Technical Overview Research Articles

Tangent-space methods for uniform matrix product states

In these lecture notes we give a technical overview of tangent-space methods for matrix product states in the thermodynamic limit. We introduce the manifold of uniform matrix product states, show how to compute different types of observables, and discuss the concept of a tangent space. We explain how to variationally optimize ground-state approximations, implement real-time evolution and describe elementary excitations for a given model Hamiltonian. Also, we explain how matrix product states approximate fixed points of one-dimensional transfer matrices. We show how all these methods can be translated to the language of continuous matrix product states for one-dimensional field theories. We conclude with some extensions of the tangent-space formalism and with an outlook to new applications.

Magnetic Resonance-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MR-HIFU): Technical Background and Overview of Current Clinical Applications (Part 1).

Extracorporeal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a promising method for the noninvasive thermal ablation of benign and malignant tissue. Current HIFU treatments are performed under ultrasound (US-HIFU) or magnetic resonance (MR-HIFU) image guidance offering integrated therapy planning, real-time control (spatial and temperature guidance) and evaluation. This review is based on publications in peer-reviewed journals addressing thermal ablation using HIFU and includes our own clinical results as well. The technical background of HIFU is explained with an emphasis on MR-HIFU applications. A brief overview of the most commonly performed CE-approved clinical applications for MR-HIFU is given. Over the last decade, several HIFU-based applications have received clinical approval in various countries. In particular, MR-HIFU is now approved for the clinical treatment of uterine fibroids, palliation of bone pain, ablation of the prostate and treatment of essential tremor as a first neurological application. MR-HIFU is a patient-friendly noninvasive method for thermal ablation which has received clinical approval for several applications. Overall, clinical data demonstrate treatment efficacy, safety and cost efficiency. · HIFU is a promising technique for noninvasive thermal ablation of tissue.. · HIFU is typically performed under image guidance using either diagnostic ultrasound (US-HIFU) or MRI (MR-HIFU).. · The preferred image guidance modality depends on the application.. · MR guidance offers improved soft-tissue contrast for treatment planning, near real-time and noninvasive temperature monitoring and post-interventional therapy evaluation.. · MR-HIFU is CE-approved for treatment of uterine fibroids, alleviation of bone pain, prostate tissue ablation and treatment of essential tremor.. · Siedek F, Yeo S, Heijman E et al. Magnetic Resonance-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MR-HIFU): Technical Background and Overview of Current Clinical Applications (Part 1). Fortschr Röntgenstr 2019; 191: 522 - 530.

Supercritical fluid chromatography–a technical overview and its applications in medicinal plant analysis: an update covering 2012–2018

Medicinal plants with complex matrices are endowed with a wide scope of biological activities. The separation, quantification, characterization and purification of bioactive components from herbal medicine extracts have always challenged analysts. Fortunately, the advancement of various emerging techniques has provided potent support for improving the method selectivity, sensitivity and run speeds in medicinal plant analyses. In recent years, the advent of new-generation supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) instruments and a wide diversity of column chemistries, coupled with the intrinsic technical features of SFC, have made it an alternative and prominent analytical platform in the medicinal plant research area. This work aims to give a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals, technical advancement and investigating parameters of SFC in combination with three prevalent detectors. Moreover, the latest research progress of SFC applications in medicinal plant analyses is illuminated, with focus on herbal medicine-related SFC papers on the analytical and preparative scale that were published during the period of 2012 to December 2018. The most relevant applications were classified based on the constituents to be analysed. As for the respective research cases, analytical protocols and data processing strategies were provided, along with the indicated restrictions or superiority of the method; thus, the current status of SFC in medicinal plant analysis was presented.

Environmental noise levels in hospital settings: A rapid review of measurement techniques and implementation in hospital settings.

Background:Hospitals provide treatment to improve patient health and well-being but the characteristics of the care environment receive little attention. Excessive noise at night has a negative impact on in-patient health through disturbed sleep. To address this hospital staff must measure night-time environmental noise levels. Therefore, an understanding of environmental noise measurement techniques is required. In this review, we aim to 1) provide a technical overview of factors to consider when measuring environmental noise in hospital settings; 2) conduct a rapid review on the equipment and approaches used to objectively measured noise in hospitals and identify methodological limitations.Design:A rapid review of original research articles, from three databases, published since 2008. Studies were included if noise levels were objectively measured in a hospital setting where patients were receiving treatment.Results:1429 articles were identified with 76 included in the review. There was significant variability in the approaches used to measure environmental noise in hospitals. Only 14.5% of studies contained sufficient information to support replication of the measurement process. Most studies measured noise levels using a sound level meter positioned closed to a patient’s bed area in an intensive care unit.Conclusion:Unwanted environmental noise in hospital setting impacts negatively on patient and staff health and well-being. However, this literature review found that the approaches used to objectively measure noise level in hospital settings have been inconsistent and poorly reported. Recommendations on best-practice methods to measure noise levels in hospital environments are provided.

