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A time-varying sliding-coefficient-based decoupled terminal sliding mode control strategy is presented for a class of fourth-order systems. First, the fourth-order system is decoupled into two second-order subsystems. The sliding surface of each subsystem was designed by utilizing time-varying coefficients. Then, the control target of one subsystem to another subsystem was embedded. Thereafter, a terminal sliding mode control method was utilized to make both subsystems converge to their equilibrium points in finite time. The simulation results on the inverted pendulum system demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits a considerable improvement in terms of a faster dynamic response and lower IAE and ITAE values as compared with the existing decoupled control methods., (Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Malignant melanoma, which has a highly malignant potential, is a tumor of the skin and mucosal membranes. Malignant melanomas of the female genital tract, including the vulva and vagina, are rare. Their overall prognosis is poor and is worse than that for cutaneous melanomas., Case Reports: Clinical data for five patients with primary malignant melanoma are presented. Diagnosis was based on histologic and immunohistochemical examinations. Case 1 was a 58-year-old woman with mucosal lentiginous melanoma of the vulva. The other four patients, all of whom were over 40 years old, had vaginal melanomas. They were all treated with surgery, and three also received postoperative adjuvant therapy with interferon alpha-2b. Despite this, three of the patients died owing to widespread disease., Conclusion: Although malignant melanoma of the female genital tract is uncommon, elderly women should undergo regular gynecologic examinations and suspicious pigmented lesions should be biopsied. The use of immunohistochemical assays could markedly improve diagnosis. However, the prognosis for these tumors is poor, regardless of the treatment delivered, and they are associated with a high rate of recurrence and low long-term survival. Surgery is the best available treatment for controlling and potentially curing malignant melanomas.

Unlabelled: Some primary carcinomas of the breast have been classified as neuroendocrine. In this paper we report on 12 cases of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast displaying common and uncommon histological features., Materials and Methods: All patients were aged from 43 to 79 (median 66.5) years. The tumors were unilateral and ranged from 0.8 to 7 cm (median 2.35 cm) in diameter. Four tumors were classified as solid cohesive, two as solid papillary, one as Merkel cell-like, two as cellular mucinous, two as cellular mucinous with micropapillary features and one as cellular mucinous with prominent signet ring cells. The tissues were fixed in formalin and routinely processed. All materials were stained with PAS, Alcian blue and also hematoxylin and eosin. Immunohistochemical examination was carried out by the avidin-biotin method using the following antibodies: estrogen receptor protein, progesterone receptor protein, p53, cerbB-2, Ki67, neuron-specific enolase, chromogranin, and synaptophysin., Results: In all cases the tumor cells were stained positively with NSE. Synaptophysin and chromogranin positivity was detected in 11 and five cases, respectively. The prominent histological features were: extensive intraductal growth, pseudorosettes and palisades, low-grade cytologic atypia, plasmacytoid appearance of the tumor cells, and intracellular and extracellular mucin., Conclusion: Neuroendocrine-differentiated carcinoma of the breast is a rare and distinct category with different histological subtypes.