Rare Stones Research Articles

Energy management in hybrid complexes based on wind generation and hydrogen storage

This work is devoted to the analysis of scientific articles in the field of hybrid energy complexes based on hydrogen technologies and renewable energy sources. A special attention is given to wind generation. The review of the topics of scientific publications indexed in the Scopus database in the field of research is carried out, the most frequently encountered topics and the rarest ones are highlighted. Brief statistics about publications selected for detailed analysis are given. The most interesting direction for studying is development of control systems for hybrid energy complexes. Several traditional approaches, which are commonly used in research on this topic and methods are highlighted. The existing shortcomings and inaccuracies in the overviewed works are identified. Conclusions are drawn about the need to transform existing methods and specific proposals are made to improve management systems to increase the efficiency of decision-making and achieve greater economic benefits. Promising areas of research that also require special attention are formulated.

An almost forgotten neurological entity: man in a barrel syndrome

Man in a barrel syndrome (MIBS) presents with bilateral upper extremity weakness but preserved strength in face, neck, and lower extremities. In this case report, two cases of MIBS were admitted to the emergency department (ED) presented. The first patient injured his neck after falling off a ladder. The second patient was a victim of a traffic accident. Bilateral upper extremity weakness was examined in the first patient at first admission to the ED. On the other hand, progressive weakness was shown in the second patient during ED follow-up. The cervical imaging findings consisted with MIBS. This case report and review of literature highlights that physicians should consider every possible cause, even the rarest ones when a patient complains of neck trauma with non-specific symptoms. Rapid identification and treatment of treatable causes such as cerebral hypoperfusion are vital for patient prognosis.

De Novo Large Deletions in the PHEX Gene Caused X-Linked Hypophosphataemic Rickets in Two Italian Female Infants Successfully Treated with Burosumab.

Pathogenic variants in the PHEX gene cause rare and severe X-linked dominant hypophosphataemia (XLH), a form of heritable hypophosphatemic rickets (HR) characterized by renal phosphate wasting and elevated fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels. Burosumab, the approved human monoclonal anti-FGF23 antibody, is the treatment of choice for XLH. The genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of HR often delays XLH diagnoses, with critical effects on disease course and therapy. We herein report the clinical and genetic features of two Italian female infants with sporadic HR who successfully responded to burosumab. Their diagnoses were based on clinical and laboratory findings and physical examinations. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the genes associated with inherited HR and multiple ligation probe amplification (MLPA) analysis of the PHEX and FGF23 genes were performed. While a conventional analysis of the NGS data did not reveal pathogenic or likely pathogenic small nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the known HR-related genes, a quantitative analysis identified two different heterozygous de novo large intragenic deletions in PHEX, and this was confirmed by MLPA. Our molecular data indicated that deletions in the PHEX gene can be the cause of a significant fraction of XLH; hence, their presence should be evaluated in SNV-negative female patients. Our patients successfully responded to burosumab, demonstrating the efficacy of this drug in the treatment of XLH. In conclusion, the execution of a phenotype-oriented genetic test, guided by known types of variants, including the rarest ones, was crucial to reach the definitive diagnoses and ensure our patients of long-term therapy administration.

The dominance-diversity dilemma in animal conservation biology.

The alteration of environmental conditions has two major outcomes on the demographics of living organisms: population decline of the common species and extinction of the rarest ones. Halting the decline of abundant species as well as the erosion of biodiversity require solutions that may be mismatched, despite being rooted in similar causes. In this study, we demonstrate how rank abundance distribution (RAD) models are mathematical representations of a dominance-diversity dilemma. Across 4,375 animal communities from a range of taxonomic groups, we found that a reversed RAD model correctly predicts species richness, based solely on the relative dominance of the most abundant species in a community and the total number of individuals. Overall, predictions from this RAD model explained 69% of the variance in species richness, compared to 20% explained by simply regressing species richness on the relative dominance of the most abundant species. Using the reversed RAD model, we illustrate how species richness is co-limited by the total abundance of a community and the relative dominance of the most common species. Our results highlight an intrinsic trade-off between species richness and dominance that is present in the structure of RAD models and real-world animal community data. This dominance-diversity dilemma suggests that withdrawing individuals from abundant populations might contribute to the conservation of species richness. However, we posit that the positive effect of harvesting on biodiversity is often offset by exploitation practices with negative collateral consequences, such as habitat destruction or species bycatches.