An Overview of Fault-Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerance Techniques for Switched Reluctance Machine Systems

This paper presents a technical overview for fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant strategies of switched reluctance machine (SRM) systems. With the widespread utilization of electrical motors, stability and reliability become the most important considerations for safety. SRMs are famous for their great robustness, wide speed range, and high fault-tolerant capability, which are much suitable for high-speed and safety-critical applications. Although the SRM drive have some fault tolerance ability, the fault still seriously affects the system performance. The faults happening in different parts, such as converter, motor winding, sensors, and rotor, may lead to low torque, large torque ripple, overcurrent, insulation damage, and even system broken-down, without any fault-tolerant consideration. Therefore, it is important and urgent to improve the motor system reliability and robustness for SRM drives. Aiming at offering novel solutions to the faults in SRM drives, this paper begins with mathematical modeling of the SRM, and then concentrates on the state-of-art fault diagnosis and fault tolerance techniques to enhance the fault ride-through ability. Two categories, containing fault diagnosis and fault tolerance technologies are emphasized for fast faults locating and stable post-fault operation. Advanced technologies are reviewed, classified, and compared comprehensively. Besides, several fault diagnosis and tolerance schemes that have been developed by authors are presented and discussed as well. Finally, the research status and outlooks on this topic are put forward. It is our target to offer a global vision on fault-related strategies and bring out promising ideas about fault-related techniques in SRM drives.

Technical and clinical overview of deep learning in radiology.

Deep learning has been applied to clinical applications in not only radiology, but also all other areas of medicine. This review provides a technical and clinical overview of deep learning in radiology. To gain a more practical understanding of deep learning, deep learning techniques are divided into five categories: classification, object detection, semantic segmentation, image processing, and natural language processing. After a brief overview of technical network evolutions, clinical applications based on deep learning are introduced. The clinical applications are then summarized to reveal the features of deep learning, which are highly dependent on training and test datasets. The core technology in deep learning is developed by image classification tasks. In the medical field, radiologists are specialists in such tasks. Using clinical applications based on deep learning would, therefore, be expected to contribute to substantial improvements in radiology. By gaining a better understanding of the features of deep learning, radiologists could be expected to lead medical development.

Overview of the next quarter century vision of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles

Last three decades, costumers and manufacturers of automotive sector have been influenced positively by Hydrogen and fuel cells (FCs). The main goal of automakers can be pointed as minimizing the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions while improving the range limits, energy efficiency and latest technology adaptation. Therewithal, electric assisted propulsion systems added to vehicles and are called as electric vehicles (EVs). For that matter, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) have become the focus of researchers and producers. In this mini foreseen review, overview of the next quarter century vision of FCEVs are expressed and discussed by the helped of previous researches and with future forecast reports. The introduction part is summarized the general approach and future expectations of FCs in detailed. Technical overview is represented for FCs and FCEVs in terms of current state of technology to foreseen expectancy. Infrastructure analysis and future aspects overview part is also discussed for sector's perspective on FCEVs. The near future perspective of the FCEVs, which is seen as the next step in EVs, is discussed in detail in the next quarter century vision. Authors concluded that, between the 2030s-2050s, hydrogen FCEVs will continue their rising demand scale under the circumstances of decreasing expensive technology; enhanced energy optimization; extended range limits and increasing hydrogen refueling stations.

