Time and Travel

Background:Understanding changes in infectiousness during SARS-COV-2 infections is critical to assess the effectiveness of public health measures such as contact tracing.Methods:Here, we develop a novel mechanistic approach to infer the infectiousness profile of SARS-COV-2-infected individuals using data from known infector–infectee pairs. We compare estimates of key epidemiological quantities generated using our mechanistic method with analogous estimates generated using previous approaches.Results:The mechanistic method provides an improved fit to data from SARS-CoV-2 infector–infectee pairs compared to commonly used approaches. Our best-fitting model indicates a high proportion of presymptomatic transmissions, with many transmissions occurring shortly before the infector develops symptoms.Conclusions:High infectiousness immediately prior to symptom onset highlights the importance of continued contact tracing until effective vaccines have been distributed widely, even if contacts from a short time window before symptom onset alone are traced.Funding:Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Temporal data may be precise or imprecise. Representing and reasoning about these kinds of data in ontology still needs to be addressed. A significant number of approaches exist. However, they handle only precise temporal data and lack imprecise ones. In this paper, we propose a crisp-based approach for representing and reasoning about temporal data in term of quantitative (i.e., time points that can be dates and clocks, and time intervals) as well as qualitative relations (e.g., “before”) in ontology. It aims to support not only precise time points and intervals, but also imprecise ones e.g., “The journey starts by the beginning of June and ends by mid-June”. It relies only on crisp exiting Semantic Web standards and it is modeled in crisp ontology. Our approach is based on three blocks. (i) We extend the 4D-fluents approach with new crisp ontological components to represent the mentioned precise and imprecise temporal data. (ii) We extend the Allen’s interval algebra to reason about imprecise time intervals. Compared to related work, our extension is entirely based on crisp set theory. The resulting interval relations preserve many of the desirable properties of the original algebra. We adapt these relations to allow relating a time interval and a time point, and two time points; where time points and intervals may be both precise or both imprecise. All proposed relations can be used for temporal reasoning by means of transitivity tables. (iii) We propose an OWL 2 ontology based on our extensions. It proposes a set of SWRL rules to infer the proposed qualitative temporal relations. A prototype based on this ontology is implemented. We apply our approach to the Travel ontology.

Investigating the effects of time pressure on new product development teams

The ability of the lime aphid to produce sexuals (males and females) as an alternative to parthenogenetic females is regulated by a timing mechanism ('interval timer') which restrains the appearance of these morphs early in the year. In this species there are two 'interval timers': one controls the production of sexual females, and the other controls the production of males. Both 'intervals timers' are sensitive to day-length and temperature but they respond in different ways.With the approach of autumn the waning effect of the 'interval timer' inhibiting female production combined with the short day-lengths results in an increasing proportion of the aphids developing into sexual females. The restraining effect of the 'interval timer' results in a gradual transition from parthenogenetic to gamic reproduction over a period of several generations and is still operational in the autumn. However, in this species even relatively long day conditions (17 h) can induce the development of oviparae. This low threshold of response to day-length combined with the short generation time results in the sexual morphs appearing very early in the year. This is of considerable adaptive significance in years when, as frequently happens, the aphids disappear locally before the onset of autumn.

To investigate if anti-Ro/SSA antibody-exposed fetuses with prolonged atrioventricular (AV) time intervals also have prolongation of the isovolumetric contraction time (ICT). Seventy-eight anti-Ro/SSA (including 70 anti-Ro52) antibody-exposed fetuses at risk for congenital heart block (CHB) were followed weekly, between 18 and 24 weeks of gestation, with two Doppler echocardiographic methods designed to detect signs of first-degree AV block. One of these AV time measurements, using hemodynamic events from the mitral valve and aortic outflow as indirect markers of atrial and ventricular depolarization (MV-Ao), was also used to calculate a time interval representing an early phase of systolic cardiac performance, i.e. the ICT. Two hundred and eighty-four women with normal pregnancies served as controls for AV time intervals and another 106 were used to establish an ICT reference range. Strong positive relationships were found between ICT and MV-Ao time intervals (r = 0.91, P < 0.001), as well as between ICT and time intervals obtained from the superior vena cava and aorta (r = 0.85, P < 0.001). The ICT was estimated to contribute more than 50% of the total AV time prolongation. Abnormal AV time and ICT intervals were only seen in anti-Ro52 positive pregnancies. The ICT is an important contributor to prolongation of AV time intervals. This observation suggests that anti-Ro52/SSA antibody-exposed fetal hearts have not only disturbed electrical conduction but also decreased mechanical performance. Moreover, our findings have implications for the interpretation of AV time intervals used for surveillance of fetuses at risk for developing CHB.

