Oral Health and Quality of Life: A Clinic-Based Sample

Attachment loss due to periodontal diseases is associated with functional limitations as well as physical pain and psychological discomfort, which may lead to a reduced quality of life. This manuscript is intended to answer the question, if periodontal status has an effect on oral health related quality of life. Survey data were collected in an U.S. dental school clinical setting from n=97 adults (54% females, average age 51 years) in a cross- sectional study. Quality of life related to oral health was assessed with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49). Additional measures using the DMFT index, periodontal status, dental anxiety, as well as health literacy scores (dental and medical health literacy) were recorded and statistically analyzed. Descriptive statistics, including ANOVA and the t-test for comparison of scores within the cohort and Spearman’s correlation coefficient as well as a logistic regression model were used for further data analysis.44% of the subjects were identified as periodontitis cases (PC). These periodontitis cases demonstrated significantly lower OHIP-49 scores (66.93 ± 30.72) than subjects without signs of periodontal diseases (NP) (32.40 ± 19.27, p\u3c0.05). There was also a significant difference between NP patients and patients with Gingivitis (66.24 ± 46.12, p\u3c0.05). In an attempt to incorporate the new periodontal staging classification and distinguish between stages of disease, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between Stage 3 (severe) Periodontitis and Health (p = 0.003). Pearson correlations were completed and positive relationships were found with OHIP and DMFT (0.206, p\u3c0.05), Modified Dental Anxiety (MDAS) (0.310, p\u3c0.05), and Periodontal Risk Self- Assessment (PRSA) (0.237, p\u3c0.05).Periodontal diseases may negatively impact the oral health-related quality of life. Patients suffering from periodontitis also showed more missing teeth, which might have an effect on function. In addition to missing teeth, poorer overall quality of life is correlated with the patient’s perceived assessment of self-risk as well as dental anxiety

The effect of proteinases (keratinases) in the pathogenesis of dermatophyte infection using Scanning Electron Microscope

Objective: To study the inter-relationship between the stratum corneum of host and the fungal microorganisms using scanning electron microscopy for a complete understanding of the host parasite relationship. Setting: The patients attended the outpatients of Department of Dermatology, King Abdul Aziz Hospital Makkah. The isolation & identification was carried out at the Department of Mycology University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, U.K. Material and Methods: Skin surface biopsies were obtained from two patients suffering from tinea cruris infection. One patient was infected with Trichophyton rubrum and the other with Epidermophyton floccosum strains. Results: The scanning electron microphotographs obtained from two patients showed a large number of villi in the infected area. The fungal hyphae were seen to be placed intercellularly as well seem to be transversing through the corneocytes in many places. Conclusion: From the results observed in this study it could be suggested that the secretion of proteinases from the fungal hyphae together with the mechanical force of the invading organisms in vivo might be playing part in the invasion of the organisms

Challenges of Organic Arable Farming - 6th module: Recovery and final synthesis

This module summarizes the online course "Challenges of Organic Arable Farming". This module is targeting students, farmers, advisors. The module is based on a PowerPoint presentation containing a theoretical background and supported by related specific tools (practice abstracts, leaflets, guidelines, data calculation tools, videos, books, reports, web pages) taken from the OK-Net Arable Knowledge platform (www.organic-farmknowledge.org). All modules Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 1st module: Strategies to enhance soil fertility and assessment of soil fertility and quality (https://orgprints.org/35291/) Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 2nd module: Fertilization strategies to enhance nutrient availability in organic arable crops (https://orgprints.org/35292) Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 3rd module: Monitoring, preventive and curative measures for pest and disease management (https://orgprints.org/35293/) Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 4th module: Technical tools, strategies and machineries to tackle weeds in organic arable farming (https://orgprints.org/35294/) Challenges of Organic Arable Farming 5th module: Crops specific problems and potential solutions in cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables (https://orgprints.org/35295/

An Efficient Method for Quantifying the Aggregate Flexibility of Plug-in Electric Vehicle Populations

Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are widely recognized as being highly flexible electric loads that can be pooled and controlled via aggregators to provide low-cost energy and ancillary services to wholesale electricity markets. To participate in these markets, an EV aggregator must encode the aggregate flexibility of the population of EVs under their command as a single polytope that is compliant with existing market rules. To this end, we investigate the problem of characterizing the aggregate flexibility set of a heterogeneous population of EVs whose individual flexibility sets are given as convex polytopes in half-space representation. As the exact computation of the aggregate flexibility set -- the Minkowski sum of the individual flexibility sets -- is known to be intractable, we study the problems of computing maximum-volume inner approximations and minimum-volume outer approximations to the aggregate flexibility set by optimizing over affine transformations of a given convex polytope in half-space representation. We show how to conservatively approximate the pair of maximum-volume and minimum-volume set containment problems as linear programs that scale polynomially with the number and dimension of the individual flexibility sets. The class of approximations methods provided in this paper generalizes existing methods from the literature. We illustrate the improvement in approximation accuracy achievable by our methods with numerical experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

A Distributionally Robust Approach to Regret Optimal Control using the Wasserstein Distance

This paper proposes a distributionally robust approach to regret optimal control of discrete-time linear dynamical systems with quadratic costs subject to stochastic additive disturbance on the state process. The underlying probability distribution of the disturbance process is unknown, but assumed to lie in a given ball of distributions defined in terms of the type-2 Wasserstein distance. In this framework, strictly causal linear disturbance feedback controllers are designed to minimize the worst-case expected regret. The regret incurred by a controller is defined as the difference between the cost it incurs in response to a realization of the disturbance process and the cost incurred by the optimal noncausal controller which has perfect knowledge of the disturbance process realization at the outset. Building on a well-established duality theory for optimal transport problems, we show how to equivalently reformulate this minimax regret optimal control problem as a tractable semidefinite program. The equivalent dual reformulation also allows us to characterize a worst-case distribution achieving the worst-case expected regret in relation to the distribution at the center of the Wasserstein ball.Comment: 6 page

