Separate Criteria Research Articles

Marine Litter Detection by Sentinel-2: A Case Study in North Adriatic (Summer 2020)

Aggregates of floating materials detected in North Adriatic in six Sentinel-2 scenes of August 2020 have been investigated. Most of the floating materials were identified by the chlorophyll red edge and consisted of vegetal materials, probably conveyed by rivers and exchanged with the lagoons. Traces of marine litter were looked for in the spectral anomalies of the Red Edge bands, assuming changes of the red edge in pixels where marine litter was mixed with vegetal materials. About half of the detected patches were unclassified due to the weakness of the useful signal (pixel filling percentage < 25%). The classification produced 59% of vegetal materials, 16% of marine litter mixed with vegetal materials and 22% of intermediate cases. A small percentage (2%) was attributed to submerged vegetal materials, found in isolated patches. The previous percentages were obtained with a separation criterion based on arbitrary thresholds. The patches were more concentrated at the mouths of the northern rivers, less off the Venice lagoon, and very few outside the Po River, with the minimal river outflow during the period. Sentinel-2 is a valid tool for the discrimination of marine litter in aggregates of floating matter. The proposed method requires validation, and the North Adriatic is an excellent site for field work, as in summer many patches of floating matter form in proximity to the coast.

Symmetric states and dynamics of three quantum bits

The unitary group acting on the Hilbert space ${\cal H}:=(C^2)^{\otimes 3}$ of three quantum bits admits a Lie subgroup, $U^{S_3}(8)$, of elements which permute with the symmetric group of permutations of three objects. Under the action of such a Lie subgroup, the Hilbert space ${\cal H}$ splits into three invariant subspaces of dimensions $4$, $2$ and $2$ respectively, each corresponding to an irreducible representation of $su(2)$. The subspace of dimension $4$ is uniquely determined and corresponds to states that are themselves invariant under the action of the symmetric group. This is the so called {\it symmetric sector.} The subspaces of dimension two are not uniquely determined and we parametrize them all. We provide an analysis of pure states that are in the subspaces invariant under $U^{S_3}(8)$. This concerns their entanglement properties, separability criteria and dynamics under the Lie subgroup $U^{S_3}(8)$. As a physical motivation for the states and dynamics we study, we propose a physical set-up which consists of a symmetric network of three spin $\frac{1}{2}$ particles under a common driving electro-magnetic field. {For such system, we solve the control theoretic problem of driving a separable state to a state with maximal distributed entanglement.

Nonlinear Wave Growth of Whistler‐Mode Hiss Emissions in a Uniform Magnetic Field

AbstractWe conduct electromagnetic particle simulations in a uniform magnetic environment to verify the nonlinear wave growth process of plasmaspheric hiss in the equatorial plasmasphere. The satisfaction of the separability criterion for coexisting multiple frequency waves in the initial stage of wavenumber‐time evolution declares that wave packets are coherent and capable of growing nonlinearly. Spatial and temporal evolutions of two typical modes located in wavenumber‐time evolution demonstrate the consistency among wave growths, frequency variations, and inhomogeneity factor S in coherent wave packets, showing that rising and falling tones occur at negative and positive S values, respectively, and an obvious wave growth happens in a reasonable range of S satisfying the second‐order resonance condition. Wave packets extracted from wave fields in space and time by a frequency band‐pass filter confirm a good agreement between the nonlinear theory and simulation results. The nonlinear growth rates of the extracted wave packets possess similar magnitudes to the growth rates of wave packets in the simulation, and they are much greater than the theoretical linear growth rate, indicating that the nonlinear process is essential in the generation of plasmaspheric hiss.

PROPERTIES OF A COMBINED MEASURE OF READING AND WRITING: THE ASSESSMENT OF WRITING, SELF-MONITORING, AND READING (AWSM READER).

