Oxford University Research Articles

Characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with pre-delta, delta and omicron SARS-CoV-2 infection in Indonesia (2020–2023): a multicentre prospective cohort study

Limited data exist from southeast Asia on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants and inactivated vaccines on disease severity and death among patients hospitalised with COVID-19. A multicentre hospital-based prospective cohort was enrolled from September 2020 through January 2023, spanning pre-delta, delta, and omicron periods. The participant hospitals were conveniently sampled based on existing collaborations, site willingness and available study resources, and included six urban and two rural general hospitals from East Nusa Tenggara, Jakarta, and North Sumatra provinces. Factors associated with severe disease and day-28 mortality were examined using logistic and Cox regression. Among 822 participants, the age-adjusted percentage of severe disease was 26.8% (95% CI 22.7-30.9) for pre-delta, 50.1% (44.0-56.2) for delta, and 15.2% (9.7-20.7) for omicron. The odds of severe disease were 64% (18-84%) lower for omicron than delta (p<0.001). One or more vaccine doses reduced the odds of severe disease by 89% (65-97%) for delta and 98% (91-100%) for omicron. Age-adjusted mortality was 11.9% (8.8-15.0) for pre-delta, 24.4% (18.8-29.9) for delta and 9.6% (5.2-14.0) for omicron. The day-28 cumulative incidence of death was lower for omicron (9.2% [5.6-13.9%]) than delta (28.6% [22.0-35.5%]) (p<0.001). Severe disease on admission was the predominant prognostic factor for death (aHR34.0 [16.6-69.9] vs mild-or-moderate; p<0.001). After controlling for disease severity on admission as an intermediate, the risk of death was 48% (32-60%) lower for omicron than delta (p<0.001); and 51% (38-61%; p<0.001) lower for vaccinated participants than unvaccinated participants overall, and 56% (37-69%; p<0.001) for omicron, 46% (-5 to 73%; p=0.070) for pre-delta (not estimable for delta). Infections by omicron variant resulted in less severe and fatal outcomes than delta in hospitalised patients in Indonesia. However, older, and unvaccinated individuals remained at greater risk of adverse outcomes. University of Oxford and Wellcome Trust.

The development of Japanese-English and English-Japanese parallel corpus, including search system and its utilisation

Parallel corpora play a central role in translation studies, contrastive linguistics, bilingual lexicography and language teaching/learning, facilitating the comparison of linguistic features across languages. But it is challenging to construct a parallel corpus and there are few of them. Also, they can quickly become outdated and unusable. Professor Yasunori Nishina, Faculty of Global Communication, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan, is an expert in applied translation, corpus linguistics and applied linguistics working to develop a website for searching Japanese-English and English-Japanese parallel corpora. He is revitalising an existing unusable, unsearchable corpus with assistance from Lago NLP. He has a keen focus on design as he wants to ensure diversity of genres and translation directions and, in a world first, is incorporating the ability to analyse parallel corpora. The tool that Nishina and Lago NLP are developing with support from the JSPS KAKENHI grant number 20K00692 (and 23K00599 from 2023) is called Parallel Link. Nishina will also collaborate with a researcher at the University of Oxford, UK, where experts who developed the Japanese corpus online search tool are based. The University has established a collaborative relationship with the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), which is the centre for Japanese language research, and has carried out joint projects of the Oxford NINJAL Corpus of Old Japanese (ONCOJ). Nishina has completed the development of version 1.20 of Parallel Link and intends to develop it to version 2.0 in the coming years.

Close but Not Cozy: How Robust Conversations between the Chair and the CEO Can Enhance Board Performance

Kathryn Bishop is Associate Fellow at the Said Business School at the University of Oxford and co‐author of Board Talk: 18 crucial conversations that count inside and outside the boardroom. In this article, she explores the key aspects of the CEO/board chair relationship in effective organizations.

