Areas Of Various Sizes Research Articles

Performances of the Idylla GeneFusion Assay: contribution to a rapid diagnosis of targetable gene fusions in tumour samples

AimsWe aimed to evaluate the performances of the Idylla GeneFusion Assay (IGFA) designed to detect, in a single, rapid and fully automated assay, ALK, ROS1, RET, NTRK1, NTRK2 and NTRK3...

Investigation of Depth-Area-Duration (DAD) Curves for Kuantan River Basin (KRB)

Depth-area-duration (DAD) analysis of rainfall is performed to evaluate the maximum amount of rainfall over areas of various sizes within different durations. It is frequently used to characterize precipitation extremes for the specification of so-called rainfall, with DAD curves resembling the correlation between rainfall depth and area. Kuantan River Basin (KRB) is one of the major rivers in Pahang that typically experiences heavy precipitation during the northeast monsoon season from November through March. In this study, DAD curves for KRB were developed for the duration of 1-day to 7-day. Daily rainfall data between 2008 to 2019 from eight stations in KRB were used to develop the DAD curves. DAD curve development initially requires an isohyet map’s illustration that can be constructed through the interpolation of Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method. The isohyet maps were developed in the ArcGIS software to purposely obtain the average maximum rainfall depths for each rainfall duration. The maximum rainfall amount of 1-day up to 7-day durations increased from 394.45 mm to 857.61 mm. The results indicated that the maximum amount of rainfall will increase along with the duration from 1-day to 7-day. The gap between the final DAD curve of 6-day and 7-day was less compared to other duration curves; however, the gap for both curves increased from the 800 km2 to 1000 km2 areas where the gap differences between the curves accelerated from 12 mm to 34 mm. Final DAD curves of KRB were produced from the combination of initial DAD curves with durations ranging from 1 to 7 days. The DAD curves produced in this study can provide further information on the maximum rainfall depth under different storm durations for hydrological planning purposes, particularly in KRB.

The Hierarchy

The Catholic hierarchy and lines of authority begin with the pope, extend to the bishops, and then to the priests. Fundamental to Catholicism is the belief in a line of spiritual authority that Jesus gave to the apostle Peter and to every pope throughout the millennia. The bishops and archbishops are appointed by the pope and oversee areas of various sizes called dioceses and archdioceses. Priests lead the parishes. The cardinals — the men at Vatican events dressed in red — serve as advisors to the pope, administrators of Vatican areas, and most importantly, are the papal electors.

Determining the number and size of background samples derived from an area adjacent to the target sample that provide the greatest support for a POI in a target sample

When sampling an item or surface for DNA originating from an action of interest, one is likely to collect DNA unrelated to the action of interest (background DNA). While adding to the complexity of a generated DNA profile, background DNA has been shown to aid in resolving the genotypes of contributors in a targeted sample, and where references of donors to the background DNA are not available, strengthen the LR supporting a person of interest contributing to the targeted sample. This is possible thanks to advances in probabilistic genotyping, where forensic labs are able to deconvolute complex DNA profiles to obtain lists of genotypes and their associated weights. Coupled with DBLR™, one can then compare multiple evidentiary profiles to each other to determine the contribution of common, but unknown, contributors. Here, we consider factors associated with taking background samples and whether one should collect multiple background samples that all relate to a single target sample, or if one should collect larger background samples rather than smaller samples. Background samples consisted of DNA accumulated on the items primarily by one or both occupants of a single household, while targeted samples were generated from touch deposits, or saliva deposits that had been left to air dry. Samples were collected from areas of various sizes, consisting of only the background, the target and the background directly beneath it, and the target and additional surrounding background. A broad range of DNA quantities were recovered, with larger background samples (400 cm2) yielding significantly more DNA than smaller background samples (30 cm2). Significant differences in DNA quantities between target samples were not observed. Generated DNA profiles were interpreted using STRmix™ and DBLR™, and where there was support for a common donor between the background and target sample, pairwise comparisons were performed to observe the effect on the LR supporting the target DNA donor contributing to the targeted sample when conditioning on one (or two) common donor between the targeted sample and 1–8 background samples. Multiple background samples gave significantly higher LRs compared to a single background sample, the larger sampled background area resulted in larger LR gains than the smaller areas, and four or more background samples reduced LR variability considerably. Here we provide recommendations for the minimum and ideal number of additional background samples that should be collected, and that several smaller samples may be more beneficial than a single larger sample.

