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The present research was conducted to improve the mechanical properties of pure titanium, in which a composite reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets was fabricated using spark plasma sintering (SPS) method and was subjected to severe plastic deformation (SPD) process at room temperature with simple shear extrusion (SSE). Its mechanical properties were investigated in terms of tensile and yield strengths applying tension and hardness tests. Moreover, characterizations were accomplished through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with EDS, light microscopy (LM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The obtained results revealed that the grain growth was observed for all the samples in the annealing step, yet the elongation in the highest percentage of RGO was severely limited. Following SSE, the grain size decreased in the severe plastic deformation and consequently, mechanical properties of composite improved. In this regard, the hardness improved from 373 HV after SPS to 536.5 HV after two passes of SSE for composite reinforced by 0.1% RGO; moreover, tensile strength enhanced up to 969 MPa. This nanocomposite might be utilized in diverse fields, particularly in bio applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of ground behavior due to tunneling is a key factor in designing and construction of tunnels, especially in soft grounds. In this study, a physical model setup has been designed and constructed to simulate the excavation procedure of a full-face circular tunnel. Silica sand was used with four different densities and three different cover to tunnel diameter ratios. Full-face excavation was simulated with variation of the tunneling-induced volume loss. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was employed to monitor the ground deformation throughout the excavation process. A new empirical equation is introduced to predict the maximum ground settlement as a function of ground relative density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemoglobinopathies, such as β-thalassemia, and sickle cell disease (SCD) are caused by abnormal structure or reduced production of β-chains and affect millions of people worldwide. Hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH) is a condition which is naturally occurring and characterized by a considerable elevation of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in adult red blood cells. Individuals with compound heterozygous β-thalassemia or SCD and HPFH have milder clinical symptoms. So, HbF reactivation has long been sought as an approach to mitigate the clinical symptoms of β-thalassemia and SCD. Using CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing strategy, we deleted a 200bp genomic region within the human erythroid-specific BCL11A (B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 11A) enhancer in KU-812, KG-1, and K562 cell lines. In our study, deletion of 200bp of BCL11A erythroid enhancer including GATAA motif leads to strong induction of γ-hemoglobin expression in K562 cells, but not in KU-812 and KG-1 cells. Altogether, our findings highlight the therapeutic potential of CRISPR-Cas9 as a precision genome editing tool for treating β-thalassemia. In addition, our data indicate that KU-812 and KG-1 cell lines are not good models for studying HbF reactivation through inactivation of BCL11A silencing pathway. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper stiffness of cable-driven parallel robots (CDPRs) is analyzed in detail and based on this analysis, the stiffness-feasible workspace is introduced. This workspace includes all stable poses which increasing the internal forces can modify the total stiffness of the robot. It has been shown that in the CDPRs, the concept of the internal forces can be applied for keeping cables in tension and increasing stiffness. However, it should be noted that increasing the internal forces may decrease the overall stiffness of the mechanism and it is only applicable in stabilizable poses of the workspace. Therefore, stiffness-feasible workspace determines the allowable internal forces range which can increase the stiffness and it will guarantee that in this range of the internal forces, the structure of the robot is stable. In this paper, by employing this criterion and evolutionary algorithms, a CDPR is optimally designed, and a set of answers is presented. In this design, in addition to the stiffness-feasible workspace, another criterion as stiffness number is presented which is useful for specifying the distribution of the stiffness and stiffness-feasibility of the robot. Highlights • Internal forces may decrease the overall stiffness of the cable robot. • Based on the above fact, stiffness-feasible workspace is introduced. • In this workspace increasing the internal forces can modify the total stiffness of the robot. • Defining some performance criteria. • Optimal design of the robot based on the proposed criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulations of a centrifuge model test of an embankment on a liquefiable foundation layer treated with soil-cement walls are presented. The centrifuge model was tested on a 9-m radius centrifuge and corresponded to a 28 m tall embankment underlain by a 9 m thick saturated loose sand layer. Soil-cement walls were constructed through the loose sand layer over a 30 m long section near the toe of the embankment and covered with a 7.5 