Lower Loss Rate Research Articles

Influence of NaCl Solution External Erosion on Corrosion Resistance of RPC Reinforced with Straw Fiber

Straw fiber, as a kind of waste if not properly treated, will pollute the environment. It can be used in cement-based materials as a plant fiber material. Agricultural solid-waste straw fiber has good tensile properties and is expected to be used as a fiber-reinforced material for reactive powder concrete (RPC) and to improve the corrosion resistance of RPC. In this paper, the ultrasonic velocity through specimens, the electrical resistance, the AC impedance spectroscopy and tafel curve were analyzed. The corrosion resistance of the steel bar under the chloride salt freeze–thaw cycles and dry–wet alternations was systematically studied. The result shows that adding a certain content of straw fiber can improve its corrosion resistance. Under the action of two chloride salt environments, the lowest mass loss rate was 0.82% for the sample with 3% straw fiber content and the mass growth rate of the specimens with 4% straw fiber is the highest aqt 0.9%. In terms of ultrasonic velocity, the lowest loss rate was 5.68% for specimens with fiber content of 2%. The specimens were subjected to 0 dry–wet alternations and freeze–thaw cycles; the highest electrical resistance is 19.96 kΩ when the fiber content is 1% and the lowest electrical resistance is 11.105 kΩ when the fiber content is 2%. Under the dry–wet alternations, the content of straw fiber and its corrosion resistance are: 1% > 4% > 0% > 3% > 2%. Under freeze–thaw cycles, the content of straw fiber and its corrosion resistance were as follows: 1% > 0% > 4% > 3% > 2%.

Maize Nitrogen Grading Estimation Method Based on UAV Images and an Improved Shufflenet Network

Maize is a vital crop in China for both food and industry. The nitrogen content plays a crucial role in its growth and yield. Previous researchers have conducted numerous studies on the issue of the nitrogen content in single maize plants from a regression perspective; however, partition management techniques of precision agriculture require plants to be divided by zones and classes. Therefore, in this study, the focus is shifted to the problems of plot classification and graded nitrogen estimation in maize plots performed based on various machine learning and deep learning methods. Firstly, the panoramic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images of maize farmland are collected by UAV and preprocessed to obtain UAV images of each maize plot to construct the required datasets. The dataset includes three classes—low nitrogen, medium nitrogen, and high nitrogen, with 154, 94, and 46 sets of UAV images, respectively, in each class. The training set accounts for eighty percent of the entire dataset and the test set accounts for the other twenty percent. Then, the dataset is used to train models based on machine learning and convolutional neural network algorithms and subsequently the models are evaluated. Comparisons are made between five machine learning classifiers and four convolutional neural networks to assess their respective performances, followed by a separate assessment of the most optimal machine learning classifier and convolutional neural networks. Finally, the ShuffleNet network is enhanced by incorporating SENet and improving the kernel size of the Depthwise separable convolution. The findings demonstrate that the enhanced ShuffleNet network has the highest performance; its classification accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores were 96.8%, 97.0%, 97.1%, and 97.0%, respectively. The RegNet, the optimal model among deep learning models, achieved accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores of 96.4%, 96.9%, 96.5%, and 96.6%, respectively. In comparison, logistic regression, the optimal model among the machine learning classifiers, attained accuracy of 77.6%, precision of 79.5%, recall of 77.6%, and an F1 score of 72.6%. Notably, the logistic regression exhibited significant enhancements of 19.2% in accuracy, 17.5% in precision, 19.5% in recall, and 24.4% in the F1 score. In contrast, RegNet demonstrated modest improvements of 0.4% in accuracy, 0.1% in precision, 0.6% in recall, and 0.4% in the F1 score. Moreover, ShuffleNet-improvement boasted a substantially lower loss rate of 0.117, which was 0.039 lower than that of RegNet (0.156). The results indicated the significance of ShuffleNet-improvement in the nitrogen classification of maize plots, providing strong support for agricultural zoning management and precise fertilization.

