Concept Of Margin Research Articles

Prognostic value of the CRM-status in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma - data from a regional cancer registry

BackgroundDuctal pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) still has a dismal prognosis even when deemed resectable. A cancer free resection margin (R0) is associated with a more favourable prognosis than the presence of tumour cells at resection margin (R1). However, the precise definition of the R0 status is still a matter of debate in PDAC. For a more accurate determination of R0 in PDAC the concept of circumferential resection margins (CRM) has been established and has been incorporated into the German national S3 guideline on exocrine pancreatic cancer. However, an international standardized nomenclature of CRM is still missing, and the clinical value of the CRM concept is not yet fully established. Here we evaluate whether the CRM status as defined in the national German S3 guideline corresponds with overall and progression free survival in PDAC using data from the regional cancer registry of the State of Baden Württemberg in Germany.MethodsData from the cancer registry of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, were used to assess the relationship between CRM-status and progression free survival (PFS) as well as 3-year overall survival (OS) using documented patients diagnosed with resectable ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas between 2015 and 2020. Patients were residents of the State of Baden-Württemberg and underwent surgery for PDAC. The R-status was assessed according to the national German S3 guideline with R0 wide/CRM- when CRM is > 1 mm from the tumour, R0 narrow/CRM + when CRM is ≤ 1 mm from the tumour and R1 when tumour cells are found at the resection margin.ResultsIn total we identified 1098 cases surgically treated for pancreatic cancer and fulfilling the inclusion criteria. 340 patients had an R0 wide/CRM- resection, 410 patients an R0 narrow/CRM + resection, and 348 patients an R1 resection. The R0 wide/CRM- status was associated with a significantly increased median OS rate compared to the other two groups (51,5%, 37,4% and 26,7% for R0 wide/CRM-, R0 narrow/CRM + and R1, respectively). mPFS was also longer in the R0 wide/CRM- group. These findings were robust with regards to grading and tumour location.ConclusionsCRM is prognostic for patients with resectable PDAC making the pathological assessment of the R-status according to the CRM concept worthwhile.

Functional performance comparison of long cane and secondary electronic travel aids for mobility enhancement

This study investigated the impact of secondary electronic travel aids (ETAs) on the mobility performance of individuals with profound visual impairment, specifically focusing on object detection and obstacle avoidance tasks. Seven experienced long-cane users were recruited for the study. The ETAs tested as secondary aids to the long cane included the MiniGuide, utilizing ultrasonic echo location, and the vOICe (Vision-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution Device), which translates visual information into auditory signals. Two software modes of the vOICe were examined: the standard contrast mode and a novel algorithm utilizing relative depth information. Notably, 30 min of familiarization was provided before the trials. Results indicated that while the use of the secondary ETAs led to increased awareness of the surrounding environment, it also resulted in longer processing times and more hesitations, compared with using the long cane alone. Participants demonstrated improved object detection and larger detection and safety ranges during obstacle avoidance. The study also introduced the concept of margin of stability (MoS) as a novel metric for evaluating gait stability while using ETAs. Both MiniGuide and vOICe users exhibited consistent and stable movements, suggesting that these additional aids did not negatively impact overall gait stability. The findings highlight the trade-offs between efficiency and effectiveness when using secondary mobility aids, with longer training periods potentially mitigating these issues. In addition, the study emphasizes the need for ongoing research to optimize the design and training programmes for new ETAs. Future studies may explore the impact of extended training periods on mobility performance. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how ETAs can enhance the mobility of individuals with visual impairments while also highlighting some of the challenges associated with their use. Optimizing ETA design and training programmes is crucial for maximizing benefits for individuals with impaired vision.

Identity Crises and the Impact of 9/11: A Post-Colonial Study of the Reluctant Fundamentalist and Khuda Kay Lye

The current study explores the devastating aftershocks and identity crises caused by 9/11. It furthermore, presents the upheavals through two different forms of literature: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and the cinematic film Khuda Kay Liye by Shoaib Mansoor. The study employs a post-colonial lens, utilizing the concept of marginality to examine identity crises and the traumatic aftermath of 9/11. In addition, the study highlights the main characters of both the literary forms: novel and film, demonstrating how they face marginalization at various levels—cultural, religious, and international. The background of the study encompasses the Afghan-Russian war in 1979 and the 9/11 attacks, which profoundly affected Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, fueling terrorism and raising questions about identity. Religious figures, as the research uncovers through the character of Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, were often labeled as terrorists. On the other hand, Mansoor, Maryam, and Sarmad are marginalized in Khuda Kay Liye. Mansoor faces racial prejudice in the USA, while Sarmad and Maryam encounter religious extremism in Pakistan. While weaving together the theme of identity crises, the study adopts the framework of marginality, a significant aspect of post-colonial literature. With a clear understanding of the issues, the study utilizes post-colonial theory, using Edward Said's seminal work, Orientalism. Additionally, the researcher recognizes the significance of marginality, which is central to both the genre fiction and the films The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Khuda Kay Liye.

