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Primary irrational beliefs, such as demanding about attaining personal goals, are a common trans-diagnostic factor involved in many emotional disorders. Although Bipolar Disorder (BPD) is a severe emotional disorder, little is known about the role of primary irrational beliefs in the risk of BPD. Given that the risk for mania is related to responses to positive rather than adverse events, we developed a measure of irrational beliefs in response to cues of positive events. This is the first study that examines the relationship between positive primary irrational beliefs and the risk of BPD. 119 participants completed an online survey including measures for the risk of BPD, irrational beliefs, positive irrational beliefs, mania-related cognitions, and mood measures (depressive and manic mood). Results revealed significant associations between the risk of BPD and positive primary irrational beliefs, irrational beliefs, positive generalization, and mood. Regression analyses revealed that positive primary irrational beliefs, such as demanding to attain significant goals in response to cues for positive events, uniquely predict the risk for BPD independently of mood, mania-related cognitions and irrational beliefs. These findings encourage the treatment approaches focused on restructuring primary irrational beliefs in response to positive situations to reduce the risk of BPD.

Objective: To compare the change in immunogenic response, safety and efficacy of insulin glargine in Glaritus® and Lantus® treatment arms from baseline to six months in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) uncontrolled on oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs). Material and methods: In an ongoing prospective, open-label, randomized, parallel-group, comparative, multicenter, phase IV study, adult patients with uncontrolled T2DM are treated with either Glaritus® once daily or Lantus® once daily for six months, both given subcutaneously. Glaritus® treatment arm is to be continued for another six months. The primary endpoint for the study was the percentage change in anti-insulin antibodies (AIA) titer to glargine in both treatment arms from baseline to six months. Results: Ninety patients were randomized to each group. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the groups (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in percent change in the AIA titer between the two treatment arms at the end of six months in ITT (intent-to-treat) and mITT(modified intent to treat) population (LS mean diff [95% CI]: 2.2% (-15.1%, 19.6%), p=0.7987 and 3.4% (-15.1%, 21.9%), p=0.7181, respectively). No significant between-group difference was seen in change in the HbA1c level at the end of six months in ITT and mITT population [LS mean diff (95% CI): -0.2 (-0.4, 0.0), p=0.1072 for ITT population; and -0.1 (-0.3, 0.1), p=0.2283, for mITT population]. There was also no significant difference between two groups for the incidence of adverse events [Glaritus® 17 (18.9%) and Lantus® 20 (22.2%) p=0.5800]. Conclusion: Glaritus® was found to be non-inferior to Lantus® in glycaemic control and comparable in immunogenic response and safety at the end of six months in patients with T2DM uncontrolled on OADs.

In this paper, a hybrid energy storage system (HESS), combining a battery and a supercapacitor (SC), is studied for dispatching solar power at one hour increments for an entire day for 1 MW grid connected photovoltaic (PV) arrays. HESS relies on PV for charging and not the grid, and hence is immune to fluctuating electricity prices. The battery and SC are intended to supply predetermined constant power, but not to provide ancillary services for the grid operation. To develop a cost-effective energy storage system, a low pass filter (LPF) is used to allocate the power between a battery and a SC. The best cost of the energy storage is calculated based on the time constant of the LPF through extensive simulations. Several rule-based algorithms based on the battery state of charge (SOC) are developed to estimate the grid reference power for each one-hour dispatching period. An economic comparison of using different kinds of the algorithms for estimating the grid reference power are also presented in this study. The objective is to better understand the annual energy storage cost for hourly dispatching solar power. The actual solar data of four different days as a representative of each season recorded at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are used in the simulations. The relationship between the actual PV cell temperature and the ambient temperature in power output calculations are also considered and their effects on energy storage price calculations are presented in this paper.

This paper demonstrates a dispatching scheme of slider-crank wave energy converter (WEC) power generation using two different kinds of energy storage components, namely, Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery and Supercapacitors (SC). The performance of the two energy storage components has been compared in order to develop the most economical energy storage system for WEC hourly dispatching scheme. The cost optimization of the energy storage system considering both cycling and calendar aging expenses is made based on its usage of depth of discharge. In this study, extensive simulation is conducted in MATLAB/Simulink platform, and it is found that SC is a better solution than Li-ion battery in terms of economic assessment for hourly dispatching WEC power.