Species–area relationship in lichens tested in protected areas across Italy

AbstractThe species–area relationship (SAR) states that species richness increases with the increase of the sampled area, although other factors can influence the pattern. SARs have been tested on many different organisms, but only rarely on lichens. We aimed to test the SAR, across a wide range of area sizes, for three main substratum-related guilds of lichens, namely epiphytic, epilithic and epigaeic. The test was performed using data from lichen inventories carried out in 44 protected areas of various sizes across Italy. We found a positive correlation of species richness with area size for all three guilds, better fitted by the logarithmic function for epilithic lichens and by the power function for epiphytic and epigaeic lichens. Our results support the fundamental role of area size as the main driver for lichen diversity, suggesting that in an area-based conservation framework, larger protected areas are fundamental to support high lichen species richness. However, finer scale investigations are also required to better elucidate whether and how other environmental factors could interact with area size and modify SAR patterns. Exhaustive lichen inventories could be useful information sources to more robustly test such relationships, and therefore better inform conservation practices.

Supply-chain-focused measures of centrality and spread in metropolitan areas

Efficient freight transportation is a necessary condition for the economic development of markets in metropolitan areas. Without it, the cost of goods increases, and larger negative externalities are produced, negatively impacting the quality of life. In this context, the efficiency of supply chains is strongly influenced by the spatial patterns of economic activities, given the role that freight transportation plays in connecting the multiple stages of supply chains. The research reported in this paper develops and tests data-driven metrics of centrality and spread of freight activity in metropolitan areas. The approach used in the paper identifies the economic pole(s) in metropolitan areas and computes a new set of metrics to assess the physical separation between consecutive stages of supply chains. Three different metrics were used to identify the economic pole(s): (1) total employment, (2) employment density, and (3) an interaction index based on a gravity model that considers the interchanges among related economic sectors. To estimate the spread of freight activity the authors developed an approximation technique based on a simplified freight distribution model to estimate the average weighted shipment distance for various consecutive stages of supply chains. The proposed methodologies were tested on six metropolitan areas of various sizes. In the concluding section the results obtained by the research effort are discussed, together with the corresponding policy implications.

CBANet: An End-to-End Cross-Band 2-D Attention Network for Hyperspectral Change Detection in Remote Sensing

As a fundamental task in remote sensing observation of the earth, change detection using hyperspectral images (HSI) features high accuracy due to the combination of the rich spectral and spatial information, especially for identifying land-cover variations in bi-temporal HSIs. Relying on the image difference, existing HSI change detection methods fail to preserve the spectral characteristics and suffer from high data dimensionality, making them extremely challenging to deal with changing areas of various sizes. To tackle these challenges, we propose a cross-band 2-D self-attention Network (CBANet) for end-to-end HSI change detection. By embedding a cross-band feature extraction module into a 2-D spatial-spectral self-attention module, CBANet is highly capable of extracting the spectral difference of matching pixels by considering the correlation between adjacent pixels. The CBANet has shown three key advantages: 1) less parameters and high efficiency; 2) high efficacy of extracting representative spectral information from bi-temporal images; and 3) high stability and accuracy for identifying both sparse sporadic changing pixels and large changing areas whilst preserving the edges. Comprehensive experiments on three publicly available datasets have fully validated the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed methodology.