Robust optimization and assessment of dynamic trajectory and mixed-beam arc radiotherapy: a preliminary study

Objective. Dynamic trajectory radiotherapy (DTRT) and dynamic mixed-beam arc therapy (DYMBARC) exploit non-coplanarity and, for DYMBARC, simultaneously optimized photon and electron beams. Margin concepts to account for set-up uncertainties during delivery are ill-defined for electron fields. We develop robust optimization for DTRT&DYMBARC and compare dosimetric plan quality and robustness for both techniques and both optimization strategies for four cases. Approach. Cases for different treatment sites and clinical target volume (CTV) to planning target volume (PTV) margins, m , were investigated. Dynamic gantry-table-collimator photon paths were optimized to minimize PTV/organ-at-risk (OAR) overlap in beam’s-eye-view and minimize potential photon multileaf collimator (MLC) travel. For DYMBARC plans, non-isocentric partial electron arcs or static fields with shortened source-to-surface distance (80 cm) were added. Direct aperture optimization (DAO) was used to simultaneously optimize MLC-based intensity modulation for both photon and electron beams yielding deliverable PTV-based DTRT&DYMBARC plans. Robust-optimized plans used the same paths/arcs/fields. DAO with stochastic programming was used for set-up uncertainties with equal weights in all translational directions and magnitude δ such that m= 0.7δ . Robust analysis considered random errors in all directions with or without an additional systematic error in the worst 3D direction for the adjacent OARs. Main results. Electron contribution was 7%–41% of target dose depending on the case and optimization strategy for DYMBARC. All techniques achieved similar CTV coverage in the nominal (no error) scenario. OAR sparing was overall better in the DYMBARC plans than in the DTRT plans and DYMBARC plans were generally more robust to the considered uncertainties. OAR sparing was better in the PTV-based than in robust-optimized plans for OARs abutting or overlapping with the target volume, but more affected by uncertainties. Significance. Better plan robustness can be achieved with robust optimization than with margins. Combining electron arcs/fields with non-coplanar photon trajectories further improves robustness and OAR sparing.

Study on the stability and ultra-low frequency oscillation suppression method of pumped storage power plant with dual units sharing one pipeline

This paper aims to investigate the stability of the pumped storage power plant (PSPP) with dual units sharing one pipeline (DUSOP) and the method of suppressing the ultra-low frequency oscillation (ULFO) characteristics. Firstly, four nonlinear models of pumped storage regulation system (PSRS) with DUSOP are established under the design scenarios of no surge tank, upstream surge tank (UST), downstream surge tank, and upstream and downstream dual surge tanks. Then the stability of the PSRS under different surge tank arrangements (STAs) in the long diversion system design scenarios (LDSDS) is comparatively analyzed. Finally, based on the concept of stability margin, the influence mechanism of the operating points on the ULFO characteristics is investigated in the LDSDS with UST, and the influence of the governor parameters, hydrodynamic parameters, and mechanical parameters on the damping ratio and frequency of the system is also analyzed. The results show that among STAs, the design scheme of arranging the UST is more reasonable for PSPP with LDSDS from the comprehensive consideration of the economy of the project and the stability of the system. For PSPP with UST, on the line of equal stability margin, increasing the proportional gain, reducing the unit inertia time constant, reducing the water flow inertia time constant, and appropriately increasing the area of the surge tank can increase the frequency and reduce the amplitude, which is conducive to the suppression of ULFO. In the stability domain range, increasing the proportional gain increases the frequency and the system stability increases and then decreases. Increasing the integral gain decreases the frequency and then increases the system stability. At the same time, the frequency of the unit can be changed by adjusting the parameters of the system to avoid resonance between the frequency of the unit and the frequency of the power grid and to ensure the stability and safety of the unit operation.