A rare case of duplication of the descending colon in a pregnant woman: case report and literature review.

Gastrointestinal duplications are uncommon congenital abnormalities that can occur anywhere throughout the intestinal tract. The small bowel is more interested than the large one. Duplications are schematically classified as spherical and tubular, respectively representing 80% and 20% of cases, with different relationships and communications with the native intestinal wall. Although typically diagnosed during infancy and early childhood, tubular colonic sub-type stays frequently hidden for several years until a complication occurs. we report the case of a T-shaped tubular duplication in a 20-year-old woman at the 30th week of gestation, who underwent an urgent exploratory laparotomy for intestinal occlusion, treated with the resection of the aberrant large bowel. The patient was notable for a long history of constipation and chronic pain. Diagnostic possibilities were limited by the on-going pregnancy. Intestinal duplications are uncommon malformations, and, of these, the T-shaped subtype of the colon is among the rarest ones. In the adulthood, diagnosis is usually established in the operating room during urgent or even emergency surgery performed for abdominal complications. A duplication of the descending colon is extremely rare, and this is, to our knowledge, the only article describing a case found in advanced state of pregnancy.

Phrases in Chinese Short Stories 献你一束花 Xiàn Nǐ Yī Shù Huā 'Presenting a Bunch of Flowers to You By Feng Jicai

This paper discusses a phrase in a Chinese short story entitled 'Presenting a Bunch of Flowers to You' by Feng Jicai. Through the literature and distributional methods, many types of phrases are found in each of its sentences. The most used phrases are endocentric or nominal subordinate phrases and prepositional phrases; While the rarest ones that appear are numeralia phrases and coordinate phrases. However, the phrase numeralia classifier often appears to be an endocentric phrase-shaper. In addition, there are also contained phrases, that is, phrases in phrases, or phrases formed from other phrases. Each phrase in a sentence has its syntactical function. The most syntactic functions of phrases are as objects.

Prediction of Tourism Demand in Liuzhou Region Based on Machine Learning

Liuzhou is a rich tourism city in China. It is well known for its ethnic and prehistoric culture, folk songs, rare stones, and urban landscape. The demand of tourism in Liuzhou city is increasing day by day. Therefore, a system is needed to accurately predict the increasing demand of tourism in Liuzhou city. For this reason, based on the examination of historical visitor data in natural sites especially in Liuzhou city, this research employs an important machine learning and deep learning approach. The purpose of this study is to identify the consumption patterns and improve prediction, prejudgment, and preparation abilities by incorporating them into an intelligent tourism service platform, preventing visitors from travelling at inconvenient times and providing appropriate suggestions to scenic site managers. In this paper, the Sparse Principal Component Analysis-Long-Short-Term Memory (SPCA-LSTM) model has been updated to the Sparse Principal Component Analysis Convolutional Neural Network Long-Short-Term Memory (SPCA-CNNLSTM) model to accurately predict the tourist traffic during the holidays. Convolutional and pooling layers are added to the network topology to extract the local characteristics of the input data. The data of passenger traffic and influencing factors of Liuzhou scenic area from the months of Sept. 2015 to Nov. 2019 were used as the data set for the experiments. A hybrid-forecasting model is also proposed in the paper, which first removes noise from international crude oil data using compression-aware denoising preprocessing and then combines compression-aware denoising with machine learning using artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR). The experimental result shows that the SPCA-CNNLSTM model predicts better values than the SPCA-LSTM model.

