showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Cardinal estimates involving the weak Lindelöf game
2021
AbstractWe show that if X is a first-countable Urysohn space where player II has a winning strategy in the game $$G^{\omega _1}_1({\mathcal {O}}, {\mathcal {O}}_D)$$ G 1 ω 1 ( O , O D ) (the weak Lindelöf game of length $$\omega _1$$ ω 1 ) then X has cardinality at most continuum. This may be considered a partial answer to an old question of Bell, Ginsburg and Woods. It is also the best result of this kind since there are Hausdorff first-countable spaces of arbitrarily large cardinality where player II has a winning strategy even in the weak Lindelöf game of countable length. We also tackle the problem of finding a bound on the cardinality of a first-countable space where player II has a wi…
Performing visual tasks by children with amblyopia.
2021
Using HOESY NMR Spectroscopy to Characterize Prenucleation Aggregates
2021
Chinese-manufactured commodities and African agency in the democratization of consumption: the example of electronic devices in Cameroon
2021
Leveraging Uncertainty Estimates to Improve Segmentation Performance in Cardiac MR
2021
International audience; In medical image segmentation, several studies have used Bayesian neural networks to segment and quantify the uncertainty of the images. These studies show that there might be an increased epistemic uncertainty in areas where there are semantically and visually challenging pixels. The uncertain areas of the image can be of a great interest as they can possibly indicate the regions of incorrect segmentation. To leverage the uncertainty information, we propose a segmentation model that incorporates the uncertainty into its learning process. Firstly, we generate the uncertainty estimate (sample variance) using Monte-Carlo dropout during training. Then we incorporate it …
Image is everything! Professional football players’ visibility and wages: evidence from the Italian Serie A
2021
Sport is one of the most popular forms of entertainment and its worldwide spread has turned athletes into icons who have economic impact and international visibility as global brands. In our paper we would like to show how marketing strategies in the sports industry, amplified by social networks, have put the athlete at the centre of media attention In the world of football, football players have come to play a key role, since their image is the face of their clubs, and this can affect the number of digital fans, that is, fans who are not bound to a club by constant passion but who can change team depending on the athletes that have been lined up. This could explain why the teams playing in…
The Dietary Inflammatory Index and asthma burden in children: A latent class analysis
2021
Introduction: Unbalanced dietary intake has been increasingly recognized as an important modifiable risk factor for asthma. In this study, we assessed whether a pro-inflammatory diet is associated with higher asthma burden in three steps: (1) identification of asthma latent classes (LC) based on symptoms, indoor exposures, and pulmonary function; (2) identification of risk factors associated with LC membership; and (3) estimation of the probabilities of LC membership with variation in DII. Methods: A cross-sectional study on 415 children aged 5–14 years (266 with persistent asthma and 149 controls). LC analysis was performed in asthmatic children. The DII was calculated based on a semiquant…
Real Life Study of Lenvatinib Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: RELEVANT Study
2021
<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> In the REFLECT trial, lenvatinib was found to be noninferior compared to sorafenib in terms of overall survival. Here, we analyze the effects of lenvatinib in the real-life experience of several centers across the world and identify clinical factors that could be significantly associated with survival outcomes. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The study population was derived from retrospectively collected data of HCC patients treated with lenvatinib. The overall cohort included western and eastern populations from 23 center in five countries. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We included 1,325 patients with HCC …
Detecting impaired language processing in patients with mild cognitive impairment using around‐the‐ear cEEgrid electrodes
2021
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the term used to identify those individuals with subjective and objective cognitive decline but with preserved activities of daily living and an absence of dementia. Although MCI can impact functioning in different cognitive domains, most notably episodic memory, relatively little is known about the comprehension of language in MCI. In this study, we used around-the-ear electrodes (cEEGrids) to identify impairments during language comprehension in patients with MCI. In a group of 23 patients with MCI and 23 age-matched controls, language comprehension was tested in a two-word phrase paradigm. We examined the oscillatory changes following word onset as a fu…
Recent Activity and Kinematics of the Bounding Faults of the Catanzaro Trough (Central Calabria, Italy): New Morphotectonic, Geodetic and Seismologic…
2021
A multidisciplinary work integrating structural, geodetic and seismological data was performed in the Catanzaro Trough (central Calabria, Italy) to define the seismotectonic setting of this area. The Catanzaro Trough is a structural depression transversal to the Calabrian Arc, lying in-between two longitudinal grabens: the Crati Basin to the north and the Mesima Basin to the south. The investigated area experienced some of the strongest historical earthquakes of Italy, whose seismogenic sources are still not well defined. We investigated and mapped the major WSW–ENE to WNW–ESE trending normal-oblique Lamezia-Catanzaro Fault System, bounding to the north the Catanzaro Trough. Morphotectonic …
