11,133 research outputs found
Fuzzy logic as a decision-making support system for the indication of bariatric surgery based on an index (OBESINDEX) generated by the association between body fat and body mass index
Background: A Fuzzy Obesity Index (OBESINDEX) for use as an alternative in bariatric surgery indication (BSI) is presented. The search for a more accurate method to evaluate obesity and to indicate a better treatment is important in the world health context. BMI (body mass index) is considered the main criteria for obesity treatment and BSI. Nevertheless, the fat excess related to the percentage of Body Fat (%BF) is actually the principal harmful factor in obesity disease that is usually neglected. This paper presents a new fuzzy mechanism for evaluating obesity by associating BMI with %BF that yields a fuzzy obesity index for obesity evaluation and treatment and allows building up a Fuzzy Decision Support System (FDSS) for BSI.

Methods: Seventy-two patients were evaluated for both BMI and %BF. These data are modified and treated as fuzzy sets. Afterwards, the BMI and %BF classes are aggregated yielding a new index (OBESINDEX) for input linguistic variable are considered the BMI and %BF, and as output linguistic variable is employed the OBESINDEX, an obesity classification with entirely new classes of obesity in the fuzzy context as well is used for BSI.

Results: There is a gradual, smooth obesity classification and BSI when using the proposed fuzzy obesity index when compared with other traditional methods for dealing with obesity.

Conclusion: The BMI is not adequate for surgical indication in all the conditions and fuzzy logic becomes an alternative for decision making in bariatric surgery indication based on the OBESINDEX
Dynamics of localized spins coupled to the conduction electrons with charge/spin currents
The effects of the charge/spin currents of conduction electrons on the
dynamics of the localized spins are studied in terms of the perturbation in the
exchange coupling between them. The equations of motion for the
localized spins are derived exactly up to , and the equations for
the two-spin system is solved numerically. It is found that the dynamics
depends sensitively upon the relative magnitude of the charge and spin
currents, i.e., it shows steady state, periodic motion, and even chaotic
behavior. Extension to the multi-spin system and its implications including
possible ``spin current detector'' are also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, REVTe
Fuzzy logic as a decision-making support system for the indication of bariatric surgery based on an index (MAFOI) generated by the association between body fat and body mass index.
Background: A fuzzy obesity index (MAFOI) for use as an alternative to bariatric surgery indication (BSI) is presented. The search for a more accurate method to evaluate obesity and to indicate a better treatment is important in the world health context. BMI (body mass index) is considered the main criteria for obesity treatment and BSI. Nevertheless, the fat excess related to the percentage of Body Fat (%BF) is actually the principal harmful factor in obesity disease that is usually neglected. This paper presents a new fuzzy mechanism for evaluating obesity by associating BMI with %BF that yields a fuzzy obesity index for obesity evaluation and treatment and allows building up a Fuzzy Decision Support System (FDSS) for BSI. Methods: Seventy-two patients were evaluated for both BMI and %BF. These data are modified and treated as fuzzy sets. Afterwards, the BMI and %BF classes are aggregated yielding a new index (MAFOI) for input linguistic variable are considered the BMI and %BF, and as output linguistic variable is employed the MAFOI, an obesity classification with entirely new classes of obesity in the fuzzy context as well as is used for BSI. Results: There is gradual, smooth obesity classification and BSI when using the proposed fuzzy obesity index when compared with other traditional methods for dealing with obesity.
Conclusion: The BMI is not adequate for surgical indication in all the conditions and fuzzy logic becomes an alternative for decision making in bariatric surgery indication based on the MAFOI
A first assessment of operator compliance and dolphin behavioural responses during swim-with-dolphin programs for three species of Delphinids in the Azores
The popularity of swim-with wild dolphin programs around the world is fast growing, with the studies required to investigate their impact lagging behind. In the Azores, species targeted include the short-beaked common (Delphinus delphis), the bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). To evaluate the effects of this activity on local dolphin populations, and thus provide support for management decisions, dolphin response data were collected onboard commercial boats off São Miguel Island between 2013 and 2015. All three species revealed high degree of neutral and avoidance behaviours, and very low approach rates. Tursiops showed higher frequency of neutral responses than Delphinus, while Stenella both avoided and approached more frequently than the other species. When boats intersected the path of dolphin groups, avoidance responses were more likely and the duration of swims was shorter. Swims were also shorter when animals were resting and travelling, and when groups were smaller. The operators generally complied with the legislation, except in respect to the number of swim attempts per dolphin group, which was higher than the legal maximum. Improvement of the current legislation and concurrent reinforcement of controls is essential to avoid detrimental long-term effects of this activity on dolphin populations in the Azores.This research was partially supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE – Operational Competitiveness Programme and national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/2013, by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020 and by cE3c funding (Ref:UID/BIA/003329/2013). It was also partly supported by CIRN (Centro de Investigação de Recursos Naturais, University of the Azores), and CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Porto, Portugal). A. Cecchetti was supported by the Regional Fund for Science through the scholarship M.3.1.2/F/036/2011. K.A. Stockin was supported by a Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Small quark stars in the chromodielectric model
Equations of state for strange quark matter in beta equilibrium at high
densities are used to investigate the structure (mass and radius) of compact
objects. The chromodielectric model is used as a general framework for the
quark interactions, which are mediated by chiral mesons, and , and by a confining chiral singlet dynamical field, . Using a
quartic potential for , two equations of state for the same set of model
parameters are obtained, one with a minimum at around the nuclear matter
density and the other at . Using the latter
equation of state in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations we found
solutions corresponding to compact objects with km and . The phenomenology of recently discovered X-ray sources is compatible
with the type of quark stars that we have obtained.Comment: 8 pages, AIP macros; Talk delivered at the Pan American Advanced
Studies Institute (PASI) Conference "New States of Matter in Hadronic
Interactions", Campos do Jordao, Brazil, January 200
Invasive monitoring of the clinical effects of high intra-abdominal pressure for insertion of the first trocar.
Background: To analyze the effects of transitory, high intra-abdominal pressure on clinical, hemodynamic, blood gas and metabolic parameters.

