanism is kinematically redundant. Then, the kinematics, Jacobian matrices and workspace of this proposed parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy are analyzed. Finally, the statics simulation of the proposed parallel manipulator is performed. The obtained stress and displacement distribution can be used to determine the easily destroyed place in the mechanism configurations.

Kinematics analysis of a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qu, Haibo; Guo, Sheng

2017-01-01

In this paper, a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy is proposed. First, the Degrees of freedom (DOF) of the whole parallel manipulator and the Relative DOF (RDOF) between the moving platform and fixed base are studied. The results indicate that the proposed mechanism is kinematically redundant. Then, the kinematics, Jacobian matrices and workspace of this proposed parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy are analyzed. Finally, the statics simulation of the proposed parallel manipulator is performed. The obtained stress and displacement distribution can be used to determine the easily destroyed place in the mechanism configurations

[The predictive value of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels on outcome in children with pulmonary hypertension undergoing congenital heart surgery].

Science.gov (United States)

Baysal, Ayse; Saşmazel, Ahmet; Yildirim, Ayse; Ozyaprak, Buket; Gundogus, Narin; Kocak, Tuncer

2014-01-01

In children undergoing congenital heart surgery, plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels may have a role in development of low cardiac output syndrome that is defined as a combination of clinical findings and interventions to augment cardiac output in children with pulmonary hypertension. In a prospective observational study, fifty-one children undergoing congenital heart surgery with preoperative echocardiographic study showing pulmonary hypertension were enrolled. The plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels were collected before operation, 12, 24 and 48h after operation. The patients enrolled into the study were divided into two groups depending on: (1) Development of LCOS which is defined as a combination of clinical findings or interventions to augment cardiac output postoperatively; (2) Determination of preoperative brain natriuretic peptide cut-off value by receiver operating curve analysis for low cardiac output syndrome. The secondary end points were: (1) duration of mechanical ventilation ≥72h, (2) intensive care unit stay >7days, and (3) mortality. The differences in preoperative and postoperative brain natriuretic peptide levels of patients with or without low cardiac output syndrome (n=35, n=16, respectively) showed significant differences in repeated measurement time points (p=0.0001). The preoperative brain natriuretic peptide cut-off value of 125.5pgmL-1 was found to have the highest sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 96.9% in predicting low cardiac output syndrome in patients with pulmonary hypertension. A good correlation was found between preoperative plasma brain natriuretic peptide level and duration of mechanical ventilation (r=0.67, p=0.0001). In patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing congenital heart surgery, 91% of patients with preoperative plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels above 125.5pgmL-1 are at risk of developing low cardiac output syndrome which is an important postoperative outcome. Copyright © 2013 Sociedade

The predictive value of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels on outcome in children with pulmonary hypertension undergoing congenital heart surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayse Baysal

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Background and objectives: In children undergoing congenital heart surgery, plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels may have a role in development of low cardiac output syndrome that is defined as a combination of clinical findings and interventions to augment cardiac output in children with pulmonary hypertension. Methods: In a prospective observational study, fifty-one children undergoing congenital heart surgery with preoperative echocardiographic study showing pulmonary hypertension were enrolled. The plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels were collected before operation, 12, 24 and 48 h after operation. The patients enrolled into the study were divided into two groups depending on: (1 Development of LCOS which is defined as a combination of clinical findings or interventions to augment cardiac output postoperatively; (2 Determination of preoperative brain natriuretic peptide cut-off value by receiver operating curve analysis for low cardiac output syndrome. The secondary end points were: (1 duration of mechanical ventilation ≥72 h, (2 intensive care unit stay >7days, and (3 mortality. Results: The differences in preoperative and postoperative brain natriuretic peptide levels of patients with or without low cardiac output syndrome (n = 35, n = 16, respectively showed significant differences in repeated measurement time points (p = 0.0001. The preoperative brain natriuretic peptide cut-off value of 125.5 pg mL−1 was found to have the highest sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 96.9% in predicting low cardiac output syndrome in patients with pulmonary hypertension. A good correlation was found between preoperative plasma brain natriuretic peptide level and duration of mechanical ventilation (r = 0.67, p = 0.0001. Conclusions: In patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing congenital heart surgery, 91% of patients with preoperative plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels above 125.5 pg mL−1 are at risk of developing low cardiac

Effect of the renal natriuretic peptide, ularitide, alone or combined ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect of the renal natriuretic peptide, ularitide, alone or combined with ... inhibitor, Omapatrilat, on experimental volume overloadinduced congestive heart failure in ... N-terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitivity ...

B-type natriuretic peptide as prognostic marker in tetralogy of Fallot surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapoor, Poonam Malhotra; Subramanian, Arun; Malik, Vishwas; Kiran, Usha; Velayoudham, Devagourou

2015-02-01

B-type natriuretic peptide has been extensively studied in patients with cardiovascular disease, but its impact on the perioperative outcome of patients with cyanotic congenital heart defects is still unclear. We assessed the perioperative changes in B-type natriuretic peptide levels and their correlation with preoperative factors and clinical outcomes in a large homogenous group of patients with tetralogy of Fallot undergoing definitive repair at a tertiary care center. A prospective study was undertaken in the cardiac operating room and intensive care unit at a single institution; 250 patients with tetralogy of Fallot undergoing intracardiac repair under cardiopulmonary bypass were studied. B-type natriuretic peptide levels were taken at 3 time points and correlated with clinical variables. Baseline B-type natriuretic peptide levels correlated with the degree of cyanosis in all 4 groups. B-type natriuretic peptide levels at 24 h after admission to the intensive care unit correlated with mortality in the adult subset of patients. B-type natriuretic peptide levels > 290 pg mL(-1) in the intensive care unit predicted an increased probability of adverse clinical outcomes. We demonstrated a rise in serum B-type natriuretic peptide levels in patients with tetralogy of Fallot undergoing definitive repair on cardiopulmonary bypass. B-type natriuretic peptide levels may be monitored to identify patients with cyanosis at increased risk of an augmented inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

the natriuretic peptides: an expanding role in clinical medicine

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Enrique

body's defence against hypertension and plasma volume expansion.2 ... brain natriuretic peptide (B-type), secreted by the ventricle, and C-type peptide, ... Natriuretic peptides, on the other hand, are also stimulated in left ventricular dys- .... tions and in healthy controls as a com- .... stretching of the right ventricle causes.

Reliability–redundancy allocation problem considering optimal redundancy strategy using parallel genetic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Heungseob; Kim, Pansoo

2017-01-01

To maximize the reliability of a system, the traditional reliability–redundancy allocation problem (RRAP) determines the component reliability and level of redundancy for each subsystem. This paper proposes an advanced RRAP that also considers the optimal redundancy strategy, either active or cold standby. In addition, new examples are presented for it. Furthermore, the exact reliability function for a cold standby redundant subsystem with an imperfect detector/switch is suggested, and is expected to replace the previous approximating model that has been used in most related studies. A parallel genetic algorithm for solving the RRAP as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is presented, and its performance is compared with those of previous studies by using numerical examples on three benchmark problems. - Highlights: • Optimal strategy is proposed to solve reliability redundancy allocation problem. • The redundancy strategy uses parallel genetic algorithm. • Improved reliability function for a cold standby subsystem is suggested. • Proposed redundancy strategy enhances the system reliability.

Ethernet redundancy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burak, K. [Invensys Process Systems, M/S C42-2B, 33 Commercial Street, Foxboro, MA 02035 (United States)

2006-07-01

We describe the Ethernet systems and their evolution: LAN Segmentation, DUAL networks, network loops, network redundancy and redundant network access. Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) is an open standard with no licensing fees and its specifications are freely available. As a result, it is the most popular data link protocol in use. It is important that the network be redundant and standard Ethernet protocols like RSTP (IEEE 802.1w) provide the fast network fault detection and recovery times that is required today. As Ethernet does continue to evolve, network redundancy is and will be a mixture of technology standards. So it is very important that both end-stations and networking devices be Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) compliant. Then when new technologies, such as the IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging protocol, come to market they can be easily deployed in the network without worry.

Ethernet redundancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burak, K.

2006-01-01

We describe the Ethernet systems and their evolution: LAN Segmentation, DUAL networks, network loops, network redundancy and redundant network access. Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) is an open standard with no licensing fees and its specifications are freely available. As a result, it is the most popular data link protocol in use. It is important that the network be redundant and standard Ethernet protocols like RSTP (IEEE 802.1w) provide the fast network fault detection and recovery times that is required today. As Ethernet does continue to evolve, network redundancy is and will be a mixture of technology standards. So it is very important that both end-stations and networking devices be Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) compliant. Then when new technologies, such as the IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging protocol, come to market they can be easily deployed in the network without worry

Quantum Darwinism Requires an Extra-Theoretical Assumption of Encoding Redundancy

Science.gov (United States)

Fields, Chris

2010-10-01

Observers restricted to the observation of pointer states of apparatus cannot conclusively demonstrate that the pointer of an apparatus mathcal{A} registers the state of a system of interest S without perturbing S. Observers cannot, therefore, conclusively demonstrate that the states of a system S are redundantly encoded by pointer states of multiple independent apparatus without destroying the redundancy of encoding. The redundancy of encoding required by quantum Darwinism must, therefore, be assumed from outside the quantum-mechanical formalism and without the possibility of experimental demonstration.

The evolution of the natriuretic peptides - Current applications in human and animal medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

van Kimmenade, Roland R J; Januzzi, James L

2009-05-01

Although natriuretic peptides have played an important role in the fluid homeostasis of vertebrates for over several million years, their importance has only been noticed in the last few decades. Yet, the family of natriuretic peptides have since their discovery, drawn the attention of a broad spectrum of physicians and researchers involved in the maintenance of fluid homeostasis, including marine biologists, basic scientists, physicians and veterinarians. While all natriuretic peptides share a common phylogenetic background, due to differences in receptor-binding affinities, they have evolved into different hormones with clear distinct functions. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is the most studied member of the natriuretic peptide family, and together with its cleavage equivalent amino-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) these peptides have emerged as important cardiovascular serum markers. However, since their introduction, physicians involved in human or animal medicine have faced common but also different challenges in order to optimally interpret the diagnostic and prognostic value of these novel cardiovascular biomarkers.

Breed differences in natriuretic peptides in healthy dogs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sjöstrand, K.; Wess, G.; Ljungvall, I.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Measurement of plasma concentration of natriuretic peptides (NPs) is suggested to be of value in diagnosis of cardiac disease in dogs, but many factors other than cardiac status may influence their concentrations. Dog breed potentially is 1 such factor. OBJECTIVE: To investigate breed...... variation in plasma concentrations of pro-atrial natriuretic peptide 31-67 (proANP 31-67) and N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in healthy dogs. ANIMALS: 535 healthy, privately owned dogs of 9 breeds were examined at 5 centers as part of the European Union (EU) LUPA project. METHODS: Absence...... the median concentration in Doberman Pinschers. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Considerable interbreed variation in plasma NP concentrations was found in healthy dogs. Intrabreed variation was large in several breeds, especially for NT-proBNP. Additional studies are needed to establish breed...

Brain natriuretic peptide:Much more than a biomarker

OpenAIRE

Calzetta, Luigino; Orlandi, Augusto; Page, Clive; Rogliani, Paola; Rinaldi, Barbara; Rosano, Giuseppe; Cazzola, Mario; Matera, Maria Gabriella

2016-01-01

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) modulates several biological processes by activating the natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A). Atria and ventricles secrete BNP. BNP increases natriuresis, diuresis and vasodilatation, thus resulting in a decreased cardiac workload. BNP and NT-proBNP, which is the biologically inactive N-terminal portion of its pro-hormone, are fast and sensitive biomarkers for diagnosing heart failure. The plasma concentrations of both BNP and NT-proBNP also correlate with l...

N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide as a cardiac biomarker in Japanese hemodialysis patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, Minako; Doi, Shigehiro; Nakashima, Ayumu; Naito, Takayuki; Masaki, Takao

2018-03-01

This study examined the clinical significance of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide level as a cardiac marker in Japanese hemodialysis patients. This was a multicenter cross-sectional study involving 1428 Japanese hemodialysis patients. Ultrasonic cardiography data at post-hemodialysis were obtained from 395 patients. We examined whether serum N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide levels were associated with cardiac parameters and assessed cut-off values and investigated factors associated with a reduced ratio of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide levels pre- and post-hemodialysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pre- and post-hemodialysis N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide levels were associated with left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiogram (odds ratio: 3.10; p N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide levels were also significantly associated with ejection fraction on urine chorionic gonadotrophin (ultrasonic cardiography; odds ratio: 35.83; p N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide reduction ratio during a hemodialysis session correlated with Kt/V, membrane area, membrane type, modality, body weight gain ratio, treatment time, and ultrafiltration rate with multiple linear regression ( R: 0.53; p N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide are associated with the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy in this population. The post-hemodialysis N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide level is a useful marker for systolic dysfunction.

Natriuretic peptides in unstable coronary artery disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Jernberg, Tomas; James, Stefan; Lindahl, Bertil; Johnston, Nina; Stridsberg, Mats; Venge, Per; Wallentin, Lars

2004-09-01

Patients with unstable coronary artery disease (CAD), i.e., unstable angina or non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, vary widely in clinical presentation, prognosis and response to treatment. To select appropriate therapy, early risk stratification has become increasingly important. This review focuses on the emerging role of natriuretic peptides in the early assessment of patients with unstable CAD. We conclude that levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are strongly associated to mortality and the risk of future congestive heart failure, and carry important prognostic information independent from previously known risk factors in unstable CAD. There are some data indicating that these markers can also be helpful in the selection of appropriate therapy in these patients but further studies are needed. Before a routine use of BNP or NT-proBNP in unstable CAD can be recommended, the cost-effectiveness of adding these new markers to the currently routine markers and their impact on selection of treatment needs further evaluation. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ltd

Pathophysiology, prognostic significance and clinical utility of B-type natriuretic peptide in acute coronary syndromes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiviott, Stephen D; de Lemos, James A; Morrow, David A

2004-08-16

The natriuretic hormones are a family of vasoactive peptides that can be measured circulating in the blood. Because they serve as markers of hemodynamic stress, the major focus of the use of natriuretic peptide levels [predominantly B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal (NT)-pro-BNP] has been as an aid to the clinical diagnosis and management of congestive heart failure (CHF). Recently, however, the measurement of natriuretic peptides in the acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has been shown to provide information complementary to traditional biomarkers (of necrosis) such as cardiac troponins and creatine kinase (CK). Studies in several types of acute coronary syndromes [ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI) and unstable angina (UA)] have shown that elevated levels of natriuretic peptides are independently associated with adverse outcomes, particularly mortality. Additional information is obtained from the use natriuretic peptides in combination with other markers of risk including biomarkers of necrosis and inflammation. This review will summarize the scientific rationale and clinical evidence supporting measurement of natriuretic peptides for risk stratification in acute coronary syndromes. Future research is needed to identify therapies of particular benefit for patients with ACS and natriuretic peptide elevation.

Natriuretic peptides and cerebral hemodynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guo, Song; Barringer, Filippa; Zois, Nora Elisabeth

2014-01-01

Natriuretic peptides have emerged as important diagnostic and prognostic tools for cardiovascular disease. Plasma measurement of the bioactive peptides as well as precursor-derived fragments is a sensitive tool in assessing heart failure. In heart failure, the peptides are used as treatment...... in decompensated disease. In contrast, their biological effects on the cerebral hemodynamics are poorly understood. In this mini-review, we summarize the hemodynamic effects of the natriuretic peptides with a focus on the cerebral hemodynamics. In addition, we will discuss its potential implications in diseases...... where alteration of the cerebral hemodynamics plays a role such as migraine and acute brain injury including stroke. We conclude that a possible role of the peptides is feasible as evaluated from animal and in vitro studies, but more research is needed in humans to determine the precise response...

Modeling and Control of the Redundant Parallel Adjustment Mechanism on a Deployable Antenna Panel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lili Tian

2016-10-01

Full Text Available With the aim of developing multiple input and multiple output (MIMO coupling systems with a redundant parallel adjustment mechanism on the deployable antenna panel, a structural control integrated design methodology is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the modal information from the finite element model of the structure of the antenna panel is extracted, and then the mathematical model is established with the Hamilton principle; Secondly, the discrete Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR controller is added to the model in order to control the actuators and adjust the shape of the panel. Finally, the engineering practicality of the modeling and control method based on finite element analysis simulation is verified.

Atrial natriuretic factor receptor guanylate cyclase, ANF-RGC, transduces two independent signals, ANF and Ca2+

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa eDuda

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Atrial natriuretic factor receptor guanylate cyclase, ANF-RGC, was the first discovered member of the mammalian membrane guanylate cyclase family. The hallmark feature of the family is that a single protein contains both the site for recognition of the regulatory signal and the ability to transduce it into the production of the second messenger, cyclic GMP. For over two decades, the family has been classified into two subfamilies, the hormone receptor subfamily with ANF-RGC being its paramount member, and the Ca2+ modulated subfamily, which includes the rod outer segment guanylate cyclases, ROS-GC1 and 2, and the olfactory neuroepithelial guanylate cyclase, ONE-GC. ANF-RGC is the receptor and the signal transducer of the most hypotensive hormones, atrial natriuretic factor (ANF and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP. After binding these hormones at the extracellular domain it, at its intracellular domain, signals activation of the C-terminal catalytic module and accelerates the production of cyclic GMP. Cyclic GMP then serves the second messenger role in biological responses of ANF and BNP such as natriuresis, diuresis, vasorelaxation and anti-proliferation. Very recently another modus operandi for ANF-RGC was revealed. Its crux is that ANF-RGC activity is also regulated by Ca2+. The Ca2+ sensor neurocalcin  mediates this signaling mechanism. Strikingly, the Ca2+ and ANF signaling mechanisms employ separate structural motifs of ANF-RGC in modulating its core catalytic domain in accelerating the production of cyclic GMP. In this review the biochemistry and physiology of these mechanisms with emphasis on cardiovascular regulation will be discussed.

Redundant actuator development study. [flight control systems for supersonic transport aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Ryder, D. R.

1973-01-01

Current and past supersonic transport configurations are reviewed to assess redundancy requirements for future airplane control systems. Secondary actuators used in stability augmentation systems will probably be the most critical actuator application and require the highest level of redundancy. Two methods of actuator redundancy mechanization have been recommended for further study. Math models of the recommended systems have been developed for use in future computer simulations. A long range plan has been formulated for actuator hardware development and testing in conjunction with the NASA Flight Simulator for Advanced Aircraft.

Antihypertensive action of non-natriuretic doses of furosemide in Dahl salt-sensitive rats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haugan, Ketil; Petersen, Jørgen Søberg; Spannow, Jesper

1997-01-01

Farmakologi, blood pressure, Dahl rats, furosemide, sodium balance, total body sodium, non-natriuretic......Farmakologi, blood pressure, Dahl rats, furosemide, sodium balance, total body sodium, non-natriuretic...

N-terminal Pro-B-type natriuretic peptide: a measure of significant patent cuctus arteriosus

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

OFarombi-Oghuvbu, IO

2008-01-24

Background: B type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a marker for ventricular dysfunction secreted as a pre-prohormone, Pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (ProBNP), and cleaved into BNP and a biologically inactive fragment, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Little is known about the clinical usefulness of NT-proBNP in preterm infants.\\r\

Program management aid for redundancy selection and operational guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, P. W.; Davis, W. L.; Frumkin, B.

1972-01-01

Although this criterion was developed specifically for use on the shuttle program, it has application to many other multi-missions programs (i.e. aircraft or mechanisms). The methodology employed is directly applicable even if the tools (nomographs and equations) are for mission peculiar cases. The redundancy selection criterion was developed to insure that both the design and operational cost impacts (life cycle costs) were considered in the selection of the quantity of operational redundancy. These tools were developed as aids in expediting the decision process and not intended as the automatic decision maker. This approach to redundancy selection is unique in that it enables a pseudo systems analysis to be performed on an equipment basis without waiting for all designs to be hardened.

Mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide and blood pressure in adolescents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goharian, Tina S; Gimsing, Anders N; Goetze, Jens P

2015-01-01

Little is known about blood pressure in relation to circulating natriuretic peptide concentrations and gender in generally healthy adolescents. We studied 15-year-old females and males (n = 335) from the Danish site of the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS). Blood pressure was measured using...... a standardized protocol, sexual maturity was assessed according to Tanner stage, and as a surrogate for atrial natriuretic peptide, we measured mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) in plasma. Compared with boys, girls had lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) (mean ± SD: 109.6 ± 9.9 mmHg vs 116.......9 ± 11.4 mmHg, p blood pressure...

Direct comparison of mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide with N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide in the diagnosis of patients with atrial fibrillation and dyspnoea.

Science.gov (United States)

Eckstein, Jens; Potocki, Mihael; Murray, Karsten; Breidthardt, Tobias; Ziller, Ronny; Mosimann, Tamina; Klima, Theresia; Hoeller, Rebeca; Moehring, Berit; Sou, Seoung Mann; Rubini Gimenez, Maria; Morgenthaler, Nils G; Mueller, Christian

2012-10-01

Due to different release mechanisms, mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR proANP) may be superior to N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT proBNP) in the diagnosis of acute heart failure (AHF) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We compared MR proANP and NT proBNP for their diagnostic value in patients with AF and sinus rhythm (SR). Prospective cohort study. University hospital, emergency department. 632 consecutive patients presenting with acute dyspnoea. MR proANP and NT proBNP plasma levels were determined. The diagnosis of AHF was adjudicated by two independent cardiologists using all available data. Patients received long-term follow-up. AF was present in 151 patients (24%). MR proANP and NT proBNP levels were significantly higher in the AF group compared with the SR group (385 (258-598) versus 201 (89-375) pmol/l for MR proANP, pvalue for the diagnosis of AHF. The rhythm at presentation has to be taken into account because plasma levels of both peptides are significantly higher in patients with AF compared with SR.

Trophic redundancy reduces vulnerability to extinction cascades.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Dirk; Thébault, Elisa; Kehoe, Rachel; Frank van Veen, F J

2018-03-06

Current species extinction rates are at unprecedentedly high levels. While human activities can be the direct cause of some extinctions, it is becoming increasingly clear that species extinctions themselves can be the cause of further extinctions, since species affect each other through the network of ecological interactions among them. There is concern that the simplification of ecosystems, due to the loss of species and ecological interactions, increases their vulnerability to such secondary extinctions. It is predicted that more complex food webs will be less vulnerable to secondary extinctions due to greater trophic redundancy that can buffer against the effects of species loss. Here, we demonstrate in a field experiment with replicated plant-insect communities, that the probability of secondary extinctions is indeed smaller in food webs that include trophic redundancy. Harvesting one species of parasitoid wasp led to secondary extinctions of other, indirectly linked, species at the same trophic level. This effect was markedly stronger in simple communities than for the same species within a more complex food web. We show that this is due to functional redundancy in the more complex food webs and confirm this mechanism with a food web simulation model by highlighting the importance of the presence and strength of trophic links providing redundancy to those links that were lost. Our results demonstrate that biodiversity loss, leading to a reduction in redundant interactions, can increase the vulnerability of ecosystems to secondary extinctions, which, when they occur, can then lead to further simplification and run-away extinction cascades. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Triiodothyronine and brain natriuretic peptide: similar long-term prognostic values for chronic heart failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozdag, Guliz; Ertas, Gokhan; Kilic, Teoman; Acar, Eser; Sahin, Tayfun; Ural, Dilek

2010-01-01

Although low levels of free triiodothyronine and high levels of brain natriuretic peptide have been shown as independent predictors of death in chronic heart failure patients, few studies have compared their prognostic values. The aim of this prospective study was to measure free triiodothyronine and brain natriuretic peptide levels and to compare their prognostic values among such patients.A total of 334 patients (mean age, 62 ± 13 yr; 218 men) with ischemic and nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy were included in the study. The primary endpoint was a major cardiac event.During the follow-up period, 92 patients (28%) experienced a major cardiac event. Mean free triiodothyronine levels were lower and median brain natriuretic peptide levels were higher in patients with major cardiac events than in those without. A significant negative correlation was found between free triiodothyronine and brain natriuretic peptide levels. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the predictive cutoff values were triiodothyronine and > 686 pg/mL for brain natriuretic peptide. Cumulative survival was significantly lower among patients with free triiodothyronine 686 pg/mL. In multivariate analysis, the significant independent predictors of major cardiac events were age, free triiodothyronine, and brain natriuretic peptide.In the present study, free triiodothyronine and brain natriuretic peptide had similar prognostic values for predicting long-term prognosis in chronic heart failure patients. These results also suggested that combining these biomarkers may provide an important risk indicator for patients with heart failure.

Will sacubitril-valsartan diminish the clinical utility of B-type natriuretic peptide testing in acute cardiac care?

Science.gov (United States)

Mair, Johannes; Lindahl, Bertil; Giannitsis, Evangelos; Huber, Kurt; Thygesen, Kristian; Plebani, Mario; Möckel, Martin; Müller, Christian; Jaffe, Allan S

2017-06-01

Since the approval of sacubitril-valsartan for the treatment of chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, a commonly raised suspicion is that a wider clinical use of this new drug may diminish the clinical utility of B-type natriuretic peptide testing as sacubitril may interfere with B-type natriuretic peptide clearance. In this education paper we critically assess this hypothesis based on the pathophysiology of the natriuretic peptide system and the limited published data on the effects of neprilysin inhibition on natriuretic peptide plasma concentrations in humans. As the main clinical application of B-type natriuretic peptide testing in acute cardiac care is and will be the rapid rule-out of suspected acute heart failure there is no significant impairment to be expected for B-type natriuretic peptide testing in the acute setting. However, monitoring of chronic heart failure patients on sacubitril-valsartan treatment with B-type natriuretic peptide testing may be impaired. In contrast to N-terminal-proBNP, the current concept that the lower the B-type natriuretic peptide result in chronic heart failure patients, the better the prognosis during treatment monitoring, may no longer be true.

Motion control of musculoskeletal systems with redundancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Hyunjoo; Durand, Dominique M

2008-12-01

Motion control of musculoskeletal systems for functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a challenging problem due to the inherent complexity of the systems. These include being highly nonlinear, strongly coupled, time-varying, time-delayed, and redundant. The redundancy in particular makes it difficult to find an inverse model of the system for control purposes. We have developed a control system for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) redundant musculoskeletal systems with little prior information. The proposed method separates the steady-state properties from the dynamic properties. The dynamic control uses a steady-state inverse model and is implemented with both a PID controller for disturbance rejection and an artificial neural network (ANN) feedforward controller for fast trajectory tracking. A mechanism to control the sum of the muscle excitation levels is also included. To test the performance of the proposed control system, a two degree of freedom ankle-subtalar joint model with eight muscles was used. The simulation results show that separation of steady-state and dynamic control allow small output tracking errors for different reference trajectories such as pseudo-step, sinusoidal and filtered random signals. The proposed control method also demonstrated robustness against system parameter and controller parameter variations. A possible application of this control algorithm is FES control using multiple contact cuff electrodes where mathematical modeling is not feasible and the redundancy makes the control of dynamic movement difficult.

How Redundant Are Redundant Color Adjectives? An Efficiency-Based Analysis of Color Overspecification

OpenAIRE

Rubio-Fern?ndez, Paula

2016-01-01

Color adjectives tend to be used redundantly in referential communication. I propose that redundant color adjectives are often intended to exploit a color contrast in the visual context and hence facilitate object identification, despite not being necessary to establish unique reference. Two language-production experiments investigated two types of factors that may affect the use of redundant color adjectives: factors related to the efficiency of color in the visual context and factors relate...

Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Stimulates Dopamine Tubular Transport by Organic Cation Transporters: A Novel Mechanism to Enhance Renal Sodium Excretion

Science.gov (United States)

Kouyoumdzian, Nicolás M.; Rukavina Mikusic, Natalia L.; Kravetz, María C.; Lee, Brenda M.; Carranza, Andrea; Del Mauro, Julieta S.; Pandolfo, Marcela; Gironacci, Mariela M.; Gorzalczany, Susana; Toblli, Jorge E.; Fernández, Belisario E.

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on organic cation transporters (OCTs) expression and activity, and its consequences on dopamine urinary levels, Na+, K+-ATPase activity and renal function. Male Sprague Dawley rats were infused with isotonic saline solution during 120 minutes and randomized in nine different groups: control, pargyline plus tolcapone (P+T), ANP, dopamine (DA), D-22, DA+D-22, ANP+D-22, ANP+DA and ANP+DA+D-22. Renal functional parameters were determined and urinary dopamine concentration was quantified by HPLC. Expression of OCTs and D1-receptor in membrane preparations from renal cortex tissues were determined by western blot and Na+, K+-ATPase activity was determined using in vitro enzyme assay. 3H-DA renal uptake was determined in vitro. Compared to P+T group, ANP and dopamine infusion increased diuresis, urinary sodium and dopamine excretion significantly. These effects were more pronounced in ANP+DA group and reversed by OCTs blockade by D-22, demonstrating that OCTs are implied in ANP stimulated-DA uptake and transport in renal tissues. The activity of Na+, K+-ATPase exhibited a similar fashion when it was measured in the same experimental groups. Although OCTs and D1-receptor protein expression were not modified by ANP, OCTs-dependent-dopamine tubular uptake was increased by ANP through activation of NPR-A receptor and protein kinase G as signaling pathway. This effect was reflected by an increase in urinary dopamine excretion, natriuresis, diuresis and decreased Na+, K+-ATPase activity. OCTs represent a novel target that links the activity of ANP and dopamine together in a common mechanism to enhance their natriuretic and diuretic effects. PMID:27392042

The relationship between C-type natriuretic peptide and cognitive impairment in older patients with Type 2 diabetes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xinling; Zhu Xiangyang; Huang Huaiyu; Jin Yan

2011-01-01

Objective: To investigate the relationship between C-type natriuretic peptide and cognitive impairment in older patients with type 2 diabetes, and to explore the pathogenesis of diabetic cognitive impairment. Methods: According to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores, 80 type 2 diabetic patients over the age of 60 years were divided into two groups, one group including 31 cases with cognitive impairment, the other 49 patients with non-cognitive impairment. And 80 normal participants were selected as the control group. Plasma level of C-type natriuretic peptide was measured by radio-immunity assay in all subjects. The changes and associations of the plasma C-type natriuretic peptide level among three groups was analyzed. Result: In the non-cognitive impairment group, plasma level of C-type natriuretic peptide was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). But the plasma level of C-type natriuretic peptide in the cognitive impairment group was degraded, significantly deferent with those in the control group and the non-cognitive impairment group (P<0.01). MoCA scores of the cognitive impairment group positively correlated with plasma level of C-type natriuretic peptide (r=0.513, P<0.01). Conclusion: In the early period of type 2 diabetes,the secretion of C-type natriuretic peptide was increased. When diabetic cognitive impairment complicated,the secretion of C-type natriuretic peptide was decompensated. Then plasma level of C-type natriuretic peptide become low. The level of C-type natriuretic peptide closely correlated with diabetic cognitive impairment. It was suggested that diabetic angiopathies may act an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic cognitive impairment. (authors)

DMPD: The atrial natriuretic peptide regulates the production of inflammatorymediators in macrophages. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available 11890659 The atrial natriuretic peptide regulates the production of inflammatorymed...tml) (.csml) Show The atrial natriuretic peptide regulates the production of inflammatorymediators in macrop...hages. PubmedID 11890659 Title The atrial natriuretic peptide regulates the produ

Development of a super-redundant multijoint manipulator for maintenance of nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Shugen; Hirose, Shigeo.

1994-01-01

A tendon-driven manipulator, the CT Arm, has a specific tendon traction transmission mechanism, in which a pair of tendons for driving a joint is pulled from base actuators via pulleys mounted on the based-side joints. The mechanism makes the most of the coupled drive function of the tendon tractions and thus enables the lightweight manipulator to exhibit enormous payload capability. By this tendon-driven mechanism, a multijoint manipulator with super-redundant degrees of freedom could be realized, which is suitable to the maintenance of nuclear reactors. In this article, we introduce the CT Arm and discuss the possibility to generate a multijoint maintenance manipulator which has a super-redundant degrees of freedom. (author)

Natriuretic peptides stimulate the cardiac sodium pump via NPR-C-coupled NOS activation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

William, M.; Hamilton, E.J.; Garcia, A.

2008-01-01

Natriuretic peptides (NPs) and their receptors (NPRs) are expressed in the heart, but their effects on myocyte function are poorly understood. Because NPRs are coupled to synthesis of cGMP, an activator of the sarcolemmal Na(+)-K(+) pump, we examined whether atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) regul...

Learning contrast-invariant cancellation of redundant signals in neural systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge F Mejias

Full Text Available Cancellation of redundant information is a highly desirable feature of sensory systems, since it would potentially lead to a more efficient detection of novel information. However, biologically plausible mechanisms responsible for such selective cancellation, and especially those robust to realistic variations in the intensity of the redundant signals, are mostly unknown. In this work, we study, via in vivo experimental recordings and computational models, the behavior of a cerebellar-like circuit in the weakly electric fish which is known to perform cancellation of redundant stimuli. We experimentally observe contrast invariance in the cancellation of spatially and temporally redundant stimuli in such a system. Our model, which incorporates heterogeneously-delayed feedback, bursting dynamics and burst-induced STDP, is in agreement with our in vivo observations. In addition, the model gives insight on the activity of granule cells and parallel fibers involved in the feedback pathway, and provides a strong prediction on the parallel fiber potentiation time scale. Finally, our model predicts the existence of an optimal learning contrast around 15% contrast levels, which are commonly experienced by interacting fish.

B-type natriuretic peptide and acute heart failure: Fluid homeostasis, biomarker and therapeutics.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Courchoud, I; Chen, H H

2016-10-01

Natriuretic peptides are a family of peptides with similar structures, but are genetically distinct with diverse actions in cardiovascular, renal and fluid homeostasis. The family consists of an atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and a brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) of myocardial cell origin, a C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) of endothelial origin, and a urodilatin (Uro) which is processed from a prohormone ANP in the kidney. Nesiritide, a human recombinant BNP, was approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of acute heart failure (AHF) in 2001. Human recombinant ANP (Carperitide) was approved for the same clinical indication in Japan in 1995, and human recombinant Urodilatin (Ularitide) is currently undergoing phase III clinical trial (TRUE AHF). This review will provide an update on important issues regarding the role of BNP in fluid hemostasis as a biomarker and therapeutics in AHF. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

An efficient simulated annealing algorithm for the redundancy allocation problem with a choice of redundancy strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chambari, Amirhossain; Najafi, Amir Abbas; Rahmati, Seyed Habib A.; Karimi, Aida

2013-01-01

The redundancy allocation problem (RAP) is an important reliability optimization problem. This paper studies a specific RAP in which redundancy strategies are chosen. To do so, the choice of the redundancy strategies among active and cold standby is considered as decision variables. The goal is to select the redundancy strategy, component, and redundancy level for each subsystem such that the system reliability is maximized. Since RAP is a NP-hard problem, we propose an efficient simulated annealing algorithm (SA) to solve it. In addition, to evaluating the performance of the proposed algorithm, it is compared with well-known algorithms in the literature for different test problems. The results of the performance analysis show a relatively satisfactory efficiency of the proposed SA algorithm

Plasma concentration of atrial natriuretic peptide in normal pregnant women and in pregnant women with preeclampsia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, A L; Schütten, G; Asping, U

1991-01-01

Plasma concentration of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was determined in pregnant women with preeclampsia, in normal pregnant and in nonpregnant women by a specific radioimmunoassay. Results did not show important differences between nonpregnant controls and normal pregnant women, but a signifi......Plasma concentration of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was determined in pregnant women with preeclampsia, in normal pregnant and in nonpregnant women by a specific radioimmunoassay. Results did not show important differences between nonpregnant controls and normal pregnant women......, but a significant rise was seen in women with preeclampsia compared to nonpregnant controls. Marked interindividual variation was found in all three groups. The mechanism of ANP release may differ between those women with normal pregnancy and those with preeclampsia. It is unclear whether the increased level of ANP...... in preeclampsia is an effect or a cause of the disease....

N-terminal pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide in three different mechanisms of dysnatremia onset after a child's craniopharyngioma surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Spatenkova, Vera; Hradil, Jan; Suchomel, Petr

2017-10-01

Craniopharyngioma, due to its sellar location, can be perioperatively complicated by different types of dysnatremia. We present a rare postoperative onset of a combination of three different mechanisms of dysnatremia with N-terminal pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) and renal function parameters in a boy with a good outcome after craniopharyngioma surgery: 1/ Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) onset immediately after the operation, hypernatremia with peak serum sodium (SNa) 158 mmol/l) caused by free water polyuria (electrolyte-free water clearance, EWC 0.104 ml/s), NT-proBNP 350 pg/ml; 2/ cerebral salt wasting (CSW) onset on day 7, hyponatremia (SNa 128 mmol/l) with hypoosmolality (measured serum osmolality, SOsm 265 mmol/kg) caused by natriuresis (sodium - daily output 605 mmol/day, fractional excretion 0.035), NT-proBNP 191 pg/ml; 3/ Polydypsia onset on day 11 caused hyponatremia (SNa 132 mmol/l), EWC 0.015, NT-proBNP 68 pg/ml.

Redundancy of Redundancy in Justifications of Verdicts of Polish The Constitutional Tribuna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Winczorek

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The results of an empirical study of 150 justifications of verdicts of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT are discussed. CT justifies its decisions mostly on authoritative references to previous decisions and other doxa- type arguments. It thus does not convince the audience of a decision's validity, but rather documents it. Further, the methodology changes depending on features of the case. The results are analysed using a conceptual    framework    of sociological systems theory. It is shown that CT's justification methodology ignores the redundancy (excess of references and dependencies of the legal system, finding redundancy redundant. This is a risky strategy of decision- making, enabling political influence.

Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) in early pregnancy is associated with development of preeclampsia in type 1 diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Lene Ringholm; Pedersen-Bjergaard, Ulrik; Thorsteinsson, Birger

2011-01-01

The vasoactive markers of cardiac overload Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) are elevated in preeclampsia. This study documents higher ANP concentrations as early as at 9 weeks in type 1 diabetic women subsequently developing preeclampsia suggesting that preecla......The vasoactive markers of cardiac overload Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) are elevated in preeclampsia. This study documents higher ANP concentrations as early as at 9 weeks in type 1 diabetic women subsequently developing preeclampsia suggesting...... that preeclampsia is associated with cardiovascular changes in early pregnancy....

Predicting genome-wide redundancy using machine learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shasha Dennis E

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene duplication can lead to genetic redundancy, which masks the function of mutated genes in genetic analyses. Methods to increase sensitivity in identifying genetic redundancy can improve the efficiency of reverse genetics and lend insights into the evolutionary outcomes of gene duplication. Machine learning techniques are well suited to classifying gene family members into redundant and non-redundant gene pairs in model species where sufficient genetic and genomic data is available, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, the test case used here. Results Machine learning techniques that combine multiple attributes led to a dramatic improvement in predicting genetic redundancy over single trait classifiers alone, such as BLAST E-values or expression correlation. In withholding analysis, one of the methods used here, Support Vector Machines, was two-fold more precise than single attribute classifiers, reaching a level where the majority of redundant calls were correctly labeled. Using this higher confidence in identifying redundancy, machine learning predicts that about half of all genes in Arabidopsis showed the signature of predicted redundancy with at least one but typically less than three other family members. Interestingly, a large proportion of predicted redundant gene pairs were relatively old duplications (e.g., Ks > 1, suggesting that redundancy is stable over long evolutionary periods. Conclusions Machine learning predicts that most genes will have a functionally redundant paralog but will exhibit redundancy with relatively few genes within a family. The predictions and gene pair attributes for Arabidopsis provide a new resource for research in genetics and genome evolution. These techniques can now be applied to other organisms.

Specificity of B-type natriuretic peptide assays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saenger, Amy K.; Rodriguez-Fraga, Olaia; Ler, Ranka

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: B-type natriuretic peptides (BNPs) are used clinically to diagnose and monitor heart failure and are present in the circulation as multiple proBNP-derived fragments. We investigated the specificity of BNP immunoassays with glycosylated and nonglycosylated BNP, N-terminal proBNP (NT......-proBNP), and proBNP peptides to probe the cross-reactivity of each assay. METHODS: Nine B-type natriuretic peptides were studied, including synthetic and recombinant BNP (Shionogi, Scios, Mayo), human and synthetic glycosylated and nonglycosylated NT-proBNP (HyTest, Roche Diagnostics), and human glycosylated......-Rad, Goetze] were evaluated. Specificity was assessed by calculating the recovery between baseline and peptide-spiked human plasma pools at target concentrations of 100 ng/L BNP, 300 ng/L proBNP, or 450 ng/L NT-proBNP. All assays were performed in duplicate. RESULTS: BNP and NT-proBNP assays demonstrated...

Effects of oral contraceptives on natriuretic peptide levels in women with hypothalamic amenorrhea: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Eleanor; Grinspoon, Steven; Wang, Thomas; Miller, Karen K

2011-06-30

Natriuretic peptides, which are important regulators of salt handling and blood pressure, are 60%-75% higher in healthy young women than in men, consistent with a gender dimorphism. In this randomized, placebo-controlled study in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, we show that administration of oral contraceptives (OC) increases natriuretic peptide levels and that end-of-study free T levels are inversely associated with amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels, consistent with the hypothesis that natriuretic peptide levels may be mediated by differences in gonadal steroid concentrations-estrogens (E) or androgens. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How redundant are redundant color adjectives? An efficiency-based analysis of color overspecification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula eRubio-Fernández

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Color adjectives tend to be used redundantly in referential communication. I propose that redundant color adjectives are often intended to exploit a color contrast in the visual context and hence facilitate object identification, despite not being necessary to establish unique reference. Two language-production experiments investigated two types of factors that may affect the use of redundant color adjectives: factors related to the efficiency of color in the visual context and factors related to the semantic category of the noun. The results of Experiment 1 confirmed that people produce redundant color adjectives when color may facilitate object recognition; e.g., they do so more often in polychrome displays than in monochrome displays, and more often in English (pre-nominal position than in Spanish (post-nominal position. Redundant color adjectives are also used when color is a central property of the object category; e.g., people referred to the color of clothes more often than to the color of geometrical figures (Experiment 1, and they overspecified atypical colors more often than variable and stereotypical colors (Experiment 2. These results are relevant for pragmatic models of referential communication based on Gricean pragmatics and informativeness. An alternative analysis is proposed, which focuses on the efficiency and pertinence of color in a given referential situation.

Brain natriuretic peptide: Much more than a biomarker.

Science.gov (United States)

Calzetta, Luigino; Orlandi, Augusto; Page, Clive; Rogliani, Paola; Rinaldi, Barbara; Rosano, Giuseppe; Cazzola, Mario; Matera, Maria Gabriella

2016-10-15

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) modulates several biological processes by activating the natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A). Atria and ventricles secrete BNP. BNP increases natriuresis, diuresis and vasodilatation, thus resulting in a decreased cardiac workload. BNP and NT-proBNP, which is the biologically inactive N-terminal portion of its pro-hormone, are fast and sensitive biomarkers for diagnosing heart failure. The plasma concentrations of both BNP and NT-proBNP also correlate with left ventricular function in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD, even without history of heart failure. Several studies have been conducted in vitro and in vivo, both in animals and in humans, in order to assess the potential role of the NPR-A activation as a novel therapeutic approach for treating obstructive pulmonary disorders. Unfortunately, these studies have yielded conflicting results. Nevertheless, further recent specific studies, performed in ex vivo models of asthma and COPD, have confirmed the bronchorelaxant effect of BNP and its protective role against bronchial hyperresponsiveness in human airways. These studies have also clarified the intimate mechanism of action of BNP, represented by an autocrine loop elicited by the activation of NPR-A, localized on bronchial epithelium, and the relaxant response of the surrounding ASM, which does not expresses NPR-A. This review explores the teleological activities and paradoxical effects of BNP with regard to chronic obstructive respiratory disorders, and provides an excursus on the main scientific findings that explain why BNP should be considered much more than a biomarker. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inhibition of dehydration-induced water intake by glucocorticoids is associated with activation of hypothalamic natriuretic peptide receptor-A in rat.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Liu

Full Text Available Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP provides a potent defense mechanism against volume overload in mammals. Its primary receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor-A (NPR-A, is localized mostly in the kidney, but also is found in hypothalamic areas involved in body fluid volume regulation. Acute glucocorticoid administration produces potent diuresis and natriuresis, possibly by acting in the renal natriuretic peptide system. However, chronic glucocorticoid administration attenuates renal water and sodium excretion. The precise mechanism underlying this paradoxical phenomenon is unclear. We assume that chronic glucocorticoid administration may activate natriuretic peptide system in hypothalamus, and cause volume depletion by inhibiting dehydration-induced water intake. Volume depletion, in turn, compromises renal water excretion. To test this postulation, we determined the effect of dexamethasone on dehydration-induced water intake and assessed the expression of NPR-A in the hypothalamus. The rats were deprived of water for 24 hours to have dehydrated status. Prior to free access to water, the water-deprived rats were pretreated with dexamethasone or vehicle. Urinary volume and water intake were monitored. We found that dexamethasone pretreatment not only produced potent diuresis, but dramatically inhibited the dehydration-induced water intake. Western blotting analysis showed the expression of NPR-A in the hypothalamus was dramatically upregulated by dexamethasone. Consequently, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (the second messenger for the ANP content in the hypothalamus was remarkably increased. The inhibitory effect of dexamethasone on water intake presented in a time- and dose-dependent manner, which emerged at least after 18-hour dexamethasone pretreatment. This effect was glucocorticoid receptor (GR mediated and was abolished by GR antagonist RU486. These results indicated a possible physiologic role for glucocorticoids in the hypothalamic control of

Diurnal gene expression of lipolytic natriuretic peptide receptors in white adipose tissue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Julie; Fahrenkrug, Jan; Jørgensen, Henrik L

2015-01-01

Disruption of the circadian rhythm can lead to obesity and cardiovascular disease. In white adipose tissue, activation of the natriuretic peptide receptors (NPRs) stimulates lipolysis. We have previously shown that natriuretic peptides are expressed in a circadian manner in the heart, but the tem......Disruption of the circadian rhythm can lead to obesity and cardiovascular disease. In white adipose tissue, activation of the natriuretic peptide receptors (NPRs) stimulates lipolysis. We have previously shown that natriuretic peptides are expressed in a circadian manner in the heart......, but the temporal expression profile of their cognate receptors has not been examined in white adipose tissue. We therefore collected peri-renal white adipose tissue and serum from WT mice. Tissue mRNA contents of NPRs - NPR-A and NPR-C, the clock genes Per1 and Bmal1, and transcripts involved in lipid metabolism...... in serum peaked in the active dark period (P=0.003). In conclusion, NPR-A and NPR-C gene expression is associated with the expression of clock genes in white adipose tissue. The reciprocal expression may thus contribute to regulate lipolysis and energy homeostasis in a diurnal manner....

Language as an information system: redundancy and optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina Mikhaylovna Nekipelova

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The paper is devoted to research of the language system as an information system. The distinguishing feature of any natural living language system is redundant of elements of its structure. Redundancy, broken terms of universality peculiar to artificial information systems, makes language mobile in time and in space. It should be marked out informational redundancy of two types: language redundancy, when information overlay of language units within the system occurs and speech redundancy when condense of information into syntagmatic level occurs. Language redundancy is potential and speech redundancy is actual. In general, it should be noted that the language redundancy is necessary for language: complicating the relationships between language units, language redundancy creates in language situation of choice, leading to a disorder of language system, increasing of entropy and, as a result, the appearing of the information that can be accepted or cannot be by language system. Language redundancy is one of the reasons for growth of information in language. In addition, the information redundancy in language is one of the factors of language system development.

B-type natriuretic peptide secretion following scuba diving

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Passino, Claudio; Franzino, Enrico; Giannoni, Alberto

2011-01-01

To examine the neurohormonal effects of a scuba dive, focusing on the acute changes in the plasma concentrations of the different peptide fragments from the B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) precursor....

Predictive value of natriuretic peptides in dogs with mitral valve disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarnow, Inge; Olsen, Lisbeth Høier; Kvart, Clarence

2009-01-01

Natriuretic peptides are useful in diagnosing heart failure in dogs. However, their usefulness in detecting early stages of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) has been debated. This study evaluated N-terminal (NT) fragment pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (NT-proANP) and NT-pro-brain natriuretic...... peptide (NT-proBNP) in 39 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS) with pre-clinical mitral valve regurgitation (MR), sixteen dogs with clinical signs of heart failure (HF) and thirteen healthy control dogs. Twenty seven CKCS and ten control dogs were re-examined 4 years after the initial examination...... and the status of the dogs 5 years after the initial examination was determined by telephone calls to the owner. All dogs were evaluated by clinical examination and echocardiography. CKCS with severe MR had higher NT-proANP and NT-proBNP compared to controls and CKCS with less severe MR. Dogs with clinical signs...

Preoperative B-type natriuretic peptides in patients undergoing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: A plethora of studies have shown elevated preoperative natriuretic peptide measurements to predict ... In October 2014, we searched the following online databases, ... excluded because they had been retracted due to fraud.

Changes in Serum Natriuretic Peptide Levels after Percutaneous Closure of Small to Moderate Ventricular Septal Defects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuksel Kaya

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background. B-type natriuretic peptide has been shown to be a very sensitive and specific marker of heart failure. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of percutaneous closure of ventricular septal defects with Amplatzer septal occluders on brain natriuretic peptide levels. Methods. Between 2008 and 2011, 23 patients underwent successfully percutaneous ventricular septal defect closure in 4 cardiology centers. Brain natriuretic peptide levels were measured in nine patients (4 male, mean ages were 25.3±14.3 who underwent percutaneous closure with Amplatzer occluders for membranous or muscular ventricular septal defects were enrolled in the study. Brain natriuretic peptide levels were measured one day before and one month after the closure. Patients were evaluated clinically and by echocardiography one month after the procedure. Results. Percutaneous closures of ventricular septal defects were successfully performed in all patients. There was not any significant adverse event in patients group during followup. Decrease in brain natriuretic peptide levels after closure were statistically significant (97.3±78.6 versus 26.8±15.6, =0.013. Conclusion. Brain Natriuretic Peptide levels are elevated in patients with ventricular septal defects as compared to controls. Percutaneous closure of Ventricular Septal Defect with Amplatzer occluders decreases the BNP levels.

The Effects of Race Conditions When Implementing Single-Source Redundant Clock Trees in Triple Modular Redundant Synchronous Architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Melanie D.; Kim, Hak S.; Phan, Anthony M.; Seidleck, Christina M.; Label, Kenneth A.; Pellish, Jonathan A.; Campola, Michael J.

2016-01-01

We present the challenges that arise when using redundant clock domains due to their time-skew. Radiation data show that a singular clock domain provides an improved triple modular redundant (TMR) scheme over redundant clocks.

Preoperative B-type natriuretic peptides in patients undergoing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia ... Preoperative B-type natriuretic peptides in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery: a cumulative ... Future investigation should focus on the clinical implications of these data and the ...

B-type natriuretic peptides. A diagnostic breakthrough in heart failure.

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, P A

2003-04-01

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a neurohormone synthesized in the cardiac ventricles, which is released as N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and then enzymatically cleaved in to the NT fragment and the immunoreactive BNP. Both tests have been used to identify patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Important considerations for these tests include their half-lives in plasma, dependence on renal function for clearance, and the interpretation of their units of measure. In general, a BNP level below 100 pg/mL has strong negative predictive value in the assessment of patients with dyspnea caused by a disorder other than CHF. In addition, BNP levels can be used to gauge the effect of short-term treatment of acutely decompensated heart failure, and the peptide has been shown to be a reliable independent predictor of sudden cardiac death. In the absence of renal dysfunction NT-proBNP has also been shown to be an independent predictor of sudden death in CHF patients. Because both a large area of myonecrosis or concomitant left ventricular failure are related to prognosis in acute coronary syndromes, B-type natriuretic peptides have also been linked to outcomes in this condition. This article describes the physiology and timing of release of B-type natriuretic peptides and the rationale for their use in the following settings: 1) evaluation of decompensated CHF, 2) screening for chronic CHF, 3) prognosis of CHF and sudden death, and 4) prognosis in acute coronary syndromes with inferred left ventricular dysfunction.

Optimally efficient swimming in hyper-redundant mechanisms: control, design, and energy recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiens, A J; Nahon, M

2012-01-01

Hyper-redundant mechanisms (HRMs), also known as snake-like robots, are highly adaptable during locomotion on land. Researchers are currently working to extend their capabilities to aquatic environments through biomimetic undulatory propulsion. In addition to increasing the versatility of the system, truly biomimetic swimming could also provide excellent locomotion efficiency. Unfortunately, the complexity of the system precludes the development of a functional solution to achieve this. To explore this problem, a rapid optimization process is used to generate efficient HRM swimming gaits. The low computational cost of the approach allows for multiple optimizations over a broad range of system conditions. By observing how these conditions affect optimal kinematics, a number of new insights are developed regarding undulatory swimming in robotic systems. Two key conditions are varied within the study, swimming speed and energy recovery. It is found that the swimmer mimics the speed control behaviour of natural fish and that energy recovery drastically increases the system's efficiency. Remarkably, this efficiency increase is accompanied by a distinct change in swimming kinematics. With energy recovery, the swimmer converges to a clearly anguilliform gait, without, it tends towards the carangiform mode. (paper)

Natriuretic Peptides as Biomarkers for Congestive States: The Cardiorenal Divergence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhilash Koratala

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Congestion represents the primary reason for hospitalization of patients with heart failure and is associated with adverse outcomes. Fluid overload has been shown to be inadequately addressed in a significant subset of these patients in part due to lack of robust, reliable, and readily available biomarkers for objective assessment and monitoring of therapy. Natriuretic peptides have long been used in this setting, often in conjunction with other assessment tools such as imaging studies. Patients presenting with concomitant cardiac and renal dysfunction represent a unique population with regard to congestion in that the interactions between the heart and the kidney can affect the utility and performance of biomarkers of fluid overload. Herein, we provide an overview of the currently available evidence on the utility of natriuretic peptides in these patients and discuss the clinical conundrum associated with their use in the setting of renal dysfunction. We highlight the potential divergence in the role of natriuretic peptides for assessment of volume status in a subset of patients with renal dysfunction who receive renal replacement therapy and call for future research to elucidate the utility of the biomarkers in this setting.

B-type natriuretic peptides and mortality after stroke

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

García-Berrocoso, Teresa; Giralt, Dolors; Bustamante, Alejandro

2013-01-01

To measure the association of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal fragment of BNP (NT-proBNP) with all-cause mortality after stroke, and to evaluate the additional predictive value of BNP/NT-proBNP over clinical information....

Practical application of natriuretic peptides in paediatric cardiology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Julie; Goetze, Jens Peter; B. Andersen, Claus

2010-01-01

It is still uncertain if cardiac natriuretic peptides are useful biomarkers in paediatric cardiology. In this review we identify four clinical scenarios in paediatric cardiology, where clinical decision-making can be difficult, and where we feel the paediatric cardiologists need additional...