The Nebraska Mesonet: Technical Overview of an Automated State Weather Network

AbstractThe Nebraska Mesonet was established in 1981 as one of the nation’s first automated state weather networks. “Automated” is defined by the nature of the observations being made and recorded by machine, as opposed to observations made and recorded manually. At the time of inception, the five observing locations were geared toward servicing agricultural production applications. The Nebraska Mesonet has grown to 69 stations (as of 2018) and is now a multipurpose environmental observing network under the Nebraska State Climate Office (NSCO). The network is composed of environmental observation stations, sited using best practices for mesoscale and microscale environment situations. Precise observations are acquired using high-quality instrumentation, following manufacturer recommendations for calibrations and maintenance. Calibrations are performed in the NSCO calibration laboratory. Uses for the data include but are not limited to water management, drought monitoring, energy production, health, environmental research, animal management, and crop pest management. This paper provides a technical overview and history of the network, outlining current practices for station siting, maintenance, data quality assurance, and data utility.

A Transdisciplinary Review of Deep Learning Research and Its Relevance for Water Resources Scientists

AbstractDeep learning (DL), a new generation of artificial neural network research, has transformed industries, daily lives, and various scientific disciplines in recent years. DL represents significant progress in the ability of neural networks to automatically engineer problem‐relevant features and capture highly complex data distributions. I argue that DL can help address several major new and old challenges facing research in water sciences such as interdisciplinarity, data discoverability, hydrologic scaling, equifinality, and needs for parameter regionalization. This review paper is intended to provide water resources scientists and hydrologists in particular with a simple technical overview, transdisciplinary progress update, and a source of inspiration about the relevance of DL to water. The review reveals that various physical and geoscientific disciplines have utilized DL to address data challenges, improve efficiency, and gain scientific insights. DL is especially suited for information extraction from image‐like data and sequential data. Techniques and experiences presented in other disciplines are of high relevance to water research. Meanwhile, less noticed is that DL may also serve as a scientific exploratory tool. A new area termed AI neuroscience, where scientists interpret the decision process of deep networks and derive insights, has been born. This budding subdiscipline has demonstrated methods including correlation‐based analysis, inversion of network‐extracted features, reduced‐order approximations by interpretable models, and attribution of network decisions to inputs. Moreover, DL can also use data to condition neurons that mimic problem‐specific fundamental organizing units, thus revealing emergent behaviors of these units. Vast opportunities exist for DL to propel advances in water sciences.

Whole-Genome Alignment and Comparative Annotation.

Rapidly improving sequencing technology coupled with computational developments in sequence assembly are making reference-quality genome assembly economical. Hundreds of vertebrate genome assemblies are now publicly available, and projects are being proposed to sequence thousands of additional species in the next few years. Such dense sampling of the tree of life should give an unprecedented new understanding of evolution and allow a detailed determination of the events that led to the wealth of biodiversity around us. To gain this knowledge, these new genomes must be compared through genome alignment (at the sequence level) and comparative annotation (at the gene level). However, different alignment and annotation methods have different characteristics; before starting a comparative genomics analysis, it is important to understand the nature of, and biases and limitations inherent in, the chosen methods. This review is intended to act as a technical but high-level overview of the field that should provide this understanding. We briefly survey the state of the genome alignment and comparative annotation fields and potential future directions for these fields in a new, large-scale era of comparative genomics.

Closed-Loop Brain Stimulation for Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: Towards an Evidence-Based Approach to Personalized Medicine.

Closed-loop brain stimulation is one of the few treatments available for patients who are ineligible for traditional surgical resection of the epileptogenic zone, due to having generalized epilepsy, multifocal epilepsy, or focal epilepsy localized to an eloquent brain region. Due to its clinical efficacy and potential to delivery personalized therapy based on an individual's own intracerebral electrophysiology, this treatment is becoming an important part of clinical practice, despite a limited understanding of how to program detection and stimulation parameters for optimal, patient-specific benefit. To bring this challenge into focus, we review the evolution of neural stimulation for epilepsy, provide a technical overview of the RNS System (the only FDA-approved closed-loop device), and discuss the major challenges of working with a closed-loop device. We then propose an evidence-based solution for individualizing therapy that is driven by a bottom-up informatics approach.

