Full Dimensions Research Articles

(153) Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy with the Simultaneous Implant of a Penile Prosthesis: Penile Length Preservation After 10 years Follow Up

Abstract Introduction The preservation of the full dimensions of the penis is an important consideration for improving patients' compliance for the treatment after prostatectomy. We performed twenty laparoscopic extraperitoneal RP and simultaneous penile prosthesis implantation (PPI) in order to preserve the full length of the penis and to improve patients' satisfaction in 2013. Objective Objective of the study is to evaluate the ten years follow up of this unique series in the world. Oncological and functional results were analyzed. Methods From June 2013 to June 2014, 20 patients underwent simultaneous PPI (with an AMS InhibiZone prosthesis) and RP laparoscopic. Patients were evaluated by means of urological visits, questionnaires, and objective measurements before surgery, at discharge from the hospital, on postoperative days 21 to 28, each 3 months for the first year, and each 1 year thereafter. The main outcome measures were biochemical recurrence-free rate, penile length, and quality of life. Results 15 patients mean age 71 range 66–75 were reached at the 10-year follow-up-1 died of acute infarction 10 years after surgery, 1 died of disease 7 years after surgery; 3 lost to followup. Partners had mean age 60 with range 37–71 years. Mean preoperative PSA 9.3 (6.3–13.7) at 10 years 0.08 (range 0.01–1.2); Pre-surgical IIEF 11 (range 9–14) to 10 years 23 (range 22–25). 10-year partner satisfaction rating had increased from 8 post-surgical to 7. Penis size unchanged after 10 years: surgery day 9 cm (range: 8.5–9.5) at 10 years 8.8 range (8–9.5). Conclusions In our cases, the simultaneous extraperitoneal laparoscopic surgery of radical prostatectomy and penile prosthesis implantation is an interesting option to offer to selected and highly motivated patients. Preservation of the size of the penis, the possibility of resuming normal sexual activity 21 days after surgery, partner satisfaction and oncological safety with a 10-year follow-up make it a surgical technique to be proposed in clinical practice if performed by a team with experience in prosthetic surgery. Disclosure No.

A maximum projective stratification criterion for selecting space-filling designs

Space-filling designs are commonly used in computer experiments. In this paper, we propose a maximum projective stratification criterion for classifying and ranking space-filling designs. We first introduce a stratification metric, which is proved to be a variance decomposition of the frequency representation of a design. Based on this metric, we define the new criterion to sequentially minimize a projective stratification pattern, that quantifies the stratification property of a design when projected into one up to full dimensions. Numerical results show that, when the space-filling property in cluster of projections with respect to dimensions is paid attention on, our criterion is more rational than existing criteria. We further study the intimate connections between our criterion and existing criteria. The extension of this criterion for a design with prime power levels to general levels are also discussed.

Theoretical study of double oscillating fields induced electron-positron pairs creation process

<sec>We investigate an important aspect of electron-positron pair creation from vacuum in the presence of a strong background field, where the combined field plays a key role in the pair creation process. By utilizing computational quantum field theory, we explore electron-positron pair creation induced by double-located oscillating electric fields by numerically solving the Dirac equation in full spacetime dimensions. We demonstrate theoretically that computational quantum field theory is equivalent to the first-order time-dependent perturbation theory for single-photon transition pair creation in a spatially inhomogeneous and time-dependent electric field, and verify their equivalence through numerical simulations of pair creation in double-located oscillating fields. We show some interesting results about the periodic oscillation of the momentum spectrum structure of the created particle and the asymmetric multi-photon pair creation process due to the interference between two fields. By using first-order time-dependent perturbation theory, we find that the periodic oscillation in the momentum distribution of the created particle is affected by the field width, the field frequency and the distance between two fields. The period of the oscillation of momentum spectrum structure is changed by the distance between two fields, while the field width has an influence on both the difference between the peak and valley of the momentum spectra and the width of the momentum space available to the created particle. Increasing the frequency of the electric field results in larger momentum for the created particle pairs, while correspondingly reducing the coupling matrix element <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ \langle p|V|n \rangle $\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="4-20230432_M1.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="4-20230432_M1.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and diminishing the probability of electron-positron pair creation.</sec><sec>The interference between two fields significantly enhances the yield of pair numbers for small distances between two fields. When the distance is too large, the number of pairs created by double oscillating fields is twice that created by a single field, and the enhancement is vanished. When the distance between two fields increases, the period of oscillation decreases. In turn, the creation of electron-positron pairs can become more monochromatic in momentum (energy), while the number of pairs created remains almost constant. As the electric field broadens, the yield of the created pairs decreases for constant potential height. Increasing the field width will reduce the number of particles for each momentum and narrow the momentum space of the created particle. Increasing the field frequency leads to the reduction of the coupling matrix element <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ \langle p|V|n \rangle $\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="4-20230432_M2.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="4-20230432_M2.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and subsequently reduces the total number of electron-positron pairs created. The field profile parameters such as frequency, width, and distance between two fields can be utilized to select a specific momentum (energy) of particles in future electron-positron pair creation experiments.</sec>