Circulating osteocrin stimulates bone growth by limiting C-type natriuretic peptide clearance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanai, Yugo; Yasoda, Akihiro; Mori, Keita P; Watanabe-Takano, Haruko; Nagai-Okatani, Chiaki; Yamashita, Yui; Hirota, Keisho; Ueda, Yohei; Yamauchi, Ichiro; Kondo, Eri; Yamanaka, Shigeki; Sakane, Yoriko; Nakao, Kazumasa; Fujii, Toshihito; Yokoi, Hideki; Minamino, Naoto; Mukoyama, Masashi; Mochizuki, Naoki; Inagaki, Nobuya

2017-11-01

Although peptides are safe and useful as therapeutics, they are often easily degraded or metabolized. Dampening the clearance system for peptide ligands is a promising strategy for increasing the efficacy of peptide therapies. Natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) and its naturally occurring ligand, C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), are potent stimulators of endochondral bone growth, and activating the CNP/NPR-B system is expected to be a powerful strategy for treating impaired skeletal growth. CNP is cleared by natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPR-C); therefore, we investigated the effect of reducing the rate of CNP clearance on skeletal growth by limiting the interaction between CNP and NPR-C. Specifically, we generated transgenic mice with increased circulating levels of osteocrin (OSTN) protein, a natural NPR-C ligand without natriuretic activity, and observed a dose-dependent skeletal overgrowth phenotype in these animals. Skeletal overgrowth in OSTN-transgenic mice was diminished in either CNP- or NPR-C-depleted backgrounds, confirming that CNP and NPR-C are indispensable for the bone growth-stimulating effect of OSTN. Interestingly, double-transgenic mice of CNP and OSTN had even higher levels of circulating CNP and additional increases in bone length, as compared with mice with elevated CNP alone. Together, these results support OSTN administration as an adjuvant agent for CNP therapy and provide a potential therapeutic approach for diseases with impaired skeletal growth.

Downregulation of natriuretic peptide system and increased steroidogenesis in rat polycystic ovary.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Virginia M; Honorato-Sampaio, Kinulpe; Martins, Almir S; Reis, Fernando M; Reis, Adelina M

2014-10-01

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is known to regulate ovarian functions, such as follicular growth and steroid hormone production. The aim of the present study was to investigate the natriuretic peptide system in a rat model of chronic anovulation, the rat polycystic ovary. Adult female Wistar rats received a single subcutaneous injection of 2mg estradiol valerate to induce polycystic ovaries, while the control group received vehicle injection. Two months later, their ovaries were quickly removed and analyzed. Polycystic ovaries exhibited marked elevation of testosterone and estradiol levels compared to control ovaries. The levels of ANP and the expression of ANP mRNA were highly reduced in the polycystic ovaries compared to controls. By immunohistochemistry, polycystic ovaries showed weaker ANP staining in stroma, theca cells and oocytes compared to controls. Polycystic ovaries also had increased activity of neutral endopeptidase, the main proteolytic enzyme that degrades natriuretic peptides. ANP receptor C mRNA was reduced and ANP binding to this receptor was absent in polycystic ovaries. Collectively, these results indicate a downregulation of the natriuretic peptide system in rat polycystic ovary, an established experimental model of anovulation with high ovarian testosterone and estradiol levels. Together with previous evidence demonstrating that ANP inhibits ovarian steroidogenesis, these findings suggest that low ovarian ANP levels may contribute to the abnormal steroid hormone balance in polycystic ovaries. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beyond redundancy how geographic redundancy can improve service availability and reliability of computer-based systems

CERN Document Server

Bauer, Eric; Eustace, Dan

2012-01-01

"While geographic redundancy can obviously be a huge benefit for disaster recovery, it is far less obvious what benefit is feasible and likely for more typical non-catastrophic hardware, software, and human failures. Georedundancy and Service Availability provides both a theoretical and practical treatment of the feasible and likely benefits of geographic redundancy for both service availability and service reliability. The text provides network/system planners, IS/IT operations folks, system architects, system engineers, developers, testers, and other industry practitioners with a general discussion about the capital expense/operating expense tradeoff that frames system redundancy and georedundancy"--

Software engineering : redundancy is key

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brand, van den M.G.J.; Groote, J.F.

2015-01-01

Software engineers are humans and so they make lots of mistakes. Typically 1 out of 10 to 100 tasks go wrong. The only way to avoid these mistakes is to introduce redundancy in the software engineering process. This article is a plea to consciously introduce several levels of redundancy for each

[The role of natriuretic peptides in heart failure].

Science.gov (United States)

Ancona, R; Limongelli, G; Pacileo, G; Miele, T; Rea, A; Roselli, T; Masarone, D; Messina, S; Palmieri, R; Golia, E; Iacomino, M; Gala, S; Calabrò, P; Di Salvo, G; Calabrò, R

2007-10-01

Over the last decades, there has been a significant increase in incidence and prevalence of heart failure, a major cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality. Measurements of neurohormones, in particular B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), can significantly improve diagnostic accuracy, and also correlate with long-term morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic heart failure presenting to the emergency department. BNP is secreted by cardiac ventricles mainly in response to wall stress and neurohormonal factors like the sympathetic nervous system, endothelins, and the rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. BNP increases myocardial relaxation and oppose the vasoconstrictive, sodium retaining, and natriuretic effects caused by vasoconstrictive factors. BNP is the first biomarker to prove its clinical value for the diagnosis of left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction but also for the right ventricular dysfunction, guiding prognosis and therapy management. Emerging clinical data will help further refine biomarker-guided therapeutic and monitoring strategies involving BNP.

Nonlinear Redundancy Analysis. Research Report 88-1.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Burg, Eeke; de Leeuw, Jan

A non-linear version of redundancy analysis is introduced. The technique is called REDUNDALS. It is implemented within the computer program for canonical correlation analysis called CANALS. The REDUNDALS algorithm is of an alternating least square (ALS) type. The technique is defined as minimization of a squared distance between criterion…

Clinical significance of detection of plasma natriuretic peptide in the diagnosis of patients with heart failure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Chunli; Liu Haihong; Zhao Ning; Li Jie; Huang Jianmin

2009-01-01

To explore the clinical significance of plasma natriuretic peptide in the diagnosis of patients with heart failure (HF), the plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), NT-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in 129 patients with heart failure and 30 healthy controls were detected by RIA and ELISA. The results showed that the plasma ANP, BNP, NT-proBNP levels in patients with heart failure were significantly higher than the healthy controls. As the cardiac function deteriorated from NYHA I to IV, the BNP and NT-proBNP levels increased consecutively with significant differences from each other. There was a negative correlation between the plasma ANP and NT-proBNP levels and LVEF. The determination of plasma ANP, BNP and NT-proBNP levels in patients with HF were helpful to the study of the severity and diagnosis of disease. (authors)

Natriuretic peptides and integrated risk assessment for cardiovascular disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Willeit, Peter; Kaptoge, S; Welsh, P.

2016-01-01

samples and collection of data from studies identified through a systematic search of the literature (PubMed, Scientific Citation Index Expanded, and Embase) for articles published up to Sept 4, 2014, using search terms related to natriuretic peptide family members and the primary outcomes......BACKGROUND: Guidelines for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases focus on prediction of coronary heart disease and stroke. We assessed whether or not measurement of N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration could enable a more integrated approach than at present...... by predicting heart failure and enhancing coronary heart disease and stroke risk assessment. METHODS: In this individual-participant-data meta-analysis, we generated and harmonised individual-participant data from relevant prospective studies via both de-novo NT-proBNP concentration measurement of stored...

Autosomal recessive atrial dilated cardiomyopathy with standstill evolution associated with mutation of Natriuretic Peptide Precursor A.

Science.gov (United States)

Disertori, Marcello; Quintarelli, Silvia; Grasso, Maurizia; Pilotto, Andrea; Narula, Nupoor; Favalli, Valentina; Canclini, Camilla; Diegoli, Marta; Mazzola, Silvia; Marini, Massimiliano; Del Greco, Maurizio; Bonmassari, Roberto; Masè, Michela; Ravelli, Flavia; Specchia, Claudia; Arbustini, Eloisa

2013-02-01

Atrial dilatation and atrial standstill are etiologically heterogeneous phenotypes with poorly defined nosology. In 1983, we described 8-years follow-up of atrial dilatation with standstill evolution in 8 patients from 3 families. We later identified 5 additional patients with identical phenotypes: 1 member of the largest original family and 4 unrelated to the 3 original families. All families are from the same geographic area in Northeast Italy. We followed up the 13 patients for up to 37 years, extended the clinical investigation and monitoring to living relatives, and investigated the genetic basis of the disease. The disease was characterized by: (1) clinical onset in adulthood; (2) biatrial dilatation up to giant size; (3) early supraventricular arrhythmias with progressive loss of atrial electric activity to atrial standstill; (4) thromboembolic complications; and (5) stable, normal left ventricular function and New York Heart Association functional class during the long-term course of the disease. By linkage analysis, we mapped a locus at 1p36.22 containing the Natriuretic Peptide Precursor A gene. By sequencing Natriuretic Peptide Precursor A, we identified a homozygous missense mutation (p.Arg150Gln) in all living affected individuals of the 6 families. All patients showed low serum levels of atrial natriuretic peptide. Heterozygous mutation carriers were healthy and demonstrated normal levels of atrial natriuretic peptide. Autosomal recessive atrial dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare disease associated with homozygous mutation of the Natriuretic Peptide Precursor A gene and characterized by extreme atrial dilatation with standstill evolution, thromboembolic risk, preserved left ventricular function, and severely decreased levels of atrial natriuretic peptide.

Preoperative B-type natriuretic peptide risk stratification: Do ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: It is unclear if there is value in measuring postoperative B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients risk-stratified using preoperative BNP. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting and subjects: Patients undergoing vascular surgery at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, Durban. Data on intraoperative risk ...

Quantifying Net Synergy/Redundancy of Spontaneous Variability Regulation via Predictability and Transfer Entropy Decomposition Frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Porta, Alberto; Bari, Vlasta; De Maria, Beatrice; Takahashi, Anielle C M; Guzzetti, Stefano; Colombo, Riccardo; Catai, Aparecida M; Raimondi, Ferdinando; Faes, Luca

2017-11-01

Objective: Indexes assessing the balance between redundancy and synergy were hypothesized to be helpful in characterizing cardiovascular control from spontaneous beat-to-beat variations of heart period (HP), systolic arterial pressure (SAP), and respiration (R). Methods: Net redundancy/synergy indexes were derived according to predictability and transfer entropy decomposition strategies via a multivariate linear regression approach. Indexes were tested in two protocols inducing modifications of the cardiovascular regulation via baroreflex loading/unloading (i.e., head-down tilt at -25° and graded head-up tilt at 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°, respectively). The net redundancy/synergy of SAP and R to HP and of HP and R to SAP were estimated over stationary sequences of 256 successive values. Results: We found that: 1) regardless of the target (i.e., HP or SAP) redundancy was prevalent over synergy and this prevalence was independent of type and magnitude of the baroreflex challenge; 2) the prevalence of redundancy disappeared when decoupling inputs from output via a surrogate approach; 3) net redundancy was under autonomic control given that it varied in proportion to the vagal withdrawal during graded head-up tilt; and 4) conclusions held regardless of the decomposition strategy. Conclusion: Net redundancy indexes can monitor changes of cardiovascular control from a perspective completely different from that provided by more traditional univariate and multivariate methods. Significance: Net redundancy measures might provide a practical tool to quantify the reservoir of effective cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms sharing causal influences over a target variable. Objective: Indexes assessing the balance between redundancy and synergy were hypothesized to be helpful in characterizing cardiovascular control from spontaneous beat-to-beat variations of heart period (HP), systolic arterial pressure (SAP), and respiration (R). Methods: Net redundancy

A new model for the redundancy allocation problem with component mixing and mixed redundancy strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gholinezhad, Hadi; Zeinal Hamadani, Ali

2017-01-01

This paper develops a new model for redundancy allocation problem. In this paper, like many recent papers, the choice of the redundancy strategy is considered as a decision variable. But, in our model each subsystem can exploit both active and cold-standby strategies simultaneously. Moreover, the model allows for component mixing such that components of different types may be used in each subsystem. The problem, therefore, boils down to determining the types of components, redundancy levels, and number of active and cold-standby units of each type for each subsystem to maximize system reliability by considering such constraints as available budget, weight, and space. Since RAP belongs to the NP-hard class of optimization problems, a genetic algorithm (GA) is developed for solving the problem. Finally, the performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by applying it to a well-known test problem from the literature with relatively satisfactory results. - Highlights: • A new model for the redundancy allocation problem in series–parallel systems is proposed. • The redundancy strategy of each subsystem is considered as a decision variable and can be active, cold-standby or mixed. • Component mixing is allowed, in other words components of any subsystem can be non-identical. • A genetic algorithm is developed for solving the problem. • Computational experiments demonstrate that the new model leads to interesting results.

Plasma natriuretic peptides in children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnoea and their changes following intervention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Martin Li

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: This study aimed to evaluate circulating natriuretic peptides (NP concentration in obese and non-obese children and adolescents with and without OSA, and their levels following OSA treatment.Methods: Subjects with habitual snoring and symptoms suggestive of OSA were recruited. They underwent physical examination and overnight polysomnography (PSG. OSA was diagnosed if obstructive apnea hypopnea index (OAHI ≥1/h. Fasting serum atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP were taken after overnight PSG. The subjects were divided into obese, non-obese, with and without OSA groups for comparisons.Results: 114 children (77 were boys with a median (IQR age of 10.8 (8.3-12.7 years (range: 2.4-11.8 years were recruited. Sixty-eight subjects were found to have OSA. Natriuretic peptide levels did not differ between subjects with and without OSA in both obese and non-obese groups. . Stepwise multiple linear regressions revealed that body mass index (BMI z-score was the only independent factor associated with NP concentrations. Fifteen children with moderate-to-severe OSA (OAHI >5/h underwent treatment and there were no significant changes in both ANP and BNP levels after intervention.Conclusion: BMI rather than OSA was the main determinant of natriuretic peptide levels in school-aged children and adolescents.

Plant natriuretic peptides control of synthesis and systemic effects

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuhua; Donaldson, Lara Elizabeth; Gehring, Christoph A; Irving, Helen R.

2011-01-01

Plant natriuretic peptides (PNPs) are signaling molecules that are secreted into the apoplast particularly under conditions of biotic and abiotic stress. At the local level, PNPs modulate their own expression via feed forward and feedback loops

Preoperative B-type natriuretic peptide risk stratification: do ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2012-09-11

Sep 11, 2012 ... and noncardiac surgery.6,7 An individual patient data meta- analysis of 850 patients undergoing vascular surgery found that preoperative BNP ..... range. BNP: B-type natriuretic peptide, CVA: cerebrovascular accident, RCRI: revised cardiac risk index ... and avoiding the use of blood stored for >14 days.

The common mode failures analysis of the redundent system with dependent human error

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, M.K.; Chang, S.H.

1983-01-01

Common mode failures (CMFs) have been a serious concern in the nuclear power plant. Thereis a broad category of the failure mechanisms that can cause common mode failures. This paper is a theoretical investigation of the CMFs on the unavailability of the redundent system. It is assumed that the total CMFs consist of the potential CMFs and the dependent human error CMFs. As the human error dependency is higher, the total CMFs are more effected by the dependent human error. If the human error dependence is lower, the system unavailability strongly depends on the potential CMFs, rather than the mechanical failure or the dependent human error. And it is shown that the total CMFs are dominant factor to the unavailability of the redundent system. (Author)

Natriuretic peptides: prediction of cardiovascular disease in the general population and high risk populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hildebrandt, Per

2009-01-01

(General Practitioner) setting as in the acute setting. Supporting this use is a very strong prognostic value of the natriuretic peptides. This has been shown in as well heart failure as acute coronary syndromes, but also in the general population and in high-risk groups as patients with diabetes......, hypertension and coronary artery disease. This has of course raised interest for the use of the natriuretic peptides as a risk marker and for screening for heart failure with reduced systolic function in these populations. In symptomatic persons and in high risk populations, the natriuretic peptides have...... demonstrated a high sensitivity for ruling out the disease, if the right decision limits are choosen. Thus the number of normal echocardiographies can be reduced. More recently, the use in screening asymptomatic persons for left ventricular systolic dysfunction has gained more interest. In the unselected...

Redundancy in Nigerian Business Organizations: Alternatives ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This theoretical discourse examined the incidence of work redundancy in Nigerian organizations as to offer alternative options. Certainly, some redundancy exercises may be necessary for the survival of the organizations but certain variables may influence employees' reactions to the exercises and thus influence the ...

Learners misperceive the benefits of redundant text in multimedia learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Fenesi, Barbara; Kim, Joseph A

2014-01-01

Research on metacognition has consistently demonstrated that learners fail to endorse instructional designs that produce benefits to memory, and often prefer designs that actually impair comprehension. Unlike previous studies in which learners were only exposed to a single multimedia design, the current study used a within-subjects approach to examine whether exposure to both redundant text and non-redundant text multimedia presentations improved learners' metacognitive judgments about presentation styles that promote better understanding. A redundant text multimedia presentation containing narration paired with verbatim on-screen text (Redundant) was contrasted with two non-redundant text multimedia presentations: (1) narration paired with images and minimal text (Complementary) or (2) narration paired with minimal text (Sparse). Learners watched presentation pairs of either Redundant + Complementary, or Redundant + Sparse. Results demonstrate that Complementary and Sparse presentations produced highest overall performance on the final comprehension assessment, but the Redundant presentation produced highest perceived understanding and engagement ratings. These findings suggest that learners misperceive the benefits of redundant text, even after direct exposure to a non-redundant, effective presentation.

Quantum redundancies and local realism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horodecki, R.; Horodecki, P.

1994-01-01

The basic properties of quantum redundancies are presented. The previous definitions of the informationally coherent quantum (ICQ) system are generalized in terms of the redundancies. The ICQ systems are also considered in the context of local realism in terms of the information integrity factor η. The classical region η≤qslant[1]/[2] for the two classes of mixed, nonfactorizable states admitting the local hidden variable model is found. ((orig.))

Clinical Applications of Natriuretic Peptides in Assessment of Valvular Heart Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhishek Sharma

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Biomarkers such as natriuretic peptides (NPs have evolving clinical utility beyond the scope of heart failure. The role of NPs in the management of valvular heart disease is a growing area of investigation. NPs have much potential in the assessment of asymptomatic patients with hemodynamically significant valvular lesions who have traditionally been excluded from consideration of surgical intervention. NPs also have a role in the risk stratification of these patients as well as in routine surveillance and monitoring. Together with echocardiographic data and functional status, NPs are being incorporated into the management of valvular heart disease. In this review we examine the evidence for the role of natriuretic peptides in assessment of VHD.

Clinical Applications of Natriuretic Peptides in Assessment of Valvular Heart Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Vaseem; Garg, Aakash; Aggarwal, Chirag

2015-01-01

Biomarkers such as natriuretic peptides (NPs) have evolving clinical utility beyond the scope of heart failure. The role of NPs in the management of valvular heart disease is a growing area of investigation. NPs have much potential in the assessment of asymptomatic patients with hemodynamically significant valvular lesions who have traditionally been excluded from consideration of surgical intervention. NPs also have a role in the risk stratification of these patients as well as in routine surveillance and monitoring. Together with echocardiographic data and functional status, NPs are being incorporated into the management of valvular heart disease. In this review we examine the evidence for the role of natriuretic peptides in assessment of VHD. PMID:26265794

Management of Chronic Heart Failure Guided by Individual N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Targets Results of the PRIMA (Can PRo-brain-natriuretic peptide guided therapy of chronic heart failure IMprove heart fAilure morbidity and mortality?) Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eurlings, Luc W. M.; van Pol, Petra E. J.; Kok, Wouter E.; van Wijk, Sandra; Lodewijks-van der Bolt, Cara; Balk, Aggie H. M. M.; Lok, Dirk J. A.; Crijns, Harry J. G. M.; van Kraaij, Dave J. W.; de Jonge, Nicolaas; Meeder, Joan G.; Prins, Martin; Pinto, Yigal M.

2010-01-01

Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess whether management of heart failure (HF) guided by an individualized N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) target would lead to improved outcome compared with HF management guided by clinical assessment alone. Background Natriuretic

Urodilatin, a natriuretic peptide with clinical implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, M; Richter, R; Forssmann, W G

1998-02-21

Natriuretic peptides (NP) constitute hormonal systems of great clinical impact. This report deals with Urodilatin (URO), a renal natriuretic peptide type A. From the gene of NP type A, a message for the preprohormone is transcribed in heart and kidney. The cardiac prohormone CDD/ANP-1-126 is synthesized in the heart atrium and processed during exocytosis forming the circulating hormone CDD/ANP-99-126. URO (CDD/ANP 95-126) is a product from the same gene, but differentially processed in the kidney and detected only in urine. Physiologically, URO acts in a paracrine fashion. After release from distal tubular kidney cells into the tubular lumen, URO binds to luminal receptors (NPR-A) in the collecting duct resulting in a cGMP-dependent signal transduction. cGMP generation is followed by an interaction with the amiloriode-sensitive sodium channel which induces diuresis and natriuresis. In this way, URO physiologically regulates fluid balance and sodium homeostasis. Moreover, URO excretion and natriuresis are in turn dependent on several physiological states, such as directly by sodium homeostasis. Pharmacologically, URO at low dose administered intravenously shows a strong diuretic and natriuretic effect and a low hypotensive effect. Renal, pulmonary, and cardiovascular effects evoked by pharmacological doses indicate that URO is a putative drug for several related diseases. Clinical trials show promising results for various clinical indications. However, the reduction in hemodialysis/hemofiltration in patients suffering from ARF following heart and liver transplantation, derived from preliminary trials recruiting a small number of patients, was not confirmed by a multicenter phase II study. In contrast, data for the prophylactic use of URO in this clinical setting suggest a better outcome for the patients. Furthermore, treatment of asthmatic patients showed a convincingly beneficial effect of URO on pulmonary function. Patients with congestive heart failure may also

INTEGRATION OF BIOMARKERS INTO THE PRACTICE OF TREATING PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE: THE ROLE OF DETERMINING THE BLOOD LEVEL OF NATRIURETIC PEPTIDES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. R. Gilyarevskiy

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A clinical role of biomarkers (especially, natriuretic peptides is discussed in the article. The most important evidences of clinical effectiveness of using biomarkers in patients with suspected heart failure and in patients with confirmed diagnose of heart failure are reviewed. The need to use natriuretic peptides in patients with takotsubo syndrome is discussed. Limited diagnostic value of using natriuretic peptides in renal dysfunction, as well as in other diseases in which the concentration of natriuretic peptides may increase in the absence of heart failure, is also discussed.

Redundancy in Nigerian Business Organizations: Alternatives (Pp ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

FIRST LADY

Redundancy in Nigerian Business Organizations: Alternatives (Pp. ... When business downturns ... The galloping pace of information technologies is a harbinger of profound ... Redundant staff in public departments can also be retained as.

Redundant correlation effect on personalized recommendation

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Tian; Han, Teng-Yue; Zhong, Li-Xin; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Chen, Guang

2014-02-01

The high-order redundant correlation effect is investigated for a hybrid algorithm of heat conduction and mass diffusion (HHM), through both heat conduction biased (HCB) and mass diffusion biased (MDB) correlation redundancy elimination processes. The HCB and MDB algorithms do not introduce any additional tunable parameters, but keep the simple character of the original HHM. Based on two empirical datasets, the Netflix and MovieLens, the HCB and MDB are found to show better recommendation accuracy for both the overall objects and the cold objects than the HHM algorithm. Our work suggests that properly eliminating the high-order redundant correlations can provide a simple and effective approach to accurate recommendation.

N + 1 redundancy on ATCA instrumentation for Nuclear Fusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Correia, Miguel, E-mail: miguelfc@ipfn.ist.utl.pt [Associação EURATOM/IST, Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa (Portugal); Sousa, Jorge; Rodrigues, António P.; Batista, António J.N.; Combo, Álvaro; Carvalho, Bernardo B.; Santos, Bruno; Carvalho, Paulo F.; Gonçalves, Bruno [Associação EURATOM/IST, Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa (Portugal); Correia, Carlos M.B.A. [Centro de Instrumentação, Departamento de Física, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra (Portugal); Varandas, Carlos A.F. [Associação EURATOM/IST, Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa (Portugal)

2013-10-15

Highlights: ► In Nuclear Fusion, demanding security and high-availability requirements call for redundancy to be available. ► ATCA standard features desirable redundancy features for Fusion instrumentation. ► The developed control and data acquisition hardware modules support additional redundancy schemes. ► Implementation of N + 1 redundancy of host processor and I/O data modules. -- Abstract: The role of redundancy on control and data acquisition systems has gained a significant importance in the case of Nuclear Fusion, as demanding security and high-availability requirements call for redundancy to be available. IPFN's control and data acquisition system hardware is based on an Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) set of I/O (DAC/ADC endpoints) and data/timing switch modules, which handle data and timing from all I/O endpoints. Modules communicate through Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), established over the ATCA backplane and controlled by one or more external hosts. The developed hardware modules were designed to take advantage of ATCA specification's redundancy features, namely at the hardware management level, including support of: (i) multiple host operation with N + 1 redundancy – in which a designated failover host takes over data previously assigned to a suddenly malfunctioning host and (ii) N + 1 redundancy of I/O and data/timing switch modules. This paper briefly describes IPFN's control and data acquisition system, which is being developed for ITER fast plant system controller (FPSC), and analyses the hardware implementation of its supported redundancy features.

cGMP inhibition of type 3 phosphodiesterase is the major mechanism by which C-type natriuretic peptide activates CFTR in the shark rectal gland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H.R. de Jonge (Hugo); B.C. Tilly (Bernard); B.M. Hogema (Boris); D.J. Pfau (Daniel); C.A. Kelley (Catherine); M.H. Kelley (Megan); A.M. Melita (August); M.T. Morris (Montana); M.S. Viola (Maria); J.N. Forrest Jr. (John)

2014-01-01

textabstractThe in vitro perfused rectal gland of the dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) and filter-grown monolayers of primary cultures of shark rectal gland (SRG) epithelial cells were used to analyze the signal transduction pathway by which C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) stimulates chloride

The potential value of integrated natriuretic peptide and echo-guided heart failure management.

Science.gov (United States)

Scali, Maria Chiara; Simioniuc, Anca; Dini, Frank Lloyd; Marzilli, Mario

2014-07-18

There is increasing interest in guiding Heart Failure (HF) therapy with Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) or N-terminal prohormone of Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP), with the goal of lowering concentrations of these markers (and maintaining their suppression) as part of the therapeutic approach in HF. However, recent European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and American Heart Association/ American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) guidelines did not recommend biomarker-guided therapy in the management of HF patients. This has likely to do with the conceptual, methodological, and practical limitations of the Natriuretic Peptides (NP)-based approach, including biological variability, slow time-course, poor specificity, cost and venipuncture, as well as to the lack of conclusive scientific evidence after 15 years of intensive scientific work and industry investment in the field. An increase in NP can be associated with accumulation of extra-vascular lung water, which is a sign of impending acute heart failure. If this is the case, an higher dose of loop diuretics will improve symptoms. However, if no lung congestion is present, diuretics will show no benefit and even harm. It is only a combined clinical, bio-humoral (for instance with evaluation of renal function) and echocardiographic assessment which may unmask the pathophysiological (and possibly therapeutic) heterogeneity underlying the same clinical and NP picture. Increase in B-lines will trigger increase of loop diuretics (or dialysis); the marked increase in mitral insufficiency (at baseline or during exercise) will lead to increase in vasodilators and to consider mitral valve repair; the presence of substantial inotropic reserve during stress will give a substantially higher chance of benefit to beta-blocker or Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT). To each patient its own therapy, not with a "blind date" with symptoms and NP and carpet bombing with drugs, but with an open-eye targeted approach on the

Increasing The Dexterity Of Redundant Robots

Science.gov (United States)

Seraji, Homayoun

1990-01-01

Redundant coordinates used to define additional tasks. Configuration control emerging as effective way to control motions of robot having more degrees of freedom than necessary to define trajectory of end effector and/or of object to be manipulated. Extra or redundant degrees of freedom used to give robot humanlike dexterity and versatility.

Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) in early pregnancy is associated with development of preeclampsia in type 1 diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Lene Ringholm; Pedersen-Bjergaard, Ulrik; Thorsteinsson, Birger

2011-01-01

The vasoactive markers of cardiac overload Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) are elevated in preeclampsia. This study documents higher ANP concentrations as early as at 9 weeks in type 1 diabetic women subsequently developing preeclampsia suggesting...... that preeclampsia is associated with cardiovascular changes in early pregnancy....

Redundant interferometric calibration as a complex optimization problem

Science.gov (United States)

Grobler, T. L.; Bernardi, G.; Kenyon, J. S.; Parsons, A. R.; Smirnov, O. M.

2018-05-01

Observations of the redshifted 21 cm line from the epoch of reionization have recently motivated the construction of low-frequency radio arrays with highly redundant configurations. These configurations provide an alternative calibration strategy - `redundant calibration' - and boost sensitivity on specific spatial scales. In this paper, we formulate calibration of redundant interferometric arrays as a complex optimization problem. We solve this optimization problem via the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. This calibration approach is more robust to initial conditions than current algorithms and, by leveraging an approximate matrix inversion, allows for further optimization and an efficient implementation (`redundant STEFCAL'). We also investigated using the preconditioned conjugate gradient method as an alternative to the approximate matrix inverse, but found that its computational performance is not competitive with respect to `redundant STEFCAL'. The efficient implementation of this new algorithm is made publicly available.

Prognostic value of natriuretic peptides in severe trauma patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

OpenAIRE

LI, NAN; SONG, ZHI; WANG, JING; TENG, YUE; CUI, YAN; JIN, HONGXU; GAO, YAN

2015-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic values of the N-terminal peptide of pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (NT-proANP) and the N-terminal fragment of B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in severe trauma patients developing multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Out of the 126 severe trauma patients that were admitted to the Emergency Intensive Care Unit of the General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region between January 2009 and December 2011, 26 patients with mult...

On Redundancy in Describing Linguistic Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Borissov Pericliev

2015-12-01

Full Text Available On Redundancy in Describing Linguistic Systems The notion of system of linguistic elements figures prominently in most post-Saussurian linguistics up to the present. A “system” is the network of the contrastive (or, distinctive features each element in the system bears to the remaining elements. The meaning (valeur of each element in the system is the set of features that are necessary and jointly sufficient to distinguish this element from all others. The paper addresses the problems of “redundancy”, i.e. the occurrence of features that are not strictly necessary in describing an element in a system. Redundancy is shown to smuggle into the description of linguistic systems, this infelicitous practice illustrated with some examples from the literature (e.g. the classical phonemic analysis of Russian by Cherry, Halle, and Jakobson, 1953. The logic and psychology of the occurrence of redundancy are briefly sketched and it is shown that, in addition to some other problems, redundancy leads to a huge and unresolvable ambiguity of descriptions of linguistic systems (the Buridan’s ass problem.

Timing control by redundant inhibitory neuronal circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tristan, I.; Rulkov, N. F.; Huerta, R.; Rabinovich, M.

2014-01-01

Rhythms and timing control of sequential activity in the brain is fundamental to cognition and behavior. Although experimental and theoretical studies support the understanding that neuronal circuits are intrinsically capable of generating different time intervals, the dynamical origin of the phenomenon of functionally dependent timing control is still unclear. Here, we consider a new mechanism that is related to the multi-neuronal cooperative dynamics in inhibitory brain motifs consisting of a few clusters. It is shown that redundancy and diversity of neurons within each cluster enhances the sensitivity of the timing control with the level of neuronal excitation of the whole network. The generality of the mechanism is shown to work on two different neuronal models: a conductance-based model and a map-based model

Timing control by redundant inhibitory neuronal circuits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tristan, I., E-mail: itristan@ucsd.edu; Rulkov, N. F.; Huerta, R.; Rabinovich, M. [BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0402 (United States)

2014-03-15

Rhythms and timing control of sequential activity in the brain is fundamental to cognition and behavior. Although experimental and theoretical studies support the understanding that neuronal circuits are intrinsically capable of generating different time intervals, the dynamical origin of the phenomenon of functionally dependent timing control is still unclear. Here, we consider a new mechanism that is related to the multi-neuronal cooperative dynamics in inhibitory brain motifs consisting of a few clusters. It is shown that redundancy and diversity of neurons within each cluster enhances the sensitivity of the timing control with the level of neuronal excitation of the whole network. The generality of the mechanism is shown to work on two different neuronal models: a conductance-based model and a map-based model.

Optimal redundant systems for works with random processing time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, M.; Nakagawa, T.

2013-01-01

This paper studies the optimal redundant policies for a manufacturing system processing jobs with random working times. The redundant units of the parallel systems and standby systems are subject to stochastic failures during the continuous production process. First, a job consisting of only one work is considered for both redundant systems and the expected cost functions are obtained. Next, each redundant system with a random number of units is assumed for a single work. The expected cost functions and the optimal expected numbers of units are derived for redundant systems. Subsequently, the production processes of N tandem works are introduced for parallel and standby systems, and the expected cost functions are also summarized. Finally, the number of works is estimated by a Poisson distribution for the parallel and standby systems. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the optimization problems of redundant systems

Knowledge sharing in construction partnering projects - redundancy, boundary objects and brokers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Christian; Thuesen, Christian

2013-01-01

is on two dialogue excerpts, one on process, and one on product knowledge exchanges. The diversity and disjunctive feature of the practices form a condition of possibility for knowledge handling and synthesis into the built construct. Relation-based interaction is necessary with boundary objects and brokers......This article adopts practice-based theory for understanding inter-organisational knowledge work and extends it with a discussion of the role of redundancy. In this view, a constellation of firms is a multiple configuration of communities of practices, characterised by overlapping practises......, multiple memberships and different levels of participation, and accompanied by a governance frame. The paper discusses central mechanisms for coordinating knowledge in such a complex construction project. The knowledge relations are conceptualised through focusing on redundancy, understood as negotiated...

A Modular Approach to Redundant Robot Control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, R.J.

1997-12-01

This paper describes a modular approach for computing redundant robot kinematics. First some conventional redundant control methods are presented and shown to be 'passive control laws', i.e. they can be represented by a network consisting of passive elements. These networks are then put into modular form by applying scattering operator techniques. Additional subnetwork modules can then be added to further shape the motion. Modules for obstacle detection, joint limit avoidance, proximity sensing, and for imposing nonlinear velocity constraints are presented. The resulting redundant robot control system is modular, flexible and robust

Reliability Analysis Multiple Redundancy Controller for Nuclear Safety Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Gwangseop; Kim, Donghoon; Son, Choulwoong

2013-01-01

This controller is configured for multiple modular redundancy (MMR) composed of dual modular redundancy (DMR) and triple modular redundancy (TMR). The architecture of MRC is briefly described, and the Markov model is developed. Based on the model, the reliability and Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) are analyzed. In this paper, the architecture of MRC for nuclear safety systems is described. The MRC is configured for multiple modular redundancy (MMR) composed of dual modular redundancy (DMR) and triple modular redundancy (TMR). Markov models for MRC architecture was developed, and then the reliability was analyzed by using the model. From the reliability analyses for the MRC, it is obtained that the failure rate of each module in the MRC should be less than 2 Χ 10 -4 /hour and the MTTF average increase rate depending on FCF increment, i. e. ΔMTTF/ΔFCF, is 4 months/0.1

Urodilatin. A renal natriuretic peptide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carstens, Jan

1998-01-01

Development and validation of a radioimmunoassay for endogenous URO in urine and synthetic URO in plasma is described. The first obstacle to overcome was to produce an antibody specific for URO. A polyclonal URO antibody with a cross-reactivity with the structural highly homologous atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was developed by immunization of rabbits with the whole URO(95-126). Purification of the polyclonal URO antiserum with CNBr-activated Sepharose affinity chromatography was a simple way of producing a URO-specific antibody without cross-reactivity with ANP analogues. A reliable 125 I-labelled URO tracer was made with the Iodo-Gen method. Prior to the assay, the urine samples were prepared by ethanol with a recovery of unlabelled URO between 80 - 100% and the plasma samples were Sep-Pak C 18 extracted with a recovery of about 50%. The radioimmunoassay is performed in 3 days, using polyethylene glycol for separation. The sensitivity of the assay was improved by sample preparation and concentration, reducing the amount of tracer and late addition, reducing the amount of antibody and increasing the incubation time and lowering the temperature of incubation. The infusion rate of 20 ng URO kg -1 min -1 was most potential and well tolerated in healthy subjects. The short-term natriuretic and diuretic effects were closely associated with a significant diminished sodium reabsorption in the distal nephron. Further studies are needed to exploit the therapeutical potential of URO, for example in patients with sodium-water retaining disorders. The therapeutical dose range will probably be narrow due to the blood pressure lowering effect of URO with infusion rates higher than 20-30 ng kg -1 min -1 . (EHS)

Diagnostic Usefulness of N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

BACKGROUND: N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) is useful in the diagnosis and management of adult patients with heart failure. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to determine the usefulness of NT-proBNP in diagnosing congestive heart failure (CHF) in children and its correlation with left ...

Brain-natriuretic peptide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate as biomarkers of myxomatous mitral valve disease in dogs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moesgaard, Sophia Gry; Falk, Bo Torkel; Teerlink, Tom

2011-01-01

Elevations in the plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides correlate with increased severity of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dogs. This study correlates the severity of MMVD with the plasma concentrations of the biomarkers N-terminal fragment of the pro-brain-natriuretic peptide...... (NT-proBNP) and its second messenger, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Furthermore, the l-arginine:asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) ratio was measured as an index of nitric oxide availability. The study included 75 dogs sub-divided into five groups based on severity of MMVD as assessed...... by clinical examination and echocardiography. Plasma NT-proBNP and cGMP concentrations increased with increasing valve dysfunction and were significantly elevated in dogs with heart failure. The cGMP:NT-proBNP ratio decreased significantly in dogs with heart failure, suggesting the development of natriuretic...

Radiation-Tolerance Assessment of a Redundant Wireless Device

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Q.; Jiang, J.

2018-01-01

This paper presents a method to evaluate radiation-tolerance without physical tests for a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based monitoring device for high level radiation fields, such as those found in post-accident conditions in a nuclear power plant (NPP). This paper specifically describes the analysis of radiation environment in a severe accident, radiation damages in electronics, and the redundant solution used to prolong the life of the system, as well as the evaluation method for radiation protection and the analysis method of system reliability. As a case study, a wireless monitoring device with redundant and diversified channels is evaluated by using the developed method. The study results and system assessment data show that, under the given radiation condition, performance of the redundant device is more reliable and more robust than those non-redundant devices. The developed redundant wireless monitoring device is therefore able to apply in those conditions (up to 10 M Rad (Si)) during a severe accident in a NPP.

Obstacle avoidance for kinematically redundant robots using an adaptive fuzzy logic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beheshti, M.T.H.; Tehrani, A.K.

1999-05-01

In this paper the Adaptive Fuzzy Logic approach for solving the inverse kinematics of redundant robots in an environment with obstacles is presented. The obstacles are modeled as convex bodies. A fuzzy rule base that is updated via an adaptive law is used to solve the inverse kinematic problem. Additional rules have been introduced to take care of the obstacles avoidance problem. The proposed method has advantages such as high accuracy, simplicity of computations and generality for all redundant robots. Simulation results illustrate much better tracking performance than the dynamic base solution for a given trajectory in cartesian space, while guaranteeing a collision-free trajectory and observation of a mechanical joint limit

Relative Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Deficiency and Inadequate Renin and Angiotensin II Suppression in Obese Hypertensive Men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asferg, Camilla L; Nielsen, Søren J; Andersen, Ulrik B

2013-01-01

Obesity is a strong risk factor for hypertension, but the mechanisms by which obesity leads to hypertension are incompletely understood. On this background, we assessed dietary sodium intake, serum levels of natriuretic peptides (NPs), and the activity of the renin-angiotensin system in 63 obese...... hypertensive men (obeseHT: body mass index, ≥30.0 kg/m(2); 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, ≥130/80 mm Hg), in 40 obese normotensive men (obeseNT: body mass index, ≥30.0 kg/m(2); 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure,...

The Birth and Death of Redundancy in Decoherence and Quantum Darwinism

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, Charles; Zurek, Wojciech; Zwolak, Michael

2012-02-01

Understanding the quantum-classical transition and the identification of a preferred classical domain through quantum Darwinism is based on recognizing high-redundancy states as both ubiquitous and exceptional. They are produced ubiquitously during decoherence, as has been demonstrated by the recent identification of very general conditions under which high-redundancy states develop. They are exceptional in that high-redundancy states occupy a very narrow corner of the global Hilbert space; states selected at random are overwelming likely to exhibit zero redundancy. In this letter, we examine the conditions and time scales for the transition from high-redundancy states to zero-redundancy states in many-body dynamics. We identify sufficient condition for the development of redundancy from product states and show that the destruction of redundancy can be accomplished even with highly constrained interactions.

Redundant dopaminergic activity may enable compensatory axonal sprouting in Parkinson disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Arkadir, David; Bergman, Hagai; Fahn, Stanley

2014-03-25

Neurodegenerative diseases become clinically apparent only after a substantial population of neurons is lost. This raises the possibility of compensatory mechanisms in the early phase of these diseases. The importance of understanding these mechanisms cannot be underestimated because it may guide future disease-modifying strategies. Because the anatomy and physiology of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways have been well described, the study of Parkinson disease can offer insight into these early compensatory mechanisms. Collateral axonal sprouting of dopaminergic terminals into the denervated striatum is the most studied compensatory mechanism in animal (almost exclusively rodent) models of Parkinson disease and is correlated with behavioral recovery after partial lesions. This sprouting, however, does not respect the normal anatomy of the original nigrostriatal pathways and leads to aberrant neuronal networks. We suggest here that the unique physiologic property of the dopaminergic innervation of the striatum, namely redundancy of information encoding, is crucial to the efficacy of compensatory axonal sprouting in the presence of aberrant anatomical connections. Redundant information encoding results from the similarity of representation of salient and rewarding events by many dopaminergic neurons, from the wide axonal field of a single dopaminergic neuron in the striatum, and from the nonspecific spatial effect of dopamine on striatal neurons (volume conductance). Finally, we discuss the relevance of these findings in animal models to human patients with Parkinson disease.

Natriuretic peptide infusion reduces myocardial injury during acute ischemia/reperfusion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kousholt, Birgitte S.; Larsen, Jens Kjærgaard Rolighed; Bisgaard, Line Stattau

2012-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether a natriuretic peptide infusion during reperfusion can reduce cardiomyocyte ischemia–reperfusion damage. Materials and methods: The effect of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) activity was assessed in vitro and in vivo: the cellular effect...... in apoptotic changes in the BNP-stimulated cells. Pigs tolerated the BNP and CD-NP (a CNP analogue) infusion well, with a decrease in systemic blood pressure (~15 mmHg) and increased diuresis compared with the controls. Left ventricular pressure decreased in the pigs that received BNP infusion compared...... with controls (P=0.02). A similar trend was observed in the pigs that received CD-NP infusion, although this was not significant (P=0.3). BNP and CD-NP infusion in pigs reduced total cardiac troponin T release by 46 and 40%, respectively (P=0.0015 and 0.0019), and were associated with improved RNA integrity...

Natriuretic peptide infusion reduces myocardial injury during acute ischemia/reperfusion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kousholt, Birgitte S.; Larsen, Jens Kjærgaard Rolighed; Bisgaard, Line Stattau

2012-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether a natriuretic peptide infusion during reperfusion can reduce cardiomyocyte ischemia–reperfusion damage. Materials and methods: The effect of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) activity was assessed in vitro and in vivo: the cellular effect...... in apoptotic changes in the BNP-stimulated cells. Pigs tolerated the BNP and CD-NP (a CNP analogue) infusion well, with a decrease in systemic blood pressure (∼15 mmHg) and increased diuresis compared with the controls. Left ventricular pressure decreased in the pigs that received BNP infusion compared...... with controls (P=0.02). A similar trend was observed in the pigs that received CD-NP infusion, although this was not significant (P=0.3). BNP and CD-NP infusion in pigs reduced total cardiac troponin T release by 46 and 40%, respectively (P=0.0015 and 0.0019), and were associated with improved RNA integrity...

Plasma Atrial Natriuretic Peptide as a non-invasive biochemical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Plasma Atrial Natriuretic Peptide as a non-invasive biochemical marker of dyspnoea in congestive heart failure patients. ... University of Mauritius Research Journal ... score assessed by a 10 graded visual analogue scale in the control group (mean score = 1) and an increased from 1.6 to 6.4 in the heart failure patients.

Pro–A-Type Natriuretic Peptide, Proadrenomedullin, and N-Terminal Pro–B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Used in a Multimarker Strategy in Primary Health Care in Risk Assessment of Patients With Symptoms of Heart Failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alehagen, Urban; Dahlström, Ulf; Rehfeld, Jens F

2013-01-01

Use of new biomarkers in the handling of heart failure patients has been advocated in the literature, but most often in hospital-based populations. Therefore, we wanted to evaluate whether plasma measurement of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), midregional pro-A-type...... natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), and midregional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM), individually or combined, gives prognostic information regarding cardiovascular and all-cause mortality that could motivate use in elderly patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of heart failure in primary health care....

Selective Redundancy Removal: A Framework for Data Hiding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ugo Fiore

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Data hiding techniques have so far concentrated on adding or modifying irrelevant information in order to hide a message. However, files in widespread use, such as HTML documents, usually exhibit high redundancy levels, caused by code-generation programs. Such redundancy may be removed by means of optimization software. Redundancy removal, if applied selectively, enables information hiding. This work introduces Selective Redundancy Removal (SRR as a framework for hiding data. An example application of the framework is given in terms of hiding information in HTML documents. Non-uniformity across documents may raise alarms. Nevertheless, selective application of optimization techniques might be due to the legitimate use of optimization software not supporting all the optimization methods, or configured to not use all of them.

Prioritising Redundant Network Component for HOWBAN Survivability Using FMEA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheong Loong Chan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Deploying redundant component is the ubiquitous approach to improve the reliability and survivability of a hybrid optical wireless broadband access network (HOWBAN. Much work has been done to study the cost and impact of deploying redundant component in the network but no formal tools have been used to enable the evaluation and decision to prioritise the deployment of redundant facilities in the network. In this paper we show how FMEA (Failure Mode Effect and Analysis technique can be adapted to identify the critical segment in the network and prioritise the redundant component to be deployed to ensure network survivability. Our result showed that priority must be given to redundancy to mitigate grid power outage particularly in less developed countries which is poised for rapid expansion in broadband services.

A succession of theories: purging redundancy from disturbance theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Pulsford, Stephanie A; Lindenmayer, David B; Driscoll, Don A

2016-02-01

The topics of succession and post-disturbance ecosystem recovery have a long and convoluted history. There is extensive redundancy within this body of theory, which has resulted in confusion, and the links among theories have not been adequately drawn. This review aims to distil the unique ideas from the array of theory related to ecosystem change in response to disturbance. This will help to reduce redundancy, and improve communication and understanding between researchers. We first outline the broad range of concepts that have developed over the past century to describe community change in response to disturbance. The body of work spans overlapping succession concepts presented by Clements in 1916, Egler in 1954, and Connell and Slatyer in 1977. Other theories describing community change include state and transition models, biological legacy theory, and the application of functional traits to predict responses to disturbance. Second, we identify areas of overlap of these theories, in addition to highlighting the conceptual and taxonomic limitations of each. In aligning each of these theories with one another, the limited scope and relative inflexibility of some theories becomes apparent, and redundancy becomes explicit. We identify a set of unique concepts to describe the range of mechanisms driving ecosystem responses to disturbance. We present a schematic model of our proposed synthesis which brings together the range of unique mechanisms that were identified in our review. The model describes five main mechanisms of transition away from a post-disturbance community: (i) pulse events with rapid state shifts; (ii) stochastic community drift; (iii) facilitation; (iv) competition; and (v) the influence of the initial composition of a post-disturbance community. In addition, stabilising processes such as biological legacies, inhibition or continuing disturbance may prevent a transition between community types. Integrating these six mechanisms with the functional

Discriminating between cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction in the general population with dyspnea by plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mogelvang, R; Goetze, JP; Schnohr, P

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine whether measurement of plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) could be used in discriminating between cardiac and pulmonary dyspnea in the general population. BACKGROUND: Natriuretic peptides are useful markers in ruling out acute cardiac d......% to 17%). CONCLUSIONS: In the general population with dyspnea, plasma proBNP concentrations are increased in left ventricular dilatation, hypertrophy, systolic dysfunction, or diastolic dysfunction, but are unaffected by pulmonary dysfunction.......OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine whether measurement of plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) could be used in discriminating between cardiac and pulmonary dyspnea in the general population. BACKGROUND: Natriuretic peptides are useful markers in ruling out acute cardiac...... dyspnea in the emergency department, but their diagnostic significance in evaluating chronic dyspnea in the general population is unknown. METHODS: Within the Copenhagen City Heart Study, a large, community-based population study, dyspnea was evaluated by spirometry, oxygen saturation, echocardiography...

Cardiac natriuretic peptides in plasma increase after dietary induced weight loss in obesity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kistorp, Caroline Michaela Nervil; Bliddal, Henning; Gøtze, Jens P.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cardiac natriuretic peptides are established biomarkers in heart disease, but are also affected by body mass index (BMI). The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of weight loss and changes in body composition following dietary intervention on plasma concentrations...... of the prohormones to A- and B-type natriuretic peptides (proANP and proBNP) and adrenomedullin (proADM). RESULTS: A total of 52 healthy obese subjects, 47 women and 5 men (BMI 36.5 ± 5.6 kg/m(2)) were randomised to either an intensive weight reduction programme using a combination of very low calorie diet (810 kcal...

Reliability optimization of a redundant system with failure dependencies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu Haiyang [Institute Charles Delaunay (ICD, FRE CNRS 2848), Troyes University of Technology, Rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes (France)]. E-mail: Haiyang.YU@utt.fr; Chu Chengbin [Institute Charles Delaunay (ICD, FRE CNRS 2848), Troyes University of Technology, Rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes (France); Management School, Hefei University of Technology, 193 Tunxi Road, Hefei (China); Chatelet, Eric [Institute Charles Delaunay (ICD, FRE CNRS 2848), Troyes University of Technology, Rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes (France); Yalaoui, Farouk [Institute Charles Delaunay (ICD, FRE CNRS 2848), Troyes University of Technology, Rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes (France)

2007-12-15

In a multi-component system, the failure of one component can reduce the system reliability in two aspects: loss of the reliability contribution of this failed component, and the reconfiguration of the system, e.g., the redistribution of the system loading. The system reconfiguration can be triggered by the component failures as well as by adding redundancies. Hence, dependency is essential for the design of a multi-component system. In this paper, we study the design of a redundant system with the consideration of a specific kind of failure dependency, i.e., the redundant dependency. The dependence function is introduced to quantify the redundant dependency. With the dependence function, the redundant dependencies are further classified as independence, weak, linear, and strong dependencies. In addition, this classification is useful in that it facilitates the optimization resolution of the system design. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the concept of redundant dependency and its application in system design. This paper thus conveys the significance of failure dependencies in the reliability optimization of systems.

Reliability optimization of a redundant system with failure dependencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Haiyang; Chu Chengbin; Chatelet, Eric; Yalaoui, Farouk

2007-01-01

In a multi-component system, the failure of one component can reduce the system reliability in two aspects: loss of the reliability contribution of this failed component, and the reconfiguration of the system, e.g., the redistribution of the system loading. The system reconfiguration can be triggered by the component failures as well as by adding redundancies. Hence, dependency is essential for the design of a multi-component system. In this paper, we study the design of a redundant system with the consideration of a specific kind of failure dependency, i.e., the redundant dependency. The dependence function is introduced to quantify the redundant dependency. With the dependence function, the redundant dependencies are further classified as independence, weak, linear, and strong dependencies. In addition, this classification is useful in that it facilitates the optimization resolution of the system design. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the concept of redundant dependency and its application in system design. This paper thus conveys the significance of failure dependencies in the reliability optimization of systems

Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Women with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea: A Pilot Study

OpenAIRE

Lin, Eleanor; Grinspoon, Steven; Wang, Thomas; Miller, Karen K.

2011-01-01

Natriuretic peptides, which are important regulators of salt handling and blood pressure, are 60 – 75% higher in healthy young women than in men, consistent with a gender dimorphism. In this randomized, placebo-controlled study in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, we show that administration of oral contraceptives increases natriuretic peptide levels and that end-of-study free testosterone levels are inversely associated with NT-proBNP levels, consistent with the hypothesis that ...

Exploiting Redundancy in an OFDM SDR Receiver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Palenik

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Common OFDM system contains redundancy necessary to mitigate interblock interference and allows computationally effective single-tap frequency domain equalization in receiver. Assuming the system implements an outer error correcting code and channel state information is available in the receiver, we show that it is possible to understand the cyclic prefix insertion as a weak inner ECC encoding and exploit the introduced redundancy to slightly improve error performance of such a system. In this paper, an easy way to implement modification to an existing SDR OFDM receiver is presented. This modification enables the utilization of prefix redundancy, while preserving full compatibility with existing OFDM-based communication standards.

Redundancy and Reliability for an HPC Data Centre

OpenAIRE

Erhan Yılmaz

2012-01-01

Defining a level of redundancy is a strategic question when planning a new data centre, as it will directly impact the entire design of the building as well as the construction and operational costs. It will also affect how to integrate future extension plans into the design. Redundancy is also a key strategic issue when upgrading or retrofitting an existing facility. Redundancy is a central strategic question to any business that relies on data centres for its operation. In th...

Mature neurons dynamically restrict apoptosis via redundant premitochondrial brakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Annis, Ryan P; Swahari, Vijay; Nakamura, Ayumi; Xie, Alison X; Hammond, Scott M; Deshmukh, Mohanish

2016-12-01

Apoptotic cell death is critical for the early development of the nervous system, but once the nervous system is established, the apoptotic pathway becomes highly restricted in mature neurons. However, the mechanisms underlying this increased resistance to apoptosis in these mature neurons are not completely understood. We have previously found that members of the miR-29 family of microRNAs (miRNAs) are induced with neuronal maturation and that overexpression of miR-29 was sufficient to restrict apoptosis in neurons. To determine whether endogenous miR-29 alone was responsible for the inhibition of cytochrome c release in mature neurons, we examined the status of the apoptotic pathway in sympathetic neurons deficient for all three miR-29 family members. Unexpectedly, we found that the apoptotic pathway remained largely restricted in miR-29-deficient mature neurons. We therefore probed for additional mechanisms by which mature neurons resist apoptosis. We identify miR-24 as another miRNA that is upregulated in the maturing cerebellum and sympathetic neurons that can act redundantly with miR-29 by targeting a similar repertoire of prodeath BH3-only genes. Overall, our results reveal that mature neurons engage multiple redundant brakes to restrict the apoptotic pathway and ensure their long-term survival. © 2016 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Reduced ability of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) to activate natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) causes dwarfism in lbab−/− mice

Science.gov (United States)

Yoder, Andrea R.; Kruse, Andrew C.; Earhart, Cathleen A.; Ohlendorf, Douglas H.; Potter, Lincoln R.

