The study of the influence of ancient Greek rituals and sports and the formation of the architecture of its sports spaces

To get a better understanding of why variety of sports buildings are this massive in ancient Greece, a proper understanding of the history of sports as well as Greece itself  must start at the beginning. Greece is a country that is enclosed with hills and mountains alongside short rivers and fertile valleys. Even though Greek people were living in separate city-states, they were united under national pride, common temples, same rituals and games like Olympic. Sports were the most important parts of most Greek men. Gym and music alongside each other, fed the body and the soul of the athletes. They admired the beauty of well-trained men. They believed in multiple gods who were living in Holy mount of Olympus under the reign of greater god, Zeus and they held many rituals to satisfy them and Olympic was the most famous rituals amongst others. A ceremony in honor of Zeus was held in Olympia

An Isogeometric Element Formulation for Linear Two-Dimensional Elasticity Based on the Airy Equation

[EN] The aim of this work is to derive a formulation for linear two-dimensional elasticity using just one degree of freedom. This degree of freedom is used to directly discretize the Airy bipotential equation, which requires higher order basis functions. Isogeometric structural analysis is based on shape functions of the geometry description in Computer-Aided design software. These shape functions can easily fulfill the continuity requirement of the bipotential equation. Thus, an Airy element formulation can be obtained through isogeometric methods. In this contribution Non-Uniform Rational B-splines are used to discretize the domain and to solve the occurring differential equations. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy of the evolved formulation for a quadratic plate under different load situations.Held, S.; Dornisch, W.; Azizi, N. (2022). An Isogeometric Element Formulation for Linear Two-Dimensional Elasticity Based on the Airy Equation. En Proceedings of the YIC 2021 - VI ECCOMAS Young Investigators Conference. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 129-138. https://doi.org/10.4995/YIC2021.2021.12598OCS12913

Individual Radiosensitivity Assessment of the Families of Ataxia-Telangiectasia Patients by G2-Checkpoint Abrogation

Objectives: Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder characterised by cerebellar degeneration, telangiectasia, radiation sensitivity, immunodeficiency, oxidative stress and cancer susceptibility. Epidemiological research has shown that carriers of the heterozygous ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene mutation are radiosensitive to ionising irradiation and have a higher risk of cancers, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. However, there is currently no fast and reliable laboratory-based method to detect heterozygous ATM carriers for family screening and planning purposes. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the ability of a modified G2-assay to identify heterozygous ATM carriers in the families of A-T patients. Methods: This study took place at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, between February and December 2017 and included 16 A-T patients, their parents (obligate heterozygotes) and 30 healthy controls. All of the subjects underwent individual radiosensitivity (IRS) assessment using a modified caffeine-treated G2-assay with G2-checkpoint abrogation. Results: The mean IRS of the obligate ATM heterozygotes was significantly higher than the healthy controls (55.13% ± 5.84% versus 39.03% ± 6.95%; P <0.001), but significantly lower than the A-T patients (55.13% ± 5.84% versus 87.39% ± 8.29%; P = 0.001). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of the G2-assay values indicated high sensitivity and specificity, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.95–1.00). Conclusion: The modified G2-assay demonstrated adequate precision and relatively high sensitivity and specificity in detecting heterozygous ATM carriers. Keywords: Ataxia-Telangiectasia; Chromosome Breakage; Genetic Carrier Screening; Heterozygote; Radiation Sensitivity; Sensitivity and Specificity

B Cells and T Cells Abnormalities in Patients With Selective IgA Deficiency

BACKGROUND: Selective IgA deficiency (SIgAD) is the most prevalent inborn errors of immunity with almost unknown etiology. This study aimed to investigate the clinical diagnostic and prognostic values of lymphocyte subsets and function in symptomatic SIgAD patients. METHODS: A total of 30 available SIgAD patients from the Iranian registry and 30 age-sex-matched healthy controls were included in the present study. We analyzed B and T cell peripheral subsets and T cell proliferation assay by flow cytometry in SIgAD patients with mild and severe clinical phenotypes. RESULTS: Our results indicated a significant increase in naïve and transitional B cells and a strong decrease in marginal zone-like and switched memory B-cells in SIgAD patients. We found that naïve and central memory CD4 CONCLUSION: SIgAD patients have varied cellular and humoral deficiencies. Therefore, T cell and B cell assessment might help in better understanding the heterogeneous pathogenesis and prognosis estimation of the disease

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Applying Agile methodologies within the context of traditional project governance : - A study of the Volvo Group experience

