Low-level Control Research Articles

Battery Energy Storage Participation in Primary Frequency Regulation Considering SOC Consistency

Abstract In recent years, battery energy storage has garnered increasing attention in the frequency regulation field due to its rapid and precise output characteristics. The focus of this paper is on the control strategy for battery energy storage that is involved in primary frequency regulation and addresses the coordination control issues of different storage units when implemented on a large scale. A control method is proposed that considers the consistency of the State of Charge (SOC) in battery energy storage, which is involved in primary frequency regulation. The control of the battery energy storage system is divided into upper-level and lower-level control. The upper-level control uses model predictive control to obtain the total frequency regulation power of the energy storage station. The lower-level control allocates the corresponding power based on the capacity of each battery energy storage unit. It introduces a proportional integral adjustment term related to the average SOC to achieve SOC consistency control for each unit. Simulation results demonstrate that, regardless of whether the capacities of various storage units are identical, the proposed method achieves good frequency regulation performance, restores SOC to the ideal range, and ensures SOC consistency among different storage units. This approach aids the efficient and safe operation of battery energy storage systems.

ETPNav: Evolving Topological Planning for Vision-Language Navigation in Continuous Environments.

Vision-language navigation is a task that requires an agent to follow instructions to navigate in environments. It becomes increasingly crucial in the field of embodied AI, with potential applications in autonomous navigation, search and rescue, and human-robot interaction. In this paper, we propose to address a more practical yet challenging counterpart setting - vision-language navigation in continuous environments (VLN-CE). To develop a robust VLN-CE agent, we propose a new navigation framework, ETPNav, which focuses on two critical skills: 1) the capability to abstract environments and generate long-range navigation plans, and 2) the ability of obstacle-avoiding control in continuous environments. ETPNav performs online topological mapping of environments by self-organizing predicted waypoints along a traversed path, without prior environmental experience. It privileges the agent to break down the navigation procedure into high-level planning and low-level control. Concurrently, ETPNav utilizes a transformer-based cross-modal planner to generate navigation plans based on topological maps and instructions. The plan is then performed through an obstacle-avoiding controller that leverages a trial-and-error heuristic to prevent navigation from getting stuck in obstacles. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. ETPNav yields more than 10% and 20% improvements over prior state-of-the-art on R2R-CE and RxR-CE datasets, respectively. Our code is available at https://github.com/MarSaKi/ETPNav.

Assessing the influence of the Al Wahda dam commissioning on flood flows and low water levels in the Gharb Plain, Morocco

The Sebou Basin is one of the most important hydrographic basins in Morocco. When the Wadi Sebou enters the Gharb Plain, it encounters difficulties in evacuating its waters during wet years due to its flattening, resulting in risks of floods. Its flow decreases during drought years and in August and September. For the purpose of this research, we were granted authorization to utilize the hydrometric station located in Bel-Ksiri. This station is most suitable for the study as it was designated as a reference point for the Wadi Sebou's flooding in the lower basin. This study is based on detecting floods in the Wadi Sebou from 1976 to 2020, dividing this period on pre and post 1997, corresponding to periods before and after the construction of the Al Wahda dam, examining the mean daily flow rates. Identifying discontinuities within the maximum daily flow series from 1967 to 2020 was achieved in Microsoft Excel. Additionally, determining flood return periods and examining low water flows are integral aspects of the study. The findings indicate a relative decrease in the frequency and intensity of floods within the Wadi Sebou's basin, coupled with effective control of low water levels. These changes are attributed to the construction of the Al Wahda dam, which guarantees a stable water supply for irrigation purposes in the plain. To ensure the long-term sustainability of water management practices, the adoption of innovative irrigation technologies is deemed necessary.

Ensuring microbial water quality for on-site water reuse: Importance of online sensors for reliable operation