2015-01-01

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) stimulates endochondrial ossification by activating the transmembrane guanylyl cyclase, natriuretic peptide receptor-B (NPR-B). Recently, a spontaneous autosomal recessive mutation that causes severe dwarfism in mice was identified. The mutant, called long bone abnormality (lbab), contains a single point mutation that converts an arginine to a glycine in a conserved coding region of the CNP gene, but how this mutation affects CNP activity has not been reported. Here, we determined that thirty to greater than one hundred-fold more CNPlbab was required to activate NPR-B as compared to wild-type CNP in whole cell cGMP elevation and membrane guanylyl cyclase assays. The reduced ability of CNPlbab to activate NPR-B was explained, at least in part, by decreased binding since ten-fold more CNPlbab than wild-type CNP was required to compete with [125I][Tyr0]CNP for receptor binding. Molecular modeling suggested that the conserved arginine is critical for binding to an equally conserved acidic pocket in NPR-B. These results indicate that reduced binding to and activation of NPR-B causes dwarfism in lbab−/− mice. PMID:18554750

Self-Healing Networks: Redundancy and Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Quattrociocchi, Walter; Caldarelli, Guido; Scala, Antonio

2014-01-01

We introduce the concept of self-healing in the field of complex networks modelling; in particular, self-healing capabilities are implemented through distributed communication protocols that exploit redundant links to recover the connectivity of the system. We then analyze the effect of the level of redundancy on the resilience to multiple failures; in particular, we measure the fraction of nodes still served for increasing levels of network damages. Finally, we study the effects of redundancy under different connectivity patterns—from planar grids, to small-world, up to scale-free networks—on healing performances. Small-world topologies show that introducing some long-range connections in planar grids greatly enhances the resilience to multiple failures with performances comparable to the case of the most resilient (and least realistic) scale-free structures. Obvious applications of self-healing are in the important field of infrastructural networks like gas, power, water, oil distribution systems. PMID:24533065

Motion compensation via redundant-wavelet multihypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, James E; Cui, Suxia; Wang, Yonghui

2006-10-01

Multihypothesis motion compensation has been widely used in video coding with previous attention focused on techniques employing predictions that are diverse spatially or temporally. In this paper, the multihypothesis concept is extended into the transform domain by using a redundant wavelet transform to produce multiple predictions that are diverse in transform phase. The corresponding multiple-phase inverse transform implicitly combines the phase-diverse predictions into a single spatial-domain prediction for motion compensation. The performance advantage of this redundant-wavelet-multihypothesis approach is investigated analytically, invoking the fact that the multiple-phase inverse involves a projection that significantly reduces the power of a dense-motion residual modeled as additive noise. The analysis shows that redundant-wavelet multihypothesis is capable of up to a 7-dB reduction in prediction-residual variance over an equivalent single-phase, single-hypothesis approach. Experimental results substantiate the performance advantage for a block-based implementation.

Three-dimensional Speckle Tracking Echocardiography in Light Chain Cardiac Amyloidosis: Examination of Left and Right Ventricular Myocardial Mechanics Parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Urbano-Moral, Jose Angel; Gangadharamurthy, Dakshin; Comenzo, Raymond L; Pandian, Natesa G; Patel, Ayan R

2015-08-01

The study of myocardial mechanics has a potential role in the detection of cardiac involvement in patients with amyloidosis. This study aimed to characterize 3-dimensional-speckle tracking echocardiography-derived left and right ventricular myocardial mechanics in light chain amyloidosis and examine their relationship with brain natriuretic peptide. In patients with light chain amyloidosis, left ventricular longitudinal and circumferential strain (n=40), and right ventricular longitudinal strain and radial displacement (n=26) were obtained by 3-dimensional-speckle tracking echocardiography. Brain natriuretic peptide levels were determined. All myocardial mechanics measurements showed differences when compared by brain natriuretic peptide level tertiles. Left and right ventricular longitudinal strain were highly correlated (r=0.95, P<.001). Left ventricular longitudinal and circumferential strain were reduced in patients with cardiac involvement (-9±4 vs -16±2; P<.001, and -24±6 vs -29±4; P=.01, respectively), with the most prominent impairment at the basal segments. Right ventricular longitudinal strain and radial displacement were diminished in patients with cardiac involvement (-9±3 vs -17±3; P<.001, and 2.7±0.8 vs 3.8±0.3; P=.002). On multivariate analysis, left ventricular longitudinal strain was associated with the presence of cardiac involvement (odds ratio = 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.04 to 2.37; P=.03) independent of the presence of brain natriuretic peptide and troponin I criteria for cardiac amyloidosis. Three-dimensional-speckle tracking echocardiography-derived left and right ventricular myocardial mechanics are increasingly altered as brain natriuretic peptide increases in light chain amyloidosis. There appears to be a strong association between left ventricular longitudinal strain and cardiac involvement, beyond biomarkers such as brain natriuretic peptide and troponin I. Copyright © 2015 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by

Detection of sensor failures in nuclear plants using analytic redundancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitamura, M.

1980-01-01

A method for on-line, nonperturbative detection and identification of sensor failures in nuclear power plants was studied to determine its feasibility. This method is called analytic redundancy, or functional redundancy. Sensor failure has traditionally been detected by comparing multiple signals from redundant sensors, such as in two-out-of-three logic. In analytic redundancy, with the help of an assumed model of the physical system, the signals from a set of sensors are processed to reproduce the signals from all system sensors

Reliability of redundant structures of nuclear reactor protection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vojnovic, B.

1983-01-01

In this paper, reliability of various redundant structures of PWR protection systems has been analysed. Structures of reactor tip systems as well as the systems for activation of safety devices have been presented. In all those systems redundancy is achieved by means of so called majority voting logic ('r out of n' structures). Different redundant devices have been compared, concerning probability of occurrence of safe as well as unsafe failures. (author)

Signal validation in nuclear power plants using redundant measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glockler, O.; Upadhyaya, B.R.; Morgenstern, V.M.

1989-01-01

This paper discusses the basic principles of a multivariable signal validation software system utilizing redundant sensor readings of process variables in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The technique has been tested in numerical experiments, and was applied to actual data from a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The simultaneous checking within one redundant measurement set, and the cross-checking among redundant measurement sets of dissimilar process variables, results in an algorithm capable of detecting and isolating bias-type errors. A case in point occurs when a majority of the direct redundant measurements of more than one process variable has failed simultaneously by a common-mode or correlated failures can be detected by the developed approach. 5 refs

Circulating N-terminal fragments of A- and B-type natriuretic peptides: molecular heterogeneity, measurement and clinical application

OpenAIRE

Ala-Kopsala, M. (Minna)

2006-01-01

Abstract Natriuretic peptides have emerged as important candidates for the development of diagnostic tools in cardiovascular disease. Their increased concentrations have been found to be useful for ruling out disease of cardiac origin, as prognostic indicators, and in the follow-up of patients with heart failure. In order for natriuretic peptides to be efficient biomarkers, analytical problems in assay specificity and calibration need to be resolved. The aim of the present study was to elu...

Increased brain and atrial natriuretic peptides in patients with chronic right ventricular pressure overload : correlation between plasma neurohormones and right ventricular dysfunction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tulevski, I.I.; Groenink, M; van der Wall, EE; van Veldhuisen, DJ; Boomsma, F; Hirsch, A; Lemkes, JS; Mulder, BJM; Stoker, J

Objective-To evaluate the role of plasma neurohormones in the diagnosis of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic right ventricular dysfunction. Setting-Tertiary cardiovascular referral centre. Methods-Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) concentrations were

Increased brain and atrial natriuretic peptides in patients with chronic right ventricular pressure overload: correlation between plasma neurohormones and right ventricular dysfunction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tulevski, I. I.; Groenink, M.; van der Wall, E. E.; van Veldhuisen, D. J.; Boomsma, F.; Stoker, J.; Hirsch, A.; Lemkes, J. S.; Mulder, B. J.

2001-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of plasma neurohormones in the diagnosis of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic right ventricular dysfunction. SETTING: Tertiary cardiovascular referral centre. METHODS: Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) concentrations were

Effect of Pancreatic Hormones on pro-Atrial Natriuretic Peptide in Humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zois, Nora E.; Terzic, Dijana; Faerch, Kristine

2017-01-01

Plasma concentrations of pro-Atrial natriuretic peptide, proANP, are decreased in obesity and diabetes. Decreased proANP concentrations have also been noted after meal intake, and recently, a glucose-mediated regulation of ANP gene expression was reported. Hence, we evaluated the effects of insul...

Clathrin-dependent internalization, signaling, and metabolic processing of guanylyl cyclase/natriuretic peptide receptor-A.

Science.gov (United States)

Somanna, Naveen K; Mani, Indra; Tripathi, Satyabha; Pandey, Kailash N

2018-04-01

Cardiac hormones, atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP), have pivotal roles in renal hemodynamics, neuroendocrine signaling, blood pressure regulation, and cardiovascular homeostasis. Binding of ANP and BNP to the guanylyl cyclase/natriuretic peptide receptor-A (GC-A/NPRA) induces rapid internalization and trafficking of the receptor via endolysosomal compartments, with concurrent generation of cGMP. However, the mechanisms of the endocytotic processes of NPRA are not well understood. The present study, using 125 I-ANP binding assay and confocal microscopy, examined the function of dynamin in the internalization of NPRA in stably transfected human embryonic kidney-293 (HEK-293) cells. Treatment of recombinant HEK-293 cells with ANP time-dependently accelerated the internalization of receptor from the cell surface to the cell interior. However, the internalization of ligand-receptor complexes of NPRA was drastically decreased by the specific inhibitors of clathrin- and dynamin-dependent receptor internalization, almost 85% by monodansylcadaverine, 80% by chlorpromazine, and 90% by mutant dynamin, which are specific blockers of endocytic vesicle formation. Visualizing the internalization of NPRA and enhanced GFP-tagged NPRA in HEK-293 cells by confocal microscopy demonstrated the formation of endocytic vesicles after 5 min of ANP treatment; this effect was blocked by the inhibitors of clathrin and by mutant dynamin construct. Our results suggest that NPRA undergoes internalization via clathrin-mediated endocytosis as part of its normal itinerary, including trafficking, signaling, and metabolic degradation.

Interaction control of a redundant mobile manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, J.H.; Velinsky, S.A.; Hess, R.A.

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the modeling and control of a spatial mobile manipulator that consists of a robotic manipulator mounted on a wheeled mobile platform. The Lagrange-d'Alembert formulation is used to obtain a concise description of the dynamics of the system, which is subject to nonholonomic constraints. The complexity of the model is increased by introducing kinematic redundancy, which is created when a multilinked manipulator is used. The kinematic redundancy is resolved by decomposing the mobile manipulator into two subsystems: the mobile platform and the manipulator. The redundancy resolution scheme employs a nonlinear interaction-control algorithm, which is developed and applied to coordinate the two subsystems' controllers. The subsystem controllers are independently designed, based on each subsystem's dynamic characteristics. Simulation results show the promise of the developed algorithm

Kinematics and control of redundant robotic arm based on dielectric elastomer actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Branz, Francesco; Antonello, Andrea; Carron, Andrea; Carli, Ruggero; Francesconi, Alessandro

2015-04-01

Soft robotics is a promising field and its application to space mechanisms could represent a breakthrough in space technologies by enabling new operative scenarios (e.g. soft manipulators, capture systems). Dielectric Elastomers Actuators have been under deep study for a number of years and have shown several advantages that could be of key importance for space applications. Among such advantages the most notable are high conversion efficiency, distributed actuation, self-sensing capability, multi-degree-of-freedom design, light weight and low cost. The big potentialities of double cone actuators have been proven in terms of good performances (i.e. stroke and force/torque), ease of manufacturing and durability. In this work the kinematic, dynamic and control design of a two-joint redundant robotic arm is presented. Two double cone actuators are assembled in series to form a two-link design. Each joint has two degrees of freedom (one rotational and one translational) for a total of four. The arm is designed to move in a 2-D environment (i.e. the horizontal plane) with 4 DoF, consequently having two degrees of redundancy. The redundancy is exploited in order to minimize the joint loads. The kinematic design with redundant Jacobian inversion is presented. The selected control algorithm is described along with the results of a number of dynamic simulations that have been executed for performance verification. Finally, an experimental setup is presented based on a flexible structure that counteracts gravity during testing in order to better emulate future zero-gravity applications.

Flat H Redundant Frangible Joint Development

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Chris

2016-01-01

Orion and Commercial Crew Program (CCP) Partners have chosen to use frangible joints for certain separation events. The joints currently available are zero failure tolerant and will be used in mission safety applications. The goal is to further develop a NASA designed redundant frangible joint that will lower flight risk and increase reliability. FY16 testing revealed a successful design in subscale straight test specimens that gained efficiency and supports Orion load requirements. Approach / Innovation A design constraint is that the redundant joint must fit within the current Orion architecture, without the need for additional vehicle modification. This limitation required a design that changed the orientation of the expanding tube assemblies (XTAs), by rotating them 90deg from the standard joint configuration. The change is not trivial and affects the fracture mechanism and structural load paths. To address these changes, the design incorporates cantilevered arms on the break plate. The shock transmission and expansion of the XTA applies force to these arms and creates a prying motion to push the plate walls outward to the point of structural failure at the notched section. The 2014 test design revealed that parts could slip during functioning wasting valuable energy needed to separate the structure with only a single XTA functioning. Dual XTA functioning fully separated the assembly showing a discrepancy can be backed up with redundancy. Work on other fully redundant systems outside NASA is limited to a few patents that have not been subjected to functionality testing Design changes to prevent unwanted slippage (with ICA funding in 2015) showed success with a single XTA. The main goal for FY 2016 was to send the new Flat H RFJ to WSTF where single XTA test failures occurred back in 2014. The plan was to gain efficiency in this design by separating the Flat H RFJ with thicker ligaments with dimensions baselined in 2014. Other modifications included geometry

Application study of EPICS-based redundant method for reactor control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Ning; Han Lifeng; Chen Yongzhong; Guo Bing; Yin Congcong

2013-01-01

In the reactor control system prototype development of TMSR (Thorium Molten Salt Reactor system, CAS) project, EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) is adopted as Instrument and Control software platform. For the aim of IOC (Input/Output Controller) redundancy and data synchronization of the system, the EPICS-based RMT (Redundancy Monitor Task ) software package and its data-synchronization component CCE (Continuous Control Executive) were introduced. By the development of related IOC driver, redundant switch-over control of server IOC was implemented. The method of redundancy implementation using RMT in server and redundancy performance test for power control system are discussed in this paper. (authors)

Joint optimization of redundancy level and spare part inventories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sleptchenko, Andrei; Heijden, Matthieu van der

2016-01-01

We consider a “k-out-of-N” system with different standby modes. Each of the N components consists of multiple part types. Upon failure, a component can be repaired within a certain time by switching the failed part by a spare, if available. We develop both an exact and a fast approximate analysis to compute the system availability. Next, we jointly optimize the component redundancy level with the inventories of the various spare parts. We find that our approximations are very accurate and suitable for large systems. We apply our model to a case study at a public organization in Qatar, and find that we can improve the availability-to-cost ratio by reducing the redundancy level and increasing the spare part inventories. In general, high redundancy levels appear to be useful only when components are relatively cheap and part replacement times are high. - Highlights: • We analyze a redundant system (k-out-of-N) with multiple parts and spares. • We jointly optimize the redundancy level and the spare part inventories. • We develop an exact method and an approximation to evaluate the system availability. • Adding spare parts and reducing the redundancy level cuts cost by 50% in a case study. • The availability is not very sensitive to the shape of the failure time distribution.

Working memory capacity and redundant information processing efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Endres, Michael J; Houpt, Joseph W; Donkin, Chris; Finn, Peter R

2015-01-01

Working memory capacity (WMC) is typically measured by the amount of task-relevant information an individual can keep in mind while resisting distraction or interference from task-irrelevant information. The current research investigated the extent to which differences in WMC were associated with performance on a novel redundant memory probes (RMP) task that systematically varied the amount of to-be-remembered (targets) and to-be-ignored (distractor) information. The RMP task was designed to both facilitate and inhibit working memory search processes, as evidenced by differences in accuracy, response time, and Linear Ballistic Accumulator (LBA) model estimates of information processing efficiency. Participants (N = 170) completed standard intelligence tests and dual-span WMC tasks, along with the RMP task. As expected, accuracy, response-time, and LBA model results indicated memory search and retrieval processes were facilitated under redundant-target conditions, but also inhibited under mixed target/distractor and redundant-distractor conditions. Repeated measures analyses also indicated that, while individuals classified as high (n = 85) and low (n = 85) WMC did not differ in the magnitude of redundancy effects, groups did differ in the efficiency of memory search and retrieval processes overall. Results suggest that redundant information reliably facilitates and inhibits the efficiency or speed of working memory search, and these effects are independent of more general limits and individual differences in the capacity or space of working memory.

CCF analysis of high redundancy systems safety/relief valve data analysis and reference BWR application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mankamo, T.; Bjoere, S.; Olsson, Lena

1992-12-01

Dependent failure analysis and modeling were developed for high redundancy systems. The study included a comprehensive data analysis of safety and relief valves at the Finnish and Swedish BWR plants, resulting in improved understanding of Common Cause Failure mechanisms in these components. The reference application on the Forsmark 1/2 reactor relief system, constituting of twelve safety/relief lines and two regulating relief lines, covered different safety criteria cases of reactor depressurization and overpressure protection function, and failure to re close sequences. For the quantification of dependencies, the Alpha Factor Model, the Binomial Probability Model and the Common Load Model were compared for applicability in high redundancy systems

REDUNDANT ARRAY CONFIGURATIONS FOR 21 cm COSMOLOGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dillon, Joshua S.; Parsons, Aaron R., E-mail: jsdillon@berkeley.edu [Department of Astronomy, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-08-01

Realizing the potential of 21 cm tomography to statistically probe the intergalactic medium before and during the Epoch of Reionization requires large telescopes and precise control of systematics. Next-generation telescopes are now being designed and built to meet these challenges, drawing lessons from first-generation experiments that showed the benefits of densely packed, highly redundant arrays—in which the same mode on the sky is sampled by many antenna pairs—for achieving high sensitivity, precise calibration, and robust foreground mitigation. In this work, we focus on the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) as an interferometer with a dense, redundant core designed following these lessons to be optimized for 21 cm cosmology. We show how modestly supplementing or modifying a compact design like HERA’s can still deliver high sensitivity while enhancing strategies for calibration and foreground mitigation. In particular, we compare the imaging capability of several array configurations, both instantaneously (to address instrumental and ionospheric effects) and with rotation synthesis (for foreground removal). We also examine the effects that configuration has on calibratability using instantaneous redundancy. We find that improved imaging with sub-aperture sampling via “off-grid” antennas and increased angular resolution via far-flung “outrigger” antennas is possible with a redundantly calibratable array configuration.

The plant natriuretic peptide receptor is a guanylyl cyclase and enables cGMP-dependent signaling

KAUST Repository

Turek, Ilona

2016-03-05

The functional homologues of vertebrate natriuretic peptides (NPs), the plant natriuretic peptides (PNPs), are a novel class of peptidic hormones that signal via guanosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) and systemically affect plant salt and water balance and responses to biotrophic plant pathogens. Although there is increasing understanding of the complex roles of PNPs in plant responses at the systems level, little is known about the underlying signaling mechanisms. Here we report isolation and identification of a novel Leucine-Rich Repeat (LRR) protein that directly interacts with A. thaliana PNP, AtPNP-A. In vitro binding studies revealed that the Arabidopsis AtPNP-A binds specifically to the LRR protein, termed AtPNP-R1, and the active region of AtPNP-A is sufficient for the interaction to occur. Importantly, the cytosolic part of the AtPNP-R1, much like in some vertebrate NP receptors, harbors a catalytic center diagnostic for guanylyl cyclases and the recombinant AtPNP-R1 is capable of catalyzing the conversion of guanosine triphosphate to cGMP. In addition, we show that AtPNP-A causes rapid increases of cGMP levels in wild type (WT) leaf tissue while this response is significantly reduced in the atpnp-r1 mutants. AtPNP-A also causes cGMP-dependent net water uptake into WT protoplasts, and hence volume increases, whereas responses of the protoplasts from the receptor mutant are impaired. Taken together, our results suggest that the identified LRR protein is an AtPNP-A receptor essential for the PNP-dependent regulation of ion and water homeostasis in plants and that PNP- and vertebrate NP-receptors and their signaling mechanisms share surprising similarities. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Analysis and Design of Offset QPSK Using Redundant Filter Banks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez-Vazquez, Alfonso; Jovanovic-Dolecek, Gordana

2013-01-01

This paper considers the analysis and design of OQPSK digital modulation. We first establish the discrete time formulation, which allows us to find the equivalent redundant filter banks. It is well known that redundant filter banks are related with redundant transformation of the Frame theory. According to the Frame theory, the redundant transformations and corresponding representations are not unique. In this way, we show that the solution to the pulse shaping problem is not unique. Then we use this property to minimize the effect of the channel noise in the reconstructed symbol stream. We evaluate the performance of the digital communication using numerical examples.

Redundancy for electric motors in spacecraft applications

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Robert J.; Flew, Alastair R.

1986-01-01

The parts of electric motors which should be duplicated in order to provide maximum reliability in spacecraft application are identified. Various common types of redundancy are described. The advantages and disadvantages of each are noted. The principal types are illustrated by reference to specific examples. For each example, constructional details, basic performance data and failure modes are described, together with a discussion of the suitability of particular redundancy techniques to motor types.

Dynamic Control of Kinematically Redundant Robotic Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erling Lunde

1987-07-01

Full Text Available Several methods for task space control of kinematically redundant manipulators have been proposed in the literature. Most of these methods are based on a kinematic analysis of the manipulator. In this paper we propose a control algorithm in which we are especially concerned with the manipulator dynamics. The algorithm is particularly well suited for the class of redundant manipulators consisting of a relatively small manipulator mounted on a larger positioning part.

Study of redundant Models in reliability prediction of HXMT's HES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jinming; Liu Congzhan; Zhang Zhi; Ji Jianfeng

2010-01-01

Two redundant equipment structures of HXMT's HES are proposed firstly, the block backup and dual system cold-redundancy. Then prediction of the reliability is made by using parts count method. Research of comparison and analysis is also performed on the two proposals. A conclusion is drawn that a higher reliability and longer service life could be offered by taking a redundant equipment structure of block backup. (authors)

3D seismic denoising based on a low-redundancy curvelet transform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Jingjie; Zhao, Jingtao; Hu, Zhiying

2015-01-01

Contamination of seismic signal with noise is one of the main challenges during seismic data processing. Several methods exist for eliminating different types of noises, but optimal random noise attenuation remains difficult. Based on multi-scale, multi-directional locality of curvelet transform, the curvelet thresholding method is a relatively new method for random noise elimination. However, the high redundancy of a 3D curvelet transform makes its computational time and memory for massive data processing costly. To improve the efficiency of the curvelet thresholding denoising, a low-redundancy curvelet transform was introduced. The redundancy of the low-redundancy curvelet transform is approximately one-quarter of the original transform and the tightness of the original transform is also kept, thus the low-redundancy curvelet transform calls for less memory and computational resource compared with the original one. Numerical results on 3D synthetic and field data demonstrate that the low-redundancy curvelet denoising consumes one-quarter of the CPU time compared with the original curvelet transform using iterative thresholding denoising when comparable results are obtained. Thus, the low-redundancy curvelet transform is a good candidate for massive seismic denoising. (paper)

Coherent network detection of gravitational waves: the redundancy veto

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen Linqing; Schutz, Bernard F

2005-01-01

A network of gravitational wave detectors is called redundant if, given the direction to a source, the strain induced by a gravitational wave in one or more of the detectors can be fully expressed in terms of the strain induced in others in the network. Because gravitational waves have only two polarizations, any network of three or more differently oriented interferometers with similar observing bands is redundant. The three-armed LISA space interferometer has three outputs that are redundant at low frequencies. The two aligned LIGO interferometers at Hanford WA are redundant, and the LIGO detector at Livingston LA is nearly redundant with either of the Hanford detectors. Redundant networks have a powerful veto against spurious noise, a linear combination of the detector outputs that contains no gravitational wave signal. For LISA, this 'null' output is known as the Sagnac mode, and its use in discriminating between detector noise and a cosmological gravitational wave background is well understood. But the usefulness of the null veto for ground-based detector networks has been ignored until now. We show that it should make it possible to discriminate in a model-independent way between real gravitational waves and accidentally coincident non-Gaussian noise 'events' in redundant networks of two or more broadband detectors. It has been shown that with three detectors, the null output can even be used to locate the direction to the source, and then two other linear combinations of detector outputs give the optimal 'coherent' reconstruction of the two polarization components of the signal. We discuss briefly the implementation of such a detection strategy in realistic networks, where signals are weak, detector calibration is a significant uncertainty, and the various detectors may have different (but overlapping) observing bands

The cellular robustness by genetic redundancy in budding yeast.

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Jingjing Li

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The frequent dispensability of duplicated genes in budding yeast is heralded as a hallmark of genetic robustness contributed by genetic redundancy. However, theoretical predictions suggest such backup by redundancy is evolutionarily unstable, and the extent of genetic robustness contributed from redundancy remains controversial. It is anticipated that, to achieve mutual buffering, the duplicated paralogs must at least share some functional overlap. However, counter-intuitively, several recent studies reported little functional redundancy between these buffering duplicates. The large yeast genetic interactions released recently allowed us to address these issues on a genome-wide scale. We herein characterized the synthetic genetic interactions for ∼500 pairs of yeast duplicated genes originated from either whole-genome duplication (WGD or small-scale duplication (SSD events. We established that functional redundancy between duplicates is a pre-requisite and thus is highly predictive of their backup capacity. This observation was particularly pronounced with the use of a newly introduced metric in scoring functional overlap between paralogs on the basis of gene ontology annotations. Even though mutual buffering was observed to be prevalent among duplicated genes, we showed that the observed backup capacity is largely an evolutionarily transient state. The loss of backup capacity generally follows a neutral mode, with the buffering strength decreasing in proportion to divergence time, and the vast majority of the paralogs have already lost their backup capacity. These observations validated previous theoretic predictions about instability of genetic redundancy. However, departing from the general neutral mode, intriguingly, our analysis revealed the presence of natural selection in stabilizing functional overlap between SSD pairs. These selected pairs, both WGD and SSD, tend to have decelerated functional evolution, have higher propensities of co

Redundant nerve roots of the cauda equina : MR findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Kyu Hyen; Lee, Jung Man; Jung, Hak Young; Lee, Young Hwan; Sung, Nak Kwan; Chung, Duck Soo; Kim, Ok Dong; Lee, Sang Kwon; Suh, Kyung Jin

1997-01-01

To evaluate MR findings of redundant nerve roots (RNR) of the cauda equina. 17 patients with RNR were studied; eight were men and nine were women, and their ages ranged from 46 to 82 (mean 63) years. Diagroses were established on the basis of T2-weighted sagittal and coronal MRI, which showed a tortuous or coiled configuration of the nerve roots of the cauda equina. MR findings were reviewed for location, magnitude, and signal intensity of redundant nerve roots, and the relationship between magnitude of redundancy and severity of lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) was evaluated. In all 17 patients, MR showed moderate or severe LSCS caused by herniation or bulging of an intervertebral disc, osteophyte from the vertebral body or facet joint, thickening of the ligamentum flavum, degenerative spondylolisthesis, or a combination of these. T2-weighted sagittal and coronal MR images well clearly showed the location of RNR of the cauda equina;in 16 patients(94%), these were seen above the level of constriction of the spinal canal, and in one case, they were observed below the level of constriction. T2-weighted axial images showed the thecal sac filled with numerous nerve roots. The magnitude of RNR was mild in six cases (35%), moderate in five cases (30%), and severe in six cases (35%). Compared with normal nerve roots, the RNR signal on T2-weighted images was iso-intense. All patients with severe redundancy showed severe LSCS, but not all cases with severe LSCS showed severe redundancy. Redundant nerve roots of cauda equina were seen in relatively older patients with moderate or severe LSCS and T2-weighted MR images were accurate in identifying redundancy of nerve roots and evaluating their magnitude and location

A New Biobjective Model to Optimize Integrated Redundancy Allocation and Reliability-Centered Maintenance Problems in a System Using Metaheuristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shima MohammadZadeh Dogahe

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A novel integrated model is proposed to optimize the redundancy allocation problem (RAP and the reliability-centered maintenance (RCM simultaneously. A system of both repairable and nonrepairable components has been considered. In this system, electronic components are nonrepairable while mechanical components are mostly repairable. For nonrepairable components, a redundancy allocation problem is dealt with to determine optimal redundancy strategy and number of redundant components to be implemented in each subsystem. In addition, a maintenance scheduling problem is considered for repairable components in order to identify the best maintenance policy and optimize system reliability. Both active and cold standby redundancy strategies have been taken into account for electronic components. Also, net present value of the secondary cost including operational and maintenance costs has been calculated. The problem is formulated as a biobjective mathematical programming model aiming to reach a tradeoff between system reliability and cost. Three metaheuristic algorithms are employed to solve the proposed model: Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II, Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO, and Multiobjective Firefly Algorithm (MOFA. Several test problems are solved using the mentioned algorithms to test efficiency and effectiveness of the solution approaches and obtained results are analyzed.

Compliant behaviour of redundant robot arm - experiments with null-space

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Petrović Petar B.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents theoretical and experimental aspects of Jacobian nullspace use in kinematically redundant robots for achieving kinetostatically consistent control of their compliant behavior. When the stiffness of the robot endpoint is dominantly influenced by the compliance of the robot joints, generalized stiffness matrix can be mapped into joint space using appropriate congruent transformation. Actuation stiffness matrix achieved by this transformation is generally nondiagonal. Off-diagonal elements of the actuation matrix can be generated by redundant actuation only (polyarticular actuators, but such kind of actuation is very difficult to realize practically in technical systems. The approach of solving this problem which is proposed in this paper is based on the use of kinematic redundancy and nullspace of the Jacobian matrix. Evaluation of the developed analytical model was done numerically by a minimal redundant robot with one redundant d.o.f. and experimentally by a 7 d.o.f. Yaskawa SIA 10F robot arm. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR35007

Maximization of learning speed in the motor cortex due to neuronal redundancy.

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Ken Takiyama

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Many redundancies play functional roles in motor control and motor learning. For example, kinematic and muscle redundancies contribute to stabilizing posture and impedance control, respectively. Another redundancy is the number of neurons themselves; there are overwhelmingly more neurons than muscles, and many combinations of neural activation can generate identical muscle activity. The functional roles of this neuronal redundancy remains unknown. Analysis of a redundant neural network model makes it possible to investigate these functional roles while varying the number of model neurons and holding constant the number of output units. Our analysis reveals that learning speed reaches its maximum value if and only if the model includes sufficient neuronal redundancy. This analytical result does not depend on whether the distribution of the preferred direction is uniform or a skewed bimodal, both of which have been reported in neurophysiological studies. Neuronal redundancy maximizes learning speed, even if the neural network model includes recurrent connections, a nonlinear activation function, or nonlinear muscle units. Furthermore, our results do not rely on the shape of the generalization function. The results of this study suggest that one of the functional roles of neuronal redundancy is to maximize learning speed.

Plasmatic levels of N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide in preeclamptic patients and healthy normotensive pregnant women.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyna-Villasmil, Eduardo; Mejia-Montilla, Jorly; Reyna-Villasmil, Nadia; Mayner-Tresol, Gabriel; Herrera-Moya, Pedro; Fernández-Ramírez, Andreina; Rondón-Tapía, Marta

2018-05-11

To compare plasma N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations in preeclamptic patients and healthy normotensive pregnant women. A cases-controls study was done with 180 patients at Hospital Central Dr. Urquinaona, Maracaibo, Venezuela, that included 90 preeclamptic patients (group A; cases) and 90 healthy normotensive pregnant women selected with the same age and body mass index similar to group A (group B; controls). Blood samples were collected one hour after admission and prior to administration of any medication in group A to determine plasma N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide and other laboratory parameters. Plasma N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations in group A (mean 1.01 [0.26] pg/mL) showed a significant difference when compared with patients in group B (mean 0.55 [0.07] pg/mL; P<.001]. There was no significant correlation with systolic and diastolic blood pressure values in preeclamptic patients (P=ns). A cut-off value of 0.66ng/mL had an area under the curve of 0.93, sensitivity of 87.8%, specificity of 83.3%, a positive predictive value of 84.0% and a negative predictive value of 87.2%, with a diagnostic accuracy of 85.6%. Preeclamptic patients have significantly higher concentrations of plasma N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide compared with healthy normotensive pregnant women, with high predictive values for diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Practical, redundant, failure-tolerant, self-reconfiguring embedded system architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Klarer, Paul R.; Hayward, David R.; Amai, Wendy A.

2006-10-03

This invention relates to system architectures, specifically failure-tolerant and self-reconfiguring embedded system architectures. The invention provides both a method and architecture for redundancy. There can be redundancy in both software and hardware for multiple levels of redundancy. The invention provides a self-reconfiguring architecture for activating redundant modules whenever other modules fail. The architecture comprises: a communication backbone connected to two or more processors and software modules running on each of the processors. Each software module runs on one processor and resides on one or more of the other processors to be available as a backup module in the event of failure. Each module and backup module reports its status over the communication backbone. If a primary module does not report, its backup module takes over its function. If the primary module becomes available again, the backup module returns to its backup status.

EFFICIENCY OF REDUNDANT QUERY EXECUTION IN MULTI-CHANNEL SERVICE SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Bogatyrev

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Subject of Research.The paper deals with analysis of the effectiveness of redundant queries based on untrusted computing in computer systems, represented by multi-channel queuing systems with a common queue. The objective of research is the possibility of increasing the efficiency of service requests while performing redundant copies of requests in different devices of a multi-channel system under conditions of calculations unreliability. The redundant service of requests requires the infallibility of its implementation at least in one of the devices.Method. We have considered estimation of the average time spent in the system with and without the use of redundant requests at the presentation of a simple queuing model of the M / M / n type to analyze the effectiveness of redundant service of requests. Presented evaluation of the average waiting time in the redundant queries is the upper one, since it ignores the possibility of reducing the average waiting time as a result of the spread of the probability of time querying at different devices. The integrated efficiency of redundant service of requests is defined based on the multiplicative index that takes into account the infallibility of calculations and the average time allowance with respect to the maximum tolerated delay of service. Evaluation of error-free computing at reserved queries is received at the requirement of faultless execution of at least one copy of the request. Main Results. We have shown that the reservation of requests gives the gain in efficiency of the system at low demand rate (load. We have defined the boundaries of expediency (efficiency for redundant service of requests. We have shown the possibility of the effectiveness increasing of the adaptive changes in the multiplicity of the reservation of requests, depending on the intensity of the flow of requests. We have found out that the choice of service discipline in information service systems is largely determined by

Optimization of robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design.

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Zenghu Zhang

Full Text Available Controllability of complex networks has been a hot topic in recent years. Real networks regarded as interdependent networks are always coupled together by multiple networks. The cascading process of interdependent networks including interdependent failure and overload failure will destroy the robustness of controllability for the whole network. Therefore, the optimization of the robustness of interdependent network controllability is of great importance in the research area of complex networks. In this paper, based on the model of interdependent networks constructed first, we determine the cascading process under different proportions of node attacks. Then, the structural controllability of interdependent networks is measured by the minimum driver nodes. Furthermore, we propose a parameter which can be obtained by the structure and minimum driver set of interdependent networks under different proportions of node attacks and analyze the robustness for interdependent network controllability. Finally, we optimize the robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design including node backup and redundancy edge backup and improve the redundant design by proposing different strategies according to their cost. Comparative strategies of redundant design are conducted to find the best strategy. Results shows that node backup and redundancy edge backup can indeed decrease those nodes suffering from failure and improve the robustness of controllability. Considering the cost of redundant design, we should choose BBS (betweenness-based strategy or DBS (degree based strategy for node backup and HDF(high degree first for redundancy edge backup. Above all, our proposed strategies are feasible and effective at improving the robustness of interdependent network controllability.

Palpebral redundancy from hypothyroidism.

Science.gov (United States)

Wortsman, J; Wavak, P

1980-01-01

A patient is described with disabling palpebral edema. Primary hypothyroidism had been previously diagnosed and treated. Testing of thyroid function revealed persistence of the hypothyroidism. Treatment with L-thyroxine produced normalization of the biochemical parameters and resolution of palpebral edema. The search for hypothyrodism in patients with palpebral redundancy is emphasized.

Parameter identifiability and redundancy: theoretical considerations.

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Mark P Little

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Models for complex biological systems may involve a large number of parameters. It may well be that some of these parameters cannot be derived from observed data via regression techniques. Such parameters are said to be unidentifiable, the remaining parameters being identifiable. Closely related to this idea is that of redundancy, that a set of parameters can be expressed in terms of some smaller set. Before data is analysed it is critical to determine which model parameters are identifiable or redundant to avoid ill-defined and poorly convergent regression. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this paper we outline general considerations on parameter identifiability, and introduce the notion of weak local identifiability and gradient weak local identifiability. These are based on local properties of the likelihood, in particular the rank of the Hessian matrix. We relate these to the notions of parameter identifiability and redundancy previously introduced by Rothenberg (Econometrica 39 (1971 577-591 and Catchpole and Morgan (Biometrika 84 (1997 187-196. Within the widely used exponential family, parameter irredundancy, local identifiability, gradient weak local identifiability and weak local identifiability are shown to be largely equivalent. We consider applications to a recently developed class of cancer models of Little and Wright (Math Biosciences 183 (2003 111-134 and Little et al. (J Theoret Biol 254 (2008 229-238 that generalize a large number of other recently used quasi-biological cancer models. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have shown that the previously developed concepts of parameter local identifiability and redundancy are closely related to the apparently weaker properties of weak local identifiability and gradient weak local identifiability--within the widely used exponential family these concepts largely coincide.

Input relegation control for gross motion of a kinematically redundant manipulator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Unseren, M.A.

1992-10-01

This report proposes a method for resolving the kinematic redundancy of a serial link manipulator moving in a three-dimensional workspace. The underspecified problem of solving for the joint velocities based on the classical kinematic velocity model is transformed into a well-specified problem. This is accomplished by augmenting the original model with additional equations which relate a new vector variable quantifying the redundant degrees of freedom (DOF) to the joint velocities. The resulting augmented system yields a well specified solution for the joint velocities. Methods for selecting the redundant DOF quantifying variable and the transformation matrix relating it to the joint velocities are presented so as to obtain a minimum Euclidean norm solution for the joint velocities. The approach is also applied to the problem of resolving the kinematic redundancy at the acceleration level. Upon resolving the kinematic redundancy, a rigid body dynamical model governing the gross motion of the manipulator is derived. A control architecture is suggested which according to the model, decouples the Cartesian space DOF and the redundant DOF.

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide in patients with growth hormone disturbances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreassen, Mikkel; Faber, Jens; Vestergaard, Henrik

2007-01-01

Acromegaly is associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypertension and subsequent congestive heart failure. Impairment of cardiac function has also been associated with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). B-type natriuretic peptides (BNPs) have emerged as strong diagnostic and prognostic risk...

Dwarfism and early death in mice lacking C-type natriuretic peptide

Science.gov (United States)

Chusho, Hideki; Tamura, Naohisa; Ogawa, Yoshihiro; Yasoda, Akihiro; Suda, Michio; Miyazawa, Takashi; Nakamura, Kenji; Nakao, Kazuki; Kurihara, Tatsuya; Komatsu, Yasato; Itoh, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Kiyoshi; Saito, Yoshihiko; Katsuki, Motoya; Nakao, Kazuwa

2001-01-01

Longitudinal bone growth is determined by endochondral ossification that occurs as chondrocytes in the cartilaginous growth plate undergo proliferation, hypertrophy, cell death, and osteoblastic replacement. The natriuretic peptide family consists of three structurally related endogenous ligands, atrial, brain, and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP), and is thought to be involved in a variety of homeostatic processes. To investigate the physiological significance of CNP in vivo, we generated mice with targeted disruption of CNP (Nppc−/− mice). The Nppc−/− mice show severe dwarfism as a result of impaired endochondral ossification. They are all viable perinatally, but less than half can survive during postnatal development. The skeletal phenotypes are histologically similar to those seen in patients with achondroplasia, the most common genetic form of human dwarfism. Targeted expression of CNP in the growth plate chondrocytes can rescue the skeletal defect of Nppc−/− mice and allow their prolonged survival. This study demonstrates that CNP acts locally as a positive regulator of endochondral ossification in vivo and suggests its pathophysiological and therapeutic implication in some forms of skeletal dysplasia. PMID:11259675

Changes in plasma atrial natriuretic factor in patients with idiopathic atrial fibrillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Tongxin; Xia Xiaojie; Qu Wei; Wang Shukui; Sun Junjiang

2002-01-01

To observe the changes in plasma atrial natriuretic factor (AFN) in patients with idiopathic atrial fibrillation and investigate its mechanism, plasma ANF, platelet count and hematocrit were detected in 21 cases with transient idiopathic atrial fibrillation (group A, A1 representing attack, while A2 termination), 28 with persistent idiopathic atrial fibrillation (group B), 27 suffered from rheumatic heart disease with mitral stenosis and persistent atrial fibrillation (group C), 32 with transient supraventricular tachycardia (group D) and 20 normal controls (group E). It was found that the level of ANF was significantly higher in patients with attacking transient idiopathic atrial fibrillation than that in group A2, D and E (P 0.05), while there was significant difference in hematocrit in group A1 compared with group A2, D, E (P < 0.01). It suggested that ANF and hematocrit play an important role in the attack of idiopathic atrial fibrillation

Reliability Analysis and Calibration of Partial Safety Factors for Redundant Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

1998-01-01

Redundancy is important to include in the design and analysis of structural systems. In most codes of practice redundancy is not directly taken into account. In the paper various definitions of a deterministic and reliability based redundancy measure are reviewed. It is described how reundancy can...... be included in the safety system and how partial safety factors can be calibrated. An example is presented illustrating how redundancy is taken into account in the safety system in e.g. the Danish codes. The example shows how partial safety factors can be calibrated to comply with the safety level...

Redundancy Optimization for Error Recovery in Digital Microfluidic Biochips

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alistar, Mirela; Pop, Paul; Madsen, Jan

2015-01-01

Microfluidic-based biochips are replacing the conventional biochemical analyzers, and are able to integrate all the necessary functions for biochemical analysis. The digital microfluidic biochips are based on the manipulation of liquids not as a continuous flow, but as discrete droplets. Research......Microfluidic-based biochips are replacing the conventional biochemical analyzers, and are able to integrate all the necessary functions for biochemical analysis. The digital microfluidic biochips are based on the manipulation of liquids not as a continuous flow, but as discrete droplets....... Researchers have proposed approaches for the synthesis of digital microfluidic biochips, which, starting from a biochemical application and a given biochip architecture, determine the allocation, resource binding, scheduling, placement and routing of the operations in the application. During the execution...... propose an online recovery strategy, which decides during the execution of the biochemical application the introduction of the redundancy required for fault-tolerance. We consider both time redundancy, i.e., re-executing erroneous operations, and space redundancy, i.e., creating redundant droplets...

N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide measurement in plasma suggests covalent modification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hunter, Ingrid; Alehagen, Urban; Dahlström, Ulf

2011-01-01

different proANP assays on clinical outcome. METHODS: We examined 474 elderly patients with symptoms of heart failure presenting in a primary healthcare setting. Samples were analyzed with an automated immunoluminometric midregion proANP (MR-proANP) assay and a new processing-independent assay (PIA.......74 (95% CI, 0.66–0.81); P = 0.32]. The prognostic ability to report cardiovascular mortality during a 10-year follow-up revealed AUC values of 0.66 (95% CI, 0.60–0.71) for the proANP PIA and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.63–0.74) for the MR-proANP assay (P = 0.08, for comparing the 2 assays). CONCLUSIONS: Our data......BACKGROUND: The N-terminal fragment of cardiac-derived pro–B-type natriuretic peptide is a glycosylated polypeptide. It is unknown whether N-terminal pro–atrial natriuretic peptide (proANP) fragments are also covalently modified. We therefore evaluated the clinical performance of 2 distinctly...

Management of redundancy in flight control systems using optimal decision theory

Science.gov (United States)

1981-01-01

The problem of using redundancy that exists between dissimilar systems in aircraft flight control is addressed. That is, using the redundancy that exists between a rate gyro and an accelerometer--devices that have dissimilar outputs which are related only through the dynamics of the aircraft motion. Management of this type of redundancy requires advanced logic so that the system can monitor failure status and can reconfigure itself in the event of one or more failures. An optimal decision theory was tutorially developed for the management of sensor redundancy and the theory is applied to two aircraft examples. The first example is the space shuttle and the second is a highly maneuvering high performance aircraft--the F8-C. The examples illustrate the redundancy management design process and the performance of the algorithms presented in failure detection and control law reconfiguration.

Association between left ventricular global longitudinal strain and natriuretic peptides in outpatients with chronic systolic heart failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gaborit, F; Bosselmann, H; Tønder, N

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Both impaired left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) and increased plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides(NP) are associated with a poor outcome in heart failure (HF). Increased levels of NP reflect increased wall stress of the LV. However, little is known about.......28-8.30, P = 0.013) and linear regression (NT-proBNP: βGLS: 1.19, 95 %-CI: 0.62-1.76, P renal function) and left atrial volume index....... CONCLUSION: Impaired LV GLS is associated with increased plasma concentrations of NP and our data suggest that left ventricular myocardial mechanics estimated by LV GLS reflects myocardial wall stress in chronic systolic HF....

Multisensory processing in the redundant-target effect

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gondan, Matthias; Niederhaus, Birgit; Rösler, Frank

2005-01-01

Participants respond more quickly to two simultaneously presented target stimuli of two different modalities (redundant targets) than would be predicted from their reaction times to the unimodal targets. To examine the neural correlates of this redundant-target effect, event-related potentials...... (ERPs) were recorded to auditory, visual, and bimodal standard and target stimuli presented at two locations (left and right of central fixation). Bimodal stimuli were combinations of two standards, two targets, or a standard and a target, presented either from the same or from different locations...

Redundant measurements for controlling errors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehinger, M.H.; Crawford, J.M.; Madeen, M.L.

1979-07-01

Current federal regulations for nuclear materials control require consideration of operating data as part of the quality control program and limits of error propagation. Recent work at the BNFP has revealed that operating data are subject to a number of measurement problems which are very difficult to detect and even more difficult to correct in a timely manner. Thus error estimates based on operational data reflect those problems. During the FY 1978 and FY 1979 R and D demonstration runs at the BNFP, redundant measurement techniques were shown to be effective in detecting these problems to allow corrective action. The net effect is a reduction in measurement errors and a significant increase in measurement sensitivity. Results show that normal operation process control measurements, in conjunction with routine accountability measurements, are sensitive problem indicators when incorporated in a redundant measurement program

Quantum Darwinism: Entanglement, branches, and the emergent classicality of redundantly stored quantum information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blume-Kohout, Robin; Zurek, Wojciech H.

2006-01-01

We lay a comprehensive foundation for the study of redundant information storage in decoherence processes. Redundancy has been proposed as a prerequisite for objectivity, the defining property of classical objects. We consider two ensembles of states for a model universe consisting of one system and many environments: the first consisting of arbitrary states, and the second consisting of 'singly branching' states consistent with a simple decoherence model. Typical states from the random ensemble do not store information about the system redundantly, but information stored in branching states has a redundancy proportional to the environment's size. We compute the specific redundancy for a wide range of model universes, and fit the results to a simple first-principles theory. Our results show that the presence of redundancy divides information about the system into three parts: classical (redundant); purely quantum; and the borderline, undifferentiated or 'nonredundant', information

Quantum Darwinism: Entanglement, branches, and the emergent classicality of redundantly stored quantum information

Science.gov (United States)

Blume-Kohout, Robin; Zurek, Wojciech H.

2006-06-01

We lay a comprehensive foundation for the study of redundant information storage in decoherence processes. Redundancy has been proposed as a prerequisite for objectivity, the defining property of classical objects. We consider two ensembles of states for a model universe consisting of one system and many environments: the first consisting of arbitrary states, and the second consisting of “singly branching” states consistent with a simple decoherence model. Typical states from the random ensemble do not store information about the system redundantly, but information stored in branching states has a redundancy proportional to the environment’s size. We compute the specific redundancy for a wide range of model universes, and fit the results to a simple first-principles theory. Our results show that the presence of redundancy divides information about the system into three parts: classical (redundant); purely quantum; and the borderline, undifferentiated or “nonredundant,” information.

Natriuretic peptide receptor A inhibition suppresses gastric cancer development through reactive oxygen species-mediated G2/M cell cycle arrest and cell death.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zheng; Wang, Ji-Wei; Wang, Wei-Zhi; Zhi, Xiao-Fei; Zhang, Qun; Li, Bo-Wen; Wang, Lin-Jun; Xie, Kun-Ling; Tao, Jin-Qiu; Tang, Jie; Wei, Song; Zhu, Yi; Xu, Hao; Zhang, Dian-Cai; Yang, Li; Xu, Ze-Kuan

2016-10-01

Natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA), the major receptor for atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), has been implicated in tumorigenesis; however, the role of ANP-NPRA signaling in the development of gastric cancer remains unclear. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that NPRA expression was positively associated with gastric tumor size and cancer stage. NPRA inhibition by shRNA induced G2/M cell cycle arrest, cell death, and autophagy in gastric cancer cells, due to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Either genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of autophagy led to caspase-dependent cell death. Therefore, autophagy induced by NPRA silencing may represent a cytoprotective mechanism. ROS accumulation activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). ROS-mediated activation of JNK inhibited cell proliferation by disturbing cell cycle and decreased cell viability. In addition, AMPK activation promoted autophagy in NPRA-downregulated cancer cells. Overall, our results indicate that the inhibition of NPRA suppresses gastric cancer development and targeting NPRA may represent a promising strategy for the treatment of gastric cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploration of joint redundancy but not task space variability facilitates supervised motor learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Puneet; Jana, Sumitash; Ghosal, Ashitava; Murthy, Aditya

2016-12-13

The number of joints and muscles in a human arm is more than what is required for reaching to a desired point in 3D space. Although previous studies have emphasized how such redundancy and the associated flexibility may play an important role in path planning, control of noise, and optimization of motion, whether and how redundancy might promote motor learning has not been investigated. In this work, we quantify redundancy space and investigate its significance and effect on motor learning. We propose that a larger redundancy space leads to faster learning across subjects. We observed this pattern in subjects learning novel kinematics (visuomotor adaptation) and dynamics (force-field adaptation). Interestingly, we also observed differences in the redundancy space between the dominant hand and nondominant hand that explained differences in the learning of dynamics. Taken together, these results provide support for the hypothesis that redundancy aids in motor learning and that the redundant component of motor variability is not noise.

Human genetics of infectious diseases: Unique insights into immunological redundancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Casanova, Jean-Laurent; Abel, Laurent

2018-04-01

For almost any given human-tropic virus, bacterium, fungus, or parasite, the clinical outcome of primary infection is enormously variable, ranging from asymptomatic to lethal infection. This variability has long been thought to be largely determined by the germline genetics of the human host, and this is increasingly being demonstrated to be the case. The number and diversity of known inborn errors of immunity is continually increasing, and we focus here on autosomal and X-linked recessive traits underlying complete deficiencies of the encoded protein. Schematically, four types of infectious phenotype have been observed in individuals with such deficiencies, each providing information about the redundancy of the corresponding human gene, in terms of host defense in natural conditions. The lack of a protein can confer vulnerability to a broad range of microbes in most, if not all patients, through the disruption of a key immunological component. In such cases, the gene concerned is of low redundancy. However, the lack of a protein may also confer vulnerability to a narrow range of microbes, sometimes a single pathogen, and not necessarily in all patients. In such cases, the gene concerned is highly redundant. Conversely, the deficiency may be apparently neutral, conferring no detectable predisposition to infection in any individual. In such cases, the gene concerned is completely redundant. Finally, the lack of a protein may, paradoxically, be advantageous to the host, conferring resistance to one or more infections. In such cases, the gene is considered to display beneficial redundancy. These findings reflect the current state of evolution of humans and microbes, and should not be considered predictive of redundancy, or of a lack of redundancy, in the distant future. Nevertheless, these observations are of potential interest to present-day biologists testing immunological hypotheses experimentally and physicians managing patients with immunological or infectious

Redundancies in Data and their Effect on the Evaluation of Recommendation Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basaran, Daniel; Ntoutsi, Eirini; Zimek, Arthur

2017-01-01

A collection of datasets crawled from Amazon, “Amazon reviews”, is popular in the evaluation of recommendation systems. These datasets, however, contain redundancies (duplicated recommendations for variants of certain items). These redundancies went unnoticed in earlier use of these datasets...... and thus incurred to a certain extent wrong conclusions in the evaluation of algorithms tested on these datasets. We analyze the nature and amount of these redundancies and their impact on the evaluation of recommendation methods. While the general and obvious conclusion is that redundancies should...

