Unusual Situations Research Articles

A Novel Self‐Reconfigurable Battery Pack Design with and without Active Cell Balancing

In electric vehicle industry, rechargeable multicell battery packs commonly with fixed configurations are adopted. Such fixed battery configurations have several drawbacks, including limited fault tolerance during unusual operating situations, poor cell state variation management, etc. Thus, this article proposes a self‐reconfigurable battery pack design considering two scenarios: with and without active cell balancing. Herein, the issue of cell state variation is mostly solved by the proposed configuration mode, and further monitoring, control, and protection can be easily appended to accomplish other functionalities, for example, meeting dynamic voltage requirement. Each proposed design is validated by simulation results for a six‐cell polymer lithium‐ion battery pack. The proposed design can maximally utilize the battery's capacity and help to protect cells from over‐charging and over‐discharging as well. This research could be further extended to other application scenarios involving wide‐range dynamic voltage requirements.

Cash holding by consumers: The role of the perceived characteristics of money

AbstractThis study examined why consumers who typically pay electronically at points of sale still carry cash and explained the inertia of demand for cash by considering the additional (perceived by consumers) characteristics of cash. The research was motivated by the growing discussion on why cash, despite the increasing importance of e‐payments, remains a significant part of the demand for money. The study focused on psychological factors and consumers' perceptions of certain features of cash, which make it an attractive additional option for precautionary reasons, and therefore, explored beyond the typical discussion of money as a means of payment. The structural equation modeling based on data collected as part of a survey of Polish consumers was used to verify the hypotheses. It was revealed that cash becomes a reserve solution for consumers, which is kept “just in case” to expand the scope of personal freedom and flexibility in making payments and protect against various potential restrictions and threats related to e‐payments. Consumers' holding of cash as an additional option depends on three key factors: attitude toward cash, particularly the flexibility it offers, unusual purchasing situations, and perceived card or mobile payment risk, considered as a moderator. In the debate on the future of cash, the study supports the position that cash has a place in the modern payment system, although it plays a different role. Cash is a supportive backup solution. Eliminating cash significantly reduces consumer welfare.

Impact of Biomass Burning, Wildfires, and Wind Events on Aerosol Optical Depth: Implications for Climate Change

In this article, we describe multiannual variations of the atmospheric aerosol optical depth values in the widely understood area of the Baltic Sea. We present the trends in the changes and depict unusual aerosol situations. As a result of analyses, we focus on 2019, since unusually high values of aerosol optical depth were recorded in several stations around the Baltic. We match the high aerosol levels with an unusually high number of wildfires across Europe in spring and summer, which emitted large quantities of aerosols into the atmosphere that were distributed over vast European areas in part by the wind. We then connect this case with the climate change consequences. Since aerosols influence the radiative budget of the planet by directly affecting the atmospheric radiation budget, it is obvious that human well-being is in danger due to wildfires, as well as from the atmospheric perspective. Climate change will lead to more frequent fires; thus, humans need to develop solutions to decrease the risk of fire outbreaks.

Telemetry to solve dynamic analysis of a distributed system

In the modern software development world, implementing distributed solutions has become quite common due to the flexibility it brings to big companies. The downside is that when developing such systems, especially in many teams, global design problems may not be obvious and lead to a slowdown in the development process or even problems with the location of errors or degradation of overall system performance. In addition, the timely reaction to system degradation is complicated by the distributed nature of the architecture; while manually configuring rules for reporting problematic situations can be time-consuming and still incomplete, automatic detection of possible system anomalies will give engineers (especially Software Reliability Engineers) the focus on problems. For this reason, applications that can dynamically analyse the system for problems have great potential. Currently, the topic of using telemetry for system analysis is actively studied and gaining traction, so further research is valuable. The work aims to theoretically and practically prove the possibility of using telemetry to analyse a distributed information system and detect harmful architectural practices and anomalous events. To do this, firstly, a detailed overview of the problems related to the topic and the feasibility of using telemetry is provided; the next section briefly describes the history of the development of monitoring systems and the key points of the latest OpenTelemetry standard, reviews popular application performance monitoring systems, and defines innovative features to be further researched. The main part includes an explanation of the approach used to collect and process telemetry, a reasoning behind the usage of Neo4j as a data storage solution, a practical overview of graph theory algorithms that help in the analysis of the collected data, and a description outlining how the PCA algorithm is employed to detect unusual situations in the whole system instead of individual metrics. The results provide an example of using the software presented with Neo4j Bloom to visualise and analyse the data collected over several hours from the OpenTelemetry Demo test system. The last section contains additional remarks on the results of the study.