The objective of the research is to found dose of tithonia and interval of application time to increased growth and production of sallot. This research was conducted in Tanjung Anom , Medan Sunggal with altitude ± 25 meters above sea surface began from December to Februari 201 6 used factorial randomized block design with two factors. The first factor was dose of thitonia’s liquid organic fertilizer (600, 900, dan 1200 ml/ plant) and the second factor was interval of application time (4, 6, and 8 day to one) . The result of this research showed that dose of thitonia’s liquid organic fertilize were significantly effect to number of leaves per clump parameter on 1 weeks after planting. Interval of application time were significantly effect to plant height on 4 weeks after planting, diameter tubers per sample, and sell dry weight per plot. Generally, the best treatment of the research was with dose of tithonia 1200 ml/plant and interval of 4 days for once application . The interaction of two factor not significantly affect on all parameters observed. Keywords : shallot, tithonia, dosage, interval of time

The most utilized method to measure swimming performance of fishes has been the critical swimming speed (UCrit) test. In this test, the fish is forced to swim against an incrementally increasing flow of water until fatigue. Before the water velocity is increased, the fish swims at the water velocity for a specific, pre-arranged time interval. The magnitude of the velocity increments and the time interval for each swimming period can vary across studies making the comparison between and within species difficult. This issue has been acknowledged in the literature, however, little empirical evidence exists that tests the importance of velocity and time increments on swimming performance in fish. A practical application for fish performance is through the design of fishways that enable fish to bypass anthropogenic structures (e.g. dams) that block migration routes, which is one of the causes of world-wide decline in sturgeon populations. While fishways will improve sturgeon conservation, they need to be specifically designed to accommodate the swimming capabilities specific for sturgeons, and it is possible that current swimming methodologies have under-estimated the swimming performance of sturgeons. The present study assessed the UCrit of shortnose sturgeon using modified UCrit to determine the importance of velocity increment (5 and 10 cm s-1) and time (5, 15 and 30 min) intervals on swimming performance. UCrit was found to be influenced by both time interval and water velocity. UCrit was generally lower in sturgeon when they were swum using 5cm s-1 compared with 10 cm s-1 increments. Velocity increment influences the UCrit more than time interval. Overall, researchers must consider the impacts of using particular swimming criteria when designing their experiments.