Redundancy scheme for multi-layered accelerator control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chauhan, Amit; Fatnani, Pravin

2009-01-01

The control system for SRS Indus-2 has three-layered architecture. There are VMEbus based stations at the lower two layers that are controlled by their respective CPU board. The 'Profibus' fieldbus standard is used for communication between these VME stations distributed in the field. There is a Profibus controller board at each station to implement the communication protocol. The mode of communication is master-slave (command-response) type. This paper proposes a scheme to implement redundancy at the lower two layers namely Layer-2 (Supervisory Layer / Profibus-master) and Layer-3 (Equipment Unit Interface Layer / Profibus-slave). The redundancy is for both the CPU and the communication board. The scheme uses two CPU boards and two Profi controller boards at each L-3 station. This helps in decreasing any downtime resulting either from CPU faults or communication board faults that are placed in the field area. Redundancy of Profi boards provides two active communication channels between the stations that can be used in different ways thereby increasing the availability on a communication link. Redundancy of CPU boards provides certain level of auto fault-recovery as one CPU remains active and the other CPU remains in standby mode, which takes over the control of VMEbus in case of any fault in the main CPU. (author)

Neural redundancy applied to the parity space for signal validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mol, Antonio Carlos de Abreu; Pereira, Claudio Marcio Nascimento Abreu; Martinez, Aquilino Senra

2005-01-01

The objective of signal validation is to provide more reliable information from the plant sensor data The method presented in this work introduces the concept of neural redundancy and applies it to the space parity method [1] to overcome an inherent deficiency of this method - the determination of the best estimative of the redundant measures when they are inconsistent. The concept of neural redundancy consists on the calculation of a redundancy through neural networks based on the time series of the own state variable. Therefore, neural networks, dynamically trained with the time series, will estimate the current value of the own measure, which will be used as referee of the redundant measures in the parity space. For this purpose the neural network should have the capacity to supply the neural redundancy in real time and with maximum error corresponding to the group deviation. The historical series should be enough to allow the estimate of the next value, during transients and at the same time, it should be optimized to facilitate the retraining of the neural network to each acquisition. In order to have the capacity to reproduce the tendency of the time series even under accident condition, the dynamic training of the neural network privileges the recent points of the time series. The tests accomplished with simulated data of a nuclear plant, demonstrated that this method applied on the parity space method improves the signal validation process. (author)

Neural redundancy applied to the parity space for signal validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mol, Antonio Carlos de Abreu; Pereira, Claudio Marcio Nascimento Abreu [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)]. E-mail: cmnap@ien.gov.br; Martinez, Aquilino Senra [Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia]. E-mail: aquilino@lmp.br

2005-07-01

The objective of signal validation is to provide more reliable information from the plant sensor data The method presented in this work introduces the concept of neural redundancy and applies it to the space parity method [1] to overcome an inherent deficiency of this method - the determination of the best estimative of the redundant measures when they are inconsistent. The concept of neural redundancy consists on the calculation of a redundancy through neural networks based on the time series of the own state variable. Therefore, neural networks, dynamically trained with the time series, will estimate the current value of the own measure, which will be used as referee of the redundant measures in the parity space. For this purpose the neural network should have the capacity to supply the neural redundancy in real time and with maximum error corresponding to the group deviation. The historical series should be enough to allow the estimate of the next value, during transients and at the same time, it should be optimized to facilitate the retraining of the neural network to each acquisition. In order to have the capacity to reproduce the tendency of the time series even under accident condition, the dynamic training of the neural network privileges the recent points of the time series. The tests accomplished with simulated data of a nuclear plant, demonstrated that this method applied on the parity space method improves the signal validation process. (author)

Reliability optimization of series–parallel systems with mixed redundancy strategy in subsystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abouei Ardakan, Mostafa; Zeinal Hamadani, Ali

2014-01-01

Traditionally in redundancy allocation problem (RAP), it is assumed that the redundant components are used based on a predefined active or standby strategies. Recently, some studies consider the situation that both active and standby strategies can be used in a specific system. However, these researches assume that the redundancy strategy for each subsystem can be either active or standby and determine the best strategy for these subsystems by using a proper mathematical model. As an extension to this assumption, a novel strategy, that is a combination of traditional active and standby strategies, is introduced. The new strategy is called mixed strategy which uses both active and cold-standby strategies in one subsystem simultaneously. Therefore, the problem is to determine the component type, redundancy level, number of active and cold-standby units for each subsystem in order to maximize the system reliability. To have a more practical model, the problem is formulated with imperfect switching of cold-standby redundant components and k-Erlang time-to-failure (TTF) distribution. As the optimization of RAP belongs to NP-hard class of problems, a genetic algorithm (GA) is developed. The new strategy and proposed GA are implemented on a well-known test problem in the literature which leads to interesting results. - Highlights: • In this paper the redundancy allocation problem (RAP) for a series–parallel system is considered. • Traditionally there are two main strategies for redundant component namely active and standby. • In this paper a new redundancy strategy which is called “Mixed” redundancy strategy is introduced. • Computational experiments demonstrate that implementing the new strategy lead to interesting results

Techno-Economic Assessment of Redundancy Systems for a Cogeneration Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Majid Mohd Amin Abd

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The use of distributed power generation has advantage as well as disadvantage. One of the disadvantages is that the plant requires a dependable redundancy system to provide back up of power during failure of its power generation equipment. This paper presents a study on techno-economic assessment of redundancy systems for a cogeneration plant. Three redundancy systems were investigated; using public utility, generator set and gas turbine as back up during failures. Results from the analysis indicate that using public utility provides technical as well as economic advantages in comparison to using generator set or turbine as back up. However, the economic advantage of the public utility depends on the frequency of failures the plant will experience as well on the maximum demand charge. From the break even analysis of the understudied plant, if the number of failures exceeds 3 failures per year for the case of maximum demand charge of RM56.80, it is more economical to install a generator set as redundancy. The study will be useful for the co-generator operators to evaluate the feasibility of redundancy systems.

Comparative evaluation of B-type natriuretic peptide and mid-regional pro-A-type natriuretic peptide changes from admission to discharge in prognosis of acute decompensated heart failure patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Stenner, Elisabetta; Buiatti, Alessandra; Barbati, Giulia; Merlo, Marco; Sinagra, Gianfranco; Biasioli, Bruno

2012-01-01

Mid-regional pro-A-type natriuretic peptide (MRproANP) seems to be non-inferior compared to B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) for heart failure diagnosis and prognosis; however, no previous studies have investigated the MRproANP in-hospital changes in prognostic role. This study aimed to compare the prognostic accuracy of BNP and MRproANP in-hospital changes in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) patients. 37 patients with either admission/pre-discharge BNP and MRproANP data, were investigated. The combined endpoint was cardiovascular death/heart transplantation/readmission for HF. BNP and MRproANP had a median decrease of 55% [72;45] and 21% [40; 11] respectively in event-free patients; BNP decrease of 34% [48; 29] but MRproANP increase of 4% [-7; 25] in patients with cardiovascular events. Prognostic accuracy of deltaBNP and deltaMRproANP was similar. MRproANP basically trends up in patients with worse outcome and decreases in event-free patients, likely leading to a simpler interpretation although the prognostic accuracy is similar for both peptides.

Different natriuretic responses in obese and lean rats in response to nitric oxide reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambrozewicz, Marta A; Khraibi, Ali A; Simsek-Duran, Fatma; DeBose, Sophia C; Baydoun, Hind A; Dobrian, Anca D

2011-08-01

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important regulator of renal sodium transport and participates in the control of natriuresis and diuresis. In obesity, the nitric oxide bioavailability was reportedly reduced, which may contribute to the maintenance of hypertension. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of NO depletion on renal sodium handling in a model of diet-induced obesity hypertension. Obese hypertensive (obesity-prone (OP)) and lean normotensive (obesity-resistant (OR)) Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with 1.2 mg/kg/day N(G)-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME) for 4 weeks to inhibit NO synthesis. Acute pressure natriuresis and diuresis were measured in response to an increase in perfusion pressure. NHE3 and Na(+), K(+)-ATPase protein expression were measured by Western blot and NHE3 activity was determined as the rate of pH change in brush border membrane vesicles. NHE3 membrane localization was determined by confocal microscopy. L-NAME did not significantly attenuate the natriuretic and diuretic responses to increases in renal perfusion pressure (RPP) in OP rats while inducing a significant reduction in OR rats. Following chronic NO inhibition, NHE3 protein expression and activity and Na(+), K(+)-ATPase protein expression were significantly increased in the OR but not in the OP group. Immunofluorescence studies indicated that the increase in NHE3 activity could be, at least in part, due to NHE3 membrane trafficking. Obese hypertensive rats have a weaker natriuretic response in response to NO inhibition compared to lean rats and the mechanism involves different regulation of the apical sodium exchanger NHE3 expression, activity, and trafficking.

Image Registration Using Redundant Wavelet Transforms

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Brown, Richard

2001-01-01

.... In our research, we present a fundamentally new wavelet-based registration algorithm utilizing redundant transforms and a masking process to suppress the adverse effects of noise and improve processing efficiency...

REDUNDANT ELECTRIC MOTOR DRIVE CONTROL UNIT DESIGN USING AUTOMATA-BASED APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuri Yu. Yankin

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Implementation of redundant unit for motor drive control based on programmable logic devices is discussed. Continuous redundancy method is used. As compared to segregated standby redundancy and whole system standby redundancy, such method provides preservation of all unit functions in case of redundancy and gives the possibility for continuous monitoring of major and redundant elements. Example of that unit is given. Electric motor drive control channel block diagram contains two control units – the major and redundant; it also contains four power supply units. Control units programming was carried out using automata-based approach. Electric motor drive control channel model was developed; it provides complex simulation of control state-machine and power converter. Through visibility and hierarchy of finite state machines debug time was shortened as compared to traditional programming. Control state-machine description using hardware description language is required for its synthesis with FPGA-devices vendor design software. This description was generated automatically by MATLAB software package. To verify results two prototype control units, two prototype power supply units, and device mock-up were developed and manufactured. Units were installed in the device mock-up. Prototype units were created in accordance with requirements claimed to deliverable hardware. Control channel simulation and tests results in the perfect state and during imitation of major element fault are presented. Automata-based approach made it possible to observe and debug control state-machine transitions during simulation of transient processes, occurring at imitation of faults. Results of this work can be used in development of fault tolerant electric motor drive control channels.

A control method for manipulators with redundancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furusho, Junji; Usui, Hiroyuki

1989-01-01

Redundant manipulators have more ability than nonredundant ones in many aspects such as avoiding obstacles, avoiding singular states, etc. In this paper, a control algorithm for redundant manipulators working under the circumstance in the presence of obstacles is presented. First, the measure of manipulability for robot manipulators under obstacle circumstances is defined. Then, the control algorithm for the obstacle avoidance is derived by using this measure of manipulability. The obstacle avoidance and the maintenance of good posture are simultaneously achieved by this algorithm. Lastly, an experiment and simulation results using an eight degree of freedom manipulator are shown. (author)

Impact of epitope specificity and precursor maturation in pro-B-type natriuretic peptide measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goetze, J.P.; Dahlstrom, U.; Alehagen, U.

2008-01-01

with different epitope specificities in a cohort of elderly patients presenting with symptoms associated with heart failure (n = 415). RESULTS: Comparison of N-terminal proBNP with proBNP 1-76 measurement in plasma revealed a high correlation on regression analysis (r(2) = 0.91, P ..., the proBNP 1-76 assay measured lower concentrations in the high range than the N-terminal proBNP assay. Correlations between assay measurements in a clinical setting were comparable for all the assays (r(2) approximately 0.57-0.83), and ROC analyses revealed area-under-the-curve values ranging between 0......BACKGROUND: Cardiac-derived natriuretic peptides are sensitive plasma markers of cardiac dysfunction. Recent reports have disclosed a more complex molecular heterogeneity of B-type natriuretic peptide precursor (proBNP)-derived peptides than previously suggested. In this study, we examined...

C-type natriuretic peptide and its precursor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lippert, Solvej; Iversen, Peter; Brasso, Klaus

2015-01-01

AIM: Seminal plasma offer a more organ-specific matrix for markers in prostatic disease. We hypothesized that C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) expression may constitute such a new target. METHODS: Patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, clinically localized and metastatic prostate cancer were...... examined for CNP and CNP precursor (proCNP) concentrations in blood and seminal plasma. Furthermore, CNP and the CNP receptor (NPR-B) mRNA contents in tissue from prostate and seminal vesicles were analyzed by qPCR. RESULTS: CNP and NPR-B concentrations decreased with increasing tumor burden (p = 0.......0027 and p = 0.0096, respectively). In contrast, seminal plasma CNP and proCNP concentrations were markedly increased with increased tumor burden (p prostate cancer....

Redundancy control in pathway databases (ReCiPa): an application for improving gene-set enrichment analysis in Omics studies and "Big data" biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Vivar, Juan C; Pemu, Priscilla; McPherson, Ruth; Ghosh, Sujoy

2013-08-01

Abstract Unparalleled technological advances have fueled an explosive growth in the scope and scale of biological data and have propelled life sciences into the realm of "Big Data" that cannot be managed or analyzed by conventional approaches. Big Data in the life sciences are driven primarily via a diverse collection of 'omics'-based technologies, including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, and lipidomics. Gene-set enrichment analysis is a powerful approach for interrogating large 'omics' datasets, leading to the identification of biological mechanisms associated with observed outcomes. While several factors influence the results from such analysis, the impact from the contents of pathway databases is often under-appreciated. Pathway databases often contain variously named pathways that overlap with one another to varying degrees. Ignoring such redundancies during pathway analysis can lead to the designation of several pathways as being significant due to high content-similarity, rather than truly independent biological mechanisms. Statistically, such dependencies also result in correlated p values and overdispersion, leading to biased results. We investigated the level of redundancies in multiple pathway databases and observed large discrepancies in the nature and extent of pathway overlap. This prompted us to develop the application, ReCiPa (Redundancy Control in Pathway Databases), to control redundancies in pathway databases based on user-defined thresholds. Analysis of genomic and genetic datasets, using ReCiPa-generated overlap-controlled versions of KEGG and Reactome pathways, led to a reduction in redundancy among the top-scoring gene-sets and allowed for the inclusion of additional gene-sets representing possibly novel biological mechanisms. Using obesity as an example, bioinformatic analysis further demonstrated that gene-sets identified from overlap-controlled pathway databases show stronger evidence of prior association

The Development of Synchronization Function for Triple Redundancy System Based on SCADE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moupeng

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Redundancy technique is an effective approach to improve the reliability and security of flight control system, synchronization function of redundancy system is the key technology of redundancy management. The flight control computer synchronization model is developed by graphical modeling method in the SCADE development environment, the automatic code generation technology is used to generate high level reliable embedded real-time code for synchronization function, omitting the code test process, shorten the development cycle. In the practical application, the program can accomplish the functional synchronization, and lay a well foundation for the redundancy system.

Research on a six-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor system at dual-redundant and fault tolerant modes in aviation application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaolin KUANG

2017-08-01

Full Text Available With the development of more/all electrical aircraft technology, an electro-mechanical actuator (EMA is more and more used in an aircraft actuation system. The motor system, as the crucial part of an EMA, usually adopts the redundancy technology or fault tolerance technology to improve the reliability. To compare the performances of these two motor systems, a 10-pole/12-slot six-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM is designed with the concentrated single-layer winding, which is able to operate at dual-redundant and fault tolerant modes. Furthermore, the position servo performances of the six-phase PMSM at dual-redundant and fault tolerant modes are analyzed, including the normal and fault conditions. In addition, a variable structure proportional-integral-derivative (PID control strategy is proposed to solve the performance degradation problem caused by phase current saturation. Simulation and experimental results show that the fault tolerant PMSM has a better position servo performance than the dual-redundant PMSM, and the variable structure PID control strategy is able to improve the performance due to phase current saturation.

Natriuretic peptide-guided therapy in chronic heart failure: a meta-analysis of 2,686 patients in 12 randomized trials.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianluigi Savarese

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The role of cardiac natriuretic peptides in the management of patients with chronic heart failure (HF remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether natriuretic peptide-guided therapy, compared to clinically-guided therapy, improves mortality and hospitalization rate in patients with chronic HF. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: MEDLINE, Cochrane, ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS databases were searched for articles reporting natriuretic peptide-guided therapy in HF until August 2012. All randomized trials reporting clinical end-points (all-cause mortality and/or HF-related hospitalization and/or all-cause hospitalization were included. Meta-analysis was performed to assess the influence of treatment on outcomes. Sensitivity analysis was performed to test the influence of potential effect modifiers and of each trial included in meta-analysis on results. Twelve trials enrolling 2,686 participants were included. Natriuretic peptide-guided therapy (either B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP]- or N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP]-guided therapy significantly reduced all-cause mortality (Odds Ratio [OR]:0.738; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]:0.596 to 0.913; p = 0.005 and HF-related hospitalization (OR:0.554; CI:0.399 to 0.769; p = 0.000, but not all-cause hospitalization (OR:0.803; CI:0.629 to 1.024; p = 0.077. When separately assessed, NT-proBNP-guided therapy significantly reduced all-cause mortality (OR:0.717; CI:0.563 to 0.914; p = 0.007 and HF-related hospitalization (OR:0.531; CI:0.347 to 0.811; p = 0.003, but not all-cause hospitalization (OR:0.779; CI:0.414 to 1.465; p = 0.438, whereas BNP-guided therapy did not significantly reduce all-cause mortality (OR:0.814; CI:0.518 to 1.279; p = 0.371, HF-related hospitalization (OR:0.599; CI:0.303 to 1.187; p = 0.142 or all-cause hospitalization (OR:0.726; CI:0.509 to 1.035; p = 0.077. [corrected]. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Use of cardiac peptides to guide

Method and system for redundancy management of distributed and recoverable digital control system

Science.gov (United States)

Stange, Kent (Inventor); Hess, Richard (Inventor); Kelley, Gerald B (Inventor); Rogers, Randy (Inventor)

2012-01-01

A method and system for redundancy management is provided for a distributed and recoverable digital control system. The method uses unique redundancy management techniques to achieve recovery and restoration of redundant elements to full operation in an asynchronous environment. The system includes a first computing unit comprising a pair of redundant computational lanes for generating redundant control commands. One or more internal monitors detect data errors in the control commands, and provide a recovery trigger to the first computing unit. A second redundant computing unit provides the same features as the first computing unit. A first actuator control unit is configured to provide blending and monitoring of the control commands from the first and second computing units, and to provide a recovery trigger to each of the first and second computing units. A second actuator control unit provides the same features as the first actuator control unit.

Reliability-redundancy optimization by means of a chaotic differential evolution approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coelho, Leandro dos Santos

2009-01-01

The reliability design is related to the performance analysis of many engineering systems. The reliability-redundancy optimization problems involve selection of components with multiple choices and redundancy levels that produce maximum benefits, can be subject to the cost, weight, and volume constraints. Classical mathematical methods have failed in handling nonconvexities and nonsmoothness in optimization problems. As an alternative to the classical optimization approaches, the meta-heuristics have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solution in reliability-redundancy optimization problems. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) - paradigms of evolutionary computation field - are stochastic and robust meta-heuristics useful to solve reliability-redundancy optimization problems. EAs such as genetic algorithm, evolutionary programming, evolution strategies and differential evolution are being used to find global or near global optimal solution. A differential evolution approach based on chaotic sequences using Lozi's map for reliability-redundancy optimization problems is proposed in this paper. The proposed method has a fast convergence rate but also maintains the diversity of the population so as to escape from local optima. An application example in reliability-redundancy optimization based on the overspeed protection system of a gas turbine is given to show its usefulness and efficiency. Simulation results show that the application of deterministic chaotic sequences instead of random sequences is a possible strategy to improve the performance of differential evolution.

Quantitative proteome changes in Arabidopsis thaliana suspension-cultured cells in response to plant natriuretic peptides

KAUST Repository

Turek, Ilona; Wheeler, Janet I.; Gehring, Christoph A; Irving, Helen R.; Marondedze, Claudius

2015-01-01

Proteome changes in the Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cells in response to the A. thaliana plant natriuretic peptide (PNP), AtPNP-A (At2g18660) were assessed using quantitative proteomics employing tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling and tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). In this study, we characterized temporal responses of suspension-cultured cells to 1 nM and 10 pM AtPNP-A at 0, 10 and 30 min post-treatment. Both concentrations we found to yield a distinct differential proteome signature. The data shown in this article are associated with the article “Plant natriuretic peptides induce a specific set of proteins diagnostic for an adaptive response to abiotic stress” by Turek et al. (Front. Plant Sci. 5 (2014) 661) and have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001386.

Quantitative proteome changes in Arabidopsis thaliana suspension-cultured cells in response to plant natriuretic peptides

KAUST Repository

Turek, Ilona

2015-06-30

Proteome changes in the Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cells in response to the A. thaliana plant natriuretic peptide (PNP), AtPNP-A (At2g18660) were assessed using quantitative proteomics employing tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling and tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). In this study, we characterized temporal responses of suspension-cultured cells to 1 nM and 10 pM AtPNP-A at 0, 10 and 30 min post-treatment. Both concentrations we found to yield a distinct differential proteome signature. The data shown in this article are associated with the article “Plant natriuretic peptides induce a specific set of proteins diagnostic for an adaptive response to abiotic stress” by Turek et al. (Front. Plant Sci. 5 (2014) 661) and have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001386.

Sibling rivalry: related bacterial small RNAs and their redundant and non-redundant roles.

Science.gov (United States)

Caswell, Clayton C; Oglesby-Sherrouse, Amanda G; Murphy, Erin R

2014-01-01

Small RNA molecules (sRNAs) are now recognized as key regulators controlling bacterial gene expression, as sRNAs provide a quick and efficient means of positively or negatively altering the expression of specific genes. To date, numerous sRNAs have been identified and characterized in a myriad of bacterial species, but more recently, a theme in bacterial sRNAs has emerged: the presence of more than one highly related sRNAs produced by a given bacterium, here termed sibling sRNAs. Sibling sRNAs are those that are highly similar at the nucleotide level, and while it might be expected that sibling sRNAs exert identical regulatory functions on the expression of target genes based on their high degree of relatedness, emerging evidence is demonstrating that this is not always the case. Indeed, there are several examples of bacterial sibling sRNAs with non-redundant regulatory functions, but there are also instances of apparent regulatory redundancy between sibling sRNAs. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of bacterial sibling sRNAs, and also discusses important questions about the significance and evolutionary implications of this emerging class of regulators.

Sibling rivalry: Related bacterial small RNAs and their redundant and non-redundant roles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clayton eCaswell

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Small RNA molecules (sRNAs are now recognized as key regulators controlling bacterial gene expression, as sRNAs provide a quick and efficient means of positively or negatively altering the expression of specific genes. To date, numerous sRNAs have been identified and characterized in a myriad of bacterial species, but more recently, a theme in bacterial sRNAs has emerged: the presence of more than one highly related sRNAs produced by a given bacterium, here termed sibling sRNAs. Sibling sRNAs are those that are highly similar at the nucleotide level, and while it might be expected that sibling sRNAs exert identical regulatory functions on the expression of target genes based on their high degree of relatedness, emerging evidence is demonstrating that this is not always the case. Indeed, there are several examples of bacterial sibling sRNAs with non-redundant regulatory functions, but there are also instances of apparent regulatory redundancy between sibling sRNAs. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of bacterial sibling sRNAs, and also discusses important questions about the significance and evolutionary implications of this emerging class of regulators.

Discriminating between cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction in the general population with dyspnea by plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mogelvang, R; Goetze, JP; Schnohr, P

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine whether measurement of plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) could be used in discriminating between cardiac and pulmonary dyspnea in the general population. BACKGROUND: Natriuretic peptides are useful markers in ruling out acute cardiac...... the expected concentration of plasma proBNP based on age and gender was established for dyspneic subjects: an actual plasma proBNP concentration below half of the expected value ruled out left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction (sensitivity 100%, 95% CI 100% to 100%; specificity 15%, 95% CI 12...

Involvement of insulin-degrading enzyme in insulin- and atrial natriuretic peptide-sensitive internalization of amyloid-β peptide in mouse brain capillary endothelial cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Shingo; Ohtsuki, Sumio; Murata, Sho; Katsukura, Yuki; Suzuki, Hiroya; Funaki, Miho; Tachikawa, Masanori; Terasaki, Tetsuya

2014-01-01

Cerebral clearance of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), which is implicated in Alzheimer's disease, involves elimination across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and we previously showed that an insulin-sensitive process is involved in the case of Aβ1-40. The purpose of this study was to clarify the molecular mechanism of the insulin-sensitive Aβ1-40 elimination across mouse BBB. An in vivo cerebral microinjection study demonstrated that [125I]hAβ1-40 elimination from mouse brain was inhibited by human natriuretic peptide (hANP), and [125I]hANP elimination was inhibited by hAβ1-40, suggesting that hAβ1-40 and hANP share a common elimination process. Internalization of [125I]hAβ1-40 into cultured mouse brain capillary endothelial cells (TM-BBB4) was significantly inhibited by either insulin, hANP, other natriuretic peptides or insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) inhibitors, but was not inhibited by phosphoramidon or thiorphan. Although we have reported the involvement of natriuretic peptide receptor C (Npr-C) in hANP internalization, cells stably expressing Npr-C internalized [125I]hANP but not [125I]hAβ1-40, suggesting that there is no direct interaction between Npr-C and hAβ1-40. IDE was detected in plasma membrane of TM-BBB4 cells, and internalization of [125I]hAβ1-40 by TM-BBB4 cells was reduced by IDE-targeted siRNAs. We conclude that elimination of hAβ1-40 from mouse brain across the BBB involves an insulin- and ANP-sensitive process, mediated by IDE expressed in brain capillary endothelial cells.

SIMULATION MODEL FOR DESIGN SUPPORT OF INFOCOMM REDUNDANT SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Bogatyrev

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Subject of Research. The paper deals with the effectiveness of multipath transfer of request copies through the network and their redundant service without the use of laborious analytical modeling. The model and support tools for the design of highly reliable distributed systems based on simulation modeling have been created. Method. The effectiveness of many variants of service organization and delivery through the network to the query servers is formed and analyzed. Options for providing redundant service and delivery via the network to the servers of request copies are also considered. The choice of variants for the distribution and service of requests is carried out taking into account the criticality of queries to the time of their stay in the system. The request is considered successful if at least one of its copies is accurately delivered to the working server, ready to service the request received through a network, if it is fulfilled in the set time. Efficiency analysis of the redundant transmission and service of requests is based on the model built in AnyLogic 7 simulation environment. Main Results. Simulation experiments based on the proposed models have shown the effectiveness of redundant transmission of copies of queries (packets to the servers in the cluster through multiple paths with redundant service of request copies by a group of servers in the cluster. It is shown that this solution allows increasing the probability of exact execution of at least one copy of the request within the required time. We have carried out efficiency evaluation of destruction of outdated request copies in the queues of network nodes and the cluster. We have analyzed options for network implementation of multipath transfer of request copies to the servers in the cluster over disjoint paths, possibly different according to the number of their constituent nodes. Practical Relevance. The proposed simulation models can be used when selecting the optimal

Beta-blockers influence the short-term and long-term prognostic information of natriuretic peptides and catecholamines in chronic heart failure independent from specific agents.

Science.gov (United States)

Frankenstein, Lutz; Nelles, Manfred; Slavutsky, Maxim; Schellberg, Dieter; Doesch, Andreas; Katus, Hugo; Remppis, Andrew; Zugck, Christian

2007-10-01

In chronic heart failure (CHF), the physiologic effects of natriuretic peptides and catecholamines are interdependent. Furthermore, reports state an agent-dependent effect of individual beta-blockers on biomarkers. Data on the short-term and long-term predictive power comparing these biomarkers as well as accounting for the influence of beta-blocker treatment both on the marker or the resultant prognostic information are scarce. We included 513 consecutive patients with systolic CHF, measured atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP), noradrenaline, and adrenaline, and monitored them for 90 +/- 25 months. Death or the combination of death and cardiac transplantation at 1 year, 5 years, and overall follow-up were considered end points. Compared with patients not taking beta-blockers, patients taking beta-blockers had significantly lower levels of catecholamines but not natriuretic peptides. Only for adrenaline was the amount of this effect related to the specific beta-blocker chosen. Receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated superior prognostic accuracy for NTproBNP both at the 1- and 5-year follow-up compared with ANP, noradrenaline, and adrenaline. In multivariate analysis including established risk markers (New York Heart Association functional class, left ventricular ejection fraction, peak oxygen uptake, and 6-minute walk test), of all neurohumoral parameters, only NTproBNP remained an independent predictor for both end points. Long-term beta-blocker therapy is associated with decreased levels of plasma catecholamines but not natriuretic peptides. This effect is independent from the actual beta-blocker chosen for natriuretic peptides and noradrenaline. In multivariate analysis, both for short-term and long-term prediction of mortality or the combined end point of death and cardiac transplantation, only NTproBNP remained independent from established clinical risk markers.

Plant natriuretic peptides control of synthesis and systemic effects

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuhua

2011-10-01

Plant natriuretic peptides (PNPs) are signaling molecules that are secreted into the apoplast particularly under conditions of biotic and abiotic stress. At the local level, PNPs modulate their own expression via feed forward and feedback loops to enable tuning of the response at the transcript and protein level and to prevent overexpression. PNPs also employ a systemic signal, possibly electrical, to rapidly alter photosynthesis and respiration not only in treated leaves but also in upper and lower leaves thereby modulating and integrating physiological responses at the level of the whole plant. © 2011 Landes Bioscience.

The Effects of Exercise on Natriuretic Peptides in Individuals without Heart Failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidetaka Hamasaki

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Cardiac natriuretic peptides (NPs play an important role in the regulation of energy expenditure in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. A systematic review on the effects of exercise on NPs in patients with heart failure reported that aerobic and resistance training reduced NPs; however, the effects of exercise on NPs and the underlying mechanism of exercise-induced NP secretion in subjects without heart failure remain unknown. In athletes and young, healthy subjects, the NP concentration at rest is not elevated, but strenuous endurance exercise significantly increases NPs. The exercise-induced increase in NPs may be caused by transient myocardial wall stress, cardiomyocyte metabolic changes, or neuroendocrinological response, which may have cytoprotective and growth-regulating effects on the heart. On the other hand, in elderly, overweight/obese subjects, and patients with hypertension, NP concentrations also increase during exercise; however, NP secretion may be more susceptible to cardiac stress compared to young, healthy individuals. Recent studies have shown that NPs are associated with thermogenesis in fat tissue and oxidative capacity in skeletal muscles. NPs may also have a protective role for skeletal muscle in humans, although further studies are warranted to elucidate the physiological mechanism of exercise-induced NP secretion.

Redundancy in electronic health record corpora: analysis, impact on text mining performance and mitigation strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Raphael; Elhadad, Michael; Elhadad, Noémie

2013-01-16

The increasing availability of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data and specifically free-text patient notes presents opportunities for phenotype extraction. Text-mining methods in particular can help disease modeling by mapping named-entities mentions to terminologies and clustering semantically related terms. EHR corpora, however, exhibit specific statistical and linguistic characteristics when compared with corpora in the biomedical literature domain. We focus on copy-and-paste redundancy: clinicians typically copy and paste information from previous notes when documenting a current patient encounter. Thus, within a longitudinal patient record, one expects to observe heavy redundancy. In this paper, we ask three research questions: (i) How can redundancy be quantified in large-scale text corpora? (ii) Conventional wisdom is that larger corpora yield better results in text mining. But how does the observed EHR redundancy affect text mining? Does such redundancy introduce a bias that distorts learned models? Or does the redundancy introduce benefits by highlighting stable and important subsets of the corpus? (iii) How can one mitigate the impact of redundancy on text mining? We analyze a large-scale EHR corpus and quantify redundancy both in terms of word and semantic concept repetition. We observe redundancy levels of about 30% and non-standard distribution of both words and concepts. We measure the impact of redundancy on two standard text-mining applications: collocation identification and topic modeling. We compare the results of these methods on synthetic data with controlled levels of redundancy and observe significant performance variation. Finally, we compare two mitigation strategies to avoid redundancy-induced bias: (i) a baseline strategy, keeping only the last note for each patient in the corpus; (ii) removing redundant notes with an efficient fingerprinting-based algorithm. (a)For text mining, preprocessing the EHR corpus with fingerprinting yields

An improved method for calculating self-motion coordinates for redundant manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reister, D.B.

1997-04-01

For a redundant manipulator, the objective of redundancy resolution is to follow a specified path in Cartesian space and simultaneously perform another task (for example, maximize an objective function or avoid obstacles) at every point along the path. The conventional methods have several drawbacks: a new function must be defined for each task, the extended Jacobian can be singular, closed cycles in Cartesian space may not yield closed cycles in joint space, and the objective is point-wise redundancy resolution (to determine a single point in joint space for each point in Cartesian space). The author divides the redundancy resolution problem into two parts: (1) calculate self-motion coordinates for all possible positions of a manipulator at each point along a Cartesian path and (2) determination of optimal self-motion coordinates that maximize an objective function along the path. This paper will discuss the first part of the problem. The path-wise approach overcomes all of the drawbacks of conventional redundancy resolution methods: no need to define a new function for each task, extended Jacobian cannot be singular, and closed cycles in extended Cartesian space will yield closed cycles in joint space

A comparison of Heuristic method and Llewellyn’s rules for identification of redundant constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Estiningsih, Y.; Farikhin; Tjahjana, R. H.

2018-03-01

Important techniques in linear programming is modelling and solving practical optimization. Redundant constraints are consider for their effects on general linear programming problems. Identification and reduce redundant constraints are for avoidance of all the calculations associated when solving an associated linear programming problems. Many researchers have been proposed for identification redundant constraints. This paper a compararison of Heuristic method and Llewellyn’s rules for identification of redundant constraints.

Modal space three-state feedback control for electro-hydraulic servo plane redundant driving mechanism with eccentric load decoupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jinsong; Wang, Zhipeng; Zhang, Chuanbi; Yang, Chifu; Bai, Wenjie; Zhao, Zining

2018-06-01

The shaking table based on electro-hydraulic servo parallel mechanism has the advantage of strong carrying capacity. However, the strong coupling caused by the eccentric load not only affects the degree of freedom space control precision, but also brings trouble to the system control. A novel decoupling control strategy is proposed, which is based on modal space to solve the coupling problem for parallel mechanism with eccentric load. The phenomenon of strong dynamic coupling among degree of freedom space is described by experiments, and its influence on control design is discussed. Considering the particularity of plane motion, the dynamic model is built by Lagrangian method to avoid complex calculations. The dynamic equations of the coupling physical space are transformed into the dynamic equations of the decoupling modal space by using the weighted orthogonality of the modal main mode with respect to mass matrix and stiffness matrix. In the modal space, the adjustments of the modal channels are independent of each other. Moreover, the paper discusses identical closed-loop dynamic characteristics of modal channels, which will realize decoupling for degree of freedom space, thus a modal space three-state feedback control is proposed to expand the frequency bandwidth of each modal channel for ensuring their near-identical responses in a larger frequency range. Experimental results show that the concept of modal space three-state feedback control proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the strong coupling problem of degree of freedom space channels, which verify the effectiveness of the proposed model space state feedback control strategy for improving the control performance of the electro-hydraulic servo plane redundant driving mechanism. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanical Description of a Hyper-Redundant Robot Joint Mechanism Used for a Design of a Biomimetic Robotic Fish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. O. Afolayan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A biologically inspired robot in the form of fish (mackerel model using rubber (as the biomimetic material for its hyper-redundant joint is presented in this paper. Computerized simulation of the most critical part of the model (the peduncle shows that the rubber joints will be able to take up the stress that will be created. Furthermore, the frequency-induced softening of the rubber used was found to be critical if the joints are going to oscillate at frequency above 25 Hz. The robotic fish was able to attain a speed of 0.985 m/s while the tail beats at a maximum of 1.7 Hz when tested inside water. Furthermore, a minimum turning radius of 0.8 m (approximately 2 times the fish body length was achieved.

A redundancy-removing feature selection algorithm for nominal data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhihua Li

2015-10-01

Full Text Available No order correlation or similarity metric exists in nominal data, and there will always be more redundancy in a nominal dataset, which means that an efficient mutual information-based nominal-data feature selection method is relatively difficult to find. In this paper, a nominal-data feature selection method based on mutual information without data transformation, called the redundancy-removing more relevance less redundancy algorithm, is proposed. By forming several new information-related definitions and the corresponding computational methods, the proposed method can compute the information-related amount of nominal data directly. Furthermore, by creating a new evaluation function that considers both the relevance and the redundancy globally, the new feature selection method can evaluate the importance of each nominal-data feature. Although the presented feature selection method takes commonly used MIFS-like forms, it is capable of handling high-dimensional datasets without expensive computations. We perform extensive experimental comparisons of the proposed algorithm and other methods using three benchmarking nominal datasets with two different classifiers. The experimental results demonstrate the average advantage of the presented algorithm over the well-known NMIFS algorithm in terms of the feature selection and classification accuracy, which indicates that the proposed method has a promising performance.

Does functional redundancy stabilize fish communities?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rice, Jake; Daan, Niels; Gislason, Henrik

2012-01-01

Functional redundancy is a community property thought to contribute to ecosystem resilience. It is argued that trophic (or other) functional groups with more species have more linkages and opportunities to buffer variation in abundance of individual species. We explored this concept with a 30‐year...... time‐series of data on 83 species sampled in the International Bottom Trawl Survey. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that functional redundancy leads to more stable (and by inference more resilient) communities. Over the time‐series trophic groups (assigned by diet, size (Lmax) group......, or both factors) with more species had lower coefficients of variation (CVs) in abundance and biomass than did trophic groups with fewer species. These findings are also consistent with Bernoulli’s Law of Large Numbers, a rule that does not require complex ecological and evolutionary processes to produce...

On Planning of FTTH Access Networks with and without Redundancy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riaz, M. Tahir; Haraldsson, Gustav; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose Manuel

2010-01-01

This paper presents a planning analysis of FTTH access network with and without redundancy. Traditionally, access networks are planned only without redundancy, which is mainly due to lowering the cost of deployment. As fiber optics provide a huge amount of capacity, more and more services are being...... offered on a single fiber connection. As a single point of failure in fiber connection can cause multiple service deprivation therefore redundancy is very crucial. In this work, an automated planning model was used to test different scenarios of implementation. A cost estimation is presented in terms...... of digging and amount of fiber used. Three topologies, including the traditional one “tree topology”, were test with combination of various passive optical technologies....

Elucidation of the Signal Transduction Pathways Activated by the Plant Natriuretic Peptide AtPNP-A

KAUST Repository

Turek, Ilona

2014-01-01

Plant natriuretic peptides (PNPs) comprise a novel class of hormones that share some sequence similarity in the active site with their animal analogues that function as regulators of salt and water balance. A PNP present in Arabidopsis thaliana (At

High precision redundant robotic manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, K.K.D.

1998-01-01

A high precision redundant robotic manipulator for overcoming contents imposed by obstacles or imposed by a highly congested work space is disclosed. One embodiment of the manipulator has four degrees of freedom and another embodiment has seven degrees of freedom. Each of the embodiments utilize a first selective compliant assembly robot arm (SCARA) configuration to provide high stiffness in the vertical plane, a second SCARA configuration to provide high stiffness in the horizontal plane. The seven degree of freedom embodiment also utilizes kinematic redundancy to provide the capability of avoiding obstacles that lie between the base of the manipulator and the end effector or link of the manipulator. These additional three degrees of freedom are added at the wrist link of the manipulator to provide pitch, yaw and roll. The seven degrees of freedom embodiment uses one revolute point per degree of freedom. For each of the revolute joints, a harmonic gear coupled to an electric motor is introduced, and together with properly designed based servo controllers provide an end point repeatability of less than 10 microns. 3 figs

Analysis of functional redundancies within the Arabidopsis TCP transcription factor family

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Danisman, S.; Dijk, van A.D.J.; Bimbo, A.; Wal, van der F.; Hennig, L.; Folter, de S.; Angenent, G.C.; Immink, R.G.H.

2013-01-01

Analyses of the functions of TEOSINTE-LIKE1, CYCLOIDEA, and ROLIFERATING CELL FACTOR1 (TCP) transcription factors have been hampered by functional redundancy between its individual members. In general, putative functionally redundant genes are predicted based on sequence similarity and confirmed by

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) enhances vasodilatation by atrial natriuretic peptide in normal dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishikura, Fuminobu; Beppu, Shintaro; Asanuma, Toshihiko; Seward, James B; Khandheria, Bijoy K

2007-12-01

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) is a selective inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-specific phosphodiesterase type 5, which might enhance the vasorelaxant and natriuretic actions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in patients with heart failure. The objective of this study was to examine the combined effect of Viagra on hemodynamic changes during infusion of exogenous ANP. Healthy male beagles were used to assess systemic blood pressure, pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), and plasma levels of cGMP. After hemodynamic variables were measured, 0.1 microg.kg(-1).min(-1) of ANP was given during this study. One hour after initiating infusion of ANP, 2 mg/kg of sildenafil citrate or vehicle was given orally via a nasogastric tube. Hemodynamic changes were measured before and 1 h after these administrations. Mean systemic and PAP decreased during infusion of ANP, and further decreased after sildenafil citrate administration, however, mean systemic blood pressure decreased within 10 mmHg. Plasma levels of cGMP also increased after sildenafil citrate administration. In normal dogs, sildenafil citrate enhances the vasodilator effect of ANP by increasing the cGMP level, however, the concomitant use of sildenafil citrate with ANP will not induce severe hypotension.

Natriuretic Hormones, Endogenous Ouabain, and Related Sodium Transport Inhibitors

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John eHamlyn

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The work of deWardener and colleagues stimulated longstanding interest in natriuretic hormones (NH. In addition to the atrial peptides (APs, the circulation contains unidentified physiologically-relevant NHs. One NH is controlled by the central nervous system (CNS and likely secreted by the pituitary. Its circulating activity is modulated by salt intake and the prevailing sodium concentration of the blood and intracerebroventricular fluid, and contributes to postprandial and dehydration natriuresis. The other NH, mobilized by atrial stretch, promotes natriuresis by increasing the production of intrarenal dopamine and/or nitric oxide. Both NHs have short (<35 minutes circulating half lives, depress renotubular sodium transport, and neither requires the renal nerves. The search for NHs led to endogenous cardiotonic steroids (CTS including ouabain-, digoxin-, and bufadienolide-like materials. These CTS, given acutely in high nanomole to micromole amounts into the general or renal circulations, inhibit sodium pumps and are natriuretic. Among these CTS, only bufalin is cleared sufficiently rapidly to qualify for an NH-like role. Ouabain-like CTS are cleared slowly, and when given chronically in low daily nanomole amounts, promote sodium retention, augment arterial myogenic tone, reduce renal blood flow and glomerular filtration, suppress nitric oxide in the renal vasa recta, and increase sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure. Moreover, lowering total body sodium raises circulating endogenous ouabain. Thus, ouabain-like CTS have physiological actions that, like aldosterone, support renal sodium retention and blood pressure. In conclusion, the mammalian circulation contains two non-AP NHs. Identification of the CNS NH should be a priority.

Equivalence of velocity-level and acceleration-level redundancy-resolution of manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Binghuang; Zhang Yunong

2009-01-01

The equivalence of velocity-level and acceleration-level redundancy resolution of robot manipulators is investigated in this Letter. Theoretical analysis based on gradient-descent method and computer simulations based on PUMA560 robot manipulator both demonstrate the equivalence of redundancy-resolution schemes at different levels.

Reliability optimization of series-parallel systems with a choice of redundancy strategies using a genetic algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R. [Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365/4563, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada)], E-mail: tavakoli@ut.ac.ir; Safari, J. [Department of Industrial Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], E-mail: jalalsafari@pideco.com; Sassani, F. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada)], E-mail: sassani@mech.ubc.ca

2008-04-15

This paper proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) for a redundancy allocation problem for the series-parallel system when the redundancy strategy can be chosen for individual subsystems. Majority of the solution methods for the general redundancy allocation problems assume that the redundancy strategy for each subsystem is predetermined and fixed. In general, active redundancy has received more attention in the past. However, in practice both active and cold-standby redundancies may be used within a particular system design and the choice of the redundancy strategy becomes an additional decision variable. Thus, the problem is to select the best redundancy strategy, component, and redundancy level for each subsystem in order to maximize the system reliability under system-level constraints. This belongs to the NP-hard class of problems. Due to its complexity, it is so difficult to optimally solve such a problem by using traditional optimization tools. It is demonstrated in this paper that GA is an efficient method for solving this type of problems. Finally, computational results for a typical scenario are presented and the robustness of the proposed algorithm is discussed.

Reliability optimization of series-parallel systems with a choice of redundancy strategies using a genetic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R.; Safari, J.; Sassani, F.

2008-01-01

This paper proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) for a redundancy allocation problem for the series-parallel system when the redundancy strategy can be chosen for individual subsystems. Majority of the solution methods for the general redundancy allocation problems assume that the redundancy strategy for each subsystem is predetermined and fixed. In general, active redundancy has received more attention in the past. However, in practice both active and cold-standby redundancies may be used within a particular system design and the choice of the redundancy strategy becomes an additional decision variable. Thus, the problem is to select the best redundancy strategy, component, and redundancy level for each subsystem in order to maximize the system reliability under system-level constraints. This belongs to the NP-hard class of problems. Due to its complexity, it is so difficult to optimally solve such a problem by using traditional optimization tools. It is demonstrated in this paper that GA is an efficient method for solving this type of problems. Finally, computational results for a typical scenario are presented and the robustness of the proposed algorithm is discussed

Resolving Actuator Redundancy - Control Allocation vs. Linear Quadratic Control

OpenAIRE

Härkegård, Ola

2004-01-01

When designing control laws for systems with more inputs than controlled variables, one issue to consider is how to deal with actuator redundancy. Two tools for distributing the control effort among a redundant set of actuators are control allocation and linear quadratic control design. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between these two design tools when a quadratic performance index is used for control allocation. We show that for a particular class of linear systems, they give...

Repetitive motion planning and control of redundant robot manipulators

CERN Document Server

Zhang, Yunong

2013-01-01

Repetitive Motion Planning and Control of Redundant Robot Manipulators presents four typical motion planning schemes based on optimization techniques, including the fundamental RMP scheme and its extensions. These schemes are unified as quadratic programs (QPs), which are solved by neural networks or numerical algorithms. The RMP schemes are demonstrated effectively by the simulation results based on various robotic models; the experiments applying the fundamental RMP scheme to a physical robot manipulator are also presented. As the schemes and the corresponding solvers presented in the book have solved the non-repetitive motion problems existing in redundant robot manipulators, it is of particular use in applying theoretical research based on the quadratic program for redundant robot manipulators in industrial situations. This book will be a valuable reference work for engineers, researchers, advanced undergraduate and graduate students in robotics fields. Yunong Zhang is a professor at The School of Informa...

Fault detection in multiply-redundant measurement systems via sequential testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ray, A.

1988-01-01

The theory and application of a sequential test procedure for fault detection and isolation. The test procedure is suited for development of intelligent instrumentation in strategic processes like aircraft and nuclear plants where redundant measurements are usually available for individual critical variables. The test procedure consists of: (1) a generic redundancy management procedure which is essentially independent of the fault detection strategy and measurement noise statistics, and (2) a modified version of sequential probability ratio test algorithm for fault detection and isolation, which functions within the framework of this redundancy management procedure. The sequential test procedure is suitable for real-time applications using commercially available microcomputers and its efficacy has been verified by online fault detection in an operating nuclear reactor. 15 references

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide: From Posttranslational Processing to Clinical Measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goetze, Jens P

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND:Plasma cardiac natriuretic peptides and peptide fragments from their molecular precursors are markers of heart disease. Clinical studies have defined the current diagnostic utility of these markers, whereas biochemical elucidation of peptide structure and posttranslational processing has...... pathophysiology and capacity. An ongoing characterization of the molecular heterogeneity may not only help us to appreciate the biosynthetic capacity of the endocrine heart but may also lead to the discovery of new and more disease-specific targets for future molecular diagnosis.SUMMARY:Peptides derived from pro...

A Comparison of Routing Protocol for WSNs: Redundancy Based Approach A Comparison of Routing Protocol for WSNs: Redundancy Based Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anand Prakash

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs with their dynamic applications gained a tremendous attention of researchers. Constant monitoring of critical situations attracted researchers to utilize WSNs at vast platforms. The main focus in WSNs is to enhance network localization as much as one could, for efficient and optimal utilization of resources. Different approaches based upon redundancy are proposed for optimum functionality. Localization is always related with redundancy of sensor nodes deployed at remote areas for constant and fault tolerant monitoring. In this work, we propose a comparison of classic flooding and the gossip protocol for homogenous networks which enhances stability and throughput quiet significantly.  

Minister wants age balance to play greater role in redundancy selection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grünell, M.

2004-01-01

In May 2004, the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs proposed changes to the statutory rules on selection for redundancy, with less emphasis on the last in, first out seniority-based principle and a greater focus on distributing the redundancies between employees of different ages. The social partners

Intraguild predation reduces redundancy of predator species in multiple predator assemblage.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffen, Blaine D; Byers, James E

2006-07-01

1. Interference between predator species frequently decreases predation rates, lowering the risk of predation for shared prey. However, such interference can also occur between conspecific predators. 2. Therefore, to understand the importance of predator biodiversity and the degree that predator species can be considered functionally interchangeable, we determined the degree of additivity and redundancy of predators in multiple- and single-species combinations. 3. We show that interference between two invasive species of predatory crabs, Carcinus maenas and Hemigrapsus sanguineus, reduced the risk of predation for shared amphipod prey, and had redundant per capita effects in most multiple- and single-species predator combinations. 4. However, when predator combinations with the potential for intraguild predation were examined, predator interference increased and predator redundancy decreased. 5. Our study indicates that trophic structure is important in determining how the effects of predator species combine and demonstrates the utility of determining the redundancy, as well as the additivity, of multiple predator species.

Efficient exact optimization of multi-objective redundancy allocation problems in series-parallel systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Dingzhou; Murat, Alper; Chinnam, Ratna Babu

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a decomposition-based approach to exactly solve the multi-objective Redundancy Allocation Problem for series-parallel systems. Redundancy allocation problem is a form of reliability optimization and has been the subject of many prior studies. The majority of these earlier studies treat redundancy allocation problem as a single objective problem maximizing the system reliability or minimizing the cost given certain constraints. The few studies that treated redundancy allocation problem as a multi-objective optimization problem relied on meta-heuristic solution approaches. However, meta-heuristic approaches have significant limitations: they do not guarantee that Pareto points are optimal and, more importantly, they may not identify all the Pareto-optimal points. In this paper, we treat redundancy allocation problem as a multi-objective problem, as is typical in practice. We decompose the original problem into several multi-objective sub-problems, efficiently and exactly solve sub-problems, and then systematically combine the solutions. The decomposition-based approach can efficiently generate all the Pareto-optimal solutions for redundancy allocation problems. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method over meta-heuristic methods on a numerical example taken from the literature.

Obese Hypertensive Men Have Lower Circulating Proatrial Natriuretic Peptide Concentrations Despite Greater Left Atrial Size

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asferg, Camilla L; Andersen, Ulrik B; Linneberg, Allan

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: Obese persons have lower circulating natriuretic peptide (NP) concentrations. It has been proposed that this natriuretic handicap plays a role in obesity-related hypertension. In contrast, hypertensive patients with left atrial enlargement have higher circulating NP concentrations....... On this background, we investigated whether obese hypertensive men could have lower circulating NP concentrations despite evidence of pressure-induced greater left atrial size. METHODS: We examined 98 obese men (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30.0 kg/m2) and 27 lean normotensive men (BMI 20.0-24.9 kg/m2). All men were...... using echocardiography, and we measured fasting serum concentrations of midregional proatrial NP (MR-proANP). RESULTS: Of the 98 obese men, 62 had hypertension and 36 were normotensive. The obese hypertensive men had greater left atrial size (mean ± SD: 28.7 ± 6.0 ml/m2) compared with the lean...

A novel redundant INS based on triple rotary inertial measurement units

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Gang; Li, Kui; Wang, Wei; Li, Peng

2016-10-01

Accuracy and reliability are two key performances of inertial navigation system (INS). Rotation modulation (RM) can attenuate the bias of inertial sensors and make it possible for INS to achieve higher navigation accuracy with lower-class sensors. Therefore, the conflict between the accuracy and cost of INS can be eased. Traditional system redundancy and recently researched sensor redundancy are two primary means to improve the reliability of INS. However, how to make the best use of the redundant information from redundant sensors hasn’t been studied adequately, especially in rotational INS. This paper proposed a novel triple rotary unit strapdown inertial navigation system (TRUSINS), which combines RM and sensor redundancy design to enhance the accuracy and reliability of rotational INS. Each rotary unit independently rotates to modulate the errors of two gyros and two accelerometers. Three units can provide double sets of measurements along all three axes of body frame to constitute a couple of INSs which make TRUSINS redundant. Experiments and simulations based on a prototype which is made up of six fiber-optic gyros with drift stability of 0.05° h-1 show that TRUSINS can achieve positioning accuracy of about 0.256 n mile h-1, which is ten times better than that of a normal non-rotational INS with the same level inertial sensors. The theoretical analysis and the experimental results show that due to the advantage of the innovative structure, the designed fault detection and isolation (FDI) strategy can tolerate six sensor faults at most, and is proved to be effective and practical. Therefore, TRUSINS is particularly suitable and highly beneficial for the applications where high accuracy and high reliability is required.

Objective past of a quantum universe: Redundant records of consistent histories

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, C. Jess; Zurek, Wojciech H.; Zwolak, Michael

2016-03-01

Motivated by the advances of quantum Darwinism and recognizing the role played by redundancy in identifying the small subset of quantum states with resilience characteristic of objective classical reality, we explore the implications of redundant records for consistent histories. The consistent histories formalism is a tool for describing sequences of events taking place in an evolving closed quantum system. A set of histories is consistent when one can reason about them using Boolean logic, i.e., when probabilities of sequences of events that define histories are additive. However, the vast majority of the sets of histories that are merely consistent are flagrantly nonclassical in other respects. This embarras de richesses (known as the set selection problem) suggests that one must go beyond consistency to identify how the classical past arises in our quantum universe. The key intuition we follow is that the records of events that define the familiar objective past are inscribed in many distinct systems, e.g., subsystems of the environment, and are accessible locally in space and time to observers. We identify histories that are not just consistent but redundantly consistent using the partial-trace condition introduced by Finkelstein as a bridge between histories and decoherence. The existence of redundant records is a sufficient condition for redundant consistency. It selects, from the multitude of the alternative sets of consistent histories, a small subset endowed with redundant records characteristic of the objective classical past. The information about an objective history of the past is then simultaneously within reach of many, who can independently reconstruct it and arrive at compatible conclusions in the present.

Localization of Brain Natriuretic Peptide Immunoreactivity in Rat Spinal Cord

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Essam M Abdelalim

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP exerts its functions through natriuretic peptide receptors. Recently, BNP has been shown to be involved in a wide range of functions. Previous studies reported BNP expression in the sensory afferent fibers in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. However, BNP expression and function in the neurons of the central nervous system are still controversial. Therefore, in this study, we investigated BNP expression in the rat spinal cord in detail using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RT-PCR analysis showed that BNP mRNA was present in the spinal cord and DRG. BNP immunoreactivity was observed in different structures of the spinal cord, including the neuronal cell bodies and neuronal processes. BNP immunoreactivity was observed in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and in the neurons of the intermediate column and ventral horn. Double-immunolabeling showed a high level of BNP expression in the afferent fibers (laminae I-II labeled with calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP, suggesting BNP involvement in sensory function. In addition, BNP was co-localized with CGRP and choline acetyltransferase in the motor neurons of the ventral horn. Together, these results indicate that BNP is expressed in sensory and motor systems of the spinal cord, suggesting its involvement in several biological actions on sensory and motor neurons via its binding to NPR-A and/or NPR-B in the DRG and spinal cord.

Atrial natriuretic peptide secretion following subarachnoid hemorrhage in spontaneously hypertensive rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Josko, J.; Hendryk, S.; Jedrzejowska-Szypulka, H.; Gwozdz, B.; Herman, Z.S.; Latka, D.; Kopec, N.

1996-01-01

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is released excessively in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and vasodepressin is its main effect on the blood vessels. The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in ANP secretion in the cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in SHRs. The SAH was induced by the injection of 100 microliters of unheparinized, autologous blood into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), via a canule formerly inserted into the cisterna magna (CM). In the sham SAH group the SAH was imitated with 0.9% saline injection. The concentrations of ANP in the blood samples obtained in the acute and chronic stages of vasospasm were radioimmunoassayed with commercial RIA kits (Peninsula RIK 9103). It was found that both SAH and sham SAH induced a significant increase in plasma ANP in the chronic phase of vasospasm. No such changes were observed in the acute phase. This shows that the chronic cerebral vasospasm following SAH considerably enhances the ANP secretion in SHRs, probably through the increased endothelin release. These compensatory and regulatory mechanisms help prevent the development of brain oedema and the progression of vasospasm through secondary vasodilation. (author)

A particle-based simplified swarm optimization algorithm for reliability redundancy allocation problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Chia-Ling

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a new swarm intelligence method known as the Particle-based Simplified Swarm Optimization (PSSO) algorithm while undertaking a modification of the Updating Mechanism (UM), called N-UM and R-UM, and simultaneously applying an Orthogonal Array Test (OA) to solve reliability–redundancy allocation problems (RRAPs) successfully. One difficulty of RRAP is the need to maximize system reliability in cases where the number of redundant components and the reliability of corresponding components in each subsystem are simultaneously decided with nonlinear constraints. In this paper, four RRAP benchmarks are used to display the applicability of the proposed PSSO that advances the strengths of both PSO and SSO to enable optimizing the RRAP that belongs to mixed-integer nonlinear programming. When the computational results are compared with those of previously developed algorithms in existing literature, the findings indicate that the proposed PSSO is highly competitive and performs well. - Highlights: • This paper proposes a particle-based simplified swarm optimization algorithm (PSSO) to optimize RRAP. • Furthermore, the UM and an OA are adapted to advance in optimizing RRAP. • Four systems are introduced and the results demonstrate the PSSO performs particularly well

Developmental changes in children’s processing of redundant modifiers in definite object descriptions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruud Koolen

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates developmental changes in children’s processing of redundant information in definite object descriptions. In two experiments, children of two age groups (six or seven, and nine or ten years old were presented with pictures of sweets. In the first experiment (pairwise comparison, two identical sweets were shown, and one of these was described with a redundant modifier. After the description, the children had to indicate the sweet they preferred most in a forced-choice task. In the second experiment (graded rating, only one sweet was shown, which was described with a redundant color modifier in half of the cases (e.g., the blue sweet and in the other half of the cases simply as the sweet. This time, the children were asked to indicate on a 5-point rating scale to what extent they liked the sweets. In both experiments, the results showed that the younger children had a preference for the sweets described with redundant information, while redundant information did not have an effect on the preferences for the older children. These results imply that children are learning to distinguish between situations in which redundant information carries an implicature and situations in which this is not the case.