Methods: Sixty-seven laparoscopic patients were divided into groups P12 (n = 30, maximum intra-abdominal pressure of 12 mmHg) and P20 (n = 37, maximum intra-abdominal pressure of 20 mmHg). Through radial artery cannulation, mean arterial pressure (MAP) was assessed and blood gas analysis – pH, arterial oxygen tension (PaO2), arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2), bicarbonate (HCO3) and base excess (BE) – was performed. These parameters were evaluated in both groups at time point zero, before CO2 insufflation; at time point one (TP1), when intra-abdominal pressure of 12 mmHg was reached in both groups; at time point two (TP2), 5 minutes after reaching intra-abdominal pressure of 12 mmHg in group P12 and of 20 mmHg in group P20; and at time point three (TP3), 10 minutes after reaching intra-abdominal pressure of 12 mmHg in group P12 and 10 minutes after TP1 in group P20, when intra-abdominal pressure decreased from 20 mmHg to 12 mmHg. Values out of the normal range or the occurrence of atypical phenomena suggestive of organic disease indicated clinical changes.

Results: Significant variations in MAP, pH, HCO3 and BE were observed in group P20; these changes, however, were within normal limits. Clinical changes were also within normal limits, and no pathological phenomena were observed.

Conclusions: Brief, intra-abdominal hypertension for the insertion first trocar insertion causes variations in MAP, pH, HCO3 and BE without adverse effects, and it may protect from iatrogenic injury
Relationship of arterial and exhaled CO2 during elevated artificial pneumoperitoneum pressure for introduction of the first trocar.
The present study evaluated the correlation between arterial CO2 and exhaled CO2 during brief high-pressure pneumoperitoneum. Patients were randomly distributed into two groups: P12 group (n=30) received a maximum intraperitoneal pressure of 12mmHg, and P20 group (n=37) received a maximum intraperitoneal pressure of 20mmHg. Arterial CO2 was evaluated by radial arterial catheter and exhaled CO2 was measured by capnometry at the following time points: before insufflation, once intraperitoneal pressure reached 12mmHg , 5 minutes after intraperitoneal pressure reached 12mmHg for the P12 group or 20mmHg for the P20 group, and 10 minutes after intraperitoneal pressure reached 12mmHg for the P12 group or when intraperitoneal pressure had decreased from 20mmHg to 12mmHg, for the P20 group. During brief durations of very high intraperitoneal pressure (20mmHg), there was a strong correlation between arterial CO2 and exhaled CO2. Capnometry can be effectively used to monitor patients during transient increases in artificial pneumoperitoneum pressure
Drawing close: on visual engagements in fieldwork, drawing workshops and the anthropological imagination
Participatory visual methods are becoming the new hype in anthropology. Researchers tend to present participatory visual methods as attractive approaches to not only promote innovative research that engages informants in original and collaborative ways but to engage students eager to find bridges between the academic world and a world progressively addicted to visual consumerism. Unlike photographing and filming, doodling-sketching-drawing – participatory or not – is more about linear image mental processing and communicating (and thus somewhat akin to handwriting, lack of linguistic encoding and propositionality notwithstanding) than an “objective” visual method. Based on discussions from a workshop dedicated to “ethnographic drawing” in the University of Aberdeen, we propose to tackle some of the features of the drawing practice, hoping that its much-misunderstood potential as a knowledge tool helps us reconsider what anthropological understanding is.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Reverse engineering forces responsible for dynamic clustering and spreading of multiple nuclei in developing muscle cells
How cells position organelles is a fundamental biological question. During Drosophila embryonic muscle development, multiple nuclei transition from being clustered together, to splitting into two smaller clusters, to spreading along the myotube's length. Perturbations of microtubules and motor proteins disrupt this sequence of events. These perturbations do not allow intuiting which molecular forces govern the nuclear positioning; we therefore used computational screening to reverse engineer and identify these forces. The screen reveals three models: two suggest that the initial clustering is due to the nuclear repulsion from the cell poles, while the third, most robust, model poses that this clustering is due to a short-ranged internuclear attraction. All three models suggest that the nuclear spreading is due to the long-ranged internuclear repulsion. We test the robust model quantitatively by comparing it to data from perturbed muscle cells. We also test the model by using agent-based simulations with elastic dynamic microtubules and molecular motors. The model predicts that, in longer mammalian myotubes with a great number of nuclei, the spreading stage would be preceded with segregation of the nuclei into a large number of clusters, proportional to the myotube length, with a small average number of nuclei per cluster
Simulation of gain stability of THGEM gas-avalanche particle detectors
Charging-up processes affecting gain stability in Thick Gas Electron
Multipliers (THGEM) were studied with a dedicated simulation toolkit.
Integrated with Garfield++, it provides an effective platform for systematic
phenomenological studies of charging-up processes in MPGD detectors. We
describe the simulation tool and the fine-tuning of the step-size required for
the algorithm convergence, in relation to physical parameters. Simulation
results of gain stability over time in THGEM detectors are presented, exploring
the role of electrode-thickness and applied voltage on its evolution. The
results show that the total amount of irradiated charge through electrode's
hole needed for reaching gain stabilization is in the range of tens to hundreds
of pC, depending on the detector geometry and operational voltage. These
results are in agreement with experimental observations presented previously
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