Small pelagic purse seines in the Adriatic Sea: A spatial analysis and technical overview in relation to Mediterranean Regulation provisions

A number of restrictions envisaged by Council Regulation 1967/2006 (Mediterranean Regulation, MR) have been introduced to reduce the fishing effort and the catch of juveniles in the Mediterranean Sea. A large proportion of the purse seiners of the Adriatic fleet that target small pelagic species may be using gear that does not comply with regulatory provisions. This study provides a thorough overview on Adriatic purse seine designs and fishing practices. Moreover, since no detailed information was available about their environmental impact, an ad hoc study was also performed to examine the issue in relation to Mediterranean Regulation provisions. Analysis of the technical data confirmed the vast majority of the nets used by the Adriatic purse seine fleet do not comply with regulatory provisions. However, data analysis highlighted that the technical features and operational characteristics of these fisheries do not justify the application of MR restrictions. In fact, i) spatial analysis of the fishing effort demonstrated that purse seiners operate more than 3 nautical miles off the coast, i.e. further than the area covered by the restrictions; and ii) data from sensors and video cameras documented that purse seines do not exert adverse impacts on critical habitats such as Posidonia meadows and that the groundrope impact on the seabed is so slight and short-lived as to be negligible. Moreover, the extensive changes required to make purse seines compliant with the MR would entail steep costs and would ultimately render the nets unsuitable for commercial fishing, thus involving highly negative socioeconomic consequences.

Technical Analysis and Overview of the Concepts of Organizational studies with special Emphasis on Behavior, Theory, and Ecology

The studies related to the Concepts of Organizational studies have been reviewed and discussed. Special emphasis has been placed on Behavior, Theory, and Ecology, of Organizational Studies. The paper is expected to be useful to the new entrants in the field and also the senior organizational experts and advisors in the firms. The Technique of Simulation for optimization of learning in Organization has been discussed.

Pilot Scale Cavitational Reactors and Other Enabling Technologies to Design the Industrial Recovery of Polyphenols from Agro-Food By-Products, a Technical and Economical Overview.

We herein provide an overview of the most recent multidisciplinary process advances that have occurred in the food industry as a result of changes in consumer lifestyle and expectations. The demand for fresher and more natural foods is driving the development of new technologies that may efficiently operate at room temperature. Moreover, the huge amount of material discarded by the agro-food production chain lays down a significant challenge for emerging technologies that can provide new opportunities by recovering valuable by-products and creating new applications. Aiming to design industrial processes, there is a need for pilot scale plants such as the ‘green technologies development platform’, which was established by the authors. The platform is made up of a series of multifunctional laboratories that are equipped with non-conventional pilot reactors, developed in direct collaboration with partner companies, in order to bridge the enormous gap between academia and industry via the large-scale exploitation of relevant research achievements. Selected key, enabling technologies for process intensification make this scale-up feasible. We make use of two selected examples, the grape and olive production chains, to show how cavitational reactors, which are based on high-intensity ultrasound and rotational hydrodynamic units, can assist food processing and the sustainable recovery of waste, to produce valuable nutraceuticals as well as colouring and food–beverage additives.

Mobility in mobile ad-hoc network testbed using robot: Technical and critical review

Recently, MANET (Mobile Ad Hoc Network) researchers have shown increased interest in using mobile robot technology for their testbed platforms. Despite the existence of review papers that discuss the usage of mobile robot technology pertaining to a MANET testbed from the perspective of a MANET researcher, said findings are rather lacklustre as it is not the sole purpose of said reviews. Hence, this review aims to comprehensively discuss and analyse MANET testbeds that were facilitated with mobile robot technology for previous undertaken research. To enable readers to keep abreast with mobile robot technology used in previous research, whilst presenting the advantages and disadvantages of said methods, this review will first superficially discuss prior robot based MANET testbed facilities, before presenting technical analysis overview and critical analysis. Additionally, suggestions to heighten mobility mechanisms by using mobile robots to be more practical, easy and inexpensive are also included in this paper. The technical and critical content of this review is expected to be a source of reference for other MANET researchers interested in the most suitable mobile robots to ensure real mobility in their MANET testbeds.

A Technical Overview of Recent Progresses on Stochastic Iterative Learning Control

This paper contributes to a technical overview of recent progresses on stochastic iterative learning control (ILC), where stochastic ILC implies the learning control for systems with various random signals and factors such as stochastic noises, random data dropouts and inherent random asynchronism. The fundamental principles of ILC are first briefed with emphasis on the system formulations and typical analysis methods. Then the recent progresses on stochastic ILC are reviewed in three parts: additive randomness case, multiplicative randomness case, and coupled randomness case, respectively. Three major approaches, i.e., expectation-based method, Kalman filtering-based method, and stochastic approximation-based method, are clarified. Promising research directions are also presented for further investigation.

Subliminal Priming-State of the Art and Future Perspectives.