An Interview with Professor Rosemary Bailey

Professor Rosemary A. Bailey is a giant in the field of applied statistics and design of experiments. She received her undergraduate and D.Phil degrees at the University of Oxford. Her 1974 D.Phil. dissertation was on finite permutation groups supervised by Professor Graham Higman [1917-2008) one of the three most significant British group theorists of the 20th century. She is Professor Emerita of Statistics at Queen Mary, University of London, and currently Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

ВИНИКНЕННЯ ТА РОЗВИТОК ОКСФОРДСЬКОЇ ФІЛОСОФІЇ ЯК ПЕРЕДУМОВА ФОРМУВАННЯ ФІЛОСОФІЇ ПОВСЯКДЕННОЇ МОВИ

B a c k g r o u n d . According to a common prejudice, especially prevalent among philosophers in the continental tradition, the philosophy of everyday language (sometimes referred to as Oxford philosophy), with its focus on what we usually say and mean, fundamentally expresses a positivist attitude. Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979), who significantly contributed to the spread of this view, interprets the appeal to the concept analysis in these philosophers' writings as purely ideological: it fails to recognize the constructed nature of the social and views the social as a domain of brute facts where critical thinking should cease. Therefore, to grasp the essence of the ordinary language philosophy, it is crucial to identify the prerequisites for the emergence of this philosophical style and delve into its historical context. M e t h o d s . In this article, the author employs the method of historical-philosophical reconstruction to clarify the conditions of the formation and genesis of Oxford philosophy. General scientific methods of cognition – such as analysis, synthesis, and generalization – are used to elucidate key ideas and concepts that influenced the development of Oxford philosophy's method. Additionally, methods of systematization and comparison are applied. R e s u l t s . The article identifies the historical prerequisites for the formation of Oxford philosophy, specifying the key ideas and concepts that impacted the development of the ordinary language philosophy. It clarifies the distinctions and interconnections between the concepts of the philosophy of everyday language and Oxford philosophy. C o n c l u s i o n s . For ten years following the end of the Second World War, the University of Oxford became a hub of exceptionally productive philosophical activity. This period laid the groundwork for the emergence of a new and original philosophical movement known as the "Ordinary language philosophy" or "Oxford philosophy". However, equating the ordinary language philosophy entirely with Oxford philosophy is not accurate. The former term pertains specifically to the methodology of analyzing natural language expressions in the post-World War II era. In contrast, Oxford philosophy encompasses a broader historical context, including the pre-war period of philosophical activity at the University of Oxford. Thus, Oxford philosophy should be understood as a historical-philosophical stage that ultimately led to the formation of the philosophy of everyday language.

A systematic review of the literature: Gender-based violence in the construction and natural resources industry.

Gender-based violence (GBV) poses a significant concern in the construction and natural resources industries, where women, due to lower social status and integration, are at heightened risk. This systematic review aimed to identify the prevalence and experience of GBV in the construction and natural resources industries. A systematic search across databases including PubMed, OVID, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL was conducted. The Risk of Bias Instrument for Cross-sectional Surveys of Attitudes and Practices by McMaster University and the Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Studies by the Center for Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford were used to assess the studies included in the review. Six articles were included after full-text analysis. GBV was reported in the construction, mining, urban forestry, and arboriculture sectors. Workplace GBV was measured differently across the studies, and all studies examined more than one form of GBV. The main forms of GBV discussed in these studies were discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexism. The studies provided some insight for demographic factors that may or may not be associated with GBV, such as age, region of work, and number of years working in the industry. The review also suggests that workplace GBV has a negative impact on mental health and well-being outcomes, such as higher levels of stress and lower job satisfaction. The current research has not established the effectiveness of interventions, tools, or policies in these workplaces. Thus, additional research should include intervention studies that aim to minimize or prevent GBV in male-dominated workplaces. The current study can bring awareness and acknowledgement towards GBV in the workplace and highlight the importance of addressing it as this review outlines the negative consequences of GBV on mental health and well-being in these male-dominated industries.

Modeling Adaptive Performance of the Academics in Selected Public Universities in Eastern Philippines during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis has prompted the implementation of new measures aimed at containing the virus, given its potential health threats to humanity. Studies indicate that the stringency of these policies is associated with a country’s performance in managing the pandemic. However, the literature still needs more coherent evidence on the relationship between policy stringency, COVID-19 management, and corruption perception, and thus, warrants further investigation. This study used data mining on publicly available datasets from 96 countries worldwide, which include Transparency International’s corruption perception index, COVID-19 stringency measures from the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, and COVID-19 management performance scores from the Lowy Institute. The researchers applied clustering techniques to group nations with similar characteristics and mediation analysis to explore the relationship between a country’s corruption perception and its COVID-19 stringency concerning its management performance. Findings revealed four clustered countries. Fourteen countries with less stringent policies and highly transparent tend to manage COVID-19-related indicators better. Thirty-six countries were imposing stricter policies with low scores in the corruption perception level inclined to have lower COVID-19 management performance. Forty-five countries with average stringency and corruption perception levels have average COVID-19 management performance. Meanwhile, the mediation results proposed no mediation effects of the corruption perception on the association of the policy severity and the COVID-19 management performance level of the 96 countries and all clustered countries. With these findings, this study hopes to enlighten policymakers to review the strictness of their policies, as it posits an inverse effect on the COVID-19 management performance of a country.

