High Class Research Articles

Relationship between heart rhythm turbulence and ventricular arrhythmia in patients with multivessel lesion of coronary arteries

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): MoH Research Grant "Development of methods for differentiated prevention and treatment of potentially dangerous heart rhythm disorders" Prediction of adverse outcomes in patients after myocardial infarction (MI) remains a serious and not completely resolved problem, which pushes researchers to search for new technologies. One of the relatively promising new non-invasive methods for predicting sudden coronary death in patients with coronary heart disease and ventricular arrhythmias (VA) may be an assessment of heart rate turbulence (HRT). Given its important prognostic role, primarily in patients after MI, the aim of this work was to study the relationship between HRT and cardiovascular remodeling in patients with VA with history of MI and multivessel nature of coronary lesions. Materials and research methods 123 patients with history of MI, aged 38 to 76 years (average age 61.0 ± 7.6 years), were included into the study. The multivessel nature of coronary lesions was established based on the results of diagnostic selective coronary angiography. All patients underwent Holter monitoring of the electrocardiogram (HMECG). HRT was determined using two indicators, in accordance with the guidelines: Turbulence Onset (To, %) and Turbulence Slope (Ts, ms/RRi). Results Potentially dangerous ventricular arrhythmias (PDVA) were noted in more than half of the examined patients (n = 67; 54.5%). In analyze of the structure of PDVA, II class of VA, as the highest class, was not observed in any of the examined patients, class III was detected in 35% of cases, IVA – in 37.5%, and IVB – in 27.5%. In assessing the frequency of VAs, according to the Bigger classification, frequent PVC >10 VA/hour was detected in 41.5% of patients. The analysis of the HRT indicators did not reveal a decrease in the mean values both To (-1.2 ± 1.5%) and Ts (3.9 ± 3.1 ms/RRi) indicators in the main group of patients. However, after appropriate separation of the main group, 21.1% of them had disorders of only one (category 1; 15.4%) or both of the HRT indicators (category 2; 5.7%). Category 0 included patients without any disorder of HRT indicators. In analysis of the relationship between the PDVA and the category of HRT reduction, a significant interrelation between them was revealed (Table 1). Result Our study demonstrates presence of strong interrelation between HRT parameters disorder and severity of PDVA. Thus, study of HRT in patients after MI could be a strong and independent predictor of cardiovascular events including sudden cardiac death. Abstract Figure. Tab. 1. Interrelation between HRT and VA

Formal Design of Multi-Function Vehicle Bus Controller

Data of the train communication network(TCN) is becoming more complicated, which results in higher requirements of the data processing unit-the multifunction vehicle bus controller (MVBC) connected within the TCN. Developing an MVBC is challenging because of the integrated hardware-software solutions to support reactions in real time and dynamic environment. Hence, there is an urgent need for a rigorous design framework to facilitate the development of MVBC. In this paper, we propose a design framework TooMVBC to generate executable MVBC code from formal verified computation model. TooMVBC uses formal computation model MVBChart to capture the specification of the MVBC at high level. First, primitive syntax of MVBChart is designed to model MVBC features (e.g. hierarchy structure, data flow of the encoder, the control logic of communication protocol), and semantics of MVBChart is formalized for simulation and verification. Then, semantics-preserving code generation algorithms are designed to generate VHDL code for partitioned hardware implementations and C code for partitioned software implementations from verified MVBChart model. The generated code can be loaded into the proposed flexible MVBC hardware architecture directly. Finally, supporting graphical model editor, simulator, verification translator, partitioning and code generator are implemented and seamlessly integrated into TooMVBC. When we apply TooMVBC to design MVBC with the highest class 5 according to the description of the standard IEC 61375, several critical ambiguousness or bugs in the standard are detected during formal verification of the constructed system model.

Social Class Shapes Donation Allocation Preferences

Abstract When considering a charitable act, consumers must often decide on how to allocate their resources across a multitude of possible causes. This article assesses how the relative “urgency” of the causes under consideration (i.e., how critical to human survival the causes are) shapes preferences for specific causes among higher and lower social class consumers. Across a series of studies in a highly unequal socioeconomic environment (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), we demonstrate that lower-class consumers prefer to donate to urgent causes (e.g., alleviating hunger) compared to non-urgent causes (e.g., encouraging cultural activities), whereas the effect reverses among higher-class consumers. Contrasting experiences with scarcity across social classes vary the consumers’ intrinsic sympathy toward people’s unmet basic needs, which in turn shapes donation allocation preferences. Consistent with this theoretical rationale, class differences in charitable allocations decrease when (a) vivid contextual cues induce sympathy among both higher- and lower-class consumers or (b) the experience with scarcity is similar across social classes. Thus, although class differences in preferences for specific causes can be shifted with relative ease, our findings suggest that those who have the most to give do not spontaneously prioritize what is most urgently needed in society.