A functional genetic variant (N521D in natriuretic peptide receptor 3 is associated with diastolic dysfunction: the prevalence of asymptomatic ventricular dysfunction study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naveen L Pereira

Full Text Available To evaluate the impact of a functional genetic variant in the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor, NPR3, on circulating natriuretic peptides (NPs and myocardial structure and function in the general community.NPR3 plays an important role in the clearance of NPs and through direct signaling mechanisms modulates smooth muscle cell function and cardiac fibroblast proliferation. A NPR3 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP rs2270915, resulting in a N521D substitution in the intracellular catalytic domain that interacts with Gi could affect receptor function. Whether this SNP is associated with alterations in NPs levels and altered cardiac structure and function is unknown.DNA samples of 1931 randomly selected residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota were genotyped. Plasma NT-proANP1-98, ANP1-28, proBNP1-108, NT-proBNP1-76, BNP1-32 and BNP3-32 levels were measured. All subjects underwent comprehensive echocardiography.Genotype frequencies for rs2270915 were as follows: (A/A 60%, A/G 36%, G/G 4%. All analyses performed were for homozygotes G/G versus wild type A/A plus the heterozygotes A/G. Diastolic dysfunction was significantly more common (p = 0.007 in the homozygotes G/G (43% than the A/A+A/G (28% group. Multivariate regression adjusted for age, sex, body mass index and hypertension demonstrated rs2270915 to be independently associated with diastolic dysfunction (odds ratio 1.94, p = 0.03. There was no significant difference in NPs levels between the 2 groups suggesting that the clearance function of the receptor was not affected.A nonsynonymous NPR3 SNP is independently associated with diastolic dysfunction and this association does not appear to be related to alterations in circulating levels of natriuretic peptides.

On the value of redundancy subject to common-cause failures: Toward the resolution of an on-going debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoepfer, V.M.; Saleh, J.H.; Marais, K.B.

2009-01-01

Common-cause failures (CCF) are one of the more critical and challenging issues for system reliability and risk analyses. Academic interest in modeling CCF, and more broadly in modeling dependent failures, has steadily grown over the years in the number of publications as well as in the sophistication of the analytical tools used. In the past few years, several influential articles have shed doubts on the relevance of redundancy arguing that 'redundancy backfires' through common-cause failures, and that the latter dominate unreliability, thus defeating the purpose of redundancy. In this work, we take issue with some of the results of these publications. In their stead, we provide a nuanced perspective on the (contingent) value of redundancy subject to common-cause failures. First, we review the incremental reliability and MTTF provided by redundancy subject to common-cause failures. Second, we introduce the concept and develop the analytics of the 'redundancy-relevance boundary': we propose this redundancy-relevance boundary as a design-aid tool that provides an answer to the following question: what level of redundancy is relevant or advantageous given a varying prevalence of common-cause failures? We investigate the conditions under which different levels of redundancy provide an incremental MTTF over that of the single component in the face of common-cause failures. Recognizing that redundancy comes at a cost, we also conduct a cost-benefit analysis of redundancy subject to common-cause failures, and demonstrate how this analysis modifies the redundancy-relevance boundary. We show how the value of redundancy is contingent on the prevalence of common-cause failures, the redundancy level considered, and the monadic cost-benefit ratio. Finally we argue that general unqualified criticism of redundancy is misguided, and efforts are better spent for example on understanding and mitigating the potential sources of common-cause failures rather than deriding the concept

Increased brain natriuretic peptide as a marker for right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tulevski, I. I.; Hirsch, A.; Sanson, B. J.; Romkes, H.; van der Wall, E. E.; van Veldhuisen, D. J.; Büller, H. R.; Mulder, B. J.

2001-01-01

Right ventricular (RV) function is of major prognostic significance in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of neurohormone plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in assessing RV function in patients with acute PE. BNP levels were

Increased brain natriuretic peptide as a marker for right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tulevski, I.I.; Hirsch, A; Sanson, BJ; Romkes, H; van der Wall, EE; van Veldhuisen, DJ; Buller, HR; Mulder, BJM

Right ventricular (RV) function is of major prognostic significance in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of neurohormone plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in assessing RV function in patients with acute PE. BNP levels were

Brain natriuretic peptide and insulin resistance in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, F; Biggs, M L; Kizer, J R; Brutsaert, E F; de Filippi, C; Newman, A B; Kronmal, R A; Tracy, R P; Gottdiener, J S; Djoussé, L; de Boer, I H; Psaty, B M; Siscovick, D S; Mukamal, K J

2017-02-01

Higher levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) have been associated with a decreased risk of diabetes in adults, but whether BNP is related to insulin resistance in older adults has not been established. N-terminal of the pro hormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP) was measured among Cardiovascular Health Study participants at the 1989-1990, 1992-1993 and 1996-1997 examinations. We calculated measures of insulin resistance [homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), Gutt index, Matsuda index] from fasting and 2-h concentrations of glucose and insulin among 3318 individuals with at least one measure of NT-proBNP and free of heart failure, coronary heart disease and chronic kidney disease, and not taking diabetes medication. We used generalized estimating equations to assess the cross-sectional association of NT-proBNP with measures of insulin resistance. Instrumental variable analysis with an allele score derived from nine genetic variants (single nucleotide polymorphisms) within or near the NPPA and NPPB loci was used to estimate an un-confounded association of NT-proBNP levels on insulin resistance. Lower NT-proBNP levels were associated with higher insulin resistance even after adjustment for BMI, waist circumference and other risk factors (P insulin resistance (P = 0.38; P = 0.01 for comparison with the association of measured levels of NT-proBNP). In older adults, lower NT-proBNP is associated with higher insulin resistance, even after adjustment for traditional risk factors. Because related genetic variants were not associated with insulin resistance, the causal nature of this association will require future study. © 2016 Diabetes UK.

A novel redundant INS based on triple rotary inertial measurement units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Gang; Li, Kui; Wang, Wei; Li, Peng

2016-01-01

Accuracy and reliability are two key performances of inertial navigation system (INS). Rotation modulation (RM) can attenuate the bias of inertial sensors and make it possible for INS to achieve higher navigation accuracy with lower-class sensors. Therefore, the conflict between the accuracy and cost of INS can be eased. Traditional system redundancy and recently researched sensor redundancy are two primary means to improve the reliability of INS. However, how to make the best use of the redundant information from redundant sensors hasn’t been studied adequately, especially in rotational INS. This paper proposed a novel triple rotary unit strapdown inertial navigation system (TRUSINS), which combines RM and sensor redundancy design to enhance the accuracy and reliability of rotational INS. Each rotary unit independently rotates to modulate the errors of two gyros and two accelerometers. Three units can provide double sets of measurements along all three axes of body frame to constitute a couple of INSs which make TRUSINS redundant. Experiments and simulations based on a prototype which is made up of six fiber-optic gyros with drift stability of 0.05° h −1 show that TRUSINS can achieve positioning accuracy of about 0.256 n mile h −1 , which is ten times better than that of a normal non-rotational INS with the same level inertial sensors. The theoretical analysis and the experimental results show that due to the advantage of the innovative structure, the designed fault detection and isolation (FDI) strategy can tolerate six sensor faults at most, and is proved to be effective and practical. Therefore, TRUSINS is particularly suitable and highly beneficial for the applications where high accuracy and high reliability is required. (paper)

Virtual Modular Redundancy of Processor Module in the PLC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kwang-Il; Hwang, SungJae; Yoon, DongHwa

2016-01-01

Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) is mainly used to implement these safety control systems. DMR is conveyed when components of a system are duplicated, providing another component in case one should fault or fail. This feature has a high availability and large fault tolerant. It provides zero downtime that is required for nuclear power plants. So nuclear power plant has been commercialized by multiple redundant systems. The following paper, we propose a Virtual Modular Redundancy (VMR) rather than physical triple of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) processor module to ensure the reliability of the nuclear power plant control system. VMR implementation minimizes design changes to continue to use the commercially available redundant system. Also, the purpose of the VMR is to improve the efficiency and reliability in many ways, such as fault tolerant and fail-safe and cost. VMR guarantees a wide range of reliable fault recovery, fault tolerance, etc. It is prevented before it causes great damages due to the continuous failure of the two modules. The reliable communication speed is slow and also it has a small bandwidth. It is a great loss in the safety control system. However, VMR aims to avoid nuclear power plants that were suspended due to fail-safe. It is not for the purpose of commonly used. Application of VMR is actually expected to require a lot of research and trial and error until they adapt to the nuclear regulatory and standards

Virtual Modular Redundancy of Processor Module in the PLC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Kwang-Il; Hwang, SungJae; Yoon, DongHwa [SOOSAN ENS Co., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) is mainly used to implement these safety control systems. DMR is conveyed when components of a system are duplicated, providing another component in case one should fault or fail. This feature has a high availability and large fault tolerant. It provides zero downtime that is required for nuclear power plants. So nuclear power plant has been commercialized by multiple redundant systems. The following paper, we propose a Virtual Modular Redundancy (VMR) rather than physical triple of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) processor module to ensure the reliability of the nuclear power plant control system. VMR implementation minimizes design changes to continue to use the commercially available redundant system. Also, the purpose of the VMR is to improve the efficiency and reliability in many ways, such as fault tolerant and fail-safe and cost. VMR guarantees a wide range of reliable fault recovery, fault tolerance, etc. It is prevented before it causes great damages due to the continuous failure of the two modules. The reliable communication speed is slow and also it has a small bandwidth. It is a great loss in the safety control system. However, VMR aims to avoid nuclear power plants that were suspended due to fail-safe. It is not for the purpose of commonly used. Application of VMR is actually expected to require a lot of research and trial and error until they adapt to the nuclear regulatory and standards.

Past and Present Biophysical Redundancy of Countries as a Buffer to Changes in Food Supply

Science.gov (United States)

Fader, Marianela; Rulli, Maria Cristina; Carr, Joel; Dell' Angelo, Jampel; D' Odorico, Paolo; Gephart, Jessica A.; Kummu, Matti; Magliocca, Nicholas; Porkka, Miina; Prell, Christina;

Past and present biophysical redundancy of countries as a buffer to changes in food supply

Science.gov (United States)

Fader, Marianela; Rulli, Maria Cristina; Carr, Joel; Dell'Angelo, Jampel; D'Odorico, Paolo; Gephart, Jessica A.; Kummu, Matti; Magliocca, Nicholas; Porkka, Miina; Prell, Christina; Puma, Michael J.; Ratajczak, Zak; Seekell, David A.; Suweis, Samir; Tavoni, Alessandro

2016-05-01

Spatially diverse trends in population growth, climate change, industrialization, urbanization and economic development are expected to change future food supply and demand. These changes may affect the suitability of land for food production, implying elevated risks especially for resource-constrained, food-importing countries. We present the evolution of biophysical redundancy for agricultural production at country level, from 1992 to 2012. Biophysical redundancy, defined as unused biotic and abiotic environmental resources, is represented by the potential food production of ‘spare land’, available water resources (i.e., not already used for human activities), as well as production increases through yield gap closure on cultivated areas and potential agricultural areas. In 2012, the biophysical redundancy of 75 (48) countries, mainly in North Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia, was insufficient to produce the caloric nutritional needs for at least 50% (25%) of their population during a year. Biophysical redundancy has decreased in the last two decades in 102 out of 155 countries, 11 of these went from high to limited redundancy, and nine of these from limited to very low redundancy. Although the variability of the drivers of change across different countries is high, improvements in yield and population growth have a clear impact on the decreases of redundancy towards the very low redundancy category. We took a more detailed look at countries classified as ‘Low Income Economies (LIEs)’ since they are particularly vulnerable to domestic or external food supply changes, due to their limited capacity to offset for food supply decreases with higher purchasing power on the international market. Currently, nine LIEs have limited or very low biophysical redundancy. Many of these showed a decrease in redundancy over the last two decades, which is not always linked with improvements in per capita food availability.

Binding and functional effects of atrial natriuretic factor in isolated rat kidney

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, M.; Almeida, F.A.; Nussenzveig, D.R.; Sawyer, D.; Maack, T.

1987-01-01

A new methodological approach was developed to study the relationship between specific binding and dose-response curves of the renal effects of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in isolated perfused rat kidneys (IK). IK were perfused with 125 I-labeled and unlabeled ANF 1-28 to determine the following: (1) distribution, capacity (C max ), and apparent affinity (S 50 ) of specific binding of ANF 1-28 in cortex, outer medulla, and papilla and (2) dose-response curves of the effects of ANF 1-28 on renal hemodynamics and excretion of fluid and electrolytes. The kidney had a very high density of high-affinity binding sites for ANF. Cortex had >90% of total binding sites whereas papilla had <2% of total binding sites with a 10-fold lower apparent affinity than in cortex. ANF-induced increases in glomerular filtration rate and excretion of fluid and electrolytes were detectable at 10-100 pM and maximal effects occurred at 1-10 nM ANF. Below 1 nM there was no dissociation between the renal hemodynamic and natriuretic effects of ANF. There was a close agreement between dose-response and binding curves of ANF to cortex. Results demonstrates that binding site occupancy in kidney cortex and renal effects of ANF occur at near physiological concentrations of the hormone

Clinical implications of B-type natriuretic peptide and N-terminal pro--B-type natriuretic peptide in the care of the vascular surgery patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Wayne Causey, Marlin; Singh, Niten

2014-12-01

B-type natriuretic peptide (also known as brain natriuretic peptide or BNP) is a physiologic marker that is often used to assess a patient's global cardiovascular health. BNP is secreted from the ventricular cardiac myocytes in response to stretch that occurs due to increased intravascular volume. PreproBNP is cleaved into BNP and N-terminal proBNP (NT proBNP) to cause diuresis, natriuresis, and vasodilation, and can be measured with a blood laboratory assay test or point-of-care testing. BNP/NT proBNP has been most extensively studied in the diagnosis and management of heart failure, but within the past 5 years, interest has carried over to vascular surgery patients. Studies have demonstrated that elevated levels of BNP/NT-proBNP (typically >100 pg/mL/>300 pg/mL) are associated with major adverse cardiac events at 30 and 180 days. Additional analysis of BNP/NT-proBNP has demonstrated that patients can be classified as very low risk (400 pg/mL). BNP/NT-proBNP in the low- and very-low-risk groups suggests patients are unlikely to have a major adverse cardiac event. An elevated BNP/NT-proBNP, excluding those with reasons for abnormal values, suggests the need for additional risk stratification and medical risk factor optimization. A preoperative measure of BNP or NT-proBNP affords an easy and rapid opportunity to individually and objectively quantify perioperative cardiovascular risk. Recent studies have also identified other biomarkers, none superior to BNP or NT-proBNP, but that, when used concomitantly, aid in further stratifying perioperative risk and will likely be the focus of future investigations. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Kinematic control of redundant robots and the motion optimizability measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, L; Gruver, W A; Zhang, Q; Yang, Z

2001-01-01

This paper treats the kinematic control of manipulators with redundant degrees of freedom. We derive an analytical solution for the inverse kinematics that provides a means for accommodating joint velocity constraints in real time. We define the motion optimizability measure and use it to develop an efficient method for the optimization of joint trajectories subject to multiple criteria. An implementation of the method for a 7-dof experimental redundant robot is present.

In-flight performance optimization for rotorcraft with redundant controls

Science.gov (United States)

Ozdemir, Gurbuz Taha

A conventional helicopter has limits on performance at high speeds because of the limitations of main rotor, such as compressibility issues on advancing side or stall issues on retreating side. Auxiliary lift and thrust components have been suggested to improve performance of the helicopter substantially by reducing the loading on the main rotor. Such a configuration is called the compound rotorcraft. Rotor speed can also be varied to improve helicopter performance. In addition to improved performance, compound rotorcraft and variable RPM can provide a much larger degree of control redundancy. This additional redundancy gives the opportunity to further enhance performance and handling qualities. A flight control system is designed to perform in-flight optimization of redundant control effectors on a compound rotorcraft in order to minimize power required and extend range. This "Fly to Optimal" (FTO) control law is tested in simulation using the GENHEL model. A model of the UH-60, a compound version of the UH-60A with lifting wing and vectored thrust ducted propeller (VTDP), and a generic compound version of the UH-60A with lifting wing and propeller were developed and tested in simulation. A model following dynamic inversion controller is implemented for inner loop control of roll, pitch, yaw, heave, and rotor RPM. An outer loop controller regulates airspeed and flight path during optimization. A Golden Section search method was used to find optimal rotor RPM on a conventional helicopter, where the single redundant control effector is rotor RPM. The FTO builds off of the Adaptive Performance Optimization (APO) method of Gilyard by performing low frequency sweeps on a redundant control for a fixed wing aircraft. A method based on the APO method was used to optimize trim on a compound rotorcraft with several redundant control effectors. The controller can be used to optimize rotor RPM and compound control effectors through flight test or simulations in order to

Natriuretic Peptides in Kawasaki Disease: the Myocardial Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nagib Dahdah

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Making a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease with certainty may be challenging, especially since the recognition of cases with incomplete diagnostic criteria and its consequences. In order to build the diagnostic case in daily practice, clinicians rely on clinical criteria established over four decades ago, aided by non specific laboratory tests, and above all inspired by experience. We have recently studied the diagnostic value of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide to improve the diagnostic certainty of cases with complete or incomplete clinical criteria. Our working hypothesis was based on the fact that myocarditis is present in nearly all Kawasaki disease patients supported by histology data. In this paper, we review these facts and the myocardial perspective from the diagnostic and the mechanistic standpoints.

Distributed redundancy and robustness in complex systems

KAUST Repository

Randles, Martin

2011-03-01

The uptake and increasing prevalence of Web 2.0 applications, promoting new large-scale and complex systems such as Cloud computing and the emerging Internet of Services/Things, requires tools and techniques to analyse and model methods to ensure the robustness of these new systems. This paper reports on assessing and improving complex system resilience using distributed redundancy, termed degeneracy in biological systems, to endow large-scale complicated computer systems with the same robustness that emerges in complex biological and natural systems. However, in order to promote an evolutionary approach, through emergent self-organisation, it is necessary to specify the systems in an \\'open-ended\\' manner where not all states of the system are prescribed at design-time. In particular an observer system is used to select robust topologies, within system components, based on a measurement of the first non-zero Eigen value in the Laplacian spectrum of the components\\' network graphs; also known as the algebraic connectivity. It is shown, through experimentation on a simulation, that increasing the average algebraic connectivity across the components, in a network, leads to an increase in the variety of individual components termed distributed redundancy; the capacity for structurally distinct components to perform an identical function in a particular context. The results are applied to a specific application where active clustering of like services is used to aid load balancing in a highly distributed network. Using the described procedure is shown to improve performance and distribute redundancy. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.

Multi-objective reliability optimization of series-parallel systems with a choice of redundancy strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Safari, Jalal

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a variant of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to solve a novel mathematical model for multi-objective redundancy allocation problems (MORAP). Most researchers about redundancy allocation problem (RAP) have focused on single objective optimization, while there has been some limited research which addresses multi-objective optimization. Also all mathematical multi-objective models of general RAP assume that the type of redundancy strategy for each subsystem is predetermined and known a priori. In general, active redundancy has traditionally received greater attention; however, in practice both active and cold-standby redundancies may be used within a particular system design. The choice of redundancy strategy then becomes an additional decision variable. Thus, the proposed model and solution method are to select the best redundancy strategy, type of components, and levels of redundancy for each subsystem that maximizes the system reliability and minimize total system cost under system-level constraints. This problem belongs to the NP-hard class. This paper presents a second-generation Multiple-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA), named NSGA-II to find the best solution for the given problem. The proposed algorithm demonstrates the ability to identify a set of optimal solutions (Pareto front), which provides the Decision Maker (DM) with a complete picture of the optimal solution space. After finding the Pareto front, a procedure is used to select the best solution from the Pareto front. Finally, the advantages of the presented multi-objective model and of the proposed algorithm are illustrated by solving test problems taken from the literature and the robustness of the proposed NSGA-II is discussed.

Functional redundancy patterns reveal non-random assembly rules in a species-rich marine assemblage.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas Guillemot

Full Text Available The relationship between species and the functional diversity of assemblages is fundamental in ecology because it contains key information on functional redundancy, and functionally redundant ecosystems are thought to be more resilient, resistant and stable. However, this relationship is poorly understood and undocumented for species-rich coastal marine ecosystems. Here, we used underwater visual censuses to examine the patterns of functional redundancy for one of the most diverse vertebrate assemblages, the coral reef fishes of New Caledonia, South Pacific. First, we found that the relationship between functional and species diversity displayed a non-asymptotic power-shaped curve, implying that rare functions and species mainly occur in highly diverse assemblages. Second, we showed that the distribution of species amongst possible functions was significantly different from a random distribution up to a threshold of ∼90 species/transect. Redundancy patterns for each function further revealed that some functions displayed fast rates of increase in redundancy at low species diversity, whereas others were only becoming redundant past a certain threshold. This suggested non-random assembly rules and the existence of some primordial functions that would need to be fulfilled in priority so that coral reef fish assemblages can gain a basic ecological structure. Last, we found little effect of habitat on the shape of the functional-species diversity relationship and on the redundancy of functions, although habitat is known to largely determine assemblage characteristics such as species composition, biomass, and abundance. Our study shows that low functional redundancy is characteristic of this highly diverse fish assemblage, and, therefore, that even species-rich ecosystems such as coral reefs may be vulnerable to the removal of a few keystone species.

Echocardiographic evaluation and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide measurement of patients hospitalized for heart failure during weaning from mechanical ventilation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerbaud, E; Erickson, M; Grenouillet-Delacre, M; Beauvieux, M-C; Coste, P; Durrieu-Jaïs, C; Hilbert, G; Castaing, Y; Vargas, F

2012-04-01

Weaning patients with heart failure who have required mechanical ventilation remains challenging. We evaluated echocardiographic indexes and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as markers of acute cardiac dysfunction before and after spontaneous breathing trials (SBT) in such patients to assess their ability to predict subsequent successful extubation. Forty-four patients who underwent their first SBT were prospectively included. Plasma levels of NT-proBNP and transthoracic echocardiography indices including cardiac index, E/A ratio and E/Ea ratio were recorded immediately before commencing and just before the end of SBT. Ten patients (22.7%) failed their SBT. No significant difference was observed concerning baseline echocardiographic data and NT-proBNP level between the patients who succeeded the SBT or those that failed. Cardiac index increased significantly at end-SBT in patients who passed (3.3 [3.06-3.77] vs. 3 [2.68-3.3] L/min/m(2), Pfailed. E/Ea ratio (16.8 [8.5-27.3] vs. 10.7 [6.7-20.5], P=0.006) and NT-proBNP level (8199 [3106-10949] vs. 4200 [1855-7125] pg/mL, P=0.004) increased significantly in those who failed the SBT, in contrast to the weaning success group where they remained unchanged. Neither NT-proBNP level nor the studied echocardiographic indices before SBT were able to predict SBT outcome in patients presenting with severe heart failure. Failure to increase the cardiac index and increases in both E/Ea ratio and NT-proBNP levels were seen at end-SBT in patients who failed the SBT, and may reflect failure of myocardial reserve to cope with the stress of SBT.

A fully redundant power hinge for LANDSAT-D appendages

Science.gov (United States)

Mamrol, F. E.; Matteo, D. N.

1981-01-01

The configuration and testing of a power driven hinge for deployment of the solar array and antenna boom for the LANDSAT-D spacecraft is discussed. The hinge is fully mechanically and electrically redundant and, thereby, can sustain a single point failure of any one motor (or its power supply), speed reducer, or bearing set without loss of its ability to function. This design utilizes the capability of the stepper motor drive to remove the flexibility of the drive train from the joint stiffness equation when the hinge is loaded against its stop. This feature precludes gapping of the joint under spacecraft maneuver loads even in the absence of a latching feature. Thus, retraction is easily accomplished by motor reversal without the need for a solenoid function to remove the latch.

Case studies in configuration control for redundant robots

Science.gov (United States)

Seraji, H.; Lee, T.; Colbaugh, R.; Glass, K.

1989-01-01

A simple approach to configuration control of redundant robots is presented. The redundancy is utilized to control the robot configuration directly in task space, where the task will be performed. A number of task-related kinematic functions are defined and combined with the end-effector coordinates to form a set of configuration variables. An adaptive control scheme is then utilized to ensure that the configuration variables track the desired reference trajectories as closely as possible. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the control scheme. The scheme has also been implemented for direct online control of a PUMA industrial robot, and experimental results are presented. The simulation and experimental results validate the configuration control scheme for performing various realistic tasks.

An efficient particle swarm approach for mixed-integer programming in reliability-redundancy optimization applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos Coelho, Leandro dos

2009-01-01

The reliability-redundancy optimization problems can involve the selection of components with multiple choices and redundancy levels that produce maximum benefits, and are subject to the cost, weight, and volume constraints. Many classical mathematical methods have failed in handling nonconvexities and nonsmoothness in reliability-redundancy optimization problems. As an alternative to the classical optimization approaches, the meta-heuristics have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solutions. One of these meta-heuristics is the particle swarm optimization (PSO). PSO is a population-based heuristic optimization technique inspired by social behavior of bird flocking and fish schooling. This paper presents an efficient PSO algorithm based on Gaussian distribution and chaotic sequence (PSO-GC) to solve the reliability-redundancy optimization problems. In this context, two examples in reliability-redundancy design problems are evaluated. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed PSO-GC is a promising optimization technique. PSO-GC performs well for the two examples of mixed-integer programming in reliability-redundancy applications considered in this paper. The solutions obtained by the PSO-GC are better than the previously best-known solutions available in the recent literature

An efficient particle swarm approach for mixed-integer programming in reliability-redundancy optimization applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos Coelho, Leandro dos [Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program, LAS/PPGEPS, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, PUCPR, Imaculada Conceicao, 1155, 80215-901 Curitiba, Parana (Brazil)], E-mail: leandro.coelho@pucpr.br

2009-04-15

The reliability-redundancy optimization problems can involve the selection of components with multiple choices and redundancy levels that produce maximum benefits, and are subject to the cost, weight, and volume constraints. Many classical mathematical methods have failed in handling nonconvexities and nonsmoothness in reliability-redundancy optimization problems. As an alternative to the classical optimization approaches, the meta-heuristics have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solutions. One of these meta-heuristics is the particle swarm optimization (PSO). PSO is a population-based heuristic optimization technique inspired by social behavior of bird flocking and fish schooling. This paper presents an efficient PSO algorithm based on Gaussian distribution and chaotic sequence (PSO-GC) to solve the reliability-redundancy optimization problems. In this context, two examples in reliability-redundancy design problems are evaluated. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed PSO-GC is a promising optimization technique. PSO-GC performs well for the two examples of mixed-integer programming in reliability-redundancy applications considered in this paper. The solutions obtained by the PSO-GC are better than the previously best-known solutions available in the recent literature.

Superlinearly scalable noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohar, Vivek; Kia, Behnam; Lindner, John F; Ditto, William L

2016-03-01

We illustrate through theory and numerical simulations that redundant coupled dynamical systems can be extremely robust against local noise in comparison to uncoupled dynamical systems evolving in the same noisy environment. Previous studies have shown that the noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems is linearly scalable and deviations due to noise can be minimized by increasing the number of coupled units. Here, we demonstrate that the noise robustness can actually be scaled superlinearly if some conditions are met and very high noise robustness can be realized with very few coupled units. We discuss these conditions and show that this superlinear scalability depends on the nonlinearity of the individual dynamical units. The phenomenon is demonstrated in discrete as well as continuous dynamical systems. This superlinear scalability not only provides us an opportunity to exploit the nonlinearity of physical systems without being bogged down by noise but may also help us in understanding the functional role of coupled redundancy found in many biological systems. Moreover, engineers can exploit superlinear noise suppression by starting a coupled system near (not necessarily at) the appropriate initial condition.

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide and Prognosis in Heart Failure Patients With Preserved and Reduced Ejection Fraction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Veldhuisen, Dirk J.; Linssen, Gerard C. M.; Jaarsma, Tiny; van Gilst, Wiek H.; Hoes, Arno W.; Tijssen, Jan G. P.; Paulus, Walter J.; Voors, Adriaan A.; Hillege, Hans L.

2013-01-01

Objectives This study sought to determine the prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF), in comparison to data in HF patients with reduced left ventricular (LV) EF ( Background Management of patients with HFPEF is

SEU-hardened silicon bipolar and GaAs MESFET SRAM cells using local redundancy techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauser, J.R.

1992-01-01

Silicon bipolar and GaAs FET SRAM's have proven to be more difficult to harden with respect to single-event upset mechanisms than have silicon CMOS SRAM's. This is a fundamental property of bipolar and JFET or MESFET device technologies which do not have a high-impedance, nonactive isolation between the control electrode and the current or voltage being controlled. All SEU circuit level hardening techniques applied at the local level must use some type of information storage redundancy so that information loss on one node due to an SEU event can be recovered from information stored elsewhere in the cell. In CMOS technologies, this can be achieved by the use of simple cross-coupling resistors, whereas in bipolar and FET technologies, no such simple approach is possible. Several approaches to the use of local redundancy in bipolar and FET technologies are discussed in this paper. At the expense of increased cell complexity and increased power consumption and write time, several approaches are capable of providing complete SEU hardness at the local cell level

Mutual information and redundancy in spontaneous communication between cortical neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Szczepanski, J; Arnold, M; Wajnryb, E; Amigó, J M; Sanchez-Vives, M V

2011-03-01

An important question in neural information processing is how neurons cooperate to transmit information. To study this question, we resort to the concept of redundancy in the information transmitted by a group of neurons and, at the same time, we introduce a novel concept for measuring cooperation between pairs of neurons called relative mutual information (RMI). Specifically, we studied these two parameters for spike trains generated by neighboring neurons from the primary visual cortex in the awake, freely moving rat. The spike trains studied here were spontaneously generated in the cortical network, in the absence of visual stimulation. Under these conditions, our analysis revealed that while the value of RMI oscillated slightly around an average value, the redundancy exhibited a behavior characterized by a higher variability. We conjecture that this combination of approximately constant RMI and greater variable redundancy makes information transmission more resistant to noise disturbances. Furthermore, the redundancy values suggest that neurons can cooperate in a flexible way during information transmission. This mostly occurs via a leading neuron with higher transmission rate or, less frequently, through the information rate of the whole group being higher than the sum of the individual information rates-in other words in a synergetic manner. The proposed method applies not only to the stationary, but also to locally stationary neural signals.

The bliss (not the problem) of motor abundance (not redundancy).

Science.gov (United States)

Latash, Mark L

2012-03-01

Motor control is an area of natural science exploring how the nervous system interacts with other body parts and the environment to produce purposeful, coordinated actions. A central problem of motor control-the problem of motor redundancy-was formulated by Nikolai Bernstein as the problem of elimination of redundant degrees-of-freedom. Traditionally, this problem has been addressed using optimization methods based on a variety of cost functions. This review draws attention to a body of recent findings suggesting that the problem has been formulated incorrectly. An alternative view has been suggested as the principle of abundance, which considers the apparently redundant degrees-of-freedom as useful and even vital for many aspects of motor behavior. Over the past 10 years, dozens of publications have provided support for this view based on the ideas of synergic control, computational apparatus of the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis, and the equilibrium-point (referent configuration) hypothesis. In particular, large amounts of "good variance"-variance in the space of elements that has no effect on the overall performance-have been documented across a variety of natural actions. "Good variance" helps an abundant system to deal with secondary tasks and unexpected perturbations; its amount shows adaptive modulation across a variety of conditions. These data support the view that there is no problem of motor redundancy; there is bliss of motor abundance.

Multisensory processing of redundant information in go/no-go and choice responses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blurton, Steven Paul; Greenlee, Mark W.; Gondan, Matthias

2014-01-01

In multisensory research, faster responses are commonly observed when multimodal stimuli are presented as compared to unimodal target presentations. This so-called redundant signals effect can be explained by several frameworks including separate activation and coactivation models. The redundant ...... of redundant information provided by different sensory channels and is not restricted to simple responses. The results connect existing theories on multisensory integration with theories on choice behavior....... processes (Schwarz, 1994) within two absorbing barriers. The diffusion superposition model accurately describes mean and variance of response times as well as the proportion of correct responses observed in the two tasks. Linear superposition seems, thus, to be a general principle in integration...

Synergy and redundancy in the Granger causal analysis of dynamical networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stramaglia, Sebastiano; M Cortes, Jesus; Marinazzo, Daniele

2014-01-01

We analyze, by means of Granger causality (GC), the effect of synergy and redundancy in the inference (from time series data) of the information flow between subsystems of a complex network. While we show that fully conditioned GC (CGC) is not affected by synergy, the pairwise analysis fails to prove synergetic effects. In cases when the number of samples is low, thus making the fully conditioned approach unfeasible, we show that partially conditioned GC (PCGC) is an effective approach if the set of conditioning variables is properly chosen. Here we consider two different strategies (based either on informational content for the candidate driver or on selecting the variables with highest pairwise influences) for PCGC and show that, depending on the data structure, either one or the other might be equally valid. On the other hand, we observe that fully conditioned approaches do not work well in the presence of redundancy, thus suggesting the strategy of separating the pairwise links in two subsets: those corresponding to indirect connections of the CGC (which should thus be excluded) and links that can be ascribed to redundancy effects and, together with the results from the fully connected approach, provide a better description of the causality pattern in the presence of redundancy. Finally we apply these methods to two different real datasets. First, analyzing electrophysiological data from an epileptic brain, we show that synergetic effects are dominant just before seizure occurrences. Second, our analysis applied to gene expression time series from HeLa culture shows that the underlying regulatory networks are characterized by both redundancy and synergy. (paper)

Synthesis, secretion, function, metabolism and application of natriuretic peptides in heart failure

OpenAIRE

Fu, Shihui; Ping, Ping; Wang, Fengqi; Luo, Leiming

2018-01-01

As a family of hormones with pleiotropic effects, natriuretic peptide (NP) system includes atrial NP (ANP), B-type NP (BNP), C-type NP (CNP), dendroaspis NP and urodilatin, with NP receptor-A (guanylate cyclase-A), NP receptor-B (guanylate cyclase-B) and NP receptor-C (clearance receptor). These peptides are genetically distinct, but structurally and functionally related for regulating circulatory homeostasis in vertebrates. In humans, ANP and BNP are encoded by NP precursor A (NPPA) and NPPB...

Redundancy of einselected information in quantum Darwinism: The irrelevance of irrelevant environment bits

Science.gov (United States)

Zwolak, Michael; Zurek, Wojciech H.

2017-03-01

The objective, classical world emerges from the underlying quantum substrate via the proliferation of redundant copies of selected information into the environment, which acts as a communication channel, transmitting that information to observers. These copies are independently accessible, allowing many observers to reach consensus about the state of a quantum system via its imprints in the environment. Quantum Darwinism recognizes that the redundancy of information is thus central to the emergence of objective reality in the quantum world. However, in addition to the "quantum system of interest," there are many other systems "of no interest" in the Universe that can imprint information on the common environment. There is therefore a danger that the information of interest will be diluted with irrelevant bits, suppressing the redundancy responsible for objectivity. We show that mixing of the relevant (the "wheat") and irrelevant (the "chaff") bits of information makes little quantitative difference to the redundancy of the information of interest. Thus, we demonstrate that it does not matter whether one separates the wheat (relevant information) from the (irrelevant) chaff: The large redundancy of the relevant information survives dilution, providing evidence of the objective, effectively classical world.

Design method of redundancy of brace-anchor sharing supporting based on cooperative deformation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun-yan; Li, Bing; Liu, Yan; Cai, Shan-bing

2017-11-01

Because of the complicated environment requirement, the support form of foundation pit is diversified, and the brace-anchor sharing support is widely used. However, the research on the force deformation characteristics and the related aspects of the cooperative response of the brace-anchor sharing support is insufficient. The application of redundancy theory in structural engineering has been more mature, but there is little theoretical research on redundancy theory in underground engineering. Based on the idea of collaborative deformation, the paper calculates the ratio of the redundancy degree of the cooperative deformation by using the local reinforcement design method and the structural component redundancy parameter calculation formula based on Frangopol. Combined with the engineering case, through the calculation of the ratio of cooperative deformation redundancy in the joint of brace-anchor sharing support. This paper explores the optimal anchor distribution form under the condition of cooperative deformation, and through the analysis and research of displacement field and stress field, the results of the collaborative deformation are validated by comparing the field monitoring data. It provides theoretical basis for the design of this kind of foundation pit in the future.

Impedance Control of a Redundant Parallel Manipulator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Méndez, Juan de Dios Flores; Schiøler, Henrik; Madsen, Ole

2017-01-01

This paper presents the design of Impedance Control to a redundantly actuated Parallel Kinematic Manipulator. The proposed control is based on treating each limb as a single system and their connection through the internal interaction forces. The controller introduces a stiffness and damping...

cGMP inhibition of type 3 phosphodiesterase is the major mechanism by which C-type natriuretic peptide activates CFTR in the shark rectal gland

Science.gov (United States)

De Jonge, Hugo R.; Tilly, Ben C.; Hogema, Boris M.; Pfau, Daniel J.; Kelley, Catherine A.; Kelley, Megan H.; Melita, August M.; Morris, Montana T.; Viola, Ryan M.

2013-01-01

The in vitro perfused rectal gland of the dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) and filter-grown monolayers of primary cultures of shark rectal gland (SRG) epithelial cells were used to analyze the signal transduction pathway by which C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) stimulates chloride secretion. CNP binds to natriuretic receptors in the basolateral membrane, elevates cellular cGMP, and opens cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channels in the apical membrane. CNP-provoked chloride secretion was completely inhibitable by the nonspecific protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine and the PKA inhibitor H89 but insensitive to H8, an inhibitor of type I and II isoforms of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGKI and cGKII). CNP-induced secretion could not be mimicked by nonhydrolyzable cGMP analogs added alone or in combination with the protein kinase C activator phorbolester, arguing against a role for cGK or for cGMP-induced PKC signaling. We failed to detect a dogfish ortholog of cGKII by molecular cloning and affinity chromatography. However, inhibitors of the cGMP-inhibitable isoform of phosphodiesterase (PDE3) including milrinone, amrinone, and cilostamide but not inhibitors of other PDE isoenzymes mimicked the effect of CNP on chloride secretion in perfused glands and monolayers. CNP raised cGMP and cAMP levels in the SRG epithelial cells. This rise in cAMP as well as the CNP and amrinone-provoked chloride secretion, but not the rise in cGMP, was almost completely blocked by the Gαi-coupled adenylyl cyclase inhibitor somatostatin, arguing against a role for cGMP cross-activation of PKA in CNP action. These data provide molecular, functional, and pharmacological evidence for a CNP/cGMP/PDE3/cAMP/PKA signaling cascade coupled to CFTR in the SRG. PMID:24259420

C-type natriuretic peptide in prostate cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Soeren Junge; Iversen, Peter; Rehfeld, Jens F.

2009-01-01

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is expressed in the male reproductive organs in pigs. To examine whether the human prostate also expresses the CNP gene, we measured CNP and N-terminal proCNP in prostate cancer tissue extracts and performed immunohistochemical biopsy staining. Additionally, pro......CNP-derived peptides were quantitated in plasma from patients with prostate cancer. Blood was collected from healthy controls and patients before surgery for localized prostate cancer. Tissue extracts were prepared from tissue biopsies obtained from radical prostatectomy surgery. N-terminal proCNP, proCNP (1......-50) and CNP were measured in plasma and tissue extracts. Biopsies were stained for CNP-22 and N-terminal proCNP. Tissue extracts from human prostate cancer contained mostly N-terminal proCNP [median 5.3 pmol/g tissue (range 1.0-12.9)] and less CNP [0.14 pmol/g tissue (0.01-1.34)]. Immunohistochemistry...

The impact of the operating environment on the design of redundant configurations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marseguerra, M.; Padovani, E.; Zio, E.

1999-01-01

Safety systems are often characterized by substantial redundancy and diversification in safety critical components. In principle, such redundancy and diversification can bring benefits when compared to single-component systems. However, it has also been recognized that the evaluation of these benefits should take into account that redundancies cannot be founded, in practice, on the assumption of complete independence, so that the resulting risk profile is strongly dominated by dependent failures. It is therefore mandatory that the effects of common cause failures be estimated in any probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). Recently, in the Hughes model for hardware failures and in the Eckhardt and Lee models for software failures, it was proposed that the stressfulness of the operating environment affects the probability that a particular type of component will fail. Thus, dependence of component failure behaviors can arise indirectly through the variability of the environment which can directly affect the success of a redundant configuration. In this paper we investigate the impact of indirect component dependence by means of the introduction of a probability distribution which describes the variability of the environment. We show that the variance of the distribution of the number, or times, of system failures can give an indication of the presence of the environment. Further, the impact of the environment is shown to affect the reliability and the design of redundant configurations

Serum proatrial natriuretic peptide concentrations during oral glucose-induced acute hyperinsulinemia in lean and obese men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asferg, Camilla L; Nielsen, Søren J; Andersen, Ulrik B

2018-01-01

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is primarily seen as a hormone involved in salt and water homeostasis and blood pressure regulation. Evidence supports a link between metabolism and ANP. Circulating ANP concentrations are low in obese individuals with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia....... The dynamic relationship between insulin and ANP has been sparsely studied. We therefore measured circulating concentrations of midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), a stable marker of ANP secretion, and insulin in lean and obese men during an oral glucose challenge. One hundred and three...... obese men (body mass index (BMI) ≥30.0 kg/m2) were compared with 27 lean men (BMI = 20.0-24.9 kg/m2). During a 75 g oral glucose challenge, circulating concentrations of MR-proANP and insulin were measured at baseline and every half hour for 2 h. Fasting MR-proANP concentrations were lower in the obese...

Does plant species richness guarantee the resilience of local medical systems? A perspective from utilitarian redundancy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flávia Rosa Santoro

Full Text Available Resilience is related to the ability of a system to adjust to disturbances. The Utilitarian Redundancy Model has emerged as a tool for investigating the resilience of local medical systems. The model determines the use of species richness for the same therapeutic function as a facilitator of the maintenance of these systems. However, predictions generated from this model have not yet been tested, and a lack of variables exists for deeper analyses of resilience. This study aims to address gaps in the Utilitarian Redundancy Model and to investigate the resilience of two medical systems in the Brazilian semi-arid zone. As a local illness is not always perceived in the same way that biomedicine recognizes, the term "therapeutic targets" is used for perceived illnesses. Semi-structured interviews with local experts were conducted using the free-listing technique to collect data on known medicinal plants, usage preferences, use of redundant species, characteristics of therapeutic targets, and the perceived severity for each target. Additionally, participatory workshops were conducted to determine the frequency of targets. The medical systems showed high species richness but low levels of species redundancy. However, if redundancy was present, it was the primary factor responsible for the maintenance of system functions. Species richness was positively associated with therapeutic target frequencies and negatively related to target severity. Moreover, information about redundant species seems to be largely idiosyncratic; this finding raises questions about the importance of redundancy for resilience. We stress the Utilitarian Redundancy Model as an interesting tool to be used in studies of resilience, but we emphasize that it must consider the distribution of redundancy in terms of the treatment of important illnesses and the sharing of information. This study has identified aspects of the higher and lower vulnerabilities of medical systems, adding

Impairment of the natriuretic peptide system in follitropin receptor knockout mice and reversal by estradiol: implications for obesity-associated hypertension in menopause.

Science.gov (United States)

Belo, Najara O; Sairam, M Ram; Dos Reis, Adelina M

2008-03-01

Estrogen is considered a major regulator of adipose tissue in females. Estrogen increases circulating levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), a hormone with renal and cardiovascular effects. The aim of this study was to determine the status of the natriuretic peptide system in female follitropin-receptor knockout (FORKO) mice that could be associated with obesity and hypertension observed in these mutants. Furthermore, estradiol treatment was used to reverse alterations observed. FORKO and wild-type (WT) mice received daily injections of estradiol for 4 d. On the fifth day, blood was collected for determination of plasma ANP levels, and selected tissues were collected for determination of ANP, natriuretic peptide receptor type-A (NPR-A) and type-C (NPR-C) gene expression by RT-PCR and binding of [(125)I]ANP by autoradiography. At 5 months of age, FORKO mice were heavier and had more adipose tissue than WT mice. FORKO mice had lower plasma ANP levels and atrial ANP gene expression and higher renal and adipocyte NPR-C gene expression than WT mice. Estradiol treatment reduced weight gain and increased atrial ANP synthesis as well as decreased ANP clearance NPR-C receptors, resulting in elevation of circulating ANP level. In conclusion, this study shows that FORKO females have an impaired natriuretic peptide system, which may contribute to the susceptibility of FORKO mice to developing age-related hypertension previously shown in these animals. This study establishes a relation between estrogen, adipose tissue, and ANP, which may have important implications in menopausal women.

Analysis of brain natriuretic peptide in 30 patients with atrial fibrillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Qiang; Lu Jianghui; Li Weipeng; Yuan Yuan; Sun Weili

2009-01-01

To investigate the relationship between atrial fibrillation and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), plasma levels of BNP in 30 patients with atrial fibrillation and 30 health controls were assayed and compared. The results showed that plasma levels of BNP in patients with atrial fibrillation were significantly higher than those of health controls (P<0.05). When the patients with atrial fibrillation were restored sinus rhythm, the concentration of BNP decreased significantly (P<0.05). BNP was a sensitive marker of cardiac dysfunction, and BNP was positively correlated with atrial fibrillation. (authors)

Amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptides: testing in general populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lemos, J.A. de; Hildebrandt, P.

2008-01-01

Screening of general populations with amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP) holds promise for the detection of significant underlying cardiac structural and functional abnormalities, as well as for the early detection of the propensity to develop future cardiovascular events....... In comparative studies to date, NT-proBNP performs at least as well as BNP in the detection of heart disease and prognostication in the general population. In some studies and subgroups, NT-proBNP appears to outperform BNP in population screening. More needs to be learned about noncardiac sources of NT...

Atrial natriuretic peptide receptor heterogeneity and effects on cyclic GMP accumulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leitman, D.C.

1988-01-01

The effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) on guanylate cyclase activity and cyclic GMP accumulation were examined, since these hormones appear to be intimately associated with blood pressure and intravascular volume homeostasis. ANP was found to increase cyclic GMP accumulation in ten cell culture systems, which were derived from blood vessels, adrenal cortex, kidney, lung, testes and mammary gland. ANP receptors were characterized in intact cultured cells using 125 I-ANP 8-33 . Specific 125 I-ANP binding was saturable and of high affinity. Scratchard analysis of the binding data for all cell types exhibited a straight line, indicating that these cells possessed a single class of binding sites. Despite the presence of linear Scatchard plots, these studies demonstrated that cultured cells possess two functionally and physically distinct ANP-binding sites. Most of the ANP-binding sites in cultured cells have a molecular size of 66,000 daltons under reducing conditions. The identification of cultured cell types in which hormones (ANP and oxytocin) regulate guanylate cyclase activity and increase cyclic GMP synthesis will provide valuable systems to determine the mechanisms of hormone-receptor coupling to guanylate cyclase and the cellular processes regulated by cyclic GMP

Fuzzy modeling of analytical redundancy for sensor failure detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, T.M.; Chou, H.P.

1991-01-01

Failure detection and isolation (FDI) in dynamic systems may be accomplished by testing the consistency of the system via analytically redundant relations. The redundant relation is basically a mathematical model relating system inputs and dissimilar sensor outputs from which information is extracted and subsequently examined for the presence of failure signatures. Performance of the approach is often jeopardized by inherent modeling error and noise interference. To mitigate such effects, techniques such as Kalman filtering, auto-regression-moving-average (ARMA) modeling in conjunction with probability tests are often employed. These conventional techniques treat the stochastic nature of uncertainties in a deterministic manner to generate best-estimated model and sensor outputs by minimizing uncertainties. In this paper, the authors present a different approach by treating the effect of uncertainties with fuzzy numbers. Coefficients in redundant relations derived from first-principle physical models are considered as fuzzy parameters and on-line updated according to system behaviors. Failure detection is accomplished by examining the possibility that a sensor signal occurred in an estimated fuzzy domain. To facilitate failure isolation, individual FDI monitors are designed for each interested sensor

Correlation of right atrial appendage velocity with left atrial appendage velocity and brain natriuretic Peptide.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Bu-Kyung; Heo, Jung-Ho; Lee, Jae-Woo; Kim, Hyun-Soo; Choi, Byung-Joo; Cha, Tae-Joon

2012-03-01

Left atrial appendage (LAA) anatomy and function have been well characterized both in healthy and diseased people, whereas relatively little attention has been focused on the right atrial appendage (RAA). We sought to evaluate RAA flow velocity and to compare these parameters with LAA indices and with a study of biomarkers, such as brain natriuretic peptide, among patients with sinus rhythm (SR) and atrial fibrillation (AF). In a series of 79 consecutive patients referred for transesophageal echocardiography, 43 patients (23 with AF and 20 controls) were evaluated. AF was associated with a decrease in flow velocity for both LAA and RAA [LAA velocity-SR vs. AF: 61 ± 22 vs. 29 ± 18 m/sec (p vs. AF: 46 ± 20 vs. 19 ± 8 m/sec (p brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). AF was associated with decreased RAA and LAA flow velocities. RAA velocity was found to be positively correlated with LAA velocity and negatively correlated with BNP. The plasma BNP concentration may serve as a determinant of LAA and RAA functions.

A liver metalloendopeptidase which degrades the circulating hypotensive peptide hormones bradykinin and atrial natriuretic peptide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carvalho K.M.

1999-01-01

Full Text Available A new metalloendopeptidase was purified to apparent homogeneity from a homogenate of normal human liver using successive steps of chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, hydroxyapatite and Sephacryl S-200. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed the Pro7-Phe8 bond of bradykinin and the Ser25-Tyr26 bond of atrial natriuretic peptide. No cleavage was produced in other peptide hormones such as vasopressin, oxytocin or Met- and Leu-enkephalin. This enzyme activity was inhibited by 1 mM divalent cation chelators such as EDTA, EGTA and o-phenanthroline and was insensitive to 1 µM phosphoramidon and captopril, specific inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11 and angiotensin-converting enzyme (EC 3.4.15.1, respectively. With Mr 85 kDa, the enzyme exhibits optimal activity at pH 7.5. The high affinity of this endopeptidase for bradykinin (Km = 10 µM and for atrial natriuretic peptide (Km = 5 µM suggests that it may play a physiological role in the inactivation of these circulating hypotensive peptide hormones.

77 FR 4043 - Scientific Information Request on the Use of Natriuretic Peptide Measurement in the Management of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-26

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Scientific Information Request on the Use of Natriuretic Peptide Measurement in the Management of Heart Failure AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS. ACTION: Request for scientific information...

Information filtering based on corrected redundancy-eliminating mass diffusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xuzhen; Yang, Yujie; Chen, Guilin; Medo, Matus; Tian, Hui; Cai, Shi-Min

2017-01-01

Methods used in information filtering and recommendation often rely on quantifying the similarity between objects or users. The used similarity metrics often suffer from similarity redundancies arising from correlations between objects' attributes. Based on an unweighted undirected object-user bipartite network, we propose a Corrected Redundancy-Eliminating similarity index (CRE) which is based on a spreading process on the network. Extensive experiments on three benchmark data sets-Movilens, Netflix and Amazon-show that when used in recommendation, the CRE yields significant improvements in terms of recommendation accuracy and diversity. A detailed analysis is presented to unveil the origins of the observed differences between the CRE and mainstream similarity indices.

Low-redundancy linear arrays in mirrored interferometric aperture synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Dong; Hu, Fei; Wu, Liang; Li, Jun; Lang, Liang

2016-01-15

Mirrored interferometric aperture synthesis (MIAS) is a novel interferometry that can improve spatial resolution compared with that of conventional IAS. In one-dimensional (1-D) MIAS, antenna array with low redundancy has the potential to achieve a high spatial resolution. This Letter presents a technique for the direct construction of low-redundancy linear arrays (LRLAs) in MIAS and derives two regular analytical patterns that can yield various LRLAs in short computation time. Moreover, for a better estimation of the observed scene, a bi-measurement method is proposed to handle the rank defect associated with the transmatrix of those LRLAs. The results of imaging simulation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Role of C-type natriuretic peptide in the function of normal human sperm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Xia

2016-01-01

Full Text Available C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP is a newly discovered type of local regulatory factor that mediates its biological effects through the specific, membrane-bound natriuretic peptide receptor-B (NPR-B. Recent studies have established that CNP is closely related to male reproductive function. The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of CNP/NPR-B in human ejaculated spermatozoa through different methods (such as immunolocalization, real time polymerase chain reaction and Western Blot, and then to evaluate the influence of CNP on sperm function i n vitro, such as motility and acrosome reaction. Human semen samples were collected from consenting donors who met the criteria of the World Health Organization for normozoospermia. Our results show that the specific receptor NPR-B of CNP is localized in the acrosomal region of the head and the membrane of the front-end tail of the sperm, and there is no signal of CNP in human sperm. Compared with the control, CNP can induce a significant dose-dependent increase in spermatozoa motility and acrosome reaction. In summary, CNP/NPR-B can affect sperm motility and acrosome reaction, thus regulating the reproductive function of males. CNP may be a new key factor in regulating sperm function.

Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Accelerates Human Endothelial Progenitor Cell-Stimulated Cutaneous Wound Healing and Angiogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Tae Wook; Kwon, Yang Woo; Park, Gyu Tae; Do, Eun Kyoung; Yoon, Jung Won; Kim, Seung-Chul; Ko, Hyun-Chang; Kim, Moon-Bum; Kim, Jae Ho

2018-05-26

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a powerful vasodilating peptide secreted by cardiac muscle cells, and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been reported to stimulate cutaneous wound healing by mediating angiogenesis. To determine whether ANP can promote the EPC-mediated repair of injured tissues, we examined the effects of ANP on the angiogenic properties of EPCs and on cutaneous wound healing. In vitro, ANP treatment enhanced the migration, proliferation, and endothelial tube-forming abilities of EPCs. Furthermore, small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of natriuretic peptide receptor-1, which is a receptor for ANP, abrogated ANP-induced migration, tube formation, and proliferation of EPCs. In a murine cutaneous wound model, administration of either ANP or EPCs had no significant effect on cutaneous wound healing or angiogenesis in vivo, whereas the co-administration of ANP and EPCs synergistically potentiated wound healing and angiogenesis. In addition, ANP promoted the survival and incorporation of transplanted EPCs into newly formed blood vessels in wounds. These results suggest ANP accelerates EPC-mediated cutaneous wound healing by promoting the angiogenic properties and survival of transplanted EPCs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 by the Wound Healing Society.