Sustainability Strategic Framing in Corporate Communication: Contextual Semantics of Twitter in the Energy Sector

Sustainability has become the prevailing paradigm, a model of conduct, and a central theme in social and media discourses within the past decade. However, it is still a marginal development concept in the interdisciplinary research field dealing with sustainability communication, especially with meaning-making processes in relevant communicative, for example, in corporate and industry contexts. This paper focuses on how the idea of sustainability is framed, anchored, and disseminated in energy companies' communication via social media channels and how the linguistic methods used by energy corporations concerning sustainability co -create theirsymbolic value. Specifically, this study has aimed to understand how the sustainability topic was discussed in the Twitter sphere of the most prominent energy companies in 2020. This study makes a three -fold contribution to sustainable research and practice. First, the study identifies the framing structure of sustainability content in social media communication in the energy sector. Secondly, the study identifies social media data as a viable source of sustainability conceptualization and its understanding through communication. Finally, this study illustrates how text mining and natural language processing (NLP) can be used as a research method for managing big text data and a tool for discovering latent communication structures. Sustainability is present and visible in the communication of the energy industry identified by (1) the semantic construction of phrases in communication that show a future, green, and clean orientation, but it is also strongly declarative, referring to what will be and can be done, and with positive emotions related to the communicated messages; and (2) decoupling from climate change and thus avoiding the industry's responsibility for the impact of global warming but promising clean, sustainable energy transformation and to avoid negative emotional connotation. However, one gets the impression that it takes on the character of a rhetorical art form related to the concept of decorum. In this view, the idea of sustainability is interpreted and shaped through the needs of the industry and as a rhetorical tool in building a positive narrative about companies and is used to gain legitimacy.

FINANCING MODEL OF SHARIA ECONOMY-BASED COFFEE AGROINDUSTRY USING DYNAMIC SYSTEM SIMULATION IN BANDUNG DISTRICT

West Java Province is one of the producers of export quality Arabica coffee, namely Java Preanger Coffee. The problem that often arises in the agricultural sector is that most farmers do not have the funds to make capital. Another problem in agriculture is capital. This can cause crop failure due to a lack of capital so the process of agriculture is delayed and hampered. The aim of the Islamic financing modelling research is to determine the relationship between variables in the Islamic economic-based financing system as well as a comparison between the application of the concept of profit-sharing margins for mudharabah and musyarakah between farmers and Muhammadiyah Branch Managers (PCM) using the system dynamics method using the Powersim Software. System dynamics are defined to address large-scale and complex systems and understand the relationships among behavior in a given system over time and the underlying structures and decision rules. The sharia economy-based coffee agroforestry financing model results in the application of profit sharing that reflects more justice. The principle of profit sharing carried out by PCM is beneficial for both parties who have achieved the principle of justice, by avoiding things that are unlawful. This can be seen from the results of the profits and losses are not on one side. The simulation results can be used as a consideration for decision making for financing coffee agroforestry in Bandung Regency.

Testing the shock protection performance of Type I construction helmets using impactors of different masses.

Wearing protective helmets is an important prevention strategy to reduce work-related traumatic brain injuries. The existing standardized testing systems are used for quality control and do not provide a quantitative measure of the helmet performance. To analyze the failure characterizations of Type I industrial helmets and develop a generalized approach to quantify the shock absorption performance of Type I industrial helmets based on the existing standardized setups. A representative basic Type I construction helmet model was selected for the study. Top impact tests were performed on the helmets at different drop heights using two different impactor masses (3.6 and 5.0 kg). When the helmets were impacted with potential impact energies smaller than the critical potential impact energy values, there was a consistent relationship between the peak impact force and the potential impact energy. When the helmets were impacted under potential impact energies greater than the critical potential impact energy values, the peak impact forces increased steeply with increasing potential impact energy. A concept of safety margin for construction helmets based on potential impact energy was introduced to quantify the helmets' shock absorption performance. The proposed method will help helmet manufacturers improve their product quality.

