Algorithms for distributed coordination and control are increasingly being used in smart grid applications including peer-to-peer energy trading and sharing to improve reliability and efficiency of the power system. However, for realistic deployment of these algorithms, their designs should take into account the suboptimal conditions of the communication network, in particular the communication links that connect the energy trading entities in the energy network. This study proposes a distributed adaptive primal (DAP) routing algorithm to facilitate communication and coordination among proactive prosumers in an energy network over imperfect communication links. The proposed technique employs a multi-commodity flow optimization scheme in its formulation with the objective to minimize both the communication delay and loss of energy transactional messages due to suboptimal network conditions. Taking into account realistic constraints relating to network delay and communication link capacity between the peers, the DAP routing algorithm is used to evaluate network performance using various figures of merit such as probability of signal loss, message delay, congestion and different network topologies. Further, we address the link communication delay problem by redirecting traffic from congested links to less utilized ones. The results show that the proposed routing algorithm is robust to packet loss on the communication links with a 20% reduction in delay compared with hop-by-hop adaptive link state routing algorithm.

Introduction: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is used for monitoring of disease progression and treatment response in cancer patients. Our aim was to compare the performance of chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) with electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) for CEA. Methods: A total of 115 samples were collected during routine diagnostic, prognostic and therapy monitoring procedures in patients with colorectal and pancreatic cancer. We used ARCHITECT i2000SR and Cobas E601 for CEA analysis in sera samples. Results: The correlation coefficient of 0.984 [95% CI: 0.972 to 0.991] for results obtained on both platforms was observed for CEA≤10 ng/mL group. Moreover, intercept of 0.9027 [95% CI: 0.705 to 1.099] and slope 0.8076 [95% CI: 0.765 to 0.8498]  (p < 0.0001) was observed in this group. In CEA >10 ng/mL group we observed slope = 1.1986  [95%CI: 1.1474 to 1.2498]  (p < 0.0001), intercept = -11.69 [-17.53 to - 5.84] and correlation coefficient of 0.985 [95% CI: 0.976 to 0.9914]. Mean differences between assays in group ≤10 ng/mL and >10 ng/mL were 0.2066 (95% CI: 0.0019 to 0.4113) and –2.66 (95% CI: -10.10 to 4.76) ng/mL, respectively. Conclusion: Although there were differences, based on 20 days precision tests, overall results showed a good analytical performance and correlation between CEA assays on ARCHITECT i2000SR and Cobas E601 platforms. Reference intervals appropriate for the method of CEA measurement should be used. The standardization and harmonization of serum CEA concentration assays are needed.

The Turopolje pig is a local porcine breed originating from Croatia characterised by its rusticity and adaptation to the traditional outdoor farming system linked to local oak forests. While this once-widespread breed was almost completely replaced by industrial breeds in the second half of the 20th century, there is growing interest on promoting its production in the framework of sustainable porcine production. The objective of our study (made in project TREASURE) was to characterise the gut microbiota composition in 24 Turopolje pigs raised outdoor by using a conventional feed vs a conventional feed supplemented with acorns. The gut microbiota composition of all pigs was determined by re-sequencing the bacterial 16S gene in an Illumina MiSeq device. Bioinformatics analyses were performed by using Qiime’s open-reference OTU calling subsampled method following author’s recommendations. NMDS and PERMANOVA analyses performed by using the Vegan R package showed significant effects of diet, showing that the acorn supplementation has a relevant impact on gut microbiota, notably by reducing richness and diversity. This result was confirmed in the differential abundance analysis which showed that 152 out of 1,466 OTUs were significantly different between the two groups. Interestingly, the predicted microbiota metabolic functions that were differentially abundant involved fatty acid and amino-acid

Introduction: Shoulder pain is the most common form of extra-articular rheumatism. We aimed to determine the efficiency of the conventional physical treatment of the shoulder pain compared to the conventional treatment plus the Mulligan's joint mobilization technique and acupuncture. Methods: We included a total of 277 patients with the shoulder pain caused by adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder), calcific tendinitis, rotator cuff syndrome, or the tendinitis of the biceps muscle. We used clinical and radiological diagnostic criteria to make the diagnosis. Patients were assigned into group treated with conventional physiotherapy treatment during the ten days (CP)(n=148), and the group treated with conventional physiotherapy treatment plus the Mulligan joint mobilization and acupuncture (CP+MA)(n=128). Treatment efficiency was evaluated by assessing the status of the patients before and after the treatment with the Work Abilities and Activities of Daily Living (WAADL) scale as well as the Treatment Success scale. Results: Mean treatment duration was 13.36±5.83 and 10.86±4.55 days in CP and CP+MA group, respectively (p<0.05). Mean WAADL scores after the treatment were 3.98±1.04 and 4.61±1.10 in CP and CP+MA group, respectively (p<0.05). Mean Treatment success score was 3.16±0.74 and 4.35±0.78 in CP and CP+MA group, respectively (p< 0.05). Conclusions: Conventional physical therapy plus the Mulligan's joint mobilization technique and acupuncture resulted in shorter treatment duration and higher WAADL and Treatment success scores in patients with shoulder pain.