Estimating the parcel-level impacts of agricultural conservation easements on farmland loss using satellite data in New England

The rapid loss of farmland to development has long been a concern of policymakers and conservation non-profits globally. In the United States, agricultural conservation easements are a widespread policy tool used to protect farmland from conversion to development in perpetuity. However, the extent to which these easements reduce farmland loss to development within their boundaries is rarely studied at the spatial scale at which easement adoption decisions are made: the individual parcel. Our case study from six New England states uses a rich dataset of 1.97 million parcels, novel estimates of annual parcel-level land cover change from 1988 to 2016, and a quasi-experimental research design to estimate the extent to which 3959 farmland easements avoided conversion of cropland to development. We examine and discuss the suitability of remote sensing data and quasi-experimental matching methods for impact assessments in this geographic and political context. Our empirical results suggest that agricultural conservation easements have reduced farmland loss to development. The magnitude of avoided farmland loss is small (0.0067% ± 0.0019% of parcel area per annum), largely because of a low background rate of farmland loss across New England (0.0027% of total area per annum). Our findings suggest that the spatial allocation of farmland easements has historically not prioritized the highest-threat locations where impacts would be most noticeable, as allocation is driven by a diverse range of goals in addition to avoiding farmland loss.

Decoding the performance of module-scale interfacial desalination from a thermodynamic perspective

Passive solar-driven interfacial evaporation (PSDIE) is a highly efficient desalination technology that localizes heating at the evaporation surface, resulting in low heat loss and high evaporation rates. While many studies have focused on improving solar absorber performance, few have systematically analyzed the PSDIE thermodynamics. In this study, we propose a novel PSDIE distiller that effectively avoids salt accumulation. A module-scale model is developed that captures the mass and heat transfer characteristics of the distiller, and comprehensive thermodynamic analysis is performed. Our results show that the relative thickness between the evaporation and condensation layers, namely α, is a critical design parameter that optimizes process performance. An evaporation restricted region (α>5) and a condensation restricted region (α<5) can be identified. We also investigate the influence of hydrophobic membrane properties, finding that their effects depend on α. Our analysis demonstrates that inlet salinity of seawater feed has a detrimental effect on the water productivity of the distiller, while distiller with larger α tends to be more salt tolerable. Finally, we propose a design for a multistage distiller system and evaluate its water production performance, the results show that additional evaporation stages are beneficial to the distiller with smaller α.

Paper 59: No Difference in Post-Operative Outcomes for High-Grade Acromioclavicular Joint Surgery Performed Acutely vs Chronically

Objectives: There have been no large studies that directly compare long term outcomes in patients with Rockwood grade III-V acromioclavicular (AC) joint separations treated with acute vs. chronic repair. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare post-operative outcomes between patients who undergo high-grade AC joint surgery acutely (&lt;6 weeks) vs chronically (&gt;6 weeks). Methods: A list of all AC joint surgery patients from 2010-2019 was obtained from the medical records. Chart review was conducted to determine patient demographics, time from injury to surgery, injury grade, and surgical technique, as well as outcomes and complications of AC joint surgery. Post-operative American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) scores were also collected via RedCap. Patient radiographic outcomes were retrospectively reviewed by reviewing preoperative, immediate postoperative, and follow-up AP views of the operative shoulder and measuring the coracoclavicular (CC) interval distance. Loss of reduction was defined as a follow-up change of greater than 5 mm from the immediate post-operative radiographs measurement. Several multivariate analyses were conducted with post-operative ASES, SANE, and CC distance as the outcomes of interest in order to account for demographic differences between groups. Results: Overall, 225 patients (113 acute, 112 chronic) were included in this study with an average follow-up of 3.5±2.8 years, average age of 40±15 years, and 86% being male. Patients in the acute group underwent surgery 2 ± 1 weeks after initial injury while patients in the chronic group underwent surgery 42 ± 35 weeks after injury. Significant differences in patient age, BMI, injury grade, surgical technique utilized, and pre-operative CC distance were observed between groups (all p&lt;0.05) (Table 1). Rates of revision, loss of reduction, infection, fracture, and total complication rate, as well as post-operative ASES scores did not differ between groups. Patients treated acutely had a lower rate of loss of reduction (1.8mm v. 3.2mm, p=.044), a larger decrease in CC distance at latest follow-up compared to pre- operatively (11.8mm v. 9.0mm, p =.002), and better SANE scores (85.5 v. 75.5, p=.032). All other post- operative outcomes did not differ between groups. After controlling for confounding variables such as age, sex, BMI, injury grade, surgical technique, and time from injury to surgery, multivariate analysis found that female patients had lower ASES scores than male patients, while all other variables did not significantly relate to ASES score, SANE score, or post-operative CC distance (Table 2). Conclusions: Patients who underwent AC joint surgery acutely (&lt;6 weeks) had similar post-operative outcomes to patients who underwent surgery chronically (&gt;6 weeks) after initial injury. Multivariate analysis found that time from injury to surgery did not affect post-operative ASES scores, SANE scores, or post-operative CC distance. [Table: see text][Table: see text]

