Disturbance Rejection and Robustness of Improved Equivalent-Input-Disturbance-Based System.

This article presents an improved equivalent-input-disturbance (EID) approach to handle unknown disturbances and plant uncertainties. The disturbances and uncertainties are treated as a lumped disturbance in an EID-based control system. The effect of the lumped disturbance is compensated by an EID estimator. A constraint between design parameters and uncertainties is imposed on the design of the estimator. In addition, there are insufficient analyses of the influence of uncertainties on the control performance and the stability of the system. A new filter is devised for an improved EID estimator in this article to remove the constraint. This ensures that the sensitivity of the system to disturbances at low frequencies can be freely decreased. An analysis of the system reveals that uncertainties not only influence disturbance-rejection and reference-tracking performance but also affect system stability. A sufficient stability criterion is derived with consideration of uncertainties. The validity of the presented method is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results.

Acceleration of iron utilization after intravenous iron administration during activated erythropoiesis in hemodialysis patients: a randomized study.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different timings of iron administration during erythropoiesis activated by continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (CERA) on reticulocyte iron uptake in hemodialysis patients. In total, 110 patients were randomized to receive 40 mg intravenous elemental iron doses at all three hemodialysis sessions in the first week (IW1 group: n = 57) or in the third week (IW3 group: n = 53) after CERA administration. Following CERA administration at day 0, reticulocyte count increased, peaking at day 7. At days 7 and 14, the observed changes in Ret-He were higher in the IW1 group than in the IW3 group. Increases in total reticulocyte hemoglobin at day 7 were higher in the IW1 group than in the IW3 group. In contrast, there was only tendency toward greater total reticulocyte hemoglobin after iron administration in the third week in the IW3 group. Intravenous iron supplementation in the first week of CERA administration increases reticulocyte iron uptake; however, iron supplementation in the third week does not. The findings indicate that iron should be intravenously administered to increase the efficacy of CERA within 1 week of CERA administration during highly active erythropoiesis.