There is significant overlap between reading and writing, but no known standardized measure assesses these jointly. The goal of the present study is to evaluate the properties of a novel measure, the Assessment of Writing, Self-Monitoring, and Reading (AWSM Reader), that simultaneously evaluates both reading comprehension and writing. In doing so, we evaluate reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and various aspects of construct-related validity, including separate criterion measures of reading and writing, and the AWSM Reader's relations with other variables, including language and executive function (EF), both of which are implicated for both reading and writing. Participants were 377 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders with or at-risk for reading and writing difficulties. Reliability was low for the AWSM Reader reading comprehension (α = .58), but good for writing (α = .75-.80). Criterion-related validity indices revealed moderate correlations with other standardized and commonly used reading and writing measures, r = .47 to .50 (all ps < .001). Additionally, validity data supported the relations of both language and EF to AWSM Reader reading and writing, with EF showing unique prediction in both reading and writing domains. Results provide initial support for the measure per se but stress the difficulty in constructing combined reading and writing measures; directions are given for future work. Results also add to data on the contributions of language and EF to both reading and writing.

Functional constipation in children

Constipation is one of the most common nosologies that a pediatric gastroenterologist deals with during outpatient visits. In the vast majority of children with constipation the problem is functional in nature. According to studies published in the Russian Federation, the frequency of constipation in children accounts for about 25–30%. The joint clinical guidelines of the European and North American Societies of Pediatric Gastroenterologists, Hepatologists and Nutritionists for the management of children with functional constipation were published in 2014. The national guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of functional constipation are based on these guidelines. According to the clinical guidelines, the 2006 Rome III criteria should be used to establish the diagnosis of functional constipation in children. In May 2016, the Rome IV criteria that provide separate diagnostic criteria for infants and children under 4 years of age and children over 4 years and teenagers were adopted. A group of children with symptoms of constipation, who have already had toilet skills at the time of diagnosis, was identified among infants and children under 4 years of age. The presence of anxiety symptoms or refractory constipation (constipation that does not resolve within 3 months while taking adequate therapy) is considered an indication for use of additional examination methods, including instrumental ones. The manifestation of constipation is often associated with a change in eating habits - the period of introduction of complementary feeding in infants or the beginning of going to a day-care centre, inadequate fluid intake. The onset of constipation often coincides with the period of the development of hygiene skills (potty training). The voluntary stool retention by a child who is trying to avoid painful defecation experiences is the main mechanism for the development of constipation. The aim of functional constipation treatment is to soften the stools, which facilitates painless defecation and ensure that there is an urge to defecate. Clinical examples of the treatment of patients with functional constipation and chronic colonic stasis, functional constipation and encopresis are provided. The outcome of the treatment of functional constipation is to ensure painless defecation and the development of a stable defecation reflex. The drug therapy for functional constipation is based on the use of laxatives. Dietary advice and behavioral therapy also play an important role.

A note on entanglement classification for tripartite mixed states

We study the classification of entanglement in tripartite systems by using Bell-type inequalities and principal basis. By using Bell unctions and the generalized three dimensional Pauli operators, we present a set of Bell inequalities which classifies the entanglement of triqutrit fully separable and bi-separable mixed states. By using the correlation tensors in the principal basis representation of density matrices, we obtain separability criteria for fully separable and bi-separable 2 ⊗ 2 ⊗ 3 quantum mixed states. Detailed example is given to illustrate our criteria in classifying the tripartite entanglement.

A numerical model to predict the powder–binder separation during micro‐powder injection molding

AbstractThe micro‐powder injection molding (micro‐PIM) process has the potential to bridge the gap between the design and manufacturing of micro‐components that are often used in small and handy devices. Numerical modeling helps to analyze and overcome various difficulties of micro‐PIM. In the present work, a numerical model is developed to predict the powder–binder separation (a common defect in PIM and especially severe in micro‐PIM) during the injection of an alumina feedstock. A powder–binder separation criterion is proposed dealing with applied injection pressure and friction force between the powder and binder. An indirect comparison of feedstock travel time between two locations is used to validate the model. The predicted segregation from the simulated result is supported by a qualitative experimental measurement. The developed model can be used to optimize injection parameters to get a defect‐free product.

