Search Results (10)

This study articulates how naming and family trees can become epic texts upon which intended or unintended meanings, identities and narratives can be decoded, including mutations in families, as basic units of society. Many studies in African anthroponym have articulated names and naming from differing perspectives, but have tended to ignore the diachronic and synchronic significance of looking at family trees which are woven in time and space through naming. Within the framework of Darwinian Theory of Evolution, we used in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of respondents from the Bette people of the Obudu local government area, to enable us to build family trees which were subtextually analyzed for meaning and mutations through six generations. Our findings enabled us to develop deeper insights into how a longitudinal articulation of naming and family trees can enhance our understanding of the synchronic realities, increased cultural aliteracy, dislocation of homesteads due to occupational shifts, changing ideas of kinship, patriarchal attitudes towards women and challenge of new technologies like DNA testing and new media within the Bette traditional kinship tradition. Significantly, naming and family trees, beyond dynastic delineations for identity, inclusivity and otherness, can become signifiers of a people’s epic progression and mutation, and, as it were, a tapestry of significant narratives of micro and macro family history. Full article

(1) Background: This study aimed to analyse the hydrodynamic performance of two generations of self-expanding transcatheter heart valves (THV) as a valve-in-valve (ViV) in different surgical aortic valve (SAV) models under standardised conditions. The nitinol-based Evolut R valve is frequently used in ViV procedures. It is unclear whether its successor, the Evolut PRO, is superior in ViV procedures, particularly considering the previously implanted SAV model. (2) Methods: Evolut^TM R 26 mm and Evolut^TM PRO 26 mm prostheses were implanted in nine 21 mm labelled size SAV models (Hancock^® II, Mosaic^® Ultra^TM, Epic^TM Supra, Trifecta^TM GT, Perimount^®, Perimount^® Magna Ease, Avalus^TM, Intuity^TM, Freestyle^®) to analyse their hydrodynamic performance under defined circulatory conditions in a pulse duplicator. (3) Results: Both THVs presented with the lowest effective orifice area (EOA) and highest mean pressure gradient (MPG) inside Hancock^® II, whereas THVs in Intuity showed the highest EOA and lowest MPG. Evolut R and Evolut PRO showed significant hydrodynamic differences depending on the SAV. Both THVs performed similarly in porcine valves. Although the Evolut R performed better than Evolut PRO in stented bovine SAVs, the Evolut PRO was superior inside the Intuity. Further, the SAV model design markedly influenced the TAV’s geometric orifice area and pin-wheeling index. (4) Conclusions: These findings show that the Evolut R and Evolut PRO perform differently depending on the previously implanted SAV model. THV selection for treatment of a specific SAV model should consider these results. Full article

This study presents the projected future evolution of water resource balance and nitrate pollution under various climate change scenarios and climatic models using a holistic approach. The study area is Almyros Basin and its aquifer system, located in Central Greece, Thessaly, Greece. Almyros Basin is a coastal agricultural basin and faces the exacerbation of water deficit and groundwater nitrate pollution. Using an Integrated Modeling System (IMS), which consists of the surface hydrology model (UTHBAL), the nitrate leachate model (REPIC, an R-ArcGIS-based EPIC model), the groundwater hydrology model (MODFLOW), and the nitrates’ advection, dispersion, and transport model (MT3MDS), the projected values of the variables of water quantity and quality are simulated. Nineteen climatic models from the Med-CORDEX database were bias-corrected with the Quantile Empirical Mapping method and employed to capture the variability in the simulated surface and groundwater water balance and nitrate dynamics. The findings indicate that future precipitation, runoff, and groundwater recharge will decrease while temperature and potential evapotranspiration will increase. Climate change will lead to reduced nitrogen leaching, lower groundwater levels, and persistent nitrate pollution; however, it will be accompanied by high variability and uncertainty, as simulations of IMS under multiple climatic models indicate. Full article

