ABSTRACT
There are many inevitable disruptive events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and geopolitical conflicts, during the operation of the container port supply chain (CPSC). These events bring ship delays, port congestion and turnover inefficiency. In order to enhance the resilience of the CPSC, a modified two-stage CPSC system containing a container pretreatment system (CPS) and a container handling system (CHS) is built. A two-dimensional resilience index is designed to measure its affordability and recovery. An adaptive fuzzy double-feedback adjustment (AFDA) strategy is proposed to mitigate the disruptive effects and regulate its dynamicity. The AFDA strategy consists of the first-level fuzzy logic control system and the second-level adaptive fuzzy adjustment system. Simulations show the AFDA strategy outperforms the original system, PID, and two pipelines for improved dynamic response and augmented resilience. This study effectively supports the operations manager in determining the proper control policies and resilience management with respect to indeterminate container waiting delay and allocation delay due to disruptive effects.
ABSTRACT
Conventional enzyme-based continuous glucose sensors in interstitial fluid usually rely on dissolved oxygen as the electron-transfer mediator to bring electrons from oxidase to electrode while generating hydrogen peroxide. This may lead to several problems. First, the sensor may provide biased detection results owing to fluctuation of oxygen in interstitial fluid. Second, the polymer coatings that regulate the glucose/oxygen ratio can affect the dynamic response of the sensor. Third, the glucose oxidation reaction continuously produces corrosive hydrogen peroxide, which may compromise the long-term stability of the sensor. Here, we introduce an oxygen-independent nonenzymatic glucose sensor based on water splitting-assisted electrocatalysis for continuous glucose monitoring. For the water splitting reaction (i.e., hydrogen evolution reaction), a negative pretreatment potential is applied to produce a localized alkaline condition at the surface of the working electrode for subsequent nonenzymatic electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose. The reaction process does not require the participation of oxygen;therefore, the problems caused by oxygen can be avoided. The nonenzymatic sensor exhibits acceptable sensitivity, reliability, and biocompatibility for continuous glucose monitoring in hypoxic environments, as shown by the in vitro and in vivo measurements. Therefore, we believe that it is a promising technique for continuous glucose monitoring, especially for clinically hypoxic patients.
ABSTRACT
Structural health monitoring (SHM) has been recognized as a useful tool for experimentally assessing the structural behavior of historical buildings over time. If monitoring is performed continuously and for a long time, it allows to evaluate variations in the building’s dynamic response to external factors. The main goal is to estimate the dynamic response of the monitored buildings to daily stresses produced by environmental and anthropogenic factors (variations in ambient temperature and humidity, wind velocity, vibrations produced by vehicular traffic or other anthropogenic noise sources including visitors, service staff, etc.) to distinguish ordinary fluctuations in the buildings’ response from other anomalous behavior. Continuous monitoring also makes it possible to assess the impact of extraordinary events such as extreme weather events, earthquakes, excavations, cultural events involving many people nearby the monitored buildings. Some examples from the authors’ many monitoring campaigns on monuments located in different urban environments are presented. In particular, the effect on one of the monitored buildings of the drastic reduction of seismic noise during the SarsCov2 pandemic lockdown is investigated. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
An estimated 20,000 military service members sustained extremity injury in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This high number of limb injured Service Personnel catalyzed advancements in lower limb bracing technology and a focus on therapy to maximize utilization of these devices. This is a considerable problem in the Veteran and private sectors as well. It is presently unclear whether these newer (i.e. advanced) braces improve comfort and function in those with limb injury compared to bracing options formerly in use. The cost of newer devices and the associated fabrication time is rapidly climbing and some reimbursors are not paying for these newer devices. For instance, a conventional ankle-foot-orthosis has a reimbursable cost of approximately $1400. Alternatively, newer advanced bracing systems such as the Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis (IDEO), are approximately twice the cost of conventional devices to fabricate. Reimbursement costs are not yet widely agreed upon, if accepted at all. If the devices truly improve function and comfort, then the initial high costs of provision may be justified. The primary objective of this clinical trial is to determine if different types of leg/foot braces will improve comfort and function in persons who have sustained injury affecting their lower limb.