Standard Conversion Research Articles

Talking to multi-morbid patients about critical illness: an evolving conversation.

Conversations around critical illness outcomes and benefits from intensive care unit (ICU) treatment have begun to shift away from binary discussions on living versus dying. Increasingly, the reality of survival with functional impairment versus survival with a late death is being recognised as relevant to patients. Most ICU admissions are associated with new functional and cognitive disabilities that are significant and long lasting. When discussing outcomes, clinicians rightly focus on patients' wishes and the quality of life (QoL) that they would find acceptable. However, patients' views may encompass differing views on acceptable QoL post-critical illness, not necessarily reflected in standard conversations. Maintaining independence is a greater priority to patients than simple survival. QoL post-critical illness determines judgments on the benefits of ICU support but translating this into clinical practice risks potential conflation of health outcomes and QoL. This article discusses the concept of response shift and the implication for trade-offs between number/length of invasive treatments and change in physical function or death. Conversations need to delineate how health outcomes (e.g. tracheostomy, muscle wasting, etc.) may affect individual outcomes most relevant to the patient and hence impact overall QoL. The research strategy taken to explore decision-making for critically ill patients might benefit from gathering qualitative data, as a complement to quantitative data. Patients, families and doctors are motivated by far wider considerations, and a consultation process should relate to more than the simple likelihood of mortality in a shared decision-making context.

Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menulis Pantun Siswa Melalui Model Multiliterasi

This study aims to determine the improvement of students' ability in writing rhymes by applying the multiliterate learning model in Class V SDN 62 Bengkulu City. This research is a Classroom Action Research which is conducted in two cycles, each of which includes: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The subjects in this study were students of SDN 62 Bengkulu City which consisted of 14 female students and 16 male students. The research instruments used were observation sheets and poetry writing test sheets. The data from this study were analyzed using the average value and the percentage of classical learning completeness with the standard conversion formula of 100. The results showed that the average value of the pantun writing test in cycle I was 68.33 with classical learning completeness of 66.66 % ; There was an increase in cycle II with the average score of the rhyme writing test result was 81.66 with classical learning completeness of 83.33 %. Thus, it can be concluded that the application of the multiliterate learning model can improve students' ability to write rhymes in grade V SDN 62 Bengkulu City. It is recommended that Indonesian teachers, especially the material about pantun, apply a multiliterate model in learning to write pantun by paying attention to student involvement in the learning process, and other researchers can also apply it to other subjects.

Regional GNSS-Derived SPCI: Verification and Improvement in Yunnan, China

From the aspect of global drought monitoring, improving the regional drought monitoring method is becoming increasingly important for the sustainable development of regional agriculture and the economy. The standardized precipitation conversion index (SPCI) calculated by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observation is a new means for drought monitoring that has the advantages of simple calculation and real-time monitoring. However, only SPCI with a 12-month scale has been verified on a global scale, while its capability and applicability for monitoring drought at a short time scale in regional areas have never been investigated. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the performance of SPCI at other time scales in Yunnan, China, and propose an improved method for SPCI. The data of six GNSS stations were selected to calculate SPCI; the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and composite meteorological drought index (CI) are introduced to evaluate the SPCI at a short time scale in Yunnan Province. In addition, a modified CI (MCI) was proposed to calibrate the SPCI because of its large bias in Yunnan. Experimental results show that (1) SPCI exhibits better agreement with CI in Yunnan Province when compared to SPEI; (2) the capability of SPCI for drought monitoring is superior to that of SPEI in Yunnan; and (3) the improved SPCI is more suitable for drought monitoring in Yunnan, with a relative bias of 5.43% when compared to the MCI. These results provide a new means for regional drought monitoring in Yunnan, which is significant for dealing with drought disasters and formulating related disaster prevention and mitigation policies.

