Geodesic Warps by Conformal Mappings

In recent years there has been considerable interest in methods for diffeomorphic warping of images, with applications e.g.\ in medical imaging and evolutionary biology. The original work generally cited is that of the evolutionary biologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, who demonstrated warps to deform images of one species into another. However, unlike the deformations in modern methods, which are drawn from the full set of diffeomorphism, he deliberately chose lower-dimensional sets of transformations, such as planar conformal mappings. In this paper we study warps of such conformal mappings. The approach is to equip the infinite dimensional manifold of conformal embeddings with a Riemannian metric, and then use the corresponding geodesic equation in order to obtain diffeomorphic warps. After deriving the geodesic equation, a numerical discretisation method is developed. Several examples of geodesic warps are then given. We also show that the equation admits totally geodesic solutions corresponding to scaling and translation, but not to affine transformations

Twenty-five years study (1995–2019) of Food and Bioproducts Processing: An overview of research trends

In the current study, we presented an overview of the publication profile of Food and Bioproducts Processing (FBP), a leading international journal on food processing. The detailed analysis was made to measure its scientific progress from 1995 to 2019 by identifying publication trends, most cited articles, leading institutes, and profolic countries. The publication dataset and citations information were retrieved from the Scopus bibliographic database hosted by Elsevier. Several scientific achievements were observed in publications (n=1548), impact factor 3.726 or CiteScore 6.10, and the citations (a total of 33,663) over the 25-year time frame. The factorial analysis revealed that the journal research focuses on two clusters. The first cluster focused on moisture determination, spray drying, mathematical models, thermal processing foods, food products and food processing, and the second cluster focuses on research areas of the dimension of surface properties, organic solvents, response surface methodology, antioxidant activities, flavonoids, solvent extraction and fermentation. Although citations have increased significantly need wider publicity of the work. The most cited articles were identified with the interdisciplinary research within food science and technology and added to reinforce science advancement within the field. Overall, these findings highlighted the evolution, progress, quality, and efficiency of the journal and provided early-profession researchers/specialists with an opportunity to lead more inventive studies in food science and technology (FST)

Diffeomorphic random sampling using optimal information transport

In this article we explore an algorithm for diffeomorphic random sampling of nonuniform probability distributions on Riemannian manifolds. The algorithm is based on optimal information transport (OIT)---an analogue of optimal mass transport (OMT). Our framework uses the deep geometric connections between the Fisher-Rao metric on the space of probability densities and the right-invariant information metric on the group of diffeomorphisms. The resulting sampling algorithm is a promising alternative to OMT, in particular as our formulation is semi-explicit, free of the nonlinear Monge--Ampere equation. Compared to Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, we expect our algorithm to stand up well when a large number of samples from a low dimensional nonuniform distribution is needed.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Geometric Generalisations of SHAKE and RATTLE

A geometric analysis of the Shake and Rattle methods for constrained Hamiltonian problems is carried out. The study reveals the underlying differential geometric foundation of the two methods, and the exact relation between them. In addition, the geometric insight naturally generalises Shake and Rattle to allow for a strictly larger class of constrained Hamiltonian systems than in the classical setting. In order for Shake and Rattle to be well defined, two basic assumptions are needed. First, a nondegeneracy assumption, which is a condition on the Hamiltonian, i.e., on the dynamics of the system. Second, a coisotropy assumption, which is a condition on the geometry of the constrained phase space. Non-trivial examples of systems fulfilling, and failing to fulfill, these assumptions are given

Social origin, schooling and individual change in intelligence during childhood influence long-term mortality: a 68-year follow-up study

Background Intelligence at a single time-point has been linked to health outcomes. An individual's IQ increases with longer schooling, but the validity of such increase is unclear. In this study, we assess the hypothesis that individual change in the performance on IQ tests between ages 10 and 20 years is associated with mortality later in life

Middleborns disadvantaged? testing birth-order effects on fitness in pre-industrial finns

Parental investment is a limited resource for which offspring compete in order to increase their own survival and reproductive success. However, parents might be selected to influence the outcome of sibling competition through differential investment. While evidence for this is widespread in egg-laying species, whether or not this may also be the case in viviparous species is more difficult to determine. We use pre-industrial Finns as our model system and an equal investment model as our null hypothesis, which predicts that (all else being equal) middleborns should be disadvantaged through competition. We found no overall evidence to suggest that middleborns in a family are disadvantaged in terms of their survival, age at first reproduction or lifetime reproductive success. However, when considering birth-order only among same-sexed siblings, first-, middle-and lastborn sons significantly differed in the number of offspring they were able to rear to adulthood, although there was no similar effect among females. Middleborn sons appeared to produce significantly less offspring than first-or lastborn sons, but they did not significantly differ from lastborn sons in the number of offspring reared to adulthood. Our results thus show that taking sex differences into account is important when modelling birth-order effects. We found clear evidence of firstborn sons being advantaged over other sons in the family, and over firstborn daughters. Therefore, our results suggest that parents invest differentially in their offspring in order to both preferentially favour particular offspring or reduce offspring inequalities arising from sibling competition