Machine vision based intelligent oven for baking inspection of cupcake: Design and implementation

In industrial ovens, the cooking process is controlled by adjusting cooking temperature and time. However, for having high-quality product, variations in parameters like inconsistency in raw materials, baking powder level, batter thickness and batter moisture should be taken into consideration. To handle these variations and produce high-quality products, an intelligent oven based on image processing was designed to scrutinize color and texture of cupcakes while baking. In this regard, a digital camera was used to take digital images from inside the oven, continuously. Subsequently, color and texture features were extracted from the set of cupcake images while baking. To maximize classification accuracy, a search algorithm along with a rank key feature using t-test class separability criteria method was implemented to find an optimum set of feature combinations. According to the feature selection algorithm, G (RGB color space) and b (Lab color space) as well as kurtosis of a (Lab color space) and energy were the most significant feature combinations. Then, the data classification was carried out using the support vector machine (SVM). The classifier accuracy, specificity, sensitivity and Kappa coefficient obtained for G and b combination were 98.6, 100, 92.3 and 95.2%, respectively; and for kurtosis of a and energy combination were 97.9, 98.3, 95.6 and 92.2% for, respectively. Pursuant to the result, an adaptive automatic control could be conducted by real-time monitoring of color and texture features of baking goods. Through this image analysis method, baking process could dynamically regulate and optimize cooking time, energy consumption as well as quality of product.

A Prospective Observational Study Comparing Clinical Sepsis Criteria to Protein Biomarkers Reveals a Role for Vascular Dysfunction in Burn Sepsis.

To compare the diagnostic value of clinical sepsis criteria to novel protein biomarkers in the burn patient. Prospective observational study. American Burn Association verified Burn Center ICU. Burn patients (n = 24) and healthy volunteers (n = 10). Enrolled burn patients (n = 24) were stratified based on whether or not they met a clinical definition of sepsis. Four separate clinical criteria for sepsis were analyzed for their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, which were compared to a panel of protein biomarkers. The most significant protein biomarkers were further analyzed via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs). Of the clinical criteria, SEPSIS-2 criteria led to the highest AUROC (0.781; p < 0.001), followed by the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (AUROC = 0.670; p = 0.022). Multiplexing revealed a number of inflammatory proteins (complement C5) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP1, MMP7) that were significantly elevated in septic samples compared with both healthy controls and nonseptic burn samples. Furthermore, three proteins associated with endothelial dysfunction and glycocalyx shedding revealed diagnostic potential. Specifically, syndecan-1, p-selectin, and galectin-1 were all significantly elevated in sepsis, and all resulted in an AUROC greater than 0.7; analyzing the sum of these three markers led to an AUROC of 0.808. These data reveal several potential biomarkers that may help with sepsis diagnosis in the burn patient. Furthermore, the role of endotheliopathy as a mechanistic etiology for sepsis after burns warrants further investigation.

Optimization of chromatographic separation of aripiprazole and impurities: Quantitative structure-retention relationship approach

A new optimization strategy based on the mixed quantitative structure? retention relationship (QSRR) model is proposed for improving the RPHPLC separation of aripiprazole and its impurities (IMP A-E). Firstly, experimental parameters (EPs), namely mobile phase composition and flow rate, were varied according to Box?Behnken design and thereafter, an artificial neural network (ANN) as a QSRR model was built correlating EPs and selected molecular descriptors (ovality, torsion energy and non-1,4-van der Waals energy) with the log-transformed retention times of the analytes. Values of the root mean square error (RMSE) were used for an estimation of the quality of the ANNs (0.0227, 0.0191 and 0.0230 for the training, verification and test set, respectively). The separations of critical peak pairs on chromatogram (IMP AB and IMP D-C) were optimized using ANNs for which the EPs served as inputs and the log-transformed separation criteria s as the outputs. They were validated by application of leave-one-out cross-validation (RMSE values 0.065 and 0.056, respectively). The obtained ANNs were used for plotting response surfaces upon which the analyses chromatographic conditions resulting in optimal analytes retention behaviour and the optimal values of the separation criteria s were defined. The optimal conditions were 54 % of methanol at the beginning and 79 % of methanol at the end of gradient elution programme with a mobile phase flow rate of 460 ?L min-1.