A growing number of cities and regions are promoting or mandating on-site treatment and reuse of wastewater, which has resulted in the implementation of several thousand on-site water reuse systems on a global scale. However, there is only limited information on the (microbial) water quality from implemented systems. The focus of this study was on two best-in-class on-site water reuse systems in Bengaluru, India, which typically met the local water quality requirements during monthly compliance testing. This study aimed to (i) assess the microbial quality of the reclaimed water at a high temporal resolution (daily or every 15 min), and (ii) explore whether measurements from commercially available sensors can be used to improve the operation of such systems. The monitoring campaign revealed high variations in microbial water quality, even in these best-in-class systems, rendering the water inadequate for the intended reuse applications (toilet flushing and landscape irrigation). These variations were attributed to two key factors: (1) the low frequency of chlorination, and (2) fluctuations of the chlorine demand of the water, in particular of ammonium concentrations. Such fluctuations are likely inherent to on-site systems, which rely on a low level of process control. The monitoring campaign showed that the microbial water quality was most closely related to oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) and free chlorine sensors. Due to its relatively low cost and low need for maintenance, the ORP emerges as a compelling candidate for automating the chlorination to effectively manage variations in chlorine demand and ensure safe water reuse. Overall, this study underscores the necessity of integrating treatment trains, operation, and monitoring for safe on-site water reuse.

Quantification of asciminib by LC-MS/MS method in human plasma: Validation and stability studies

An accurate, sensitive, and linear liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the quantification of asciminib in human plasma. Voriconazole, internal standard (IS), and asciminib were isolated from the plasma samples by C18-cartridges. Chromatographic isolation was processed with Atlantis/dC18 (2.1 × 100 mm, 3 μm) stationary phase and a mobile solvent system of formic acid (0.1%) and methyl alcohol (20:80, v:v), conveyed at a 0.7 ml/minute flowing rate. Analytes were quantified by ionization in a positive approach with electrospray ionization at the mass transitions of (m/z): asciminib, 450.11/239.09, and voriconazole (IS), 350.3/281.1. No interference by constituents of plasma blank or other components was detected. The association between asciminib concentration levels and their respective peak response fractions to voriconazole was rectilinear between 39.0 and 1,586.0 ng/ml. Intraday and interday precisions were ≤4.79% for asciminib. The interday bias was between −4.28% and 5.76%, and the intraday bias was −3.75% and 4.53%. The mean measured extraction recovery of asciminib was 99.06%. The recovery of IS was 98.34%. Asciminib was subjected to long-term, bench-top, freeze-thaw, short-term stability, dry extract, auto-sampling, and stock solution stability at Low quality control and High quality control levels, and it was stable at all these conditions. The established technique can be utilized for the regular quantification of asciminib in plasma samples in industries, forensic laboratories, and clinical research organizations.

Load-Sharing With Degradation Management in a Compressor Station

Management of compressor degradation is often considered from the perspective of maintenance of the compressor, but most frameworks for the operation of compressors do not take degradation into account. This paper proposes a method for operation of compressors that takes into account the current level of degradation in order to manage further degradation. The algorithm can be used in maintenance planning frameworks, in particular if the timings of maintenance activities are fixed. The algorithm can extend the lifetime of a compressor by mitigating its degradation, or, conversely, can intensify the degradation to reach the maximum level in time for planned maintenance. The performance of the algorithm has been demonstrated in a case study for five compressors. A comparison with equal load approach shows that the new algorithm improves the operation of the system by managing the degradation of selected compressors. Explicit management of degradation allows an extension of the lifetime of selected compressors before maintenance must be performed. Conversely, by ensuring that the desired level of degradation is attained before pre-planned maintenance actions, it contributes to increased efficacy of maintenance actions. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —The paper presents a new framework for load-sharing in a compressor station with compressors subject to degradation. The main innovation of the framework is the use of relationships between custom degradation indicators to manage degradation of the compressors. The results in the paper prove that it is possible to manage degradation in an industrial setting by adjusting the load of each compressor. From a practical perspective, the framework allows more degraded compressors to follow the less degraded compressors (called leaders). The simplicity of the proposed framework enables an intuitive choice of leaders, in particular in compressor stations with more than two compressors. Focused directly on the load sharing, the framework also avoids adjusting lower level control structures, such as speed control or surge protection. The simplicity and the fact that the load-sharing algorithm affects only the loads make the new framework quickly implementable on a high level of the operating system in a compressor station. The limitation of the framework is that the parameters of the framework must be adjusted manually to ensure that the compressors stay within their operating ranges. For instance, the parameters of the algorithm can be chosen in such a way that the load-sharing aims to strike a balance between multiple compressors. The next step would be to give a demonstration of the method on a high-fidelity industrial simulator that acts as a proxy for a real compressor station.

Modeling and control scheme of the absorption machine of a solar cooling plant.