Wide climatic niche breadth and traits associated with climatic tolerance facilitate eucalypt occurrence in cities worldwide

AbstractAimEucalypts are important and popular urban tree species across cities worldwide. However, little is known about how their climatic niche breadth (CNB) and functional traits predict their success, and vulnerability, to current climate change in cities. We assessed the relationship between the CNB of eucalypts and key traits to understand their tolerance to climate change.LocationGlobal urban areas, 66 cities in 21 countries.Time period1981 to 2022.Major species studiedFifty ‘eucalypt’ species belonging to the genera Eucalyptus, Angophora and Corymbia.MethodsWe used the species' safety margin concept to determine cities where eucalypts were planted outside the limits of their CNB, as defined from the native range, considering two extreme variables, maximum temperature of the warmest month (MTWM) and precipitation of the driest month (PDM). We assessed correlations between functional traits (leaf δ13C, leaf dry mass, leaf length, leaf N per dry mass, wood density) and negative safety margins, indicative of tolerance to non‐native conditions.ResultsIn total, 42 species planted in 40 cities exceeded their safety margins for MTWM, while 43 species in 38 cities exceeded their safety margins for PDM. Within 24 cities, all species exceeded their native CNB for both MTWM and PDM. The cities of Atakpame (Togo), Chennai (India), Chongqing (China) and the US cities of Phoenix and Riverside had the highest richness of eucalypt species growing outside their native CNB. Broadly, species with wide CNB, small leaves, high δ13C, high leaf N per dry mass and high wood density were more likely to persist in cities where climatic conditions exceeded their native CNB.Main conclusionsEucalypts occupy many cities experiencing climatic conditions outside their native CNB. Species with traits characteristic of heat and drought tolerance are more often planted in cities where climatic conditions may exceed their CNB native limits.

Impact of urban shielding on radiological risk after a hypothetical nuclear event

Nuclear events have always represented a threat to societies, and nowadays, the concept of tactical nuclear weapons occupies a prominent place in the field of concern. The actual use of such a weapon has not yet been recorded. However, studies involving computationally simulated hypothetical scenarios are periodically published. This study considers a hypothetical event involving the activation of a tactical nuclear device in an urban area. The central objective was to evaluate the protective capacity of urban structures (buildings) for reducing the radiation dose to which the population may be subjected. Analytical computational simulation was applied to create the event. The threshold dose for deterministic effects is the interest isodose for the scenario that considers a 10 kT power device. The concept of Margin of Safety (MoS) was applied to the results in order to turn them into useful information for decision-makers. Applying MoS allowed to organize the urban structures according to their dose reduction capacity (reduction factors). It can be foreseen that in the case of a real application, the proposed methodology will facilitate the classification of structures distributed throughout the urban area, supporting the decision, especially regarding the prioritization of urban zones, and the type of structure. The results showed that it is useful to discriminate urban structures according to criteria conditioned on radiation doses related to deterministic effects. The discrimination introduces scientific basis to advice and support for decision-making, which may increase confidence levels for decision-makers. Therefore a possible positive impact on the optimization of resources and improved conditions for crisis management can be expected.

The comprehensive strategy in the human health risk assessment of total chromium impurities in cough syrups with Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis) available in Polish pharmacies: regulatory aspects and special emphasis on Cr(VI) mode of action

Chromium, which can currently only be considered pharmacologically active and not an essential element, is a very intriguing elemental impurity in final pharmaceutical products, especially traditional herbal medicinal products. This kind of traditional herbal medicinal product with Marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis L., radix) registered in the EU is widely used among the European population. The aim of this article is to propose a double regulatory strategy in assessing the human health risk of total chromium impurities in cough syrups with Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis) available in Polish pharmacies. We applied the strategy based on the requirements of the ICH Q3D (R1) guideline for the assessment of Cr impurities in final traditional herbal medicinal products with Marshmallow Root registered in the EU. Furthermore, we applied the strategy based on the concept of margin of exposure (MoE) considering Cr(VI) genotoxicity mode of action (MOA) and based on BMD10 for Cr(VI) as a point of departure (PoD). The total Cr content was in the range: 1.12–9.61 µg/L (in comparison with the ICH Q3D R1 guidelines: 1100 µg/g). Total Cr levels in a single dose were relatively high compared to raw results, but were not a threat to patients. Comparison of estimated results with oral PDE value for Cr in final drugs suggested by the ICH Q3D R1 guideline (10,700 µg/day) show that all the products analyzed were below this value (the highest result was 278.40 ng/day). Despite conservative assumptions, the MoE values obtained for Cr in daily dose for each Marshmallow Root cough syrup were above 10,000; therefore, exposure to Cr would not cause a health risk for specific population groups (children and adults). It can be summarized that each of the phytopharmaceuticals analysed with Marshmallow root available in Polish pharmacies does not represent a health hazard to patients. We confirm the safety of Cr impurities by applying a double regulatory strategy without the application of an expansive and demanding HPLC-ICP-MS technique for Cr speciation.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDUCED MARGINALIZATION: PERSPECTIVES