Influence of Social Defeat Stress on the Rewarding Effects of Drugs of Abuse
2021
Risks of Concurrent Execution in E-Commerce Processes
2021
The development of ICT facilitates replacing the traditional buying and selling processes with e-commerce solutions. If several customers are served concurrently, e.g. at the same time, the processes can interference each other causing risks for both the buyer and the seller. The paper offers a method to identify purchase/sale risks in simultaneous multi-customer service processes. First, an exact model of buying-selling processes is created and the conditions for the correct process execution are formulated. Then an analysis of all the possible scenarios, including the concurrently executed buying-selling scenarios, is performed using a symbolic execution of process descriptions. The obtai…
On the Assessment and Optimisation of the Processing Conditions of Tyre-Rubber Modified Bitumen
2021
The current study aims at understanding the effect of the variables associated with manufacturing rubberised bitumens in order to develop rubberised bitumen with superior mechanical properties and identify optimised processing conditions for its production. The experimental work covered extensive laboratory testing of several rubberised bitumen blends. The rubberised bitumen was manufactured using four paving grade bitumens (180/240, 160/220, 70/100, 80/100), three tyre rubber types (mechanical ground, waterjet powder, ambient ground powder), and various processing conditions (shear levels, temperatures, processing times). Characterisation of the manufactured blends included rotational visc…
Prepulse Inhibition and Vulnerability to Cocaine Addiction
2021
New Evidence of MIS 3 Relative Sea Level Changes from the Messina Strait, Calabria (Italy)
2021
Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–61 kyrs BP) proves difficult because: (i) in stable and subsiding areas, coeval coastal sediments are currently submerged at depths of few to several tens of meters below the present sea level
LCA of an Asphalt Mixture Produced in a Southern Italian Plant: Analysis and Perspectives
2021
In recent years, a growing attention on environmental issues affecting all fields and procedures of the productive sectors has raised, aiming to reduce energy and raw-material consumptions and pollution effects on environment. Due to the involved volumes and to the nature of the related materials and productive processes, the civil and road sectors have been strongly invested by this change of perspective. Therefore, a proper estimation of the environmental impacts for the entire life cycle of the asphalt mixtures for road construction and maintenance activities is extremely important. For performing similar investigations, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become one of the most reliable and…
Improved Testing Setup for Real-Time Monitoring of PMBs During Manufacturing and Rotational Viscosity Measurements
2021
Polymer modified binders (PMBs) are a practical solution to design asphaltmixtures with superior performance. Although these polymers often improve bitumen properties to some extent, their final performance are linked to the accurate control of the properties during manufacturing and storage. However, some of the common procedures used to characterise neat bitumen are not suitable with these binders making their characterisation challenging. This study presents a novel laboratory procedure to produce SBS-MB through a real-time monitoring of the rotational viscosity, as well as an attempt to understand the suitability of current testing geometries to measure viscosity of such a complex bitum…
Prognosis Impact of Diabetes in Elderly Women and Men with Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome
2021
Few studies have addressed to date the interaction between sex and diabetes mellitus (DM) in the prognosis of elderly patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS). Our aim was to address the role of DM in the prognosis of non-selected elderly patients with NSTEACS according to sex. A retrospective analysis from 11 Spanish NSTEACS registries was conducted, including patients aged ≥70 years. The primary end point was one-year all-cause mortality. A total of 7211 patients were included, 2,770 (38.4%) were women, and 39.9% had DM. Compared with the men, the women were older (79.95 ± 5.75 vs. 78.45 ± 5.43 years, p <
Organic Compounds Evaluation from Fumes Generated in Laboratory by Bio-recycled Asphalt Mixtures
2021
Using bio-binder and bio-additives as recycling agents for asphalt mixtures with high-content of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is proving to be feasible. It is still not clear whether this combination might provide new hazardous emissions from airborne binder fumes. The health hazard related to airborne bitumen fume generation is primarily relevant for paving crews while there is little opportunity for exposure related to asphalt plant workers. In this study, measurements of gaseous organic compounds from airborne binder fumes of selected bio-asphalt mixtures have been measured during the laboratory mixing process, by using a thermo-mixer equipped with a chimney at Univ Gustave Eiffel. Parameters …
A 3.3 V Output Voltage Optical Plasmonic Solar Energy Harvester
2021
In this paper, for the first time, the design of a solar energy-harvester (EH) based on plasmonic optical nanorectennas and without the step-up converter is presented. The novel optical harvester with a 49497∗14286 nanoarray of about 21,21 mm2 presents an output voltage value of 3.3 V and an output current of 10 mA.