The composition of the fluid phase in inclusions in synthetic HPHT diamonds grown in system Fe\u2013Ni\u2013Ti\u2013C

Diamonds grown by high pressure high temperature process (HPHT) are usually characterized by yellow color and high contents of nitrogen. Introduction of Ti decreases nitrogen content in diamond. Understanding the formation of nitrogen-poor diamond is very important not for the progress of HPHT process only, but because these diamond varieties represent the rare natural stones, although their crystallization conditions have not been clarified yet. Here we studied the composition of fluid phase in synthetic diamonds. The experiments were performed using a high-pressure apparatus BARS at pressures 5.5–6.0 GPa and temperatures 1350–1400 °C. It was found that introduction of metallic Ti leads to concentration of nitrogen mainly as nitrogenated hydrocarbons. The hypothesis that elucidates the formation of low-nitrogen diamond in Fe–Ni is proposed: the presence of Ti leads to an increase of hydrogen fugacity in the metal melt which drastically reduces the nitrogen solubility. As a result, nitrogen concentrates in the form of complex hydrocarbon compounds, while diamond grows colorless and characterized by very low nitrogen content. It is suggested that the proposed mechanism acts the same way in the presence of other metals which are strong reducing agents.

National Health-Oriented Hazard Assessment in Iran Based on the First Priority for Action in Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Background Understanding disaster risk is the first priority for action based on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR), and hazard assessment is the first step in the assessment of disaster risks. Therefore, assessing health-oriented hazards is the first measure in disaster risk assessment in the medical universities area in Iran. This article introduces a national experience and results obtained from designing a national tool for defining and assessment of health-oriented hazards in Iran. Methods In the present study, a National Health-Oriented Hazard Assessment tool (NHHAT) was developed by experts and implemented by the Iranian Ministry of Health for gathering data according to frequency, probability, magnitude, and vulnerability of the hazards to identify the first ten hazards of medical universities in the two decades ago (2000–2021). Finally, the top 20 health-oriented hazards were identified among the ten hazards reported by each university. Results According to the findings, the four most important hazards were road traffic accidents, earthquakes, drought, and seasonal floods. Nevertheless, the hazards such as desertification, tunnel events, soil liquefaction, mass population movement, and sea progression were among the rarest ones reported in the medical universities in Iran. Conclusion Many functional aspects of disaster risk management depend on the realistic and accurate information related to the main elements of risk, especially the probable hazards in the communities. The comprehensive hazard assessment can only provide such information using context-bond tools. This is an applied study and a national implementation to fulfill the priority of the Sendai framework (i.e., understanding disasters risk) in Iran. It is suggested that other countries should also compile standard tools to explore the hazards for designing up-to-date hazard maps.

Mangelia (Gastropoda, Conoidea) species of the Turkish coasts with description of Mangelia vanaartseni sp. nov.

The present study addresses the distribution of Mangelia species along the Turkish coasts. The studied material was collected during the last two decades from different habitats (soft and hard bottoms, and macrophyte beds) at depths ranging from the intertidal zone to 1000 m at stations along the Levantine, Aegean and Black Seas coasts of Turkey, and from the Sea of Marmara. Among the analyzed benthic material, 311 living specimens and 114 shells belonging to 18 species of the genus Mangelia were obtained. Mangelia vanaartseni is described as a new species. Among the recognized species, Mangelia unifasciata (Deshayes, 1835) is the most widely distributed species in the study area, while Mangelia secreta (Van Aartsen Fehr-de Wal 1978), Mangelia pallaryi (Nordsieck 1977) and Mangelia striolata Risso 1826 were the rarest ones. Mangelia costata (Pennant 1777) and Mangelia costulata Risso 1826 were found to occur at depths up to 200 m, while most other species occurred at shallower depths. Along with the description of the new species, ecological and distributional characteristics and figures of specimens are also provided.

