BackgroundThe six-minute walk test (6MWT) is considered to be a simple and inexpensive tool for the assessment of functional tolerance of submaximal effort. The aim of this work was 1) to background the nonlinear nature of the energy expenditure process due to physical activity, 2) to compare the results/scores of the submaximal treadmill exercise test and those of 6MWT in pulmonary patients and 3) to develop nonlinear mathematical models relating the two.MethodsThe study group included patients with the COPD. All patients were subjected to a submaximal exercise test and a 6MWT. To develop an optimal mathematical solution and compare the results of the exercise test and the 6MWT, the least squares and genetic algorithms were employed to estimate parameters of polynomial expansion and piecewise linear models.ResultsMathematical analysis enabled to construct nonlinear models for estimating the MET result of submaximal exercise test based on average walk velocity (or distance) in the 6MWT.ConclusionsSubmaximal effort tolerance in COPD patients can be effectively estimated from new, rehabilitation-oriented, nonlinear models based on the generalized MET concept and the 6MWT.
The methodology of hierarchical linearized mathematical models construction of complex plants to control purposes is presented in the paper. Thanks to the methodology, the one high order model (flat, one level model), is replaced by a collection of models, which are placed at different hierarchy levels. The models represent dynamic processes typical for each hierarchy level, and omit fast dynamic processes significant at lower levels. The higher is hierarchy level, the slower dynamic processes is described by the model and the lower is order of the models. Multi-level model structure gives possibility of dynamic properties analysis by application of aggregation procedure. One of the principal aggregation procedure is reduction of models at individual levels of hierarchical structure. Such approach enables creating a reduced hierarchical model including a collection of models at every level of hierarchy, characterized by various adequacy scopes and accuracy of the plant features approximation. The paper presents methodology of hierarchical complex plants models creation on the example of evaporator of the BP-1150 boiler. Each of the subsystem at individual level of model hierarchy is a multi-input and multi-output causal systems.
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