Motivated by the future of clean energy sources and storage systems, the purpose of this research is to evaluate the ability to combine nuclear and solar photovoltaic generation systems as well as an energy storage system in order to meet the demand of an electric power system load. While nuclear power generation has been around for decades, renewable energy is becoming more popular as technologies begin to become more affordable. In addition, energy storage is still the most expensive component of this equation. A case study was conducted by using an example load pattern for various time periods in a year that is gathered from a North Carolina electric utility. A scalable nuclear power source (such as NuScale) was assumed to supply a constant and continuous power level. A range for solar farm size was selected, and the solar output was calculated by gathering the solar irradiance data from Oak Ridge National Laboratories. The energy storage system capacity for a select nuclear and solar farm size was later determined. These calculations were executed in a MATLAB environment. By comparing energy storage system capacities for a range of nuclear and solar farm sizes, one can determine that renewable resources alone, will not be able to provide enough flexibility to meet the demand of large-scale loads. Our calculations specifically showed that solar PV operation alone results in 9560 MWh energy storage capacity. However, an optimized solar PV and nuclear hybrid generation scheme reduced the energy capacity requirement significantly (by approximately a factor of 13). Utilities are using energy storage systems comprised of batteries like lithium-ion due to their ideal and decreasing price range. Optimizing the size of generation plants and reducing the battery capacity eases the economic impact of variable load demands.

In this paper, an effective control method of using a rack and pinion type power take-off system is discussed, and the performance of the whole system is analyzed. The bidirectional motion of the pinion is converted into unidirectional motion by applying the ratcheting method. This increases the overall efficiency of the system. A wave energy converter containing a buoy and a mechanical motion rectifier (MMR) based rack and pinion mechanism are designed and simulated in MATLAB Simulink environment. This system consists of a buoy that is semi-submerged into the water. The ocean waves exert force on the submerged buoy. The up and down movement of the buoy is then converted into unidirectional rotation by rack and pinion mechanism. Through a gearbox, this rotational motion drives the generator to produce electricity. The control strategy keeps the generator's velocity and waves excitation force in resonance. Time-domain system analysis is applied for solving the equation of motion that describes the relationship between the buoy motion and hydrodynamic forces with regular waves. The simulation results for the regular ocean waves are presented and compared with another state-of-the-art power take-off system.

Due to the irregular nature of real waves, the power captured in a wave energy converter (WEC) system is highly variable. This is an important barrier to the effective use of WECs. To address this challenge, this study focuses on a rotational WEC power-take-off system in which high-speed and high-efficiency generators along with a torque/power smoothing inertia element can be effectively utilized. In the first phase of this study, the U.S. Department of Energy’s reference model 3 (WEC-Sim RM3; two-body point absorber), along with a slider-crank WEC, were integrated for linear to rotational conversion. Relative motion between the float and spar in RM3 was the driving force for this slider-crank WEC, which is connected to a motor/generator set through a gearbox. RM3 geometry was scaled down by 25 times to work within the limits of the physical motor/generator set used in the experimentation. Once the integration in a hardware-in-the-loop simulation environment was successfully completed, data on the peak-to-average power ratio was collected for various wave conditions including regular and irregular waves. The control algorithm designed to keep the system in resonance with waves was able to maintain relatively high speed depending on the specific gear ratio and wave period. Initial results with hardware-in-the-loop simulations reveal that gear ratio and crank radius have a strong impact on the peak-to-average power ratio. In addition, it was found that output power from the generator was maximized at a larger gear ratio, as the crank radius was increased.

This paper investigates the factors that affect the Peak to Average Ratio (PTAR) and Mean Power (MP) for the Slider Crank Wave Energy Converter (SCWEC). The goal study is to reduce the PTAR while maximizing the MP. The PTAR needs to be reduced, because the generator that converts wave energy to electricity for the grid would become more efficient and less costly. During the process of minimizing the PTAR, the impact on MP production should be minimized, since producing usable power is the main purpose of any generation mechanism. In this paper, a few system parameters affecting the PTAR and the MP are investigated. In this analysis, these parameters are applied to multiple models of the system, and the results are recorded and compared. It is observed that the best combination of the PTAR and the MP can be determined under regular wave conditions.