Trauma bypass performed by vascular surgeons demonstrate excellent long-term outcomes and limb preservation

ObjectiveLong-term outcomes in civilian trauma patients requiring upper or lower extremity revascularization is poorly studied secondary to limitations of certain large databases and the nature of the patients in this specific vascular subset. This study reports on the experience and outcomes of a Level 1 trauma center that serves both an urban and a large rural population over a 20-year period to identify bypass outcomes and surveillance protocols. MethodsDatabase of a single vascular group at an academic center was queried for trauma patients requiring upper or lower extremity revascularization between January 1, 2002, and June 30, 2022. Patient demographics, indications, operative details, operative mortality, 30-day nonoperative morbidity, revisions, subsequent major amputations, and follow-up data were analyzed. ResultsA total of 223 revascularizations were performed, 161 (72%) lower and 62 (28%) upper extremities. One hundred sixty-seven patients (74.9%) were male, with a mean age of 39 years (range, 3-89 years). Comorbidities included hypertension (n = 34; 15.3%), diabetes (n = 6; 2.7%), and tobacco use (n = 40; 17.9%). Mean follow-up time was 23 months (range, 1-234 months), with 90 patients (40.4%) lost to follow-up. Mechanisms included blunt trauma (n = 106; 47.5%), penetrating trauma (n = 83; 37.2%), and operative trauma (n = 34; 15.3%). Bypass conduit was reversed vein (n= 171; 76.7%), prosthetic (n = 34; 15.2%), and orthograde vein (n = 11; 4.9%). Bypass inflow artery was superficial femoral (n = 66; 41.0%), above-knee popliteal (n = 28; 17.4%), and common femoral (n = 20; 12.4%) in the lower extremity, and brachial (n = 41; 66.1%), axillary (n = 10; 16.1%), and radial (n = 6; 9.7%) in the upper extremity. Lower extremity outflow artery was posterior tibial (n = 47; 29.2%), below-knee popliteal (n = 41; 25.5%), superficial femoral (n = 16; 9.9%), dorsalis pedis (n = 10; 6.2%), common femoral (n = 9; 5.6%), and above-knee popliteal (n = 10; 6.2%). Upper extremity outflow artery was brachial (n = 34; 54.8%), radial (n = 13; 21.0%), and ulnar (n = 13; 21.0%). Total operative mortality was nine patients (4.0%), all involving lower extremity revascularization. Thirty-day non-fatal complications included immediate bypass occlusion (n = 11; 4.9%), wound infection (n = 8; 3.6%), graft infection (n = 4; 1.8%), and lymphocele/seroma (n = 7; 3.1%). All major amputations (n = 13; 5.8%) were early and in the lower extremity bypass group. Late revisions in the lower and upper extremity groups were 14 (8.7%) and four (6.4%), respectively. ConclusionsRevascularization for extremity trauma can be performed with excellent limb salvage rates and has demonstrated long-term durability with low limb loss and bypass revision rates. The poor compliance with long-term surveillance is concerning and may require adjustment in patient retention protocols; however, emergent returns for bypass failure are extremely low in our experience.