An Iterative Method for Bifurcation-Free Resonant Inductive Power Transfer System Design
2021
The development of electric mobility makes the charging systems one of the main discussed topic. Among the different technologies, Resonant Inductive Power Transfer (RIPT) systems are in deep study. Several aspects, including the choice of coils, the compensation network and the bifurcation phenomenon are necessary for a proper design of the system. In this paper an iterative method for bifurcation-free RIPT system design is provided as a valid solution to the need of accurate models requiring low computational efforts.
Implementation on NI-SOM sbRIO-9651 and Experimental Validation of Multi-Carrier PWM Techniques for Three-Phase Five Level Cascaded H-Bridge Inverter
2021
Multilevel Power Inverters (MPIs) represent a valid solution to improve the performances of energy production systems from renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the use of novel FPGA control systems allows simplifying the implementation of multicarrier PWM techniques for MPIs with computational benefits. This paper describes the implementation of several multicarrier PWM techniques on NI-SOM sbRIO-9651 for the control of a three-phase five-level cascaded H-bridge inverter. In detail, sbRIO-9651 is a control system in the field of Power Electronics and Drives (PED) programmable in the LabVIEW graphical programming environment. The paper is focused on modulation techniques implementation, te…
Experimental Investigation on Water Loss and Stiffness of CBTM Using Different RA Sources
2021
Cold recycling of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is a promising technique to build or to maintain roads, combining performance and environmental advantages. Although this technique has been extensively used worldwide, there is no unique and internationally-shared method to characterize cold recycled mixtures. The previous work of the RILEM TC 237-SIB TG6 successfully attempted to characterize different RA sources with both traditional parameters (gradation, bitumen content and geometrical properties) and non-conventional properties (fragmentation and strength testing). The current RILEM TC 264-RAP TG1 mainly focuses on the influence of different RA sources on physical and mechanical characteristics…
An academic performance indicator using flexible multi-criteria methods
2021
Composite indicators are a very useful tool for conveying summary information on the overall performance of institutions and facilitating decision-making. Increasingly, there is a demand for indicators that allow performance to be assessed after the implementation of a strategy. This has several difficulties, and in this paper, we address three of them: how to evaluate at different points in time, how to estimate the weighting of the criteria and how to normalize the data. Our proposal is based on multicriteria techniques, using a recent method, uwTOPSIS, and is applied to data collected from 2975 students enrolled in the first year of science and engineering at the Industrial University of…
Personalized Recommendations for Physical Activity e-Coaching (OntoRecoModel): Ontological Modeling.
2021
Background Automatic e-coaching may motivate individuals to lead a healthy lifestyle with early health risk prediction, personalized recommendation generation, and goal evaluation. Multiple studies have reported on uninterrupted and automatic monitoring of behavioral aspects (such as sedentary time, amount, and type of physical activity); however, e-coaching and personalized feedback techniques are still in a nascent stage. Current intelligent coaching strategies are mostly based on the handcrafted string messages that rarely individualize to each user’s needs, context, and preferences. Therefore, more realistic, flexible, practical, sophisticated, and engaging strategies are needed to mod…
No difference in 30-day outcome and quality of life in transradial versus transfemoral access – results from the German Austrian ABSORB registry (GAB…
2021
Abstract Background Radial (RA) instead of femoral access (FA) for coronary interventions has become a European Society of Cardiology Class-IA guideline recommendation. But when the decision on the access site is left to the discretion of the operator, differences in adverse event rates mitigate. Methods We compared the 30-day outcome for RA and FA in all patients recruited for the observational German Austrian ABSORB Registry (GABI-R) in regard to all-cause mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), TIMI major bleedings (TMB) and quality of life (QoL). All patients were treated with a bioresorbable vascular scaffold. Access site was left to the discretion of the operator. Results In to…
First Principles Calculations of Atomic and Electronic Structure of Ti3+Al- and Ti2+Al-Doped YAlO3
2021
M.G.B. appreciates support from the Chongqing Recruitment Program for 100 Overseas Innovative Talents (grant no. 2015013), the Program for the Foreign Experts (grant no. W2017011), Wenfeng High-end Talents Project (grant no. W2016-01) offered by the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CQUPT), Estonian Research Council grant PUT PRG111, European Regional Development Fund (TK141), and NCN project 2018/31/B/ST4/00924. This study was supported by a grant from Latvian Research Council No. LZP-2018/1-0214 (for AIP). Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program H202…
false
2021
Sand play may be a significant determinant of health and development in early childhood, but systematically synthesised evidence is absent in the literature. The main objective of this study was to present a planned methodology to systematically review, and synthesise, the evidence regarding sand play and its associations with 0–8-year-old children’s health and development. The systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols statement was registered to PROSPERO (CRD42021253852). Literature searches will be conducted using information from eight electronic databases. Studies will be included when participating children were aged 0–…