Many medication errors in the hospital setting are due to manual, error-prone processes in the medication management system. Closed-loop Electronic Medication Management Systems (EMMSs) use technology to prevent medication errors by replacing manual steps with automated, electronic ones. As Finnish Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) establishes its first closed-loop EMMS with the new Epic-based Electronic Health Record system (APOTTI), it is helpful to consider the history of a more mature system: that of the United States. The U.S. approach evolved over time under unique policy, economic, and legal circumstances. Closed-loop EMMSs have arrived in many U.S. hospital locations, with myriad market-by-market manifestations typical of the U.S. healthcare system. This review describes and compares U.S. and Finnish hospitals’ EMMS approaches and their impact on medication workflows and safety. Specifically, commonalities and nuanced differences in closed-loop EMMSs are explored from the perspectives of the care/nursing unit and hospital pharmacy operations perspectives. As the technologies are now fully implemented and destined for evolution in both countries, perhaps closed-loop EMMSs can be a topic of continued collaboration between the two countries. This review can also be used for benchmarking in other countries developing closed-loop EMMSs. Full article

Aim: To evaluate the evolution of addictions (tobacco and alcohol) and social precarity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma survivors when these factors are addressed from the time of diagnosis. Methods: Addictions and social precarity in patients with a new diagnosis of HNSCC were assessed through the EPICES score, the Fagerström score, and the CAGE questionnaire. When identified as precarious/dependent, patients were referred to relevant addiction/social services. Results: One hundred and eighty-two patients were included. At the time of diagnosis, an active tobacco consumption was associated with alcohol drinking (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001). Active smokers were more socially deprived (mean EPICES score = mES = 36.2 [±22.1]) than former smokers (mES = 22.8 [±17.8]) and never smokers (mES = 18.9 [±14.5]; Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001). The EPICES score was correlated to the Fagerström score (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001). Active drinkers (mES = 34.1 [±21.9]) and former drinkers (mES = 32.7 [±21]) were more likely to be socially deprived than those who never drank (mES = 20.8 [±17.1]; Krukal-Wallis, p < 0.001). A Fagerström score improvement at one year was associated to a CAGE score improvement (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001). Tobacco and alcohol consumption were more than halved one year after treatment. Patients who continued to smoke one year after diagnosis were significantly more likely to continue to drink (Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.001) and had a significantly higher initial EPICES score (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001). Conclusions: At one year, addictions and social deprivation tend to improve when taken care of from the diagnosis. The most dependent patients and those with multiple frailties are at highest risk of cessation failure. Full article

(1) Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder represented by the progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons, it decreases the individual’s motor functions and affects the execution of movements. There is a real need to include quantitative techniques and reliable methods to assess the evolution of PD. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed the variability of wrist RUD (radial and ulnar deviation) and FE (flexion and extension) movements measured by two pairs of capacitive sensors (PS25454 EPIC). The hypothesis was that PD patients have less variability in wrist movement execution than healthy individuals. The data was collected from 29 participants (age: 62.13 ± 9.7) with PD and 29 healthy individuals (60.70 ± 8). Subjects performed the experimental tasks at normal and fast speeds. Six features that captured the amplitude of the hand movements around two axes were estimated from the collected signals. (3) Results: The movement variability was greater for healthy individuals than for PD patients (p < 0.05). (4) Conclusion: The low variability seen in the PD group may indicate they execute wrist RUD and FE in a more restricted way. The variability analysis proposed here could be used as an indicator of patient progress in therapeutic programs and required changes in medication dosage. Full article

Main-sequence stars with convective envelopes often appear larger and cooler than predicted by standard models of stellar evolution for their measured masses. This is believed to be caused by stellar activity. In a recent study, accurate measurements were published for the K-type components of the 1.62-day detached eclipsing binary EPIC 219511354, showing the radii and temperatures for both stars to be affected by these discrepancies. This is a rare example of a system in which the age and chemical composition are known, by virtue of being a member of the well-studied open cluster Ruprecht 147 (age~3 Gyr, [Fe/H] = +0.10). Here, we report a detailed study of this system with nonstandard models incorporating magnetic inhibition of convection. We show that these calculations are able to reproduce the observations largely within their uncertainties, providing robust estimates of the strength of the magnetic fields on both stars: 1600 ± 130 G and 1830 ± 150 G for the primary and secondary, respectively. Empirical estimates of the magnetic field strengths based on the measured X-ray luminosity of the system are roughly consistent with these predictions, supporting this mechanism as a possible explanation for the radius and temperature discrepancies. Full article