Travel time is considered to be the key criterion when making travel related decisions. As the travel decisions are made in a dynamic environment, the travel time also changes according to the real-time operations of the transport system. More and more evidence proves that travellers are not only interested in the expected travel time but also in travel time reliability. Especially for trips that are made regularly, reliability is valued more than travel time itself. This dissertation focuses on travel time reliability measures and their eects on travel related decisions as well as network performance. Travel time is studied both at the aggregate level and the disaggregate level. At the aggregate level, personal preferences of travellers towards travel time are explored; while on the disaggregate level, the network performance is evaluated based on travel time reliability. Instead of defining a new travel time reliability index, the travel time distribution is used to address the variation of the travel time and its influences on both travellers at the micro level and the network at the macro level. Both revealed preference (RP) data and stated preference (SP) data are used for the analysis of the travel time reliability. The SP data provided two scenarios based on mode choice and route choice respectively and the data was collected in Switzerland. Proceeding on the SP data, parts of the RP data is also collected in Switzerland, which is later used to reconstruct the actual route choices of the respondents for a route choice model. Tomtom Stats data is obtained to assist the travel time reliability analysis during the procedure. Another part of the RP data, the floating car data (FCD), was collected from Wuhan, China and it is applied to employ network travel time reliability. Route choice models are built with travel time measures using both SP data and RP data. In the SP data based route choice model, as the travel time distribution was applied to generate the route alternatives, it allows us to explore the early and late indierence buers around the preferred arrival time. An exhaustive algorithm searches for the optimum early and late buer combinations and during the procedure, the changes of value of Abstract travel time savings, value of reliability early and late along with the model fit are closely observed. The RP data based route choice model tries to explain the respondents’ route choices reconstructed from the RP data with predicted travel time reliability measures. First regression models are employed to predict parameters of the travel time distribution based on Tomtom Stats data and then these models are applied to predict travel time reliabilities for each route alternative. A Path Size Logit model is used to account for similarities between route alternatives with percentage of early and late buers of travel time to address travel time reliability eects on route choices. FCD data is used to analyse travel time reliability on the network. Three levels of travel time reliability: link level, path level and network level are explored. On the link level, the travel time reliability is closely related to the speed changes along the road so link (un)reliability is defined as the integral of speed changes along the link. On the path level, Monte Carlo simulation is used to obtain the path travel time and the travel time distribution is extracted. The definition of a degradable network is given and a spatial auto regression model is built to calculate expected total network travel time and its variance. Then using method of moments estimation, the total network travel time distribution is reconstructed, from a degradable network as well as an undegradable network.

Objective: Self-reported memory complaints in older adults are common and may be an early indicator of future cognitive decline or dementia. However, there is wide variety in self-reported memory items that lack consensus on what they intend to measure. This study explored the perspectives of older adults on items currently used to assess self-reported memory.Method: A convenience sample of community dwelling older adults (n = 51) completed a free card sorting task of 16 commonly used items assessing self-reports of memory problems. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to extract dimensions that describe the similarities among the self-reported items. Visual maps were created to interpret the content of each dimension and validity of the dimensions was checked using the labels provided by the participants.Results: Three underlying dimensions describing the items were identified: time frame, problem specificity, and framing. These dimensions were supported by participant provided labels.Conclusion: The three identified dimensions suggest that the commonly used self-reported memory items assess substantively different aspects of the same broad concept. To avoid inconsistencies in assessing self-reported memory problems in older adults, we recommend researchers specify the aspects of memory problems that they are interested in and link their items to those aspects. In addition, they should develop items that are a good match to their research question rather than simply selecting items that are commonly used or appear to have high face validity.