The effect of nocebo explanation and empathy on side-effect expectations of medication use following a fictional GP consultation

ABSTRACT The simple act of informing patients about side-effects increases the likelihood they will experience them (i.e. the nocebo effect). Explaining this psychological phenomenon could help to reduce side-effect experience, however, it is yet to be explored if this can be applied to clinical settings where new medication is prescribed. In addition, the degree to which a health-care provider empathetically communicates this to patients may have an impact. To investigate this, we carried out 2 × 2 factorial trial to assess the effect of nocebo explanation and empathy (plus their interaction) on side-effect expectations following a fictional GP consultation prescribing a new medication. Overall, 208 participants were randomised to watch one of the four fictive GP consultations and play the role of the patient. In all videos, participants received information about the reason for the consultation, the recommendation of a new fictive medicine, how to take it, benefits and side-effects. The videos differed in whether the GP provided an explanation of the nocebo effect (yes/no) and whether they communicated in an empathetic style (yes/no). After watching the video, participants were asked about their side-effect expectations and rated the quality of the GP’s communication. Two-way ANOVAs revealed no main effect of nocebo explanation on expectation of side-effects warned or not warned about in the consultation. However, there was a main effect of empathy, with participants watching the empathetic consultations having significantly lower expectations of non-warned-about side-effects. There was no significant interaction. Findings suggest that explaining the nocebo effect and GP empathy did little to allay expectations of side-effects that were specifically mentioned in the consultation. However, GP empathy had an effect by helping to reduce additional side-effect expectations participants still had. Future work should extend these findings to real GP consultations where the full dimensions of empathy can be explored.

General polytropic spheres as gravitational lenses

We propose hydrostatic polytropic spheres governed by the Lane-Emden equation (LEE) of index n as a novel set of physical models for axially averaged gravitational lenses anywhere in the Universe, alternative to the familiar singular isothermal sphere (SIS) and the Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile, as such general polytropic spheres are conceptually simple, versatile in representing a series of equations of state, and able to address both the inner core and cusp features. As LEE is nonlinear, there exist several distinct classes of LEE solutions to serve as physical lens models. With a few scaling parameters, the complete problem can be readily reconstructed with full physical dimensions. A given mass density profile satisfying LEE produces lensing effects that are solely determined by a dimensionless parameter q which contains geometric and kinematic information about the source-lens-observer system. The lens mapping and tangential shear or distortion profile are derived, first analytically for special cases and then asymptotically at the outskirts or near the edge of the lens. Numerical procedures for calculating full lensing profiles of a general lens are developed. Our results include the analytical “singular polytropic sphere” (SPS) profile which generalizes the SIS model and may outperform the latter in modeling dark matter halos among others. We further point out that dynamic models of general polytropic spheres in self-similar evolution can serve as several broad classes of gravitational lenses and produce time-dependent lensing effects slow or fast depending on the pertinent time scales. Astrophysical sources that can be lensed include electromagnetic wave sources in the entire frequency band, gravitational wave sources in the entire frequency band, gravitons even possibly with finite masses, neutrino sources of three different types, neutron sources, and ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) of electrically charged particles which can also interact with magnetic fields. We discuss and elabrate applications to dark matter halos, hypermassive black holes and supermassive black holes in the entire Universe including the early Universe, magnetized supermassive stars, static and dynamically evolving spherical and cylindrical lenses in contexts of astrophysics and cosmology.