Structural redundance of NPPs and diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Znyshev, V.V.; Sabaev, E.F.

1988-01-01

A new approach to functional diagnosis of NPP state based on structural redundance, owing to which in major of the facilities there are elements identical as to the structure and operational conditions, is suggested. The difference from zero by the given value for one parameter measured for various identical elements is an indicator of a failed element and a signal for diagnostic analysis

Analysis of singularity in redundant manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Koichi

2000-03-01

In the analysis of arm positions and configurations of redundant manipulators, the singularity avoidance problems are important themes. This report presents singularity avoidance computations of a 7 DOF manipulator by using a computer code based on human-arm models. The behavior of the arm escaping from the singular point can be identified satisfactorily through the use of 3-D plotting tools. (author)

Brain Natriuretic Peptide, Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and Endothelin-1 response to peak exercise in patients with coronary artery disease and correlation with myocardial perfusion scintigraphy abnormalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erbas, B.; Ergun, E.; Koray, Z.; Kabakci, G.; Yildirir, A.; Kes, S.

2002-01-01

Aim: Plasma Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) has been known as a promising marker of ventricular dysfunction in cardiac patients. There are conflicting reports about its response to exercise testing. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the exercise induced changes in BNP, Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and Endothelin-1 (E) levels and their correlation with perfusion abnormalities on myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). Materials and Methods: Study group consisted of 35 patients (mean age=53.9+11.8) who underwent MPS with suspicion or diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Plasma levels of BNP, ANP, and E were measured at rest and after symptom-limited ergometry. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of perfusion abnormality (i.e. ischemia or infarction) on MPS. Results: BNP, ANP and E levels did not change significantly with exercise, however baseline levels of BNP, ANP levels and peak-exercise level of BNP in patients with perfusion abnormalities were significantly higher. Hypertensive patients with or without perfusion abnormalities had higher baseline BNP, ANP levels, and peak-exercise BNP levels compared to normotensives. BNP levels at rest and after exercise had a significant correlation with age (r=0.57, p=0.04; r=0.58, p=0.04), as well as baseline ANP values (r=0.37, p=0.033). Highest baseline BNP, ANP and exercise BNP levels were observed in patients with infarction. Conclusion: Exercise-testing did not induce significant changes in plasma levels of BNP, ANP and E. Higher BNP levels had correlation with the presence of ischemia, infarction and hypertension, as well as, increasing age

Plant natriuretic peptides are apoplastic and paracrine stress response molecules

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yuhua

2011-04-07

Higher plants contain biologically active proteins that are recognized by antibodies against human atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). We identified and isolated two Arabidopsis thaliana immunoreactive plant natriuretic peptide (PNP)-encoding genes, AtPNP-A and AtPNP-B, which are distantly related members of the expansin superfamily and have a role in the regulation of homeostasis in abiotic and biotic stresses, and have shown that AtPNP-A modulates the effects of ABA on stomata. Arabidopsis PNP (PNP-A) is mainly expressed in leaf mesophyll cells, and in protoplast assays we demonstrate that it is secreted using AtPNP-A:green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter constructs and flow cytometry. Transient reporter assays provide evidence that AtPNP-A expression is enhanced by heat, osmotica and salt, and that AtPNP-A itself can enhance its own expression, thereby generating a response signature diagnostic for paracrine action and potentially also autocrine effects. Expression of native AtPNP-A is enhanced by osmotica and transiently by salt. Although AtPNP-A expression is induced by salt and osmotica, ABA does not significantly modulate AtPNP-A levels nor does recombinant AtPNP-A affect reporter expression of the ABA-responsive RD29A gene. Together, these results provide experimental evidence that AtPNP-A is stress responsive, secreted into the apoplastic space and can enhance its own expression. Furthermore, our findings support the idea that AtPNP-A, together with ABA, is an important component in complex plant stress responses and that, much like in animals, peptide signaling molecules can create diverse and modular signals essential for growth, development and defense under rapidly changing environmental conditions. © 2011 The Author.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Older Adults Benefit From Redundant Text in Multimedia Instruction

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Barbara eFenesi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The multimedia design of presentations typically ignores that younger and older adults have varying cognitive strengths and weaknesses. We examined whether differential instructional design may enhance learning in these populations. Younger and older participants viewed one of three computer-based presentations: Audio only (narration, Redundant (audio narration with redundant text, or Complementary (audio narration with non–redundant text and images. Younger participants learned better when audio narration was paired with relevant images compared to when audio narration was paired with redundant text. However, older participants learned best when audio narration was paired with redundant text. Younger adults, who presumably have a higher working memory capacity, appear to benefit more from complementary information that may drive deeper conceptual processing. In contrast, older adults learn better from presentations that support redundant coding across modalities, which may help mitigate the effects of age-related decline in working memory capacity. Additionally, several misconceptions of design quality appeared across age groups: both younger and older participants positively rated less effective designs. Findings suggest that one-size does not fit all, with older adults requiring unique multimedia design tailored to their cognitive abilities for effective learning.

One size does not fit all: older adults benefit from redundant text in multimedia instruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Fenesi, Barbara; Vandermorris, Susan; Kim, Joseph A; Shore, David I; Heisz, Jennifer J

2015-01-01

The multimedia design of presentations typically ignores that younger and older adults have varying cognitive strengths and weaknesses. We examined whether differential instructional design may enhance learning in these populations. Younger and older participants viewed one of three computer-based presentations: Audio only (narration), Redundant (audio narration with redundant text), or Complementary (audio narration with non-redundant text and images). Younger participants learned better when audio narration was paired with relevant images compared to when audio narration was paired with redundant text. However, older participants learned best when audio narration was paired with redundant text. Younger adults, who presumably have a higher working memory capacity (WMC), appear to benefit more from complementary information that may drive deeper conceptual processing. In contrast, older adults learn better from presentations that support redundant coding across modalities, which may help mitigate the effects of age-related decline in WMC. Additionally, several misconceptions of design quality appeared across age groups: both younger and older participants positively rated less effective designs. Findings suggest that one-size does not fit all, with older adults requiring unique multimedia design tailored to their cognitive abilities for effective learning.

Cardiac Hypertrophy and Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in an Ovariectomized Rat Model Fed a High-Fat Diet

Science.gov (United States)

Goncalves, Gleisy Kelly; de Oliveira, Thiago Henrique Caldeira; de Oliveira Belo, Najara

2017-01-01

Background Heart failure in women increases around the time of menopause when high-fat diets may result in obesity. The heart produces brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), also known as B-type natriuretic peptide. This aims of this study were to assess cardiac hypertrophy and BNP levels in ovariectomized rats fed a high-fat diet. Material/Methods Forty-eight female Wistar rats were divided into four groups: sham-operated rats fed a control diet (SC) (n=12); ovariectomized rats fed a control diet (OC) (n=12); sham-operated rats fed a high-fat diet (SF) (n=12); and ovariectomized rats fed a high-fat diet (OF) (n=12). Body weight and blood pressure were measured weekly for 24 weeks. Rats were then euthanized, and plasma samples and heart tissue were studied for gene expression, hydroxyproline levels, and histological examination. Results A high-fat diet and ovariectomy (group OF) increased the weight body and the systolic blood pressure after three months and five months, respectively. Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy was associated with increased expression of ventricular BNP, decreased natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR)-A and increased levels of hydroxyproline and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. The plasma levels of BNP and estradiol were inversely correlated; expression of estrogen receptor (ER)β and ERα were reduced. Conclusions The findings of this study showed that, in the ovariectomized rats fed a high-fat diet, the BNP-NPR-A receptor complex was involved in cardiac remodeling. BNP may be a marker of cardiac hypertrophy in this animal model. PMID:29249795

Hyperinsulinemia correlates with low levels of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide in Japanese men irrespective of fat distribution

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Nakatsuji Hideaki

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP, a member of the natriuretic peptide family, is a cardiac-derived secretory hormone with natriuretic, diuretic, and vasorelaxant activities. Intraabdominal fat accumulation is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and cardiac dysfunction. Circulating BNP levels are relatively low (within the normal limits in obesity and the metabolic syndrome. However, the relationship between plasma BNP levels and visceral fat accumulation in general population has not been reported. The present study analyzed the relationships between plasma BNP levels and various clinical variables, including insulin, visceral and subcutaneous fat area (VFA and SFA, respectively, in normal Japanese men. Methods The study (Victor-J study subjects were consecutive 500 Japanese male workers, who underwent a health checkup and were measured VFA and SFA by computed tomography. Results Age-adjusted simple linear regression analysis showed that log-BNP correlated positively with HDL-cholesterol, and negatively with VFA, log-immunoreactive insulin (IRI, log-triglyceride, and LDL-cholesterol, but not body mass index or SFA. Stepwise multiple regression analysis identified log-IRI and HDL-cholesterol as significant determinants of log-BNP. Subjects with IRI ≥5.5 μIU/mL had lower plasma BNP levels than those with IRI 2, visceral fat accumulation (VFA, cutoff value 100 cm2 and subcutaneous fat accumulation (SFA, cutoff value 128 cm2. Conclusions Our study showed that hyperinsulinemia correlated with low levels of plasma BNP in general men, irrespective of fat distribution. Trial registration UMIN 000004318.

Brain natriuretic peptide as noninvasive marker of the severity of right ventricular dysfunction in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reesink, Herre J.; Tulevski, Igor I.; Marcus, J. Tim; Boomsma, Frans; Kloek, Jaap J.; Vonk Noordegraaf, Anton; Bresser, Paul

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) who undergo pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). We studied whether plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels can be used to

One size does not fit all: older adults benefit from redundant text in multimedia instruction

OpenAIRE

Fenesi, Barbara; Vandermorris, Susan; Kim, Joseph A.; Shore, David I.; Heisz, Jennifer J.

2015-01-01

The multimedia design of presentations typically ignores that younger and older adults have varying cognitive strengths and weaknesses. We examined whether differential instructional design may enhance learning in these populations. Younger and older participants viewed one of three computer-based presentations: Audio only (narration), Redundant (audio narration with redundant text), or Complementary (audio narration with non–redundant text and images). Younger participants learned better ...

Solving the redundancy allocation problem with multiple strategy choices using a new simplified particle swarm optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong, Xiangyong; Gao, Liqun; Ouyang, Haibin; Li, Steven

2015-01-01

In most research on redundancy allocation problem (RAP), the redundancy strategy for each subsystem is assumed to be predetermined and fixed. This paper focuses on a specific RAP with multiple strategy choices (RAP-MSC), in which both active redundancy and cold standby redundancy can be selected as an additional decision variable for individual subsystems. To do so, the component type, redundancy strategy and redundancy level for each subsystem should be chosen subject to the system constraints appropriately such that the system reliability is maximized. Meanwhile, imperfect switching for cold standby redundancy is considered and a k-Erlang distribution is introduced to model the time-to-failure component as well. Given the importance and complexity of RAP-MSC, we propose a new efficient simplified version of particle swarm optimization (SPSO) to solve such NP-hard problems. In this method, a new position updating scheme without velocity is presented with stochastic disturbance and a low probability. Moreover, it is compared with several well-known PSO variants and other state-of-the-art approaches in the literature to evaluate its performance. The experiment results demonstrate the superiority of SPSO as an alternative for solving the RAP-MSC. - Highlights: • A more realistic RAP form with multiple strategy choices is focused. • Redundancy strategies are to be selected rather than fixed in general RAP. • A new simplified particle swarm optimization is proposed. • Higher reliabilities are achieved than the state-of-the-art approaches.

The Preoperative Level of B-Type Natriuretic Peptides and the Results of Clinical and Functional Studies of Cardiosurgical Patients

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I. A. Kozlov

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: to study the plasma content of B-type natriuretic peptides in coronary heart disease patients prepared for surgery under extracorporeal circulation and to assess the association of the level of these biomarkers with the data of clinical and functional studies. Material and methods. The levels of active B-type natriuretic peptide were determined by immunofluoresence assay in the blood of 52 patients aged 57.8±1 years. The patients’ baseline clinical condition was in New York Heart Association (NYHA Functional Class I—IV. The left ventricular ejection fraction was 59.6±1.2%. The plasma concentration of the inactive N-terminal fragment of the BNP prohormone (NT-proBNP was estimated by electric chemiluminescence technique in 61 patients aged 54.6±1.18 years. The patients’ clinical condition was in NYHA Functional Class II—IV. The left ventricular ejection fraction was 51.5±1.6%. Results. The plasma content of B-type natriuretic peptide in the examinees was 48.5±5.9 pg/ml. The level of the biomarker correlated with the NYHA functional class (r=0.4; p=0.005, the electrocardiographic signs of postinfarct cardiosclerosis (r=0.29; p=0.04, and left ventricular ejection fraction (r=-0.41; p=0.003, and end-systolic volume (r=0.32; p=0.03. The plasma concentration of inactive NT-proBNP was 659.4±91.6 pg/ml. The level of the biomarker correlated with the NYHA functional class (r=0.4; p=0.002, the stage of circulatory insufficiency as described by I. D. Strazhesko and V. Kh. Vasilenko (r=0.49; p=0.001, and left ventricular ejection fraction (r=-0.45; p=0.001, and end-diastolic (r=0.39; p=0.002 and end-systolic (r=0.42; p=0.001 volumes. In patients with the values of the biomarker of less than 1000 pg/ml, the latter was related to age (r=0.3; p=0.047. Conclusion. The study of the level of B-type natriuretic peptides in cardiosurgical patients with coronary heart disease, prepared for surgery under extracorporeal circulation, suggests

Dynamically redundant particle components in mixtures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lukacs, B.; Martinas, K.

1984-10-01

Examples are shown for cases in which the number of different kinds of particles in a system is not necessarily equal to the number of particle degrees of freedom in thermodynamical sense, and at the same time, the observed dynamics of the evolution of the system does not indicate a definite number of degrees of freedeom. The possibility for introducing dynamically redundant particles is discussed. (author)

Advantage of redundancy in the controllability of remote handling manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muhammad, Ali; Mattila, Jouni; Vilenius, Matti; Siuko, Mikko; Semeraro, Luigi

2011-01-01

To carry out a variety of remote handling operations inside the ITER divertor a Water Hydraulic MANipulator (WHMAN) and its control system have been designed and developed at Tampere University of Technology. The manipulator is installed on top of Cassette Multifunctional Mover (CMM) to assist during the cassette removal and installation operations. While CMM is designed to carry heavy components such as cassettes through the service ducts relying on positioning accuracy and repeatability, WHMAN is designed to execute a mix of remote handling operations using position trajectories and master-slave telemanipulation. WHMAN is composed of eight joints: six rotational and two translational. Since a manipulator requires only six joints to acquire the desired position and orientation in operational-space, the two additional joints of WHMAN provide the redundant degrees of mobility. This paper presents how this redundancy of WHMAN can be an advantage to optimize the execution of remote handling tasks. The paper also discusses an effective way to practically exploit the redundancy. The results show that the additional degrees of freedom can be utilized to improve the dynamic behavior of the manipulator.

Robust Redundant Input Reliable Tracking Control for Omnidirectional Rehabilitative Training Walker

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Sun

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The problem of robust reliable tracking control on the omnidirectional rehabilitative training walker is examined. The new nonlinear redundant input method is proposed when one wheel actuator fault occurs. The aim of the study is to design an asymptotically stable controller that can guarantee the safety of the user and ensure tracking on a training path planned by a physical therapist. The redundant degrees of freedom safety control and the asymptotically zero state detectable concept of the walker are presented, the model of redundant degree is constructed, and the property of center of gravity constant shift is obtained. A controller that can satisfy asymptotic stability is obtained using a common Lyapunov function for admissible uncertainties resulting from an actuator fault. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method and verify that the walker can provide safe sequential motion when one wheel actuator is at fault.

Urinary osteocalcin and serum pro-C-type natriuretic peptide predict linear catch-up growth in infants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kilpeläinen, Leena; Ivaska, Kaisa K; Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja

2012-01-01

of this longitudinal study was to determine the extent to which postnatal levels of circulating cartilage (serum pro-C-type natriuretic peptide [S-proCNP]) and urinary bone metabolic markers (urinary osteocalcin [MidOC] and two forms of C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen [U-α-CTX-I and U...

Susceptibility of Redundant Versus Singular Clock Domains Implemented in SRAM-Based FPGA TMR Designs

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Melanie D.; LaBel, Kenneth A.; Pellish, Jonathan

2016-01-01

We present the challenges that arise when using redundant clock domains due to their clock-skew. Radiation data show that a singular clock domain (DTMR) provides an improved TMR methodology for SRAM-based FPGAs over redundant clocks.

Information filtering based on corrected redundancy-eliminating mass diffusion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuzhen Zhu

Full Text Available Methods used in information filtering and recommendation often rely on quantifying the similarity between objects or users. The used similarity metrics often suffer from similarity redundancies arising from correlations between objects' attributes. Based on an unweighted undirected object-user bipartite network, we propose a Corrected Redundancy-Eliminating similarity index (CRE which is based on a spreading process on the network. Extensive experiments on three benchmark data sets-Movilens, Netflix and Amazon-show that when used in recommendation, the CRE yields significant improvements in terms of recommendation accuracy and diversity. A detailed analysis is presented to unveil the origins of the observed differences between the CRE and mainstream similarity indices.

A Cause-Consequence Chart of a Redundant Protection System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Dan Sandvik; Platz, O.; Runge, B.

1975-01-01

A cause-consequence chart is applied in analysing failures of a redundant protection system (a core spray system in a nuclear power plant). It is shown how the diagram provides a basis for calculating two probability measures for malfunctioning of the protection system. The test policy of compone...... of components is taken into account. The possibility of using parameter variation as a basis for the choice of test policy is indicated.......A cause-consequence chart is applied in analysing failures of a redundant protection system (a core spray system in a nuclear power plant). It is shown how the diagram provides a basis for calculating two probability measures for malfunctioning of the protection system. The test policy...

Biogeographical disparity in the functional diversity and redundancy of corals.

Science.gov (United States)

McWilliam, Mike; Hoogenboom, Mia O; Baird, Andrew H; Kuo, Chao-Yang; Madin, Joshua S; Hughes, Terry P

2018-03-20

Corals are major contributors to a range of key ecosystem functions on tropical reefs, including calcification, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, and the provision of habitat structure. The abundance of corals is declining at multiple scales, and the species composition of assemblages is responding to escalating human pressures, including anthropogenic global warming. An urgent challenge is to understand the functional consequences of these shifts in abundance and composition in different biogeographical contexts. While global patterns of coral species richness are well known, the biogeography of coral functions in provinces and domains with high and low redundancy is poorly understood. Here, we quantify the functional traits of all currently recognized zooxanthellate coral species ( n = 821) in both the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic domains to examine the relationships between species richness and the diversity and redundancy of functional trait space. We find that trait diversity is remarkably conserved (>75% of the global total) along latitudinal and longitudinal gradients in species richness, falling away only in species-poor provinces ( n < 200), such as the Persian Gulf (52% of the global total), Hawaii (37%), the Caribbean (26%), and the East-Pacific (20%), where redundancy is also diminished. In the more species-poor provinces, large and ecologically important areas of trait space are empty, or occupied by just a few, highly distinctive species. These striking biogeographical differences in redundancy could affect the resilience of critical reef functions and highlight the vulnerability of relatively depauperate, peripheral locations, which are often a low priority for targeted conservation efforts.

Analysis of informational redundancy in the protein-assembling machinery

Science.gov (United States)

Berkovich, Simon

2004-03-01

Entropy analysis of the DNA structure does not reveal a significant departure from randomness indicating lack of informational redundancy. This signifies the absence of a hidden meaning in the genome text and supports the 'barcode' interpretation of DNA given in [1]. Lack of informational redundancy is a characteristic property of an identification label rather than of a message of instructions. Yet randomness of DNA has to induce non-random structures of the proteins. Protein synthesis is a two-step process: transcription into RNA with gene splicing and formation a structure of amino acids. Entropy estimations, performed by A. Djebbari, show typical values of redundancy of the biomolecules along these pathways: DNA gene 4proteins 15-40in gene expression, the RNA copy carries the same information as the original DNA template. Randomness is essentially eliminated only at the step of the protein creation by a degenerate code. According to [1], the significance of the substitution of U for T with a subsequent gene splicing is that these transformations result in a different pattern of RNA oscillations, so the vital DNA communications are protected against extraneous noise coming from the protein making activities. 1. S. Berkovich, "On the 'barcode' functionality of DNA, or the Phenomenon of Life in the Physical Universe", Dorrance Publishing Co., Pittsburgh, 2003

The Interface Between Redundant Processor Modules Of Safety Grade PLC Using Mass Storage DPRAM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, Sung Jae; Song, Seong Hwan; No, Young Hun; Yun, Dong Hwa; Park, Gang Min; Kim, Min Gyu; Choi, Kyung Chul; Lee, Ui Taek

2010-01-01

Processor module of safety grade PLC (hereinafter called as POSAFE-Q) developed by POSCO ICT provides high reliability and safety. However, POSAFEQ would have suffered a malfunction when we think taking place of abnormal operation by exceptional environmental. POSAFE-Q would not able to conduct its function normally in such case. To prevent these situations, the necessity of redundant processor module has been raised. Therefore, redundant processor module, NCPU-2Q, has been developed which has not only functions of single processor module with high reliability and safety but also functions of redundant processor

Relationship between the actions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP, guanylin and uroguanylin on the isolated kidney

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.S. Santos-Neto

1999-08-01

Full Text Available Guanylin and uroguanylin are peptides that bind to and activate guanylate cyclase C and control salt and water transport in many epithelia in vertebrates, mimicking the action of several heat-stable bacteria enterotoxins. In the kidney, both of them have well-documented natriuretic and kaliuretic effects. Since atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP also has a natriuretic effect mediated by cGMP, experiments were designed in the isolated perfused rat kidney to identify possible synergisms between ANP, guanylin and uroguanylin. Inulin was added to the perfusate and glomerular filtration rate (GFR was determined at 10-min intervals. Sodium was also determined. Electrolyte dynamics were measured by the clearance formula. Guanylin (0.5 µg/ml, N = 12 or uroguanylin (0.5 µg/ml, N = 9 was added to the system after 30 min of perfusion with ANP (0.1 ng/ml. The data were compared at 30-min intervals to a control (N = 12 perfused with modified Krebs-Hanseleit solution and to experiments using guanylin and uroguanylin at the same dose (0.5 µg/ml. After previous introduction of ANP in the system, guanylin promoted a reduction in fractional sodium transport (%TNa+, P<0.05 (from 78.46 ± 0.86 to 64.62 ± 1.92, 120 min. In contrast, ANP blocked uroguanylin-induced increase in urine flow (from 0.21 ± 0.01 to 0.15 ± 0.007 ml g-1 min-1, 120 min, P<0.05 and the reduction in fractional sodium transport (from 72.04 ± 0.86 to 85.19 ± 1.48, %TNa+, at 120 min of perfusion, P<0.05. Thus, the synergism between ANP + guanylin and the antagonism between ANP + uroguanylin indicate the existence of different subtypes of receptors mediating the renal actions of guanylins.

Factors Associated With Natriuretic Peptide Testing in Patients Presenting to Emergency Departments With Suspected Heart Failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Sepehrvand, Nariman; Bakal, Jeffrey A; Lin, Meng; McAlister, Finlay; Wesenberg, James C; Ezekowitz, Justin A

2016-08-01

Testing for natriuretic peptides (NPs) such as brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the emergency department (ED) assists in the evaluation of patients with acute heart failure (HF). The aim of this study was to investigate factors related to the use of NP testing in the ED in a large population-based sample in Canada. This was a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data from Alberta in 2012. Patients were included if they had testing for an NP in the ED; a comparator group with HF but without NP testing was also included. Of the 16,223 patients in the cohort, 5793 were patients with HF (n = 3148 tested and n = 2645 not tested for NPs) and 10,430 were patients without HF but who were tested for NPs. Patients without HF who were tested for NPs had respiratory disease (34%), non-HF cardiovascular diseases (13%), and other conditions (52%). Patients with HF who were tested had a higher rate of hospital admission from the ED (78.4% vs 62.2%; P < 0.001) and lower 7-day and 90-day repeated ED visit rates compared with those who were not tested. Among patients with HF, male sex, being an urban resident, being seen by an emergency medicine or cardiology specialist, and being seen in hospitals with medium ED visit volumes were associated with increased likelihood of testing for NPs. Several factors, including the type of provider and ED clinical volume, influenced the use of NP testing in routine ED practice. Standardization of an NP testing strategy in clinical practice would be useful for health care systems. Copyright © 2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Temporal Change in Brain Natriuretic Peptide After Radiotherapy for Thoracic Esophageal Cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jingu, Keiichi; Nemoto, Kenji; Kaneta, Tomohiro; Oikawa, Minako; Ogawa, Yoshihiro; Ariga, Hisanori; Takeda, Ken; Sakayauchi, Toru; Fujimoto, Keisuke; Narazaki, Kakutaro; Takai, Yoshihiro; Nakata, Eiko; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Shoki; Yamada, Shogo

2007-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the relationships of plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) with abnormal 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) accumulation in the myocardium corresponding to irradiated fields and temporal changes in BNP, which is used as an index of heart remodeling, after radiotherapy for the mediastinum. Materials and Methods: Brain natriuretic peptide concentrations were measured before and after radiotherapy for thoracic esophageal cancer, and the change in BNP concentration after radiotherapy was investigated. Moreover, FDG accumulation in the myocardium was investigated in patients who had undergone FDG positron emission tomography less than 14 days before or after measurement of BNP concentration, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to detect significant difference between BNP concentrations in patients with and without abnormal FDG accumulation corresponding to the irradiated field. Results: There was significant difference between the levels of BNP in patients without abnormal FDG accumulation in the irradiated myocardium and in patients with abnormal FDG accumulation (p 24 months after radiotherapy group were significantly higher than the levels in the before radiotherapy group, immediately after radiotherapy group, 1-2 months after radiotherapy group, and control group. Conclusions: The level of BNP was significantly increased more than 9 months after the start of radiotherapy and was significantly higher in patients who had high FDG accumulation corresponding to the irradiated field. The results of this study indicate that BNP concentration might be an early indicator of radiation-induced myocardial damage

Redundancy Maintenance and Garbage Collection Strategies in Peer-to-Peer Storage Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xin; Datta, Anwitaman

Maintaining redundancy in P2P storage systems is essential for reliability guarantees. Numerous P2P storage system maintenance algorithms have been proposed in the last years, each supposedly improving upon the previous approaches. We perform a systematic comparative study of the various strategies taking also into account the influence of different garbage collection mechanisms, an issue not studied so far. Our experiments show that while some strategies generally perform better than some others, there is no universally best strategy, and their relative superiority depends on various other design choices as well as the specific evaluation criterion. Our results can be used by P2P storage systems designers to make prudent design decisions, and our exploration of the various evaluation metrics also provides a more comprehensive framework to compare algorithms for P2P storage systems. While there are numerous network simulators specifically developed even to simulate peer-to-peer networks, there existed no P2P storage simulators - a byproduct of this work is a generic modular P2P storage system simulator which we provide as open-source. Different redundancy, maintenance, placement, garbage-collection policies, churn scenarios can be easily integrated to the simulator to try out new schemes in future, and provides a common framework to compare (future) p2p storage systems designs - something which has not been possible so far.

Dexamethasone stimulates expression of C-type Natriuretic Peptide in chondrocytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beier Frank

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Growth of endochondral bones is regulated through the activity of cartilaginous growth plates. Disruption of the physiological patterns of chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation – such as in endocrine disorders or in many different genetic diseases (e.g. chondrodysplasias – generally results in dwarfism and skeletal defects. For example, glucocorticoid administration in children inhibits endochondral bone growth, but the molecular targets of these hormones in chondrocytes remain largely unknown. In contrast, recent studies have shown that C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP is an important anabolic regulator of cartilage growth, and loss-of-function mutations in the human CNP receptor gene cause dwarfism. We asked whether glucocorticoids could exert their activities by interfering with the expression of CNP or its downstream signaling components. Methods Primary mouse chondrocytes in monolayer where incubated with the synthetic glucocorticoid Dexamethasone (DEX for 12 to 72 hours. Cell numbers were determined by counting, and real-time PCR was performed to examine regulation of genes in the CNP signaling pathway by DEX. Results We show that DEX does influence expression of key genes in the CNP pathway. Most importantly, DEX significantly increases RNA expression of the gene encoding CNP itself (Nppc. In addition, DEX stimulates expression of Prkg2 (encoding cGMP-dependent protein kinase II and Npr3 (natriuretic peptide decoy receptor genes. Conversely, DEX was found to down-regulate the expression of the gene encoding its receptor, Nr3c1 (glucocorticoid receptor, as well as the Npr2 gene (encoding the CNP receptor. Conclusion Our data suggest that the growth-suppressive activities of DEX are not due to blockade of CNP signaling. This study reveals a novel, unanticipated relationship between glucocorticoid and CNP signaling and provides the first evidence that CNP expression in chondrocytes is regulated by endocrine

Circulating atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and central blood volume (CBV) in cirrhosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schütten, H J; Henriksen, Jens Henrik Sahl; Bendtsen, F

1986-01-01

Endogenous alpha-atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in plasma is elevated in various hypervolaemic conditions. Possible relationships between circulating immunoreactive ANP and cardiovascular and splanchnic haemodynamics were therefore studied in patients with cirrhosis (n = 16) and controls (n = 12...... or diuretic treatment. Central blood volume (CBV, i.e. the blood volume in the heart cavities, lungs, and aorta), determined from the mean transit time of 125I-labelled of 125I-labelled albumin and cardiac output, was significantly reduced in cirrhotics compared to controls (1.45 +/- 0.12 vs. 1.83 +/- 0.10 l...

Kinematically Optimal Robust Control of Redundant Manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Galicki, M.

2017-12-01

This work deals with the problem of the robust optimal task space trajectory tracking subject to finite-time convergence. Kinematic and dynamic equations of a redundant manipulator are assumed to be uncertain. Moreover, globally unbounded disturbances are allowed to act on the manipulator when tracking the trajectory by the endeffector. Furthermore, the movement is to be accomplished in such a way as to minimize both the manipulator torques and their oscillations thus eliminating the potential robot vibrations. Based on suitably defined task space non-singular terminal sliding vector variable and the Lyapunov stability theory, we derive a class of chattering-free robust kinematically optimal controllers, based on the estimation of transpose Jacobian, which seem to be effective in counteracting both uncertain kinematics and dynamics, unbounded disturbances and (possible) kinematic and/or algorithmic singularities met on the robot trajectory. The numerical simulations carried out for a redundant manipulator of a SCARA type consisting of the three revolute kinematic pairs and operating in a two-dimensional task space, illustrate performance of the proposed controllers as well as comparisons with other well known control schemes.

Ageing behaviour of [(n-1)/n] active redundancy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eid, M.Y.

1995-01-01

Ageing of systems becomes a real concern if intelligent maintenance is required. Determining the ageing behaviour of a system necessitate having a powerful calculating tool and knowing the ageing behaviour of the basic components of the systems. Consequently, time dependent failure rates are required for basic components and need to be determined for systems. As, this is the general problem in reliability analysis, only (n-1)/n active redundancy system will be examined in the paper. Systems with (n-1)/n active redundancy are commonly used in a wide range of engineering fields. This should permit a priori improving the system reliability. Still, a deeper analysis of the ageing behaviour of such systems may reveal some particular aspects. (authors). 2 refs., 5 figs

Comparing surgical trays with redundant instruments with trays with reduced instruments: a cost analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

John-Baptiste, A; Sowerby, L J; Chin, C J; Martin, J; Rotenberg, B W

2016-01-01

When prearranged standard surgical trays contain instruments that are repeatedly unused, the redundancy can result in unnecessary health care costs. Our objective was to estimate potential savings by performing an economic evaluation comparing the cost of surgical trays with redundant instruments with surgical trays with reduced instruments ("reduced trays"). We performed a cost-analysis from the hospital perspective over a 1-year period. Using a mathematical model, we compared the direct costs of trays containing redundant instruments to reduced trays for 5 otolaryngology procedures. We incorporated data from several sources including local hospital data on surgical volume, the number of instruments on redundant and reduced trays, wages of personnel and time required to pack instruments. From the literature, we incorporated instrument depreciation costs and the time required to decontaminate an instrument. We performed 1-way sensitivity analyses on all variables, including surgical volume. Costs were estimated in 2013 Canadian dollars. The cost of redundant trays was $21 806 and the cost of reduced trays was $8803, for a 1-year cost saving of $13 003. In sensitivity analyses, cost savings ranged from $3262 to $21 395, based on the surgical volume at the institution. Variation in surgical volume resulted in a wider range of estimates, with a minimum of $3253 for low-volume to a maximum of $52 012 for high-volume institutions. Our study suggests moderate savings may be achieved by reducing surgical tray redundancy and, if applied to other surgical specialties, may result in savings to Canadian health care systems.

Age-dependent values of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide are superior to a single cut-point for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in primary care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hildebrandt, Per; Collinson, Paul O; Doughty, Robert N

2010-01-01

The study evaluated the use of age-related decision limits for N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in symptomatic patients in primary care, compared with the present standards.......The study evaluated the use of age-related decision limits for N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), for ruling out suspected systolic dysfunction in symptomatic patients in primary care, compared with the present standards....

Atrial natriuretic-like peptide and its prohormone within metasequoia.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Q; Gower, W R; Li, C; Chen, P; Vesely, D L

1999-07-01

Metasequoia glyptostroboides was one of the dominant conifers in North America, Asia, and Europe for more than 100 million years since the late Cretaceous Albian Age, but Quaternary glaciations drove the Metasequoia population to apparent extinction. A small pocket of Metasequoia, however, was found in central China in the 1940s representing the only surviving population of this "living fossil" species. Atrial natriuretic peptide, a 28-amino-acid peptide hormone that causes sodium and water excretion in animals, has been found to be part of the first peptide hormonal system in lower plants. The existence of this hormonal system has never been examined within trees of any genus. High-performance gel permeation chromatography of the leaves and stems (i.e., branches) of Metasequoia followed by atrial natriuretic peptide radioimmunoassay revealed an ANP-like peptide and its prohormone (i.e., approximately 13,000 mol wt) were present in both leaves and stems of this conifer. The elution profile of ANP-like peptide in stems of Metasequoia had a shoulder to the left of where pure synthetic ANP elutes suggesting the possibility of a slightly larger peptide eluting within this shoulder secondary to alternate processing of the ANP-like prohormone and similar to what occurs with the kidney of animals. The elution profile of ANP-like peptide in the leaves of Metasequoia revealed two peaks; one where ANP elutes and a second peak suggesting a smaller peptide that has been metabolically processed. The presence of the ANP-like prohormone strongly suggests that ANP-like gene expression is occurring in both leaves and stems of Metasequoia since this prohormone is the gene product of this hormonal system. The presence of the ANP-like hormonal system in trees implies that this hormonal system may have been present early in land plant evolution to allow trees to reach heights of greater than 30 feet where a water flow-enhancing substance is absolutely necessary for water flow to occur

Brain natriuretic peptide is not predictive of dilated cardiomyopathy in Becker and Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and carriers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schade van Westrum, Steven; Dekker, Lukas; de Haan, Rob; Endert, Erik; Ginjaar, Ieke; de Visser, Marianne; van der Kooi, Anneke

2013-01-01

Cardiomyopathy is reported in Duchenne and Becker muscle dystrophy patients and female carriers. Brain Natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a hormone produced mainly by ventricular cardiomyocytes and its production is up regulated in reaction to increased wall stretching. N-terminal-proBNP (NT-proBNP) has

Pauci ex tanto numero: reduce redundancy in multi-model ensembles

Science.gov (United States)

Solazzo, E.; Riccio, A.; Kioutsioukis, I.; Galmarini, S.

2013-08-01

We explicitly address the fundamental issue of member diversity in multi-model ensembles. To date, no attempts in this direction have been documented within the air quality (AQ) community despite the extensive use of ensembles in this field. Common biases and redundancy are the two issues directly deriving from lack of independence, undermining the significance of a multi-model ensemble, and are the subject of this study. Shared, dependant biases among models do not cancel out but will instead determine a biased ensemble. Redundancy derives from having too large a portion of common variance among the members of the ensemble, producing overconfidence in the predictions and underestimation of the uncertainty. The two issues of common biases and redundancy are analysed in detail using the AQMEII ensemble of AQ model results for four air pollutants in two European regions. We show that models share large portions of bias and variance, extending well beyond those induced by common inputs. We make use of several techniques to further show that subsets of models can explain the same amount of variance as the full ensemble with the advantage of being poorly correlated. Selecting the members for generating skilful, non-redundant ensembles from such subsets proved, however, non-trivial. We propose and discuss various methods of member selection and rate the ensemble performance they produce. In most cases, the full ensemble is outscored by the reduced ones. We conclude that, although independence of outputs may not always guarantee enhancement of scores (but this depends upon the skill being investigated), we discourage selecting the members of the ensemble simply on the basis of scores; that is, independence and skills need to be considered disjointly.

The Identity of Information: How Deterministic Dependencies Constrain Information Synergy and Redundancy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Chicharro

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Understanding how different information sources together transmit information is crucial in many domains. For example, understanding the neural code requires characterizing how different neurons contribute unique, redundant, or synergistic pieces of information about sensory or behavioral variables. Williams and Beer (2010 proposed a partial information decomposition (PID that separates the mutual information that a set of sources contains about a set of targets into nonnegative terms interpretable as these pieces. Quantifying redundancy requires assigning an identity to different information pieces, to assess when information is common across sources. Harder et al. (2013 proposed an identity axiom that imposes necessary conditions to quantify qualitatively common information. However, Bertschinger et al. (2012 showed that, in a counterexample with deterministic target-source dependencies, the identity axiom is incompatible with ensuring PID nonnegativity. Here, we study systematically the consequences of information identity criteria that assign identity based on associations between target and source variables resulting from deterministic dependencies. We show how these criteria are related to the identity axiom and to previously proposed redundancy measures, and we characterize how they lead to negative PID terms. This constitutes a further step to more explicitly address the role of information identity in the quantification of redundancy. The implications for studying neural coding are discussed.

Reliability Equivalence to Symmetrical UHVDC Transmission Systems Considering Redundant Structure Configuration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xing Jiang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC transmission system has been developed rapidly for its significant long-distance, high-capacity and low-loss properties. Equipment failures and overall outages of the UHVDC system have increasingly vital influence on the power supply of the receiving end grid. To improve the reliability level of UHVDC systems, a quantitative selection and configuration approach of redundant structures is proposed in this paper, which is based on multi-state reliability equivalence. Specifically, considering the symmetry characteristic of an UHVDC system, a state space model is established as a monopole rather than a bipole, which effectively reduces the state space dimensions to be considered by deducing the reliability merging operator of two poles. Considering the standby effect of AC filters and the recovery effect of converter units, the number of available converter units and corresponding probability are expressed with in universal generating function (UGF form. Then, a sensitivity analysis is performed to quantify the impact of component reliability parameters on system reliability and determine the most specific devices that should be configured in the redundant structure. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis is utilized to help determine the optimal scheme of redundant devices. Case studies are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method. Based on the numerical results, configuring a set of redundant transformers is indicated to be of the greatest significance to improve the reliability level of UHVDC transmission systems.

Redundancy Determination of HVDC MMC Modules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chanki Kim

2015-08-01

Full Text Available An availability and a reliability prediction has been made for a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC module of VSC (Voltage Source Converter containing DC/DC converter, gate driver, capacitor and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT. This prediction was made using published failure rates for the electronic equipment. The purpose of this prediction is to determinate the additional module redundancy of VSC and the used method is “binomial failure method”.

Reliability model for common mode failures in redundant safety systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, K.N.

1974-12-01

A method is presented for computing the reliability of redundant safety systems, considering both independent and common mode type failures. The model developed for the computation is a simple extension of classical reliability theory. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated with the use of an example. The probability of failure of a typical diesel-generator emergency power system is computed based on data obtained from U. S. diesel-generator operating experience. The results are compared with reliability predictions based on the assumption that all failures are independent. The comparison shows a significant increase in the probability of redundant system failure, when common failure modes are considered. (U.S.)

Redundant information from thermal illumination: quantum Darwinism in scattered photons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jess Riedel, C; Zurek, Wojciech H, E-mail: criedel@physics.ucsb.edu [Theory Division, LANL, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)

2011-07-15

We study quantum Darwinism, the redundant recording of information about the preferred states of a decohering system by its environment, for an object illuminated by a blackbody. We calculate the quantum mutual information between the object and its photon environment for blackbodies that cover an arbitrary section of the sky. In particular, we demonstrate that more extended sources have a reduced ability to create redundant information about the system, in agreement with previous evidence that initial mixedness of an environment slows-but does not stop-the production of records. We also show that the qualitative results are robust for more general initial states of the system.

Redundant information from thermal illumination: quantum Darwinism in scattered photons

Science.gov (United States)

Jess Riedel, C.; Zurek, Wojciech H.

2011-07-01

We study quantum Darwinism, the redundant recording of information about the preferred states of a decohering system by its environment, for an object illuminated by a blackbody. We calculate the quantum mutual information between the object and its photon environment for blackbodies that cover an arbitrary section of the sky. In particular, we demonstrate that more extended sources have a reduced ability to create redundant information about the system, in agreement with previous evidence that initial mixedness of an environment slows—but does not stop—the production of records. We also show that the qualitative results are robust for more general initial states of the system.

Relation of N-Terminal Pro B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels After Symptom-Limited Exercise to Baseline and Ischemia Levels

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Zee, P. Marc; Verberne, Hein J.; van Spijker, Rianne C.; van Straalen, Jan P.; Fischer, Johan C.; Sturk, Augueste; van Eck-Smit, Berthe L. F.; de Winter, Robbert J.

2009-01-01

Circulating levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and the amino-terminal portion of the prohormone (NT-proBNP) have been reported to increase immediately after myocardial ischemia. The association between extent of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia measured using myocardial perfusion

Mediated Instruction and Redundancy Remediation in Sciences in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The data were analyzed using t-test statistics. Data analysis revealed that use of mediated instruction significantly removed redundancy for science students also the use of mediated instruction influenced academic achievement of science students in secondary schools. Some of the recommendations include that science ...

Cardiac effects of 3 months treatment of acromegaly evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging and B-type natriuretic peptides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreassen, Mikkel; Faber, Jens; Kjær, Andreas

2010-01-01

Long-term treatment of acromegaly prevents aggravation and reverses associated heart disease. A previous study has shown a temporary increase in serum levels of the N-terminal fraction of pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) suggesting an initial decline in cardiac function when treatment...... of acromegaly is initiated. This was a three months prospective study investigating short-term cardiac effects of treatment in acromegalic patients. Cardiac function was evaluated by the gold standard method cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) and circulating levels of B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP......) (95% CI 3-14), P = 0.007) and an increase in levels of BNP (median (ranges) 7 (0.58-286) vs. 20 (1-489) pg/mL, P = 0.033) and of NT-proBNP (63 (20-1004) vs. 80 (20-3391) pg/mL, P = 0.027). Assessed by the highly sensitive and precise CMRI method, 3 months treatment of acromegaly resulted...

Study on plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide, angiotensin and aldosterone in patients with congestive heart failure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng Yu; Hong Liquan; Chen Zhaojun

2009-01-01

Objective: To investigate the relationship between brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), angiotensin (AT-II), and aldosterone (ALD) levels in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Methods: Plasma levels of BNP (with CLIA) and Angiotensin II (AT-II), aldosterone (ALD) (with RIA) were measured in 98 patients with CHF, 76 cardiac patients without heart faclure, and 86 controls. Results: The plasma levels of BNP, AT-II and ALD in patients (with RIA) CHF were significantly higher than those in the controls. The levels of BNP, AT-II and ALD, CHF patients after therapy were markedly dropped and were significantly lower than those patients before therapy (P<0.01). BNP levels were positively correlated with AT-II and ALD in levels CHF (P<0.05). Conclusion: The over activity of RAA systems may be one of the mechanisms of heart failure. Dynamic observation of changes of BNP, AT-II and ALD may be very useful in assessment of severity and prognosis of patients with CHF. (authors)

Comparison of copeptin, B-type natriuretic peptide, and amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide in patients with chronic heart failure: prediction of death at different stages of the disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhold, Stephanie; Huelsmann, Martin; Strunk, Guido; Stoiser, Brigitte; Struck, Joachim; Morgenthaler, Nils G; Bergmann, Andreas; Moertl, Deddo; Berger, Rudolf; Pacher, Richard

2008-07-22

This study sought to evaluate the predictive value of copeptin over the entire spectrum of heart failure (HF) and compare it to the current benchmark markers, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Vasopressin has been shown to increase with the severity of chronic HF. Copeptin is a fragment of pre-pro-vasopressin that is synthesized and secreted in equimolar amounts to vasopressin. Both hormones have a short lifetime in vivo, similar to BNPs, but in contrast to vasopressin, copeptin is very stable in vitro. The predictive value of copeptin has been shown in advanced HF, where it was superior to BNP for predicting 24-month mortality. This was a long-term observational study in 786 HF patients from the whole spectrum of heart failure (New York Heart Association [NYHA] functional class I to IV, BNP 688 +/- 948 pg/ml [range 3 to 8,536 pg/ml], left ventricular ejection fraction 25 +/- 10% [range 5% to 65%]). The NYHA functional class was the most potent single predictor of 24-month outcome in a stepwise Cox regression model. The BNP, copeptin, and glomerular filtration rate were related to NYHA functional class (p linked to excess mortality, and this link is maintained irrespective of the clinical signs of severity of the disease. Copeptin was superior to BNP or NT-proBNP in this study, but the markers seem to be closely related.

Industrial plant electrical systems: Simplicity, reliability, cost savings, redundancies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silvestri, A.; Tommazzolli, F.; Pavia Univ.

1992-01-01

This article represents a compact but complete design and construction manual for industrial plant electrical systems. It is to be used by design engineers having prior knowledge of local power supply routes and voltages and regards principally the optimum choice of internal distribution systems which can be radial or single, double ringed or with various network configurations, and with single or multiple supplies, and many or few redundancies. After giving guidelines on the choosing of these options, the manual deals with problematics relevant to suitable cable sizing. A cost benefit benefit analysis method is suggested for the choice of the number of redundancies. Recommendations are given for the choice of transformers, motorized equipment, switch boards and circuit breakers. Reference is made to Italian electrical safety and building codes

Coded aperture imaging with uniformly redundant arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fenimore, E.E.; Cannon, T.M.

1980-01-01

A system is described which uses uniformly redundant arrays to image non-focusable radiation. The array is used in conjunction with a balanced correlation technique to provide a system with no artifacts so that virtually limitless signal-to-noise ratio is obtained with high transmission characteristics. The array is mosaicked to reduce required detector size over conventional array detectors. 15 claims

ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide presence in the heart of a tunicate, Ciona intestinalis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aldo Gerbino

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Atrial natriuretic peptide was found in the heart of vertebrates, we studied the ANP presence in the heart of Ciona intestinalis. This is animal is very important because of the its evolutionary position between invertebrates and vertebrates. ANP presence was only revealed in myoepithelial cells of the myocardium. Results suggest the hypothesis that ANP is present not only in the vertebrates but also in the invertebrates and in Ciona heart ANP might play a similar role like in the heart of vertebrates.

Reliability analysis of component-level redundant topologies for solid-state fault current limiter

Science.gov (United States)

Farhadi, Masoud; Abapour, Mehdi; Mohammadi-Ivatloo, Behnam

2018-04-01

Experience shows that semiconductor switches in power electronics systems are the most vulnerable components. One of the most common ways to solve this reliability challenge is component-level redundant design. There are four possible configurations for the redundant design in component level. This article presents a comparative reliability analysis between different component-level redundant designs for solid-state fault current limiter. The aim of the proposed analysis is to determine the more reliable component-level redundant configuration. The mean time to failure (MTTF) is used as the reliability parameter. Considering both fault types (open circuit and short circuit), the MTTFs of different configurations are calculated. It is demonstrated that more reliable configuration depends on the junction temperature of the semiconductor switches in the steady state. That junction temperature is a function of (i) ambient temperature, (ii) power loss of the semiconductor switch and (iii) thermal resistance of heat sink. Also, results' sensitivity to each parameter is investigated. The results show that in different conditions, various configurations have higher reliability. The experimental results are presented to clarify the theory and feasibility of the proposed approaches. At last, levelised costs of different configurations are analysed for a fair comparison.

On modeling human reliability in space flights - Redundancy and recovery operations

Science.gov (United States)

Aarset, M.; Wright, J. F.

The reliability of humans is of paramount importance to the safety of space flight systems. This paper describes why 'back-up' operators might not be the best solution, and in some cases, might even degrade system reliability. The problem associated with human redundancy calls for special treatment in reliability analyses. The concept of Standby Redundancy is adopted, and psychological and mathematical models are introduced to improve the way such problems can be estimated and handled. In the past, human reliability has practically been neglected in most reliability analyses, and, when included, the humans have been modeled as a component and treated numerically the way technical components are. This approach is not wrong in itself, but it may lead to systematic errors if too simple analogies from the technical domain are used in the modeling of human behavior. In this paper redundancy in a man-machine system will be addressed. It will be shown how simplification from the technical domain, when applied to human components of a system, may give non-conservative estimates of system reliability.

Heart murmur and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide as predictors of death in 2977 consecutive hospitalized patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Kasper; Nielsen, O.W.; Kirk, V.

2008-01-01

were studied. Auscultation, echocardiography were performed and levels of natriuretic peptides were measured. Results: A total of 21.8% of the 2977 patients had a murmur. After adjusting for sex and age there was a significant difference in the one-year mortality of patients with and without murmur (OR...

Pauci ex tanto numero: reducing redundancy in multi-model ensembles

Science.gov (United States)

Solazzo, E.; Riccio, A.; Kioutsioukis, I.; Galmarini, S.

2013-02-01

We explicitly address the fundamental issue of member diversity in multi-model ensembles. To date no attempts in this direction are documented within the air quality (AQ) community, although the extensive use of ensembles in this field. Common biases and redundancy are the two issues directly deriving from lack of independence, undermining the significance of a multi-model ensemble, and are the subject of this study. Shared biases among models will determine a biased ensemble, making therefore essential the errors of the ensemble members to be independent so that bias can cancel out. Redundancy derives from having too large a portion of common variance among the members of the ensemble, producing overconfidence in the predictions and underestimation of the uncertainty. The two issues of common biases and redundancy are analysed in detail using the AQMEII ensemble of AQ model results for four air pollutants in two European regions. We show that models share large portions of bias and variance, extending well beyond those induced by common inputs. We make use of several techniques to further show that subsets of models can explain the same amount of variance as the full ensemble with the advantage of being poorly correlated. Selecting the members for generating skilful, non-redundant ensembles from such subsets proved, however, non-trivial. We propose and discuss various methods of member selection and rate the ensemble performance they produce. In most cases, the full ensemble is outscored by the reduced ones. We conclude that, although independence of outputs may not always guarantee enhancement of scores (but this depends upon the skill being investigated) we discourage selecting the members of the ensemble simply on the basis of scores, that is, independence and skills need to be considered disjointly.

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Reactivity to Mental Stress and Exercise: Role of Obesity and Hemodynamics

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-25

Clinically, BNP is important in diagnosis/ differential diagnosis in individuals with suspected HF, with a decision cut-point of 100 pg/ml now accepted as...the context of obesity-related disparity in BNP levels or action. Based on the differential hemodynamic reactivity patterns associated with...Arch Intern Med. 2004, 164:2247- 2252. 124 141. Mehra MR, Uber PA, Park MH, et al.: Obesity and suppressed B-type natriuretic peptide levels in

Evaluation of software based redundancy algorithms for the EOS storage system at CERN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peters, Andreas-Joachim; Sindrilaru, Elvin Alin; Zigann, Philipp

2012-01-01

EOS is a new disk based storage system used in production at CERN since autumn 2011. It is implemented using the plug-in architecture of the XRootD software framework and allows remote file access via XRootD protocol or POSIX-like file access via FUSE mounting. EOS was designed to fulfill specific requirements of disk storage scalability and IO scheduling performance for LHC analysis use cases. This is achieved by following a strategy of decoupling disk and tape storage as individual storage systems. A key point of the EOS design is to provide high availability and redundancy of files via a software implementation which uses disk-only storage systems without hardware RAID arrays. All this is aimed at reducing the overall cost of the system and also simplifying the operational procedures. This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of redundancy by hardware (most classical storage installations) in comparison to redundancy by software. The latter is implemented in the EOS system and achieves its goal by spawning data and parity stripes via remote file access over nodes. The gain in redundancy and reliability comes with a trade-off in the following areas: • Increased complexity of the network connectivity • CPU intensive parity computations during file creation and recovery • Performance loss through remote disk coupling An evaluation and performance figures of several redundancy algorithms are presented for dual parity RAID and Reed-Solomon codecs. Moreover, the characteristics and applicability of these algorithms are discussed in the context of reliable data storage systems.

Processing bimodal stimulus information under alcohol: is there a risk to being redundant?

Science.gov (United States)

Fillmore, Mark T

2010-10-01

The impairing effects of alcohol are especially pronounced in environments that involve dividing attention across two or more stimuli. However, studies in cognitive psychology have identified circumstances in which the presentation of multiple stimuli can actually facilitate performance. The "redundant signal effect" (RSE) refers to the observation that individuals respond more quickly when information is presented as redundant, bimodal stimuli (e.g., aurally and visually), rather than as a single stimulus presented to either modality alone. The present study tested the hypothesis that the response facilitation attributed to RSE could reduce the degree to which alcohol slows information processing. Two experiments are reported. Experiment 1 demonstrated the validity of a reaction time model of RSE by showing that adults (N = 15) responded more quickly to redundant, bimodal stimuli (visual + aural) versus either stimuli presented individually. Experiment 2 used the RSE model to test the reaction time performance of 20 adults following three alcohol doses (0.0 g/kg, 0.45 g/kg, and 0.65 g/kg). Results showed that alcohol slowed reaction time in a general dose-dependent manner in all three stimulus conditions with the reaction time (RT) speed-advantage of the redundant signal being maintained, even under the highest dose of alcohol. Evidence for an RT advantage to bimodal stimuli under alcohol challenges the general assumption that alcohol impairment is intensified in multistimulus environments. The current study provides a useful model to investigate how drug effects on behavior might be altered in contexts that involve redundant response signals.