Mechatronic automatic control system of electropneumatic manipulator

Mechatronic systems of electropneumatic automation are one of the main classes of industrial automation systems. A laboratory stand for the study of the mechatronic system of automatic control of the pneumatic manipulator and a computer model for preliminary experiments on the adjustment of the automatic control system were developed. Manual and software control modes are provided for research of indicators of safety and quality of management in both modes. To implement the software control mode, a microcontroller part of the laboratory stand based on ADuC841 was developed, with the help of which it is possible to simulate a part of a certain technological process, to detect and eliminate faults in the automatic control system. A study of automatic control systems using a traditional relay-contactor control system, based on GrafCet technology and using a virtual controller. The combination of computer modeling of technological processes and physical modeling of executive mechanisms is a kind of digital double that displays its state, parameters and behavior in real time. The use of a laboratory stand in combination with an adequate simulation model reduces the complexity of developing control systems for practical applications, and also contributes to the formation of students' creative component, ability to analyze the results, and make decisions in unusual situations, which will increase their theoretical and practical training. The study of mechatronic systems of pneumatic manipulators will allow to increase their efficiency and productivity, to optimize their speed and accuracy for various applications in production. The interaction of mechatronic systems of pneumatic manipulators with other technologies, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, IoT is the basis for creating more integrated and intelligent systems.

Exploring fear from a psychodramatic perspective

The article presents an attempt to describe the phenomenon of fear from a psychodramatic perspective. The perception of fear as an innate component of the psyche and as a phenomenon shaped by learning, experience and its cognitive processing is deciphered, very briefly outlining the criteria for classifying fear. Factors that provoke fear are elucidated, namely congenital triggers, social internalization of sources of danger and personal experience, as well as fear avoidance reactions, in particular avoidance of the experience of shame. The adaptive function of fear and that of understanding the self and one`s own picture of the world are specified. Fears based on a realistic assessment of situations and imaginary ones are delimited; the difficulties in identifying the causes of illusory fears and the ways of working with this kind of fears. The need for psychotherapeutic interventions in managing this emotion and freeing oneself from its consequences is highlighted, giving a concrete example of how psychodrama explores, through roleplaying, the individual`s relationship with his/her own fear and awareness of the causes of its occurrence. All this emphasizes the need to develop internal resources, creativity and spontaneity, the ability to communicate and build relationships, the capacity for operational self-regulation, which make it possible to generate solutions in unusual and extreme situations, in order to face challenges and avoid psychological trauma caused by various fears.

Towards robust car-following based on deep reinforcement learning

One of the biggest challenges in the development of learning-driven automated driving technologies remains the handling of uncommon, rare events that may have not been encountered in training. Especially when training a model with real driving data, unusual situations, such as emergency brakings, may be underrepresented, resulting in a model that lacks robustness in rare events. This study focuses on car-following based on reinforcement learning and demonstrates that existing approaches, trained with real driving data, fail to handle safety–critical situations. Since collecting data representing all kinds of possible car-following events, including safety–critical situations, is challenging, we propose a training environment that harnesses stochastic processes to generate diverse and challenging scenarios.Our experiments show that training with real data can lead to models that collide in safety–critical situations, whereas the proposed model exhibits excellent performance and remains accident-free, comfortable, and string-stable even in extreme scenarios, such as full-braking by the leading vehicle. Its robustness is demonstrated by simulating car-following scenarios for various reward function parametrizations and a diverse range of artificial and real leader data that were not included in training and were qualitatively different from the learning data. We further show that conventional reward designs can encourage aggressive behavior when approaching other vehicles. Additionally, we compared the proposed model with classical car-following models and found it to achieve equal or superior results.