The article presents the modeling of an absorption machine and a low level control system necessary to ultimately control the cooling power demanded by air conditioning systems. The modeling of the components has been implemented in Simulink in order to obtain a simulator of an absorption-machine-based cooling plant for controller design purposes. In the simulator, the proposed refrigeration system presents control loops to maintain the output variables of the flow rates and temperatures in established references. Finally, the results of the simulation are presented, which show the behavior of the absorption machine system and support the good performance of the proposed low level control system.

Controllable Video Generation With Text-Based Instructions

Most of the existing studies on controllable video generation either transfer disentangled motion to an appearance without detailed control over motion or generate videos of simple actions such as the movement of arbitrary objects conditioned on a control signal from users. In this study, we introduce Controllable Video Generation with text-based Instructions (CVGI) framework that allows text-based control over action performed on a video. CVGI generates videos where hands interact with objects to perform the desired action by generating hand motions with detailed control through text-based instruction from users. By incorporating the motion estimation layer, we divide the task into two sub-tasks: (1) control signal estimation and (2) action generation. In control signal estimation, an encoder models actions as a set of simple motions by estimating low-level control signals for text-based instructions with given initial frames. In action generation, generative adversarial networks (GANs) generate realistic hand-based action videos as a combination of hand motions conditioned on the estimated low control level signal. Evaluations on several datasets (EPIC-Kitchens-55, BAIR robot pushing, and Atari Breakout) show the effectiveness of CVGI in generating realistic videos and in the control over actions.

MPC Path Following with Macroscopic Shape Adjustment for AIAUVs

This paper treats the problem of adjusting the macroscopic shape of an articulated robotic system following a path, such that the shape fits the path curve as closely as possible. We propose a way of quantifying the fit of the robot's shape to the path through the errors of the individual links, and investigate a kinematic MPC solution to the problem. The MPC generates position and velocity reference trajectories, which respect the constraints of the system, to be fed to a low-level controller. The scheme is evaluated in a kinematic level simulation study with constant irrotational ocean currents.

Collaborative Bimanual Manipulation Using Optimal Motion Adaptation and Interaction Control: Retargeting Human Commands to Feasible Robot Control References

This article presents a robust and reliable human–robot collaboration (HRC) framework for bimanual manipulation. We propose an optimal motion adaptation method to retarget arbitrary human commands to feasible robot pose references while maintaining payload stability. The framework comprises three modules: 1) <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a task-space sequential equilibrium and inverse kinematics optimization</i> ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">task-space SEIKO</i> ) for retargeting human commands and enforcing feasibility constraints, 2) an admittance controller to facilitate compliant human–robot physical interactions, and 3) a low-level controller improving stability during physical interactions. Experimental results show that the proposed framework successfully adapted infeasible and dangerous human commands into continuous motions within safe boundaries and achieved stable grasping and maneuvering of large and heavy objects on a real dual-arm robot via teleoperation and physical interaction. Furthermore, the framework demonstrated the capability in the assembly task of building blocks and the insertion task of industrial power connectors.

A high-throughput LC-MS/MS assay for piperaquine from dried blood spots: Improving malaria treatment in resource-limited settings

BackgroundMalaria is a parasitic disease that affects many of the poorest economies, resulting in approximately 241 million clinical episodes and 627,000 deaths annually. Piperaquine, when administered with dihydroartemisinin, is an effective drug against the disease. Drug concentration measurements taken on day 7 after treatment initiation have been shown to be a good predictor of therapeutic success with piperaquine. A simple capillary blood collection technique, where blood is dried onto filter paper, is especially suitable for drug studies in remote areas or resource-limited settings or when taking samples from children, toddlers, and infants. MethodsThree 3.2 mm discs were punched out from a dried blood spot (DBS) and then extracted in a 96-well plate using solid phase extraction on a fully automated liquid handling system. The analysis was performed using LC-MS/MS with a calibration range of 3 – 1000 ng/mL. ResultsThe recovery rate was approximately 54–72 %, and the relative standard deviation was below 9 % for low, middle and high quality control levels. The LC-MS/MS quantification limit of 3 ng/mL is sensitive enough to detect piperaquine for up to 4–8 weeks after drug administration, which is crucial when evaluating recrudescence and drug resistance development. While different hematocrit levels can affect DBS drug measurements, the effect was minimal for piperaquine. ConclusionA sensitive LC-MS/MS method, in combination with fully automated extraction in a 96-well plate format, was developed and validated for the quantification of piperaquine in DBS. The assay was implemented in a bioanalytical laboratory for processing large-scale clinical trial samples.

