Total Span Research Articles

Monitoring crestal bone level of single- and two-stage implant placement modes up to final prosthetic delivery: an observational study.

To monitor and compare the nonsubmerged (single-stage, SS) and submerged (two-stage, TS) implant placement techniques up to the final prosthesis delivery. Marginal bone level and marginal bone loss rate of both surgical techniques were compared. Marginal bone level was measured, using an image processing program (ImageJ), from periapical radiographs at the times of placement (T0), exposure (Te), initial loading (T1), and at the final prosthetic delivery (T2), with a total time span of a mean of 13.2 ± 3.3 months. By timing normalization, marginal bone level and marginal bone loss rate (mm/month), following SS and TS implant placement techniques and other local and systemic parameters were analyzed. Asymmetric analyses using Mann-Whitney test followed by the correlation Pearson analyses were applied. A P value < .05 defined statistical significance. In total, 268 implants (42 patients) were monitored. Marginal bone loss rate was 0.15 ± 0.13 mm and 0.13 ± 0.11 mm, between T0 and T2, for the SS and TS techniques, respectively. Marginal bone level and marginal bone loss rate were higher among smokers for both techniques at various time points. Bruxers had higher marginal bone loss rate than nonbruxers between T0 and T1, and T0 and T2. Marginal bone loss rate around implants that were placed at the posterior maxilla was higher than those at the posterior mandible between T1 and T2. Interproximal implant distance correlated negatively with marginal bone loss rate between T0 and T2 (P < .05). The results suggest that both techniques achieved similar clinical outcome. Smoking, bruxism, anatomical location, and interproximal implant distance apparently affect the marginal bone level and marginal bone loss rate of both implant placement approaches. The implant placement surgical mode, combined with various systemic and/or anatomical factors could play a significant role in maintaining marginal osseous level around the implant neck.

Achieving ultra-large elastic strains in Nb thin films on NiTi phase-transforming substrate by the principle of lattice strain matching

Two-dimensional nanomaterials are able to sustain ultra-large elastic strains, which in turn hold potential to alter the many functional properties. However, to achieve such large elastic strains in macro-forms suitable for applications has been a challenge. This paper reports an innovative approach to overcome this challenge by using a martensitic transforming substrate to induce ultra-large elastic lattice strains in metallic thin films deposited on it, as demonstrated in a Nb film-on-NiTi substrate system. This design is based on a novel concept of “lattice strain matching” between the uniform elastic lattice strain of the Nb film and the uniform crystallographic lattice strain of the martensitic transformation of the NiTi substrate. By this principle, the Nb film was able to exhibit reversible elastic lattice strains between −3.66% in compression and+3.74% in tension, for a total elastic strain span of +7.40% (the maximum in one loading deformation) by mechanical deformation of the substrate. These elastic lattice strains are 10–20 times of what are possible for bulk Nb or metallic thin films on conventional substrates. The findings of this work offer a unique opportunity to use ultra-large elastic strains as a means to engineer and improve functional properties of thin film materials.

Concrete grade change in the layers of three-layer steel fibre reinforced concrete beams

Purpose: Determine the state of stress-strain, formation and development cracks, three-layer beam diagrams of load-compression stress, load-tension stress, load-vertical displacement relationships with a change in concrete grade. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents the results of an ANSYS numerical simulation analysis involving stress-strain state and cracking of the steel fiber concrete layers of three-layer reinforced concrete beams with the upper and lower layers. With a cross-section of 150x300 mm, a total span of 2200 mm and an effective length of 2000 mm, the middle is a normal concrete layer. Under two-point loads, all the beam samples were tested. The research simulated three-layer concrete beams in different layers of beams with a change in concrete grade, and compared with and without the use of steel fibers in layers of concrete beams, including the nonlinearity of the material considered. Findings: A diagram of the formation and development of cracks in three-layer concrete beams has been constructed by the study results, determining the load at which the concrete beams begin to crack, the load at which the concrete beams are damaged. In the middle of three-layer steel fiber reinforced concrete beams, load-compression stress, loadtension stress, load-vertical displacement relationships are established. Study results show that these three-layer concrete beams appear to crack earlier than in other cases in cases 2 and 3, but the beam bearing capacity is damaged at 67 kN, the earliest in case 3. And case 6 at 116 kN is the latest. The effects of case 1 and case 3 are small compared with and without the use of steel fibers in cases, while the effects of case 5 and case 6 are very high. Research limitations/implications: The research focuses only on the change of concrete grade in the layers, but the input parameters affecting three-layer steel fiber concrete beams have not been researched, such as the number of tensile steel bars, tensile steel bar diameter, steel fiber content in concrete, thickness variation in three-layer concrete beam layers, etc. Practical implications: Provides a result of experimental study and ANSYS numerical simulation in multi-layer steel fiber concrete beams. Originality/value: The analysis of multi-layered steel fiber concrete beams using experimental and simulation methods shows that other parameters influencing the beams will continue to analysis the working stages of three-layer beams.

Urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites, peripheral blood mitochondrial DNA copy number, and neurobehavioral function in coke oven workers

BackgroundPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the risk factors for workers’ neurological performance, which were widely exist in the occupational environment. ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the dose-response relationship between various PAH metabolites and workers’ neurobehavioral changes and to explore whether mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) can be used as a potential biomarker to reflect changes in neurobehavioral behavior. MethodA total of 697 workers were recruited from a coke oven plant. The concentrations of eleven PAHs metabolites were determined by HPLC-MS/MS. Peripheral blood mtDNAcn was measured using QPCR. Neurobehavioral function was measured by NCTB questionnaire. The dose-response relationships were evaluated using restricted cubic spline models. Mediation analysis was also carried out. ResultsWe found dose-response relationships between urinary 2-hydroxynaphthalene (2-OH Nap), sum of PAH metabolites (Ʃ –OH PAHs) and total digit span (DSP), backward digit span (DSPB), forward digit span (DSPF) and mtDNAcn. Each one-unit increase in ln-transformed of 2-OH Nap or Ʃ –OH PAHs was associated with a 2.64 or 3.22 decrease in DSP, a 1.20 or 1.58 decrease in DSPF, a 1.44 or 1.62 decrease in DSPB and a 0.13 or 0.12 decrease in mtDNAcn. However, we did not find a significant mediation effect of mtDNAcn between PAHs metabolites and DSP, DSPF, or DSPB. ConclusionOur data indicated that workers urinary 2-hydroxynaphthalene and sum of PAH metabolites levels were inversely associated with mtDNAcn and neurobehavior, especially their auditory memory. However, there was no significant mediation effect of mtDNAcn between urinary PAHs metabolites and neurobehavior.

Systolic Blood Pressure And Heart Rate Recovery Are Related To Cognition In Healthy Older Adults

SYNOPSIS: Attenuated heart rate recovery (HRR) and systolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR) after a maximal exercise test (VO2peak) are linked to cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF). The relationship between the presence of CVRF and reduced cognition is well established in older adults. Yet the explicit relationship between HRR or SBPR and cognition has yet to be studied in older adults, here we found that reduced HRR and SBPR were directly related to worse cognition. PURPOSE: To determine if a relationship exists between cognition and HRR or SBPR measured during a VO2peak test in older adults METHODS: Prior to enrollment in an intervention, a total of 68 participants (70±6yrs; 45 women) completed neuropsychological tests and a VO2peak incremental test on a cycle ergometer. After standard verifications at rest, heart rate and blood pressure were continuously monitored during the incremental test and a 3-minute recovery period. HRR was calculated as the first minute recovery heart rate subtracted from the maximal heart rate during the test, where lower numbers were interpreted as reduced recovery and increased likelihood of CVRF. SBPR was defined as the maximal reading during the test divided by the first- and third-minute recovery where a higher ratio indicates higher probability of CVRF. Correlations analyses were completed with sex, age and education as covariates. RESULTS: VO2peak was inversely related to Stroop inhibition reaction time (r = -0.275, p = 0.048). HRR approached significance with total digit span score (r= 0.230; p = 0.090). SBPR was negatively associated with Stroop inhibition reaction time (r = -0.327; p = 0.042) and Stroop switching reaction time (r = -0.379; p = 0.017) CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, we identified that there is a direct relationship between SBPR and cognitive outcomes. HRR and SBPR are early indicators of cardiovascular and endothelial dysfunction, thus, it could be that the relationship between cognition and CVRF are mediated by early vascular dysfunction that could be affecting upstream cerebral vascular health. This hypothesis could be confirmed in future work including larger samples of individuals as well as neuroimaging techniques.