Development and application of criteria to evaluate written CBT self-help interventions adopted by Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services

Abstract Guided CBT self-help represents a low-intensity intervention to deliver evidence-based psychological therapy within the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. Best practice guidance highlighting characteristics associated with CBT self-help is available to help services reach decisions regarding which interventions to adopt. However, at present a single process to evaluate written CBT self-help interventions informed by guidance is lacking. This study reports on the development of a standardised criteria-driven process that can be used to determine the extent written CBT self-help interventions are consistent with guidance regarding the fundamental characteristics of low-intensity CBT and high-quality written patient information. Following development, the process was piloted on 51 IAPT services, with 23 interventions identified as representing free-to-use written CBT self-help interventions. Overall, inter-rater reliability was acceptable. Following application of the criteria framework, 14 (61%) were considered suitable to be recommended for use within the IAPT programme. This pilot supports the development and potential utility of an independent criteria-driven process to appraise the suitability of written workbook-based CBT self-help interventions for use within the IAPT programme. Key learning aims (1) To recognise the range of written low-intensity CBT self-help interventions currently used within IAPT services. (2) To identify separate criteria associated with high-quality written CBT self-help interventions. (3) To use identified criteria to develop a framework to evaluate written workbook based low-intensity CBT self-help interventions for use within the IAPT programme. (4) To evaluate inter-rater reliability of the criteria framework to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of written workbook based low-intensity CBT self-help interventions used within IAPT services.

The business model as a prerequisite for the development of the companys strategy in the market

Modern researches on strategic analysis of the firm at the market pay a significant attention to the creation of an effective business model that is caused by the need of business for a holistic understanding of its activity, the entire range of mechanisms used to create and offer consumer value and getting benefits from this activity. The company's development strategy determines the methods of competition and doing business. The business model ensures the company's competitive advantages based on the profit and cost indicators obtained as a result of the application of this strategy. The concept of «business model» is inextricably linked to the problem of competitor interactions, since value is created jointly by numerous firms interacting in the market. Despite the fact that many researchers consider the business model as a separate unit of analysis, still the question of its single theoretical foundation as a strategy development tool remains opened. The purpose of the article is to investigate the relationship between the business model and the strategic analysis (strategy) of the firm's behavior in the competitive market in conditions of uncertainty and risk, determine the main aspects in understanding the concept of business models and distinguish the analytical constructions of the business model and the strategy. Methods of induction and deduction, abstraction and comparative analysis were used in the research. The article analyzes the scientific literature that reveals existing developments in the field of business modeling. The essence, structure and purpose of the business model are disclosed. A comparison of the concept of the business model and the firm's strategy was made. It was concluded that the business model is more general comparing to the strategy that requires determining the specific actions. Business models form the flow of products, services, relationships between partners, costs associated with providing value to their customers, and specific sources of revenue. Strategy is a certain set of actions that are designed to achieve the goals and objectives of the firm, which remains competitive by its nature. Summarizing the approaches regarding the essence, relationship and interdependence between the business model and the firm's strategy, we have determined the features of these concepts due to separate criteria. It has been proved that business models are a relatively new, but extremely popular tool, which is reflected both in the theory and in the practice of strategic analysis of the effective functioning of the firm in the market.

Research on gearbox impact feature extraction method based on improved ESMD

A gearbox vibration signal contains non-linear impact characteristics and the significant feature information tends to be overwhelmed by other interference components, which make it difficult to extract the typical fault features fully and effectively. Aiming at the key issue of how to effectively extract the impact characteristics, a fault diagnosis method based on improved extreme symmetric mode decomposition (ESMD) and a support vector machine (SVM) is proposed in this paper. The vibration signal is adaptively decomposed into multiple intrinsic mode function (IMF) components by the improved ESMD and then a certain number of components are selected with the maximum kurtosis-envelope spectrum index. The singular spectral entropy, energy entropy and permutation entropy of each component are applied to construct the feature vector set, in which the dimensionality of the set is reduced with the distance separability criterion. Finally, the dimension-reduced feature vector set is input into the SVM for pattern recognition. Dynamic simulation and experimental gearbox research show that the improved ESMD method can extract and identify gearbox fault information effectively.