High-Dimensional Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search: with Reliable and Efficient Distance Comparison Operations

Approximate K nearest neighbor (AKNN) search in the high-dimensional Euclidean vector space is a fundamental and challenging problem. We observe that in high-dimensional space, the time consumption of nearly all AKNN algorithms is dominated by that of the distance comparison operations (DCOs). For each operation, it scans full dimensions of an object and thus, runs in linear time wrt the dimensionality. To speed it up, we propose a randomized algorithm named ADSampling which runs in logarithmic time wrt the dimensionality for the majority of DCOs and succeeds with high probability. In addition, based on ADSampling we develop one generic and two algorithm-specific techniques as plugins to enhance existing AKNN algorithms. Both theoretical and empirical studies confirm that: (1) our techniques introduce nearly no accuracy loss and (2) they consistently improve the efficiency.

Religion and secularity as supersessionist categories

This article argues that the Christian ambivalence towards the Jews throughout history lies at the heart of the difficulties liberal societies are having today in accommodating religious diversity, but also more broadly, in discussing issues pertaining to religion and secularity in a nuanced way. After a brief summary of the characteristics of Christian supersessionism, the article first explores the modern concept of religion as a product of Protestant Christianity and thus as a category that inherently privileges a Christian perspective. Although the specific associations to Christians versus Jews have become less pronounced, the inherited dichotomies (archaic/enlightened, material/spiritual, particular/universal, etc.) live on and continue to shape attitudes towards what is perceived as more and less desirable forms of religion in contemporary Western societies – as mirrored in the widespread political rhetoric claiming that Islam is not ‘compatible’ with Western culture. However, to understand the full dimensions of the mechanisms guiding the public discourse on religion post-9/11, it is important also to recognize the extent to which not only the modern concept of religion but also of secularity is based on a supersessionary logic. Hence the second part of the article explores how the religious and the secular today jointly serve to uphold a hierarchical cultural order, where certain practices and values gain the upper hand by being associated with terms such as ‘rational’, ‘progressive’ or ‘Human Rights’, while other practices and values are framed as incompatible with these terms.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived Exosomes: Novel Therapeutic Approach for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

As double membrane-encapsulated nanovesicles (30-150 nm), exosomes (Exos) shuttle between different cells to mediate intercellular communication and transport active cargoes of paracrine factors. The anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived Exos (MSC-Exos) provide a rationale for novel cell-free therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Growing evidence has shown that MSC-Exos can be a potential candidate for treating IBD. In the present review, we summarized the most critical advances in the properties of MSC-Exos, provided the research progress of MSC-Exos in treating IBD, and discussed the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects. Collectively, MSC-Exos had great potential for cell-free therapy in IBD. However, further studies are required to understand the full dimensions of the complex Exo system and how to optimize its effects.

Synodality and the Francis Pontificate: A Fresh Reception of Vatican II

The ten-year Francis pontificate represents a fresh reception of the Second Vatican Council. The full dimensions of this reception can be apprehended through the lens of synodality, the leitmotif of the Francis papacy. This article will consider four features of synodality exhibited in the papal magisterium of Pope Francis that help us appreciate the ways in which Francis has creatively received conciliar teaching and advanced the conciliar agenda.