The Evil of the Buttocks: Negative Labeling of Latino Blackness Through Caribbean Music, and How They Learned to Play the Game

AbstractWe describe our ethnographic observations and personal experience about how Afro‐Caribbean music and its musical videos profited historically from negative labeling to produce status and national identity. We compare contemporary experience with reggaetón with historical data about several musical genres, from the Inquisition to the 20th century. During this period, the introduction of African‐inspired dances violated racial boundaries that upper‐class European elites sought to preserve. Hostility to the resulting music and dance that were used by mixed‐race populations to find new forms of status remains at the heart of negative labeling of Blackness by whites and by higher classes. Do you like Latino dance music? Choose a sound system and enjoy this story.

Vaccination against hepatitis B virus in hemodialysis patients: trends in dialysis centers of Northern Pakistan

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, especially those on hemodialysis, are at increased risk of developing hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Guidelines suggest that all patients with CKD should be vaccinated against HBV, but these guidelines are usually not followed. We conducted this study to know the status of vaccination against HBV in CKD patients on regular hemodialysis. Methods: This observational descriptive study was conducted at the Department of Medicine, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Teaching Hospital, Poonch Medical College Rawalakot , and POF Teaching Hospital, Wah Medical College Wah Cantt, from March to July 2019. Patients reporting to the dialysis center of both hospitals on regular dialysis were included in the study. Patient information (HBV vaccination status, age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, duration of CKD and duration of dialysis) were collected on a specially designed questionnaire. The statistical analysis of data was done in SPSS for Windows, version 20. Results: A total 149 patients were included in the study, 63.1% were male and 36.9% were female. Out of these 24.2% were uneducated, 33.6% had 1-10 years school education, 38.2% had 10-14 years education, and 4% had more than 14 years education. About 35% patients were from low socioeconomic class, 54% from middle and 11% from higher class. Only 45.6% (n=68) of patients were vaccinated and 54.4% (n=81) were not vaccinated against HBV. Vaccination status was significantly associated with education (p=0.004) and socioeconomic status (p=0.008). Conclusion: The HBV status of patients on regular hemodialysis is not satisfactory at the two centers observed. It is associated with education and socioeconomic status of the patient.

Modeling climate change impacts on crop water demand, middle Awash River basin, case study of Berehet woreda

Abstract Climate change mainly affects crops via impacting evapotranspiration. This study quantifies climate change impacts on evapotranspiration, crop water requirement, and irrigation water demand. Seventeen GCMs from the MarkSim-GCM were used for RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios for future projection. A soil sample was collected from 15 points from the maize production area. Based on USDA soil textural classification, the soil is classified as silt loam (higher class), clay loam (middle class), and clay loam (lower class). The crop growing season onset and offset were determined using the Markov chain model and compared with the farmer's indigenous experience. The main rainy season (Kiremt) starts during the 1st meteorological decade of June for baseline period and 2nd decade to 3rd decade of June for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 of near (2020s) and mid (2050s) future period. The offset date is in the range of 270 (base period), RCP 4.5 (278, 284), and RCP 8.5 (281, 274) DOY for baseline, near, and mid future. The rainfall and temperature change show an increasing pattern from the base period under both scenarios. Furthermore, the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimating model was developed using multiple variable regression and used for a future period in this study. In the base period, ETo increases from 33.4 mm/dec in the 1st decade of July to the peak value of 52.1 mm/dec in the 3rd decade of May. Under RCP8 .5, the 2nd decade of August ETO is minimal (44.3 mm/dec), while in 1st decade of April ETO was maximum (75.3 mm/dec) and raise from 44.3 mm/dec in the 2nd decade of August to the peak value of 75.3 mm/dec in the 1st decade of April. Under RCP 4.5, ETO raises from 33 mm/dec in the 1st decade of Dec to the peak value of 48 mm/dec in the 3rd decade of May. ETo shows an increasing trend from the base period under both scenarios. During the base period, a maize variety with a growing period of 110 days required 403.2 mm depth of water, while 67 mm is required as supplementary irrigation. Crop water and irrigation requirements of the maize variety with a growing period of 110 days are predicted to be 436.1 and 445.1 mm water during the 2020 and 2050 s for RCP 4.5, while 101.8 to 63.7 mm depth of water as supplementary irrigation respectively and 441.3 and 447.3 mm of water during 2020 and 2050 s of the future period for RCP 8.5, while 142.9 to 134.0 mm required as supplementary irrigation for both periods of RCP 8.5 scenarios. Crop water need will increase by 8.16 and 10.39% for RCP 4.5 and by 9.45 and 10.94% for RCP 8.5 of the 2020 and 2050 s respectively. In this study, a new ETO model is developed using a multiple variable linear regression model and its degree of the fitting is statistically tested and Kc is adjusted for the local climate, and hence, can be used in future irrigation and related studies. Generally, decision-makers, farmers, Irrigation engineers, and other stakeholders can use the results of this study in irrigation design, monitoring, scheduling, and other related activities.

