Control loop performance assessment techniques are crucial for optimizing any plant or machine. They can bring huge energy and material savings and increase product quality. Usually, the performance is compared to minimum variance controller. It is known that when optimizing process controllers having fixed structure (e.g. PIDs) different concepts must be applied. In this paper, the systematic ...

BACKGROUND Published data concerning the utility of computed tomography (CT)-based lung volumes are limited to correlation with lung function. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of the CT expiratory-to-inspiratory lung volume ratio (CT Vratio) by assessing the relationship with clinically relevant outcomes. METHODS A total of 75 stable chronic obstructive ...

Spirometry is a time-honored, invaluable measurement for assessing lung function in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as for studying populations with COPD in epidemiologic studies.1,2 Indeed, the prognostic value of spirometry has been appreciated since the 1960s,3 and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) was more recently included in more com...

We analyze a sample of multiple-exoplanet systems which contain at least 3 transiting planets detected by the Kepler mission (‘Kepler multiples’). We use a generalized Titius-Bode relation to predict the periods of 228 additional planets in 151 of these Kepler multiples. These Titius-Bode-based predictions suggest that there are, on average, 2± 1 planets in the habitable zone of each star. We e...

This article has been withdrawn for editorial reasons because the journal will be published only in English. In order to avoid duplicated records, this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rppnen.2014.02.004. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.