The nature of software development has changed in last decade. Waterfall or traditional command and control methods have been replaced by Agile methodologies. Agile came as a “solution” to the disadvantages of the waterfall methodology, but using Agile has its own challenges. Due to the attractive characteristics of Agile such as flexibility and short time-to-market, Agile development has been increasingly popular and the number of organisations which have started to move to Agile is growing every day. Implementing new methodologies in any organisation is always a big challenge, especially for large-scale organisations due to their complexity, many different interacting interfaces, strong organisational culture, etc. The nature of these challenges and obstacles changes from different perspectives within an organisation, and each of these perspectives needs to be studied and investigated to ensure a successful transition from traditional approaches to Agile. In this thesis we focus on the project manager and project governance perspectives. We aim to define the success and failure factors that play a key role in moving from traditional approaches to Agile approaches in large-scale organisations. To address these challenges we conducted literature reviews on the latest research in implementing Agile methodologies. To collect our data we used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. We explored both IT project manager and Chief project manager opinions and experiences of the organisations by conducting interviews and questionnaires in our research. The results reveals the difficulty to find proper product owners in the Agile projects. It is challenging to set a product owner who has Agile knowledge and is expert in the project domain. Specialized training and coaching for product owners is mentioned as one of the solutions that could be provided for this challenge. “Distributed teams”, “Lack of focus on the business side” and “Weak coaching and support” are some of the other critical areas which have been presented by the participants in the interviews and survey in this study. The main conclusion is that in order to have a successful transition to Agile approaches, the Agile mind-set should be set in all different part in an organizations, not only the development side and also that everyone have to understand “Why” Agile is beneficial. Also the communication of lessons learnt and feedback should be strong and effective in order to avoid repetition of the same mistakes. In addition, specialized training and coaching for different roles within the period of the development is necessary to ensure the successful adoption of Agile.Synen på mjukvaruutveckling har förändrats under det senaste decenniet; Vattenfalls- eller traditionella kommando- och styrmetoder har ersatts av Agila metoder. Agila utvecklingsmetoder kom som en "lösning" till nackdelarna med vattenfalls metodiken, men användning av Agila metoder har sina egna utmaningar. På grund av Agila metoders attraktiva egenskaper såsom flexibilitet och kort tid till marknaden, har denna typ av utveckling blivit alltmer populärt och antalet organisationer som har börjat flytta till Agila metoder växer varje dag. Att genomföra nya metoder i en organisation är alltid en stor utmaning. Särskilt för stora organisationer på grund av deras komplexitet, med tanke på många olika samverkande gränssnitt, stark organisationskultur, etc. Karaktären på dessa utmaningar och hinder ändras från olika perspektiv inom en organisation, och vart och ett av dessa perspektiv behöver studeras och undersökas för att säkerställa en framgångsrik övergång från traditionella metoder till Agila metoder. I denna avhandling fokuserar vi på projektledare och projektförvaltningsperspektiv. Vi strävar efter att definiera framgångs- och misslyckande faktorer som spelar en nyckelroll i att flytta från traditionella metoder till Agila metoder i storskaliga organisationer. För att möta dessa utmaningar genomfört vi dessutom en litteraturstudie av den senaste forskningen om införande av Agila metoder. För att samla våra data vi använt en kombination av kvalitativa och kvantitativa forskningsmetoder. Vi utforskade både projektledare för IT och chefs-projektledare sidor av organisationer genom intervjuer och enkäter i vår forskning. Resultaten visar den kritiska roll produktägare utgör i Agila projekt. Det är en utmaning att tillsätta en korrekt produktägaren som har Agile kunskap och är expert i projektet domänen. Specialiserad utbildning och coaching för produktägare nämns som en av de möjliga lösningar som finns för denna utmaning. "distribuerade team", "brist på fokus på affärssidan" och "Svag coachning och support" är några av de andra viktiga områden som har lagts fram av deltagarna i intervjuerna och undersökning i denna studie. Den viktigaste slutsatsen är att för att få en lyckad övergång till Agila metoder bör Agilt tänkande tillämpas i alla delar i en organisations, inte bara utvecklingssidan, utan alla måste förstå "varför" Agila metoder är fördelaktigt. Även överföring av lärdomar och återkoppling bör vara stark och effektiv för att undvika återkommande samma misstag. Dessutom, specialiserad utbildning och coaching för olika roller och inom den tidsfrist för utvecklingen är nödvändig för att säkerställa ett framgångsrikt antagande av Agila arbetsmetoder

Multi-Objective Crystal Structure Algorithm (MOCryStAl): Introduction and Performance Evaluation

In many optimization problems, the main goal is to improve a single performance index in which a minimum or maximum value of this index fully reflects the quality of the response obtained from a system. However, in some cases, it is impossible to rely solely on a single index, so a multi-objective optimization problem with multiple performance indicators is considered where the values of all of them should be optimized simultaneously. The mentioned process requires a multi-objective optimization algorithm that can deal with the complexity of problems with simultaneous indexes. This paper presents the multi-objective version of a recently proposed metaheuristic algorithm called Crystal Structure Algorithm (CryStAl) which was inspired by the principles underlying the formation crystal structures. For the performance evaluation of this algorithm which is called MOCryStAl, the benchmark problems of the Completions on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) on multi-objective optimization, called CEC-09, are utilized. Some real-world engineering design problems are used to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed approach. The results demonstrate that the proposed methods can provide excellent results in dealing with the considered multi-objective problems

Control design in μ-synthesis framework for grid-connected inverters with higher order filters

© 2016 IEEE. In this paper, a robust controller is designed based on μ-synthesis method for grid-connected inverters. The performance of the controller is made robust against realistic uncertainties including the time delay and parameter changes, while the resonant oscillations are actively damped. The designed controller only relies on output feedback eliminating the need for extra feedback sensors that are normally used in full or partial state feedback systems. Simulation and experimental results confirm the satisfactory performance and robustness of the designed controller in both cases of a nominal system and a system with parameter variations

Robust h∞ DC link control design for high-power density converters with high-order filter in PV systems

© 2017 IEEE. This paper proposes a DC link controller based on H∞ method for robust and reliable operation of a single-phase grid-connected inverter with an LCL-filter in photovoltaic (PV) applications. The H∞ DC link controller minimizes the bus voltage fluctuations caused by the power variations of PV system. Also, the controller ensures system robustness against such power variations, which conventional controllers fail to guarantee. Furthermore, the controller improves the quality of the injected current into the grid as the reference of output current is generated by the proposed DC bus voltage controller. Simulation results and experimental results prove the superior performance and robustness of the proposed controller. Index Terms-High-power density converters, DC link control, robust control, H∞ method, distributed energy, PV application