Mapping current trends and hotspots in myasthenia gravis from 2003 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis.

Research on myasthenia gravis (MG) has undergone rapid development in recent years. This article aimed to elucidate the characteristics of MG publications over the past 20 years and analyze emerging trends using bibliometric methods. Information on MG articles was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection and stored in Excel for quantitative analyses. Bibliometric analyses were performed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer to visualize publications according to countries/regions, institutions, journals, and authors. A total of 3,610 publications were included in the analysis. The USA had the highest number of publications (NP) and H-index. Among the institutions, the University of Oxford had the highest NP, followed by the University of Toronto and Duke University. Close cooperation was observed among countries and institutions. The most productive author was Renato Mantegazza, followed by Jan J. Verschuuren, and Amelia Evoli. Muscle & Nerve published the most articles on MG, followed by the Journal of Neuroimmunology and Neuromuscular Disorders. The keyword with the highest strength is "neuromuscular transmission," followed by "safety" and "rituximab." Co-citation analysis includes 103 publications cited at least 65 times, categorized into four clusters. Additionally, 123 keywords cited more than 40 times were analyzed and divided into five clusters. This bibliometric analysis shows the framework of research over the past 20 years by mapping the scholarly contributions of various countries or regions, institutions, journals, and authors in MG. The analysis also explores future trends and prospective directions, emphasizing individualized treatment based on subtypes, novel immunotherapeutic approaches, and thymectomy.

Type 2 Diabetes in Non-Sedentary Workers with Long Working Hours “An Evidence-Based Case Report”

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a serious threat to public health and the economy. Several reviews suggested that working long hours has a negative effect on health, especially metabolic disorders.Objective: To determine whether long working hours increase the incidence of diabetes mellitus in non-sedentary workers.Methods: A literature search using PubMed, Scopus, and Proquest was conducted based on the clinical question. Selected studies were critically reviewed for their validity using Oxford University’s Center for Evidence-Based Medicine’s etiological study criteria.Result: Three relevant studies were found. A cohort study found that non-clerical workers and shift workers with long working hours had a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes with a Hazard Ratio (HR) of 2.28 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.13-4.82). However, the dominant risk factor that may have influenced the outcomes could not be clearly identified. In contrast, a cross-sectional study found no significant association (p&gt;0.05) between working overtime and diabetes prevalence among field workers. Another cross-sectional study showed that blue-collar workers with long working hours had a higher likelihood of prediabetes with an adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) of 1.54 (95% CI 1.15-2.06). However, since this is a cross-sectional study, the causal relationship is uncertain. Conclusion: Studies regarding the relationship between long working hours and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in non-sedentary workers showed inconsistent and unclear results. Further evaluation is still needed to find more evidence on the health effects of long working hours on workers.