Law firms’ preferences and willingness to pay for attributes of law school graduates: results from a choice experiment

ABSTRACT Preferences and willingness-to-pay for attributes of law school graduates are examined using a choice experiment. Results suggest preferences for candidates who graduate near the top of their class or from top ranked schools and an aversion to candidates from lower ranked schools and those graduating in the bottom half of their class. Despite the potential for significant economic gains from attending a top ranked school and graduating in the top of the class, students should consider the tradeoffs that hiring firms are willing to make between candidate attributes. Higher class rank can moderate the salary premium associated with university prestige.

Open But Segregated? Class Divisions And the Network Structure of Social Capital in Chile

AbstractThis paper studies how social capital is divided across classes in Chile, one of the most unequal countries in the world. We analyse the extent to which upper-, middle-, and lower class individuals congregate in social networks with similar others, while following Bourdieu and expecting that in particular the networks of the higher social strata are segregated in terms of social capital. We test our argument with large-scale, representative survey data for the Chilean urban population aged 18–75 years (n = 2,517) and build an integrated indicator of people’s social class that combines measures of education, occupational class, and household income. Our regression analyses show that upper-class individuals have larger networks and access to more varied and prestigious social resources than their middle- and lower class counterparts. Interestingly, however, we found a U-shaped relationship between social class and class homogeneity, indicating that network segregation is high at the top as well as at the bottom of the class-based social strata. In contrast, the classes in the middle have more heterogeneous class networks, possibly forming an important bridge between the “edges” of the class structure. These findings demonstrate that whereas social and economic capital cumulates in higher classes, the lower classes are socially deprived next to their economic disadvantage.

Study on the variation of air pollutant concentration and its formation mechanism during the COVID-19 period in Wuhan

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus), from January 23 to April 8 in 2020, the highest Class 1 Response was ordered in Wuhan, requiring all residents to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. This action was implemented to cut down all unnecessary human activities, including industry, agriculture and transportation. Reducing these activities to a very low level during these hard times meant that some unprecedented naturally occurring measures of controlling emissions were executed. Ironically, however, after these measures were implemented, ozone levels increased by 43.9%. Also worthy of note, PM2.5 decreased 31.7%, which was found by comparing the observation data in Wuhan during the epidemic from 8th Feb. to 8th Apr. in 2020 with the same periods in 2019. Utilizing CMAQ (The Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system), this article investigated the reason for these phenomena based on four sets of numerical simulations with different schemes of emission reduction. Comparing the four sets of simulations with observation, it was deduced that the emissions should decrease to approximately 20% from the typical industrial output, and 10% from agriculture and transportation sources, attributed to the COVID-19 lockdown in Wuhan. More importantly, through the CMAQ process analysis, this study quantitatively analyzed differences of the physical and chemical processes that were affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. It then examined the differences of the COVID-19 lockdown impact and determined the physical and chemical processes between when the pollution increased and decreased, determining the most affected period of the day. As a result, this paper found that (1) PM2.5 decreased mainly due to the reduction of emission and the contrary contribution of aerosol processes. The North-East wind was also in favor of the decreasing of PM2.5. (2) O3 increased mainly due to the slowing down of chemical consumption processes, which made the concentration change of O3 pollution higher at about 4 p.m.–7 p.m. of the day, while increasing the concentration of O3 at night during the COVID-19 lockdown in Wuhan. The higher O3 concentration in the North-East of the main urban area also contributed to the increasing of O3 with unfavorable wind direction.