Comprehensive Classification Method of Urban Water by Remote Sensing Based on High-Resolution Images

Urban water is a significant part of the urban ecosystem. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation method of the water environment was proposed based on domestic high-resolution images. The relationships between the spectral characteristics and water quality parameters of urban water were analyzed based on sampling in Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Yangzhou from 2017 to 2019. An index named the U-FUI (urban Forel-Ule index) suitable for urban water based on GF-2 images was proposed to achieve the classification of urban water on the basis of the international standard chroma conversion model and the Forel-Ule index. Independent verification data showed that the recognition accuracy of the classification model could reach 72%. The results indicated that urban water can be classified into six classes from Ⅰ to Ⅵ, which represent water colors of blue, light green, dark green, yellow, yellowish brown, and dark grey, respectively, according to the U-FUI. Among them, the water quality of U-FUI Ⅰ water is good, but is rarely distributed in urban water. The concentrations of chlorophyll-a in U-FUI Ⅱ-Ⅲ water are higher than those of the other classes; the concentrations of total suspended solids, particularly inorganic suspended solids, of U-FUI Ⅳ-Ⅴ water are higher than those of the other classes; and the water quality of U-FUI Ⅵ water is poor and the water quality parameters are different from those of the other classes. Meanwhile, the method was successfully applied to the GF-2 image of Nanjing on April 9, 2018. The results showed that the urban water in Nanjing is mainly composed of U-FUI Ⅱ-Ⅳ water, whereas the distribution of U-FUI Ⅰ, Ⅴ, and Ⅵ water is lower in the city. The spatial distribution characteristics were consistent with the results of in-situ sampling in the same period.

Perovskite lead-based oxide anodes for rechargeable batteries

Lead-based perovskites (PbTiO3 and PbZrO3) are introduced as novel anode materials for non-aqueous M-ion rechargeable batteries (M = Li, Na, K). These compounds were scalably prepared by conventional solid-state (dry) and combustion (wet) routes. Charge storage in these perovskites involves a standard conversion (PbII → Pb0) followed by reversible Li-Pb/Na-Pb/K-Pb (de)alloying reaction. The oxide matrix (M2O, TiO2 etc.) phase is crucial for reversibility of Pb alloying reaction, as pristine PbO fails fast. The conversion-alloying reaction mechanism has been verified by ex situ electron microscopy (TEM) study. PbTiO3 delivered 410 mAh/g capacity in the first charge vs. Li/Li+ and Na/Na+, while around 180 mAh/g capacity was observed vs. K/K+. Particularly, PbTiO3 forms a robust anode for sodium-ion batteries with maximum charge extracted under low voltage (below 0.8 V vs. Na/Na+, 275 mAh/g). Similar electrochemical activity was also noticed for other perovskites like PbZrO3 that confirms Pb-based (simple and mixed) perovskites can form a potential class of battery anode materials.

Trypsin Inhibitor Assay: Expressing, Calculating, and Standardizing Inhibitor Activity in Absolute Amounts of Trypsin Inhibited or Trypsin Inhibitors

AbstractFor expressing trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), trypsin units inhibited (TUI), trypsin inhibited, and trypsin inhibitors have been used. Although the last two units are preferred, their calculations in current practices require refinement. With the proposed AOCS method Ba 12a‐2020, four experiments were conducted, using four trypsin preparations having specific activity of 11,625, 12,602, 13,728, and 14,926 Nα‐benzoyl‐L‐arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) units/mg protein, respectively. Experiment 1 determined the relationship between absorbance at 410 nm (A410) and trypsin concentration. Experiment 2 involved assaying raw and heated soybeans, expressing TIA as TUI/mg sample and μg trypsin inhibited/mg sample, and determining conversion factors between the two units. Experiment 3 resembled Experiment 2 except for using purified soybean Kunitz inhibitor (KTI) and Bowman‐Birk inhibitor (BBI). Conversion factors determined correlated highly with trypsin‐specific activity (R2 = 0.9789). After standardizing against a reference trypsin having 15,000 BAEE units/mg protein, a standardized conversion factor of 0.03 A410 (1.5 TUI) = 1 μg trypsin inhibited was determined. It remained consistent regardless of trypsin specific activity, with or without inhibitors, and type of inhibitor samples. By using purified inhibitors (Experiment 3), conversion values between TUI and μg trypsin inhibitor and between μg trypsin inhibited and μg trypsin inhibitor could also be calculated, enabling expression of TIA in amounts of pure KTI, BBI or their equivalents. Furthermore, when the AOCS method was modified with half substrate concentration, half trypsin concentration or half both (Experiment 4), TIA values in TUI could change with modifications but values in mg trypsin inhibited (standardized) or trypsin inhibitor remained consistent.