The global arena of international relations is placing increasing importance on the subject of climate change. The disruptions in natural weather patterns are giving rise to a wide array of challenges in ecological, sociopolitical, and economic systems. This piece of writing investigates the concept of marginalization brought about by the effects of climate change. The analysis adopts a multi-faceted approach, utilizing the framework of climate justice. The primary focus lies in understanding how climate-induced marginalization impacts a nation’s social structure, especially affecting disadvantaged communities. Following that, the conversation delves into making a comparison among different countries, examining their contributions to climate change and the subsequent difficulties they encounter. The article also underscores the insufficiencies in international frameworks aimed at mitigating climate change, underscoring the lack of accountability during their development. Additionally, the problem of climate-induced marginalization is evaluated in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, and suggestions are put forth to effectively tackle this issue.

Prognostic value of the CRM status in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: Data from a regional cancer registry.

632 Background: Ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) still has a dismal prognosis even when deemed resectable. A cancer free resection margin (R0) is associated with a more favourable prognosis than the presence of tumour cells at resection margin (R1). However, the precise definition of the R0 status is still a matter of debate in PDAC. For a more accurate determination of R0 in PDAC the concept of circumferential resection margins (CRM) has been introduced. However, an international standardized nomenclature of CRM is still missing, and the clinical value of the CRM concept is not yet fully established. Here we evaluate whether the CRM status as defined in the national German S3 guideline is an independent prognostic factor in PDAC using data from the regional cancer registry of the State of Baden Württemberg in Germany. Methods: Data from the cancer registry of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany were collected, using documented patients diagnosed with invasive ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas between 2015 and 2020. The R-status was assessed according to the national German S3 guideline with R0 wide/CRM- when CRM is > 1mm, R0 narrow/CRM+ when CRM is £ 1 mm from the tumour and R1 when tumour cells are found at the resection margin. Progression free survival (PFS) as well as 3-year overall survival (OS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier statistics and multivariable Cox regression models (adjusted for age, pN stage, primary tumor location and systemic treatment). Results: In total we identified 1098 cases surgically treated for pancreatic cancer and fulfilling the inclusion criteria. 340 patients had an R0 wide/CRM- resection, 410 patients an R0 narrow/CRM+ resection, and 348 patients an R1 resection. The R0 wide/CRM- status was associated with a significantly increased median 3-year OS rate compared to the other two groups (51,5%, 37,4% and 26,7% for R0 wide/CRM-, R0 narrow/CRM+ and R1, respectively). mPFS was also longer in the R0 wide/CRM- group. These findings were robust with regards to grading. 5-FU based adjuvant treatment was mainly mFOLFIRINOX and show better outcome as compared to gemcitabine-based treatments. Conclusions: The present study was performed using real world data reflecting actual clinical settings. The results obtained are in good agreement with data from clinical trials, including the prognostic role of the R- and N- Status as well as the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy protocols used.

A discriminative multiscale feature extraction network for facial expression recognition in the wild

Driven by advancements in deep learning technologies, substantial progress has been achieved in the field of facial expression recognition over the past decade, while challenges remain brought about by occlusions, pose variations and subtle expression differences in unconstrained (wild) scenarios. Therefore, a novel multiscale feature extraction method is proposed in this paper, that leverages convolutional neural networks to simultaneously extract deep semantic features and shallow geometric features. Through the mechanism of channel-wise self-attention, prominent features are further extracted and compressed, preserving advantageous features for distinction and thereby reducing the impact of occlusions and pose variations on expression recognition. Meanwhile, inspired by the large cosine margin concept used in face recognition, a center cosine loss function is proposed to avoid the misclassification caused by the underlying interclass similarity and substantial intra-class feature variations in the task of expression recognition. This function is designed to enhance the classification performance of the network through making the distribution of samples within the same class more compact and that between different classes sparser. The proposed method is benchmarked against several advanced baseline models on three mainstream wild datasets and two datasets that present realistic occlusion and pose variation challenges. Accuracies of 89.63%, 61.82%, and 91.15% are achieved on RAF-DB, AffectNet and FERPlus, respectively, demonstrating the greater robustness and reliability of this method compared to the state-of-the-art alternatives in the real world.