m tall berm. The model was shaken with a scaled earthquake motion having peak horizontal base accelerations of 0.05 g, 0.26 g, and 0.54 g in the first, second, and third events, respectively. The latter two shaking events caused liquefaction in the loose sand layer. Crack detectors embedded in the soil-cement walls showed that they developed only minor cracks in the second shaking event, but sheared through their full length in the last shaking event. The results of the centrifuge model test and two-dimensional nonlinear dynamic simulations are compared for the two stronger shaking events using procedures common in engineering practice. The effects of various input parameters and approximations on simulation results are examined. Capabilities and limitations in the two-dimensional simulations of soil-cement wall reinforcement systems, with both liquefaction and soil-cement cracking effects, are discussed. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 2D analytical solution was developed to estimate the stress field in sandy soil. • The induced stresses exhibit non-linear distribution due to soil arching. • The effect of soil properties on vertical stress was investigated analytically. • New equations introduced to calculate the height of arching and loosened zones. • Using the developed solution, a safe and economical support system can be designed. The soil mass above the tunnel generally yields due to the tunnel volume loss. Depending on the amount of the volume loss, soil unit weight, overburden height and internal friction angle, a stress arching zone and a loosened zone can be formed above the tunnel. In this study, a two-dimensional stress field resulting from the tunnel volume loss inside the soil mass above the tunnel is investigated analytically. By presenting an analytical solution in rectangular coordinates, new equations were developed to evaluate and estimate the magnitude of vertical, horizontal and shear stress components inside the soil mass. The vertical stress changes resulting from the tunnel volume loss were analyzed and the height of the arching zone and the loosened zone above the tunnel were determined. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to evaluate the effect of soil unit weight, soil internal friction angle, surcharge on the ground surface and overburden depth on the stress distribution in the soil above the tunnel. The results showed that depending on the depth of the tunnel and the strength of the surrounding soil, the arching and loosened zones may or may not be created. In order to validate the proposed solution, the vertical stress distribution along the tunnel crest has been compared with some experimental and numerical data. It can be stated that the proposed solution provides relatively good approximations for the vertical stress component. The results of this research show that a safe and economical support system for tunnels in sandy ground can be designed using the proposed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing share of renewable energy sources, largely decentralized, energy hubs are gaining relevance in the energy landscape as promising solutions because they match local production with consumption. To efficiently control an energy hub a prediction of the energy consumption of the buildings in the hub is required. This work proposes an on-line identification scheme to identify the closed-loop behavior of buildings as they are usually under unknown local lower-level control. Since buildings are typically controlled in different modes depending on the time of day (night setback), an identification of a switched system is proposed, combining a classification step to identify the switching times followed by the identification of a piecewise linear model for each mode. As a test case an operational Swiss office building is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the problem of system identification when frequency domain side-information is available. We mainly consider the case where the side-information is provided as the H ∞ -norm of the system being bounded by a given scalar. This framework allows considering different forms of frequency domain side-information, such as the dissipativity of the system. We propose a nonparametric identification approach for estimating the impulse response of the system under the given side-information. The estimation problem is formulated as a constrained optimization in a stable reproducing kernel Hilbert space, where suitable constraints are considered for incorporating the desired frequency domain features. The resulting optimization has an infinite-dimensional feasible set with an infinite number of constraints. We show that this problem is a well-defined convex program with a unique solution. We propose a heuristic that tightly approximates this unique solution. The proposed approach is equivalent to solving a finite-dimensional convex quadratically constrained quadratic program. The efficiency of the discussed method is verified by several numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) has emerged in system identification during the past decade. In the resulting framework, the impulse response estimation problem is formulated as a regularized optimization defined on an infinite-dimensional RKHS consisting of stable impulse responses. The consequent estimation problem is well-defined under the central assumption that the convolution operators restricted to the RKHS are continuous linear