This study describes research in the area of load following with nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants cannot continuously adjust their output due to reactor operation limitations. An energy storage system must be coupled with nuclear generation to account for changes in load demand. The first step in this study is the design and implementation of a power controller (an emulator for a scaled down system). This includes detailed design of the DSP controller, power electronics stage, and load. Introduction to the research, procedures involved, data acquired, and results are summarized in this extended abstract.

Limited studies have investigated the effect of vegetation growth and evapotranspiration (Etr) on desiccation parameter – crack intensity factor (CIF) considering a single species. Moreover, the role of inherent shoot parameters [stomatal conductance (SC) and photosynthetic yield (Y-II)] is generally ignored, leaving gaps in the authors’ understanding of its effects on CIF. This letter monitors and quantifies the effects of plant parameters [SC, Y-II, Etr and vegetation density (VD)] on soil suction and consequent CIF for a native mixed grass species. The vegetation undergoes eight drying cycles in compacted soil under natural environmental conditions and controlled irrigation scheduling. It is seen that the grass species helped reducing the maximum CIF of bare soil by 20%. A VD growth of 40% restricts further increase in CIF. The measured Etr of the vegetation is found to be very low in the study and potentially not induce additional transpiration-induced suction that can generate excessive cracks in crop species. Furthermore, the measured SC in the current vegetation species with respect to reported SC of crop species provides evidence that SC regulates a species’ ability to transpire and induce suction. The Y-II values did not give a conclusive idea of its role in soil crack propagation.

Objective: Present Phase IV Trial is aimed at evaluating the immunogenicity, safety, and efficacy of Wockhardt’s insulin glargine, Glaritus® in comparison with reference insulin glargine, Lantus® in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), inadequately controlled on oral hypoglycaemics. Setting: A head-to-head, prospective, open-label, parallel group, randomized, Phase IV, non-inferiority study over 6 months treatment conducted in 10 centres in India. Participants: Considering 20% drop-out rate, 180 subjects of either sex, age 18 - 55 years, diagnosed with T2DM with body mass index (BMI) 18 - 38 kg/m2 and HbA1c levels 8.0% - 10.0% inadequately controlled by 1 or more oral hypoglycaemics and according to investigator needed glargine treatment were enrolled in the study. Interventions: Subjects self-administered insulin glargine (Glaritus® or Lantus®) subcutaneously once daily for 6 months. Treatment in Glaritus® arm was continued till 12 months. Percentage change in anti-insulin antibody (AIA) titre and HbA1C was ascertained at every 3 months interval. The tests were performed at accredited central laboratory. Treat-to-target dose titration: Starting doses of Glaritus® and Lantus® was 10 units (or 0.2 units/kg) once daily. The target fasting blood glucose was 70 to 130 mg/dL. Daily glargine dose was titrated by ±10% based on average of last 3 FBG values being out of target range and presence of nocturnal hypoglycemia. Early data trends: First interim analysis was planned once 100 subjects complete visit 8 (6 months treatment). By then, 119 subjects (78 males and 41 females) with mean age 46.3 years were enrolled, of which 90 (75.6%) subjects had evaluable data. The results of analysis indicated trend of comparability between Glaritus® and Lantus® at the end of 6 months in terms of immunogenicity (% change in AIA titre from baseline, −10.52 ± 23.06 vs. 0.48 ± 63.95), glycemic control (change in HbA1c from baseline, −1.09% ± 1.29% vs. 0.63% ± 1.19%) and hypoglycemic events (reported by 1 vs. 2 patients), respectively. Conclusion: The present study represents a robust design in line with international guidelines on biosimilar insulin development and the early data trends presents expected similarity of Glaritus® in immunogenicity, efficacy and safety to that of Lantus® in treatment of T2DM.

The slider crank is a proven mechanical linkage system with a long history of successful applications, and the slider-crank ocean wave energy converter (WEC) is a type of WEC that converts linear motion into rotation. This paper presents a control algorithm for a slider-crank WEC. In this study, a time-domain hydrodynamic analysis is adopted, and an AC synchronous machine is used in the power take-off system to achieve relatively high system performance. Also, a rule-based phase control strategy is applied to maximize energy extraction, making the system suitable for not only regular sinusoidal waves but also irregular waves. Simulations are carried out under regular sinusoidal wave and synthetically produced irregular wave conditions; performance validations are also presented with high-precision, real ocean wave surface elevation data. The influences of significant wave height, and peak period upon energy extraction of the system are studied. Energy extraction results using the proposed method are compared to those of the passive loading and complex conjugate control strategies; results show that the level of energy extraction is between those of the passive loading and complex conjugate control strategies, and the suboptimal nature of this control strategy is verified.