Bryophilous ascomycetes (Pezizales) in Hungarian cemeteries

Németh, Cs. 2020. Bryophilous ascomycetes (Pezizales) in Hungarian cemeteries. – Herzogia 33: 319 –339.During a systematic survey conducted in 59 cemeteries in Hungary 150 occurrences of 12 bryophilous ascomycetes (Lamprospora dictydiola, L. miniata var. miniata, L. seaveri, Octospora axillaris var. axillaris, O. axillaris var. tetraspora, O. coccinea, O. gemmicola, O. grimmiae, O. gyalectoides, O. itzerottii, O. leucoloma var. leucoloma, O. leucoloma var. tetraspora) were detected. O. gyalectoides was the most frequent species occurring in 90 % of the studied cemeteries, whilst the rarest ones O. grimmiae, O. itzerottii and O. leucoloma var. tetraspora were observed only in one cemetery each. Phascum cuspidatum proved to be the most common bryophyte host, being the host of L. miniata var. miniata, O. axillaris var. axillaris, O. axillaris var. tetraspora and O. gyalectoides. The highest diversity represented with six bryophilous taxa was observed in Budapest-Rákoskeresztúr cemetery, which is by far the largest of those visited. L. dictydiola, O. gemmicola, O. grimmiae and O. leucoloma var. tetraspora are reported here for the first time from Hungary. This study is the first one focusing on bryophilous Pezizales in burial places.

Spatiotemporal variation in disturbance impacts derived from simultaneous tracking of aircraft and shorebirds

Abstract Assessing the impacts of disturbance over large areas and long time periods is crucial for nature management, but also challenging since impacts depend on both wildlife responses to disturbance and on the spatiotemporal distribution of disturbance sources. Combined tracking of animals and disturbance sources enables quantification of wildlife responses as a function of the distance to a disturbance source. We provide a framework to derive such distance–response curves and combine those with disturbance source presence data to quantify energetic costs of disturbance at a landscape scale. We tracked 90 Eurasian Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus and all aircraft in a military training area in the Dutch Wadden Sea. We quantified distance–response curves estimating flight probability and additional displacement for five types of aircraft activities, by comparing bird movement prior to aircraft presence with movement during aircraft presence. We then used the distance–response curves to map mean and variation in additional daily energy expenditure due to cumulative aircraft disturbance across the landscape for a 700‐day period. Flight probability and displacement responses differed strongly among aircraft activities and decreased from transport aeroplanes, through bombing jets, helicopters, jets to small civil aeroplanes. Since the most disturbing aircraft activities were also the rarest ones, mean additional daily energy expenditure did not exceed 0.25%. However, days with substantial (>1%) additional expenditure occurred between 0.1% and 3.7% of all days across high‐tide roosts in the tidal basin. Notably, expenditure particularly spiked on days with transport aeroplane activity (up to 8.5%). Synthesis and applications. We quantified cumulative energetic flight costs due to aircraft disturbance and found that these were low and unlikely to impact survival of oystercatchers in our study area. Our results provide evidence that the legal minimum flight height of 450 m for small civil aeroplanes effectively limits the disturbance of oystercatchers. Mitigation should focus on limiting the number of days when disturbance has a high impact by reducing rare but highly disturbing activities, especially transport aeroplanes. Our approach can be applied to other species and disturbance sources that are automatically tracked, for example boats and walkers, ultimately to quantify the entire anthropogenic disturbance landscape.

Gallstone disease - interdisciplinary treatment

Gallstones develop in the gallbladder or the bile ducts. According to their chemical composition, gallstones can be divided into cholesterol stones, which are common, and the rare bile pigment stones. Altogether, up to 20 % of all adults develop gallstones and more than 20 % of them symptoms or complications. Female sex, age, pregnancy, physical inactivity, obesity, overnutrition and genetic factors such as ABCB4 deficiency of the hepatic lecithin transporter are kown risk factors for gallstone formation. In about one half of all patients biliary symptoms precede the three common and potentially life-threatening complications (acute cholecystitis, acute cholangitis and biliary pancreatitis). Although our knowledge about the genetics and pathophysiology of gallstones has improved, current treatment algorithms are predominantly invasive (ERC and surgery). Thus, better strategies are needed to prevent the formation of gallstones in general.