Implementassi Pendekatan Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) di Sekolah Dasar

This study aims to analyze the application of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) on fractions topic in elementary schools. The method used is a systematic literature review. The sample consisted of 32 primary studies on the effect of RME on Mathematics learning on fractions, which were drawn from all related studies. The study results were taken from indexed journals published in the 2016-2020 period. The key question in this research is how to describe the effect of RME on fraction material in elementary schools in terms of the study year, study level, research subject, research methodology, and research results. Through the systematic literature review method it was found that there had been an increase in research during the last 5 years. based on the level of study, research research in the higher class is more dominant, based on the duration of the majority. The research was conducted in elementary schools, and based on the number of samples, the research was conducted in classes with 20-30 subjects or more. Based on the results of the study, it was obtained data that there was an increase in still learning fraction topic using the RME approach.

A combined structural and seasonal approach to assess wildfire susceptibility and hazard in summertime

Wildfire susceptibility and hazard models based on drivers that change only on a multiyear timescale are considered of a structural nature. They ignore specific short-term conditions in any year and period within the year, especially summer, when most wildfire damage occurs in southern Europe. We investigate whether the predictive capacity of structural wildfire susceptibility and hazard models can be improved by integrating a seasonal dimension, expressed by three variables with yearly to seasonal timescales: (1) a meteorological index rating fuel flammability at the onset of summer; (2) the scarcity of fuel associated with the burned areas of the previous year, and (3) the excessive abundance of fuel in especially fire-prone areas that have not been burned in the previous ten years. We describe a new methodology for combining the structural maps with the seasonal variables, producing year-specific seasonal susceptibility and hazard maps. We then compare the structural and seasonal maps as to their capacity to predict burnt areas during the summer period in a set of eight independent years. The seasonal maps revealed a higher predictive capacity in 75% of the validation period, both for susceptibility and hazard, when only the highest class was considered. This percentage was reduced to 50% when the two highest classes were considered together. In some years, structural factors and other unconsidered variables probably exert a strong influence over the spatial pattern of wildfire incidence. These findings can complement existing structural data and improve the mapping tools used to define wildfire prevention and mitigation actions.

Vaccination against hepatitis B virus in hemodialysis patients: trends in dialysis centers of Northern Pakistan

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, especially those on hemodialysis, are at increased risk of developing hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Guidelines suggest that all patients with CKD should be vaccinated against HBV, but these guidelines are usually not followed. We conducted this study to know the status of vaccination against HBV in CKD patients on regular hemodialysis. Methods: This observational descriptive study was conducted at the Department of Medicine, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Teaching Hospital, Poonch Medical College Rawalakot , and POF Teaching Hospital, Wah Medical College Wah Cantt, from March to July 2019. Patients reporting to the dialysis center of both hospitals on regular dialysis were included in the study. Patient information (HBV vaccination status, age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, duration of CKD and duration of dialysis) were collected on a specially designed questionnaire. The statistical analysis of data was done in SPSS for Windows, version 20. Results: A total 149 patients were included in the study, 63.1% were male and 36.9% were female. Out of these 24.2% were uneducated, 33.6% had 1-10 years school education, 38.2% had 10-14 years education, and 4% had more than 14 years education. About 35% patients were from low socioeconomic class, 54% from middle and 11% from higher class. Only 45.6% (n=68) of patients were vaccinated and 54.4% (n=81) were not vaccinated against HBV. Vaccination status was significantly associated with education (p=0.004) and socioeconomic status (p=0.008). Conclusion: The HBV status of patients on regular hemodialysis is not satisfactory at the two centers observed. It is associated with education and socioeconomic status of the patient.

WOMAN STRUGGLE IN PAULO COELHO’S THE SPY

This study discussed woman struggle in Paulo Coelho’s The Spy. The objectives were to find out the kinds of woman’s struggle in Novel The Spy, the ways the main character struggles to fulfill her needs, and the reasons why the main character struggle in the way she did. This study used descriptive qualitative method. This study used Maslow (1987) theory to analyze the kinds of woman’s struggle and the ways the main character struggles to fulfill her needs that she had faced and elaborated the reasons by using theory of ambition. The result of this study can be concluded in some aspects. First, the kinds of woman’s struggle found in Novel The Spy in fulfilling the human needs, namely: Struggle for Survival, Struggle to Reach the Dream, Struggle for Love & Relationship, Struggle in Getting A Good Reputation and Struggle to be Independent Woman. Second, the ways the main character struggles to fulfilling her needs are exchange sex with favors and money, making relations with men from the higher classes and to be a Spy. Third, the reasons why the main character struggle are because of her ambition to become a Free Woman and influenced by author’s background.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHICH CONDUCT THE AUDIT ON CIVIL PROTECTION, TECHNOGENIC AND FIRE SAFETY