Преславно бо Господь прослави вѣрнаго раба своего»: чудеса в составе «Жития Михаила Ярославича Тверского

The paper examines the functioning of a symbolic microgenre as part of an Old Russian literary work of the 14 century — “The hagiography of Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy”. Among the miracles presented in the text only one is intravital, all the rest are posthumous. They are arranged in a chain of successive episodes, united ideologically, thematically and by the object of the image. Most posthumous miracles happened when the murdered prince`s body has been moved from the Horde to Tver, mostly on the foreign territory. Therefore the purpose of their inclusion in the hagiography may be the desire to affirm the holiness of Mikhail Tverskoy and to convince his enemies and people who do not believe in his righteousness. Among the common and familiar miraculous motifs are the following: a body untouched by wild animals, a pillar of fire and a glow over the body, incorruptible relics. Besides the miracles which are performed directly over the relics and with the relics, unusual situations that cannot be rationally explained may also be considered as miracles. The author of the text, without being a direct witness of miraculous events, basing on eyewitness accounts retells them in detail, sometimes with explanations. Despite references to early Old Russian literary works and the use of familiar topos, the author of “The hagiography of Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy”, thanks to the inclusion of miracles, manages to achieve a high degree of persuasiveness, to reveal his plan and reflect his assessment of what was happening in the Horde.

Blood supply in unexpected and unusual situations

Blood supply in unexpected and unusual situations

Analysis of Preventive Cases Using Resilience Engineering in Radiotherapy Department

Resilience engineering is the ability of a system to adjust its own functions and maintain the required behavior in the face of changes and disturbances, and resilience potential is a necessary requirement. We aimed to clarify the relationship between resilience potential and error prevention cases. Based on the error cases reported in our department, we aggregated the relationship with resilience potential for each radiation treatment process. As a result of tabulating the relationship, we were able to recognize and prevent errors by taking preventive measures from past cases. On the other hand, in cases that slipped through the check mechanism, errors were discovered because of a sense of discomfort in unusual situations, and some error cases could be prevented by increasing the resilience potential. This study found that preparation, observation, coping, and utilization of past experiences are related to resilience potential in preventive cases.

Pyogenic Granuloma in Kidney Transplant Recipient

Objectives: This manuscript describes a clinical case of pyogenic granuloma with atypical presentation and evolution, and outlines a brief bibliographic review on the nosological entity. Introduction: Pyogenic granuloma is a common benign skin lesion, usually small, with some more common locations and predominance in females in adulthood. It has a correlation with trauma and medications. Its pathophysiology is in the initial stages of understanding. The typical histopathological alteration is a lobular arrangement of capillaries at the base. Treatment is surgical, with a low recurrence rate; there are non-surgical alternatives. Case report: We report a case of a 25-years-old renal transplant patient who develops a giant Pyogenic granuloma in the right forearm after a mild trauma, 2 years after transplantation from a deceased donor. He performs successive surgical excisions, with several recurrences, which disappeared only after discontinuation of tacrolimus and radiotherapy. The peculiarities of this case are: post-kidney transplant status, large size, recurrences after surgery and radiotherapy.. Conclusions: A patient with pyogenic granuloma, with atypical evolution, had a favorable outcome after identification and removal of a causative factor and alternative therapy. However, this report has limited potential for generalization. There are few publications of case series involving unusual situations, in addition do the involvement of the oral mucosa, paraungual/subungual regions and cases in pregnant women. Radiotherapy is a poorly performed intervention, which can be of value in refractory cases. Further studies are needed to achieve a greater understanding of this pathology and to describe treatment alternatives.

Overview on epidemiology and neuropathologic staging of limbic‐predominant age‐related TDP‐43 encephalopathy neuropathologic changes (LATE‐NC)

AbstractBackgroundLimbic‐predominant age‐related TDP‐43 encephalopathy (LATE) is increasingly appreciated to have a very large impact on public health. The goal of this presentation is to provide an overview about what is known about the epidemiology of LATE, and also to describe some recent changes to the criteria for the diagnostic classification of LATE neuropathologic change (LATE‐NC). The prevalence of LATE‐NC and Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic changes (ADNC) are each challenging to assess definitively, due to the requirement of state‐of‐the‐art autopsy verification across human populations.MethodA set of neuropathologic and clinical data were compiled from 13 high quality community‐ and population‐based longitudinal studies. The total number of participants included was 6,196, and the average age of death was 88.1 years. This study provided a credible estimate of the current prevalence of LATE‐NC in advanced age, with or without comorbid ADNC. Diagnostic classification also must take into account neuropathologic heterogeneity.ResultLATE‐NC was seen in almost 40% of participants and in ∼25% of those lacking ADNC. A total of 3,267 of these participants had available clinical data relevant to frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and none were given the clinical diagnosis of FTD nor the pathological diagnosis of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP‐43 inclusions (FTLD‐TDP). Another focus of the talk is recent research findings that have enabled increasingly precise guidance on how to differentiate LATE‐NC from other subtypes of TDP‐43 pathology (e.g., FTLD‐TDP and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS]), and how to render diagnoses in unusual situations in which TDP‐43 pathology does not match the staging scheme proposed in 2019. Specific recommendations are made about when to avoid the diagnostic term of LATE‐NC, based on current knowledge. Neuroanatomical regions of interest in LATE‐NC are specified factoring in neuropathologic data from different research centers.ConclusionLATE‐NC is a very common dementia, differentiable from ADNC or FTLD, and recent studies have refined our ability to make the diagnosis of LATE‐NC with increasing specificity. Areas needing additional study will be highlighted.