FEATURES OF CYTOKINE PRODUCTION DURING REHABILITATION AFTER COVID-19 IN PEOPLE LIVING IN THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF SIBERIA

The coronavirus infection of 2019 (COVID-19) has significantly affected the modern world. Recently, it has been proven that IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-γ and TNF-α play an important role in the inflammatory response of the body to SARS-CoV-2 infection.&#x0D; Purpose. To study the features of the synthesis of key cytokines in residents of the Turukhansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory who underwent COVID-19.&#x0D; Materials and methods. On the basis of "Turukhanskaya RB", village. Turukhansk, in February 2023, 98 patients were examined, the average age was 58 (± 5 years). Of the 98 participants interviewed, 76 people had an official diagnosis of COVID-19 in the period from October 2020. The study was conducted with the permission of the ethical committee of the Research Institute of Medical Problems of the North. Each participant signed an informed consent form for the examination, according to the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association regulating the conduct of scientific research.&#x0D; Results. A high IgG titer to SARS-Cov-2 was observed in 99% of the examined, a positive IdM titer to SARS-Cov-2 was in 1% of the examined. In the course of studying the features of the cytokine network in patients with Turukhansk there was a significant decrease in the concentration of α-TNF, IL-1b and IL-10, as well as an increase in IL-2, IL-6 and IL-8 relative to the control group of Krasnoyarsk. α-IFN and IL-4 showed no significant changes and remained within the control range. At the same time, no differences were found between the groups of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and without it.&#x0D; Conclusion. The data obtained indicate a high level of homogeneity of the sample in the village . Turukhansk, regardless of the presence of the disease, about the low level of detection and control over the course of COVID-19. We observe the formation of a chronic inflammatory process against the background of the prevalence of pro-inflammatory function and an increase in the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which can subsequently deplete the body's resources and contribute to the development of additional complications.

Управление статически неустойчивым шагающим аппаратом при ограниченном трении в опоре

A non-trivial problem in the biped walking is the preservation of stability under external influences without slowing down velocity. A dynamic walking control algorithm with a hierarchical structure is proposed in the article. The lower control level is organized according to the principle of tracking drives and ensures the position of the robot`s body using all given possible coordinates. The problem of traffic stabilization is solved at the upper level. An ideal mechanism — a flat inverted mathematical pendulum is considered in the feedback circuit. Its equations are synchronized by the moment of the step ending. Particular attention is paid to the interaction of the robot foot with the support surface to determine the conditions for the absence of slippage. Proposed control approach makes it possible to control the current position of the robot`s structure in the space in different walking modes without slowing down velocity. Critically assessing the results and prospects of the research, we can conclude about their use-fulness in the development of artificial intelligence cooperation with humans, about possible applications in everyday life, a specific environment and industry. The proposed approach may be applicable to the control of the walking mechanisms of similar mobile robots.

Comparison of Energy Storage Management Techniques for a Grid-Connected PV- and Battery-Supplied Residential System

The use of renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar power is increasing rapidly to meet growing electricity demand. However, the intermittent nature of RES poses a challenge to grid stability. Energy storage (ES) technologies offer a solution by adding flexibility to the system. With the emergence of distributed energy resources (DERs) and the transition to prosumer-based electricity systems, energy management systems (EMSs) have become crucial to coordinate the operation of different devices and optimize system efficiency and functionality. This paper presents an EMS for a residential photovoltaic (PV) and battery system that addresses two different functionalities: energy cost minimization, and self-consumption maximization. The proposed EMS takes into account the operational requirements of the devices and their lower-level controllers. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to solve the optimization problems, ensuring a desired State of Charge (SOC) at the end of the day based on the next day forecast, without discretizing the SOC transitions allowing a continuous search space. The importance of adhering to the manufacturer’s operating specification to avoid premature battery degradation is highlighted, and a comparative analysis is performed with a simple tariff-driven solution, evaluating total cost, energy exchange, and peak power. Tests are carried out in a detailed model, where Power Electronics Converters (PECs) and their local controllers are considered together with the EMS.