Introduction. In this study, the problem of audit concept definition scarcity in legal documents (expert assessment) of civil protection, technological, and fire safety was considered. Specific qualification requirements, structure, rights, respon-sibilities, reports, a system for conducting and results registration of auditor inspections and audit organizations working in civil protection field and fire safety inspection have not been approved.Today, the issue of audit (expert assessment) of civil protection, technological, fire safety, and insurance of facilities is becoming the most pressing issue. Society, and in particular businesses, are reorienting themselves to European standards of doing business, where property insurance is necessary, and it guarantees them compensation in the case of an emergency.Purpose. The main purpose of the article is to highlight the problem of the lack of a rightful audit concept in civil protection, technological, and fire safety.Methods. Expert assessment of the state of businesses, institutions, and organizations, regardless of their ownership form, makes it possible to get a full picture of object shortcomings, proposals for their elimination, without prosecuting officials quickly and efficiently and without terminating the installation, units and the object as a whole. The audit is a kind of state supervision (control) in the field of civil protection, technological, and fire safety, but without administrative and legal consequences. Based on legal documents analysis in the field of civil protection and fire safety, processing of auditors' feedback, and practical experience of the authors of the article, the main scientific results are proposed.Results. The authors show organizational structure of audit associations. Also, the authors’ qualification requirements for auditors (experts) and their assistants, including the availability of relevant education, experience in practical, teaching, and research work in the field of civil security, and passing the qualifying examination was proposed.Conclusion. According to this organizational structure, high-class auditors create an association that will determine (organize) the activities of all levels of experts. The next step is the high-class experts, who form the relevant associations on a territorial basis, which control the activities of the first and second class experts. The last step is the first and second class auditors, who report to the higher class auditors in their activities.The proposed results should be taken into account in the existing regulations on auditing or a separate regulation in the field of civil protection, technological, and fire safety.

Social Support, Coping, Life Satisfaction, and Academic Success Among College Students

Although more students are enrolling in college than ever before, far too many fail to complete their degrees. The financial, personal, and societal costs of leaving college can be high. The current study explored the relationship between 2 key psychosocial factors, social support and coping, and 2 measures of psychological well-being; specifically, life satisfaction and perceptions of the campus environment, both of which have been related to grade point average (GPA) and student retention. Path analysis results indicated that social support (B = .31, p < .001) and life satisfaction (B = .36, p = .005) were positively related to perception of university environment, whereas the use of problematic coping strategies (B = −.42, p = .003) was negatively related to perception of university environment. In addition, higher class year (B = −.11, p = .004) and first-generation student status (B = −.25, p = .013) were negatively related to GPA. These findings suggest that university efforts to help students develop positive social support resources and effective coping strategies have the potential to increase both psychological well-being and academic success.

The role of entrepreneur cooperation in the implementation of the sustainable development goals

The authors proposed a method for evaluating the level of cooperation among associations for sustainable development and their participants. The indicators of the structure, of the scale and the diversification of cooperation have been selected by expert method. As a result, the method classifies participants, including entrepreneurs, by level of cooperation. Researchers have proposed classes of participants in cooperation for sustainable development. This classification is based on the grouping methods and calculation of the interval. If the participant had higher class, this means the participant had the closer links in the cooperation for sustainable development, and vice versa. This assessment allows us to determine the desire for cooperation of each participant (entrepreneur, NGO, investor, university, government). The method has been tested on the basis of 12 associations for sustainable development, including 951 participants for 2021. Between 1964 and 2020, the importance of large entrepreneurs increased in associations for sustainable development, especially the chemical entrepreneurs. The growth rate and the share of other participants are insignificant compared to large entrepreneurs in the associations. Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs have barriers to entry into associations. It is necessary to form a partnership of all participants for the sustainable development at the same time.

Socio-demographic characteristics and pre-hospital care of children with circulatory failure in a children's emergency room in southern Nigeria.