Objective To explore the application value of plastic biliary stent and fully covered self-expandable metallic stent (FCSEMS) in endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) for treatment of benign biliary stricture after liver transplantation. Methods The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The clinical data of 54 patients with benign biliary stricture after liver transplantation undergoing ERCP treatment who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University between January 2010 and August 2016 were collected. Among 54 patients, 44 had simple anastomotic stricture and 10 had non-anastomotic stricture. All the patients underwent stent implantation by ERCP. Patients with stricture within 1 month postoperatively initially selected single plastic stent or endoscopic nasobiliary drainage (ENBD), and then changed into multiple plastic stents at the second stent replacement. Patients with stricture after 1 month postoperatively selected multiple plastic stents, multiple plastic stents after balloon dilation or FCSEMS. Observation indicators: ERCP situations, stent implantation, time of stent indwelling, postoperative complications, stent dislocation, treatment outcome and follow-up situations. Patients were followed up by outpatient examination and telephone interview up to November 2016. Clinical symptoms of patients were observed within 1 month postoperatively and liver function and abdominal ultrasound were retested. Liver function and remission degree of biliary stricture were monitored regularly once every 3 months. Measurement data were described as average (range). Results All the patients underwent successful ERCP, of which 53 completed the process of ERCP and 1 rejected treatment due to economic problems. All the 54 patients received 140 times ERCPs with an average of 2.59 times per person, 21 times ENBDs, 11 times FCSEMSs and 108 times plastic stent implantations (including 35 times single stent implantations, 46 times double stents implantations, 23 times 3-stents implantations and 4 times 4-stents implantations). All the 54 patients were followed up for 3-143 months, with an average time of 73 months. Of 44 with anastomotic stricture, 34 received plastic stent implantation and 98 times ERCPs, with an average number of stent implantation of 2 (range, 1-4) and an average time of stent indwelling of 10.7 months (range, 9.0-13.0 months); the postoperative acute pancreatitis, biliary infection, hyperamylasemia and adverse stent implantation or dislocation were detected in 4 persons every time, 7 persons every time, 10 persons every time and 3 persons every time, respectively; 26 patients were cured and 5 were improved, with an effective rate of 91.2% (31/34); 3 patients with noneffective treatment continued to undergo ERCP and 3 patients had recurrence of anastomotic stricture. Among 10 patients with initial FCSEMS implantation, 12 times ERCPs were performed, with an average time of stent indwelling of 7.6 months (range, 6.0-12.0 months); postoperative biliary infection, hyperamylasemia and stent dislocation were detected in 1 person every time, 1 person every time and 1 person every time, respectively; 8 patients were cured, with an effective rate of 8/10; of 2 patients with persistent stricture, 1 patient received contrast examination after stent removal, showing a comparative stricture in level 1 branch of intrahepatic duct and considering combined ischaemia, and then underwent the second implantation using multiple plastic stents; the other patient had elevated level of jaundice at 3 months after stents removal and received ERCP, showing anastomotic inflammatory polyp, and then underwent FCSEMS implantation again. Ten patients with non-anastomotic stricture received plastic stent implantation and 30 times ERCPs, with an average number of stent implantation of 3 (range, 2-4) and an average time of stent indwelling of 11.3 months (range, 10.0-14.0 months); the postoperative acute pancreatitis, biliary infection, hyperamylasemia and adverse stent implantation or dislocation were detected in 2 persons every time, 5 persons every time, 2 persons every time and 1 person every time, respectively; 3 patients were cured and 3 were improved, with an effective rate of 6/10; of 4 patients with noneffective treatment, 2 died of gradually deteriorating liver function and 2 underwent the second liver transplantation. Conclusions Stent implantation in ERCP is safe and effective for treatment of benign biliary stricture after liver transplantation, single plastic stent should be used in the early period (within 1 month) and multiple plastic stents should be used in the later period. Although FCSEMS has a higher displacement rate, it should be recommended due to a better clinical effect, lower incidence of complications and simple operation. For patients with non-anastomotic stricture, plastic stent should be used for extrahepatic biliary stricture, with a good clinical effect, and there is worse effect in stent implantation through ERCP for multiple intrahepatic biliary strictures. Key words: Benign bile duct stricture; Liver transplantation; Plastic bile duct stent; Fully covered self-expandable metallic stent