Mapping Rectangles to Cylinders: Waste-Conscious Constructions of Curved Structural Surfaces

This research explores the generation of a novel syntax for architecture driven by the preserved proportions of 4 ft. x 8 ft. rectangular sheets of flexible material. The primary goal is to develop strategies that reduce or eliminate material waste in small-scale public installations by leveraging the full dimensions of standard stock material as a building block. Following a brief survey on how geometric definition and construction sequences informed tectonic assemblies of the past, this paper introduces a subset of curved crease folding that uses planar reflections (sectional mirror operations) to create unique spatial and structural vocabularies by avoiding material offcuts entirely. Finally, the research illustrates a full-scale prototype that tests the effectiveness of the process in the form of a shade structure in a local neighborhood park.

Eucharist and Ecology

Abstract: The Directory for Catechesis emphasizes that care for creation is "an integral part of the Christian life" and indicates that appropriate catechesis should heed "the signs of the liturgy." In Laudato Sí , Pope Francis focuses on the Eucharist as "a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment." With particular reference to writers from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which has retained a strong awareness of the cosmic aspects of Christian faith and the sacraments, the article considers the relationship between human beings and creation that is expressed when bread and wine, fruit of the earth and work of human hands, are offered to God in the Eucharist. Christ fulfills the biblical understanding of humanity as steward, even priest, of creation, and the regular celebration of the Eucharist, through him and with him and in him, forms the Christian community in a right relationship with creation. The ecological problem is seen to be primarily spiritual in nature, and to need a solution that is essentially religious. Rightly understood, Christianity holds the key to its solution, though for too long, particularly in the West, it has seemed concerned only with the salvation of human beings or even simply with saving souls. Christ promised the new heavens and the new earth, and the current crisis is an opportunity for Christians to embrace once again the full dimensions of the salvation he has won and to bear witness in the world accordingly.

Ring-Polymer Molecular Dynamics and Kinetics for the H- + C2H2 → H2 + C2H- Reaction Using the Full-Dimensional Potential Energy Surface.

The H- + C2H2 → H2 + C2H- reaction is important in understanding the production mechanisms of anionic molecules in interstellar environments. Herein, the rate coefficients for the H- + C2H2 → H2 + C2H- reaction were calculated using ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD), classical molecular dynamics (MD), and quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) approaches on a newly developed ab initio potential energy surface (PES) in full dimensions. PES was constructed by fitting a large number of ab initio energy points and their gradients using the permutationally invariant polynomial basis set method. There was no barrier in the reaction coordinates, which was a collinear-dominated reaction, and the reaction proceeded exothermically. It is found that the fitted PES provides the appropriate thermal rate coefficients based on all RPMD, classical MD, and QCT simulations at higher temperatures. The evaluation of the rate coefficients at lower temperatures should be conducted carefully because the fitting of the PES associated with the long-range interaction should be further improved. The spatial distribution of the nucleus allows a more effective attraction between the reactants.

When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions

When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions

Blueprint for Future Research Advancing the Study of Sexuality, Gender, and Equity in Later Life: Lessons Learned From Aging With Pride, The National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study (NHAS).

While interest in sexuality\research is growing, in the past, it has been largely invisible in gerontology. By exploring the full range and dimensions of sexuality and their interrelationships with multiple factors, this article presents conceptual, substantive, and methodological advances for the field of sexuality in later life. Based on the Sexual Equity Framework, an extension of the Health Equity Promotion Model, this article highlights the heterogeneity and intersectionality of sexuality across the life course, examining how historical and contemporary contexts frame key dimensions of sexuality at multiple levels (intrapersonal, interpersonal, sociocultural, and structural) and their relationship with sexual quality of life. Utilizing findings from Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging and Sexuality/Gender Study, the heterogeneity and intersectionality of age, gender, race, and ethnicity are critical to understanding sexuality and its dimensions in later life. Many adults experience changes in sexual and gender identities over time. Affirming sexual and gender identities, social connections, and health-promoting behaviors are positively associated with sexual quality of life, while sexual stigma and marginalization have adverse consequences. The study of sexuality needs to be fully integrated into gerontology. The Sexual Equity Framework explicates the potential deleterious effect of historical and contemporary structures on sexuality as well the important roles of affirmation, agency, and resilience among older adults, and recognizes the important role of human rights to advance sexual quality of life. Important directions for future research, practices, and policies are outlined.