Ecology, occurrence and distribution of wild felids in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo

AbstractSarawak is the largest state in the megadiverse country of Malaysia. Its rich biodiversity is threatened by land-use change and hunting, with mammalian carnivores particularly affected. Data on the ecology, occurrence and distribution of small carnivores are crucial to inform their effective conservation, but no large-scale assessments have previously been conducted in Sarawak. Here we examine the status of the five species of felids in Sarawak based on data from camera-trap studies over 17 years (May 2003–February 2021) across 31 study areas, including protected areas of various sizes, production forests and forest matrix within oil palm plantations. Felids were detected at 39% of 845 camera stations. The marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata and Sunda clouded leopard Neofelis diardi had higher probabilities of occurrence in protected than unprotected areas, and vice versa for the leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis and bay cat Catopuma badia. The marbled and bay cats were mostly diurnal, and the leopard cat was predominantly nocturnal; activity patterns did not substantively differ between protected and unprotected sites. The probabilities of occurrence of marbled and bay cats increased with greater distance from roads. The leopard cat and flat-headed cat Prionailurus planiceps were more likely, and the clouded leopard less likely, to occur near rivers. Flat-headed cats preferred peat swamp forest, bay cats lowland forest, and marbled cats and clouded leopards occurred in both lowland and montane forest. Felids may tolerate higher elevations to avoid anthropogenic disturbance; therefore, it is critical to preserve lowland and mid-elevation habitats that provide refugia from climate change and the destruction of lowland habitat.

Binarization Mechanism Evaluation for Water Ingress Detectability in Honeycomb Sandwich Structure Using Lock-In Thermography.

The growing use of composite honeycomb structures in several industries including aircraft has demonstrated the need to develop effective and efficient non-destructive evaluation methods. In recent years, active thermography has attracted great interest as a reliable technology for non-destructive testing and evaluation of composite materials due to its advantages of non-contact, non-destructive, full-area coverage, high speed, qualitative, and quantitative testing. However, non-uniform heating, low spatial resolution, and ambient environmental noise make the detection and characterization of defects challenging. Therefore, in this study, lock-in thermography (LIT) was used to detect water ingress into an aircraft composite honeycomb sandwich structure, and the phase signals were binarized through the Otsu algorithm. A square composite honeycomb with dimensions of 210 mm × 210 mm along with 16 different defective areas of various sizes in groups filled with water by 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the cell volume was considered. The sample was excited at multiple modulation frequencies (i.e., 1 Hz to 0.01 Hz). The results were compared in terms of phase contrast and CNR according to the modulation frequency. In addition, the detectability was analyzed by comparing the number of pixels of water ingress in the binarized image and the theoretical calculation.

Monitoring COVID-19 spread in Prague local neighborhoods based on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater collected throughout the sewer network

Many reports have documented that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the influents of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) correlates with the actual epidemic situation in a given city. However, few data have been reported thus far on measurements upstream of WWTPs, i.e. throughout the sewer network. In this study, the monitoring of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Prague wastewater was carried out at selected locations of the Prague sewer network from August 2020 through May 2021. Various locations such as residential areas of various sizes, hospitals, city center areas, student dormitories, transportation hubs (airport, bus terminal), and commercial areas were monitored together with four of the main Prague sewers. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was determined by reverse transcription – multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-mqPCR) after the precipitation of nucleic acids with PEG 8,000 and RNA isolation with TRIzol™ Reagent. The number of copies of the gene encoding SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N1) per liter of wastewater was compared with the number of officially registered COVID-19 cases in Prague. Although the data obtained by sampling wastewater from the major Prague sewers were more consistent than those obtained from the small sewers, the correlation between wastewater-based and clinical-testing data was also good for the residential areas with more than 7,000 registered inhabitants. It was shown that monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater sampled from small sewers could identify isolated occurrences of COVID-19-positive cases in local neighborhoods. This can be very valuable while tracking COVID-19 hotspots within large cities.

Analysis of Al adatoms random hopping on Si(100)-c(4 [formula omitted] 2) surface observed by STM at low temperature: Determination of the hopping barriers

Mobility of single aluminium atoms adsorbed on Si(100)-c(4×2) surface was studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at a temperature of 115 K. Due to a strongly anisotropic surface migration along silicon dimer rows the hopping in one-dimensional (1-D) bounded areas of various sizes was observed. Distributions of distances traversed in a time between acquisition of two subsequent STM images were obtained. The experimental conditions were interpreted by a model of 1-D random walk of Al adatoms in areas of limited size with reflective boundaries. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations were used for analysing dependence of a calculated activation energy for a single hop on a size of the 1-D bounded area. The developed method allowed restoration of a real value of the activation energy for the Al adatom hopping in a direction parallel to the silicon dimer rows unaffected by the limited size of the bounded area. The activation energy for hops in a direction perpendicular to the dimer rows was estimated from a distribution of time intervals between individual perpendicular hops.