Survey Results of Honey Bee Colony Losses in Winter in China (2009-2021).

There is growing concern that massive loss of honey bees can cause serious negative effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. Surveys of colony losses have been performed worldwide to monitor the dynamic changes and health status of honey bee colonies. Here, we present the results of surveys regarding winter colony losses from 21 provinces in China from 2009 to 2021, with a total of 1,744,324 colonies managed by 13,704 beekeepers. The total colony losses were low (9.84%; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 9.60-10.08%) but varied among years, provinces, and scales of apiaries. As little is known about the overwintering mortality of Apis cerana, in this study, we surveyed and compared the loss rates between Apis mellifera and A. cerana in China. We found colonies of A. mellifera suffered significantly lower losses than A. cerana in China. Larger apiaries resulted in higher losses in A. mellifera, whereas the opposite was observed in A. cerana. Furthermore, we used generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) to evaluate the effects of potential risk factors on winter colony losses and found that the operation size, species, migration, migration×species interaction, and queen problems were significantly related to the loss rates. New queens can increase their colony overwintering survival. Migratory beekeepers and large operations reported lower loss rates.

A Systematic Review of Contemporary Randomized Trials in Cardiothoracic Surgery

BackgroundThis analysis was conducted to characterize contemporary randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in cardiothoracic surgery. MethodsWe selected randomized controlled trials published in the journals with the highest impact factor in medicine, general surgery, and cardiothoracic surgery and published between 2008 and 2020. Trial characteristics as well as measures of reporting and quality were summarized and compared. ResultsNinety-three trials were included; 44 (47.3%) were prospectively registered and 14 (31.8%) had a discrepancy between the registered and published primary outcome. Most trials (n = 83 [89.1%]) used a superiority design, a composite primary outcome (n = 82 [88.2%]), and a major clinical event as the primary end point (n = 67 [72.0%]). Blinding was used infrequently, and most trials did not control for surgeon experience (n = 74 [79.5%]) or monitor the intervention (n = 90 [96.7%]). Twenty-four (25.8%) trials had high risk of bias. Twenty-one (27.3%) trials were funded by industry. A median 1.62% of patients (interquartile range, 0.00-3.70) crossed over between trial arms. Most trials reported a favorable outcome (n = 53 [58.9%]). For eligible trials, the median fragility index was 2.0 (interquartile range, 0.0-4.0), meaning the change of 2 patient outcomes would render the significant result insignificant. Spin, or distortion in reporting, was identified in 9 of 53 trials (17.0%). The median number of citations was 25 (10-56). ConclusionsContemporary trials in cardiothoracic surgery are pragmatic with low rates of loss to follow-up and crossover. Few trials implemented measures to ensure quality of the intervention, and the presence of spin was infrequent.

Load Balancing in Compute Clusters With Delayed Feedback

Load balancing arises as a fundamental problem, underlying the dimensioning and operation of many computing and communication systems, such as job routing in data center clusters, multipath communication, Big Data and queueing systems. In essence, the decision-making agent maps each arriving job to one of the possibly heterogeneous servers while aiming at an optimization goal such as load balancing, low average delay or low loss rate. One main difficulty in finding optimal load balancing policies here is that the agent only partially observes the impact of its decisions, e.g., through the delayed acknowledgements of the served jobs. In this paper, we provide a partially observable (PO) model that captures the load balancing decisions in parallel buffered systems under limited information of delayed acknowledgements. We present a simulation model for this PO system to find a load balancing policy in real-time using a scalable Monte Carlo tree search algorithm. We numerically show that the resulting policy outperforms other limited information load balancing strategies such as variants of Join-the-Most-Observations and has comparable performance to full information strategies like: Join-the-Shortest-Queue, Join-the-Shortest-Queue(d) and Shortest-Expected-Delay. Finally, we show that our approach can optimise the real-time parallel processing by using network data provided by Kaggle.