This paper investigates a performance analysis of wave excitation force prediction to extract wave power for a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) based on auto regressive (AR) filters. To efficiently convert wave energy into electricity, the prediction of wave excitation forces to keep the generator and the wave excitation force in sync is important for maximum energy extraction. The study shows a prediction methodology of half period and zero crossings in the practical scenario of irregular ocean waves. The prediction has been tested for different wave periods and with different filter orders. The prediction results have been used in the PTOS simulation to analyze the energy extraction. It has been shown that the prediction accuracy in the wave half period between the truth data and the predicted data drives the WEC energy extraction efficiency. The amplitude of the wave force is not used and hence the prediction deviation in the wave force amplitude does not affect the PTOS energy extraction. Further analysis shows that the optimum energy can be extracted at 15th order filter with moderate prediction horizon length.

This paper presents a wave excitation force prediction methodology for a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) based on autoregressive filters. This study shows the feasibility of half period and zero crossing prediction of the irregular ocean waves to keep phase lock condition between the generator and the wave excitation force. This is critically important for unidirectional continuous rotation of the generator to maximize energy extraction. Results from the prediction with different filter orders are analyzed to accommodate real time processing requirements. It has been shown that 10th order filter provides the good compromise of accuracy and timely processing.

In this work, a novel model of a wave energy converter that utilizes a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) is simulated in a hardware-in-the-loop framework. The simulated parts in this framework include a buoy, slider crank linkage, and a gearbox. The slider crank linkage acting as the linear to rotary converter is represented by a DC motor coupled with a physical generator. With a regular sinusoidal wave excitation force in simulation, the hydrodynamic forces are converted into a torque, emulated by a physical motor that is directly coupled with another identical physical DC machine as the generator. By utilizing the dSPACE Control Desk software and the associated dSPACE hardware, the control algorithm in the device uses a power electronics board to drive the machines. The results show that the control system applied to the hardware-in-the-loop framework can successfully extract energy for a scaled down version of the proposed WEC device.

A prototype enclosure that is built for space heating was equipped with a resistive heater element and two temperature sensors. During a one-hour temperature regulation experiment, a Bang-Bang controller like those commonly used for residential heating control was used and the results were compared to a novel linear controller developed for the same purpose. The variables of comparison include temperatures and electrical power data. The study focuses on the linearization of the control system using a power electronics converter. The input of the converter must have linear relationship with the output power provided to the thermal system. Linearization was achieved by identifying a mathematical relationship that eliminates quadratic power function as well as converter's nonlinearity. This relationship was further implemented in the microcontroller. A second order linear mathematical model was later developed to identify and estimate the thermal circuit parameters utilizing a one-hour test facilitated through this new controller. Comparative results between simulation and experimental work validated the linearity of power control. Temperature disparity and input power characteristics were also improved using this new converter for controlling the space heater. The system developed is an important step toward energy savings, temperature improvements and demand side management for reducing peak demand.

This paper aims to develop a low-cost energy storage system by evaluating reference generation algorithms for dispatching solar power for 1 MW photovoltaic (PV) arrays. Based on battery state of charge (SOC), rule-based algorithms are developed to adjust the grid reference power for each one-hour dispatching period. In this paper, several rule-based algorithms are used to control the SOC of the battery that plays a significant role to design cost-effective energy storage system. The price comparison is made between two kinds of energy storage system (i) Battery only (ii) Battery+ Supercapacitor (SC), where a low pass filter is used to allocate power between battery and SC. The most economical energy storage system is developed through extensive simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The results show that the hybrid energy storage system (HESS), combination of battery and SC, outperforms a battery-only operation.