Real and ideal European maritime transfers along the Atlantic coast during the Neolithic

The history of research on the Neolithic of the Atlantic façade shows how speculation about prehistoric mobility, especially across the sea, is mainly based on three types of archaeological evidence: megalithic monuments, rare stones, and pottery decoration. With the aim of approaching the issue from other perspectives, we have focused on the Morbihan area, a focal point of the European Neolithic during the mid-5th millennium BC. The analysis of this area has allowed us to grasp which objects, ideas and beliefs may have been desired, adopted and imitated at the time. We shall begin with an architectural concept, the standing stone. These were sometimes engraved with signs that can be directly compared between Brittany, Galicia (NW Spain) and Portugal, but for which there are no intermediate parallels in other areas of the French or Spanish coast. The unique accumulation and transformation of polished blades made of Alpine rocks and found inside tombs or in other sort of depositions in the Carnac region allowed us to establish a second link with Galicia and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where certain types of the axes were imitated using a set of different rocks (sillimanite, amphibolite). Finally, the variscites and turquoises from different Spanish regions were used for the manufacture of beads and pendants at the Carnacean tombs, without it being possible – once again – to retrieve similar objects in the intermediate areas. The mastery ofdirect Atlantic sea routes is posed as an explanation for this geographical distribution. But, beyond the information drawn from specific artefacts – whose presence/absence should not be used in excess as an argument to endorse or underrate such movements across the ocean – we will return to a more poetic and universal phenomenon: the spell of the sea. Therefore, we will focus on the depictions of boats on the stelae of Morbihan to open such a debate.

Real and ideal European maritime transfers along the Atlantic coast during the Neolithic

The history of research on the Neolithic of the Atlantic façade shows how speculation about prehistoric mobility, especially across the sea, is mainly based on three types of archaeological evidence: megalithic monuments, rare stones, and pottery decoration. With the aim of approaching the issue from other perspectives, we have focused on the Morbihan area, a focal point of the European Neolithic during the mid-5th millennium BC. The analysis of this area has allowed us to grasp which objects, ideas and beliefs may have been desired, adopted and imitated at the time. We shall begin with an architectural concept, the standing stone. These were sometimes engraved with signs that can be directly compared between Brittany, Galicia (NW Spain) and Portugal, but for which there are no intermediate parallels in other areas of the French or Spanish coast. The unique accumulation and transformation of polished blades made of Alpine rocks and found inside tombs or in other sort of depositions in the Carnac region allowed us to establish a second link with Galicia and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where certain types of the axes were imitated using a set of different rocks (sillimanite, amphibolite). Finally, the variscites and turquoises from different Spanish regions were used for the manufacture of beads and pendants at the Carnacean tombs, without it being possible – once again – to retrieve similar objects in the intermediate areas. The mastery ofdirect Atlantic sea routes is posed as an explanation for this geographical distribution. But, beyond the information drawn from specific artefacts – whose presence/absence should not be used in excess as an argument to endorse or underrate such movements across the ocean – we will return to a more poetic and universal phenomenon: the spell of the sea. Therefore, we will focus on the depictions of boats on the stelae of Morbihan to open such a debate.

The study of the historical development of glass in ancient times

Abstract: This paper discusses historical development of glass in ancient times, identify the most important characteristics of glass in every era of time, through the study of their properties, chemical composition of the types of glass and production methods, through the study of some archaeological models of global museums to reach the most distinctive characteristics of each era ,The aim of this paper is to explore these aspects by using a combination of focused studies and case studies in various ancient and historical periods. Each case study in ancient Egyptian period, Roman Middle East, and the Islamic world.keywords: historical development of glass, Ancient Egyptian, Roman glass, Islamic glass, chemical composition, glass techniques.I. INTRODUCTION Ancient Egyptian GlassAs early as the third millennium B.C., craftsmen in Mesopotamia discovered how to glaze jewelry and small objects with colored glass. The new material joined other vitreous glazes, like faience, as a less expensive substitute for rare and precious stones, such as lapis lazuli. Subsequent developments, especially the use of simple molds, enabled craftsmen to form objects entirely from glass.In all likelihood, the Egyptians learned glassmaking from their Asiatic neighbors, possibly from captives taken during Egyptian military campaigns in the East under the eighteenth-dynasty pharaoh Thutmosis III (1490–1436 B.C.). The glass industry, once transplanted to Egypt, grew vigorously, fueled in part by the abundance of the raw materials required to manufacture glass. Egyptian workshops not only produced a variety of wares for consumption by the royal court and aristocrats, who could afford such luxuries, but also exported large quantities of raw glass.