Acoso político: Revisión de sus dimensiones aplicadas a los casos registrados en Perú

The identification of the political harassment’s cases in Peru has omitted their full dimensions. They are wrongly classified as belonging to a single type. The methodology that will be applied to analyze the cases of political harassment registered in Peru will be qualitative, since it seeks to examine the political harassment testimonies using a scheme proposed by Bardall, Bjarnegård and Piscopo. Political harassment is a phenomenon with a recent visibility that demands the correct identification of its dimensions to make its prevention, sanction and eradication measures more appropriate in Peru.

Probabilistic Models for the Tensile Properties of Split Boards and Their Application for the Prediction of Bending Properties of Engineered Timber Products Made of Norway Spruce

The main strength and elastic properties of structural timber products, such as glued laminated timber (glulam; GLT) and cross-laminated timber (CLT), are usually described via load-bearing models, which use the tensile properties parallel to the grain of the base material boards and finger joints as input parameters. These load-bearing models assume that the strength-graded boards will retain their full dimensions in the final product. In some applications or use cases, however, the structural timber products are split lengthwise, e.g., split/resawn glulam, or comprise a random share of in width randomly lengthwise split lamellas. As a result of splitting, the material properties assigned to these boards during the grading process in their full cross-sections are no longer valid. Examples of such structural timber products are the novel flex_GLT-beams which are cut out from large dimensional multi-laminated timber panels. In the following paper, the bending properties and system effects of resawn glulam and flex_GLT-beams are described by means of a 3D stochastic-numerical beam model that uses probabilistic models to create the input values for unsplit and split boards as well as finger joints. The models are successfully validated by our own tests and tests from literature and applied in numerous parameter studies.

A Theoretical Analysis of Favorable Propagation on Massive MIMO Channels with Generalized Angle Distributions

Massive MIMO obtains the multiuser performance gain based on the favorable propagation (FP) assumption, defined as the mutual orthogonality of different users’ channel vectors. Until now, most of the theoretical analyses of FP are based on uniform angular distributions and only consider the horizontal dimension. However, the real propagation channel contains full dimensions, and the spatial angle varies with the environment. Thus, it remains unknown whether the FP condition holds in real deployment scenarios and how it impacts the massive MIMO system performance. In this paper, we analyze the FP condition theoretically based on a cluster-based three-dimensional (3D) MIMO channel with generalized angle distributions. Firstly, the FP condition’s unified mathematical expectation and variance expressions with full-dimensional angular integral are given. Since the closed-form expressions are hard to derive, we decompose generalized angle distributions, i.e., wrapped Gaussian (WG), Von Mises (VM), and truncated Laplacian (TL) into the functions of Bessel and Cosine basis by introducing Jacobi-Anger expansions and Fourier series. Thus the closed-form expressions of the FP condition are derived. Based on the above, we theoretically analyze the asymptotically FP condition under generalized angle distributions and then compare the impact of angular spreads on the FP performance. Furtherly, the FP condition is also investigated by numerical simulations and practical measurements. It is observed that environments with larger angle spreads and larger antenna spacing are more likely to realize FP. This paper provides valuable insights for the theoretical analysis of the practical application of massive MIMO systems.

A GA and SVM Classification Model for Pine Wilt Disease Detection Using UAV-Based Hyperspectral Imagery

Pine wilt disease (PWD), caused by the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), is a global destructive threat to forests and has led to serious economic losses all over the world. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a feasible and effective method to accurately monitor and estimate PWD infection. In this study, we used hyperspectral imagery (HI) collected by an unmanned airship with a hyperspectral imaging spectrometer to detect PWD in healthy, early, middle and serious infection stages. To avoid massive calculations on the full spectral dimensions of the HI, 16 spectral features were extracted from the HI, and a genetic algorithm (GA) was implemented to identify the optimal ones with the least fitness. Simultaneously, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was established to predict the PWD infection stage for an individual pine tree. The following results were obtained: (1) the spectral characteristics for pine trees in different PWD infection stages were distinctive in the green region (510–580 nm), red edge (680–760 nm) and near-infrared (780–1000 nm) spectra; (2) the six optimal spectral features (Dgreen, SDgreen, Dred, DRE, DNIR, SDNIR) selected with the GA effectively distinguished the PWD infection stages of pine trees with a lower calculation cost; (3) compared with the traditional classifiers, such as k-nearest neighbor (KNN), random forest (RF) and single SVM, the proposed GA and SVM classifier achieved the highest overall accuracy (95.24%) and Kappa coefficient (0.9234). The approach could also be employed for monitoring and detecting other forest pests.