Profiling social, emotional and behavioural difficulties of children involved in direct and indirect bullying behaviours

Being involved in bullying places a child at risk of poor psychosocial and educational outcomes. This study aimed to examine the profile of behavioural, emotional and social functioning for two subtypes of bullying; direct and indirect (relational). Pupils aged between seven and eleven years old completed sociometric measures of social inclusion and bullying behaviour to identify 192 pupils considered to be involved in either direct, indirect, both or neither types of bullying. These pupils and their teachers completed a battery of assessments relating to behaviour, social competence and self-perception. All bully-groups experienced similar levels of significant social rejection. ‘Direct’ and ‘both’ groups showed the greatest number of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, while the ‘indirect’ group showed weaknesses in self-perception, but no teacher-rated problems. Understanding the behavioural, emotional and social correlates of bullying is of particular importance for early identification of children at risk of becoming bullies and for developing targeted interventions

Family physicians' effort to stay in charge of the medical treatment when patients have home care by district nurses. A grounded theory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>District nurses (DNs) provide home care for old persons with a mixture of chronic diseases, symptoms and reduced functional ability. Family physicians (FPs) have been criticised for their lack of involvement in this care. The aim of this study was to obtain increased knowledge concerning the FP's experience of providing medical treatment for patients with home care provided by DNs by developing a theoretical model that elucidates how FPs handle the problems they encounter regarding the individual patients and their conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 Swedish FPs concerning one of their registered patients with home care by a DN, and the treatment of this patient. Grounded theory methodology (GTM) was used in the analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The core category was the effort to stay in charge of the medical treatment. This involved three types of problems: gaining sufficient insight, making adequate decisions, and maintaining appropriate medical treatment. For three categories of patients, the FPs had problems staying in charge. Patients with reduced functional ability had problems providing information and maintaining treatment. Patients who were "fixed in their ways" did not provide information and did not comply with recommendations, and for patients with complex conditions, making adequate decisions could be problematic. To overcome the problems, four different strategies were used: relying on information from others, supporting close observation and follow-up by others, being constantly ready to change the goal of the treatment, and relying on others to provide treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The patients in this study differed from most other patients seen at the healthcare centre as the consultation with the patient could not provide the usual foundation for decisions concerning medical treatment. Information from and collaboration with the DN and other home care providers was essential for the FP's effort to stay in charge of the medical treatment. The complexity of the situation made it problematic for the FP to make adequate decisions about the goal of the medical treatment. The goal of the treatment had to be constantly evaluated based on information from the DN and other care providers, and thus this information was absolutely crucial.</p

Characteristics and trends in required home care by GPs in Austria: diseases and functional status of patients

BACKGROUND: Almost all societies carry responsibility towards patients who require continuous medical care at home. In many health systems the general practitioner cooperates with community based services of home care and coordinates all medical and non medical activities. In Austria the general practitioner together and in cooperation with relatives of the patient and professional organisations usually takes on this task by visiting his patients. This study was carried out to identify diseases that need home care and to describe the functional profile of home care patients in eastern Austria. METHODS: Cross sectional observational study with 17 GP practices participating during 2 study periods in 1997 and in 2004 in eastern Austria. Each GP identified patients requiring home care and assessed their underlying diseases and functional status by filling in a questionnaire personally after an encounter. Patients in nursing homes were excluded. Statistical tests used were t-tests, contingency tables, nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank sum test and Fisher-combination test. RESULTS: Patients with degenerative diseases of the central nervous system (65%) caused by Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular occlusive disease and patients with degenerative diseases of the skeletal system (53%) were the largest groups among the 198 (1997) and 261 (2004) home care cases of the 11 (1997) and 13 (2004) practices. Malignant diseases in a terminal state constituted only 5% of the cases. More than two thirds of all cases were female with an average age of 80 years. Slightly more than 70% of the patients were at least partially mobile. CONCLUSION: Home care and home visits for patients with degenerative diseases of the central nervous and skeletal system are important elements of GP's work. Further research should therefore focus on effective methods of training and rehabilitation to better the mental and physical status of patients living in their private homes

Electrodeposited Co93.2P6.8 nanowire arrays with core-shell microstructure and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

We demonstrate the formation of an unusual core-shell microstructure in Co93.2P6.8 nanowires electrodeposited by alternating current (ac) in an alumina template. By means of transmission electron microscopy, it is shown that the coaxial-like nanowires contain amorphous and crystalline phases. Analysis of the magnetization data for Co-P alloy nanowires indicates that a ferromagnetic core is surrounded by a weakly ferromagnetic or non-magnetic phase, depending on the phosphor content. The nanowire arrays exhibit an easy axis of magnetization parallel to the wire axis. For this peculiar composition and structure, the coercivity values are 2380 ± 50 and 1260 ± 35 Oe, parallel and perpendicular to the plane directions of magnetization, respectively. This effect is attributed to the core-shell structure making the properties and applications of these nanowires similar to pure cobalt nanowires with an improved perpendicular anisotropy. <br/