Advanced GPS signal processing techniques for LBS services

Par le passé, il était indispensable, pour le bon fonctionnement du GPS (Global Positioning System), que le signal soit en vision directe entre le satellite et le récepteur, et les signaux faibles n'étaient pas exploitables. Mais l'extension du GPS aux services LBS (Location Based Services) et à d'autres applications de navigation a changé ce paradigme. Par conséquent, on prévoit une augmentation considérable de techniques de localisation de plus en plus performantes, surtout dans des environnements du type indoor ou urbain. Les exigences de la localisation dans ce type d'environnements posent un véritable défi pour la conception des récepteurs GPS. Le but de la thèse est d'optimiser les techniques existantes de traitement du signal GPS pour la localisation dans des milieux contraints, dans le cadre de l'AGPS (Assisted GPS). Ce système suppose que le récepteur GPS est connecté ou introduit dans un téléphone portable. Ce genre de couplage permet de transférer au récepteur GPS des données d'assistance via le réseau GSM (Global System for Mobile communications). Ces données fournissent au récepteur GPS la liste des satellites visibles, mais aussi des valeurs estimées de leur Doppler et leur retard de code, réduisant ainsi la fenêtre de recherche de ces paramètres. Les travaux de la thèse consistent à explorer différentes techniques d'acquisition du signal GPS pour réduire le temps d'acquisition nécessaire ou TTFF (Time To First Fix), sans affecter la sensibilité du récepteur GPS. Ceci est réalisé après une étude du canal GPS radio. L'étude débute par une revue du GPS et de la structure du signal utilisé dans ce système. Le processus d'acquisition est ensuite décrit en détails: l'acquisition classique est décrite en premier pour mettre en évidence par la suite l'effet du milieu de propagation sur cette étape du traitement du signal. A cet effet, les milieux contraignants (Indoors et Urbains) seront modélisés et analysés. Cette analyse permettra de mettre en évidence les problèmes subits par les ondes radio se propageant dans ce type d'environnements. On notera que le canal urbain a été analysé en utilisant un modèle déjà existant élaboré par Alexander Steingass et Andreas Lehner du DLR (Centre Aérospatial Allemand) [Steingass et al., 2005]. D'autre part, un modèle statistique du canal indoor a été développé par l'ESA (European Space Agency) dans le cadre du projet intitulé “Navigation signal measurement campaign for critical environments” et présenté dans [Pérez-Fontán et al, 2004]. Mais ce modèle considère un canal statistique invariable dans le temps. Pour cela nous avons développé un modèle Indoor qui envisage plutôt un canal variant avec le temps, en prenant en compte les variations temporelles de certains paramètres du canal, comme le retard et la phase de la fonction de transfert. Les valeurs initiales de ces paramètres utilisés dans notre modèle sont toutefois basées sur les distributions statistiques fournies par le modèle de l'ESA. L'étude des canaux de propagation porte surtout sur les multitrajets, les inter-corrélations, et le masquage du signal. Les multitrajets sont particulièrement gênants dans le cas de milieux urbains, les intercorrélations et le masquage sont par contre plus gênants dans les milieux indoors. Ces phénomènes peuvent impliquer des erreurs dans la position calculée par le récepteur. Pour y remédier, une des solutions est d'augmenter la durée d'observation du signal pour améliorer le rapport signal sur bruit. Mais ceci conduit à des temps d'acquisition beaucoup plus longs. Par conséquent, la qualité commerciale du récepteur est mise en cause vues les contraintes sur le TTFF nécessaires pour fournir une première solution. Ces contraintes en termes de temps ii de traitements sont aussi importantes que les contraintes en termes de précision pour les utilisateurs du GPS. Mais ces deux contraintes vont en général l'une à l'encontre de l'autre. Par conséquent, une solution idéale consistera à réduire le temps d'acquisition sans pour autant affecter la sensibilité du récepteur. Ainsi, dans la suite de l'exposé des méthodes avancées de traitement du signal dans la phase d'acquisition seront présentées. La plupart de ces méthodes vise à réduire le temps total d'acquisition plutôt qu'à améliorer la sensibilité du récepteur: ceci permet de tolérer) le traitement de signaux plus longs - afin d'améliorer la sensibilité - sans augmenter la durée globale de traitement. Ces méthodes seront tout d'abord caractérisées en évaluant les avantages et les inconvénients de chacune d'elles. Une évaluation de performances de ces algorithmes, utilisant des signaux générés avec un Spirent STR4500 sera conduite dans une étape finale de cette étude. ABSTRACT : In the past, in order for GPS (Global Positioning System) to work accurately, the presence of an unobstructed LOS (Line-Of- ight) signal was necessary. Weak signals were not suitable for use because they may have large associated noise and other errors. The expansion of GPS to LBS (Location- ased Services) and other navigation applications all over the world, such as the E-911 and the E-112 mandates in the United States and Europe respectively, changed the paradigm. Consequently a dramatic increase in the need for more and more performant positioning techniques is expected, especially in urban and indoor environments. These rising localization requirements pose a particularly difficult challenge for GPS receivers design. The thesis objective is to evaluate and enhance existing GPS signal acquisition techniques for positioning goals in harsh environments, in the context of AGPS (Assisted GPS). The AGPS system assumes that the GPS receiver is connected to or introduced in a mobile phone. This allows for the transfer of AD (Assistance Data) to the GPS receiver via the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) cellular network. Amongst others, the AD provides the GPS receiver with the list of visible satellites and estimates of their Dopplers and code delays, thus reducing the search window of these parameters. This work consists in exploring different GPS signal acquisition to reduce the acquisition time or TTFF (Time To First Fix), without affecting the receiver sensitivity. This is done after a prior study of the GPS radio channel. The study starts out with a revue of the GPS system and the GPS transmitted and received signal structure. The acquisition process is then described in details: the classical acquisition is first described in order to proceed afterwards with the impact of the propagation environment on this stage of the signal processing. For this purpose, harsh environments (urban and indoor) are modelled and analysed. This analysis enables to study the problems which encounter the radio frequency signal propagation through such environments. Note that the urban channel is studied using an existing statistical model developed by Alexander Steingass and Andreas Lehner at the DLR (German Aerospace Center) [Steingass et al., 2005]. On the other hand, an indoor channel model was developed by the ESA (European Space Agency) in the frame of a project entitled “Navigation signal measurement campaign for critical environments” and presented in [Pérez-Fontán et al, 2004]. But this model considers a time invariant statistical channel. Consequently, we developed an Indoor model which rather considers a time variant channel, by taking into account temporal variations of some channel parameters, like the transfer function delay and phase. The initial values are however based on the statistical distributions provided by the ESA model. The channels are analysed is terms of multipaths, cross-correlations and signal masking. The multipaths replicas are particularly disturbing in urban environments while the cross-correlations and masking effects are more disturbing in indoor environments. These phenomena may induce errors in the final solution calculated by the receiver. In order to avoid this error, one solution consists in increasing the signal observation duration in order to enhance the signal to noise ratio. But this generally implies longer acquisition time, thus affecting the receiver iv performance, commercially speaking. Indeed, the time requirements are as important as sensitivity requirements for GPS users. However, these two requirements are not generally compatible with each other. Consequently, an ideal solution consists in reducing the acquisition time without greatly affecting the receiver sensitivity. Accordingly, such advanced methods for acquisition signal processing are described next. Most of these methods aim at reducing the total acquisition time, rather than enhancing the receiver sensitivity. This means however that longer signal blocks can be processed (thus enhancing sensitivity) without affecting the global processing duration. At first, each of these methods is evaluated through the description of its advantages and drawbacks. A performance evaluation of these algorithms, using signals generated with a Spirent STR4500, ensues as a final step of this stud