functionals. Moreover, according to this assumption, the representer theorem hold, and therefore, the impulse response can be estimated by solving a finite-dimensional program. Thus, the continuity feature plays a significant role in kernel-based system identification. We show that this central assumption is guaranteed to be satisfied in considerably general situations, namely when the input signal is bounded, the kernel is an integrable function, and in the case of continuous-time dynamics, continuous. Furthermore, the strong convexity of the optimization problem and the continuity property of the convolution operators imply that the kernel-based system identification admits a unique solution. Consequently, it follows that kernel-based system identification is a well-defined approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, the solvo-thermal method was used to synthesize Mil-125(Ti). Then, polyamidoamine dendrimer G.02 (PAMAM) was produced by Michael's addition reaction and then loaded on the surface of Mil-125(Ti) to produce Mil-Den nanocomposite. The FESEM images, XRD pattern and FTIR analyses were used to investigate the physicochemical and structural features of synthesized Mil-Den. Next, the prepared Mil-Den nanocomposite was used for the fabrication of mixed matrix polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. The morphology, water flux, anti-fouling properties, hydrophilicity, and rejection of the Na 2 SO 4 salt, Lead (II) nitrates as heavy metal, cefixime antibiotic, and six different reactive dyes were assessed. The incorporation of Mil-Den nanocomposite into PES membrane led to porosity enhancement from 66.8% for the bare membrane to 87.2% for the blended ones containing 1 wt% of Mil-Den. Also, the water contact angle of membrane was reduced from 59.2° to 31.2° by use of Mil-Den. The water flux of the membrane was remarkably increased from 17.9 to 287.6 (L/m2/h) by the addition of Mil-Den. The dye rejection for the blended membrane containing 0.2 wt% of Mil-Den nanocomposite measured 99.33%, 85.18%, 98.20%, 94.67%, 82.49% and 79.05% for RG19, RB50, RB21, RY145, RY160 and RY39, respectively. In addition, the rejection of cefixime antibiotic, lead ion, and sodium sulfate solutions were measured 80.04%, 97.36%, and 65.21%, respectively. The flux recovery ratio determined > 68% for the bare PES membrane whereas that was > 90% for the modified membrane with 0.1 wt% Mil-Den nanocomposite. Consequently, this study indicated the high potential of blended Mil-Den/PES-based membranes in water treatment. • New PES-based membranes have been prepared for contaminants removal from wastewater. • PAMAM dendrimers-f-Mil-125(Ti) nanocomposite produces highly efficient membranes. • High water flux (up to 287.6 L/m2/h) observed for 1 wt% Mil-Den blended membrane. • Membranes exhibited excellent ability in contaminants separation from water. • PES/Mil-Den membranes showed outstanding antifouling potential during filtration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have stated that the scapulohumeral rhythm dysfunction can make person prone to glenohumeral joint pathologies. The purpose of this study was to compare scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm between dominant and non-dominant shoulder in male overhead athletes and non-athletes. Seventeen overhead athletes and seventeen non-athletes volunteered for this study. Two inclinometers were used to measure humeral abduction and scapular upward rotation in rest position, 45°, 90° and 135° humeral abduction in frontal plane. Findings indicated there was no significant asymmetry in scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm in different abduction angles between dominant and non-dominant shoulder in non-athletes. In contrast, overhead athletes' dominant shoulders have more downward rotation in scapular rest position and more upward rotation in 90° and 135° shoulder abduction than non-dominant shoulders. Also, overhead athletes presented scapulohumeral rhythm asymmetry between dominant and non-dominant shoulder in 90° and 135° humeral abduction as dominant shoulders have less scapulohumeral rhythm ratio than non-dominant shoulders. Furthermore, overhead athletes dominant shoulders have more scapular downward rotation in scapular rest position, more scapular upward rotation in 90° and 135° humeral abduction and less scapulohumeral rhythm ratio in 45°, 90° and 135° humeral abduction than non-athletes in dominant shoulders. We suggest that clinicians should be aware that some scapular asymmetry may be common in some athletes. It should not be considered as a pathological sign but rather an adaptation to extensive use of upper limb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, adaptive robust control (ARC) of fully-constrained cable driven parallel robots is studied in detail. Since kinematic and dynamic models of the robot are partly structurally unknown in practice, in this paper an adaptive robust sliding mode controller is proposed based on the adaptation of the upper bound of the uncertainties. This approach does not require pre-knowledge of the uncertainties upper bounds and linear regression form of kinematic and dynamic models. Moreover, to ensure that all cables remain in tension, proposed control algorithm benefit the internal force concept in its structure. The proposed controller not only keeps all cables under tension for the whole workspace of the robot, it is chattering-free, computationally simple and it does not require measurement