Glass in imitation of exotic marbles: An analytical investigation of 2nd century AD Roman sectilia from the Gorga collection

Abstract The materials uncovered in excavations in several provinces of the Roman empire provide important evidence to the frequent use of glass in most precious opera sectilia. Glass pieces imitating a dozen of ancient marbles and exotic stones have been identified in the collection belonged to Evangelista Gorga, samples of which were selected for analysis in order to obtain valuable information on the Roman glassmaking technology of the 2nd century AD, especially on coloration techniques. The monochrome and polychrome glass tesserae replicating precious marbles and rare stones were: porfido verde antico, litomarga verde, turquoise, pavonazzetto, gabbro eufotide, diaspro nero e giallo, semesanto, alabastro tartarugato, rosso antico, cipollino rosso, giallo antico, and onyx. XRF quantitative chemical composition was determined allowing the types of glass used and the colouring techniques to be identified. Results have been compared with similar data obtained by studies on coloured Roman glass and mosaic tesserae. Similarities and discrepancies are discussed and hypotheses are suggested on the technology of this extraordinary Roman production.

A combination of infrared spectroscopy and morphological analysis allows successfully identifying rare crystals and atypical urinary stones.

The combination of infrared spectroscopy and morphological analysis significantly improves the urinary stone analysis. In addition to common urinary stones, it is not unusual to encounter spurious or factitious stones that, if not appropriately identified, can lead to errors in the diagnosis. In this study, we show the importance of Infrared Spectroscopy and the morphological analysis, for determining the presence of drugs crystals or atypical components in the calculi. 1041 urinary stones were analyzed by morphocostitutional analysis, in addition the rare stones were analyzed by chemical spot test analysis. Among 1041 calculi analyzed, 1018 had a known composition, 23 samples were stones with rare composition or fake urinary stones. Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), allows to identify, theoretically, any substance, including drug-containing calculi or calculi with unusual composition and identify false stones. This is mandatory to treat patients affected by urolithiasis with a personalized clinical approach.

A deep learning model for predicting chemical composition of gallstones with big data in medical Internet of Things

In this paper, we present a deep learning model for potentially diagnosing gallbladder stone with big data from medical Internet of Things. With the increasing trend of population aging and the change of people’s living habits, gallbladder stone is increasingly common around the world. Specially, gallstones can be classified into four types, i.e., cholesterol stones, bile pigment stones, mixed stones and other rare stones, based on the chemical composition of gallstones. Furthermore, the chemical composition directly determines the treatment options. Currently, medical Internet of Things enables the collection of big medical data from massive ultrasonic images, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of gallstones. However, it is a challenging issue to determine the exact chemical composition of gallstones from the collected big medical data. To tackle this issue, this paper presents a convolutional neural network to potentially learn the features of the collected data. Furthermore, we describe an effective learning approach for training the developed convolutional neural network. Finally, we analyze the characteristics of different types of gallstones, which can help improve our presented model to potentially determine the chemical composition of gallstones. The presented model can potentially obtain smart medical data from medical Internet of Things for assisted diagnose and treatment recommendation of gallbladder stones, aiming to build smart Internet of Things, especially smart health.

Remaking stone and community: indigenous Vepses’ engagement in mining in Northwestern Russia

ABSTRACTIndigenous peoples’ relations with the mining industry are often discussed by opposing traditional lifestyles and resource extraction; however, there are examples when an indigenous community develops strong bonds with mining. This article focuses on such an example and discusses the Vepses in Karelia (Northwestern Russia) and their historical engagement with the extraction of rare stones, namely gabbro-diabase and raspberry quartzite. This research presents a qualitative analysis of local newspapers and interviews conducted in 2015–2016 to provide a ‘cultural biography’ of stone in Vepsian villages and to analyze the changes of stone-related narratives in communities experiencing socioeconomic transition. Contemporary residents of Vepsian villages are largely dependent on stone and see it as the force influencing and forming their lives. They understand mining development as an outcome of Karelian natural richness and, therefore, as an essential continuation of nature. As a result, they remain attached to both mining and nature and view them as coexisting and interconnected elements. The research shows that historical involvement by indigenous peoples in stoneworking may become an important factor that influences local attitudes towards industrial development.