Role of Na+/K+-ATPase in Natriuretic Effect of Prolactin in a Model of Cholestasis of Pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Abramicheva, P A; Balakina, T A; Bulaeva, O A; Guseva, A A; Lopina, O D; Smirnova, O V

2017-05-01

Participation of Na+/K+-ATPase in the natriuretic effect of prolactin in a cholestasis of pregnancy model was investigated. The Na+/K+-ATPase activity in rat kidney medulla, where active sodium reabsorption occurs, decreased in the model of cholestasis of pregnancy and other hyperprolactinemia types compared with intact animals. This effect was not connected with the protein level of α1- and β-subunits of Na+/K+-ATPase measured by Western blotting in the kidney medulla. Decrease in Na+/K+-ATPase activity in the kidney cortex was not significant, as well as decrease in the quantity of mRNA and proteins of the α1- and β-subunits of Na+/K+-ATPase. There were no correlations between the Na+/K+-ATPase activity and sodium clearance, although sodium clearance increased significantly in the model of cholestasis of pregnancy and other hyperprolactinemia groups under conditions of stable glomerular filtration rate measured by creatinine clearance. We conclude that the Na+/K+-ATPase is not the only mediator of the natriuretic effect of prolactin in the model of cholestasis of pregnancy.

Network Gateway Technology: The Issue of Redundancy towards ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Everyone connected to the Internet is concerned about two basic things: the availability of network services and the speed of the network. Network gateway redundancy technology falls within these categories and happens to be one of the newest technologies which only few companies, such as mobile companies and ...

Retraction: Redundant Publication of the article Dental caries and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Retraction: Redundant Publication of the article Dental caries and oral health practices among 12 year old children in Nairobi West and Mathira West Districts, Kenya. Gladwell Gathecha et al. The Pan African Medical Journal. 2012;12:42.

Diabetes classification using a redundancy reduction preprocessor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Áurea Celeste Ribeiro

Full Text Available Introduction Diabetes patients can benefit significantly from early diagnosis. Thus, accurate automated screening is becoming increasingly important due to the wide spread of that disease. Previous studies in automated screening have found a maximum accuracy of 92.6%. Methods This work proposes a classification methodology based on efficient coding of the input data, which is carried out by decreasing input data redundancy using well-known ICA algorithms, such as FastICA, JADE and INFOMAX. The classifier used in the task to discriminate diabetics from non-diaibetics is the one class support vector machine. Classification tests were performed using noninvasive and invasive indicators. Results The results suggest that redundancy reduction increases one-class support vector machine performance when discriminating between diabetics and nondiabetics up to an accuracy of 98.47% while using all indicators. By using only noninvasive indicators, an accuracy of 98.28% was obtained. Conclusion The ICA feature extraction improves the performance of the classifier in the data set because it reduces the statistical dependence of the collected data, which increases the ability of the classifier to find accurate class boundaries.

Fault-Tolerant Region-Based Control of an Underwater Vehicle with Kinematically Redundant Thrusters

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Zool H. Ismail

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new control approach for an underwater vehicle with a kinematically redundant thruster system. This control scheme is derived based on a fault-tolerant decomposition for thruster force allocation and a region control scheme for the tracking objective. Given a redundant thruster system, that is, six or more pairs of thrusters are used, the proposed redundancy resolution and region control scheme determine the number of thruster faults, as well as providing the reference thruster forces in order to keep the underwater vehicle within the desired region. The stability of the presented control law is proven in the sense of a Lyapunov function. Numerical simulations are performed with an omnidirectional underwater vehicle and the results of the proposed scheme illustrate the effectiveness in terms of optimizing the thruster forces.

Atrial natriuretic peptide in patients with heart failure and chronic atrial fibrillation : Role of duration of at atrial fibrillation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Den Berg, MP; Crijns, HJGM; Van Veldhuisen, DJ; Van Gelder, IC; De Kam, PJ; Lie, KI

The purpose of this study was to analyze the determinants of atrial natriuretic peptide level in patients with congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation. In particular, the duration of atrial fibrillation was analyzed because atrial fibrillation per se might have a specific effect on atrial

Structural Equation Models in a Redundancy Analysis Framework With Covariates.

Science.gov (United States)

Lovaglio, Pietro Giorgio; Vittadini, Giorgio

2014-01-01

A recent method to specify and fit structural equation modeling in the Redundancy Analysis framework based on so-called Extended Redundancy Analysis (ERA) has been proposed in the literature. In this approach, the relationships between the observed exogenous variables and the observed endogenous variables are moderated by the presence of unobservable composites, estimated as linear combinations of exogenous variables. However, in the presence of direct effects linking exogenous and endogenous variables, or concomitant indicators, the composite scores are estimated by ignoring the presence of the specified direct effects. To fit structural equation models, we propose a new specification and estimation method, called Generalized Redundancy Analysis (GRA), allowing us to specify and fit a variety of relationships among composites, endogenous variables, and external covariates. The proposed methodology extends the ERA method, using a more suitable specification and estimation algorithm, by allowing for covariates that affect endogenous indicators indirectly through the composites and/or directly. To illustrate the advantages of GRA over ERA we propose a simulation study of small samples. Moreover, we propose an application aimed at estimating the impact of formal human capital on the initial earnings of graduates of an Italian university, utilizing a structural model consistent with well-established economic theory.

Synergetic and Redundant Information Flow Detected by Unnormalized Granger Causality: Application to Resting State fMRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Stramaglia, Sebastiano; Angelini, Leonardo; Wu, Guorong; Cortes, Jesus M; Faes, Luca; Marinazzo, Daniele

2016-12-01

We develop a framework for the analysis of synergy and redundancy in the pattern of information flow between subsystems of a complex network. The presence of redundancy and/or synergy in multivariate time series data renders difficulty to estimate the neat flow of information from each driver variable to a given target. We show that adopting an unnormalized definition of Granger causality, one may put in evidence redundant multiplets of variables influencing the target by maximizing the total Granger causality to a given target, over all the possible partitions of the set of driving variables. Consequently, we introduce a pairwise index of synergy which is zero when two independent sources additively influence the future state of the system, differently from previous definitions of synergy. We report the application of the proposed approach to resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Human Connectome Project showing that redundant pairs of regions arise mainly due to space contiguity and interhemispheric symmetry, while synergy occurs mainly between nonhomologous pairs of regions in opposite hemispheres. Redundancy and synergy, in healthy resting brains, display characteristic patterns, revealed by the proposed approach. The pairwise synergy index, here introduced, maps the informational character of the system at hand into a weighted complex network: the same approach can be applied to other complex systems whose normal state corresponds to a balance between redundant and synergetic circuits.

Global Energy-Optimal Redundancy Resolution of Hydraulic Manipulators: Experimental Results for a Forestry Manipulator

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Jarmo Nurmi

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the energy-inefficiency problem of four-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF hydraulic manipulators through redundancy resolution in robotic closed-loop controlled applications. Because conventional methods typically are local and have poor performance for resolving redundancy with respect to minimum hydraulic energy consumption, global energy-optimal redundancy resolution is proposed at the valve-controlled actuator and hydraulic power system interaction level. The energy consumption of the widely popular valve-controlled load-sensing (LS and constant-pressure (CP systems is effectively minimised through cost functions formulated in a discrete-time dynamic programming (DP approach with minimum state representation. A prescribed end-effector path and important actuator constraints at the position, velocity and acceleration levels are also satisfied in the solution. Extensive field experiments performed on a forestry hydraulic manipulator demonstrate the performance of the proposed solution. Approximately 15–30% greater hydraulic energy consumption was observed with the conventional methods in the LS and CP systems. These results encourage energy-optimal redundancy resolution in future robotic applications of hydraulic manipulators.

Network Gateway Technology: The Issue of Redundancy towards ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Internet has provided advancement in the areas of network and networking facilities. Everyone connected to the Internet is concerned about two basic things: the availability of network services and the speed of the network. Network gateway redundancy technology falls within these categories and happens to be one of ...

Plant natriuretic peptides: Systemic regulators of plant homeostasis and defense that can affect cardiomyoblasts

KAUST Repository

Gehring, Christoph A.

2010-09-01

Immunologic evidence has suggested the presence of biologically active natriuretic peptide (NPs) hormones in plants because antiatrial NP antibodies affinity purify biologically active plant NPs (PNP). In the model plant, an Arabidopsis thaliana PNP (AtPNP-A) has been identified and characterized. AtPNP-A belongs to a novel class of molecules that share some similarity with the cell wall loosening expansins but do not contain the carbohydrate-binding wall anchor thus suggesting that PNPs and atrial natriuretic peptides are heterologs. AtPNP-A acts systemically, and this is consistent with its localization in the apoplastic extracellular space and the conductive tissue. Furthermore, AtPNP-A signals via the second messenger cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate and modulates ion and water transport and homeostasis. It also plays a critical role in host defense against pathogens. AtPNP-A can be classified as novel paracrine plant hormone because it is secreted into the apoplastic space in response to stress and can enhance its own expression. Interestingly, purified recombinant PNP induces apo-ptosis in a dose-dependent manner and was most effective on cardiac myoblast cell lines. Because PNP is mimicking the effect of ANP in some instances, PNP may prove to provide useful leads for development of novel therapeutic NPs. Copyright © 2013 by The American Federation for Medical Research.

Plant natriuretic peptides: Systemic regulators of plant homeostasis and defense that can affect cardiomyoblasts

KAUST Repository

Gehring, Christoph A; Irving, Helen R.

2010-01-01

Immunologic evidence has suggested the presence of biologically active natriuretic peptide (NPs) hormones in plants because antiatrial NP antibodies affinity purify biologically active plant NPs (PNP). In the model plant, an Arabidopsis thaliana PNP (AtPNP-A) has been identified and characterized. AtPNP-A belongs to a novel class of molecules that share some similarity with the cell wall loosening expansins but do not contain the carbohydrate-binding wall anchor thus suggesting that PNPs and atrial natriuretic peptides are heterologs. AtPNP-A acts systemically, and this is consistent with its localization in the apoplastic extracellular space and the conductive tissue. Furthermore, AtPNP-A signals via the second messenger cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate and modulates ion and water transport and homeostasis. It also plays a critical role in host defense against pathogens. AtPNP-A can be classified as novel paracrine plant hormone because it is secreted into the apoplastic space in response to stress and can enhance its own expression. Interestingly, purified recombinant PNP induces apo-ptosis in a dose-dependent manner and was most effective on cardiac myoblast cell lines. Because PNP is mimicking the effect of ANP in some instances, PNP may prove to provide useful leads for development of novel therapeutic NPs. Copyright © 2013 by The American Federation for Medical Research.

The Effect of Antenna Position Errors on Redundant-Baseline Calibration of HERA

Science.gov (United States)

Orosz, Naomi; Dillon, Joshua; Ewall-Wice, Aaron; Parsons, Aaron; HERA Collaboration

2018-01-01

HERA (the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array) is a large, highly-redundant radio interferometer in South Africa currently being built out to 350 14-m dishes. Its mission is to probe large scale structure during and prior to the epoch of reionization using the 21 cm hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen. The array is designed to be calibrated using redundant baselines of known lengths. However, the dishes can deviate from ideal positions, with errors on the order of a few centimeters. This potentially increases foreground contamination of the 21 cm power spectrum in the cleanest part of Fourier space. The calibration algorithm treats groups of baselines that should be redundant, but are not due to position errors, as if they actually are. Accurate, precise calibration is critical because the foreground signals are 100,000 times stronger than the reionization signal. We explain the origin of this effect and discuss weighting strategies to mitigate it.

Polarized Redundant-Baseline Calibration for 21 cm Cosmology Without Adding Spectral Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Dillon, Joshua S.; Kohn, Saul A.; Parsons, Aaron R.; Aguirre, James E.; Ali, Zaki S.; Bernardi, Gianni; Kern, Nicholas S.; Li, Wenyang; Liu, Adrian; Nunhokee, Chuneeta D.; Pober, Jonathan C.

2018-04-01

21 cm cosmology is a promising new probe of the evolution of visible matter in our universe, especially during the poorly-constrained Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. However, in order to separate the 21 cm signal from bright astrophysical foregrounds, we need an exquisite understanding of our telescopes so as to avoid adding spectral structure to spectrally-smooth foregrounds. One powerful calibration method relies on repeated simultaneous measurements of the same interferometric baseline to solve for the sky signal and for instrumental parameters simultaneously. However, certain degrees of freedom are not constrained by asserting internal consistency between redundant measurements. In this paper, we review the origin of these degeneracies of redundant-baseline calibration and demonstrate how they can source unwanted spectral structure in our measurement and show how to eliminate that additional, artificial structure. We also generalize redundant calibration to dual-polarization instruments, derive the degeneracy structure, and explore the unique challenges to calibration and preserving spectral smoothness presented by a polarized measurement.

Analytical Redundancy Design for Aeroengine Sensor Fault Diagnostics Based on SROS-ELM

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Jun Zhou

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Analytical redundancy technique is of great importance to guarantee the reliability and safety of aircraft engine system. In this paper, a machine learning based aeroengine sensor analytical redundancy technique is developed and verified through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL simulation. The modified online sequential extreme learning machine, selective updating regularized online sequential extreme learning machine (SROS-ELM, is employed to train the model online and estimate sensor measurements. It selectively updates the output weights of neural networks according to the prediction accuracy and the norm of output weight vector, tackles the problems of singularity and ill-posedness by regularization, and adopts a dual activation function in the hidden nodes combing neural and wavelet theory to enhance prediction capability. The experimental results verify the good generalization performance of SROS-ELM and show that the developed analytical redundancy technique for aeroengine sensor fault diagnosis based on SROS-ELM is effective and feasible.

Synchronization and fault-masking in redundant real-time systems

Science.gov (United States)

Krishna, C. M.; Shin, K. G.; Butler, R. W.

1983-01-01

A real time computer may fail because of massive component failures or not responding quickly enough to satisfy real time requirements. An increase in redundancy - a conventional means of improving reliability - can improve the former but can - in some cases - degrade the latter considerably due to the overhead associated with redundancy management, namely the time delay resulting from synchronization and voting/interactive consistency techniques. The implications of synchronization and voting/interactive consistency algorithms in N-modular clusters on reliability are considered. All these studies were carried out in the context of real time applications. As a demonstrative example, we have analyzed results from experiments conducted at the NASA Airlab on the Software Implemented Fault Tolerance (SIFT) computer. This analysis has indeed indicated that in most real time applications, it is better to employ hardware synchronization instead of software synchronization and not allow reconfiguration.

Introducing "biophysical redundancy": the global status and past evolution of unused water, land and productivity resources for food production

Science.gov (United States)

Fader, Marianela

2017-04-01

Countries have different resilience to sudden and long-term changes in food demand and supply. An important part of this resilience is the degree of biophysical redundancy, defined as the potential food production of 'spare land', available water resources (i.e., not already used for human activities), as well as production increases through yield gap closure on cultivated areas and potential agricultural areas. The presentation will show the results of a recently published paper1 on the evolution of biophysical redundancy for agricultural production at country level, from 1992 to 2012. Results indicate that in 2012, the biophysical redundancy of 75 (48) countries, mainly in North Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia, was insufficient to produce the caloric nutritional needs for at least 50% (25%) of their population during a year. Biophysical redundancy has decreased in the last two decades in 102 out of 155 countries, 11 of these went from high to limited redundancy, and nine of these from limited to very low redundancy. Although the variability of the drivers of change across different countries is high, improvements in yield and population growth have a clear impact on the decreases of redundancy towards the very low redundancy category. We took a more detailed look at countries classified as 'Low Income Economies (LIEs)' since they are particularly vulnerable to domestic or external food supply changes, due to their limited capacity to offset for food supply decreases with higher purchasing power on the international market. Currently, nine LIEs have limited or very low biophysical redundancy. Many of these showed a decrease in redundancy over the last two decades, which is not always linked with improvements in per capita food availability.

RSAT matrix-clustering: dynamic exploration and redundancy reduction of transcription factor binding motif collections.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro-Mondragon, Jaime Abraham; Jaeger, Sébastien; Thieffry, Denis; Thomas-Chollier, Morgane; van Helden, Jacques

2017-07-27

Transcription factor (TF) databases contain multitudes of binding motifs (TFBMs) from various sources, from which non-redundant collections are derived by manual curation. The advent of high-throughput methods stimulated the production of novel collections with increasing numbers of motifs. Meta-databases, built by merging these collections, contain redundant versions, because available tools are not suited to automatically identify and explore biologically relevant clusters among thousands of motifs. Motif discovery from genome-scale data sets (e.g. ChIP-seq) also produces redundant motifs, hampering the interpretation of results. We present matrix-clustering, a versatile tool that clusters similar TFBMs into multiple trees, and automatically creates non-redundant TFBM collections. A feature unique to matrix-clustering is its dynamic visualisation of aligned TFBMs, and its capability to simultaneously treat multiple collections from various sources. We demonstrate that matrix-clustering considerably simplifies the interpretation of combined results from multiple motif discovery tools, and highlights biologically relevant variations of similar motifs. We also ran a large-scale application to cluster ∼11 000 motifs from 24 entire databases, showing that matrix-clustering correctly groups motifs belonging to the same TF families, and drastically reduced motif redundancy. matrix-clustering is integrated within the RSAT suite (http://rsat.eu/), accessible through a user-friendly web interface or command-line for its integration in pipelines. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Homo sapiens natriuretic peptide precursor type C (NPPC) mRNA,partial cds and 3' UTR.

OpenAIRE

Landi, Stefano; Melaiu, Ombretta; Cabiati, Manuela; Landi, Debora; Caselli, Chiara; Prescimone, Tommaso; Giannessi, Daniela; Gemignani, Federica; Del Ry, Silvia

2010-01-01

LOCUS HQ419060 318 bp mRNA linear PRI 24-NOV-2010 DEFINITION Homo sapiens natriuretic peptide precursor type C (NPPC) mRNA, partial cds and 3' UTR. ACCESSION HQ419060 VERSION HQ419060.1 GI:312261407 KEYWORDS . SOURCE Homo sapiens (human) ORGANISM Homo sapiens Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi; Mammalia; Eutheria; Euarchontoglires; Primates; Haplorrhini; Catarrhini; Hominidae; Homo. REFERENCE 1 (bases 1 to 318) AUTHORS Landi,S., Melaiu,O., Cabiati,M., Landi,D., C...

Redundancy Factors for the Seismic Design of Ductile Reinforced Concrete Chevron Braced Frames

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eber Alberto Godínez-Domínguez

Full Text Available Abstract In this paper the authors summarize the results of a study devoted to assess, using nonlinear static analyses, the impact of increasing the structural redundancy in ductile moment-resisting reinforced concrete concentric braced frames structures (RC-MRCBFs. Among the studied variables were the number of stories and the number of bays. Results obtained were compared with the currently proposed values in the Manual of Civil Structures (MOC-08, a model code of Mexico. The studied frames have 4, 8, 12 and 16-story with a story height h=3.5 m. and a fixed length L=12 m., where 1, 2, 3 or 4 bays have to be located. RC-MRCBFs were assumed to be located in soft soil conditions in Mexico City and were designed using a capacity design methodology adapted to general requirements of the seismic, reinforced concrete and steel guidelines of Mexican Codes. From the results obtained in this study it is possible to conclude that a different effect is observed in overstrength redundancy factors respect to ductility redundancy factors due to an increase of the bay number considered. Also, the structural redundancy factors obtained for this particular structural system varies respect to the currently proposed in MOC-08.

Triple3 Redundant Spacecraft Subsystems (T3RSS), Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Redefine Technologies, along with researchers at the University of Colorado, will use three redundancy methods to decrease the susceptibility of a spacecraft, on a...

Temporal information partitioning: Characterizing synergy, uniqueness, and redundancy in interacting environmental variables

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwell, Allison E.; Kumar, Praveen

2017-07-01

Information theoretic measures can be used to identify nonlinear interactions between source and target variables through reductions in uncertainty. In information partitioning, multivariate mutual information is decomposed into synergistic, unique, and redundant components. Synergy is information shared only when sources influence a target together, uniqueness is information only provided by one source, and redundancy is overlapping shared information from multiple sources. While this partitioning has been applied to provide insights into complex dependencies, several proposed partitioning methods overestimate redundant information and omit a component of unique information because they do not account for source dependencies. Additionally, information partitioning has only been applied to time-series data in a limited context, using basic pdf estimation techniques or a Gaussian assumption. We develop a Rescaled Redundancy measure (Rs) to solve the source dependency issue, and present Gaussian, autoregressive, and chaotic test cases to demonstrate its advantages over existing techniques in the presence of noise, various source correlations, and different types of interactions. This study constitutes the first rigorous application of information partitioning to environmental time-series data, and addresses how noise, pdf estimation technique, or source dependencies can influence detected measures. We illustrate how our techniques can unravel the complex nature of forcing and feedback within an ecohydrologic system with an application to 1 min environmental signals of air temperature, relative humidity, and windspeed. The methods presented here are applicable to the study of a broad range of complex systems composed of interacting variables.

Analysis of transitions at two-fold redundant sites in mammalian genomes. Transition redundant approach-to-equilibrium (TREx distance metrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liberles David A

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The exchange of nucleotides at synonymous sites in a gene encoding a protein is believed to have little impact on the fitness of a host organism. This should be especially true for synonymous transitions, where a pyrimidine nucleotide is replaced by another pyrimidine, or a purine is replaced by another purine. This suggests that transition redundant exchange (TREx processes at the third position of conserved two-fold codon systems might offer the best approximation for a neutral molecular clock, serving to examine, within coding regions, theories that require neutrality, determine whether transition rate constants differ within genes in a single lineage, and correlate dates of events recorded in genomes with dates in the geological and paleontological records. To date, TREx analysis of the yeast genome has recognized correlated duplications that established a new metabolic strategies in fungi, and supported analyses of functional change in aromatases in pigs. TREx dating has limitations, however. Multiple transitions at synonymous sites may cause equilibration and loss of information. Further, to be useful to correlate events in the genomic record, different genes within a genome must suffer transitions at similar rates. Results A formalism to analyze divergence at two fold redundant codon systems is presented. This formalism exploits two-state approach-to-equilibrium kinetics from chemistry. This formalism captures, in a single equation, the possibility of multiple substitutions at individual sites, avoiding any need to "correct" for these. The formalism also connects specific rate constants for transitions to specific approximations in an underlying evolutionary model, including assumptions that transition rate constants are invariant at different sites, in different genes, in different lineages, and at different times. Therefore, the formalism supports analyses that evaluate these approximations. Transitions at synonymous

Two-stage simplified swarm optimization for the redundancy allocation problem in a multi-state bridge system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai, Chyh-Ming; Yeh, Wei-Chang

2016-01-01

The redundancy allocation problem involves configuring an optimal system structure with high reliability and low cost, either by alternating the elements with more reliable elements and/or by forming them redundantly. The multi-state bridge system is a special redundancy allocation problem and is commonly used in various engineering systems for load balancing and control. Traditional methods for redundancy allocation problem cannot solve multi-state bridge systems efficiently because it is impossible to transfer and reduce a multi-state bridge system to series and parallel combinations. Hence, a swarm-based approach called two-stage simplified swarm optimization is proposed in this work to effectively and efficiently solve the redundancy allocation problem in a multi-state bridge system. For validating the proposed method, two experiments are implemented. The computational results indicate the advantages of the proposed method in terms of solution quality and computational efficiency. - Highlights: • Propose two-stage SSO (SSO_T_S) to deal with RAP in multi-state bridge system. • Dynamic upper bound enhances the efficiency of searching near-optimal solution. • Vector-update stages reduces the problem dimensions. • Statistical results indicate SSO_T_S is robust both in solution quality and runtime.

Associations between N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and cardiac function in adults with corrected tetralogy of Fallot

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.A. Eindhoven (Jannet); M.E. Menting (Myrthe); A.E. van den Bosch (Annemien); J.A.A.E. Cuypers (Judith); T.P.E. Ruys (Titia); M. Witsenburg (Maarten); J.S. Vletter-McGhie (Jackie); H. Boersma (Eric); J.W. Roos-Hesselink (Jolien)

2014-01-01

textabstractBackground Amino-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) may detect early cardiac dysfunction in adults with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) late after corrective surgery. We aimed to determine the value of NT-proBNP in adults with ToF and establish its relationship with

Risk-based replacement strategies for redundant deteriorating reinforced concrete pipe networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adey, B.; Bernard, O.; Gerard, B.

2003-01-01

This paper gives an example of how predictive models of the deterioration of reinforced concrete pipes and the consequences of failure can be used to develop risk-based replacement strategies for redundant reinforced concrete pipe networks. It also shows how an accurate deterioration prediction can lead to a reduction of agency costs, and illustrates the limitation of the incremental intervention step algorithm. The main conclusion is that the use of predictive models, such as those developed by Oxand S.A., in the determination of replacement strategies for redundant reinforced concrete pipe networks can lead to a significant reduction in overall costs for the owner of the structure. (author)

Probability Model for Data Redundancy Detection in Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suman Kumar

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Sensor networks are made of autonomous devices that are able to collect, store, process and share data with other devices. Large sensor networks are often redundant in the sense that the measurements of some nodes can be substituted by other nodes with a certain degree of confidence. This spatial correlation results in wastage of link bandwidth and energy. In this paper, a model for two associated Poisson processes, through which sensors are distributed in a plane, is derived. A probability condition is established for data redundancy among closely located sensor nodes. The model generates a spatial bivariate Poisson process whose parameters depend on the parameters of the two individual Poisson processes and on the distance between the associated points. The proposed model helps in building efficient algorithms for data dissemination in the sensor network. A numerical example is provided investigating the advantage of this model.

N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide and Phonocardiography in Differentiating Innocent Cardiac Murmurs from Congenital Cardiac Anomalies in Asymptomatic Puppies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marinus, S M; Engelen, H.G.H.; Szatmári, V.

2017-01-01

Background: Differentiating innocent cardiac murmurs from murmurs caused by congenital cardiac anomalies can be challenging with auscultation alone in asymptomatic puppies. Hypothesis: Plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations and phonocardiograms recorded by an

Functional redundancy and sensitivity of fish assemblages in European rivers, lakes and estuarine ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Teichert, Nils; Lepage, Mario; Sagouis, Alban; Borja, Angel; Chust, Guillem; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Pasquaud, Stéphanie; Schinegger, Rafaela; Segurado, Pedro; Argillier, Christine

2017-12-14

The impact of species loss on ecosystems functioning depends on the amount of trait similarity between species, i.e. functional redundancy, but it is also influenced by the order in which species are lost. Here we investigated redundancy and sensitivity patterns across fish assemblages in lakes, rivers and estuaries. Several scenarios of species extinction were simulated to determine whether the loss of vulnerable species (with high propensity of extinction when facing threats) causes a greater functional alteration than random extinction. Our results indicate that the functional redundancy tended to increase with species richness in lakes and rivers, but not in estuaries. We demonstrated that i) in the three systems, some combinations of functional traits are supported by non-redundant species, ii) rare species in rivers and estuaries support singular functions not shared by dominant species, iii) the loss of vulnerable species can induce greater functional alteration in rivers than in lakes and estuaries. Overall, the functional structure of fish assemblages in rivers is weakly buffered against species extinction because vulnerable species support singular functions. More specifically, a hotspot of functional sensitivity was highlighted in the Iberian Peninsula, which emphasizes the usefulness of quantitative criteria to determine conservation priorities.

Mortality and preoperative cardiac function in vascular amputees : an N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) pilot study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Riemersma, Marcel; Dijkstra, Pieter U.; van Veldhuisen, Dirk Jan; Muskiet, Frits A. J.; van den Dungen, Jan A. M. M.; Geertzen, Jan H. B.

Objective: To determine preoperative ventricular function in vascular amputees by measuring N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and to analyse the relationship between NT-proBNP levels and 30-day postoperative mortality. Design: Prospective pilot study. Subjects and methods: In 19

Testing the significance of canonical axes in redundancy analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Legendre, P.; Oksanen, J.; Braak, ter C.J.F.

2011-01-01

1. Tests of significance of the individual canonical axes in redundancy analysis allow researchers to determine which of the axes represent variation that can be distinguished from random. Variation along the significant axes can be mapped, used to draw biplots or interpreted through subsequent

Stabilization Methods for the Integration of DAE in the Presence of Redundant Constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neto, Maria Augusta; Ambrosio, Jorge

2003-01-01

The use of multibody formulations based on Cartesian or natural coordinates lead to sets of differential-algebraic equations that have to be solved. The difficulty in providing compatible initial positions and velocities for a general spatial multibody model and the finite precision of such data result in initial errors that must be corrected during the forward dynamic solution of the system equations of motion.As the position and velocity constraint equations are not explicitly involved in the solution procedure, any integration error leads to the violation of these equations in the long run. Another problem that is very often impossible to avoid is the presence of redundant constraints.Even with no initial redundancy it is possible for some systems to achieve singular configurations in which kinematic constraints become temporarily redundant. In this work several procedures to stabilize the solution of the equations of motion and to handle redundant constraints are revisited. The Baumgarte stabilization, augmented Lagrangian and coordinate partitioning methods are discussed in terms of their efficiency and computational costs. The LU factorization with full pivoting of the Jacobian matrix directs the choice of the set of independent coordinates, required by the coordinate partitioning method.Even when no particular stabilization method is used, a Newton-Raphson iterative procedure is still required in the initial time step to correct the initial positions and velocities, thus requiring the selection of the independent coordinates. However, this initial selection does not guarantee that during the motion of the system other constraints do not become redundant. Two procedures based on the single value decomposition and Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization are revisited for the purpose. The advantages and drawbacks of the different procedures,used separately or in conjunction with each other and their computational costs are finally discussed

Functional over-redundancy and high functional vulnerability in global fish faunas on tropical reefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mouillot, David; Villéger, Sébastien; Parravicini, Valeriano; Kulbicki, Michel; Arias-González, Jesus Ernesto; Bender, Mariana; Chabanet, Pascale; Floeter, Sergio R; Friedlander, Alan; Vigliola, Laurent; Bellwood, David R

2014-09-23

When tropical systems lose species, they are often assumed to be buffered against declines in functional diversity by the ability of the species-rich biota to display high functional redundancy: i.e., a high number of species performing similar functions. We tested this hypothesis using a ninefold richness gradient in global fish faunas on tropical reefs encompassing 6,316 species distributed among 646 functional entities (FEs): i.e., unique combinations of functional traits. We found that the highest functional redundancy is located in the Central Indo-Pacific with a mean of 7.9 species per FE. However, this overall level of redundancy is disproportionately packed into few FEs, a pattern termed functional over-redundancy (FOR). For instance, the most speciose FE in the Central Indo-Pacific contains 222 species (out of 3,689) whereas 38% of FEs (180 out of 468) have no functional insurance with only one species. Surprisingly, the level of FOR is consistent across the six fish faunas, meaning that, whatever the richness, over a third of the species may still be in overrepresented FEs whereas more than one third of the FEs are left without insurance, these levels all being significantly higher than expected by chance. Thus, our study shows that, even in high-diversity systems, such as tropical reefs, functional diversity remains highly vulnerable to species loss. Although further investigations are needed to specifically address the influence of redundant vs. vulnerable FEs on ecosystem functioning, our results suggest that the promised benefits from tropical biodiversity may not be as strong as previously thought.

Characterization and distribution of receptors for the atrial natriuretic peptides in mammalian brain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quirion, R.; Dalpe, M.; Dam, T.V.

1986-01-01

Both rat 125 I-labeled atrial natriuretic polypeptide [ 125 I-ANP or atrial natriuretic factor fragment ANF-(99-126)] and human 125 I-α-ANP or human ANF-(99-126)] bind with high specificity and affinity to an apparent single class of sites in guinea pig brain. Similar results have been reported in peripheral tissues, which indicate that central and peripheral ANP binding sites have fairly similar structural requirements. In vitro receptor autoradiography shows that in the guinea pig brain, 125 I-ANP binding sites are highly concentrated in the external plexiform layer of the olfactory bulb, subfornical organ, various thalamic nuclei, medial geniculate nucleus, and cerebellum. Lower densities are found in the central nucleus of the amygdala, dentate gyrus, hippocampus, and area postrema. Most remaining regions contain much lower densities of sites. In rat brain 125 I-ANP binding sites are differentially distributed, with high densities in the subfornical organ, area postrema, and linings of ventricles but low densities in the thalamus and cerebellum. In monkey brain, 125 I-ANP binding sites are concentrated in the cerebellum. The presence of high densities of 125 I-ANP binding sites in various brain regions strongly suggests the existence of a family of brain-heart peptides, in analogy to the well-known brain-gut peptides. Moreover, the extensive distribution of 125 I-ANP binding sites in mammalian brain suggests that the possible roles of ANP/ANF-like peptides in brain are not restricted to the central regulation of cardiovascular parameters

Redundancy-free single-particle equation-of-motion method for nuclei. Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolnick, P.; Goswami, A.; Oregon Univ., Eugene

1986-01-01

The problem of coupling an odd nucleon to the collective states of an even core is considered in the intermediate-coupling limit. It is now well known that such intermediate-coupling calculations in spherical open-shell nuclei necessitate the inclusion of ground-state correlation or backward coupling which gives rise to an overcomplete basic set of states for the diagonalization of the hamiltonian. In a recent letter, we have derived a technique to free the single-particle equation-of-motion method of redundancy. Here we shall apply this redundancy-free equation-of-motion method to intermediate-coupling calculations in two regions of near-spherical odd-mass nuclei where forward coupling alone has not been successful. It is shown that qualitative effects of backward coupling previously reported are not spurious effects of double counting, although they are significantly modified by the removal of redundancy. We also discuss what further modifications of the theory will be needed in order to treat the dynamical interplay of collective and single-particle modes in nuclei self-consistently on the same footing. (orig.)

Detumbling control for kinematically redundant space manipulator post-grasping a rotational satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mingming; Luo, Jianjun; Yuan, Jianping; Walter, Ulrich

2017-12-01

The objective of this paper is to establish a detumbling strategy and a coordination control scheme for a kinematically redundant space manipulator post-grasping a rotational satellite. First, the dynamics of the kinematically redundant space robot after grasping the target is presented, which lays the foundation for the coordination controller design. Subsequently, optimal detumbling and motion planning strategy for the post-capture phase is proposed based on the quartic Bézier curves and adaptive differential evolution (DE) algorithm subject to the specific constraints. Both detumbling time and control torques are taken into account for the generation of the optimal detumbling strategy. Furthermore, a coordination control scheme is presented to track the designed reference path while regulating the attitude of the chaser to a desired value, which successfully dumps the initial angular velocity of the rotational satellite and controls the base attitude synchronously. Simulation results are presented for detumbling a target with rotational motion using a 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) redundant space manipulator, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Resolving kinematic redundancy with constraints using the FSP (Full Space Parameterization) approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pin, F.G.; Tulloch, F.A.

1996-01-01

A solution method is presented for the motion planning and control of kinematically redundant serial-link manipulators in the presence of motion constraints such as joint limits or obstacles. Given a trajectory for the end-effector, the approach utilizes the recently proposed Full Space Parameterization (FSP) method to generate a parameterized expression for the entire space of solutions of the unconstrained system. At each time step, a constrained optimization technique is then used to analytically find the specific joint motion solution that satisfies the desired task objective and all the constraints active during the time step. The method is applicable to systems operating in a priori known environments or in unknown environments with sensor-based obstacle detection. The derivation of the analytical solution is first presented for a general type of kinematic constraint and is then applied to the problem of motion planning for redundant manipulators with joint limits and obstacle avoidance. Sample results using planar and 3-D manipulators with various degrees of redundancy are presented to illustrate the efficiency and wide applicability of constrained motion planning using the FSP approach

Fault tolerance in protein interaction networks: stable bipartite subgraphs and redundant pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Brady, Arthur; Maxwell, Kyle; Daniels, Noah; Cowen, Lenore J

2009-01-01

As increasing amounts of high-throughput data for the yeast interactome become available, more system-wide properties are uncovered. One interesting question concerns the fault tolerance of protein interaction networks: whether there exist alternative pathways that can perform some required function if a gene essential to the main mechanism is defective, absent or suppressed. A signature pattern for redundant pathways is the BPM (between-pathway model) motif, introduced by Kelley and Ideker. Past methods proposed to search the yeast interactome for BPM motifs have had several important limitations. First, they have been driven heuristically by local greedy searches, which can lead to the inclusion of extra genes that may not belong in the motif; second, they have been validated solely by functional coherence of the putative pathways using GO enrichment, making it difficult to evaluate putative BPMs in the absence of already known biological annotation. We introduce stable bipartite subgraphs, and show they form a clean and efficient way of generating meaningful BPMs which naturally discard extra genes included by local greedy methods. We show by GO enrichment measures that our BPM set outperforms previous work, covering more known complexes and functional pathways. Perhaps most importantly, since our BPMs are initially generated by examining the genetic-interaction network only, the location of edges in the protein-protein physical interaction network can then be used to statistically validate each candidate BPM, even with sparse GO annotation (or none at all). We uncover some interesting biological examples of previously unknown putative redundant pathways in such areas as vesicle-mediated transport and DNA repair.

Quantifying the value of redundant measurements at GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network sites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Madonna

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The potential for measurement redundancy to reduce uncertainty in atmospheric variables has not been investigated comprehensively for climate observations. We evaluated the usefulness of entropy and mutual correlation concepts, as defined in information theory, for quantifying random uncertainty and redundancy in time series of the integrated water vapour (IWV and water vapour mixing ratio profiles provided by five highly instrumented GRUAN (GCOS, Global Climate Observing System, Reference Upper-Air Network stations in 2010–2012. Results show that the random uncertainties on the IWV measured with radiosondes, global positioning system, microwave and infrared radiometers, and Raman lidar measurements differed by less than 8%. Comparisons of time series of IWV content from ground-based remote sensing instruments with in situ soundings showed that microwave radiometers have the highest redundancy with the IWV time series measured by radiosondes and therefore the highest potential to reduce the random uncertainty of the radiosondes time series. Moreover, the random uncertainty of a time series from one instrument can be reduced by ~ 60% by constraining the measurements with those from another instrument. The best reduction of random uncertainty is achieved by conditioning Raman lidar measurements with microwave radiometer measurements. Specific instruments are recommended for atmospheric water vapour measurements at GRUAN sites. This approach can be applied to the study of redundant measurements for other climate variables.

Vascular effects and electrolyte homeostasis of the natriuretic peptide isolated from Crotalus oreganus abyssus (North American Grand Canyon rattlesnake) venom

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Da Silva, S.L.; Dias-Junior, C.A.; Baldasso, P.A.; Damico, D.C.; Carvalho, B.M.; Garanto, A.; Acosta, G.; Oliveira, E.; Albericio, F.; Soares, A.M.; Marangoni, S.; Resende, R.R.

2012-01-01

Crotalus oreganus abyssus is a rattlesnake that is usually found in the Grand Canyon, United States of America. Knowledge regarding the composition of C. o. abyssus venom is scarce. New natriuretic peptides (NPs) have been isolated and characterized from the venoms of members of the Crotalinae

The Evolution of Functionally Redundant Species; Evidence from Beetles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheffer, M.; Vergnon, R.O.H.; Nes, van E.H.; Cuppen, J.G.M.; Peeters, E.T.H.M.; Leijs, R.; Nilsson, A.N.

2015-01-01

While species fulfill many different roles in ecosystems, it has been suggested that numerous species might actually share the same function in a near neutral way. So-far, however, it is unclear whether such functional redundancy really exists. We scrutinize this question using extensive data on the

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and abnormal brain aging: The AGES-Reykjavik Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabayan, Behnam; van Buchem, Mark A; de Craen, Anton J M; Sigurdsson, Sigurdur; Zhang, Qian; Harris, Tamara B; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Arai, Andrew E; Launer, Lenore J

2015-09-01

To investigate the independent association of serum N-terminal fragment of the prohormone natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with structural and functional features of abnormal brain aging in older individuals. In this cross-sectional study based on the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES)-Reykjavik Study, we included 4,029 older community-dwelling individuals (born 1907 to 1935) with a measured serum level of NT-proBNP. Outcomes included parenchymal brain volumes estimated from brain MRI, cognitive function measured by tests of memory, processing speed, and executive functioning, and presence of depressive symptoms measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale. In a substudy, cardiac output of 857 participants was assessed using cardiac MRI. In multivariate analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic and cardiovascular factors, higher levels of NT-proBNP were independently associated with lower total (p brain volumes. Likewise, in multivariate analyses, higher levels of NT-proBNP were associated with worse scores in memory (p = 0.005), processing speed (p = 0.001), executive functioning (p brain parenchymal volumes, impaired executive function and processing speed, and higher depressive symptoms were independent of the level of cardiac output. Higher serum levels of NT-proBNP, independent of cardiovascular risk factors and a measure of cardiac function, are linked with alterations in brain structure and function. Roles of natriuretic peptides in the process of brain aging need to be further elucidated. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

The Evolution of Functionally Redundant Species; Evidence from Beetles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marten Scheffer

Full Text Available While species fulfill many different roles in ecosystems, it has been suggested that numerous species might actually share the same function in a near neutral way. So-far, however, it is unclear whether such functional redundancy really exists. We scrutinize this question using extensive data on the world's 4168 species of diving beetles. We show that across the globe these animals have evolved towards a small number of regularly-spaced body sizes, and that locally co-existing species are either very similar in size or differ by at least 35%. Surprisingly, intermediate size differences (10-20% are rare. As body-size strongly reflects functional aspects such as the food that these generalist predators can eat, these beetles thus form relatively distinct groups of functional look-a-likes. The striking global regularity of these patterns support the idea that a self-organizing process drives such species-rich groups to self-organize evolutionary into clusters where functional redundancy ensures resilience through an insurance effect.

Endothelial actions of atrial and B-type natriuretic peptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhn, Michaela

2012-05-01

The cardiac hormone atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is critically involved in the maintenance of arterial blood pressure and intravascular volume homeostasis. Its cGMP-producing GC-A receptor is densely expressed in the microvascular endothelium of the lung and systemic circulation, but the functional relevance is controversial. Some studies reported that ANP stimulates endothelial cell permeability, whereas others described that the peptide attenuates endothelial barrier dysfunction provoked by inflammatory agents such as thrombin or histamine. Many studies in vitro addressed the effects of ANP on endothelial proliferation and migration. Again, both pro- and anti-angiogenic properties were described. To unravel the role of the endothelial actions of ANP in vivo, we inactivated the murine GC-A gene selectively in endothelial cells by homologous loxP/Cre-mediated recombination. Our studies in these mice indicate that ANP, via endothelial GC-A, increases endothelial albumin permeability in the microcirculation of the skin and skeletal muscle. This effect is critically involved in the endocrine hypovolaemic, hypotensive actions of the cardiac hormone. On the other hand the homologous GC-A-activating B-type NP (BNP), which is produced by cardiac myocytes and many other cell types in response to stressors such as hypoxia, possibly exerts more paracrine than endocrine actions. For instance, within the ischaemic skeletal muscle BNP released from activated satellite cells can improve the regeneration of neighbouring endothelia. This review will focus on recent advancements in our understanding of endothelial NP/GC-A signalling in the pulmonary versus systemic circulation. It will discuss possible mechanisms accounting for the discrepant observations made for the endothelial actions of this hormone-receptor system and distinguish between (patho)physiological and pharmacological actions. Lastly it will emphasize the potential therapeutical implications derived from the

A model for the coupling of failure rates in a redundant system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleppmann, W.G.; Wutschig, R.

1986-01-01

A model is developed which takes into acount the coupling between failure rates or identical components in different redundancies of a safety system, i.e., the fact that the failure rates of identical components subjected to the same operating conditions will scatter less than the failure rates of any two components of the same type. It is shown that with increasing coupling the expectation value and the variance of the distribution of the failure probability of the redundant system increases. A consistent way to incorporate operating experience in a Bayesian framework is developed and the reults are presented. (orig.)

Atrial natriuretic factor increases vascular permeability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lockette, W.; Brennaman, B.

1990-01-01

An increase in central blood volume in microgravity may result in increased plasma levels of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). Since elevations in plasma ANF are found in clinical syndromes associated with edema, and since space motion sickness induced by microgravity is associated with an increase in central blood volume and facial edema, we determined whether ANF increases capillary permeability to plasma protein. Conscious, bilaterally nephrectomized male rats were infused with either saline, ANF + saline, or hexamethonium + saline over 2 h following bolus injections of 125I-albumin and 14C-dextran of similar molecular size. Blood pressure was monitored and serial determinations of hematocrits were made. Animals infused with 1.0 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 ANF had significantly higher hematocrits than animals infused with saline vehicle. Infusion of ANF increased the extravasation of 125I-albumin, but not 14C-dextran from the intravascular compartment. ANF also induced a depressor response in rats, but the change in blood pressure did not account for changes in capillary permeability to albumin; similar depressor responses induced by hexamethonium were not accompanied by increased extravasation of albumin from the intravascular compartment. ANF may decrease plasma volume by increasing permeability to albumin, and this effect of ANF may account for some of the signs and symptoms of space motion sickness

Relationship between natriuretic peptides and inflammation: proteomic evidence obtained during acute cellular cardiac allograft rejection in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Meirovich, Yael F; Veinot, John P; de Bold, Mercedes L Kuroski; Haddad, Haissam; Davies, Ross A; Masters, Roy G; Hendry, Paul J; de Bold, Adolfo J

2008-01-01

Cardiac natriuretic peptides (NPs) atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) are polypeptide hormones secreted by the heart. Previously, we found that BNP, but not ANF, plasma levels may increase during an acute cellular cardiac allograft rejection episode. In vitro, the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) produced a selective increase of BNP gene expression and secretion. Other pro-inflammatory cytokines had no such effects. We identified cytokines associated with the selective upregulation of BNP during cardiac allograft rejection using a proteomics approach to measure 120 cytokines and related substances in the plasma of 16 transplant patients before, during and after an acute rejection episode. The values obtained were correlated with BNP plasma levels. Cytokines identified as being significantly related to BNP plasma levels were tested in neonatal rat ventricular cardiocytes in culture for their ability to selectively promote BNP secretion. The signaling pathway related to this phenomenon was pharmacologically characterized. Regulated-on-activation, normal T-expressed and secreted (RANTES), neutrophil-activating protein-2 (NAP-2) and insulin growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) had significant correlations with BNP plasma levels during Grade 3A (Grade 2 revised [2R]) or above rejection as diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy score according to the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) grading system. In rat neonatal ventricular cardiocyte cultures, IGFBP-1 and RANTES were capable of promoting BNP, but not ANF secretion, as observed in rejecting patients. The BNP-promoting secretion activity of the identified cytokines was abolished by SB203580, a specific p38 MAP kinase inhibitor. This work shows that cytokines other than pro-inflammatory cytokines correlate with BNP plasma levels observed during acute cardiac allograft rejection, and that

Tilt measurement using inclinometer based on redundant configuration of MEMS accelerometers

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jiazhen; Liu, Xuecong; Zhang, Hao

2018-05-01

Inclinometers are widely used in tilt measurement and their required accuracy is becoming ever higher. Most existing methods can effectively work only when the tilt is less than 60°, and the accuracy still can be improved. A redundant configuration of micro-electro mechanical system accelerometers is proposed in this paper and a least squares method and data processing normalization are used. A rigorous mathematical derivation is given. Simulation and experiment are used to verify its feasibility. The results of a Monte Carlo simulation, repeated 3000 times, and turntable reference experiments have shown that the tilt measure range can be expanded to 0°–90° by this method and that the measurement accuracy of θ can be improved by more than 10 times and the measurement accuracy of γ can be also improved effectively. The proposed method is proved to be effective and significant in practical application.

Symptomatic spinal cord deformity secondary to a redundant intramedullary shunt catheter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quencer, R.M.; Montalvo Morse, B.M.; Green, B.A.; Eismont, F.J.

1985-01-01

Right arm pain, motor and sensory loss in the right arm and right facial numbness recurred in a 27 year old quadraplegic shortly after a posttraumatic spinal cord cyst (PTSCC) was shunted via a catheter into the adjacent subarachnoid space. Although shunt malfunction was clinically suspected, metrizamide computed tomography (MCT) suggested that redundancy of the catheter had caused deformity of the spinal cord. This hypothesis was confirmed at surgery when intraoperative spinal sonography (IOSS) showed that the spinal cord deformity at C 1 -C 2 disappeared when the catheter was withdrawn. This case shows that new or recurrent spinal cord symptoms may be due to a mechanical deformity of the cord rather than shunt malfunction, that restricting the length of the shunt catheter which is used to decompress PTSCCs is important, and that IOSS is an indispensible tool for visualizing the changes in spinal cord morphology during shunting procedures. (orig.)

Intuitive theories of information: beliefs about the value of redundancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Soll, J B

1999-03-01

In many situations, quantity estimates from multiple experts or diagnostic instruments must be collected and combined. Normatively, and all else equal, one should value information sources that are nonredundant, in the sense that correlation in forecast errors should be minimized. Past research on the preference for redundancy has been inconclusive. While some studies have suggested that people correctly place higher value on uncorrelated inputs when collecting estimates, others have shown that people either ignore correlation or, in some cases, even prefer it. The present experiments show that the preference for redundancy depends on one's intuitive theory of information. The most common intuitive theory identified is the Error Tradeoff Model (ETM), which explicitly distinguishes between measurement error and bias. According to ETM, measurement error can only be averaged out by consulting the same source multiple times (normatively false), and bias can only be averaged out by consulting different sources (normatively true). As a result, ETM leads people to prefer redundant estimates when the ratio of measurement error to bias is relatively high. Other participants favored different theories. Some adopted the normative model, while others were reluctant to mathematically average estimates from different sources in any circumstance. In a post hoc analysis, science majors were more likely than others to subscribe to the normative model. While tentative, this result lends insight into how intuitive theories might develop and also has potential ramifications for how statistical concepts such as correlation might best be learned and internalized. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Specific binding of atrial natriuretic factor in brain microvessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chabrier, P.E.; Roubert, P.; Braquet, P.

1987-01-01

Cerebral capillaries constitute the blood-brain barrier. Studies of specific receptors (neurotransmitters or hormones) located on this structure can be performed by means of radioligand-binding techniques on isolated brain microvessels. The authors examined on pure bovine cerebral microvessel preparations the binding of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), using 125 I-labeled ANF. Saturation and competition experiments demonstrated the presence of a single class of ANF-binding sites with high affinity and with a binding capacity of 58 fmol/mg of protein. The binding of 125 I-labeled ANF to brain microvessels is specific, reversible, and time dependent, as is shown by association-dissociation experiments. The demonstration of specific ANF-binding sites on brain microvessels supposes a physiological role of ANF on brain microvasculature. The coexistence of ANF and angiotensin II receptors on this cerebrovascular tissue suggests that the two circulating peptides may act as mutual antagonists in the regulation of brain microcirculation and/or blood-brain barrier function

Performance of hybrid-ARQ with incremental redundancy over relay channels

KAUST Repository

Chelli, Ali; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2012-01-01

In this paper, we consider a relay network consisting of a source, a relay, and a destination. The source transmits a message to the destination using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with incremental redundancy (IR). The relay overhears

Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 4: Prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP and NT-proBNP) in community-acquired pneumonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgson, David; Nee, Patrick; Sultan, Laith

2012-10-01

A short cut review was carried out to establish the prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP and NT-proBNP) in community acquired pneumonia (CAP). Three cohort studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line was that B-type natriuretic peptides have prognostic value in CAP but further prospective studies were needed to assess their application in clinical practice.

Utility of amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, galectin-3, and apelin for the evaluation of patients with acute heart failure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Kimmenade, Roland R.; Januzzi, James L.; Ellinor, Patrick T.; Sharma, Umesh C.; Bakker, Jaap A.; Low, Adrian F.; Martinez, Abelardo; Crijns, Harry J.; MacRae, Calum A.; Menheere, Paul P.; Pinto, Yigal M.

2006-01-01

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to explore the role of new biomarkers in heart failure (HF). BACKGROUND: We investigated the utility of novel serum markers alone or together with natriuretic peptide testing for diagnosis and short-term prognosis estimation in subjects with acute HF. METHODS: Plasma

Sexual selection, redundancy and survival of the most beautiful

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A model is described of a highly redundant complex organism that has overlapping banks of genes such that each vital function is specified by several different genetic systems. This generates a synergistic profile linking probability of survival to the number of deleterious mutations in the genome. Computer models show ...

Sharing the cost of redundant items

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Moulin, Hervé

2014-01-01

We ask how to share the cost of finitely many public goods (items) among users with different needs: some smaller subsets of items are enough to serve the needs of each user, yet the cost of all items must be covered, even if this entails inefficiently paying for redundant items. Typical examples...... are network connectivity problems when an existing (possibly inefficient) network must be maintained. We axiomatize a family cost ratios based on simple liability indices, one for each agent and for each item, measuring the relative worth of this item across agents, and generating cost allocation rules...... additive in costs....

The Application of S7-400H redundant PLC in I and C system for waterworks in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pang Yuxiang

2013-01-01

This paper introduces Siemens S7-400H redundant PLC which is employed to implement monitor and control systems for waterworks in nuclear power plant. It focuses on the configuration and realization of the redundant system. The safety and reliability of the system is improved by using redundant CPU, network and server. (authors)

Comparison of different standards used in radioimmunoassay for atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Peter Have; Nielsen, M. Damkjær; Giese, J.

1991-01-01

, estimates of the ANF content in human plasma samples with different standard preparations as the reference showed a considerable variability. With the international standard as the gold reference (plasma ANF concentration 100%) the apparent plasma ANF concentrations measured with the other reference......Six different standards for determination of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in human plasma samples have been compared using our radio-immunoassay for ANF: International standard 85/669, National Biological Standard Boards, UK; Bachem standard, Torrance, USA; Bachem standard, Bubendorf......, Switzerland; Bissendorf standard, Wedemark, Germany; Peninsula standard, Belmont, USA; UCB-Bioproducts standard, Brussels, Belgium, Standard curves obtained with different preparations were in parallel but showed considerable quantitative differences. Standard curves referring to the Bissendorf standard...

Clinically relevant diagnostic research in primary care : the example of B-type natriuretic peptides in the detection of heart failure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kelder, Johannes C.; Rutten, Frans H.; Hoes, Arno W.

With the emergence of novel diagnostic tests, e.g. point-of-care tests, clinically relevant empirical evidence is needed to assess whether such a test should be used in daily practice. With the example of the value of B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP) in the diagnostic assessment of suspected heart

Redundancy proves its worth in FR Germany [emergency power supplies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simon, M.

1987-01-01

An analysis of loss of power events at nuclear power stations in FR Germany has confirmed the data used in the German risk study and underlined the advantages of providing a high degree of redundancy in emergency power supplies. (author)

Design structure for in-system redundant array repair in integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Bright, Arthur A.; Crumley, Paul G.; Dombrowa, Marc; Douskey, Steven M.; Haring, Rudolf A.; Oakland, Steven F.; Quellette, Michael R.; Strissel, Scott A.

2008-11-25

A design structure for repairing an integrated circuit during operation of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit comprising of a multitude of memory arrays and a fuse box holding control data for controlling redundancy logic of the arrays. The design structure provides the integrated circuit with a control data selector for passing the control data from the fuse box to the memory arrays; providing a source of alternate control data, external of the integrated circuit; and connecting the source of alternate control data to the control data selector. The design structure further passes the alternate control data from the source thereof, through the control data selector and to the memory arrays to control the redundancy logic of the memory arrays.