An Approach to Control the Illuminance Distribution on Vertical Display Surfaces

In museum exhibition halls, two-dimensional artworks are displayed usually on vertical surfaces. The uniformity of illuminance distribution in the exhibition area is significant. The control of the illuminance distribution depends on the dimensions of the exhibition hall, the size and location of the exhibition area, and the type, luminous intensity distribution, and position of the luminaire. This study aims to identify the optimal conditions to acquire the targeted illuminance uniformity. For this purpose, sixteen situations were composed concerning four different heights of the exhibition hall and four exhibition areas of various sizes. The luminaires used in the investigation were small and linear with symmetrical and asymmetrical luminous intensity distributions. The position of each luminaire was arranged in the mentioned sixteen situations to obtain optimum conditions. The comparison of the results referred to the energy consumption.

Asymmetric Siamese Networks for Semantic Change Detection in Aerial Images

Given two multitemporal aerial images, semantic change detection (SCD) aims to locate the land-cover variations and identify their change types with pixelwise boundaries. This problem is vital in many earth vision-related tasks, such as precise urban planning and natural resource management. Existing state-of-the-art algorithms mainly identify the changed pixels by applying homogeneous operations on each input image and comparing the extracted features. However, in changed regions, totally different land-cover distributions often require heterogeneous feature extraction procedures for images acquired at different times. In this article, we present an asymmetric Siamese network (ASN) to locate and identify semantic changes through feature pairs obtained from modules of widely different structures, which involves areas of various sizes and applies different quantities of parameters to factor in the discrepancy across land-cover distributions during different times. To better train and evaluate our model, we create a large-scale well-annotated SEmantic Change detectiON Dataset (SECOND), while an adaptive threshold learning (ATL) module and a separated kappa (SeK) coefficient are proposed to alleviate the influences of label imbalance in model training and evaluation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model can stably outperform the state-of-the-art algorithms with different encoder backbones.

Decision support system for location selection of convenience stores and retail facilities using optimization techniques and GIS

The successful spatial location of small convenience stores and retail facilities greatly affects the potential flow of customers, therefore the task of optimizing their location is primary when opening a new store or revising an existing stores’ location. We developed a decision support system for location selection of convenience stores and retail facilities using optimization techniques and a geographic information system. The system identifies areas on an electronic map with the greatest potential to locate a store or retail facility, taking into account its specifics, pedestrian accessibility, opening hours, and a set of goods or services. The system calculates the optimal location of one or several stores using one of the optimization techniques for the criterion of the number of potential customers. In our experiments, we used gradient descent for optimization. The experiments were carried out in areas of various sizes using data obtained from Open Street Map. Experimental results showed that the system finds the optimal location in a reasonable time and therefore it can be useful for small convenience stores and retail facilities.

Features of the pregnancy and delivery course, fetal and newborn status in women with COVID-19