High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Energy Flux Mapping of Different Land Covers Using an Off-the-Shelf Unmanned Aerial System

With the development of low-cost, lightweight, integrated thermal infrared-multispectral cameras, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have recently become a flexible complement to eddy covariance (EC) station methods for mapping surface energy fluxes of vegetated areas. These sensors facilitate the measurement of several site characteristics in one flight (e.g., radiometric temperature, vegetation indices, vegetation structure), which can be used alongside in-situ meteorology data to provide spatially-distributed estimates of energy fluxes at very high resolution. Here we test one such system (MicaSense Altum) integrated into an off-the-shelf long-range vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle, and apply and evaluate our method by comparing flux estimates with EC-derived data, with specific and novel focus on heterogeneous vegetation communities at three different sites in Germany. Firstly, we present an empirical method for calibrating airborne radiometric temperature in standard units (K) using the Altum multispectral and thermal infrared instrument. Then we provide detailed methods using the two-source energy balance model (TSEB) for mapping net radiation (Rn), sensible (H), latent (LE) and ground (G) heat fluxes at <0.82 m resolution, with root mean square errors (RMSE) less than 45, 37, 39, 52 W m−2 respectively. Converting to radiometric temperature using our empirical method resulted in a 19% reduction in RMSE across all fluxes compared to the standard conversion equation provided by the manufacturer. Our results show the potential of this UAS for mapping energy fluxes at high resolution over large areas in different conditions, but also highlight the need for further surveys of different vegetation types and land uses.

Integrated process simulation for bioethanol production: Effects of varying lignocellulosic feedstocks on technical performance

Variations in lignocellulosic feedstock composition can influence conversion performance of bioethanol production, but such effects are overlooked in several studies that rely on standard conversion factors. This study investigates the effects of seven lignocellulosic feedstocks (belonging to the categories energy crops, forest and agricultural residues) on mass, carbon, water and energy balances for biochemical bioethanol production, including a comparison of individual process step yields. We find that overall bioethanol yields vary considerably, ranging between 19.0 and 29.0%, 27.3 and 46.2%, and 19.0 and 31.0%, for energy and carbon efficiency, respectively. The highest yields are found for switchgrass, which has the largest carbohydrate content, and the lowest for forest residues (spruce). Feedstock composition also affects water and carbon balances. Overall, the type of biomass influences conversion performances, thereby calling for explicit representation of the effects of biomass types in technical, economic and environmental assessment studies of bioethanol production.

CONSUMPTION TREND OF MODERN DAIRY PRODUCTS AND PROJECTIONS OF DAIRY CATTLE REQUIREMENTS IN NIGERIA

This study estimates the requirements for modern dairy products as Liquid Milk Equivalents (LME) and the size cattle herd that can produce the LME under the different scenarios of milk yield/offtake. Four dairy products viz: Condensed and Evaporated milk; Dry Milk Powder (skim and whole); Butter; Cheese and Curd were studied based on data obtained from secondary sources and analysed by trend projections based on regression analytical approach while standard conversion factors were used to convert each category of dairy product to its LME requirements were then used to estimate the National cattle population. Results showed that the LME requirements to meet the demand for Condensed and Evaporated Milk as well as Dry Powdered Milk vary from 13,480 tonnes in 1990 to 13,576 tonnes in year 2,000. Given the current consumption trend of these products, Nigeria has the required cattle herd potential to produce the LME. However, the establishment of appropriate milk collection logistics and adequate milk processing facilities are the demand necessary prerequisites.

Actual Precipitation Index (API) for Drought Classification

The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) is a widely used statistical technique for the characterization of droughts. It is based on a probabilistic standardization procedure, which converts a Gamma-type probability distribution function (PDF) into a normal (Gaussian) standard series with zero mean and unit standard deviation. Drought classification based on SPI indicates dry and wet spell characteristics, provided that the hydro-meteorological records abide by normal (Gaussian) PDF only, otherwise the results will be biased. Therefore, in this paper, the actual precipitation index (API) method is presented, which provides drought classification and information regardless of the underlying PDFs. The main purpose of this paper is to explain the main differences between SPI and API and to prove that the use of API is the more reliable solution for classification of droughts into five categories described as “Normal dry”, “Slightly dry”, “Medium dry”, “Very dry” and “Extremely dry”. The application of the methodology is presented for two sets of precipitation data; one with exponential PDF monthly precipitation records from Istanbul City, Turkey and one for New Jersey, USA with almost normal (Gaussian) PDF based on annual precipitation records. The comparisons indicate that API is applicable regardless of the underlying PDF of the hydro-meteorology data. It produces real drought classification from the original data without recourse to standard normal PDF conversion.