Modal parameters of a transmission tower considering the coupling effects between the tower and lines

The modal parameters of transmission tower-line systems constitute the basis of their wind and seismic design. However, such structures become complicated spatial systems due to the coupling effects between the towers and lines, making it difficult to evaluate the modal parameters of a transmission tower. To study the tower-line coupling effects on the frequencies and mode shapes of a tower, a stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method for identifying modal parameters is first introduced. Then, a finite element model of a transmission tower-line system is established, and the influences of three transmission line parameters, namely, the total span length, span ratio and height difference angle, on the modal parameters are analyzed. An aeroelastic model of the tower-line system is fabricated, and a percussion experiment is performed. The simulated and experimental results both show that the first-order frequency increases with an increase in the total span length but is only slightly affected by changes in the span ratio and the height difference angle. For the wind and seismic design of transmission towers, to obtain reliable natural vibration characteristics, a complete tower-line system model should be established instead of a single tower model.

Evaluation of the Specific Attenuation Method for Radar-Based Quantitative Precipitation Estimation: Improvements and Practical Challenges

AbstractThis study demonstrates an implementation of the prototype quantitative precipitation R estimation algorithm using specific attenuation A for S-band polarimetric radar. The performance of R(A) algorithm is assessed, compared to the conventional algorithm using radar reflectivity Z, at multiple temporal scales. Because the factor α, defined as the net ratio of A to specific differential phase, is a key parameter of the algorithm characterized by drop size distributions (e.g., differential reflectivity Zdr dependence on Z), the estimation equations of α and a proper number of Zdr–Z samples required for a reliable α estimation are examined. Based on the dynamic estimation of α, the event-based evaluation using hourly rain gauge observations reveals that the performance of R(A) is superior to that of R(Z), with better agreement and lower variability. Despite its superiority, the study finds that R(A) leads to quite consistent overestimations of about 10%–30%. It is demonstrated that the application of uniform α over the entire radar domain yields the observed uncertainty because of the heterogeneity of precipitation in the domain. A climatological range-dependent feature of R(A) and R(Z) is inspected in the multiyear evaluation at yearly scale using rain totals for April–October. While R(Z) exposes a systematic shift and overestimation, each of which arise from the radar miscalibration and bright band effects, R(A) combining with multiple R(Z) values for solid/mixed precipitation shows relatively robust performance without those effects. The immunity of R(A) to partial beam blockage (PBB) based on both qualitative and quantitative analyses is also verified. However, the capability of R(A) regarding PBB is limited by the presence of the melting layer and its application requirement for the total span of differential phase (e.g., 3°), which is another challenge for light rain.

Copy number variation burden does not predict severity of neurodevelopmental phenotype in children with a sex chromosome trisomy.

Sex chromosome trisomies (SCTs) (XXX, XXY, and XYY karyotypes) are associated with an elevated risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The range of severity of the phenotype is substantial. We considered whether this variable outcome was related to the presence of copy number variants (CNVs)-stretches of duplicated or deleted DNA. A sample of 125 children with an SCT were compared with 181 children of normal karyotype who had been given the same assessments. First, we compared the groups on measures of overall CNV burden: number of CNVs, total span of CNVs, and likely functional impact (probability of loss-of-function intolerance, pLI, summed over CNVs). Differences between groups were small relative to within-group variance and not statistically significant on overall test. Next, we considered whether a measure of general neurodevelopmental impairment was predicted by pLI summed score, SCT versus comparison group, or the interaction between them. There was a substantial effect of SCT/comparison status but the pLI score was not predictive of outcomes in either group. We conclude that variable presence of CNVs is not a likely explanation for the wide phenotypic variation in children with SCTs. We discuss methodological challenges of testing whether CNVs are implicated in causing neurodevelopmental problems.

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis.

The El Argar society of the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (2200–1550 cal BCE) was among the first complex societies in Europe. Its economy was based on cereal cultivation and metallurgy, it was organized hierarchically, and successively expanded its territory. Most of the monumentally fortified settlements lay on steeply sloped mountains, separated by fertile plains, and allowed optimal control of the area. Here, we explore El Argar human diets, animal husbandry strategies, and food webs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred cereal grains as well as human and animal bone collagen. The sample comprised 75 human individuals from the sites of La Bastida (n = 52) and Gatas (n = 23), 32 domesticated and wild animals as well as 76 barley and 29 wheat grains from two chronological phases of a total time span of ca. 650 years. The grains indicate extensive cereal cultivation under rain-fed conditions with little to moderate application of manure. Especially at La Bastida, crops and their by-products contributed significantly to the forage of the domesticated animals, which attests to a strong interrelation of cultivation and animal husbandry. Trophic level spacing and Bayesian modelling confirm that human diets were largely based on barley with some contribution of meat or dairy products. A cross-sectional analysis of bone collagen suggests that children were breastfed until about 1.5–2 years old, and infants from Gatas may have suffered from more metabolic stress than those at La Bastida. Adults of both sexes consumed similar diets that reflect social and chronological variation to some extent. Despite significantly higher δ13C and δ15N values at La Bastida than at Gatas, the isotopic data of the staple crops and domestic animals from both sites indicate that such differences do not necessarily correspond to different average human diets, but to agricultural strategies. These results urge for a reassessment of previous isotope studies in which only human remains have been taken into account. The study highlights that disentangling the complex influences on human isotope compositions requires a firm set of comparative data.