Trauma Bypass Performed by Vascular Surgeons Demonstrate Excellent Long-term Outcomes and Limb Preservation

Long-term outcomes in civilian trauma patients requiring upper or lower extremity revascularization are poorly studied secondary to limitations of certain large databases and the nature of the patients in this specific vascular subset. This study reports on the experience and outcomes of a rural level one trauma center that provides virtually all follow-up care over a 20-year period to identify bypass failure modes and bypass surveillance protocols. Database of a single vascular group at an academic center was queried for trauma patients requiring upper or lower extremity revascularization between January 1, 2002, and June 30, 2022. Patient demographics, indications, operative details, operative mortality, 30-day nonoperative morbidity, revisions, subsequent major amputations, and follow-up data were analyzed. There were 223 revascularizations were performed—161 (72%) lower and 62 (28%) upper extremities. Of these patients. 167 (74.9%) were male with a mean age of 39 years (range, 3-89 years). Comorbidities included 34 (15.3%) with hypertension, 6 (2.7%) with diabetes, and 40 (17.9%) with tobacco use. Mean follow-up time was 23 months (range, 1-234 months), with 90 (40.4%) patients lost to follow-up. The mechanism of injury was blunt trauma in 106 (47.5%), penetrating trauma in 83 (37.2%), and operative trauma in 34 (15.3%). Bypass conduit was reversed vein in 170 (76.2%), prosthetic in 34 (15.3%), and orthograde vein in 14 (6.3%). Bypass inflow artery was the superficial femoral in 65 (40.4%), above-knee popliteal in 27 (16.8%), and common femoral in 22 (13.7%) in the lower extremity and brachial in 40 (64.5%), axillary in 10 (16.1%), and radial in 6 (9.7%) in the upper extremity. Lower extremity outflow artery was the posterior tibial in 47 (29.2%), below-knee popliteal in 41 (25.5%), superficial femoral in 15 (9.3%), dorsalis pedis in 11 (6.8%), common femoral in 10 (6.2%), and above-knee in popliteal 10 (6.2%). Upper extremity outflow artery was the brachial in 34 (54.8%), radial in 13 (20.9%), and ulnar in 13 (20.9%). Operative mortality was 10 (4.5%), all involving lower extremity revascularization. The 30-day nonfatal complications included immediate bypass occlusion in 11 (4.9%), wound infection in 7 (3.1%), graft infection in 6 (2.7%), and lymphocele/seroma in 5 (2.2%). All major amputations (13; 5.8%) were early and in the lower extremity bypass group. Late revisions in the lower and upper extremity groups were 14 (8.7%) and 2 (3.2%), respectively. Revascularization for extremity trauma can be performed with excellent limb salvage rates and have demonstrated long term durability with low limb loss and bypass revision rates. The poor compliance with long-term surveillance is concerning and may require adjustment in patient retention protocols, however emergent returns for bypass failure are extremely low in our experience.

Removal of Zn2+ from glycolytic monomers of the polyethylene terephthalate based on electrodeposition

The usage of zinc-containing catalysts in glycolysis causes the residue of Zn2+ in the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation monomer bis-hydroxyethyl (BHET), which limits the high-value utilization of BHET. This work first used electrodeposition combined with one-time recrystallization to purify BHET. Electrodeposition was suitable for dealing the Zn2+ concentrations of degradation solutions within 50–100 ppm, and decreased the content of Zn2+ in BHET from 141.30 to 2.41 ppm, which reached the standard of repolymerization into PET bottles. The removal rate of Zn2+ was 90 % for the degradation solutions, which decreased the concentration of Zn2+ in wastewater from 100 to 8.97 ppm. Meanwhile, the Zn2+ removed from the degradation solutions was deposited on cathode, which obtained metal Zn materials and realized the recycling of Zn resources from Zn(OAc)2. Therefore, electrodeposition could realize the purification of BHET, recycling of Zn(OAc)2, reducing the environmental pollution caused by the emission of Zn2+ and the protection of human health, simultaneously. Electrodeposition had less water consumption, lower loss rate of BHET (from 60 % to 10 %) and shorter processing time, compared with six-times recrystallizations. This study first proposed the formation of quadridentate between BHET and Zn2+, and put forward a new three-steps electrodeposition mechanism of Zn2+: the addition of electric field destroyed the dissociation equilibrium of quadridentate and made it shift to release free Zn2+; the free Zn2+ gathered to form ionic groups and they migrated to copper; Zn2+ reduced on copper, of which the first step was the speed limited step.