БИФУРКАЦИОННЫЕ ЯВЛЕНИЯ В ПРЕОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЕ НАПРЯЖЕНИЯ C ЧАСТОТНО-ИМПУЛЬСНЫМ УПРАВЛЕНИЕМ ДЛЯ ВЕТРОГЕНЕРАТОРНОЙ УСТАНОВКИ

Статья посвящена изучению влияния бифуркационных явлений, имеющих место во всех типах импульсно-модуляционных систем, которые в частности присутствуют в ветрогенераторных установках. Для исследования динамики преобразователя напряжения с частотно-импульсной модуляцией строится математическая модель и бифуркационные диаграммы, которые иллюстрируют область безопасной работы ветрогенераторных установок, проводится ряд численных экспериментов. Выявлен новый вид бифуркационного явления, названый в данной статье «пакетной» бифуркацией. Актуальность работы обуславливается необходимостью улучшения энергоэффективности силовых преобразовательных устройств для потребностей нетрадиционной энергетики, в частности – для ветрогенераторной установки. Одна из сложностей преобразования данного вида энергии заключается в невысоком уровне эффективности процесса. Ввиду переменной величины частоты вращения лопастей ветрогенераторной установки в определенном временном интервале параметры получаемой энергии также варьируются, следовательно, настройки её вторичных преобразователей должны соответствовать временным интервалам формирования сигнала генерации. Повышение качества функционирования альтернативных источников питания возможно за счет использования многочастотных режимов стабилизации устройства преобразования. В статье рассматривается модель импульсно-модуляционного понижающего преобразователя напряжения на основе частотно-импульсной модуляции. Изучены и предложены методики изменения ширины рабочей зоны одночастотного режима стабилизации. Цель: анализ режимов вторичного преобразователя напряжения ветрогенераторной установки и выработка подходов к исследованию бифуркационных явлений, имеющих место в преобразовательных структурах с частотно-импульсной модуляцией путем построения математической модели и численно-аналитического моделирования данного понижающего устройства для улучшения показателей надежности. Методы: проработка литературных источников по типовым схемам передачи энергии в ветрогенераторную установку с промежуточным звеном постоянного тока (DC/DC преобразователей); математическое моделирование и проведение численных экспериментов по изменению эксплуатационных данных понижающего преобразователя напряжения с частотно-импульсной модуляцией для выявления протекающих в нем бифуркационных процессов; построение бифуркационных диаграмм при различных параметровах преобразователя с целью повышения надежности работы. Результаты. Получены математические модели и численно-аналитическая методика построения и идентификации динамических режимов функционирования понижающего преобразователя напряжения с частотно-импульсной модуляцией, выступающего в роли звена постоянного тока ветрогенераторной установки; построены бифуркационные диаграммы для стабилизации напряжения при различных параметрах системы управления; показано одновременное наличие одночастотных и пакетных режимов работы; идентифицирована бифуркация деления периода; изучено влияние параметров устройства на режимы работы, а также предложена методика изменения ширины рабочей зоны одночастотного режима стабилизации.

PDG50 Obstacles in the IV to ORAL Antibiotic Shift for Eligible Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital

This study was conducted to evaluate the practice of IV to PO conversion Ind to determine the obstacles associated in shifting eligible patients from IV to Oral antibiotics. An interventional study was conducted for a period of 1 year in a tertiary care hospital in general wards. A total of 171 patients were included in this study, where 83 patients belonged to the control phase and 88 patients belonged to the Test phase. The practice of conversion from IV to PO antibiotic therapy and the obstacles associated in executing the shift from the healthcare staff was evaluated and compared between the two phases. As primary drivers of delays in transitioning from iv to oral antibiotics, we discovered: (i) the impact of consumerist factors within the physician – patient relationship and resultant practices to avoid conflict or even litigation(ii) ripple effects of hierarchical systems within the medical team on juniors making appropriate adjustments to prescriptions for antibiotics; and lastly(iii) a belief on mythical properties of both clinicians and patients (as reported by clinicians) on iv. This study shows that conversion from IV to PO antibiotic therapy in eligible patients, if main limiting factors like financial, behavioral and institutional systems are channeled the right way would allow more effective grounds which are favourable for early shifting. This research describes primary factors of extended use of iv antibiotics inside a large hospital for tertiary treatment. In iv to oral transition programs these drivers should be tackled to implement sustainable improvement in prescribing behaviour. Therefore, it is important to establish appropriate guidance for conversion of IV to PO which will facilitate correct and standardized conversion in hospital.