of the end-effector acceleration. The stability of the closed-loop system with proposed control algorithm is analyzed through Lyapunov second method and it is shown that the tracking error will remain uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is examined through some experiments on a planar cable driven parallel robot and it is shown that the proposed controller is able to provide suitable tracking performance in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In reverse engineering it may be required to perform multiple digitizing due to the size and part complexity. Registration process for point clouds is to find the geometric transform between them in which all point clouds are transformed into a single absolute coordinate system. The process of registration is strongly affected by inaccurate data and may fail in the case of noisy data, hence other methods are usually sought to find the transformation matrix. This paper tries to solve the problem in practical applications. The Nelder-Mead and Gravitational Search Algorithm methods were employing for point clouds registration for the first time. The registration was also performed using Singular value decomposition and Genetic Algorithm methods. The four methods were compared in terms of convergence, accuracy and computation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, in order to prevent chronic stress from causing irreparable damage, it is imperative to diagnose and treat it in its early stages. Using the Internet of Things (IoT) and automated learning methods in homes, creating an intelligent environment can help identify stress-related emotions. An approach to stress detection based on metaheuristic fuzzy inference system-based learning (fMFiS-L) and emotion recognition is presented in this paper. Accordingly, our study focuses on the use of fusion learning to diagnose stress using the healthcare system and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) for smart homes. Music videos were shown to participants in the first stage to arouse emotional states such as anger, anxiety, and depression. Volunteers were divided into two groups, with one group practicing Reiki meditation for two weeks. The EEG signals were recorded before and after meditation, stress levels were assessed using the Likert scale, and emotions were classified using the modified fusion fuzzy inference system. In addition, a method is presented for determining the optimal parameters in the fMFiS-L structure by optimizing the innovative gunner algorithm (AIG). We conclude that Reiki meditation can significantly reduce negative emotions and stress levels in the IoMT environment of smart homes. Furthermore, the fMFiS-L architecture was evaluated for generalization of emotion recognition based on unseen EEG data. Generally, the classification of emotions produced satisfactory results, with a 92% accuracy rate. • In the smart building, the internet of medical things (IoMT) enables emotion-aware connected healthcare. • The model uses fusion learning to assess stress in the healthcare system for smart homes. • A fusion of metaheuristic fuzzy inference system-based learning (fMFiS-L) and stress detection is proposed. • Reiki meditation can be used in smart homes to reduce negative emotions and stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper dynamic analysis and robust PID control of fully-constrained cable driven parallel manipulators are studied in detail. Since in this class of manipulators cables should remain in tension for all maneuvers in their workspace, feedback control of such robots becomes more challenging than that of conventional parallel robots. In this paper, structured and unstructured uncertainties in dynamics of the robot are considered and a robust PID controller is proposed for the cable robot. To ensure that all cables remain in tension internal force concept is used in the proposed PID control algorithm. Then, robust stability of the closed-loop system with proposed control algorithm is analyzed through Lyapunov direct method and it is shown that by suitable selection of the PID controller gains, the closed-loop system would be robustly stable. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed PID algorithm is examined through experiments on a planar cable driven robot and it is shown that the proposed control structure is able to provide suitable performance in practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Mil-125(Ti)-CS nanocomposite was successfully synthesized and characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Then, to improve the membrane performance, the synthesized Mil-125(Ti)-CS nanocomposite was embedded into the polyethersulfone (PES) membrane matrix. The nanofiltration membranes were fabricated via phase inversion method. Presence of chitosan in the structure of Mil-125(Ti) has increased the compatibility of nanoparticles with the polymer and also improved the hydrophilicity of the resulted membranes. The water contact angle of bare membrane (58°) was reduced to 40° by blending of 1 wt% nanocomposite led to increasing the pure water flux. However, the incorporation of more than 1 wt% of the nanocomposite caused the accumulation of nanocomposites and this was reduced the pore radius and permeability. The membrane containing 1 wt% nanocomposite was displayed the highest flux recovery ratio (FRR) ∼ 98% in bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration. The membranes containing Mil-125(Ti)-CS also showed