Modélisation des écoulements en milieu poreux hétérogènes 2D / 3D, avec couplages surface / souterrain et densitaires

Dans ce travail, on considère la modélisation des écoulements dans des hydro-systèmes comprenant des sols et des aquifères géologiquement complexes et hétérogènes. On considèrera par exemple le cas d’un aquifère côtier soumis à l’intrusion saline, avec couplage densitaire (eau douce / eau salée), phénomène auquel peuvent se greffer d’autres couplages (écoulements à saturation variable, couplages surface / souterrain). On choisit une approche ayant les caractéristiques suivantes : - le modèle est spatialement distribué afin de représenter l’hétérogénéité du milieu ; - le modèle est fortement couplé afin d’appréhender les écoulements dans leur complexité physique. On utilise dans ce but un modèle fortement intégré, à une seule équation générique de type EDP, basée sur une loi de Darcy généralisée permettant de décrire différents "régimes" d’écoulements la co-existant dans un même domaine, tout en conservant robustesse et efficacité. Le travail est divisé en trois parties : dans une première partie on élabore un nouveau modèle numérique 3D, pour la modélisation des écoulements en milieux poreux à densité variable dans l’hypothèse d’une interface abrupte. Ce nouveau modèle est basé sur des relations ‘effectives’ non linéaires de saturation et de perméabilité, dans une équation d’écoulement de type Richards modifiée. La seconde partie correspond à l’élaboration et l’implémentation d’un modèle verticalement intégré d’intrusion saline en aquifère côtier, permettant d’étudier l’effet de l’hétérogénéité stochastique de l’aquifère. Le modèle, basé sur l’hypothèse ‘interface abrupte’, est implémenté comme un module ‘2D’ dans le code volumes finis BigFlow2D/3D. Le nouveau module 2D est utilisé pour analyser la variabilité de l’interface eau douce / eau salée par simulations stochastiques de type Monte Carlo à échantillonnage spatial (réalisation unique). Ces résultats sont comparés à nouvelle théorie, où l’interface aléatoire auto-corrélée est analysée par transformation de variable, combinée à une méthode de perturbation et à une représentation spectrale (Fourier / Wiener-Khinchine). Dans la troisième et dernière partie, on présente un modèle de couplage fortement "intégré" pour la modélisation des écoulements de surface et souterrain en hypothèses d’écoulement plan, verticalement hydrostatique. On s‘intéresse au cas d’une vallée fluviale avec cours d’eau, plaine d’inondation, et nappe d’accompagnement. L’écoulement en surface est modélisé par l’équation d’onde diffusante et l’écoulement souterrain par l’équation de Dupuit-Boussinesq. Ce modèle couplé est appliqué à la vallée fluviale de la Garonne dans la région de Toulouse - Moissac (France). Cette application a nécessité l’élaboration d’une méthode d’interpolation géostatistique adaptée à l’élaboration d’un Modèle Intégré Numérique de Terrain (‘MINT’), de façon à inclure le fond de la rivière au MNT topographique en haute résolution. Enfin, au-delà de cette application particulière, le modèle d’écoulement couplé surface / souterrain est généralisé au cas d’un couplage densitaire eau douce / eau salée, lorsque la nappe est sujette à l’intrusion saline au voisinage d’une embouchure ou d’un estuaire. ABSTRACT : In this work, we consider water flow modeling in hydro-systems that include geologically complex and heterogeneous soils and aquifers, e.g., a coastal aquifer undergoing seawater intrusion, with density coupling (freshwater / saltwater), along with other coupled phenomena (variable saturation, surface / subsurface coupling). The selected approach has the following characteristics: - the model is spatially distributed in order to represent the heterogeneity of the medium ; - the model is strongly coupled in order to apprehend the physical complexity of flow systems. We use for this purpose a strongly integrated model, governed by a single generic equation (PDE) based on generalized Darcy law, to describe different flow ‘regimes’ co-existing in the same domain, while conserving robustness and efficiency. The work is divided into three parts: in the first part, we develop a new 3D numerical model for variable density flow in porous media under the sharp interface approximation. This new model is based on non-linear ‘effective’ saturation and conductivity relations, in a modified Richards flow equation. The second part corresponds to the development and implementation of a vertically integrated saltwater intrusion model, to study the effect of stochastic heterogeneity in a coastal aquifer. The model, based on the sharp interface hypothesis, is implemented as a 2D module in the finite volumes code BigFlow 2D/3D. The new module is used for analyzing the variability of the salt / fresh interface through Monte Carlo simulations with spatial sampling (single realization). These results are compared to a new theory where the random field interface is analyzed via a transformation combined to a perturbation method and a spectral representation (Fourier / Wiener-Khinchine). In the third and last part, we present a strongly integrated model to simulate coupled surface / subsurface plane flows, such as a river valley with stream, floodplain, and free surface aquifer. Surface flow is modeled via the diffusive wave equation, and subsurface flow is modeled using the Dupuit-Boussinesq equation. This coupled model is applied to the Garonne river valley in the Toulouse-Moissac region (France). This application has required the elaboration of a geostatistical interpolation technique that produces an Integrated Digital Elevation Model (‘IDEM’). The IDEM incorporates a high resolution representation of river channels into the topographic DEM. Finally, beyond this specific application, the coupled surface / subsurface model is generalized to the case of salt / fresh density coupling, where the aquifer is subject to saltwater intrusion near a river mouth or an estuar