Research objective. To evaluate the features of pregnancy and delivery course, fetal and newborn status in women with confirmed COVID-19.Materials and methods. A retrospective clinical and statistical analysis of 106 pregnancy and delivery case histories and medical records of newborn from women with a gestation period of 22–41 weeks with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 was carried out. Women were treated and delivered on the temporarily converted beds for providing obstetric care to pregnant women, women in labor and postpartum women with suspected and infected COVID-19 and gynecological patients of Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Kyiv City Maternity Hospital No. 3” from September 2020 to May 2021.Results. Delivery took place in 48 women. Women with A (II) blood group were significantly predominant – 51 (48.1%) and rhesus-positive factor – 85 (80.2%) (p < 0.05). One third of pregnant women sought medical help on their own – 34 (32.1%). 94 (88.7%) women had a positive PCR test, in 6 (11.3%) cases the diagnosis was confirmed by a rapid test in the admission department; in 6 (11.3%) cases the test results were negative. The leading complaints when pregnant women were hospitalized were fever, cough and fatigue in 85 (80.2%), 90 (84.9%) and 73 (68.9%) pregnant women respectively (p < 0.05). Almost every third woman (39, 36.8%) had a subfebrile temperature – 37.0–37.5 oC. In 15 (14.1%) patients the temperature was 38.0–38.5 oC, in 6 (5.7%) patients over 38.5 oC. At the lung ultrasound the signs of bilateral and polysegmental pneumonia were diagnosed in 44 (53.6%) and 36 (43.9%) cases. Lower and upper lobe pneumonia was diagnosed in 20 (24.4%) pregnant women. Severe lung damage was detected in 29 (35.4%) pregnant women in the form of partial “hepatization” of lung tissue, pleural effusion in the form of black areas of various sizes in the pleural cavity.Conclusions. The main typical SARS CoV-2 complaints in hospitalized pregnant women were fever, cough, fatigue and shortness of breath at rest and during exercise. Such neurological manifestations of SARS CoV-2 as headache, anosmia were noted by almost every third pregnant woman, and parosmia and myalgia were noted by every fourth pregnant woman. The average level of C-reactive protein was above normal in 97.2% of women. Lung ultrasound allowed clearly identifying areas of damage and determining the degree of lung tissue damage.

Large-scale, high-contrast glare suppression with low-transmittance eigenchannels of aperture-target transmission matrices

Glare suppression with wavefront shaping is a significant technique in terms of actively controlling the speckle light field. A novel glare suppression method based on transmission matrix (TM) measurement is demonstrated in this Letter. An aperture-target TM model is proposed, and its low-transmittance eigenchannel is utilized to minimize the speckle intensity inside a given target area. We verified the availability of this method by experimentally realizing high-contrast glare suppression in areas of various sizes and shapes. For a large-scale area containing 100 speckle grains, the average intensity was suppressed to 6.3% of the background intensity. We believe our method provides an ideal method for glare suppression, and it holds interesting prospects for areas such as speckle optical tweezers and imaging under scattering conditions.

Population Turnover and the Growth of Urban Areas

People in the United States are relocating nearly half as much they did in the early 1980s. Lower population turnover—the propensity of people to move into or out of a given location—may mean a decline in labor market adjustment across industries and occupations; when people move across regions for job-related reasons, they may help smooth out changes that hit certain labor markets harder than others. Population turnover may also lead to better matches between employer and employee, an important factor in the growth of urban areas. Jason P. Brown and Colton Tousey examine the relationship between population turnover and overall population growth across urban areas of various sizes from 2000 to 2017. They find that larger urban areas tend to have higher population turnover and that higher initial levels of turnover are correlated with faster population growth over subsequent decades. Their findings, which are consistent with other studies showing economic activity increasingly concentrating in larger urban areas, suggest that areas with small populations and lower levels of labor market adjustment face greater economic challenges.

Vagus Nerves Provide a Robust Afferent Innervation of the Mucosa Throughout the Body of the Esophagus in the Mouse.

The vagal afferent nerves regulate swallowing and esophageal motor reflexes. However, there are still gaps in the understanding of vagal afferent innervation of the esophageal mucosa. Anatomical studies found that the vagal afferent mucosal innervation is dense in the upper esophageal sphincter area but rare in more distal segments of the esophagus. In contrast, electrophysiological studies concluded that the vagal afferent nerve fibers also densely innervate mucosa in more distal esophagus. We hypothesized that the transfection of vagal afferent neurons with adeno-associated virus vector encoding green fluorescent protein (AAV-GFP) allows to visualize vagal afferent nerve fibers in the esophageal mucosa in the mouse. AAV-GFP was injected into the vagal jugular/nodose ganglia in vivo to sparsely label vagal afferent nerve fibers. The esophageal tissue was harvested 4-6weeks later, the GFP signal was amplified by immunostaining, and confocal optical sections of the entire esophagi were obtained. We found numerous GFP-labeled fibers in the mucosa throughout the whole body of the esophagus. The GFP-labeled mucosal fibers were located just beneath the epithelium, branched repeatedly, had mostly longitudinal orientation, and terminated abruptly without forming terminal structures. The GFP-labeled mucosal fibers were concentrated in random areas of various sizes in which many fibers could be traced to a single parental axon. We conclude that the vagus nerves provide a robust afferent innervation of the mucosa throughout the whole body of the esophagus in the mouse. Vagal mucosal fibers may contribute to the sensing of intraluminal content and regulation of swallowing and other reflexes.