good performance against fouling. The performance of membranes was evaluated by treatment of six reactive dyes, antibiotic (cefixime), heavy metal, NaCl and Na 2 SO 4 solutions. Addition of Mil-125(Ti)-CS NPs at low concentrations resulted in membranes with high pure water flux, higher separation efficiency, and remarkable anti-fouling behavior. [Display omitted] • New NF membrane prepared by synthesized Mil-125(Ti)/Chitosan nanocomposite. • SEM showed uniform size and more compatible structure for synthesized nanocomposite. • High surface wettability and flux observed for the PES-Mil-125(Ti)/Cs membranes. • Modified membranes displayed outstanding antifouling ability & FRR on BSA filtration. • Blended membranes showed good potential in dye, antibiotic, heavy metal ion removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the use of time-adaptive self-organizing map (TASOM)-based active contour models (ACMs) for detecting the boundaries of the human eye sclera and tracking its movements in a sequence of images. The task begins with extracting the head boundary based on a skin-color model. Then the eye strip is located with an acceptable accuracy using a morphological method. Eye features such as the iris center or eye corners are detected through the iris edge information. TASOM-based ACM is used to extract the inner boundary of the eye. Finally, by tracking the changes in the neighborhood characteristics of the eye-boundary estimating neurons, the eyes are tracked effectively. The original TASOM algorithm is found to have some weaknesses in this application. These include formation of undesired twists in the neuron chain and holes in the boundary, lengthy chain of neurons, and low speed of the algorithm. These weaknesses are overcome by introducing a new method for finding the winning neuron, a new definition for unused neurons, and a new method of feature selection and application to the network. Experimental results show a very good performance for the proposed method in general and a better performance than that of the gradient vector field (GVF) snake-based method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A firefighter quadrotor is a type of drone that assists firefighters in extinguishing fires and protecting their lives from potential hazards. This article addresses the modeling and control of a novel firefighter quadrotor. This quadrotor is equipped with a hose and a water spraying mechanism for extinguishing fires. It also features tiltable rotors that enable motion decoupling. This particular structure of the quadrotor has not been previously investigated. The dynamic modeling of the system, which is performed using the Newton-Euler method, considers the effects of rotor tilt capability and variations in mass, moment of inertia, and center of mass due to the load carrying. Next, Three controllers are designed: PID, adaptive sliding mode, and super-twisting integral sliding mode, and their stability is proved using the Lyapunov second method. Two simulation scenarios are then conducted to assess the performance of the controllers in the firefighting mission of high-rise buildings under uncertainty and disturbance. The simulation results demonstrate that the super-twisting integral sliding mode controller outperforms the other two in terms of error reduction and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the corrosion and wear-resistant coatings including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (RGO), TiC, and TiB 2 as GO/RGO/TiC/TiB 2 nanocomposite was applied on Ti–6Al–4V alloy through electrical discharge coating. Characterizations of coatings were accomplished by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), pin on disk, microhardness, potentiodynamic polarization, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results show not only corrosion resistance of the substrate owing to the barrier layer effect of graphene increase up to 19 times but also the coefficient of friction (COF) can be effectively reduced from 0.35 on the substrate to 0.2 on the coating. These modifications are verifying the positive effect of TiC/TiB 2 and graphene in the coating. • The coating of GO/RGO/TiC/TiB 2 nanocomposite was applied on Ti–6Al–4V alloy through electrical discharge coating. • The coefficient of friction (COF) can be effectively reduced from 0.35 on the substrate to 0.2 in the desired coating. • Corrosion resistance increases up to 19 times rather than the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a novel emerging prognostic biomarker in different cancers, especially in breast cancer. However, there is limited information about the association of PRLR expression and triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) prognosis. In this study, 80 TNBC patients were evaluated for PRLR expression by immunohistochemistry. The correlation of PRLR expression with clinicopathological features, patient recurrence, and survival was investigated. PRLR expression was considered positive if >10% of tumor cells were stained. The Fisher's exact test was used to analyze PRLR expression relation with the clinicopathological parameters. Survival distribution was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Positive immunoreactivity for PRLR was observed in 50 out of 80 (62%) specimens. Although expression of PRLR was associated with TNBC patients' stage, no-correlation was observed between its expression and tumor size, grade, lymph node status, and Ki-67 expression. In