Unrepeatered 240-km 64-QAM Transmission Using Distributed Raman Amplification over SMF Fiber

We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of unrepeatered transmission over standard single-mode fiber (SMF-28) using several schemes of distributed Raman amplification, including first, second, and dual order. In order to further extend the transmission distance, we utilize advanced bidirectional higher-order ultra-long Raman fiber laser-based amplification, where we use fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) to reflect Stokes-shifted light from the secondary pumps. Our work demonstrates the possibility of transmission up to 240-km span length with a total span loss of 52.7 dB. Here, we use a 28-Gbaud signal using a 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation format. Our results highlight the contribution of nonlinear compensation using digital back propagation in a digital signal processor (DSP) code at the receiver.

Cognitive impairment profile differences in patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and epilepsy patients with generalized seizures

ABSTRACTObjective: This study aimed to compare cognitive skills in epilepsy patients and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) patients who have no history of frequent seizures to those of a healthy control group.Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2017 and June 2019 and included 103 epilepsy patients, 100 PNES patients, and 101 healthy controls, aged 18 to 60 years. Patients with fewer than 12 annual seizure episodes and no history of seizures during the last 30 days were added to the study. A sociodemographic data form, the Beck Anxiety and Depression Scales, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Digit Span test, and Stroop Color-Word Interference Test were used.Results: Compared to the control group, sub-component scores were significantly lower in naming, attention, abstract thinking, and delayed recall for the epilepsy and PNES groups. Sub-component scores in orientation, executive functioning, and delayed recall were significantly lower in the epilepsy group compared to the PNES group. Digits Backward subtest scores and total Digit Span test scores were significantly lower in the epilepsy and PNES groups. Patients in the epilepsy and PNES groups took longer to complete the Stroop test and made more errors and corrections compared to the healthy controls. There was a negative correlation between the duration of the disease and the total Digit Span score in the epilepsy group.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the epilepsy group showed reduced cognitive scores even though they did not suffer from frequent seizures and were not drug-resistant.

Synthetic Aperture Focusing for Multi-Covariate Imaging of Sub-Resolution Targets.

Coherence-based imaging methods suffer from reduced image quality outside the depth of field for focused ultrasound transmissions. Synthetic aperture methods can extend the depth of field by coherently compounding time-delayed echo data from multiple transmit events. Recently, our group has presented the Multi-covariate Imaging of Sub-resolution Targets (MIST), an estimation-based method to image the statistical properties of diffuse targets. MIST has demonstrated improved image quality over conventional delay-and-sum, but like many coherence-based imaging methods, suffers from limited depth of field artifacts. This article applies synthetic aperture focusing to MIST, which is evaluated using focused, plane-wave, and diverging-wave transmit geometries. Synthetic aperture MIST is evaluated in simulation, phantom, and in vivo applications, demonstrating consistent improvements in contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) over conventional dynamic receive MIST outside the transmit depth of field, with approximately equivalent results between synthetic transmit geometries. In vivo synthetic aperture MIST images demonstrated 16.8 dB and 16.6% improvements in contrast and CNR, respectively, over dynamic receive MIST images, as well as 17.4 dB and 32.3% improvements over synthetic aperture B-Mode. MIST performance is characterized in the space of plane-wave imaging, where the total plane-wave count is reduced through coarse angular sampling or total angular span. Simulation and experimental results indicate wide applicability of MIST to synthetic aperture imaging methods.