Preface

The Palaeogene Skaergaard intrusion, East Greenland, has since its first description by Wager &amp; Deer (1939) been a foremost natural laboratory for the study of low-pressure fractionation of basaltic melt. Ocean floors are composed of basalt and the processes that control compositions of basaltic melts are fundamental to the dynamics of the Earth. This special issue of GEUS Bulletin by Peter Thy, Christian Tegner and Charles E. Lesher is the most recent in a more than eighty year succession of trendsetting works on the evolution of the Skaergaard intrusion and evolution of basaltic melt. The early sample collections, housed in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, were used for the development of fractionation models, mapping of the distribution as well as the partition of major and trace elements between melts and liquidus phases in basaltic melts. These and many other studies resulted in the monumental “Layered Igneous Rocks”, edited by L.R. Wager and G.M. Brown (Wager &amp; Brown 1968). By the 1970s, the original collection in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge had seen extensive use. The science developed and new and more detailed sampling was now required. Fieldwork and sampling in the later part of the 20th century led to a flurry of new studies by more research groups, including Neil Irvine of Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory and the University of Oregon group lead by Alex McBirney. Despite all the efforts, no consensus was reached on the many fundamental chemical and physical processes in basaltic magma chambers. The available collections did not provide sufficiently systematic and detailed information for the modelling of the evolution of the basaltic melt and the genesis of the precious metal deposit that had been discovered in the intrusion. Exploration drill cores offered the possibility for tight stratigraphic sampling through &gt;1000 m of gabbro. In combination with surface sampling, a new standard profile with superior systematics could be established. In the summer of 2000, the Danish Lithosphere Centre (DLC) organised fieldwork and the transport of the drill cores to the Museum of Natural History in Copenhagen. This special issue is part of the legacy of the DLC and a fulfilment of the then envisaged potential of the Skaergaard intrusion for fundamental studies of processes in basaltic magma chambers. Thy et al. (2023, this volume) analyse and compile in unprecedented detail the variation in major and trace element compositions of bulk-rock samples and electron microprobe compositions of rock-forming minerals in the Layered Series on the floor of the intrusion. In addition, they include a wealth of information on all samples from the Skaergaard intrusion that are housed in museum, university and survey collections in Denmark, the UK and US, topographic and geological maps, aerial photographs in archives and images of thin sections used in the study. With all its data and appendices, the monograph is the most comprehensive collection of petrological information for the Skaergaard intrusion and the Layered Series on the floor of the intrusion, ever to have been made available for research. The detailed modelling presented re-evaluates petrogenetic constraints and tests petrogenetic models in the literature. The modelling is based on liquidus proportions established in experimental studies of appropriate melt compositions. Thy and co-authors conclude that evolution observed in the gabbros of the Layered Series is predominantly controlled by crystal fractionation of bulk liquid. Late in the evolution and above the boundary between Upper Zone a and b, the gabbros crystallised from ponded Fe-rich, immiscible melt. Redistribution of granophyric melts and decoupling of included and excluded trace elements, not only in bulk liquid but also in mush melts, complicates the modelling of trace element distributions in the late and evolved stages of crystallisation in the crystal mushes of the intrusion. This special issue is a treasure trove for all who study the intrusion and are searching for a data set to be matched with experimental and numeric modelling of low-pressure fractionation of basaltic melt. With this contribution, the Skaergaard intrusion continues to be a foremost natural laboratory for modelling of melts formed in solidifying basaltic magma chambers. Troels F.D. NielsenEmeritus, GEUS, Denmark

IT WORKS FOR US: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN EDUCATION, PRACTICE, AND POLICY IN GERONTOLOGY AT MIAMI UNIVERSITY

Abstract We describe a unique and successful partnership between the Department of Sociology and Gerontology and the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This partnership concurrently facilitates research that informs aging policy and gerontological training for students. After a brief description of the partnership, examples of current research that contributes to public policy at the federal, state, and local/provider levels are presented, along with students’ roles in these efforts. Next, we share factors that contribute to our success (e.g., attracting students from diverse backgrounds, using a shared mentorship model) and challenges (e.g., that research and policy move at different paces). We conclude with a look to the future, specifically, the need to engage students in our academic programs, maintain our long-standing relationships, and build new, cross-organizational ties so that future gerontologists will continue our mission of doing work that positively impacts older people.

Supramolecular Membrane Chemistry in the Langton Group.

This invited Team Profile was created by the Langton group in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford (UK). They recently published an article on a synthetic supramolecular signaling system, in which light is used to initiate the release of diffusible chemical signals from one population of vesicles to another. This triggers transmembrane cation transport in the receiver vesicles and amplifies the signal, in a manner reminiscent of signaling mechanisms in biology. "Inter-Vesicle Signal Transduction Using a Photo-responsive Zinc Ionophore", S. A. Gartland, T. G. Johnson, E. Walkley, M. J. Langton Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202309080.

Supramolecular Membrane Chemistry in the Langton Group

AbstractThis invited Team Profile was created by the Langton group in the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford (UK). They recently published an article on a synthetic supramolecular signaling system, in which light is used to initiate the release of diffusible chemical signals from one population of vesicles to another. This triggers transmembrane cation transport in the receiver vesicles and amplifies the signal, in a manner reminiscent of signaling mechanisms in biology. “Inter‐Vesicle Signal Transduction Using a Photo‐responsive Zinc Ionophore”, S. A. Gartland, T. G. Johnson, E. Walkley, M. J. Langton Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202309080.