Infill topology optimization of porous structures with discrete variables by the sequential element rejection and admission method

This article presents an infill topology optimization procedure to generate lightweight porous structures. The proposed method is based on discrete variables and builds upon the sequential element rejection and admission method, extending previous work on topology optimization for infill structures. Local volume constraints are introduced in the conventional formulation of the topology optimization problem for maximum stiffness design instead of the global volume constraint. The local constraints are applied, dividing the interior of a given design shape into quadrangular subdomains with variable aspect ratios. The localized material within these subordinate cells is allowed to flow between two discrete material models, ‘real’ and ‘virtual’, where two separate criteria are considered for the rejection and admission of elements. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method, showing that detailed porous designs are efficiently achieved with the proposed strategy. Numerical examples demonstrate the effects of the different design parameters.

Interdisciplinary management of recession defects on maxillary single tooth implants: Diagnosis and treatment strategies.

One of the most common complications with dental implants placed in the smile zone is the development of mid-facial recession, creating an undesirable esthetic result. When deciding how to remediate these clinical scenarios, the question becomes whether it may be feasible to save the problematic implant or if it is more predictable to remove the implant and start all over again. However, patients may be invested emotionally, physically, and financially in the implant and remediation may be a viable option depending on the diagnosis of the specific issues at hand and multi-disciplinary clinical execution. What is crucial to understand in order to remediate these cases is answering four separate criteria: (1) is the implant in a restorable position, (2) is the implant healthy, (3) is the implant placed at an adequate depth, and (4) are components available to restore the implant. Two different clinical reports are presented that demonstrate various treatment remedies when saving implants in the esthetic zone.

Maximizing the ratio of cluster split to cluster diameter without and with cardinality constraints

k-Clustering partitions a set of n points in a metric space into at most k clusters in a way that makes the resulted clusters satisfy both the homogeneity and the separation criteria. The diameter of a cluster is the maximum distance between pairs of points in the cluster, and the split of a cluster is the minimum distance between points of the cluster and ones outside the cluster. In this paper, we propose a new criterion for measuring the goodness of clusters: The ratio of the minimum cluster split to the maximum cluster diameter (abbr. RSD). We study the following two optimization problems: Maximizing RSD without and with cardinality constraints, i.e., each cluster should consist of at least N points. For both problems with k≥3, it is NP-hard to achieve a factor of (12+ϵ) approximation for any ϵ>0. For k=2, we solve the two problems optimally; For k≥3, we present a 12-approximation and a 14-approximation algorithm for the two problems, respectively.

Combo separability criteria and lower bound on concurrence

Detection and quantification of entanglement are extremely important in quantum information theory. We can extract information by using the spectrum or singular values of the density operator. The correlation matrix norm deals with the concept of quantum entanglement in a mathematically natural way. In this work, we use Ky Fan norm of the Bloch matrix to investigate the disentanglement of quantum states. Our separability criterion not only unifies some well-known criteria but also leads to a better lower bound on concurrence. We explain with an example how the entanglement of the given state is missed by existing criteria but can be detected by our criterion. The proposed lower bound on concurrence also has advantages over some investigated bounds.

Antoninska kuga – prva pandemija u europskoj povijesti?

The goal of this paper was to examine whether we can refer to the Antonine Plague, which ravaged the Roman Empire between 165 and approximately 190 AD, as the first pandemic in European history. The methodology employed to analyse the pandemic character of the aforementioned plague was taken from the epidemiological criteria which were established to differentiate epidemics from pandemics. The criteria for determining whether a disease outbreak can be labelled a pandemic are: wide geographic scope, disease movement, high attack rates and explosiveness, minimal population immunity and novelty, contagiousness, and finally, severity. Next, all of these criteria were tested by analysing ancient sources, as well as the results of historiographic and scientific research in order to ascertain if any of them might be used as evidence for the verification of each separate criterion. Besides the Antonine Plague, this analysis was also applied to two historical disease outbreaks which may also be viewed as pandemics. These were the possible Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age bubonic plague pandemic and the Plague of Athens. A brief survey of all currently known diseases which struck the Roman world is also presented. The conclusion which emerges based on an evaluation of the aforementioned criteria in the light of ancient sources and the results of modern biological sciences is that the Antonine Plague can be dubbed the first clearly attested pandemic in European history with reasonable confidence, while all of the earlier analysed examples were probably semi-connected epidemic outbreaks. This characterization has been chosen for two reasons. The first pertains to the fact that we are faced with a substantial lack of sources for earlier examples, and therefore cannot properly ascertain whether these occurrences truly were pandemics. The second reason why these disease outbreaks cannot, to the best of our current knowledge, be defined as pandemics is linked to the criterion of wide geographic extent, but also to the lack of human-built infrastructure which abets with the spread of highly virulent pathogens