Sedentary behaviour in office workers: correlates and interventions

Objective To investigate the diagnosis and treatment value of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for post pancreatectomy hemorrhage (PPH), and influencing factors of severity of PPH. Methods The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 20 patients with PPH who were admitted to the Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from August 2009 to November 2016 were collected. Patients with PPH in the early stage underwent reoperations for hemostasis; patients with PPH in the later stage received conservative treatment, and then DSA and TAE were considered when patients had the stable vital signs. Observation indicators: (1) DSA situations: overall times, positive rate and bleeding sites; (2) TAE situations: successful rate of hemostasis, operating time and postoperative complications; (3) follow-up situations; (4) influencing factors analysis of severity of PPH. Follow-up using outpatient examination and telephone interview was performed to detect occurrence of complications after discharging from hospital up to April 2017. Measurement data with skewed distribution were described as M (range). Count data were evaluated by the ratio and proportion. The univariate analysis was done using the Fisher exact probability. Results (1) DSA situations: all the 20 patients underwent DSA, with overall times of 27. The direct sign was 18 times extravasation of the contrast medium, with a positive rate of 66.7% (18/27). Of 18 times positive DSA, clear bleeding sites were located in 5 times gastroduodenal artery (3 times with pseudoaneurysm of gastroduodenal artery stump), in 4 times common hepatic artery (3 times with pseudoaneurysm of common hepatic artery), in 3 times superior mesenteric artery, in 2 times splenic artery, in 1 time left gastric artery, in 1 time right gastric artery, in 1 time left hepatic artery (pseudoaneurysm of left hepatic artery) and in 1 time inferior mesenteric artery. (2) TAE situations: of patients with 18 times positive DSA, patients with 15 times positive DSA received TAE, with a successful rate of hemostasis of 13/15, and patients with 5 times positive DSA received successful hemostasis by reoperation. A median operating time of TAE for patients with 15 times positive DSA was 30 minutes. There was no occurrence of adverse reaction, including fever, abdominal pain, melena, elevated aminotransferase and liver abscess. One patient complicated with splenic abscess after transcatheter splenic arterial embolization underwent puncture drainage and then had a good recovery. Of patients with 9 times negative DSA, patients with 8 times negative DSA were cured by conservative treatment and patient with 1 time negative DSA received successful hemostasis by operation. All the 20 patients were cured and then discharged from hospital. (3) Follow-up situations: 20 patients were followed up for 4-92 months, with a median time of 24 months. During the follow-up, 20 patients recovered well, without long-term complications. (4) Influencing factors analysis of severity of PPH: the results of univariate analysis showed that gender, age, preoperative blood sugar, preoperative combined jaundice, preoperative albumin (Alb), preoperative prothrombin time (PT) extended, preserving pylorus, pancreatic duct stent placement, pancreatic operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative blood transfusion, property of tumor, postoperative pancreatic fistula and time of PPH were not factors affecting the severity of PPH (P>0.05). Conclusion DSA is minimal-invasive in the diagnosis for PPH, and TAE is safe and effective for patients with positive DSA. Key words: Post pancreatectomy hemorrhage; Digital subtraction angiography; Transcatheter arterial embolization; Outcomes

Influence of body shape on the short-term therapeutic effects of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy: a multicentre retrospective study (A report of 506 cases)

Intelligent control for scalable video processing

The duration of frozen semen storage had no effect on pregnancy rates (60%, 61% and 61%, respectively) in Angus females inseminated with semen from 25 Angus bulls from Time Frames 1 (1960-1975), 2 (1976-1991) and 3 (1992-2006). Pregnancy rates were not different for beef females inseminated with semen from Time Frames 1, 2 and 3 (55%, 62% and 55%, respectively). There were no differences for total and progressive sperm motility across Time Frames 1 (42% and 29%), Time Frame 2 (51% and 38%) and Time Frame 3 (55% and 41%) and percentage of normal and abnormal sperm from bulls in Time Frames 1 (80% and 19%), Time Frame 2 (76% and 23%) and Time Frame 3 (71% and 28%). No differences were detected between sperm concentrations/breeding unit for bulls within Time Frame 1 and Time Frame 2 or between Time Frame 1 and Time Frame 3. In contrast, a significant difference (P<0.05) was detected for sperm concentration for bulls within Time Frame 2 (59.9 x 106/mL) and Time Frame 3 (37.1 x 106/mL). Within these bulls regardless of Time Frame, no differences were detected in total sperm and progressive sperm motility for bulls categorized as being high (54% and 41%), moderate (51% and 39%) or low (46% and 31%) fertility rates. Brangus F1 females had higher (P<0.05) chute behavior scores when compared with Bons Mara, Romsinuano, Braford, Brangus, Beefmaster and Angus females. Furthermore, Brangus F1, Brangus and Beemaster females had higher (P<0.05) mean chute exit velocities when compared with Angus, Romosinuano, Bons Mara and Braford females Chute behavior scores were not significantly different for pregnant and nonpregnant females. A significantly higher chute exit velocity was noted for nonpregnant females when compared with pregnant females. Significant correlations (r = 0.58, P <0.05) was detected for chute exit velocity on day 0 and day 7. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation (r = 0.28) was detected between mean subjective behavior chute scores and mean chute exit velocity.