Millstones from the settlement complex of Aquincum

Excavations carried out in several parts of the settlement complex of Aquincum (legionary fortress, Military and Civil Towns, villa estates) have so far revealed 250 complete or fragmentary hand querns and millstones of different types. Most were discovered reused in secondary contexts, but some were found in their original position (i.e. in the courtyards of town houses or villas).The cataloguing of this group of finds has just been completed (although new ones continue to be found in ongoing excavations), and therefore detailed research on the types, material, and economic significance has only just begun (in a cooperation between the University of Oxford and the BHM Aquincum Museum). This paper presents the preliminary results of this work on the find location and dating of these stones, as well as distinguishing between hand querns and water-mills. It explores the potential of this neglected group of Aquincum finds, and especially what they might suggest about the extent of the use of water-powered milling on the Roman frontier in Pannonia.

Oxford mathematics at a low ebb? An 1855 dispute over examination results

ABSTRACT Between December 1855 and March 1856, a public dispute raged, in British national newspapers and locally published pamphlets, between two teachers at the University of Oxford: the mathematical lecturer Francis Ashpitel and Bartholomew Price, the professor of natural philosophy. The starting point for these exchanges was the particularly poor results that had come out of the final mathematics examinations in Oxford that December. Ashpitel, as one of the examiners, stood accused of setting questions that were too difficult for the ordinary student, with the consequence that, in Price’s view, further mathematical study in Oxford – never as robust as in Cambridge – would be discouraged. We examine this short-lived affair, and use it not only to gain insight into the status of mathematical study in Oxford in the mid-nineteenth century, but also to point towards the increasing importance of competitive examinations in British public life at that time.

Памяти Найджела Ф. Палмера

The article is dedicated to the memory of Nigel F. Palmer (1946 – 2022), a regular contributor to ‘Odysseus’, an outstanding scholar, Emeritus Professor of German Medieval and Linguistic Studies, Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund Hall (University of Oxford), FBA.

A Degradation Empirical-Model-Free Battery End-of-Life Prediction Framework Based on Gaussian Process Regression and Kalman Filter

Predicting the battery’s end-of-life (EOL) with uncertainty quantification is critical for ensuring system safety and reliability. This paper presents a hybrid framework for battery EOL prediction and its uncertainty assessment based on Gaussian process regression (GPR) and Kalman filter (KF). First, a KF-based empirical-model-free state tracking phase is applied for the available partial battery degradation data. Then, the original time series forecasting problem of degradation curves is converted to the prediction of the virtual degradation rate and acceleration. Next, the prediction of the virtual degradation rate and acceleration is executed by the iterative GPR multi-step ahead prediction strategy with moving sliding windows. Finally, the uncertainty assessment is carried out based on the sliding window length determination process. The effectiveness of our proposed method is validated on the open-source lithium-ion battery degradation dataset from the University of Oxford. Extensive EOL prediction tests have been carried out from 40% (early-stage), 60% (middle-stage), and 80% (late-stage) of the dataset, respectively. Compared with the popular EOL prediction method within particle filter framework, the predicted mean EOL cycle by our method is closer to the true value with a smaller range of prediction uncertainty.

Real-World Study in Acute Leukemia: Epidemiology, Treatment Patterns and Outcomes for Newly Diagnosed AML in Adult Patients from Latin America - Loyal Study