addition, patients with positive expression of PRLR exhibited lower recurrence (P = 0.0027) and higher overall survival (P = 0.0285) in comparison with negative expression group. In multivariate analyses, positive expression of PRLR was an independent prognostic marker for lower recurrence (P < 0.001) and higher overall survival (P < 0.001). Therefore, PRLR plays a crucial role in TNBC and has to be considered as an independent prognostic biomarker for TNBC patients. • Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) is known due to worse prognosis among all breast cancer subtypes. • Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a possible prognostic marker in TNBC. • PRLR was associated with recurrence, overall survival and the stage of TNBC patients. • Positive PRLR expression was associated with higher overall survival. • Lower recurrence was observed in patients with positive expression of PRLR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The World Health Organization seeks to achieve the goal of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030 and lack of general knowledge about viral hepatitis seems to be a barrier to reaching this goal. This study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among Iranian health sciences students in 12 Iranian medical sciences universities using a national survey. Methods This survey was conducted during the second Hepatitis Awareness Campaign, which was held during the Iranian National Hepatitis Week (October 22-28, 2016). Students who visited our booths and were willing to participate in our survey were selected using convenience sampling and their HBV- and HCV-related KAP were evaluated. Results Two thousand one hundred fifty-six health sciences students with mean age of 21.24 years participated in our survey. The mean KAP scores were 7.35 (out of 10), 4.88 (possible score, –20 to +20), and 5.67 (out of 9). Students with experience of accidental exposures to blood (21.6%) had better KAP scores compared with the students without such experiences. The mean KAP scores were associated with subjects' year of education, field of study, university, and province ( P  < .05). Conclusions Our study showed that HBV- and HCV-related KAP in a sample of Iranian health sciences students was not satisfying. The results also demonstrated priority of needing intervention regarding KAP in some subject areas, lower years of education, and some universities compared with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Aim Recent studies highlight barriers of diabetes educational programs in Iran and also present some successful experiences carried out for improving the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of type-2 diabetic patients. Hence, evaluation of patients’ KAP seems to be needed. We designed a multicenter study evaluating level of KAP in type-2 diabetic patients in the capital city of Tehran and identifying variables that affect this KAP level. Methods This multicenter analytical cross-sectional study was approved by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee. Questionnaires were designed for evaluation of diabetes-related KAP in patients. After validating the questionnaires by endocrinologists, test–retest method was used for questionnaire reliability by checking in 15 diabetic patients. Two hundred type-2 diabetic patients admitted to 4 hospitals of Tehran filled out the questionnaires. Using SPSS software, the level of KAP and its confounders were evaluated in patients. Results Two hundred type-2 diabetic patients with the mean age of 60.17 years were evaluated (106 male and 94 female). The mean diabetes duration was 13.06 years. The levels of patients’ good knowledge, attitude, and practice were 61.41%, 50.44% and 52.23%, respectively. Age, treatment methods, DM duration, and existence of diabetic retinopathy had significant correlations with KAP level. Conclusions The results of this study showed that recent educational programs in Iran improved KAP level. Patients’ KAP increases as their condition worsens/progresses. Hence education should be considered as a priority for newly diagnosed patients and those with lower KAP levels before occurrence of diabetes complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, model reference adaptive control of a pneumatically actuated soft robot has been studied in detail. To deal with the effects of system uncertainties, in the proposed control scheme, parametric uncertainties and input constraints are taken into account. To design such a controller, based on experimental analysis, the robot has been modeled as a second-order Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) system. Then, the dominant dynamics are presented as a Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) system, while uni-directional input constraint has been considered as a critical issue in the control scheme design. Furthermore, to compensate parametric uncertainties as well as unmodeled dynamics, adaptive laws are modified. Finally, the effectiveness is studied in different scenarios on an experimental platform to validate our claims. Moreover, to show the proposed approach capabilities and performance, the proposed controller has been compared with a PID and a recent sophisticated robust-adaptive controller, which presented a new formulation to achieve a better tracking performance with guaranteed stability in the presence of different constraints and unmodeled dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]