Search

Time synchronization among smart city nodes is critical for proper functioning and coordinating various smart city systems and applications. It ensures that different devices and systems in the smart city network are synchronized and all the data generated by these devices is consistent and accurate. Synchronization methods in smart cities use multiple timestamp exchanges for time skew correction. The Skew Integrated Timestamp (SIT) proposed here uses a timestamp, which has time skew calculated from the physical layer and uses just one timestamp to synchronize. The result from the experiment suggests that SIT can be used in place of multiple timestamp exchanges, which saves computational resources and energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a local observer‐based leader‐following consensus control of one‐sided Lipschitz (OSL) multi‐agent systems (MASs) under input saturation. The proposed consensus control scheme has been formulated by using the OSL property, input saturation, directed graphs, estimated states, and quadratic inner‐boundedness condition by attaining the regional stability. It is assumed that the graph always includes a (directed) spanning tree with respect to the leader root to develop matrix inequalities for investigating parameters of the proposed observer and consensus protocols. Further, a new observer‐based consensus tracking method for MASs with saturation, concerning independent topologies for communicating outputs and estimates over the network, is explored to deal with a more perplexing and realistic situation. In contrast to the traditional methods, the proposed consensus approach considers output feedback and deals with the input saturation for a generalized class of nonlinear systems. The efficiency of the obtained results is illustrated via application to a group of five moving agents in the Cartesian coordinates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Horizons / Ekonomski Horizonti is the property of Economic Horizons and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper proposes a static anti-windup compensator (AWC) design methodology for the locally Lipschitz nonlinear systems, containing time-varying interval delays in input and output of the system in the presence of actuator saturation. Static AWC design is proposed for the systems by considering a delay-range-dependent methodology to consider less conservative delay bounds. The approach has been developed by utilizing an improved Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, locally Lipschitz nonlinearity property, delay-interval, delay derivative upper bound, local sector condition, L2 gain reduction from exogenous input to exogenous output, improved Wirtinger inequality, additive time-varying delays, and convex optimization algorithms to obtain convex conditions for AWC gain calculations. In contrast to the existing results, the present work considers both input and output delays for the AWC design (along with their combined additive effect) and deals with a more generic locally Lipschitz class of nonlinear systems. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated via simulations for a nonlinear DC servo motor system, possessing multiple time-delays, dynamic nonlinearity and actuator constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern vehicles nowadays have many capabilities apart from the basic function of driving. These are now intelligent, smart, and can communicate over the Internet. A vehicle-to-everything (V2X) wireless network represents a network where vehicles communicate vital sensor data with other vehicles, pedestrians, and fixed infrastructure over the internet. There are various challenges in V2X communication that may affect the efficiency of autonomous devices, systems, and infrastructure. Of the many challenges, time synchronization among many devices in V2X networks is a key challenge. In a V2X network, all nodes within the network need to be time-synchronized; this is essential for task scheduling, computation off-loading, event sequencing, resource sharing, and efficient utilization of resources in the network. In recent works, many researchers have addressed time synchronization in V2X networks by considering multiple timestamps in order to estimate the time skew offset with varying results. In this paper, we consider a skew-based approach, namely, a single-timestamp skew correction (STSC) for time synchronization in V2X networks. The proposed method needs a single timestamp to estimate time skew at the hardware level with the help of physical-layer time synchronization using symbol timing recovery. Implementation results prove that the STSC accurately synchronizes the nodes in phase and frequency, therefore resulting in a greater accuracy and better energy savings in the V2X networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gilgit-Baltistan, a Northern Pakistani region, is the study's focus. This paper investigates the historical, social, and political factors contributing to sectarian violence in the area, including the role of ethnic and religious identities, geopolitical dynamics, and state policies. The research draws on various sources, including media reports, academic studies, and videos. The paper argues that sectarianism in Gilgit-Baltistan is a multifaceted and multidimensional phenomenon that requires a nuanced understanding of local contexts and dynamics. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for policymakers and community leaders to address the root causes of sectarianism and promote peaceful coexistence in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as an unforeseen challenge for head and neck cancer care providers. A similar challenge is also faced by other oncological fields, but the severity of this challenge is highest in otolaryngology because of the need for additional precautionary measures and curbs on the possibility of aerosol forming interventions related to the upper aerodigestive tract. In this narrative review, provision of ethical and consistent care on moral and professional grounds to head and neck cancer patients during the pandemic are discussed for professionals who provide head and neck oncology care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how market structure affects the transmission of monetary policy through the policy's effects on the bank lending channel in the Chinese banking system. By using structural and nonstructural measures of market structure, we also examined how bank responses are affected by heterogeneity. An unbalanced panel was constructed for 122 Chinese banks using annual data from 2000 to 2014. A dynamic model using two-step system GMM gave results indicating that, for both structural and nonstructural measures, banks with greater market power and increased concentration in the market tend to weaken the monetary policy transmission via the bank lending channel. This result holds while accounting for different bank characteristics such as size, liquidity, and capitalisation. In the Chinese banking market, banks which are well capitalised and have good liquidity position are much more insulated from any shifts in monetary policy because they have alternative sources of funds and have buffers of capital to meet the bank loan supply needs. Ownership structure also plays an important role in weakening the transmission effect through the bank lending channels of joint-equity and city commercial banks. These results are shown to be robust by considering an alternative measure of monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Oto-Laryngologica is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Humanity has faced several foes over the centuries, a formidable one amongst them is the current pandemic of COVID-19. The symptoms of COVID-19 are more or less related to the nose and throat. Therefore, patients more often present to Ear Nose Throat (ENT) clinics with symptoms including cough, sore throat, fever and shortness of breath. In the management of head and neck pathologies, as the airway is a direct source of infection, the impact of COVID-19 holds special significance. This review has attempted to explain the various aspects of the disease itself, its diagnosis, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to provide an overview of the evolving recommendations in head and neck patients, the future outlook and the limitations faced in developing countries specifically for ENT patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral tongue is found to be the most common intraoral subsite with worse prognosis despite the use of multimodality treatments. Extensive resections have resulted in loss of form and function of tongue in advanced tumors. The objective of the study was to analyze the role of induction chemotherapy (IC) in intermediate to advanced staged oral tongue cancer for organ preservation and survival outcome in a developing country. Materials and Methods: The records of oral tongue cancer patients treated from 2007 to 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Eighty-one oral tongue cancer patients with advanced stage were treated using induction arm in 10 years. The median follow-up was 24 months with 3- and 5-year survival of 77% and 58%, respectively. IC has an overall response in 87% of the patients at primary site. The chemotherapy has completely resolved the nodal disease in 17% of the patients, but 23% of the patients had failed to respond. Only 21% of the patients received reconstruction using local or regional flaps. Conclusion: IC has shown encouraging results in advanced staged oral tongue cancers with function preservation and improved survival outcome in less privileged high-volume centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the role of various factors in the bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission. Using annual data (2000–2012) from the Chinese banking industry, the result of this study suggest that bank lending channel neither operates through balance sheet characteristics nor through bank risk. However, this study provides significant evidence of the lending channel operates through the market structure. The market power undermines the effect of monetary policy on bank lending. The results have important policy implications for the Chinese banking industry. Although higher competition raises concerns about financial stability, however, in this case, higher market power has a detrimental effect on bank lending channel and monetary policy transmission. Such results may argue pro-competitive policy in the Chinese banking market so that the desired objective of monetary policy can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article addresses a novel technique for the simultaneous design of a robust nonlinear controller and static anti‐windup compensator (AWC) for uncertain nonlinear systems under actuator saturation and exogenous L2 bounded input. The system is presumed to have locally Lipschitz nonlinearities, time‐varying uncertainties (appearing both in the linear as well as nonlinear dynamics and both in the state in addition to the output