Chromium-Free Conversion Protective Coatings on 1424 Aluminum Alloy

Abstract—It is known that lithium-containing aluminum alloys possess low pitting corrosion resistance. It has been previously shown that an IFKhANAL-3 alkaline chromate-free conversion composition gives the coatings on a series of aluminum alloys, such as AMg3, D-16, and V95, which are comparable to conventional chromate coatings in terms of protective properties. It should also be noted that inhomogeneous CCs that do not adhere to the substrate are formed in standard chromate conversion composition on lithium-containing alloys; therefore, development of the method for the fabrication of protective CC for 1424 alloy is a relevant task. In this work, the effect of various complexing agents on the oxidation and protective properties of the coatings based on 1424 alloy have been studied. The modifying additives under study have decreased the concentration of different oxides in the conversion compositions providing adsorption of corrosion inhibitors and increase in their protective properties. According to the results of accelerated corrosion tests, integrated use of Trilon B and BTA significantly increases the corrosion resistance of the coatings based on 1424 alloy.

A Drought Monitoring Method Based on Precipitable Water Vapor and Precipitation

AbstractPrecipitable water vapor (PWV) with high precision and high temporal resolution can be obtained based on the global navigation and satellite positioning system (GNSS) technique, which is important for GNSS in disaster prevention and mitigation. However, related studies on drought monitoring using PWV have rarely been performed before, which becomes the focus of this paper. This paper proposes a novel drought monitoring method using GNSS-derived PWV and precipitation, and a multi-time-scale standardized precipitation conversion index (SPCI) is established. This index is different from the traditional index in terms of expression, standardization, and time scale. The proposed SPCI is then compared with the standardized precipitation index/standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index/self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (SPI/SPEI/scPDSI) and applied to local and global drought monitoring. Validated results show that multi-time-scale SPCI has good consistency with the corresponding SPI/SPEI/scPDSI. The correlation between SPCI and SPEI is the strongest (more than 0.96) on a 12-month scale, which indicates the application potential of SPCI in drought monitoring. In addition, applications for regional (Queensland, Australia) and global drought/wet monitoring further verify the capability of the proposed SPCI. The average percentage deviations of drought/wet monitoring between SPCI and SPEI are 2.77% and 3.75%, respectively on a global scale. The above results show that the SPCI developed in this study is efficiently applied to global flood/wet studies.

Minimal Differential Difference Realizations of Delay Differential, Differential Difference, and Neutral Delay Systems

Delay-Differential Equations (DDEs) are often used to represent control of and over large networks. However, the presence of delay makes the problems of analysis and control of such networks challenging. Recently, Differential Difference Equations (DDFs) have been proposed as a modelling framework which allows us to more efficiently represent the low-dimensional nature of delayed channels in a network or large-scale delayed system. Unfortunately, however, the standard conversion formulae from DDE to DDF do not account for this low-dimensional structure - hence any efficient DDF representation of a large delayed network or system must be hand-crafted. In this letter, we propose an algorithm for constructing DDF realizations of both DDE and DDF systems wherein the dimension of the delayed channels has been minimized. Furthermore, we provide a convenient PIETOOLS implementation of these algorithms and show that the algorithm significantly reduces the complexity of the model for several illustrative examples, including Neutral Delay Systems (NDSs).

Combination of electrochemical unit and ESI-MS in fragmentation of flavonoids.

Predictive approaches on the activity of natural compounds based on the fragmentation by instrumental techniques are important for consideration of such molecules as drug candidates and defining new structures with promising properties. Since flavonoids are well-known antioxidants, their redox properties can be related to their pharmacological activity. In this work, the potential of electrochemical unit coupled to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was assessed for fragmentation activity relationships studies of selected flavonoids. Methodology of this research included electrochemical conversion of standards of flavonoids at different pH values and their further analysis with the use of ESI-MS. In addition, signals obtained from the blank samples were also identified and used for interpretation due to electrochemical nature of the ESI source. Half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50 ) values of flavonoids for 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) antioxidant activity assays were analysed for possible correlation with the structures of flavonoids and products of electrochemical conversion. Fragmentation activity relationships were suggested using the proposed approach and for some of the flavonoids it was not specific enough to determine the input of a particular structural feature to the activity, but for others they were in agreement with those found in the literature. Obtained results showed potential of the proposed approach for application in plant sciences as a fast pre-screening tool for newly isolated bioactive compounds.