Sex and standard levels differences in anthropometric and physical fitness characteristics in youth handball players

This study analyzed the relationships between throwing velocity and anthropometric and fitness parameters in young female and male handball players of different ages. A total of 159 players participated: females under-16 (FU16, n=44) and under-14 (FU14, n=21); males under-16 (MU16, n=54) and under-14 (MU14, n=40). The following was measured: body height, arm span, body mass, total finger span, hand length, maximal isometric handgrip force, handball throwing velocity, 20-m sprints, countermovement jump, and change of direction. Group MU16 showed significantly (p&amp;lt;.05) greater values of anthropometric characteristics than groups FU16 and MU14. No significant differences were observed between FU14 and MU14 in any of the anthropometric variables analyzed, or between the two female groups (FU16 vs. FU14). MU16 showed significantly (p&amp;lt;.05) better performance in all fitness parameters than FU16 and MU14. No significant differences were observed between FU14 and MU14 or between FU16 and FU14. Throwing performance correlated (p&amp;lt;.05) with almost all the anthropometric and fitness parameters evaluated within each group. Taken together, male handball players showed greater anthropometric and fitness characteristics in the U16 compared to the U14, whereas no substantial differences were observed in female handball players between the two groups. Handball throwing velocity is associated with body and hand dimensions and other physical performance parameters.

Factors affecting the inclination of extension scholars to work in rural areas

Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihoods in India. A total of 70.00% of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82.00% of farmers being small and marginal. Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. Generally, agricultural extension can be defined as the ‘delivery of information inputs to farmers’. As most of the farmers living in rural areas, hence it is very essential for postgraduate scholar pursuing agricultural extension should have positive inclination to work in rural areas. To know the willingness of postgraduate scholars to work in rural areas, this study was conducted amongst the postgraduate scholars of agricultural extension in all the four SAUs of Gujarat, thus a total of 120 scholars were selected for this study. The study findings reveal that more than half (51.70%) of the postgraduate scholars pursuing post-graduation in agricultural extension and communication had average level of willingness to work in rural area, followed by 40.80%, 5.00% and 2.50% of them were with high level, very high level and poor level of willingness to work in rural areas. Out of total 30 years of total active working span of whole life, nearly half (46.53%), that is, 13.96 average years of period they had willingness to work in rural area. Out of all the variables, five variables namely fathers’ education, mothers’ education, job preference, achievement motivation and innovativeness had positive and significant relationship with willingness of postgraduate scholars to work in rural area. Step-wise regression analysis reveals that 79.50 of the variation in the willingness of postgraduate scholars to work in rural area was explained by four variables in which job preference was ranked first, followed by achievement motivation (Rank II), innovativeness (Rank III) and occupation of parents (Rank IV), respectively.

Research on the Construction Characteristics of Stone-Built Folk Houses in Jiarong Tibetan Area &amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;—Take the Stone-Built Houses in Xisuo Village as an Example

The Jiarong Tibetan traditional residence is a characteristic regional architecture, located in a high-intensity, high-altitude and cold area, with geographic identification, and is a typical representative of this ethnic group. It has also become an important tourist destination and has important research value. The research used the methods of field survey surveying and mapping to conduct field survey and surveying on 20 buildings in Xisuo Village, a traditional village in the Jiarong Tibetan area. Measure building plans, elevations, and building sections, and collect measurement data for statistical analysis. The results show that the average total height of the building is 10.08 m, the average total building span is 12.44 m, the average total depth is 10.87 m, and the squareness is 0.87. The square shape of the building is more in line with the seismic requirements of high-intensity areas and the local terrain environment. The maximum window-wall ratio in the building is 0.18 south for the second floor, and 0.025 west for the first floor. Smaller window-to- wall ratios have better adaptability to high-altitude cold areas. The height of the building beam section is generally from 0.17 m to 0.32 m, and the average Beam span-depth ratio is 0.10. The building space construction has a good match with the properties of wood materials. These conclusions quantitatively analyze the characteristics of stone-built houses in high-intensity, high-altitude and cold areas, supplement the research on ethnic regional architecture, and provide materials and references for the design, repair and update of related buildings.

Leak detection in a gas pipeline using spectral portrait of acoustic emission signals

This paper proposes a reliable method to detect leaks and recognize their various sizes in a gas pipeline based on the spectral portrait of acoustic emission (AE) signals. Through analyzing the relation of leak syndromes and AE signals in the frequency domain, this paper demonstrates that leak identification only by signatures obtained from measured individual signals might be unreliable due to strong attenuation in wave propagation along pipelines. The proposed method constructs a vector quantity in the frequency domain from two AE signals simultaneously acquired by two sensor channels, combined with a wave propagation model. This quantity characterizes the spectral portrait of AE signals emitted from a leak, its signatures therefore reflect leakage syndromes the same as leak signals, whereas those of individual sensor-measurements involve considerable distortions. Hence, the accuracy and reliability of leak detection and recognition are improved by the approach using the spectral portrait-related quantity. This paper also describes bank filters designed to encode the spectral envelope of AE signals instead of observing their total continuous frequency span. Finally, a trained multi-class support vector machine (SVM) classifier is responsible for the leak categorization, exploiting a set of the most discriminative encoded spectral envelope (ESE) features. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms conventional algorithms in pattern separability quantified by Kullback-Leibler distance and classification accuracy.