The purpose of this extension of the ESM’2019 conference paper is to propose some means to implement an artificial thinking model that simulates human psychological behavior. The first necessary model is the time fuzzy vector space model (TFVS). Traditional fuzzy logic uses fuzzification/defuzzification, fuzzy rules and implication to assess and combine several significant attributes to make deductions. The originality of TFVS is not to be another fuzzy logic model but rather a fuzzy object-oriented model which implements a dynamic object structural, behavior analogy and which encapsulates time fuzzy vectors in the object components and their attributes. The second model is a fuzzy vector space object oriented model and method (FVSOOMM) that describes how-to realize step by step the appropriate TFVS from the ontology class diagram designed with the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The third contribution concerns the cognitive model (Emotion, Personality, Interactions, Knowledge (Connaissance) and Experience) EPICE the layers of which are necessary to design the features of the artificial thinking model (ATM). The findings are that the TFVS model provides the appropriate time modelling tools to design and implement the layers of the EPICE model and thus the cognitive pyramids of the ATM. In practice, the emotion of cognitive dissonance during buying decisions is proposed and a game addiction application depicts the gamer decision process implementation with TFVS and finite state automata. Future works propose a platform to automate the implementation of TFVS according to the steps of the FVSOOMM method. An application is a case-based reasoning temporal approach based on TFVS and on dynamic distances computing between time resultant vectors in order to assess and compare similar objects’ evolution. The originality of this work is to provide models, tools and a method to design and implement some features of an artificial thinking model. Full article

The Berg cloud feature in the atmosphere of Uranus was first identified as a persistent grouping of clouds located just off the bright South Polar Collar at a latitude of around −34 degrees. Ongoing observations of this feature through the 1990s and 2000s suggested that the feature was oscillating in location by a few degrees in latitude for several years, and then unexpectedly began to drift towards the equator, which continued over the final 4 years until the cloud dissipated. One possible explanation for such a persistent drifting cloud is that it is a cloud-vortex system, in which an unseen vortex drives the creation of the cloud and the motions of the vortex control the cloud location. To explore this possibility, a series of vortices are studied numerically using the Explicit Planetary Isentropic Coordinate General Circulation Model (EPIC GCM). The evolution of these test vortices are simulated to examine their drift rates and the potential for cloud formation. The results indicate that conditions on Uranus could result in an equatorward drifting vortex over a range of latitudes and that significant cloud formation could occur, potentially obscuring observations of the vortex. Full article

The ‘Epic of Evolution’ is the scientific story that reveals that we live in an approximately 14-billion-year-old universe on a planet that is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that we are a part of the ongoing process of life that has existed on Earth for 3.5–4 billion years. This article focuses on the religious and ecological significance of the evolutionary epic in an effort to seamlessly connect the ecological value attributed as a part of an understanding of the evolutionary connectedness of life on earth with the Divine grace understood to be present in Christian sacramental worship. With a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, I argue that the sacramental perspective of grace being conveyed through material reality provides the potential for Christian sacramental tradition to make a significant contribution to protecting the threatened ecological communities of our planet. By incorporating William Temple’s concept of a ‘sacramental universe,’ I propose that the grace that is understood to be present in the substances of the bread and wine of the Eucharist points outward so that it can also be witnessed in all of God’s ongoing Creation. When the Eucharist is understood as taking place in a sacramental universe from which ecological grace flows; the incarnation can be recognized not as a one-time event but as an ongoing sacramental process through which God is revealed through the perpetual emergence of life. Consequently, as the primary form of sacramental worship in Christian tradition, the Eucharistic witness to the incarnation of God in Jesus and thanksgiving for life overcoming death provide Christians with a ritual orientation for recognizing the incarnational presence of God as an ever-present reality potentially witnessed in all that is. Therefore, the formal sacrament of the Eucharist is a part of a broader sacramental ecology of earthly life in which the presence of Divine grace can be witnessed in all aspects of the natural order. As a result, connecting Eucharistic grace with the value associated with an awareness of the ecological and genetic connectedness of all forms of life serves as a mutual enrichment of sacramental tradition and contemporary efforts to protect life on Earth. Full article