equations), and external norm‐bounded inputs both in the state and the output equations. Several bilinear matrix inequality–based conditions are derived to simultaneously design the robust nonlinear controller and AWC gains for uncertain nonlinear systems by employing the Lyapunov functional, reformulated Lipschitz property, uncertainty bounds, linear parameter‐varying approach, modified local and global sector conditions, iterative linear matrix inequality algorithm, convex optimization procedure, and L2 gain minimization. The proposed multiobjective AWC‐based dynamic robust nonlinear controller guarantees the mitigation of saturation effects, robustness against time‐varying parametric norm‐bounded uncertainties, the asymptotic stability of the closed‐loop nonlinear system under zero external disturbances, and the attenuation of disturbance effects under nonzero external disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed AWC‐based dynamic robust nonlinear controller synthesis scheme is illustrated by simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the robust nonlinear dynamic antiwindup compensator (AWC) design for nonlinear systems with parametric uncertainties and one-sided Lipschitz nonlinearities under actuator saturation. A decoupling architecture for a full-order AWC is proposed for the case of parametric uncertainties. AWC synthesis scheme is derived by employing the quadratic Lyapunov function, the notion of quadratic inner-boundedness, the one-sided Lipschitz condition, sector condition, and ${{\mathcal L}_2}$ gain minimization. An algorithm, based on the convex routines, by employing the cone complementary linearization, recursive computation, and a bilinear term resolving approach is provided for obtaining the AWC parameters. In contrast to the existing nonlinear AWC designs, our results provide a remedy to the input saturation for a widespread class of nonlinear systems and can effectively deal with the parametric uncertainties. The suggested AWC methodology is employed to compensate windup in the buck–boost converter and one-link flexible robot with revolute joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing importance of transparency practices and the improving status of bank competition in China are rarely explored in nonperforming loans (NPLs) literature. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine banking system transparency and competition along with macroeconomic and bank-specific variables as determinants of NPL. We use the two-step system GMM dynamic panel model for Chinese banks based on annual data from 2000 to 2014. Our results indicate that high transparency in the Chinese banking system decreases poor-quality assets but not in the case of government-owned banks, whereas increase in competition increases NPL. Moreover, we find mixed results in the context of macroeconomics and bank-specific variables. Our study has practical implications in risk management practices and macro prudential policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the novel architectures׳ formulation and linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based design of dynamic nonlinear anti-windup compensator (AWC) for nonlinear time-delay systems with continuous interval time-varying delays under input saturation. An internal model control (IMC)-based AWC architecture is suggested for stable nonlinear time-delay systems and, in addition, a decoupling AWC architecture, applicable to a broader class of nonlinear time-delay systems, is proposed for compensation of the undesirable saturation effects. Further, a correspondent decoupled architecture is derived and recommended for characterizing the delayed nonlinear AWC synthesis goals. By employing Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, local sector condition, Lipschitz condition, L 2 gain minimization, and the delay-interval information, several sufficient conditions are derived for the design of nonlinear time-delay AWC. Numerical examples for FitzHugh–Nagumo neuron and Hopfield neural network under input saturation and time-delay are presented to reveal effectiveness of the proposed anti-windup approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of foreign bank presence on the behaviour of domestic banks by using the annual data of 37 commercial banks comprising of 7 foreign and 30 domestic banks for the time period of 2007 to 2011. We investigated how net interest margin, return on assets, overhead costs, cost to income and nonperforming loans are effected by the foreign bank presence. We have used panel regression analysis employing bank specific fixed effect model. As a developing country case, the results suggest that the increase in foreign bank share effects the interest margins and profitability of domestic banks in a decreasing manner. It wouldn't be erroneous to express that foreign banks have a positive effect on the competitive environment of domestic banks increasing overall banking standard in Pakistan, the licensing policies should be further liberalized to let new entrants further improve the domestic financial intermediation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is an attempt to investigate the nature of competition and market contestability of 35 Pakistani banks for the period of 2007-2011 by employing Panzar and Rosse (PR-model). The test of competition overall sample (2007-2011) suggest that banks in Pakistan in state of monopolistic competition and market is in equilibrium. The sub sample (2007-2009) result of competition and equilibrium are similar as for sample