Application of a new dynamic 3-D model to investigate human impacts on the fate of mercury in the global ocean

We developed a new global model to predict biogeochemical cycling of mercury in the ocean. We describe and evaluate the model, and discuss mercury levels, distribution, and budgets based on a simulation with a total time span of 260 years. The model is based on a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean chemical transport model, and considers methylated mercury production in the water column, followed by biotransfer to lower-order marine organisms including spatial and temporal variations in partitioning properties. Model validation shows that we can simulate total dissolved mercury (HgT) concentrations in the surface ocean with model data differences at a maximum of one order of magnitude. The simulated oceanic HgT content is currently (2010) 1.6–16.9 times larger than previously modeled estimates. The estimated overall turnover time of oceanic HgT determined by our model is 320 years, which is shorter than suggested by previous modeling studies.

Time-Frequency and Energy Correlations of the Transient Voltages Triggered by Cloud to Cloud Discharges

This paper presents a study performed on time, frequency, and energy correlations of transient voltages generated by the cloud to cloud discharges. It revealed that the energy embedded in transient voltages have been lumped over few segments of time domain voltage profile than uniquely scattering over the time span. The study further determined that the energy concentration becomes higher in and around the vicinity of the time domain voltage maxima or minima, and such high energy-concentrated segments confined to a minute time span in comparison to the total time span of the transient voltage. The study also established that there is a small time lead or lag between the time domain voltage maxima or minima and the time of energy maximize. Moreover, the analysis deduced that the time lead or time lag phenomenon, is not sensitive to the orientation of the time domain voltage profile, but fuelled by the pulse type. The response time of surge protective devices can become crucial if the stipulated clamping voltages of the protection devices fall close to local peaks of the transient voltages.

Working Memory Impairment in Euthymic State of Bipolar Disorder

Introduction: Cognitive deficits in bipolar disorders persist after the subsidence of active symptoms. This study was carried out to assess the working memory of patients with bipolar disorder in euthymic state.&#x0D; Material And Method: Forty euthymic bipolar patients attending a tertiary care mental hospital with equal number of matched controls in terms of age, sex and education were included in the study. Working memory assessments was done using WAIS-III digit span subtest.&#x0D; Results: The mean of total digit span test for case group was 8.48±2.04 similarly it was 10.33±2.32 for the controls. The result showed that the mean digit span of cases and control groups are significantly different (p value of &lt; 0.01). The Pearsons correlation between the clinical variables and working memory test in euthymic bipolar patients (case group) was found that the total score for digit span test was negatively correlated with all other clinical variables However, this correlation was found to be non-significant.&#x0D; Conclusion: The working memory impairment persists in remitted bipolar disorder patients and this may represent underlying trait abnormality not the state abnormality.

Hydraulic Computer Analysis of a River Sector Under Altered Flowing Regime Due to an Existing Bridge and Suggested Specific Correction Works

The paper presents a 2D numerical modelling of the water flow transit under an altered regime on Strei River, specifically for a 633m stretch influenced by a driveway crossing concrete structure of four gaps (about 71m total span) on a national road outside of Deva Town, Romania. The analysis considers a possible (and requested by specialised regulations) accidental highwaters flow development as assimilated from a specific hydrologic phenomenon that occurred on site during the special spring season of 2000. Taking into consideration the findings and general flow improvement suggestions of a technical expertise ordered by the rivers national administration, the present developed hydraulic model follows the technical recommendations of a formerly feasibility study with respect to streambed correction in the range of the mentioned bridge, specifically the downstream accomplishment of a bottom step (for scourings re-siltation) and two left side river groins (to direct the stream flow towards the central span of a following railway bridge, not covered by present model), accompanied by banks protection and alluvia deposits removing works. Under the given flow and geometry conditions, the study accomplished by the help of HEC-RAS 5.0.6 specialized software package looks to estimate the water surface level and velocity development in space and time, and so to draw the future state of flow transition along the analysed sector. As about the simulation output, the most important conclusions are that the riverbed would be able to discharge the significant flow of 0.1% overrunning probability at a maximum surface level below the structure safety values. In the same time, the reached velocity and particle tracking visualizations suggest a more stable and efficient riverbed time behaviour.