Introductioncirculatory failure is a major childhood emergency. Several disease-related and patient-related factors can predispose children to shock. Early detection of such factors will improve its prevention, management and outcome. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence, socio-demographic characteristics and pre-hospital care of children presenting with circulatory failure (shock) in children´s emergency room (CHER).Methodsthis study adopted cross-sectional design in CHER of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, from October 2018 to March 2019. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire eliciting demography, socio-economic status, pre-hospital care and presence of shock. In a sub-analysis, multiple logistic regression identified variables that are independently associated with circulatory failure in the participants, using adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Resultsa total of 554 acutely-ill children participated in the study. Their median age was 60 (IQR: 24-132) months. Shock was present in 79 (14.3%) of the children on arrival at CHER. Children referred from private clinics were more likely to arrive CHER in shock compared to those coming directly from home (OR = 2.67, 95%CI: 1.07-6.69; p = 0.036) while children from lower socio-economic class families presented more frequently with shock than those from higher class (OR = 14.39, 95% CI: 2.61-79.44; p = 0.002). Also, children that received oral rehydration solution as pre-hospital care seemed more likely to present with shock in CHER (OR = 6.63, 95% CI: 2.15-20.46; p =0.001).Conclusionquality of pre-hospital care and parental socio-economic status influence the presence of shock in children seen at the emergency unit. Focused health education and prevention of finance-related delays in emergency care are needed.

The evaluation of sustainable development for the manufacturers of construction-polymer products

The authors studied the indicators that impacted on the sustainable development of industrial enterprises and developed the comprehensive method for their evaluation. This methodology consists of 4 stages: data collection, evaluation of indicators, identification of deviations from the principles of sustainable development, recommendations for adjusting the business model and the network structure of cooperation. A scoring evaluation of the indicators of sustainable development for enterprises is proposed. The authors selected 12 indicators and grouped them according to the economic, environmental and social principles of sustainable development. The study identified seven classes of sustainability for enterprises and their characteristics. If enterprises had higher score, it meant they had higher class and higher sustainability, and vice versa. The method was tested on the example of the evaluation of production of construction-polymer products for 2020. The proposed methodology will enable enterprises to independently evaluate the level of sustainable development. It will also show deviations from the norm separately for each principle of sustainable development. The perspective of this study is that it is possible to develop recommendations for each class of sustainable development.

Compendium of cardiac diseases among children presenting in tertiary institutions in southern Nigeria: a rising trend

ABSTRACT The burden of children with cardiovascular disease is on a rising trend. These rising trends are enhanced by the development of new technology in the diagnosis of cardiac lesions. This article is aimed at documenting the current trends in the occurrence of cardiac disease among children attending tertiary hospitals in Sothern Nigeria. This is a descriptive study which involved four hundred and thirty-nine (439) children who had cardiac disease confirmed with echocardiography from four health institutions, namely; Niger Delta University, Bayelsa, Nigeria; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria; Triple care hospital, Enugu, Nigeria and; Blessed children hospital, Enugu, Nigeria over a -five -year period from July 2016- July 2020. The prevalence of congenital heart disease was 83.6% and only 16.4% being acquired heart disease. Many of the children with congenital cardiac defects have associated features of Down syndrome (trisomy 21) and the frequency was related to the type of defect; 6.4% (28/439). These features of Down syndrome are seen mainly in children with AV canal defect 33.3% (14/42) and least in children with TOF 2.0% (1/51). Zero-point two nine percent (1/439) had dextro-cardia and 0.2% (1/340) had VACTERAL (ano-rectal malformation) association, 0.2 % (1/439) had cleft lip, 1.8% (8/439) had dysmorphism other than down syndrome. Five 62.5% (5/8) of such dysmorphic features were associated with VSD.The majority of the children with cardiac disease were from the middle class 63.6% followed by the higher class 21.9% and the least is from the lower class 14.5%. The prevalence values of heart disease were quite higher than that documented in previous studies.The is a rising prevalence of congenital heart disease (83.6%) and acquired heart disease (16.4%) among children with cardiac disease in southern Nigeria. Extracardiac anomalies were also associated with these trends.

Improved Inertial Navigation With Cold Atom Interferometry

This article discusses chances and challenges of using cold atom interferometers in inertial navigation. The error characteristics of the novel sensor are presented, as well as one option for an online estimation of the different readout errors. An extended Kalman filter framework is derived and analysed which uses the readout of the atom interferometer as observation in order to correct several systematic errors of a conventional IMU, allowing for an improved strapdown calculation in an arbitrary target system. The performance gain is discussed analytically based on the steady state variances of the filter, as well as on the example of a simulated scenario for Earth orbit satellites. The correction of the conventional IMU errors is further demonstrated in an experiment under laboratory conditions with a higher class sensor emulating an atom interferometer. While the application of the novel technology as a gyroscope is still limited, as pointed out in the paper, the presented framework yields options for a full six degree of freedom operation of the atom interferometer.