Trajectory Tracking Control of a Skid-Steer Mobile Robot Based on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control with a Hydraulic Motor Velocity Mapping

In this study, we address the trajectory tracking control problem of a hydraulic-driven skid-steer mobile robot. A hierarchical control strategy is proposed to simultaneously consider the robot’s position control and the velocity control of the hydraulic motors. At the upper level, a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) method is employed to control the position and heading of the mobile robot. The NMPC controller takes into account the robot’s physical constraints and generates the desired robot motion velocity. Then, to control the hydraulic drive system, a current–velocity mapping-based control method is introduced. By establishing the mapping relationship between the control current applied to the hydraulic motor and its corresponding output velocity, the dynamics of the hydraulic motors are characterized. Consequently, the lower-level controller can directly obtain the control signal for the hydraulic actuator through lookup mappings. Additionally, PID controllers are adopted to compensate for velocity tracking errors. The proposed hierarchical control strategy decouples the robot’s position control and the hydraulic system control, simplifying the overall controller design, leading to improved control performance. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, several experiments were conducted on a hydraulic-driven skid-steer mobile robot, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Scarcity makes people short-sighted? Evidence from intertemporal decision-making.

With the acceleration of the pace of society, the problem of scarcity of time resources is becoming more prominent, which may lead to short-sighted behavior. This study aimed to examine the impact of time scarcity on intertemporal choice and its underlying mechanisms through three experiments. Study 1 aimed to investigate the causal relationship between time scarcity and intertemporal choice and the mediating role of anxiety between time scarcity and intertemporal choice. The results showed that participants with a stronger perception of time scarcity were more likely to choose smaller and sooner gains, and that the mediating role of anxiety was significant. In Study 2, the control of time was introduced to explore whether the sense of control could alleviate the negative emotion caused by time scarcity. The results showed that individuals with high levels of control had significantly less anxiety under higher time-scarcity conditions than those with low levels of control. In Study 3, we manipulated time scarcity and found that the sense of control moderated the mediating effect of anxiety in time scarcity and intertemporal choice. Overall, these findings suggest that the sense of control over time is associated with less anxiety from time scarcity, which in turn fosters preferences for delayed gains.

A Smart Status Based Monitoring Algorithm for the Dynamic Analysis of Memory Safety

C is a dominant programming language for implementing system and low-level embedded software. Unfortunately, the unsafe nature of its low-level control of memory often leads to memory errors. Dynamic analysis has been widely used to detect memory errors at runtime. However, existing monitoring algorithms for dynamic analysis are not yet satisfactory as they cannot deterministically and completely detect some types of errors, e.g., segment confusion errors, sub-object overflows, use-after-frees and memory leaks. We propose a new monitoring algorithm, namely Smatus , short for smart status , that improves memory safety by performing comprehensive dynamic analysis. The key innovation is to maintain at runtime a small status node for each memory object. A status node records the status value and reference count of an object, where the status value denotes the liveness and segment type of this object, and the reference count tracks the number of pointer variables pointing to this object. Smatus maintains at runtime a pointer metadata for each pointer variable, to record not only the base and bound of a pointer’s referent but also the address of the referent’s status node. All the pointers pointing to the same referent share the same status node in their pointer metadata. A status node is smart in the sense that it is automatically deleted when it becomes useless (indicated by its reference count reaching zero). To the best of our knowledge, Smatus represents the most comprehensive approach of its kind. We have evaluated Smatus by using a large set of programs including the NIST Software Assurance Reference Dataset, MSBench, MiBench, SPEC and stress testing benchmarks. In terms of effectiveness (detecting different types of memory errors), Smatus outperforms state-of-the-art tools, Google’s AddressSanitizer, SoftBoundCETS and Valgrind, as it is capable of detecting more errors. In terms of performance (the time and memory overheads), Smatus outperforms SoftBoundCETS and Valgrind in terms of both lower time and memory overheads incurred, and is on par with AddressSanitizer in terms of the time and memory overhead tradeoff made (with much lower memory overheads incurred).