Technical note: The migration distance - a unidirectional distance metric for region-of-interest comparisons.

The radiotherapy process relies on several metrics in determining a notion of "distance" from one three-dimensional region-of-interest (ROI) to another. The majority are symmetric (or commutative) and do not contain information pertaining to directionality. Growth versus regression, for example, is not inherently distinguished by these metrics. The purpose of this work was to formalize a unidirectional distance metric, motivated by radiotherapy margin concepts, which we term the migration distance. Informally, the migration distance from ROI to is the minimum isotropic expansion of such that is completely encompassed by the expansion. If is contained within , the migration distance is negative with magnitude equal to the maximum isotropic contraction of such that remains contained within contraction. The metric is demonstrated by quantifying glioblastoma interfraction target changes. An explicit mathematical formulation of the migration distance is presented and contrasted with the related Hausdorff distance. The results are demonstrated for the gross tumor volume (GTV) dynamics of a glioblastoma cohort consisting of 111 patients that underwent standard chemoradiotherapy with offline MR imaging at planning, fraction 10, fraction 20, and 1-month post radiotherapy. The mean±SD of the GTV migration distance relative to planning was 5.9±3.9mm at fraction 10, 6.2±4.4mm at fraction 20, and 7.9±7.1mm at 1-month post radiotherapy. The maximum GTV migration distance across all patients at the same timepoints was 20.4, 20.7, and 45.5mm, respectively. We have proposed and demonstrated a unidirectional distance metric. The migration distance may have applications in the quantification of anatomical changes, planning target volume designs, and dosimetric radiotherapy plan assessment.

Rethinking Reliability in Terms of Margins

Current reliability approaches were designed to assess and quantify the reliability associated with complex systems such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). These approaches are generally based on classical Boolean logic structures such as event trees (ETs) and fault trees (FTs) [Rausand, 2020]. The outcome obtained by combining FTs and ETs is the set of minimal cuts sets (MCSs), with each MCS representing a unique combination of BEs that leads to an undesired outcome (e.g., core damage). Probabilistic evaluation of a MCS is performed by evaluating the product of the probability values associated with each BE. A relevant factor here is that the probability values associated with BEs used in the plant models are updated at least every 4 years based on past operational experience and through the use of a Bayesian statistical process [Siu, 1998]. Hence, the probability value of a BE associated with a physical asset (e.g., a centrifugal pump or motor-operated valve) in no way reflects that asset’s actual condition and performance.
 This fact plays a major role in the application of plant reliability models to support risk-informed decisions. With the particular goal of reducing operation and maintenance costs, existing NPPs are moving from corrective and periodic maintenance toward new types of predictive maintenance strategies [Agarwal, 2021]. This transition is designed such that maintenance is conducted only when the asset requires it (i.e., prior to undergoing imminent failure). And though these benefits cannot be achieved through actual reliability modelling methods and currently employed reliability data, they can be achieved by employing asset-monitoring sensors, automated data acquisition systems, data analysis methods, and improved decision-making processes. Combined, these resources can provide precise information on the health of an asset, track its degradation trends, and estimate its expected failure time. Based on such information, maintenance operations can be scheduled and performed for each asset on an as-needed basis. This dynamic context of predictive maintenance operations requires new methods of data analysis, the propagation of asset health information from the asset level to the system level, and the optimization of plant resources.
 This paper provides an alternative reliability approach designed for a predictive maintenance context in which a direct link is created between monitoring data and decision-making. Rather than thinking of reliability in terms of system/asset probability of failure, we propose a reliability mindset based on the concept of margin [Mandelli, 2023]. An asset’s health is quantified by determining its margin, based on the asset’s current and historical monitoring data. The margin values of the monitored asset are then propagated through system reliability models (e.g., FTs or reliability block diagrams) to identify the assets that are more critical to guarantee system operation. We show how a margin-based approach can be used assess asset health, based solely on current and historic monitoring data (e.g., condition-based, anomaly detection, diagnostic, and prognostic data) [Xingang, 2021]. A margin-based approach directly addresses the limitations of classical reliability modelling approaches and provides a snapshot of system health—given the availability of monitoring data. These two different approaches are designed to address different types of decisions: classical reliability models support static decisions (e.g., a set frequency of periodic maintenance or surveillance operations) based on past operational experience, whereas a margin-based approach directly supports dynamic decisions involving maintenance operations that should only be performed when necessary, based on monitoring data (i.e., a predictive maintenance context).