Target Tracking Method for Transmission Line Moving Operation Based on Inspection Robot and Edge Computing

Aiming at the problems of low accuracy and high loss rate when the traditional target tracking (TT) method is applied to the TT of the moving operation of the transmission line, a transmission line based on an inspection robot and edge computing (EC) is proposed: the mobile job TT method. First, the basic framework of the TT algorithm is proposed, relying on the edge device to develop the TT system for mobile operations on the transmission line. Video information is collected by an intelligent inspection robot and sent to the target tracking system in the edge device for processing to obtain accurate data. Then, the gradient disappearance and explosion problems caused by the increase of network depth are solved by using the deep residual network. The traditional deep residual network is improved by introducing the improved bidirectional feature reinforcement network and the classification and regression subnet. The loss of position texture information is remedied, and the accurate tracking of the moving target on transmission line is realized. Finally, the real-time data acquisition of mobile operation target is realized by using an intelligent inspection robot, and the experimental verification is conducted. The proposed algorithm is compared and analyzed against the three other algorithms using the same data set through simulation experiments. The results show the precision, recall rate, accuracy, and comprehensive evaluation index F1 value of the proposed algorithm rank highest, reaching 93.8%, 90.2%, 83.8%, and 89.8%, respectively, compared with the other algorithms.

Evaluation of Meat Quality of Local Pigeon Varieties in China.

To evaluate the germplasm characteristics and nutritional value of Chinese native pigeon varieties, this study analyzed the nutrient composition of the meat of four Chinese native pigeon varieties and then compared them with those of the White King pigeon, which is the most commonly used in China. A total of 150 pigeons aged 28 d (squabs) of 5 breeds including Taihu pigeon, Shiqi pigeon, Ta-rim pigeon, Boot pigeon, and White King pigeon were selected for slaughter. The basic meat quality parameters and contents of conventional nutritional compositions, inosine acid, amino acids, and fatty acids were measured. The results showed that there were significant differences in flesh color (L*, b*), pH, and water loss rate of different breeds of suckling pigeons (p < 0.05). Compared with White King pigeons, four local breeds had dark breast meat and a low water loss rate. The protein contents of Taihu, Tarim, and Shiqi suckling pigeons were significantly higher than those of White King pigeons (p < 0.05). Taihu pigeons had the highest protein content, reaching 22.72%. The inosinic acid content of Tarim pigeons was the highest (1.31 mg/g) and was significantly higher than that of Shiqi pigeons, Boot pigeons, and White King pigeons (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the content of amino acids, the ratio of essential amino acids, and the ratio of umami amino acids in the meat of different breeds of pigeons (p > 0.05). The percentage of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in the breast muscle of local breeding pigeons was significantly lower than that of White King pigeons (p < 0.05), and the percentages of lauric acid, palmitic acid, eicosanoic acid, and behenic acid in SFAs reached significant levels (p < 0.05). The content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the meat of Taihu pigeons was significantly higher than that in other breeds. In conclusion, compared with the White King pigeon, the meat of local breed pigeons (Taihu pigeon, Shiqi pigeon, Tarim pigeon, and Boot pigeon) had dark flesh, good water retention, high protein and inosine contents, a high proportion of essential amino acids, and a low saturated fatty acid ratio. In addition, Taihu pigeons had the highest protein content (22.72%), monounsaturated fatty acids (44.58%), and EPA (0.47%) compared to other breeds.

ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF REDUCING FOOD LOSSES OF RICE ON FOOD SECURITY IN BENIN

A substantial amount of rice grains is lost along the value chain, contributing to food insecurity among farming households in Benin. While food losses are inevitable along the value chain, it is imperative to determine the minimum acceptable loss for rice. This study aims to quantify the food losses of rice and determine its effect on food security using the Food Consumption Score (FCS) and Linear model. The results show a positive effect of a low loss rate on the FCS. In addition, a low loss rate increases the probability of FCS by 82.4 for the overall rice farmers and 83.7 for the efficient rice producers. Thus, reducing the loss rate throughout the food chain to a maximum of 10% would increase the amount of local rice on the market and allow producers to achieve food security. The study recommends sensitizing stakeholders along the rice value chain on strategies or technologies to reduce losses.

Differential Retention of Pfam Domains Contributes to Long-term Evolutionary Trends.

Protein domains that emerged more recently in evolution have a higher structural disorder and greater clustering of hydrophobic residues along the primary sequence. It is hard to explain how selection acting via descent with modification could act so slowly as not to saturate over the extraordinarily long timescales over which these trends persist. Here, we hypothesize that the trends were created by a higher level of selection that differentially affects the retention probabilities of protein domains with different properties. This hypothesis predicts that loss rates should depend on disorder and clustering trait values. To test this, we inferred loss rates via maximum likelihood for animal Pfam domains, after first performing a set of stringent quality control methods to reduce annotation errors. Intermediate trait values, matching those of ancient domains, are associated with the lowest loss rates, making our results difficult to explain with reference to previously described homology detection biases. Simulations confirm that effect sizes are of the right magnitude to produce the observed long-term trends. Our results support the hypothesis that differential domain loss slowly weeds out those protein domains that have nonoptimal levels of disorder and clustering. The same preferences also shape the differential diversification of Pfam domains, thereby further impacting proteome composition.

Long term outcomes of occipital nerve stimulation.

Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) has been investigated as a potential treatment for disabling headaches and has shown promise for disorders such as chronic migraine and cluster headache. Long term outcomes stratified by headache subtype have had limited exploration, and literature on outcomes of this neuromodulatory intervention spanning 2 or more years is scarce. We performed a narrative review on long term outcomes with ONS for treatment of headache disorders. We surveyed the available literature for studies that have outcomes for 24 months or greater to see if there is a habituation in response over time. Review of the literature revealed evidence in treatment of occipital neuralgia, chronic migraine, cluster headache, cervicogenic headache, short lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks (SUNHA) and paroxysmal hemicrania. While the term "response" varied per individual study, a total of 17 studies showed outcomes in ONS with long term sustained responses (as defined per this review) in the majority of patients with specific headache types 177/311 (56%). Only 7 studies in total (3 cluster, 1 occipital neuralgia, 1 cervicogenic headache, 1 SUNHA, 1 paroxysmal hemicrania) provided both short-term and long-term responses up to 24 months to ONS. In cluster headache, the majority of patients (64%) were long term responders (as defined per this review) and only a minority of patients 12/62 (19%) had loss of efficacy (e.g., habituation). There was a high number 313/439 (71%) of adverse events per total number of patients in the studies including lead migration, requirements of revision surgery, allergy to surgical materials, infection and intolerable paresthesias. With the evidence available, the response to ONS was sustained in the majority of patients with cluster headache with low rates of loss of efficacy in this patient population. There was a high percent of adverse events per number of patients in long term follow-up and likely related to the off-label use of leads typically used for spinal cord stimulation. Further longitudinal assessments of outcomes in occipital nerve stimulation with devices labelled for use in peripheral nerve stimulation are needed to evaluate the extent of habituation to treatment in headache.

Challenges to Cardiac Rehabilitation Post Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A Qualitative Study in Pune.