Formulation and Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Ethyl Cellulose/HPMC-Based Oral Expandable Sustained Release Dosage of Losartan Potassium.

Prolonged retention of losartan potassium in the upper gastrointestinal tract is anticipated to increase its absorption and exposure to CYP450 enzyme subfamilies, undertaking its conversion to more potent (10-40 times) active metabolite, losartan carboxylic acid (LCA). Consistent with this, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose K4M/ethyl cellulose-based novel expandable films (EFs) containing losartan potassium (LP) suitable for prolonged retention in the stomach were developed. The films were prepared by solvent casting method. USP type II dissolution apparatus (0.1N HCl, 37°C, 100rpm) was used to perform the dissolution testing (drug release, unfolding behavior, film integrity, erosion, and water uptake) of the films. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies were carried out in rabbits. An HPLC-UV method was used for the quantification of the drug and its active metabolite in plasma. These folded films placed inside hard gelatin capsule shells unfolded to full dimensions in dissolution medium and provided sustained drug release throughout 12h. The plasma drug concentration-time curves obtained from the in vivo studies were used to determine pharmacokinetic parameters, such as area under the plasma drug concentration-time curve(AUC), area under first moment curve(AUMC), mean residence time (MRT), Cmax, Tmax, t1/2, ke, and Fr in comparison with that of the market formulation, Cozaar®. The novel EFs significantly changed the pharmacokinetic parameters of the drug and its active metabolite. The apparent elimination rate constant (ke) significantly decreased, while MRT and elimination half-life (t1/2) increased in both cases. The relative bioavailabilities (Fr) of both LP and E3174 using the novel formulation were higher than that of Cozaar®.

Blade-resolved numerical simulations of the NREL offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine in full scale: A study of proper solver configuration and discretization strategies

This paper presents a blade-resolved numerical investigation of the NREL 5 MW baseline wind turbine for offshore applications including blade-tower interference, analyzing the solver configuration and its influence on the results accuracy and computational costs. The wind turbine was analyzed considering its full dimensions under the operating condition of optimal wind-power conversion efficiency for a wind speed of 10 m/s at hub height. The power production, generated thrust, and forces distribution along the blade span were estimated. The computational analyses were carried out using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodology employing the Finite Volume Method (FVM) implemented in the OpenFOAM software considering different approaches of the Pressure Implicit Split Operator (PISO) solver and different mesh refinement strategies for the spatial discretization process, which resulted in two different meshes being investigated. For one of the meshes, a temporal discretization analysis was performed for three different CFL numbers. The iterative form of the PISO algorithm was considered in its generic form and with an extra step to correct the pressure before the beginning of the iterative process in each time step. Both approaches can be accomplished in OpenFOAM through the PIMPLE solver facilities for the treatment of the pressure-velocity coupling in unsteady problems. The analysis of the transient incompressible turbulent flow was conducted considering the same turbulence model for all CFD investigations, the URANS k − ω SST. A numerical verification was conducted in each analysis by comparing the CFD results against values obtained using the blade element momentum theory, implemented in OpenFAST. To conclude each analysis, a computational cost investigation was carried out. Finally, for the spatial and temporal discretization investigation, detailed information regarding the flow characteristics is presented. According to the accuracy of the results obtained through the CFD simulations, the best numerical arrangement is given by the iterative PISO with face flux correction as pressure-based solver and a temporal discretization which employs lower values of CFL, such as 1 or 2.