Prospective Pedagogues and Coaches Perspective on the Challenges and Solutions of Remote Studies

The conditions created by Covid-19 in the world and in Latvia have promoted the transition from traditional teaching and learning practices (contact lectures study form) to remote study form into the study process. The preparation of prospective teachers (University of Latvia) and coaches (Latvian Academy of Sport Education) is related to the need to develop various competencies. The purpose of the article is to analyse the opinions of 1st-year students, prospective preschool teachers and coaches about the benefits and difficulties of students in remote studies in the Covid 19 pandemic situation. We used theoretical method - analysis of scientific literature, and empirical methods - observation, negotiation (the total number of 1st year students in the 2021/2022 academic year in UL preschool teacher programs and LASE coaches’ programs was 590), content analysis, survey of selected 240 students (200 UL and 40 LASE) was conducted in the period from October 2021 to April 2022. The results of the empirical study show that the benefits and difficulties of distance learning have become more relevant, increasing the willingness to take responsibility for a self-directed learning process. Students are becoming more pragmatic, and goal oriented. They learn new skills and find operational solutions in various unusual situations. The research revealed that remote studies have promoted students' self-directed participation and initiative in improving the study process, self-management, and responsibility for the personal significance of their activities.

Surgical tips of duct-to-duct bile duct anastomosis in unusual situations in living donor liver transplantation

Surgical tips of duct-to-duct bile duct anastomosis in unusual situations in living donor liver transplantation

Early detection of temporal constraint violations

Software systems rely on events for logging, coordination, handling unusual situations, and more. Monitoring event streams from systems that provide services can ensure the service complies with policies, regulations, and other business rules. Notably, monitoring to detect violations of rules as early as possible is much desired as, for example, the service may reclaim more resources from erring enactments. The primary goal of this paper is to develop techniques for detecting violations of time constraints as early as possible. We formalize a model for events and a language to specify constraints on event timing and data. We develop algorithms to detect violations of individual rules, then use a chase process to detect violations of acyclic sets of rules. We also present optimization techniques to reduce monitoring overhead. Finally, we implement and evaluate our algorithms through experiments to demonstrate our approach is feasible and beneficial.

Plant Operator Support using Industrial Artificial Intelligence

Despite the high degree of automation in industrial control systems, human operators in industrial plants play a critical role in ensuring uptime, production quality, and safety. Plant operators do so by not only monitoring the process but also intervening when the process runs into unusual or exception situations. In this paper, we present to ensure smooth plant operation by automatically identifying and investigating potential upcoming issues as well as providing recommendations to plant operators on how to address them with confidence. This is achieved by applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques including deep learning, process mining, and graph search, on historical industrial process data such as alarm and event data, audit trails, engineering documents, and safety procedures. Our solution has been validated on data from the Draugen oil field operated by the Norwegian oil and gas company, OKEA.

Evacuation as a result of exceptional occurrences in the Prison Service practice

ObjectivesThis article aims to present the specificity of evacuationin the Prison Service practice resulting from an exceptional occurrence.MethodsThe article has been written on the basis of the author's experience while working in the prison service as well as document analysis.ResultsThe Prison Service is one of those state dispositional services which enable its adequate protection in the face of various threats. In this case, it is about isolating offenders because they pose a real threat to public order and security. The role of the services is to prepare for emergencies to minimise the risk of injuries, deaths and damage to property that disrupt society and individual administrative systems. It is a significant challenge, as emergency events are impossible to predict, and only their probability can be estimated and preventive and mitigating actions established.ConclusionsThe task of each professionally organised formation is to prepare for various circumstances, including crises. Events that require evacuation in the Prison Service are relatively rare. Evacuation under the conditions of the Prison Service is, therefore, usually a derivative of local threats: fires, natural disasters, and others, which require leaving the penitentiary institution. It should be emphasised that as prisoners serve their sentences of acute deprivation of liberty, penitentiary units must ensure their safety. This means acting in ordinary, everyday activities and responding to complex and unusual situations, including those requiring evacuation.