Towards a Better Knowledge of Natural Methane Releases in the French Alps: A Field Approach

We report investigations performed at some hydrocarbon gas seeps located in the French Subalpine Chains in zones of outcropping Jurassic black shales, increasing the reported number of such occurrences in this part of the Alps. We present the characteristics of each of the seeps, based on soil flux measurements and soil gas measurements. Gases emitted are CH4-rich (87–94%) with the exception of one site (78.5% CH4 + 8.2% CO2) where an active landslide may induce dilution by atmospheric air. CO2 is generally measured at low levels (<1.6%). Concentrations in C2H6 are more variable, from less than 1% to more than 2.3%. Gas is emitted over areas of various sizes. The smallest gas emission area measures only 60×20 cm, characterized by a strong hydrocarbon flux (release of about 100 kg of CH4 per year). At a second site, hydrocarbon emissions are measured over a surface of 12 m2. For this site, methane emission is evaluated at 235 kg per year and CO2 emission is 600 kg per year, 210 kg being related to gas seepage. At the third site, hydrocarbons are released over a 60 m2 area but strong gas venting is restricted to localized seeps. Methane emission is evaluated at 5.1 tons per year and CO2 emission at 1.58 tons per year, out of which 0.53 tons are attributed to gas seepage. Several historical locations remain uninvestigated at present, and numerous others may still be unknown. We outline strategies to search for such unrecorded sites. Considering the topography of the potential alpine and perialpine emission areas, the possibilities to detect gas emissions appear of the size recorded so far seem to be restricted to ground-based methods or to methods offering the possibility to point orthogonally to the soil towards the seep maximum. If such sites are to be investigated in the future in the frame of Environmental Baseline Assessment (EBA), even establishing appropriate monitoring protocols will be challenging.

Diagnostic value of multislice spiral computed tomography (CT) combined with CT angiography for intra-abdominal undescended testis secondary seminomas

ObjectiveTo discuss the diagnostic value of multislice spiral tomography (CT) combined with CT angiography (CTA) technology in intra-abdominal undescended testis secondary seminoma cases.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the CT and CTA imaging features of CT and CTA findings of nine patients with an intra-abdominal undescended testis secondary seminoma.ResultsThe tumors in all nine patients were mainly solid, and the average CT value was 38.4 ± 3.4 HU. Low-density areas of various sizes were visible in the tumors, and calcifications were detected in two patients. The tumors in eight patients had a complete capsule, which pressed on the surrounding structures. In one patient, the tumor had an incomplete capsule, which invaded the surrounding structures. Some of the solid tumors showed progressive and slight enhancement on the CT-enhanced scans. The values in the arterial phase, venous phase, and delayed phase were 46.3 ± 5.1 (40–55 HU), 57.3 ± 7.3HU (48–68 HU), and 65.1 ± 7.2HU (56–77 HU), respectively, with an average increase rate of 27.0 ± 7.2 HU. No enhancement was found in low-density areas on the CTA scans, and the supply arteries of the tumors in the nine patients all originated from the abdominal aortic wall 2–3 cm below the renal ostia. These arteries became thickened and tortuous when near the tumors, and there were no branching vessels. In eight patients, the supply arteries of the tumors originated from the posterior tumor and ended inside the tumor, and they originated from anterior of the tumor in one patient. Testicular venous drainage was detected in three patients, and lymph node metastasis in the abdominal aorta detected in two cases.ConclusionAn intra-abdominal undescended testis secondary seminoma exhibits a characteristic appearance on CT. CTA shows a three-dimensional testicular vascular pedicle sign of a seminoma. A combination of CT and CTA can improve the diagnostic accuracy of an intra-abdominal undescended testis secondary seminoma.