This paper presents the simulation results of a swarm of Kilobots optimized to find a given region of interest. In a previous paper the authors have shown that Neighborhood Particle Swarm Optimization (NPSO) is a viable candidate to deal with the constraints of Kilobots such as noise and limited communication range and have applied an NPSO control algorithm to Kilombo, a Kilobot simulator, which incorporates physical attributes of Kilobots. The physical attributes of Kilobots that had been ignored in the Matlab simulation earlier include the following: (1) The particles are assumed to be dimensionless, and hence they could overlap in space to all land at the optimum solution. (2) Kilobots can sense the range of its neighbor but lack the direct mapping capability to execute a movement using a displacement vector in the Cartesian coordinate. (3) (trilateration is possible but costly in computation and energy and hence not used). They cannot make instant moves or turns as required in the update steps of the Matlab simulations. The realistic physical constraints require adaptation of the NPSO algorithm, yielding a new NPSO-inspired movement control algorithm. Due to (1), Kilobots cannot overlap and all land at the best solution, instead, they will accumulate around the successful solution and stop the search. Therefore, the metric to determine success is adapted to represent the feasible ending state instead of exact accuracy for the Kilobots to have to all land at the best solution. (2) and (3) require that we change the discrete vector math in NPSO into a pseudo-continuous method. In this paper, we presented four algorithms by adding more and more factors to guide the Kilobot movement. Then, the simulation results in the Kilombo environment are evaluated and presented using convergence plots and success tables.

Amaç: Bu araştırma “Tıpta Uzmanlık Sınavı”na (TUS) hazırlanan tıp fakültesi öğrencisi ve pratisyen hekimlerde depresyon görülme sıklığını ve bu kişilerin sinir sistemi uyarıcıları, andepresanlar ve vitamin kullanıp kullanmadıklarını araştırmak için yapılmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Çalışma e-anket uygulanarak yapılmıştır. Toplam olarak 210 katılımcıya Beck Depresyon Ölçeği testi uygulanmış ve sonuçlar değerlendirilmiştir. Bulgular: Katılımcıların % 13.8’inde sınırda klinik depresyon, % 17.1’inde orta derecede depresyon, % 4.3’ünde şiddetli depresyon saptanmıştır. Tıp fakültesinden mezun olup daha önce TUS’a girmiş olan grupta depresyon oranı istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksektir (% 69). Kişilerin vitamin, amfetamin ya da antidepresif ilaçları daha önce kullanmış ya da halen kullanmakta olup olmadıkları araştırılmıştır. TUS’a hazırlık nedeniyle ilaç kullanma deneyimi yaşayanlar vitaminler için % 47.6, amfetamin için % 19, antidepresif ilaçlar için % 23,3 olarak bulunmuştur. Tıp fakültesinden mezun olup daha önce TUS’a girmiş ve tekrar girmek için çalışmaya devam eden grupta amfetamin ve antidepresif ilaç kullanımı dönem 5 ve 6 öğrencilerine göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde daha yüksek bulunmuştur. Sonuç: Çalışmada TUS’a hazırlanmanın depresyonu tetiklediği ve ilaç kullanımını arttırdığına ilişkin ipuçları elde edilmiştir., Aim: This study aimed to search depression and its relation with using central nervous system stimulants, antidepressant drugs and vitamins among the medical students and young physicians who were studying for the acceptance examination for medical specialty training. Methods: In this study e- questionnaire was used The participants were 210 medical students and graduates. Participants were given the Beck Depression Inventory e- questionnaire. Results: Out of 210 participants 13.8 % had borderline, 17.1 % had mild and 4.3 % had severe depression. Depression was statistically significant among the graduate group. As a total, the drug use experience were 47.6 % for vitamins, 19 % for amphetamines and 23,3 % for antidepressant drugs. The use of amphetamine and antidepressant drugs were significantly high in the graduate group. Conclusion: This study indicated evidences that the medical students and graduate physicians who are studying for the acceptance examination for medical specialty training are under the risk of depression.

This paper studies the optimum (most economical) scaling of a battery and supercapacitor hybrid storage for 1 MW photovoltaic (PV) arrays for a one hour dispatching period for an entire day. The optimization is based on the time constant of a low pass filter (LPF) that is used to allocate the power between a battery and a supercapacitor (SC). This paper also presents the price comparison between lead-acid and li-ion battery frameworks. Extensive simulations were conducted for thorough analysis of various hybrid energy storage system (HESS) combinations. According to the results, HESS outperforms battery or SC-only operation.