Intelligence for Harmonizing Cloud-Based and On-Premises Workflows in Standards Conversion

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Cloud computing offers significant benefits to broadcasters including the ability to scale up processing to meet peak or unexpected demands. Many broadcasters experience instances where material suddenly arrives in the wrong format for a given project or distribution network. Keeping a standards converter on standby for such situations is expensive and uses up valuable assets. In this paper, we describe a system that enables broadcasters to use in-house resources for regular operations, with intelligent offloading of critical or irregular processing demands into the cloud when required. Content arriving is analyzed and directed into the appropriate workflow path, for example, transcoding-only on-premise. Where a frame rate, format, or aspect ratio conversion is needed, the content can be directed to a cloud-based, motion-compensated, standards converter, where resources are allocated to meet the requirements of the job. We conclude with results from the evaluation of this system by a major German broadcaster</i> .

Refining the partition for multifold conic optimization problems

ABSTRACT In this paper, we give a unified treatment of two different definitions of complementarity partition of multifold conic programs introduced independently in Bonnans and Ramírez [Perturbation analysis of second-order cone programming problems, Math Program. 2005;104(2–30):205–227] for conic optimization problems, and in Peña and Roshchina [A complementarity partition theorem for multifold conic systems, Math Program. 2013;142(1–2):579–589] for homogeneous feasibility problems. We show that both can be treated within the same unified geometric framework and extend the latter notion to optimization problems. We also show that the two partitions do not coincide, and their intersection gives a seven-set index partition. Finally, we demonstrate that the partitions are preserved under the application of nonsingular linear transformations, and in particular, that a standard conversion of a second-order cone program into a semidefinite programming problem preserves the partitions.

Research on Urban Traffic Signal Control Systems Based on Cyber Physical Systems

In this paper, we present a traffic cyber physical system for urban road traffic signal control, which is referred to as UTSC-CPS. With this proposed system, managers and researchers can realize the construction and simulation of various types of traffic scenarios, the rapid development, and optimization of new control strategies and can apply effective control strategies to actual traffic management. The advantages of this new system include the following. Firstly, the fusion architecture of private cloud computing and edge computing is proposed for the first time, which effectively improves the performance of software and hardware of the urban road traffic signal control system and realizes information security perception and protection in cloud and equipment, respectively, within the fusion framework; secondly, using the concept of parallel system, the depth of real-time traffic control subsystem and real-time simulation subsystem is realized. Thirdly, the idea of virtual scene basic engine and strategy agent engine is put forward in the system design, which separates data from control strategy by designing a general control strategy API and helps researchers focus on control algorithm itself without paying attention to detection data and basic data. Finally, considering China, the system designs a general control strategy API to separate data from control strategy. Most of the popular communication protocols between signal controllers and detectors are private protocols. The standard protocol conversion middleware is skillfully designed, which decouples the field equipment from the system software and achieves the universality and reliability of the control strategy. To further demonstrate the advantages of the new system, we have carried out a one-year practical test in Weifang City, Shandong Province, China. The system has been proved in terms of stability, security, scalability, practicability and rapid practice, and verification of the new control strategy. At the same time, it proves the superiority of the simulation subsystem in the performance and simulation scale by comparing the different-scale road networks of Shunyi District in Beijing and Weifang City in Shandong Province. Further tests were conducted using real intersections, and the results were equally valid.

The automation of robust interatomic-force measurements.

Interatomic-force measurements are regularly performed using frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy. This requires conversion of the observed shift in the resonant frequency of a force-sensing cantilever to the actual force experienced by its tip. Recently, Sader et al. [Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 1088 (2018)] showed that this force conversion can be unreliable and proposed the inflection point test to identify valid and robust force data. Efficient and user-friendly algorithms are required for its routine practical implementation, which currently do not exist. Here, we (1) advance the theoretical framework of the inflection point test, (2) develop the required efficient algorithms for its complete automation, and (3) demonstrate the utility of this automation by studying two experimental datasets, in ultrahigh vacuum and liquid. The principal outcome of this report is the development of user-friendly software that integrates this automation with a standard force conversion methodology. This software provides the enabling technology for practitioners to now seamlessly perform robust nanoscale and interatomic-force measurements.