The problem of an ageing population has only recently gained attention in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). Adequate pension reforms cannot be expected if most citizens are unaware of the issues or even oppose the reforms necessary. The primary research is based on opinion survey data collected in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH) with a special focus on the fact that the ageing of the population might pose a problem for pension systems in the future. The results show that more than three quarters of the respondents are aware of this problem in FBIH. The logit regression model shows that pensioners, respondents who prefer the primary role of government, those with higher levels of education and reported living standard are more likely to recognise this issue. Improvements in the efficiency of pension funds, reduction in public spending and active measures aimed at the prevention of emigration from BIH are the solutions most widely recognised.

Recent developments in computer and communication technologies are leading to an increasingly networked and wireless world. This raises new challenging questions in the context of networked control systems, especially when the computation, communication and energy resources of the system are limited. To efficiently use the available resources it is desirable to limit the control actions to instances when the system really needs attention. Unfortunately, the classical time-triggered control paradigm is based on performing sensing and actuation actions periodically in time (irrespective of the state of the system) rather than when the system needs attention. Therefore, it is of interest to consider event-triggered control as an alternative paradigm as it is more natural to trigger control actions based on the system state, output, or other available information. Event-triggered control can thus be seen as the introduction of feedback in the sensing, communication, and actuation processes. To facilitate an easy implementation of event-triggered control, we propose to combine the principles and particularly the benefits of event-triggered control and classical periodic time-triggered control. The idea is to periodically evaluate the triggering condition and to decide, at every sampling instant, whether the feedback loop needs to be closed. This leads to the so-called periodic event-triggered control (PETC) systems. In this chapter, we discuss PETC strategies, their benefits and two analysis and design frameworks for linear and nonlinear plants, respectively.

Introduction: An increasing number of people suffer from degenerative diseases of the hip joints. Many studies report the long-term outcomes of invasive therapy in the treatment of coxarthrosis. However, results of prolonged conservative treatment are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of prolonged conservative physical therapy on functional recovery of degenerative hip changes. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 47 patients diagnosed with coxarthrosis according to the American College of Rheumatology criteria. Data on sex and age, duration of physical therapy, the type of physical therapy, the values of manual muscle test (MMT) at admission and discharge, were taken from the medical records of the patients. Results: There were 76.6% female and 23.4% male patients. Half of the patients were 70 or more years old. Majority of patients were treated by kinesiotherapy (74.5%) and had significantly different (p < 0.05) values of MMT at admission and discharge. Duration of treatment was 10-20 days for 23.4% of patients, while 29.8% received treatment for 31-40 days. Conclusion: According to our results, MMT significantly improved at the end of the treatment. Thus, physical therapy had a positive effect on the recovery of muscle strength in patients with coxarthrosis.

ABSTRACT The aim of this essay is to give voice to the distinct types of feminist consciousnesses in dominantly Muslim societies, which have been mostly ignored or marginalized by Western and Western-influenced feminisms. I analyze Islamic and secular feminisms in Turkey (a secular regime) and in Iran (an Islamic regime) and show the shortcomings and patriarchal elements in both movements. I also show the authenticity and necessity of both movements, and emphasize their contributions to the feminist ideal of pluralism. Finally, by producing this project, I hope to carve a space for Middle Eastern Feminisms in global feminist scholarship.

Self-supervised methods are interesting for remote sensing because there are not many human labeled datasets available, but there is practically unlimited amount of data that can be used for self-supervised learning. In this paper we analyze the use of split-brain autoencoders in the context of remote sensing image classification. Weinvestigate the importance of training set size, choice of color space and size of the model to the classification accuracy. We show that even with small amount of unlabeled training images, if we finetune the weights learned by the autoencoder, we can achieve almost state of the art results of 89.27% on AID dataset.

The research in this paper is oriented to the blended learning and teaching model with a study group on the faculty of the science and education, to determine the effectiveness of such an approach. The study included graduate students of Faculty of Science and Education, University of Mostar who attended a course E-learning systems (N=39). The teaching process was organized and implemented according to the sub-model of the rotation model, called the flipped classroom. The teaching process included a period of the traditional teaching (approx. 30% of the total time) and a period of the online delivery of content (approx. 70% of the total time). The research has provided a stimulating experience for both teachers and students.

Article history: Received: 04 July, 2018 Accepted: 20 August, 2018 Online: 05 September, 2018