Search results for " function"
showing 10 items of 9395 documents
Use of ICS/LABA (extra-fine and non-extra-fine) in elderly asthmatics.
2016
Age represents an exclusion criterion in randomized clinical trials designed to test the efficacy and safety of inhaled drugs in asthma. As a consequence, data on efficacy and safety of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and long-acting β2 agonist (LABA) combinations in elderly asthmatics are scanty. Older age is associated with an increased proportion of comorbid conditions; in addition, all organ functions undergo a process of senescence, thus reducing their ability to metabolize the agents. Overall, these age-associated conditions may variably, and often unpredictably, affect the metabolism and excretion of respiratory drugs. However, pharmacological treatment of asthma does not follow specifi…
Human buccal mucosa as an innovative site of drug delivery.
2009
The authors review the ultra-structural aspects and permeability features of normal human oral mucosa, after having recently tested and used it as a new site of systemic drug delivery. The pertinent scientific literature from 1975 through 2009 has been analysed and discussed. Buccal epithelium is a relatively permeable, robust non-keratinized tissue and blood vessels drain directly into the jugular vein; due to its particular features, it has been of increasing interest to researchers as an alternative site of drug administration. The review describes the structure and function of the buccal mucosa, the rationale for transbuccal drug delivery and the main transmucosal drug delivery systems.…
Asthma Control: The Right Inhaler for the Right Patient
2015
Inhaled therapy is the cornerstone of asthma management in that it optimizes the delivery of the medication to the site of action. The effectiveness of inhaled therapy is affected by the correct choice of the device and proper inhalation technique. In fact, this influences the drug delivery and distribution along the bronchial tree, including the most peripheral airways. In this context, accumulating evidence supports the contribution of small airways in asthma, and these have become an important target of treatment. In reality, the “ideal inhaler” does not exist, and not all inhalers are the same. Advances in technology has highlighted these differences, and have led to the design of new d…
Finite-Timel1-Gain Control for Positive Switched Systems with Time-Varying Delay via Delta Operator Approach
2014
This paper is concerned with the problem of finite-timel1-gain control for positive switched systems with time-varying delay via delta operator approach. Firstly, sufficient conditions which can guarantee thel1-gain finite-time boundedness of the underlying system are given by using the average dwell time approach and constructing an appropriate copositive type Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional in delta domain. Moreover, the obtained conditions can unify some previously suggested relevant results seen in literature of both continuous and discrete systems into the delta operator framework. Then, based on the results obtained, a state feedback controller is designed to ensure that the resulting …
Impulsively-controlled systems and reverse dwell time: A linear programming approach
2015
We present a receding horizon algorithm that converges to the exact solution in polynomial time for a class of optimal impulse control problems with uniformly distributed impulse instants and governed by so-called reverse dwell time conditions. The cost has two separate terms, one depending on time and the second monotonically decreasing on the state norm. The obtained results have both theoretical and practical relevance. From a theoretical perspective we prove certain geometrical properties of the discrete set of feasible solutions. From a practical standpoint, such properties reduce the computational burden and speed up the search for the optimum thus making the algorithm suitable for th…
Acridine orange in a pumpkin-shaped macrocycle: Beyond solvent effects in the UV–visible spectra simulation of dyes
2010
Abstract We present simulation of the UV–visible spectra of acridine orange, a widely used photosensitizer for in vivo studies due to its highly environment-dependent spectroscopic properties. This dye has been investigated both in its protonated and neutral forms, either isolated or embedded in a pumpkin-shaped macromolecular cycle (cucurbit-7-uril), using time-dependent density functional theory techniques. To model this macromolecular cycle, two strategies are taken into account, allowing decoupling of the geometric and electrostatic influences of the host on the guest molecules. Experimental data are well-reproduced when using an embedding electrostatic technique, suggesting that such a…
A Branch-and-Cut method for the Capacitated Location-Routing Problem
2011
International audience; Recent researches in the design of logistic networks have shown that the overall distribution cost may be excessive if routing decisions are ignored when locating depots. The Location-Routing Problem (LRP) overcomes this drawback by simultaneously tackling location and routing decisions. The aim of this paper is to propose an exact approach based on a Branch-and-Cut algorithm for solving the LRP with capacity constraints on depots and vehicles. The proposed method is based on a zero-one linear model strengthened by new families of valid inequalities. The computational evaluation on three sets of instances (34 instances in total), with 5–10 potential depots and 20–88 …
Mode-superposition correction method for deterministic and stochastic analysis of structural systems
2001
The role played by the modal analysis in the framework of structural dynamics is fundamental from both deterministic and stochastic point of view. However the accuracy obtained by means of the classical modal analysis is not always satisfactory. Therefore it is clear the importance of methods able to correct the modal response in such a way to obtain the required accuracy. Many methods have been proposed in the last years but they are meaningful only when the forcing function is expressed by an analytical function. Moreover in stochastic analysis they fail for white noise excitation. In the paper a method able to give a very accurate response for both deterministic and stochastic input is p…
Dynamic programming for 2-D discrete linear systems
1989
The authors calculate the optimal control of 2-D discrete linear systems using a dynamic programming method. It is assumed that the system is described with Roesser's state-space equations for which a 2-D sequence of inputs minimizing the given performance criterion is calculated. The method is particularly suitable for problems with bounded states and controls, although it can also be applied for unbounded cases. One numerical example is given. >
Effective Handling of Dynamic Time Windows and Its Application to Solving the Dial-a-Ride Problem
2015
A dynamic time window relates to two operations that must be executed within a given time meaning that the difference between the points in time when the two operations are performed is bounded from above. The most prevalent context of dynamic time windows is when precedence is given for the two operations so that it is a priori specified that one operation must take place before the other. A prominent vehicle routing problem with dynamic time windows and precedence is the dial-a-ride problem (DARP), where user-specified transportation requests from origin to destination points must be serviced. The paper presents a new branch-and-cut-and-price solution approach for the DARP, the prototypi…