Introduction. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most frequent leukemia among adults and representing 90% of all cases of acute leukemia in adults. Differences in incidence and burden of AML among regions of the world have been reported. When compared with registries from the US, UK and Sweden, Latin-America (LA) AML has a younger age at diagnosis (median age of 40-47 versus 64 -67 years old). Furthermore, single center studies have suggested poor treatment outcomes in LA. For example, Silveira et al reported a median age at diagnosis of 46 y, frequency of favorable cytogenetics of 26% and median overall survival (mOS) of 12 months in the Brazilian cohort of patients with newly diagnosed AML (nAML) whereas the respective values at Oxford University were 51.5y, 11% and 48 months in British patients. However, wider studies across the region are scarce and there is a need to further explore AML patient characteristics and treatment outcomes in LA. Methods. This is a non-interventional, retrospective multicenter study that aims to describe the epidemiology, clinical and demographic characteristics, treatment patterns, survival outcomes and healthcare resource use of adult patients with nAML in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. Data from medical records of eligible patients that met the inclusion criteria (≥ 18 years old at diagnosis, confirmed diagnosis of nAML between 01 January 2015 and 31 December 2019, and receiving at least one line of treatment) in these LA countries were considered for the analysis, which was descriptive in nature as no hypothesis has been tested. Results: A total of 518 nAML patients were included in the study, 166 from Argentina, 205 from Brazil, 63 from Chile, and 84 from Colombia. Table 1 shows the demographics and clinical characteristics. At treatment initiation, an evaluation of fitness (eligibility) for intensive chemotherapy was available for 94% of the patients (n=489). The majority were considered fit (75.5%; n=391) and received standard 7+3 therapy. About 11% of patients (n=9) were refractory to induction therapy. Median OS for fit patients was 11.9 months, whereas for unfit patients was 5.8 months. Mutational status of genes listed by the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) Classification of 2017 was not available for the majority of cases; risk categories were assigned based on cytogenetics. Patients in the favorable-risk category had a mOS of 30.5 months, whereas those in the intermediate- and unfavorable-risk had 11.1 and 9.1 months, respectively (Figure 1). The probability of 5year OS rates for favorable, intermediate- and unfavorable-risk groups were of 38.8%, 16.6% and 20.9%, respectively. Eighty-six patients (17%) discontinued treatment with reasons being adverse event/toxicity (33%; n=28), death (32%; n=27), and disease progression (17%; n=14). Only 24% of patients (n=125) underwent a subsequent stem cell transplantation (SCT), mainly allogenic (98%; n=121). For SCTs, identical (matched) related (50%; n= 59) and haploidentical donor (35%; n=41) were the most common. Patients not eligible to intensive chemotherapy were treated with HMA (9%; n=47) and LDAC (5%; n=25), with 10% of the patients receiving palliative/supportive care. The most common treatment protocols used in relapsed or refractory (R/R) patients were high-dose cytarabine (HDAC) (31%; n=85), followed by FLAG-IDA (24%; n=66). Conclusions: This study of newly diagnosed acute leukemia characterizes real-world treatment patterns and outcomes in LA clinical practices. Prior to this study, there has been limited published data on the epidemiology and treatment patterns across LA. This study highlights that for nAML patients, the most common treatment in LA is 7+3 and most patients are classified as fit. The vast majority of patients had their risk accessed by cytogenetics analysis only, reflecting the limited access to molecular tests. Fewer patients underwent stem cell transplantation as part of the treatment compared to that reported in US and Europe, probably due to restricted availability of hospital beds dedicated to bone marrow transplantation. When evaluating the overall survival, the study shows higher mOS for favorable risk. In addition, mOS for intermediate and poor cytogenetic risk were similar. A broader access in the region to molecular tests, transplant and new therapies are needed in order to reduce the gap in outcome, especially for patients with intermediate-risk.

Auditory Brainstem Response Data Preprocessing Method for the Automatic Classification of Hearing Loss Patients

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is the response of the brain stem through the auditory nerve. The ABR test is a method of testing for loss of hearing through electrical signals. Basically, the test is conducted on patients such as the elderly, the disabled, and infants who have difficulty in communication. This test has the advantage of being able to determine the presence or absence of objective hearing loss by brain stem reactions only, without any communication. This paper proposes the image preprocessing process required to construct an efficient graph image data set for deep learning models using auditory brainstem response data. To improve the performance of the deep learning model, we standardized the ABR image data measured on various devices with different forms. In addition, we applied the VGG16 model, a CNN-based deep learning network model developed by a research team at the University of Oxford, using preprocessed ABR data to classify the presence or absence of hearing loss and analyzed the accuracy of the proposed method. This experimental test was performed using 10,000 preprocessed data, and the model was tested with various weights to verify classification learning. Based on the learning results, we believe it is possible to help set the criteria for preprocessing and the learning process in medical graph data, including ABR graph data.

Aerodynamic and Thermal Field Development of Cooled Transonic HP NGV

Abstract In this study we present detailed aerodynamic and thermal field measurements downstream of an annular cascade of fully-cooled nozzle guide vanes (NGVs). The experiments were conducted in the Engine Component Aerothermal (ECAT) facility at the University of Oxford, at engine-matched conditions of Reynolds number and Mach number, and high turbulence intensity. The experimental data are unusually high-fidelity and allow for detailed comparison with modern computational fluids dynamics (CFD) methods. We compare the experimental data to simulations of fully-featured geometry (resolved internal geometry and film cooling holes). We analyze distributions of whirl angle, kinetic energy loss, and non-dimensional temperature at three axial planes downstream of the NGVs. The aerodynamic and thermal wakes are also characterized in terms of their spreading and decay rates. The analysis is deepened with detailed comparison to a previous data-set for a different design of heavily-cooled NGV. The analysis is a useful reference point for assessing the accuracy of the current state-of-the-art numerical methods used in the engine design process.