The influence of subliminal priming (behavior outside of awareness) in humans is an interesting phenomenon and its understanding is crucial as it can impact behavior, choices, and actions. Given this, research about the impact of priming continues to be an area of investigative interest, and this paper provides a technical overview of research design strengths and issues in subliminal priming research. Efficient experiments and protocols, as well as associated electroencephalographic and eye movement data analyses, are discussed in detail. We highlight the strengths and weaknesses of different priming experiments that have measured affective (emotional) and cognitive responses. Finally, very recent approaches and findings are described to summarize and emphasize state-of-the-art methods and potential future directions in research marketing and other commercial applications.

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF): Overview, research programs and future plans

The Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility (SARAF) is under construction in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center at Yavne, Israel. When completed at the beginning of the next decade, SARAF will be a user facility for basic and applied nuclear physics, based on a 40 MeV, 5 mA CW proton/deuteron superconducting linear accelerator. Phase I of SARAF (SARAF-I, 4 MeV, 2 mA CW protons, 5 MeV 1 mA CW deuterons) is already in operation, generating scientific results in several fields of interest. The main ongoing program at SARAF-I is the production of 30 keV neutrons and measurement of Maxwellian Averaged Cross Sections (MACS), important for the astrophysical s-process. The world leading Maxwellian epithermal neutron yield at SARAF-I ($5\times 10^{10}$ epithermal neutrons/sec), generated by a novel Liquid-Lithium Target (LiLiT), enables improved precision of known MACSs, and new measurements of low-abundance and radioactive isotopes. Research plans for SARAF-II span several disciplines: Precision studies of beyond-Standard-Model effects by trapping light exotic radioisotopes, such as $^6$He, $^8$Li and $^{18,19,23}$Ne, in unprecedented amounts (including meaningful studies already at SARAF-I); extended nuclear astrophysics research with higher energy neutrons, including generation and studies of exotic neutron-rich isotopes relevant to the rapid (r-) process; nuclear structure of exotic isotopes; high energy neutron cross sections for basic nuclear physics and material science research, including neutron induced radiation damage; neutron based imaging and therapy; and novel radiopharmaceuticals development and production. In this paper we present a technical overview of SARAF-I and II, including a description of the accelerator and its irradiation targets; a survey of existing research programs at SARAF-I; and the research potential at the completed facility (SARAF-II).

How to run molecular dynamics simulations on electrospray droplets and gas phase proteins: Basic guidelines and selected applications.

The ability to transfer intact proteins and protein complexes into the gas phase by electrospray ionization (ESI) has opened up numerous mass spectrometry (MS)-based avenues for exploring biomolecular structure and function. However, many details regarding the ESI process and the properties of gaseous analyte ions are difficult to decipher when relying solely on experimental data. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can provide additional insights into the behavior of ESI droplets and protein ions. This review is geared primarily towards experimentalists who wish to adopt MD simulations as a complementary research tool. We touch on basic points such as force fields, the choice of a proper water model, GPU-acceleration, possible artifacts, as well as shortcomings of current MD models. Following this technical overview, we highlight selected applications. Simulations on aqueous droplets confirm that "native" ESI culminates in protein ion release via the charged residue model. MD-generated charge states and collision cross sections match experimental data. Gaseous protein ions produced by native ESI retain much of their solution structure. Moving beyond classical fixed-charge algorithms, we discuss a simple strategy that captures the mobile nature of H+ within gaseous biomolecules. These mobile proton simulations confirm the high propensity of gaseous proteins to form salt bridges, as well as the occurrence of charge migration during collision-induced unfolding and dissociation. It is hoped that this review will promote the use of MD simulations in ESI-related research. We also hope to encourage the development of improved algorithms for charged droplets and gaseous biomolecular ions.

Technical Overview of the Concepts of Finance Studies and the Methodology of Optimizing the Financial Resources of a Firm

<p><em>The studies related to the financial concepts and various related sectors have been reviewed and discussed. Brief descriptions of </em><em>Mathematical innovation, Avoiding taxes and regulation, and </em><em>Role of Technology have been included for the purpose of optimizing the financial resources. The concept of Experimental finance and the importance of the Properly designed experiments to avoid likely problems have been analyzed.</em><em>The Theory and the Methodology of Optimizing the Financial Resources of a Firm have been outlined for the benefit of the researchers The paper is expected to be useful to the new entrants in the field and also </em><em>for </em><em>the senior financial advisors in the firms. </em><em></em></p>