MARKETING OF THE HUMAN POTENTIAL OF PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The article describes the evolution of the concept of "employees", "labor resources", "personnel", "human capital", "human potential" in economic schools. The similarities and differences between the currently marginal concepts of "human capital" and "human potential" are defined, and the elements that distinguish them are clearly presented. It was determined that "human capital" is a collection of people of working age who form social utility (quantitative unit of work and utility). And "human potential" is a set of human knowledge, skills, qualities, professionalism, the level of professional adaptation and intellectual abilities, which form directions for achieving set economic and social goals (a qualitative unit of work and utility). From this definition follows the formation of a new paradigm of relation to a person who, regardless of his physical condition, limitations or fitness, is a carrier of potential that can play a positive and important role in the development of a micro- or macro-unit of business, company, region, country as a whole. Therefore, people with limited opportunities or special needs, with disabilities are considered as a potential that is socially useful for the country. In this context, the concept of human-oriented professional marketing is highlighted, which should integrate the degree, type and group of disabilities of persons, determine their potential on the labor market and offer professions and workplaces with a division into workers with intellectual disabilities and workers with disorders and dysfunctions of various kinds. The formation of marketing, which is oriented to the person in general and to the person with special needs, was not on the agenda until now in any economic or socially oriented economic school. Therefore, this issue is relevant and appropriate for study. A new theory of human potential marketing should be built on this, which should use all people of working age to create a social product. Methodologically, the topic was covered using the methods of analysis and synthesis of various fields: historiography, marketing, psychology, sociology, comparison, assumptions, modeling.

Reinforcing path marginalization: revealing the unaccounted labour organization at a mining frontier in Indonesia

Abstract How could we conceptualize path development taking place in regions dominated by extracting industries and subsistence economies? The article expands existing Evolutionary Economic Geography theory by focussing on extractive economies in a peripheral region that has, thus far, barely been covered. It challenges existing conceptualizations by highlighting a tin producing island in Indonesia. The article introduces the concept of path marginalization and its reinforcing mechanisms that explain the dynamics between large and artisanal mining activities. It examines how the mining path is reproduced by the interaction between multiple forms of labour organization that are normally unaccounted for.

Supervised Contrastive Learning with Angular Margin for the Detection and Grading of Diabetic Retinopathy.

Many researchers have realized the intelligent medical diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) from fundus images by using deep learning methods, including supervised contrastive learning (SupCon). However, although SupCon brings label information into the calculation of contrastive learning, it does not distinguish between augmented positives and same-label positives. As a result, we propose the concept of Angular Margin and incorporate it into SupCon to address this issue. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy, we tested it on two datasets for the detection and grading of DR. To align with previous work, Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1, and AUC were selected as evaluation metrics. Moreover, we also chose alignment and uniformity to verify the effect of representation learning and UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection) to visualize fundus image embeddings. In summary, DR detection achieved state-of-the-art results across all metrics, with Accuracy = 98.91, Precision = 98.93, Recall = 98.90, F1 = 98.91, and AUC = 99.80. The grading also attained state-of-the-art results in terms of Accuracy and AUC, which were 85.61 and 93.97, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that Angular Margin is an excellent intelligent medical diagnostic algorithm, performing well in both DR detection and grading tasks.

Constrained Moving Path Following Control for UAV With Robust Control Barrier Function

This paper studies the moving path following (MPF) problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under output constraints and wind disturbances. The vehicle is required to converge to a reference path moving with respect to the inertial frame, while the path following error is not expected to violate the predefined boundaries. Differently from existing moving path following guidance laws, the proposed method removes complex geometric transformation by formulating the moving path following problem into a second-order time-varying control problem. A nominal moving path following guidance law is designed with disturbances and their derivatives estimated by high-order disturbance observers. To guarantee that the path following error will not exceed the prescribed bounds, a robust control barrier function is developed and incorporated into controller design with quadratic program based framework. The proposed method does not require the initial position of the UAV to be within predefined boundaries. And the safety margin concept makes error-constraint be respected even if in a noisy environment. The proposed guidance law is validated through numerical simulations of shipboard landing and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) experiments.