Background Adherence to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) regimen is crucial in the post-coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) period. Cardiac rehabilitation involves various lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, regular follow-up in OPD, and implementing secondary prevention recommendations. This study aims to understand the challenges to CRpost-CABG. Methodology Seven in-depth interviews using aninterview guide were carried out in the outpatient section of the cardiothoracic vascular surgery (CTVS) department of a tertiary health care facility in Pune, India. A purposive sampling technique was followed. Results The qualitative study revealed that dietary restrictions were difficult to follow, that some patients could not quit smoking even after surgery, and that transportation costs were an issue regarding CR follow-up. The majority of the participants appreciated the importance of regular exercise in their post-surgery life. Conclusion Despite the hurdles, the majority of participants stated that the fact that CABG is a major treatment pushed them to attend routine CR follow-ups and adhere to the CR regimen. A solid CR team was one of the study's strengths, and the team established a routine of telephonic reminders for regular follow-up, which resulted in lower rates of loss to follow-up.

Effect of decoherence for gate operations on a superconducting bosonic qubit

High-quality-factor 3D cavities in superconducting circuits are ideal candidates for bosonic logical qubits as their fidelity is limited only by the low photon loss rate. However, the transmon qubits that are used to manipulate bosonic qubits result in the emergence of additional relaxation and dephasing channels. In this work, a numerical study is performed to elucidate the effect of the various loss channels on the performance of logical gates on a bosonic qubit. A gate error model is developed that encapsulates the loss mechanisms for arbitrary gate operations and predicts experimentally achievable gate errors for bosonic qubits. The insights gleaned from this study into loss mechanisms suggest more efficient optimization algorithms that could reduce gate errors on bosonic qubits.

Tribological properties of hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid bio-composites: effect of different types of modification methods

In this study, green composites are prepared with 30 wt.% hemp fibers reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) to enhance the impact and tribological properties. Different surface treatments of alkali and silane, compatibilizer of maleic anhydride (MA), and blends of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and poly (butylene succinate) were applied to improve interfacial adhesion between fibers and matrix. Hemp-reinforced PLA bio-composites were fabricated and characterized by hardness, impact strength, wear, and friction properties. The tribological tests of the injection-molded components were performed under two different loads (10 N and 20 N) as dry-sliding linearly reciprocating motion per ASTM G133. Modified composites gave better tribological properties than unmodified composites. While no remarkable improvement was observed in the hardness value of untreated fiber-reinforced composite, alkali-treated composite reached up to 43% improvement in hardness value. In general, as the load increased, weight loss increase was observed in all composites. Unmodified bio-composite exhibited a very low weight loss and specific wear rate (SWR) compared to neat PLA under 10 N load. The SWR of the MA bio-composite had the lowest value for both loads (10 N and 20 N) compared to the other bio-samples. The TPU blended bio-composite exhibited the highest impact strength (22.96 kJ m−2) after pure PLA (26.5 kJ m−2). Therefore, due to surface treatments and blends applied to the fibers, some composites’ hardness and wear resistance were increased while the impact strength and friction coefficient was decreased. Especially silane surface treatment and MA compatibilizer application increased the wear resistance of composites. When the scanning electron microscope images were examined, it was revealed that the fiber and matrix interface bonding was good, and the fibers were firmly embedded in the matrix. Furthermore, forming a protective thin film layer formed by the polymer debris from the surface during dry-sliding increased the wear performance of the bio-composites.

Full-duplex underwater wireless blue light communication.

Owing to its relatively low absorption loss and high data transmission rate, wireless blue light communication is becoming an increasingly attractive technology for underwater applications. Here, we demonstrate an underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) system that communicates using blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a dominant wavelength of 455 nm. Under the on-off keying modulation scheme, the waterproof UOWC system achieves a bidirectional communication rate of 4 Mbps based on the transmission control protocol (TCP) and exhibits real-time full-duplex video communication with a transmission distance of 12 m in a swimming pool, offering great potential for practical use in real-world scenarios, such as carried around or attached to an autonomous vehicle.