Accuracy of fractal analysis and PI-RADS assessment of prostate magnetic resonance imaging for prediction of cancer grade groups: a clinical validation study

ObjectivesMultiparametric MRI with Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) assessment is sensitive but not specific for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer. This study validates the diagnostic accuracy of the recently suggested fractal dimension (FD) of perfusion for detecting clinically significant cancer.Materials and methodsRoutine clinical MR imaging data, acquired at 3 T without an endorectal coil including dynamic contrast-enhanced sequences, of 72 prostate cancer foci in 64 patients were analyzed. In-bore MRI-guided biopsy with International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grading served as reference standard. Previously established FD cutoffs for predicting tumor grade were compared to measurements of the apparent diffusion coefficient (25th percentile, ADC25) and PI-RADS assessment with and without inclusion of the FD as separate criterion.ResultsFractal analysis allowed prediction of ISUP grade groups 1 to 4 but not 5, with high agreement to the reference standard (κFD = 0.88 [CI: 0.79–0.98]). Integrating fractal analysis into PI-RADS allowed a strong improvement in specificity and overall accuracy while maintaining high sensitivity for significant cancer detection (ISUP > 1; PI-RADS alone: sensitivity = 96%, specificity = 20%, area under the receiver operating curve [AUC] = 0.65; versus PI-RADS with fractal analysis: sensitivity = 95%, specificity = 88%, AUC = 0.92, p < 0.001). ADC25 only differentiated low-grade group 1 from pooled higher-grade groups 2–5 (κADC = 0.36 [CI: 0.12–0.59]). Importantly, fractal analysis was significantly more reliable than ADC25 in predicting non-significant and clinically significant cancer (AUCFD = 0.96 versus AUCADC = 0.75, p < 0.001). Diagnostic accuracy was not significantly affected by zone location.ConclusionsFractal analysis is accurate in noninvasively predicting tumor grades in prostate cancer and adds independent information when implemented into PI-RADS assessment. This opens the opportunity to individually adjust biopsy priority and method in individual patients.Key Points• Fractal analysis of perfusion is accurate in noninvasively predicting tumor grades in prostate cancer using dynamic contrast-enhanced sequences (κFD = 0.88).• Including the fractal dimension into PI-RADS as a separate criterion improved specificity (from 20 to 88%) and overall accuracy (AUC from 0.86 to 0.96) while maintaining high sensitivity (96% versus 95%) for predicting clinically significant cancer.• Fractal analysis was significantly more reliable than ADC25 in predicting clinically significant cancer (AUCFD = 0.96 versus AUCADC = 0.75).

Separation of nitrogen from methane by multi-stage membrane processes: Modeling, simulation, and cost estimation

This study focuses on the application of multi-stage membrane separation processes for the removal of nitrogen from natural gas. Reliable modeling and process simulation are essential for the analysis of the gas separation process. A mathematical model was developed using thermodynamic models, like lattice fluid (LF) and non-equilibrium lattice fluid (NELF), for gas sorption and transfer model for gas diffusion in the membrane. The proposed mass transfer model was validated with the experimental data for the gas solubility and permeability in various glassy and rubbery membranes. Then the proposed model was coupled with Aspen Plus software (Aspen Tech) for simulation of different proposed configurations of the multi-stage membrane processes. The performance of various gas separation configurations was investigated in terms of product purity, methane recovery, total capital investment, and total annual cost. The results indicated that the membranes with higher permeability had more suitable economic parameters. For example, the total annual cost for the AF1600 membrane was seven times the total annual cost value for the PTMSP membrane in the single-stage membrane separation process. It was observed that the methane purity of above 96 %mol and methane recovery of 90% could not be achieved by the single-stage process. However, the specified separation criteria can be achieved via the multi-stage membrane processes by two or three membranes. The best configuration was selected from various proposed configurations by evaluating the economic parameters.