From Laboratory Mixes to Full Scale Test: Rutting Evaluation of Bio-recycled Asphalt Mixes
2021
The present paper describes the rutting behavior of innovative mixes incorporating 50% of Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) with bio-materials. They were assessed in the laboratory and in a full-scale accelerated experiment. The innovative mixes studied here contained bio-materials especially designed to help recycling by re-activating the aged binder from RA. Four mixes were evaluated: three of them are manufactured with bio-materials, (two bio-rejuvenators and one bio-binder) and one was a control mix, which was a high modulus asphalt mix (EME2). In this study, the rutting resistance of the four mixes was first evaluated in the laboratory with both European and US methods. The full-scale test was th…
Animal Models of Adolescent Binge Drinking
2021
RED. Revista de educación a distancia
2021
El mundo requiere personas con conocimientos, habilidades y actitudes que permitan un desarrollo completo de la ciudadanía en un ecosistema digital. Una respuesta educativa a esta exigencia social es la competencia digital. Así, esta finalidad exige niveles óptimos de desarrollo de la Competencia Digital Docente (CDD), en especial en el sector de la Formación Profesional (FP). Con la idea de atender este contexto educativo, en este trabajo se propone un marco de comprensión que integra de forma unitaria la visión sobre la pedagogía, los recursos y la evaluación para entender, evaluar y proponer mejoras en la competencia digital del profesorado de FP. Empleando un enfoque cualitativo, se rea…
A qualitative fallacy: Life trapped in interpretations and stories
2021
This paper points out some problematic aspects of qualitative research based on interviews and uses examples from mental health. The narrative approach is explored while inquiring if the reality of life here is forced into the formula of a chronological story. The hermeneutic approach, in general, is also examined, and we ask if the reality of life in this scenario becomes caught up in a web of interpretations. Inspired by ideas from Bakhtin and phenomenology, we argue for interview-based research that stays with unresolvedness and constantly question the web of interpretations and narratives that determine our experiences. This also chimes with certain dialogical practices in mental healt…
Between the Holy Cross and Free Market. Addressing the Issue of Homosexuality in the Narratives of Former Students in Polish Schools
2021
In the article the authors present the results of the research based on in-depth interviews with 22 young gays and lesbians, graduates of different types schools in Poland. The main goal of the research was to indicate how, in the opinions of the respondents, the issue of homosexuality was addressed in schools they attended and how these particular ways of treating homosexuality might be related to the wider socio-cultural context. The qualitative analysis of the narratives with the application of thematic analysis of the data let the authors identify four main categories comprising the ways of dealing with the issue of homosexuality (silence, pathologising attitude, the language of sin, po…
Potential Biomarkers Associated with Multiple Sclerosis Pathology
2021
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that involves an intricate and aberrant interaction of immune cells leading to inflammation, demyelination, and neurodegeneration. Due to the heterogeneity of clinical subtypes, their diagnosis becomes challenging and the best treatment cannot be easily provided to patients. Biomarkers have been used to simplify the diagnosis and prognosis of MS, as well as to evaluate the results of clinical treatments. In recent years, research on biomarkers has advanced rapidly due to their ability to be easily and promptly measured, their specificity, and their reproducibility. Biomarkers are classified into several categor…
Synthesis of WO3 nanorods through anodization in the presence of citric acid: Formation mechanism, properties and photoelectrocatalytic performance
2021
[EN] In this study, WO3 nanomds have been fabricated by simple anodization in the presence of different amounts of citric acid and at different anodization times. A comprehensive morphological, structural, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical characterization of different samples has been carried out. Moreover, a formation mechanism for WO3 nanorods has been proposed. Finally, these nanostructures have been proven to be excellent visible-light photoelectrocatalysts to remove persistent organic pollutants present in wastewaters, such as fenamiphos. Almost the 80% of this molecule was eliminated from the test solution after 180 min of irradiation, indicating the great potential of these W…
Cancer Stem Cell Biomarkers Predictive of Radiotherapy Response in Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review
2021
Background: Rectal cancer (RC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed and particularly challenging tumours to treat due to its location in the pelvis and close proximity to critical genitourinary organs. Radiotherapy (RT) is recognised as a key component of therapeutic strategy to treat RC, promoting the downsizing and downstaging of large RCs in neoadjuvant settings, although its therapeutic effect is limited due to radioresistance. Evidence from experimental and clinical studies indicates that the likelihood of achieving local tumour control by RT depends on the complete eradication of cancer stem cells (CSC), a minority subset of tumour cells with stemness properties. Methods: A systemati…