D 4.2: Facilitated and self-learning courses

The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari CIHEAM-Bari produced this report as a part of the Organic Knowledge Network Arable (OK-Net Arable) project, Work Package 4. CIHEAM-Bari has developed two facilitated courses and a self-learning one according to the international E-Learning standards to promote the use of end-user material beyond the farmer innovation groups and the knowledge platform of the project. This report provides a description of these courses. Facilitated courses were developed using Leaning Management System (LMS) on the CIHEAM-Bari e-learning platform and were addressed to 70 participants from 26 countries (77% European countries and 23% non EU Mediterranean countries). Participants represented different institutions and profiles, such as ministries of agriculture, Universities, associations, certification bodies, farmers, private companies, research centres, extension services etc. The self-learning course is delivered on the project knowledge platform to be followed indefinitely by users even after the end of the project

Evaluation Capacity Development through Cluster Evaluation

Background:  The term “cluster evaluation” was first coined in 1988 by W. K. Kellogg staff in an evaluation of a Foundation-funded initiative; the concept was further developed and practiced by the Kellogg Foundation evaluation consultants and other practitioners in the evaluation community  Setting:  Cluster evaluation was a model used to evaluate the programming of a small specialized UN agency in three countries (Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) of the Arab States. Purpose: The article explains how cluster evaluation, as originally conceived by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, was adapted to the realities of the UN system. Subjects: NA Research Design:  The authors present a case study of an evaluation of a cluster of programmes from the Arab States region (Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) that was conducted by a small, specialized agency of the UN.  Data Collection and Analysis: The evaluation was designed as a series of programme reviews. Information from the reviews was to be aggregated in order to understand collective contributions to the region. Findings: The case study demonstrates the potential benefits of the model as well as some of the challenges. Conclusions:  Analysis of the data leads to a number of interesting conclusions. First, in the philanthropic sector, cluster evaluation is a programmatic intervention. That is not the way that the model was used in the context of this evaluation. Instead of evaluation as intervention, it was evaluation as capacity development. This evaluation took place in the Arab States, a region in which evaluation capacity is perhaps not as institutionalized as other parts of the world. The purpose of using a cluster evaluation in this context was to strengthen the capacities of the national evaluators. Each of the national evaluators who were contracted had different areas of strength and weakness. By establishing a strong network amongst themselves, they were able to leverage each other’s strength and to compensate for any weaknesses. The consultants developed each other’s capacity and that greatly benefited the evaluation. The higher capacity went on to benefit the collective evaluation capacity of the region. The national evaluators have all gone one to be leaders in the formation of their respective regional and national evaluation organisations