Availability analysis of safety grade multiple redundant controller used in advanced nuclear safety systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Kwang Seop; Kim, Dong Hoon; Park, Gee Yong; Kang, Hyun Gook

2018-01-01

Highlights: •The multiple redundant controller, SPLC is configured as the combination of DMR and TMR architecture. •We construct the Markov model of SPLC using the concept of the system unavailability rate. •To satisfy the availability requirement of safety grade controller, the fault coverage factor (FCF) should be ≥0.8 and the MTTR of each module should be ≤100 h when FCF is 0.9. •The availability of SPLC is better than that of PLC having iTMR architecture however it is poorer than iTMR considering the off-line test and inspection on the assumption that MTTR of each module is ≤200 h. -- Abstract: We analyze the availability of the Safety Programmable Logic Controller (SPLC) having multiple redundant architectures. In the SPLC, input/output and processor module are configured as triple modular redundancy (TMR), and backplane bus, power and communication modules are configured as dual modular redundancy (DMR). The voting logics for redundant architectures are based on the forwarding error detection. It means that the receivers perform the voting logics based on the status information of transmitters. To analyze the availability of SPLC, we construct the Markov model and simplify the model adopting the system unavailability rate. The results show that the fault coverage factor should be ≥0.8 and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) should be ≤100 h in order to satisfy the requirement that the availability of the safety grade PLC should be ≥0.995. Also we evaluate the availability of SPLC comparing to other PLCs such as simplex, processor DMR (pDMR) and independent TMR (iTMR) PLCs used in the existing nuclear safety systems. The availability of SPLC is higher than those of the simplex, pDMR but is lower than that of iTMR for one month which is the periodic off-line test and inspection. That’s why the number of redundant modules used in PLC is more dominant to increasing the availability than the number of fault masking methods such as voting logics used

Lebetin 2, a Snake Venom-Derived Natriuretic Peptide, Attenuates Acute Myocardial Ischemic Injury through the Modulation of Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore at the Time of Reperfusion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bochra Tourki

Full Text Available Cardiac ischemia is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It is now well established that natriuretic peptides can attenuate the development of irreversible ischemic injury during myocardial infarction. Lebetin 2 (L2 is a new discovered peptide isolated from Macrovipera lebetina venom with structural similarity to B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP. Our objectives were to define the acute cardioprotective actions of L2 in isolated Langendorff-perfused rat hearts after regional or global ischemia-reperfusion (IR. We studied infarct size, left ventricular contractile recovery, survival protein kinases and mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP opening in injured myocardium. L2 dosage was determined by preliminary experiments at its ability to induce cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP release without changing hemodynamic effects in normoxic hearts. L2 was found to be as effective as BNP in reducing infarct size after the induction of either regional or global IR. Both peptides equally improved contractile recovery after regional IR, but only L2 increased coronary flow and reduced severe contractile dysfunction after global ischemia. Cardioprotection afforded by L2 was abolished after isatin or 5-hydroxydecanote pretreatment suggesting the involvement of natriuretic peptide receptors and mitochondrial KATP (mitoKATP channels in the L2-induced effects. L2 also increased survival protein expression in the reperfused myocardium as evidenced by phosphorylation of signaling pathways PKCε/ERK/GSK3β and PI3K/Akt/eNOS. IR induced mitochondrial pore opening, but this effect was markedly prevented by L2 treatment. These data show that L2 has strong cardioprotective effect in acute ischemia through stimulation of natriuretic peptide receptors. These beneficial effects are mediated, at least in part, by mitoKATP channel opening and downstream activated survival kinases, thus delaying mPTP opening and improving IR-induced mitochondrial

Redundant sensor validation by using fuzzy logic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holbert, K.E.; Heger, A.S.; Alang-Rashid, N.K.

1994-01-01

This research is motivated by the need to relax the strict boundary of numeric-based signal validation. To this end, the use of fuzzy logic for redundant sensor validation is introduced. Since signal validation employs both numbers and qualitative statements, fuzzy logic provides a pathway for transforming human abstractions into the numerical domain and thus coupling both sources of information. With this transformation, linguistically expressed analysis principles can be coded into a classification rule-base for signal failure detection and identification

Simulator of a fail detector system for redundant sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Assumpcao Filho, E.O.; Nakata, H.

1990-01-01

A failure detection and isolation system (FDI) simulation program has been developed for IBM-PC microcomputers. The program, based on the sequencial likelihood ratio testing method developed by A. Wald, was implemented with Monte-Carlo technique. The calculated failure detection rate was favorably compared against the wind-tunnel experimental redundant temperature sensors. (author)

Comparability of Results between Point-of-Care and Automated Instruments to Measure B-type Natriuretic Peptide

OpenAIRE

Shah, Kevin; Terracciano, Garrett J.; Jiang, Kevin; Maisel, Alan S.; Fitzgerald, Robert L.

2010-01-01

Objectives: Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The incorporation of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) measurements when triaging patients presenting with shortness of breath has improved the diagnostic and prognostic ability of physicians. Currently, there are no point-of-care systems for quantifying BNP that can be used without sacrificing accuracy. We compared the analytical performance of the Abbott i-STAT analyzer, a handheld point-of-care system for measuring ...

Interactions between facial emotion and identity in face processing: evidence based on redundancy gains.

Science.gov (United States)

Yankouskaya, Alla; Booth, David A; Humphreys, Glyn

2012-11-01

Interactions between the processing of emotion expression and form-based information from faces (facial identity) were investigated using the redundant-target paradigm, in which we specifically tested whether identity and emotional expression are integrated in a superadditive manner (Miller, Cognitive Psychology 14:247-279, 1982). In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed emotion and face identity judgments on faces with sad or angry emotional expressions. Responses to redundant targets were faster than responses to either single target when a universal emotion was conveyed, and performance violated the predictions from a model assuming independent processing of emotion and face identity. Experiment 4 showed that these effects were not modulated by varying interstimulus and nontarget contingencies, and Experiment 5 demonstrated that the redundancy gains were eliminated when faces were inverted. Taken together, these results suggest that the identification of emotion and facial identity interact in face processing.

Electronic logic to enhance switch reliability in detecting openings and closures of redundant switches

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, James A.

1986-01-01

A logic circuit is used to enhance redundant switch reliability. Two or more switches are monitored for logical high or low output. The output for the logic circuit produces a redundant and failsafe representation of the switch outputs. When both switch outputs are high, the output is high. Similarly, when both switch outputs are low, the logic circuit's output is low. When the output states of the two switches do not agree, the circuit resolves the conflict by memorizing the last output state which both switches were simultaneously in and produces the logical complement of this output state. Thus, the logic circuit of the present invention allows the redundant switches to be treated as if they were in parallel when the switches are open and as if they were in series when the switches are closed. A failsafe system having maximum reliability is thereby produced.

Different Dose-Dependent Modes of Action of C-Type Natriuretic Peptide on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florie Desriac

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We have previously shown that the C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP, a peptide produced by lungs, is able to impact Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology. In the present work, the effect of CNP at different concentrations on P. aeruginosa biofilm formation was studied and the mechanisms of action of this human hormone on P. aeruginosa were deciphered. CNP was shown to inhibit dynamic biofilm formation in a dose-dependent manner without affecting the bacterial growth at any tested concentrations. The most effective concentrations were 1 and 0.1 µM. At 0.1 µM, the biofilm formation inhibition was fully dependent on the CNP sensor protein AmiC, whereas it was only partially AmiC-dependent at 1 µM, revealing the existence of a second AmiC-independent mode of action of CNP on P. aeruginosa. At 1 µM, CNP reduced both P. aeruginosa adhesion on glass and di-rhamnolipid production and also increased the bacterial membrane fluidity. The various effects of CNP at 1 µM and 0.1 µM on P. aeruginosa shown here should have major consequences to design drugs for biofilm treatment or prevention.

Task-space separation principle: a force-field approach to motion planning for redundant manipulators.

Science.gov (United States)

Tommasino, Paolo; Campolo, Domenico

2017-02-03

In this work, we address human-like motor planning in redundant manipulators. Specifically, we want to capture postural synergies such as Donders' law, experimentally observed in humans during kinematically redundant tasks, and infer a minimal set of parameters to implement similar postural synergies in a kinematic model. For the model itself, although the focus of this paper is to solve redundancy by implementing postural strategies derived from experimental data, we also want to ensure that such postural control strategies do not interfere with other possible forms of motion control (in the task-space), i.e. solving the posture/movement problem. The redundancy problem is framed as a constrained optimization problem, traditionally solved via the method of Lagrange multipliers. The posture/movement problem can be tackled via the separation principle which, derived from experimental evidence, posits that the brain processes static torques (i.e. posture-dependent, such as gravitational torques) separately from dynamic torques (i.e. velocity-dependent). The separation principle has traditionally been applied at a joint torque level. Our main contribution is to apply the separation principle to Lagrange multipliers, which act as task-space force fields, leading to a task-space separation principle. In this way, we can separate postural control (implementing Donders' law) from various types of tasks-space movement planners. As an example, the proposed framework is applied to the (redundant) task of pointing with the human wrist. Nonlinear inverse optimization (NIO) is used to fit the model parameters and to capture motor strategies displayed by six human subjects during pointing tasks. The novelty of our NIO approach is that (i) the fitted motor strategy, rather than raw data, is used to filter and down-sample human behaviours; (ii) our framework is used to efficiently simulate model behaviour iteratively, until it converges towards the experimental human strategies.

Fault tolerance in protein interaction networks: stable bipartite subgraphs and redundant pathways.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arthur Brady

Full Text Available As increasing amounts of high-throughput data for the yeast interactome become available, more system-wide properties are uncovered. One interesting question concerns the fault tolerance of protein interaction networks: whether there exist alternative pathways that can perform some required function if a gene essential to the main mechanism is defective, absent or suppressed. A signature pattern for redundant pathways is the BPM (between-pathway model motif, introduced by Kelley and Ideker. Past methods proposed to search the yeast interactome for BPM motifs have had several important limitations. First, they have been driven heuristically by local greedy searches, which can lead to the inclusion of extra genes that may not belong in the motif; second, they have been validated solely by functional coherence of the putative pathways using GO enrichment, making it difficult to evaluate putative BPMs in the absence of already known biological annotation. We introduce stable bipartite subgraphs, and show they form a clean and efficient way of generating meaningful BPMs which naturally discard extra genes included by local greedy methods. We show by GO enrichment measures that our BPM set outperforms previous work, covering more known complexes and functional pathways. Perhaps most importantly, since our BPMs are initially generated by examining the genetic-interaction network only, the location of edges in the protein-protein physical interaction network can then be used to statistically validate each candidate BPM, even with sparse GO annotation (or none at all. We uncover some interesting biological examples of previously unknown putative redundant pathways in such areas as vesicle-mediated transport and DNA repair.

The redundant target effect is affected by modality switch costs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gondan, Matthias; Lange, K.; Rösler, F.

2004-01-01

When participants have to respond to stimuli of two modalities, faster reaction times are observed for simultaneous, bimodal events than for unimodal events (the redundant target effect [RTE]). This finding has been interpreted as reflecting processing gains for bimodal relative to unimodal stimu...

Redundant and physical black hole parameters: Is there an independent physical dilaton charge?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hajian, K., E-mail: kamalhajian@ipm.ir; Sheikh-Jabbari, M.M., E-mail: jabbari@theory.ipm.ac.ir

2017-05-10

Black holes as solutions to gravity theories, are generically identified by a set of parameters. Some of these parameters are associated with black hole physical conserved charges, like ADM charges. There can also be some “redundant parameters.” We propose necessary conditions for a parameter to be physical. The conditions are essentially integrability and non-triviality of the charge variations arising from “parametric variations,” variation of the solution with respect to the chosen parameters. In addition, we prove that variation of the redundant parameters which do not meet our criteria do not appear in the first law of thermodynamics. As an interesting application, we show that dilaton moduli are redundant parameters for black hole solutions to Einstein–Maxwell–(Axion)–Dilaton theories, because variations in dilaton moduli would render entropy, mass, electric charges or angular momenta non-integrable. Our results are in contrast with modification of the first law due to scalar charges suggested in Gibbons–Kallosh–Kol paper and its follow-ups. We also briefly discuss implications of our results for the attractor behavior of extremal black holes.

The restricted isometry property meets nonlinear approximation with redundant frames

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gribonval, Rémi; Nielsen, Morten

2013-01-01

with a redundant frame. The main ingredients of our approach are: a) Jackson and Bernstein inequalities, associated to the characterization of certain approximation spaces with interpolation spaces; b) a proof that for overcomplete frames which satisfy a Bernstein inequality, these interpolation spaces are nothing...

75 FR 65238 - Loan Guaranty: Elimination of Redundant Regulations; Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 38 CFR Part 36 RIN 2900-AN71 Loan Guaranty: Elimination of... June 15, 2010 (75 FR 33704), amending its loan guaranty regulations to eliminate redundant regulations... INFORMATION CONTACT: William White, Acting Assistant Director for Loan Processing and Valuation (262...

N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide during pharmacological heart rate reduction in hyperthyroidism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz, M; Kistorp, C; Corell, P

2009-01-01

days. Before treatment, N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide was independently associated with thyroid function (free triiodothyronine-index, r=0.64, p=0.001) and the hemoglobin concentration (r=-0.36, p=0.031). The verapamil treatment induced a decrease in parameters reflecting cardiac function......-index decreased from median 319 to 315 arbitrary units (p=0.039) and free triiodothyronine-index increased from 8.6 to 9.9 arbitrary units (p=0.010). No changes in echocardiographic parameters were observed. A decrease in resting heart rate in untreated hyperthyroidism due to verapamil treatment did not result...

Quantum Darwinism in an Everyday Environment: Huge Redundancy in Scattered Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, Charles; Zurek, Wojciech

2011-03-01

We study quantum Darwinism---the redundant recording of information about the preferred states of a decohering system by its environment---for an object illuminated by a blackbody. In the cases of point-source, small disk, and isotropic illumination, we calculate the quantum mutual information between the object and its photon environment. We demonstrate that this realistic model exhibits fast and extensive proliferation of information about the object into the environment and results in redundancies orders of magnitude larger than the exactly soluble models considered to date. We also demonstrate a reduced ability to create records as initial environmental mixedness increases, in agreement with previous studies. This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD program and, in part, by the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi).

Implementations of a four-level mechanical architecture for fault-tolerant robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooper, Richard; Sreevijayan, Dev; Tesar, Delbert; Geisinger, Joseph; Kapoor, Chelan

1996-01-01

This paper describes a fault tolerant mechanical architecture with four levels devised and implemented in concert with NASA (Tesar, D. and Sreevijayan, D., Four-level fault tolerance in manipulator design for space operations. In First Int. Symp. Measurement and Control in Robotics (ISMCR '90), Houston, Texas, 20-22 June 1990.) Subsequent work has clarified and revised the architecture. The four levels proceed from fault tolerance at the actuator level, to fault tolerance via in-parallel chains, to fault tolerance using serial kinematic redundancy, and finally to the fault tolerance multiple arm systems provide. This is a subsumptive architecture because each successive layer can incorporate the fault tolerance provided by all layers beneath. For instance a serially-redundant robot can incorporate dual fault-tolerant actuators. Redundant systems provide the fault tolerance, but the guiding principle of this architecture is that functional redundancies actively increase the performance of the system. Redundancies do not simply remain dormant until needed. This paper includes specific examples of hardware and/or software implementation at all four levels

The role of the ligamentum teres in the adult hip: redundant or relevant? A review

Science.gov (United States)

Devitt, Brian M; Arora, Manit

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT The ligamentum teres (LT) has traditionally been described as a redundant structure with no contribution to hip biomechanics or function. There has been renewed interest in the LT as a source of hip pathology due to the high prevalence of LT pathology observed at the time of hip arthroscopy. The LT acts a secondary stabilizer to supplement the work of the capsular ligaments and works in a sling-like manner to prevent subluxation of the hip at the extremes of motion. The presence of free nerve endings within the LT indicates a definite role in pain generation, with the LT undergoing various mechanical and histological adaptations to hip pathology. PMID:29423246

Optimal design of a system containing mixed redundancies with respect to reliability and cost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Misra, K.B.

1975-01-01

A nuclear system generally consists of subsystems that may employ any of the partial, standby, and active redundancies, and is, therefore, a system with mixed type of redundancies. Optimization of reliability or availability of such systems at the design stage is a difficult problem. There appears to be no published work on the optimal design of maintained systems consisting of mixed redundancies. An attempt is therefore made, to present the basis of design and the solution technique to achieve this. An algorithm is described which makes the solution of this mathematically difficult problem possible. Some examples are demonstrated. To achieve further efficiency a study was organized and the recommendations for obtaining a minimum solution time are provided. Although, in the illustration, only the linear constraints and reliability, as the only design parameter, have been considered, the algorithm works well with the nonlinear type of constraints and can be used with other design parameters also. (author)

Tomographical properties of uniformly redundant arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cannon, T.M.; Fenimore, E.E.

1978-01-01

Recent work in coded aperture imaging has shown that the uniformly redundant array (URA) can image distant planar radioactive sources with no artifacts. The performance of two URA apertures when used in a close-up tomographic imaging system is investigated. It is shown that a URA based on m sequences is superior to one based on quadratic residues. The m sequence array not only produces less obnoxious artifacts in tomographic imaging, but is also more resilient to some described detrimental effects of close-up imaging. It is shown that in spite of these close-up effects, tomographic depth resolution increases as the source is moved closer to the detector

Plasma pro-atrial natriuretic peptide to estimate fluid balance during open and robot-assisted esophagectomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strandby, Rune Broni; Ambrus, Rikard; Secher, Niels H

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: It remains debated how much fluid should be administered during surgery. The atrial natriuretic peptide precursor proANP is released by atrial distension and deviations in plasma proANP are reported associated with perioperative fluid balance. We hypothesized that plasma proANP would...... decrease when the central blood volume is compromised during the abdominal part of robot-assisted hybrid (RE) esophagectomy and that a positive fluid balance would be required to maintain plasma proANP. METHODS: Patients undergoing RE (n = 25) or open (OE; n = 25) esophagectomy for gastroesophageal cancer...

Atrial natriuretic factor in maternal and fetal sheep

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, C.Y.; Gibbs, D.M.; Brace, R.A.

1987-01-01

To determine atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) concentrations in the circulation and body fluids of adult pregnant sheep and their fetuses, pregnant ewes were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium, and the fetuses were exteriorized for sampling. ANF concentration, as measured by radioimmunoassay, was 47 +/- 6 (SE) pg/ml in maternal plasma, which was significantly higher than the 15 +/- 3 pg/ml in maternal urine. In the fetus, plasma ANF concentration was 265 +/- 49 pg/ml, 5.6 times that in maternal plasma. No umbilical arterial and venous difference in ANF concentration was observed. Fetal urine ANF concentration was significantly lower than that in fetal plasma, and was similar to that measured in amniotic and allantoic fluid. In chronically catheterized maternal and fetal sheep, fetal plasma ANF was again 5.1 times that in maternal plasma, and these levels were not different from those measured in acutely anesthetized animals. These results demonstrate that immunoreactive ANF is present in the fetal circulation at levels higher than those found in the mother. The low concentration of ANF in fetal urine suggests that ANF is probably metabolized and/or reabsorbed by the fetal kidney

Functional diversity and redundancy across fish gut, sediment and water bacterial communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Escalas, Arthur; Troussellier, Marc; Yuan, Tong; Bouvier, Thierry; Bouvier, Corinne; Mouchet, Maud A; Flores Hernandez, Domingo; Ramos Miranda, Julia; Zhou, Jizhong; Mouillot, David

2017-08-01

This article explores the functional diversity and redundancy in a bacterial metacommunity constituted of three habitats (sediment, water column and fish gut) in a coastal lagoon under anthropogenic pressure. Comprehensive functional gene arrays covering a wide range of ecological processes and stress resistance genes to estimate the functional potential of bacterial communities were used. Then, diversity partitioning was used to characterize functional diversity and redundancy within (α), between (β) and across (γ) habitats. It was showed that all local communities exhibit a highly diversified potential for the realization of key ecological processes and resistance to various environmental conditions, supporting the growing evidence that macro-organisms microbiomes harbour a high functional potential and are integral components of functional gene dynamics in aquatic bacterial metacommunities. Several levels of functional redundancy at different scales of the bacterial metacommunity were observed (within local communities, within habitats and at the metacommunity level). The results suggested a high potential for the realization of spatial ecological insurance within this ecosystem, that is, the functional compensation among microorganisms for the realization and maintenance of key ecological processes, within and across habitats. Finally, the role of macro-organisms as dispersal vectors of microbes and their potential influence on marine metacommunity dynamics were discussed. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Switching algorithm for maglev train double-modular redundant positioning sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ning; Long, Zhiqiang; Xue, Song

2012-01-01

High-resolution positioning for maglev trains is implemented by detecting the tooth-slot structure of the long stator installed along the rail, but there are large joint gaps between long stator sections. When a positioning sensor is below a large joint gap, its positioning signal is invalidated, thus double-modular redundant positioning sensors are introduced into the system. This paper studies switching algorithms for these redundant positioning sensors. At first, adaptive prediction is applied to the sensor signals. The prediction errors are used to trigger sensor switching. In order to enhance the reliability of the switching algorithm, wavelet analysis is introduced to suppress measuring disturbances without weakening the signal characteristics reflecting the stator joint gap based on the correlation between the wavelet coefficients of adjacent scales. The time delay characteristics of the method are analyzed to guide the algorithm simplification. Finally, the effectiveness of the simplified switching algorithm is verified through experiments.

Information theory and artificial grammar learning: inferring grammaticality from redundancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamieson, Randall K; Nevzorova, Uliana; Lee, Graham; Mewhort, D J K

2016-03-01

In artificial grammar learning experiments, participants study strings of letters constructed using a grammar and then sort novel grammatical test exemplars from novel ungrammatical ones. The ability to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical strings is often taken as evidence that the participants have induced the rules of the grammar. We show that judgements of grammaticality are predicted by the local redundancy of the test strings, not by grammaticality itself. The prediction holds in a transfer test in which test strings involve different letters than the training strings. Local redundancy is usually confounded with grammaticality in stimuli widely used in the literature. The confounding explains why the ability to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical strings has popularized the idea that participants have induced the rules of the grammar, when they have not. We discuss the judgement of grammaticality task in terms of attribute substitution and pattern goodness. When asked to judge grammaticality (an inaccessible attribute), participants answer an easier question about pattern goodness (an accessible attribute).

Switching Algorithm for Maglev Train Double-Modular Redundant Positioning Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Song Xue

2012-08-01

Full Text Available High-resolution positioning for maglev trains is implemented by detecting the tooth-slot structure of the long stator installed along the rail, but there are large joint gaps between long stator sections. When a positioning sensor is below a large joint gap, its positioning signal is invalidated, thus double-modular redundant positioning sensors are introduced into the system. This paper studies switching algorithms for these redundant positioning sensors. At first, adaptive prediction is applied to the sensor signals. The prediction errors are used to trigger sensor switching. In order to enhance the reliability of the switching algorithm, wavelet analysis is introduced to suppress measuring disturbances without weakening the signal characteristics reflecting the stator joint gap based on the correlation between the wavelet coefficients of adjacent scales. The time delay characteristics of the method are analyzed to guide the algorithm simplification. Finally, the effectiveness of the simplified switching algorithm is verified through experiments.

Role of B-Type Natriuretic Peptide and N-Terminal Prohormone BNP as Predictors of Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in Patients With a Recent Coronary Event and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolsk, Emil; Claggett, Brian; Pfeffer, Marc A; Diaz, Rafael; Dickstein, Kenneth; Gerstein, Hertzel C; Lawson, Francesca C; Lewis, Eldrin F; Maggioni, Aldo P; McMurray, John J V; Probstfield, Jeffrey L; Riddle, Matthew C; Solomon, Scott D; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Køber, Lars

2017-05-29

Natriuretic peptides are recognized as important predictors of cardiovascular events in patients with heart failure, but less is known about their prognostic importance in patients with acute coronary syndrome. We sought to determine whether B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal prohormone B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) could enhance risk prediction of a broad range of cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus were prospectively enrolled in the ELIXA trial (n=5525, follow-up time 26 months). Best risk models were constructed from relevant baseline variables with and without BNP/NT-proBNP. C statistics, Net Reclassification Index, and Integrated Discrimination Index were analyzed to estimate the value of adding BNP or NT-proBNP to best risk models. Overall, BNP and NT-proBNP were the most important predictors of all outcomes examined, irrespective of history of heart failure or any prior cardiovascular disease. BNP significantly improved C statistics when added to risk models for each outcome examined, the strongest increments being in death (0.77-0.82, P type 2 diabetes mellitus, BNP and NT-proBNP were powerful predictors of cardiovascular outcomes beyond heart failure and death, ie, were also predictive of MI and stroke. Natriuretic peptides added as much predictive information about death as all other conventional variables combined. URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01147250. © 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.

Estimation of component redundancy in optimal age maintenance

OpenAIRE

Siopa, Jorge; Garção, José; Silva, Júlio

2012-01-01

The classical Optimal Age-Replacement defines the maintenance strategy based on the equipment failure consequences. For severe consequences an early equipment replacement is recommended. For minor consequences the repair after failure is proposed. One way of reducing the failure consequences is the use of redundancies, especially if the equipment failure rate is decreasing over time, since in this case the preventive replacement does not reduce the risk of failure. The estimation of an ac...

Designing Broadband Access Networks with Triple Redundancy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Jens Myrup; Riaz, Muhammad Tahir; Knudsen, Thomas Phillip

2005-01-01

An architecture is proposed for designing broadband access networks, which offer triple redundancy to the end users, resulting in networks providing connectivity even in case of any two independent node or line failures. Two physically independent connections are offered by fiber, and the last...... provided by some wireless solution. Based on experience with planning Fiber To The Home, the architecture is designed to meet a number of demands, making it practicable and useful in realworld network planning. The proposed wired topology is planar, and suitable for being fitted onto the road network...

Cardiovascular risk prediction by N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide and high sensitivity C-reactive protein is affected by age and sex

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, M.H.; Hansen, T.W.; Christensen, M.K.

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that the urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (Nt-proBNP) predict cardiovascular events in a general population aged 41, 51, 61 or 71 years. This study investigated...

Effect of body mass index on diagnostic and prognostic usefulness of amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in patients with acute dyspnea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bayes-Genis, Antoni; Lloyd-Jones, Donald M.; van Kimmenade, Roland R. J.; Lainchbury, John G.; Richards, A. Mark; Ordoñez-Llanos, Jordi; Santaló, Miquel; Pinto, Yigal M.; Januzzi, James L.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Amino (N)-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) testing is useful for diagnostic and prognostic evaluation in patients with dyspnea. An inverse relationship between body mass index (BMI); (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) and NT-proBNP

Effect of B-type natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of chronic heart failure on total mortality and hospitalization: an individual patient meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Troughton, Richard W.; Frampton, Christopher M.; Brunner-La Rocca, Hans-Peter; Pfisterer, Matthias; Eurlings, Luc W. M.; Erntell, Hans; Persson, Hans; O'Connor, Christopher M.; Moertl, Deddo; Karlström, Patric; Dahlström, Ulf; Gaggin, Hanna K.; Januzzi, James L.; Berger, Rudolf; Richards, A. Mark; Pinto, Yigal M.; Nicholls, M. Gary

2014-01-01

Natriuretic peptide-guided (NP-guided) treatment of heart failure has been tested against standard clinically guided care in multiple studies, but findings have been limited by study size. We sought to perform an individual patient data meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of NP-guided treatment of

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for parameter estimation of a novel hybrid redundant robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yongbo; Wu Huapeng; Handroos, Heikki

2011-01-01

This paper presents a statistical method for the calibration of a redundantly actuated hybrid serial-parallel robot IWR (Intersector Welding Robot). The robot under study will be used to carry out welding, machining, and remote handing for the assembly of vacuum vessel of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The robot has ten degrees of freedom (DOF), among which six DOF are contributed by the parallel mechanism and the rest are from the serial mechanism. In this paper, a kinematic error model which involves 54 unknown geometrical error parameters is developed for the proposed robot. Based on this error model, the mean values of the unknown parameters are statistically analyzed and estimated by means of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. The computer simulation is conducted by introducing random geometric errors and measurement poses which represent the corresponding real physical behaviors. The simulation results of the marginal posterior distributions of the estimated model parameters indicate that our method is reliable and robust.

Inhibition and Language Pragmatic View in Redundant Data Problem Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Setti, Annalisa; Caramelli, Nicoletta

2007-01-01

The present study concerns redundant data problems, defined as problems in which irrelevant data is provided. This type of problem provides a misleading context [Pascual-Leone, J. (1987). Organismic process for neo-Piagetian theories: A dialectical causal account of cognitive development. "International Journal of Psychology," 22, 531-570] similar…

The prognostic value of midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide in patients with hemorrhagic stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Marlene; Katan, Mira; Morgenthaler, Nils G; Seiler, Marleen; Müller, Beat; Lackner, Peter; Errath, Mario; Helbok, Raimund; Pfausler, Bettina; Beer, Ronny; Schmutzhard, Erich; Broessner, Gregor

2014-01-01

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a well-known prognostic marker of outcome and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. Midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) is a stable fragment of the ANP precursor hormone. As a prognostic marker after ischemic stroke, it reliably predicts poststroke mortality and functional outcome. This study aimed to analyze the prognostic value of MR-proANP in patients with hemorrhagic stroke, i.e. subarachnoid (SAH) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). MR-proANP was analyzed in patients with spontaneous SAH or spontaneous ICH. All patients were prospectively randomized into two treatment arms: (1) a prophylactic normothermia group with a target core temperature 36.5°C using endovascular cooling, and (2) a control group with conventional stepwise predefined fever management using antipyretic medication and surface cooling. Blood samples were obtained on admission and on days 4 and 7. Measurement of MR-proANP was performed in serum using sandwich immunoassay. The primary endpoint was functional outcome [assessed by the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS)] and the secondary endpoints were mortality within 180 days after hemorrhagic stroke and influence of temperature on MR-proANP. A favorable outcome was defined as GOS 4-5, and the patients were considered to have a poor outcome with a 180-day GOS score between 1 and 3. Analysis of MR-proANP was performed in 24 patients with spontaneous SAH and 22 patients with spontaneous ICH. MR-proANP was elevated on days 4 and 7 as compared to baseline levels (p 120 pmol/l) were associated with increased mortality and poor outcome (after 180 days; p mortality after 180 days in patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Endovascular temperature control had no significant influence on MR-proANP levels.

State-space Generalized Predicitve Control for redundant parallel robots

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Belda, Květoslav; Böhm, Josef; Valášek, M.

2003-01-01

Roč. 31, č. 3 (2003), s. 413-432 ISSN 1539-7734 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA101/03/0620 Grant - others:CTU(CZ) 0204512 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1075907 Keywords : parallel robot construction * generalized predictive control * drive redundancy Subject RIV: BC - Control Systems Theory http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/historie/belda-0411126.pdf

Differential effects of doxorubicin on atrial natriuretic peptide expression in vivo and in vitro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ASIM RAHMAN

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Doxorubicin (Dox is a potent anti-cancer agent with cardiotoxic side-effects but the mechanism of its cardiotoxicity and its effect on expression of the vasoactive atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP, an important marker for cardiac hypertrophy, are little understood. The present study examined Dox-induced changes in vivo in hearts of 6 mongrel dogs and 5 Sprague-Dawley rats and in vitro in cardiac cultures of neonatal rats. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis using g32-p labeled primers for ß-actin, phospholamban (PLB and ANP showed a selective 5-fold increase of ANP mRNA in Dox-treated dog hearts in comparison to controls. Similarly, northern analysis of GAPD, ß-actin, cardiac a-actin and ANP gave a selective 4.5-fold increase in ANP transcripts in Dox-treated rat hearts. On the other hand, there was a selective decrease (approximately 39% of ANP transcripts in Dox-treated cardiac cultures relative to controls. Immunohistochemistry localized the ANP changes both in tissue sections and in cultures to the cardiomyocytes. The data clearly showed that Dox selectively increases ANP expression in dog and rat hearts in absence of cardiocyte hypertrophy but selectively decreases it in cardiac cultures. This differential effect of Dox on cardiocytes in vivo and in vitro should be a useful parameter for studies of transcriptional control of ANP expression.

Utilizing Nested Normal Form to Design Redundancy Free JSON Schemas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wai Yin Mok

2016-12-01

Full Text Available JSON (JavaScript Object Notation is a lightweight data-interchange format for the Internet. JSON is built on two structures: (1 a collection of name/value pairs and (2 an ordered list of values (http://www.json.org/. Because of this simple approach, JSON is easy to use and it has the potential to be the data interchange format of choice for the Internet. Similar to XML, JSON schemas allow nested structures to model hierarchical data. As data interchange over the Internet increases exponentially due to cloud computing or otherwise, redundancy free JSON data are an attractive form of communication because they improve the quality of data communication through eliminating update anomaly. Nested Normal Form, a normal form for hierarchical data, is a precise characterization of redundancy. A nested table, or a hierarchical schema, is in Nested Normal Form if and only if it is free of redundancy caused by multivalued and functional dependencies. Using Nested Normal Form as a guide, this paper introduces a JSON schema design methodology that begins with UML use case diagrams, communication diagrams and class diagrams that model a system under study. Based on the use cases’ execution frequencies and the data passed between involved parties in the communication diagrams, the proposed methodology selects classes from the class diagrams to be the roots of JSON scheme trees and repeatedly adds classes from the class diagram to the scheme trees as long as the schemas satisfy Nested Normal Form. This process continues until all of the classes in the class diagram have been added to some JSON scheme trees.

On the optimal scheduling of periodic tests and maintenance for reliable redundant components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Courtois, Pierre-Jacques; Delsarte, Philippe

2006-01-01

Periodically, some m of the n redundant components of a dependable system may have to be taken out of service for inspection, testing or preventive maintenance. The system is then constrained to operate with lower (n-m) redundancy and thus with less reliability during these periods. However, more frequent periodic inspections decrease the probability that a component fail undetected in the time interval between successive inspections. An optimal time schedule of periodic preventive operations arises from these two conflicting factors, balancing the loss of redundancy during inspections against the reliability benefits of more frequent inspections. Considering no other factor than this decreased redundancy at inspection time, this paper demonstrates the existence of an optimal interval between inspections, which maximizes the mean time between system failures. By suitable transformations and variable identifications, an analytic closed form expression of the optimum is obtained for the general (m, n) case. The optimum is shown to be unique within the ranges of parameter values valid in practice; its expression is easy to evaluate and shown to be useful to analyze and understand the influence of these parameters. Inspections are assumed to be perfect, i.e. they cause no component failure by themselves and leave no failure undetected. In this sense, the optimum determines a lowest bound for the system failure rate that can be achieved by a system of n-redundant components, m of which require for inspection or maintenance recurrent periods of unavailability of length t. The model and its general closed form solution are believed to be new . Previous work had computed optimal values for an estimation of a time average of system unavailability, but by numerical procedures only and with different numerical approximations, other objectives and model assumptions (one component only inspected at a time), and taking into account failures caused by testing itself, repair and

Redundant and physical black hole parameters: Is there an independent physical dilaton charge?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Hajian

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Black holes as solutions to gravity theories, are generically identified by a set of parameters. Some of these parameters are associated with black hole physical conserved charges, like ADM charges. There can also be some “redundant parameters.” We propose necessary conditions for a parameter to be physical. The conditions are essentially integrability and non-triviality of the charge variations arising from “parametric variations,” variation of the solution with respect to the chosen parameters. In addition, we prove that variation of the redundant parameters which do not meet our criteria do not appear in the first law of thermodynamics. As an interesting application, we show that dilaton moduli are redundant parameters for black hole solutions to Einstein–Maxwell–(Axion–Dilaton theories, because variations in dilaton moduli would render entropy, mass, electric charges or angular momenta non-integrable. Our results are in contrast with modification of the first law due to scalar charges suggested in Gibbons–Kallosh–Kol paper [1] and its follow-ups. We also briefly discuss implications of our results for the attractor behavior of extremal black holes.

Atrial natriuretic peptide in the locus coeruleus and its possible role in the regulation of arterial blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte homeostasis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geiger, H.; Sterzel, R.B.; Bahner, U.; Heidland, A.; Palkovits, M.

1991-01-01

Atrial natriuretic factor (ANP) is present in neuronal cells of the locus coeruleus and its vicinity in the pontine tegmentum and moderate amount of ANP is detectable in this area by radioimmunoassay. The ANP is known as a neuropeptide which may influence the body salt and water homeostasis and blood pressure by targeting both central and peripheral regulatory mechanisms. Whether this pontine ANP cell group is involved in any of these regulatory mechanisms, the effect of various types of hypertension and experimental alterations in the salt and water balance on ANP levels was measured by radioimmunoassay in the locus coeruleus of rats. Adrenalectomy, as well as aldosterone and dexamethasone treatments failed to alter ANP levels in the locus coeruleus. Reduced ANP levels were measured in spontaneously hypertensive rats, and in diabetes insipidus rats with vasopressin replacement. In contrast to these situations, elevated ANP levels were found in rats with DOCA-salt or 1-Kidney-1-clip hypertension. These data suggest a link between ANP levels in the locus coeruleus and fluid volume homeostasis. Whether this link is causal and connected with the major activity of locus coeruleus neurons needs further information

Modified parity space averaging approaches for online cross-calibration of redundant sensors in nuclear reactors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moath Kassim

2018-05-01

Full Text Available To maintain safety and reliability of reactors, redundant sensors are usually used to measure critical variables and estimate their averaged time-dependency. Nonhealthy sensors can badly influence the estimation result of the process variable. Since online condition monitoring was introduced, the online cross-calibration method has been widely used to detect any anomaly of sensor readings among the redundant group. The cross-calibration method has four main averaging techniques: simple averaging, band averaging, weighted averaging, and parity space averaging (PSA. PSA is used to weigh redundant signals based on their error bounds and their band consistency. Using the consistency weighting factor (C, PSA assigns more weight to consistent signals that have shared bands, based on how many bands they share, and gives inconsistent signals of very low weight. In this article, three approaches are introduced for improving the PSA technique: the first is to add another consistency factor, so called trend consistency (TC, to include a consideration of the preserving of any characteristic edge that reflects the behavior of equipment/component measured by the process parameter; the second approach proposes replacing the error bound/accuracy based weighting factor (Wa with a weighting factor based on the Euclidean distance (Wd, and the third approach proposes applying Wd,TC,andC, all together. Cold neutron source data sets of four redundant hydrogen pressure transmitters from a research reactor were used to perform the validation and verification. Results showed that the second and third modified approaches lead to reasonable improvement of the PSA technique. All approaches implemented in this study were similar in that they have the capability to (1 identify and isolate a drifted sensor that should undergo calibration, (2 identify a faulty sensor/s due to long and continuous missing data range, and (3 identify a healthy sensor. Keywords: Nuclear Reactors

Method and apparatus for in-system redundant array repair on integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Bright, Arthur A.; Crumley, Paul G.; Dombrowa, Marc B.; Douskey, Steven M.; Haring, Rudolf A.; Oakland, Steven F.; Ouellette, Michael R.; Strissel, Scott A.

2007-12-18

Disclosed is a method of repairing an integrated circuit of the type comprising of a multitude of memory arrays and a fuse box holding control data for controlling redundancy logic of the arrays. The method comprises the steps of providing the integrated circuit with a control data selector for passing the control data from the fuse box to the memory arrays; providing a source of alternate control data, external of the integrated circuit; and connecting the source of alternate control data to the control data selector. The method comprises the further step of, at a given time, passing the alternate control data from the source thereof, through the control data selector and to the memory arrays to control the redundancy logic of the memory arrays.

Links between N-modular redundancy and the theory of error-correcting codes

Science.gov (United States)

Bobin, V.; Whitaker, S.; Maki, G.

1992-01-01

N-Modular Redundancy (NMR) is one of the best known fault tolerance techniques. Replication of a module to achieve fault tolerance is in some ways analogous to the use of a repetition code where an information symbol is replicated as parity symbols in a codeword. Linear Error-Correcting Codes (ECC) use linear combinations of information symbols as parity symbols which are used to generate syndromes for error patterns. These observations indicate links between the theory of ECC and the use of hardware redundancy for fault tolerance. In this paper, we explore some of these links and show examples of NMR systems where identification of good and failed elements is accomplished in a manner similar to error correction using linear ECC's.

Method and apparatus for in-system redundant array repair on integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Bright, Arthur A [Croton-on-Hudson, NY; Crumley, Paul G [Yorktown Heights, NY; Dombrowa, Marc B [Bronx, NY; Douskey, Steven M [Rochester, MN; Haring, Rudolf A [Cortlandt Manor, NY; Oakland, Steven F [Colchester, VT; Ouellette, Michael R [Westford, VT; Strissel, Scott A [Byron, MN

2008-07-29

Disclosed is a method of repairing an integrated circuit of the type comprising of a multitude of memory arrays and a fuse box holding control data for controlling redundancy logic of the arrays. The method comprises the steps of providing the integrated circuit with a control data selector for passing the control data from the fuse box to the memory arrays; providing a source of alternate control data, external of the integrated circuit; and connecting the source of alternate control data to the control data selector. The method comprises the further step of, at a given time, passing the alternate control data from the source thereof, through the control data selector and to the memory arrays to control the redundancy logic of the memory arrays.

Fuzzy Mutual Information Based min-Redundancy and Max-Relevance Heterogeneous Feature Selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daren Yu

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Feature selection is an important preprocessing step in pattern classification and machine learning, and mutual information is widely used to measure relevance between features and decision. However, it is difficult to directly calculate relevance between continuous or fuzzy features using mutual information. In this paper we introduce the fuzzy information entropy and fuzzy mutual information for computing relevance between numerical or fuzzy features and decision. The relationship between fuzzy information entropy and differential entropy is also discussed. Moreover, we combine fuzzy mutual information with qmin-Redundancy-Max-Relevanceq, qMax-Dependencyq and min-Redundancy-Max-Dependencyq algorithms. The performance and stability of the proposed algorithms are tested on benchmark data sets. Experimental results show the proposed algorithms are effective and stable.

Statistical Redundancy Testing for Improved Gene Selection in Cancer Classification Using Microarray Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Sunil Rao

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In gene selection for cancer classifi cation using microarray data, we define an eigenvalue-ratio statistic to measure a gene’s contribution to the joint discriminability when this gene is included into a set of genes. Based on this eigenvalueratio statistic, we define a novel hypothesis testing for gene statistical redundancy and propose two gene selection methods. Simulation studies illustrate the agreement between statistical redundancy testing and gene selection methods. Real data examples show the proposed gene selection methods can select a compact gene subset which can not only be used to build high quality cancer classifiers but also show biological relevance.

Redundancy Effect on Retention of Vocabulary Words Using Multimedia Presentation

Science.gov (United States)

Samur, Yavuz

2012-01-01

This study was designed to examine the effect of the redundancy principle in a multimedia presentation constructed for foreign language vocabulary learning on undergraduate students' retention. The underlying hypothesis of this study is that when the students are exposed to the material in multiple ways through animation, concurrent narration,…

Systematic Luby Transform codes as incremental redundancy scheme

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Grobler, TL

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Transform Codes as Incremental Redundancy Scheme T. L. Grobler y, E. R. Ackermann y, J. C. Olivier y and A. J. van Zylz Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa Email: trienkog...@gmail.com, etienne.ackermann@ieee.org yDefence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria 0001, South Africa zDepartment of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South...

Apelin-APJ system is responsible for stress-induced increase in atrial natriuretic peptide expression in rat heart.

Science.gov (United States)

Izgut-Uysal, Vecihe Nimet; Acar, Nuray; Birsen, Ilknur; Ozcan, Filiz; Ozbey, Ozlem; Soylu, Hakan; Avci, Sema; Tepekoy, Filiz; Akkoyunlu, Gokhan; Yucel, Gultekin; Ustunel, Ismail

2018-04-01

The cardiovascular system is a primary target of stress and stress is the most important etiologic factor in cardiovascular diseases. Stressors increase expressions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and apelin in cardiac tissue. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether stress-induced apelin has an effect on the expression of ANP in the right atrium of rat heart. The rats were divided into the control, stress and F13A+stress groups. In the stress and F13A+stress groups, the rats were subjected to water immersion and restraint stress (WIRS) for 6h. In the F13A+stress group, apelin receptor antagonist F13A, was injected intravenously immediately before application of WIRS. The plasma samples were obtained for the measurement of corticosterone and atrial natriuretic peptide. The atrial samples were used for immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. F13A administration prevented the rise of plasma corticosterone and ANP levels induced by WIRS. While WIRS application increased the expressions of apelin, HIF-1α and ANP in atrial tissue, while F13A prevented the stress-induced increase in the expression of HIF-1α and ANP. Stress-induced apelin induces ANP expression in atrial tissue and may play a role in cardiovascular homeostasis by increasing ANP expression under WIRS conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A simulation-based optimization approach for free distributed repairable multi-state availability-redundancy allocation problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Attar, Ahmad; Raissi, Sadigh; Khalili-Damghani, Kaveh

2017-01-01

A simulation-based optimization (SBO) method is proposed to handle multi-objective joint availability-redundancy allocation problem (JARAP). Here, there is no emphasis on probability distributions of time to failures and repair times for multi-state multi-component series-parallel configuration under active, cold and hot standby strategies. Under such conditions, estimation of availability is not a trivial task. First, an efficient computer simulation model is proposed to estimate the availability of the aforementioned system. Then, the estimated availability values are used in a repetitive manner as parameter of a two-objective joint availability-redundancy allocation optimization model through SBO mechanism. The optimization model is then solved using two well-known multi-objective evolutionary computation algorithms, i.e., non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), and Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2). The proposed SBO approach is tested using non-exponential numerical example with multi-state repairable components. The results are presented and discussed through different demand scenarios under cold and hot standby strategies. Furthermore, performance of NSGA-II and SPEA2 are statistically compared regarding multi-objective accuracy, and diversity metrics. - Highlights: • A Simulation-Based Optimization (SBO) procedure is introduced for JARAP. • The proposed SBO works for any given failure and repair times. • An efficient simulation procedure is developed to estimate availability. • Customized NSGA-II and SPEA2 are proposed to solve the bi-objective JARAP. • Statistical analysis is employed to test the performance of optimization methods.

A model of primate visual cortex based on category-specific redundancies in natural images

Science.gov (United States)

Malmir, Mohsen; Shiry Ghidary, S.

2010-12-01

Neurophysiological and computational studies have proposed that properties of natural images have a prominent role in shaping selectivity of neurons in the visual cortex. An important property of natural images that has been studied extensively is the inherent redundancy in these images. In this paper, the concept of category-specific redundancies is introduced to describe the complex pattern of dependencies between responses of linear filters to natural images. It is proposed that structural similarities between images of different object categories result in dependencies between responses of linear filters in different spatial scales. It is also proposed that the brain gradually removes these dependencies in different areas of the ventral visual hierarchy to provide a more efficient representation of its sensory input. The authors proposed a model to remove these redundancies and trained it with a set of natural images using general learning rules that are developed to remove dependencies between responses of neighbouring neurons. Results of experiments demonstrate the close resemblance of neuronal selectivity between different layers of the model and their corresponding visual areas.

A Multi-objective PMU Placement Method Considering Observability and Measurement Redundancy using ABC Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KULANTHAISAMY, A.

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a Multi- objective Optimal Placement of Phasor Measurement Units (MOPP method in large electric transmission systems. It is proposed for minimizing the number of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs for complete system observability and maximizing the measurement redundancy of the system, simultaneously. The measurement redundancy means that number of times a bus is able to monitor more than once by PMUs set. A higher level of measurement redundancy can maximize the total system observability and it is desirable for a reliable power system state estimation. Therefore, simultaneous optimization of the two conflicting objectives are performed using a binary coded Artificial Bee Colony (ABC algorithm. The complete observability of the power system is first prepared and then, single line loss contingency condition is considered to the main model. The efficiency of the proposed method is validated on IEEE 14, 30, 57 and 118 bus test systems. The valuable approach of ABC algorithm is demonstrated in finding the optimal number of PMUs and their locations by comparing the performance with earlier works.

Toward an Integrated Design, Inspection and Redundancy Research Program.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-01-01

William Creelman William H. Silcox National Marine Service Standard Oil Company of California St. Louis, Missouri San Francisco, California .-- N...develop physical models and generic tools for analyzing the effects of redundancy, reserve strength, and residual strength on the system behavior of marine...probabilistic analyses to be applicable to real-world problems, this program needs to provide - the deterministic physical models and generic tools upon

Capillary response to skeletal muscle contraction: evidence that redundancy between vasodilators is physiologically relevant during active hyperaemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, Iain R; Novielli, Nicole M; Murrant, Coral L

2018-04-15

The current theory behind matching blood flow to metabolic demand of skeletal muscle suggests redundant interactions between metabolic vasodilators. Capillaries play an important role in blood flow control given their ability to respond to muscle contraction by causing conducted vasodilatation in upstream arterioles that control their perfusion. We sought to determine whether redundancies occur between vasodilators at the level of the capillary by stimulating the capillaries with muscle contraction and vasodilators relevant to muscle contraction. We identified redundancies between potassium and both adenosine and nitric oxide, between nitric oxide and potassium, and between adenosine and both potassium and nitric oxide. During muscle contraction, we demonstrate redundancies between potassium and nitric oxide as well as between potassium and adenosine. Our data show that redundancy is physiologically relevant and involved in the coordination of the vasodilator response during muscle contraction at the level of the capillaries. We sought to determine if redundancy between vasodilators is physiologically relevant during active hyperaemia. As inhibitory interactions between vasodilators are indicative of redundancy, we tested whether vasodilators implicated in mediating active hyperaemia (potassium (K + ), adenosine (ADO) and nitric oxide (NO)) inhibit one another's vasodilatory effects through direct application of pharmacological agents and during muscle contraction. Using the hamster cremaster muscle and intravital microscopy, we locally stimulated capillaries with one vasodilator in the absence and the presence of a second vasodilator (10 -7 m S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP), 10 -7 m ADO, 10 mm KCl) applied sequentially and simultaneously, and observed the response in the associated upstream 4A arteriole controlling the perfusion of the stimulated capillary. We found that KCl significantly attenuated SNAP- and ADO-induced vasodilatations by ∼49.7% and �

Sustainable Modular Adaptive Redundancy Technique Emphasizing Partial Reconfiguration for Reduced Power Consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Al-Haddad

2011-01-01

Full Text Available As reconfigurable devices' capacities and the complexity of applications that use them increase, the need for self-reliance of deployed systems becomes increasingly prominent. Organic computing paradigms have been proposed for fault-tolerant systems because they promote behaviors that allow complex digital systems to adapt and survive in demanding environments. In this paper, we develop a sustainable modular adaptive redundancy technique (SMART composed of a two-layered organic system. The hardware layer is implemented on a Xilinx Virtex-4 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA to provide self-repair using a novel approach called reconfigurable adaptive redundancy system (RARS. The software layer supervises the organic activities on the FPGA and extends the self-healing capabilities through application-independent, intrinsic, and evolutionary repair techniques that leverage the benefits of dynamic partial reconfiguration (PR. SMART was evaluated using a Sobel edge-detection application and was shown to tolerate stressful sequences of injected transient and permanent faults while reducing dynamic power consumption by 30% compared to conventional triple modular redundancy (TMR techniques, with nominal impact on the fault-tolerance capabilities. Moreover, PR is employed to keep the system on line while under repair and also to reduce repair time. Experiments have shown a 27.48% decrease in repair time when PR is employed compared to the full bitstream configuration case.

Usefulness of Serial N-terminal Pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide Measurements to Predict Cardiac Death in Acute and Chronic Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boer, S.L. den; Rizopoulos, D.; Sarvaas, G.J.; Backx, A.P.; Harkel, A.D. Ten; Iperen, G.G. van; Rammeloo, L.A.; Tanke, R.B.; Boersma, E.; Helbing, W.A.; Dalinghaus, M.

2016-01-01

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is an important predictor of outcome in adults with heart failure. In children with heart failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy (DC) markers that reliably predict disease progression and outcome during follow-up are scarce. We investigated

Troponin T and N-terminal pro B-Type natriuretic peptide and presence of coronary artery disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mouridsen, Mette R; Sajadieh, Ahmad; Carlsen, Christian M

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: We tested the effects of exercise intensity, sampling intervals, degree of coronary artery stenosis, and demographic factors on circulating N-terminal pro B-Type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) and cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) in subjects suspected of coronary artery disease (CAD). MATE...... = 0.4067 p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: Baseline cTnT and ΔcTnT were found to be independently associated with CAD and also with exercise intensity in stable chest pain subjects. These properties were not identified for NT-pro-BNP....

Revisions to Conventional Clock Domain Crossing Methodologies in Triple Modular Redundant Circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Melanie D.; LaBel, Kenneth A.

2018-01-01

We present updates to the conventional methodology of triple modular redundancy (TMR) insertion as it pertains to clock domain crossings (CDCs). Three types of TMR schemes and their suggested corresponding CDC revisions are discussed.

Auto-Calibration and Fault Detection and Isolation of Skewed Redundant Accelerometers in Measurement While Drilling Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Seyed Moosavi, Seyed Mohsen; Moaveni, Bijan; Moshiri, Behzad; Arvan, Mohammad Reza

2018-02-27

The present study designed skewed redundant accelerometers for a Measurement While Drilling (MWD) tool and executed auto-calibration, fault diagnosis and isolation of accelerometers in this tool. The optimal structure includes four accelerometers was selected and designed precisely in accordance with the physical shape of the existing MWD tool. A new four-accelerometer structure was designed, implemented and installed on the current system, replacing the conventional orthogonal structure. Auto-calibration operation of skewed redundant accelerometers and all combinations of three accelerometers have been done. Consequently, biases, scale factors, and misalignment factors of accelerometers have been successfully estimated. By defecting the sensors in the new optimal skewed redundant structure, the fault was detected using the proposed FDI method and the faulty sensor was diagnosed and isolated. The results indicate that the system can continue to operate with at least three correct sensors.

Testing the race model inequality in redundant stimuli with variable onset asynchrony

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gondan, Matthias

2009-01-01

distributions of response times for the single-modality stimuli. It has been derived for synchronous stimuli and for stimuli with stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). In most experiments with asynchronous stimuli, discrete SOA values are chosen and the race model inequality is separately tested for each SOA. Due...... to SOAs at which the violation of the race model prediction is expected to be large. In addition, the method enables data analysis for experiments in which stimuli are presented with SOA from a continuous distribution rather than in discrete steps.......In speeded response tasks with redundant signals, parallel processing of the signals is tested by the race model inequality. This inequality states that given a race of two signals, the cumulative distribution of response times for redundant stimuli never exceeds the sum of the cumulative...

A new way to improve the robustness of complex communication networks by allocating redundancy links

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Chunhui; Zhuo Yue; Tang Jieying; Long Keping; Peng Yunfeng

2012-01-01

We investigate the robustness of complex communication networks on allocating redundancy links. The protecting key nodes (PKN) strategy is proposed to improve the robustness of complex communication networks against intentional attack. Our numerical simulations show that allocating a few redundant links among key nodes using the PKN strategy will significantly increase the robustness of scale-free complex networks. We have also theoretically proved and demonstrated the effectiveness of the PKN strategy. We expect that our work will help achieve a better understanding of communication networks. (paper)

Flexible Procurement of Services with Uncertain Durations using Redundancy

OpenAIRE

Stein, S; Gerding, E; Rogers, A; Larson, K; Jennings, NR

2009-01-01

Emerging service-oriented technologies allow software agents to automatically procure distributed services to complete complex tasks. However, in many application scenarios, service providers demand financial remuneration, execution times are uncertain and consumers have deadlines for their tasks. In this paper, we address these issues by developing a novel approach that dynamically procures multiple, redundant services over time, in order to ensure success by the deadline. Specifically, we f...