The prevalence of working stress and emotional burnout among health workers

Introduction. In the course of their occupational activities, health workers experience a huge burden, which often leads to the development of stress, emotional burnout, and changes in health status. &#x0D; Goal – to study the prevalence of working stress and the degree of emotional burnout in health workers with different levels of work stress.&#x0D; Material and methods. Two hundred ten health workers of outpatient polyclinic institutions of Kazan were examined using the questionnaire “RAMIS” (Workplace and stress) and the questionnaire of emotional burnout by K.Maslach (adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova).&#x0D; Results. There was recorded an increased level of stress among health workers in all age groups (31.6% at a young age, 35% on average, 42.4% in the elderly). Low level of social support (54.2%) and low level of control (43.1%) are the leading factors in the structure of working stress among health workers of outpatient clinics. A high degree of emotional burnout is equally recorded in all the age groups studied (35.9% at a young age, 40% on average, 42.3% in the elderly). A reliable relationship between working stress and emotional burnout has been determined.&#x0D; Limitations. Health workers in hospitals and private medical clinics were not included, as well as those who did not give informed consent to participate in this study.&#x0D; Conclusion. A high level of working stress was recorded in each age group studied, the relationship between age and the level of work stress was not revealed. Also, the burnout syndrome was detected in all age groups and had no connection with age. Health workers with a high level of stress were found to be much more likely to suffer from emotional burnout than people with low working stress.

Despite misinformation, low trust, and conflict in Somalia, high demand for vaccines and a negative endorsement effect of non-state authorities

Expanding vaccination coverage in conflict regions is crucial to the prevention of further mutations and outbreaks of COVID-19, as well as of future pandemics, worldwide. However, scholars’ suppositions that low levels of trust and control over the flow of misinformation in these regions may necessitate tailored solutions—in particular, that health advice come from trusted non-state authorities—remain largely untested. To better understand the levels and drivers of COVID-19 vaccine receptivity in conflict regions, we partnered with the United Nations and the Somali Ministry of Justice to field a three-wave panel survey (N1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$N_1$$\\end{document} = 1672; N2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$N_2$$\\end{document} = 880; N3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$N_3$$\\end{document} = 908) and vaccine endorsement experiment in South Central Somalia. We observe high overall demand for vaccines (between 90 and 94%), particularly among those who have experienced violence and illness, who perceive high economic disruption due to the pandemic, and who report more favorable views of and exposure to the West and Western-affiliated organizations. The high overall demand is particularly striking given respondents’ low interpersonal trust and considerable exposure to vaccine disinformation. Contrary to scholars’ and policymakers’ expectations, we find that whereas endorsements from government health authorities increase vaccine receptivity, endorsements from non-state customary authorities and extremist militant group Al-Shabaab decrease support for vaccination (− 8 and − 16% points, respectively). Our findings caution against presupposing a need for different approaches to increasing vaccination coverage in conflict regions, and suggest that at least in the short-term, constraints on vaccine supply and access are more likely to bind than those on demand.

Clinical and functional characteristics of patients with bronchial asthma depending on body mass index

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and clinical and anamnestic data in patients with bronchial asthma (BA). Material and methods. 553 patients with BA and 95 apparently healthy individuals without medical or family history of asthma, allergy or atopy symptoms were examined. Patients were divided into three groups depending on BMI: Group I included 152 patients with normal body weight (NBW), II – 206 overweight patients, III – 195 with obesity. BA control was assessed by using the ACQ-5 questionnaire, and the AQLQ was used to assess quality of life. The study was approved by the Bioethics Commission of the Medical Institute of Sumy State University. Statistical analysis of the obtained results was carried out using the SPSS-17 program. Results. There were no significant sex– and age-related differences (p &gt; 0.05) between clinical groups. Complaints, medical history, clinical and instrumental indicators, disease severity, control, and quality of life of patients were analyzed to identify features of BA associated with obesity. The study has found that BA patients with obesity experienced a higher frequency of positive family history (p = 0.004), exacerbations during the cold season (p = 0.001), sensitivity to weather changes (p = 0.001), acute respiratory diseases (p = 0.001), stress (p = 0.001), and a combination of non-specific triggers (p = 0.001) which could result in exacerbations compared to patients with NBW. Exacerbations caused by flowering plants were more common in BA patients with NBW (55.3 %) compared to those with obesity (43.1 %). When comparing BA in individuals with obesity to those with NBW, there were several distinctive features. These included a higher frequency of symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath at rest or with minor physical exertion, weakness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, heartburn; night and day symptoms when using salbutamol, a severe and uncontrolled course with more pronounced obstructive disorders and lower reversibility, pneumonia, exacerbation episodes, and lower quality of life. Conclusions. BA with obesity compared to BA with NBW is characterized by a number of differences such as non-allergic factors as triggers, more severe course, lower level of control and quality of life, pain, pronounced bronchial obstruction with lower reversibility.