period (2007-2011) suggesting that revenue produced during this period is state of monopolistic competition. Finally the results of sample period (2010-2011) suggest that banks in Pakistan are instate of perfect competition however, the market in not in long-run equilibrium. The results have interesting policy implications; it is suggested to encourage the foreign banks presence to improve the competitive condition of banking industry so that to ensure the exit and entrance of banks in the industry to increase the competition and produce the variety of product to improve banks performance and customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used disaggregated approach to test the validity of J-curve theory for Pakistan in bilateral trade with United Kingdom and United States, as these are the major trading partners of Pakistan having forty percent trade contribution to the total trade of Pakistan. The disaggregated approach is applied in order to avoid the aggregation bias and to captures the response of individual country price and income by calculating the real effective exchange rate for these countries. The separate equations have been estimated for each country. The vector error correction model has applied to find the impact of exchange rate depreciation on trade balance. The Johansen co-integration test is applied to test the long run relationship among the variables, trade balance, domestic gross domestic product and foreign gross domestic product and real effective exchange rate. To analyze the response of trade balance to exchange rate, impulse response analysis has used. The study support that Pakistan's trade balance follows J-curve pattern in bilateral trade with UK and USA. The cointegration results support the existence of long run relationship of exchange rate and trade balance which is quite clear from the existence of J-curve pattern. In short run the exchange rate depreciation has worsened the trade balance. Combining the short run and long run analysis with the help of impulse response we found support of existence of J-curve in trade of Pakistan with both UK and USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates a new strategy for designing the local static anti-windup (AW) compensator for nonlinear systems with one-sided Lipschitz (OSL) nonlinearities under saturating actuators and exogenous disturbances. The static AW strategy is designed such that the resulting closed-loop system with OSL nonlinearity, actuator saturation, and exogenous disturbance is stable and the region of attraction can be maximized. Inequalities based conditions are formulated for the static AW gain design by using Lyapunov stability theory, sector condition, L 2 gain reduction, OSL inequality, and quadratic inner-bounded (QIB) condition. The proposed AW technique is simpler to design, straightforward to implement and deals with a broader class of systems in contrast to conventional methods. An application example demonstrates that the proposed static AW can successfully mitigate the saturation consequences in OSL nonlinear systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. Neck dissection is performed in patients with head and neck cancer to remove lymph nodes harboring cancer cells. Accessory nerve travels through the neck and is encountered during neck dissection. Damage to this nerve causes shoulder dysfunction. Shoulder dysfunction after neck dissection has been reported in studies. Head and Neck cancer surgery is a common procedure that we are performing at our institute, and it is very common of patients to complain of shoulder pain after neck dissections. We did this study to find out how significant the problem of shoulder dysfunction is in our patients after neck dissections so that necessary steps can be taken to overcome this problem. OBJECTIVES: To describe the changes in shoulder function scores after neck dissections at 12 weeks and 24 weeks. To see the association of different types of neck dissections with shoulder dysfunction. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study conducted at section of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital with a sample size of 19. Our primary outcome was shoulder dysfunction. This was measured using the Constant Murley Shoulder Score. The score was assessed at baseline and 12 weeks post operatively. The mean baseline scores were compared to those at 12 weeks. One observer assessed all the patients for the score to eliminate inter observer variation. Data analysis was done using SPSS 19. Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied to compare the median scores at baseline and 12 weeks. Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare shoulder dysfunction in different types of neck dissections. RESULTS: We had a sample size of 19. Median age was 52 years. 12 patients were male and 7 patients were female. There were 8 modified radical neck dissections and 11 selective neck dissections. Median Constant score at baseline was 96 with interquartile range of 3. Median Constant score at 12 weeks was 78 with interquartile range of 19.This was statistically significant with p-value of 0.00There was significantly more dysfunction in patients with modified radical neck dissection as compared to selective neck dissections and this was also statistically significant. CONCLUSION: This shows that there is a significant shoulder dysfunction at 12 weeks after neck dissections There was less shoulder dysfunction in patients undergoing selective neck dissections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]