Recurrence of the Neuromuscular Blockade after the Sugammadex Administration after Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression: A Report of 3 Cases

Three elderly patients received sugammadex after confirmation of train-of-four (TOF) stimulation at the end of the surgery. They presented opioid-induced respiratory depression accompanied by severe acidosis postoperatively. Even after the reversal of opioid intoxication with naloxone, the respiration did not recover, and TOF revealed recurrent paralysis. Two of three cases completely recovered after additional sugammadex administration, but remnant 1 case without sugammadex transferred to intensive care unit with intubated status. Even if the recommended dose of sugammadex is administered, there can be recurrent neuromuscular blockade by complicated reasons. Continuous quantitative neuromuscular monitoring may be needed to prevent these unusual situations.

High-Resolution Soil Moisture Measurements in Rational Fertilization and Irrigation Methods as Part of the Sustainable use and Management of Soil Under Climate Change - DIY Solutions

Current climate changes, including drought, represent one of the most severe and extreme natural phenomena, directly affecting the environment, economy and society, and increasingly leading to soil degradation. In drought-stricken areas, losses in agricultural production are driving up food prices. The world's demand for water will continue to grow further in the coming decades. In view of the presented facts, there is a tremendous need for a systemic approach to saving water in the process of soil reclamation and conducting multidisciplinary research in this field. The problem of fertilization is linked to reasonable irrigation. These processes ought to be synchronized and run simultaneously, under the control by the system. This paper presents a prototype measurement probe as an element of a measurement network and the results of tests of its application in under use. The purpose of this research was testing a cheap DIY to solution identify the availability of water resources in the soil layer where the major plant root mass is found, i.e., to a depth of up to 110 cm, and to rationalize the management and improve the efficiency of water use during irrigation, as well as to monitor the migration of water in the soil in the era of climate change. The conducted tests have yielded concrete conclusions - current climate change is already resulting in unusual situations, including the different behaviour of water migrating through the soil. Considering that a wide variety of soils and geological systems are present, it is extremely important to understand these mechanisms in great detail, which makes the created solution feasible. Such a detailed analysis of water migration in soil under use can very successfully support, for example, a low-cost precision irrigation (preventing drought), or fertilization, indicating periods when and where to introduce nutrients after rainfall so that they naturally reach the depth of the largest root mass as quickly as possible. The DIY solution can be crucial in Third World countries by conducting at least single, cheap soil moisture measurements, and in many other places affected by the problem of water deficit, it can be an alternative to extend existing monitoring systems.

Changes in satisfaction and anxiety about radiotherapy for pediatric cancer by two-step audio-visual instruction.

Although radiotherapy is an essential component of pediatric cancer treatment, inadequate radiotherapy information for childhood cancer and unusual treatment situations can negatively affect parental perceptions and emotions. This study aims to investigate the effect of two-step audio-visual instruction system effects introduced by our institution on parent satisfaction and anxiety when initiating radiotherapy. The two-step audio-visual instruction system comprised instructive animation using patient avatars and a live video system. The live video system has a 55-inch-wide monitor, and a no-latency sound module. Parents in the radiotherapy division can view the patient in the treatment room through the live video system. This prospective study compared satisfaction and anxiety about radiotherapy introduction before and after two-step audio-visual instruction. We enrolled 20 parents whose child underwent radiotherapy, and they completed a set of questionnaires-Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and original questionnaires about radiotherapy. Satisfaction scores improved significantly after two-step audio visual instruction (25.5±3.4) compared with those before the instruction (27.7±3.1) (p = <0.01). Anxiety scores also decreased significantly after the instruction (50±9) compared with those before the instruction (54±11) (p=0.004). However, anxiety-related personality trait scores did not change drastically before and after viewing (48±8.5 vs. 49±7.5) (p=0.419). This single-arm prospective study indicates that two-step audio-visual instruction for radiotherapy is effective in improving parents' anxiety about radiotherapy introductions. However, large-scale and comparative studies are warranted to generalize the benefit of two-step audio visual instruction.