HBIM FOR THE SURVEYING, ANALYSIS AND RESTORATION OF THE SAINT JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN CATHEDRAL IN NICOSIA (CYPRUS)

Abstract. The present study illustrates the results of an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Mediterranean Laboratory of Survey and Diagnostics for Architecture (RDA) of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR) of the University of Catania in Italy and the Andreas Pittas Laboratories for Art Characterisation (APAC) of the Science and Technology in Archaeology Research Center (STARC) of the Cyprus Institute in Cyprus. The research focused on the application of an H-BIM approach in the study of a Mediterranean iconic heritage asset, the St. John Cathedral of Nicosia, built in 1662 on the remains of a monastery from the 15th century. The adopted methodology has provided the framework for a dynamic investigation, constantly evolving along several dimensions: historical, geometric spatial, architectural-constructive identification and mapping of degrade, interpretation of degenerative causes and design proposals.</p

A Greek validation study of the Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire-23

The Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire-23 (MSWDQ-23) is a self-reportinstrument developed to assess barriers faced by People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) in theworkplace. The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Greek versionof the MSWDQ-23. The study sample consisted of 196 PwMS, all currently working in part- orfull-time jobs. Participants underwent clinical examination and cognitive screening with the BriefInternational Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and completed self-reportmeasures of fatigue, psychological functioning, and quality of life, along with the MSWDQ-23questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed, and goodness-of-fit measureswere used to evaluate construct validity. Convergent validity was checked by correlating MSWDQ-23scores with study measures. Cronbach’s alpha value was produced to assess internal consistency.CFA yielded a model with a fair fit confirming the three-factor structure of the instrument. Higherwork difficulties were associated with higher Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores, poorercognitive function, more fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression, and poorer health status, supportingthe convergent validity of MSWDQ-23. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.94) and test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.996, 95%, CI = 0.990–0.998) were excellent. The Greek MSWDQ-23 can beconsidered a valid patient-reported outcome measure and can be used in interventions aiming toimprove the vocational status of PwMS

Last Men Standing: Chlamydatus Portraits and Public Life in Late Antique Corinth

Notable among the marble sculptures excavated at Corinth are seven portraits of men wearing the long chlamys of Late Antique imperial office. This unusual costume, contemporary portrait heads, and inscribed statue bases all help confirm that new public statuary was created and erected at Corinth during the 4th and 5th centuries. These chlamydatus portraits, published together here for the first time, are likely to represent the Governor of Achaia in his capital city, in the company of local benefactors. Among the last works of the ancient sculptural tradition, they form a valuable source of information on public life in Late Antique Corinth

Optimization methods for electric power systems: An overview

Power systems optimization problems are very difficult to solve because power systems are very large, complex, geographically widely distributed and are influenced by many unexpected events. It is therefore necessary to employ most efficient optimization methods to take full advantages in simplifying the formulation and implementation of the problem. This article presents an overview of important mathematical optimization and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques used in power optimization problems. Applications of hybrid AI techniques have also been discussed in this article

Large-scale unit commitment under uncertainty: an updated literature survey

The Unit Commitment problem in energy management aims at finding the optimal production schedule of a set of generation units, while meeting various system-wide constraints. It has always been a large-scale, non-convex, difficult problem, especially in view of the fact that, due to operational requirements, it has to be solved in an unreasonably small time for its size. Recently, growing renewable energy shares have strongly increased the level of uncertainty in the system, making the (ideal) Unit Commitment model a large-scale, non-convex and uncertain (stochastic, robust, chance-constrained) program. We provide a survey of the literature on methods for the Uncertain Unit Commitment problem, in all its variants. We start with a review of the main contributions on solution methods for the deterministic versions of the problem, focussing on those based on mathematical programming techniques that are more relevant for the uncertain versions of the problem. We then present and categorize the approaches to the latter, while providing entry points to the relevant literature on optimization under uncertainty. This is an updated version of the paper "Large-scale Unit Commitment under uncertainty: a literature survey" that appeared in 4OR 13(2), 115--171 (2015); this version has over 170 more citations, most of which appeared in the last three years, proving how fast the literature on uncertain Unit Commitment evolves, and therefore the interest in this subject

Expression of delayed cell death and DNA repair in human epithelial cell lines following exposure to ultraviolet radiation

The long term effects of WA and UVB have been investigated using two human epithelial cell lines, HTori-3 (a human thyroid epithelial cell line) and 340 RPE-T53 (a human retinal pigment epithelial cell line). There was a marked difference in clonogenic survival following exposure between the two cell lines. DNA repair studies were undertaken using ara-C treatment. Ara-C administered immediately after UVB exposure, reduced survival in both cell lines indicating that DNA repair was inhibited. The plating efficiency, as an index of delayed cell death of both cell lines measured up to 20 population doublings following exposure to UV was reduced in a dose dependent manner after exposure to UVB but not to WA.</p

Captopril adjuvant therapy to beta-blockers and nitrates improves post-myocardial infarction left ventricular performance

A growing body of data support the beneficial effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in the prevention of cardiac enlargement and improvement of left ventricular function in patients with acute myocardial infarction. However, very little information exists about the direct effect of increased afterload on cardiac performance in these patients and the possible favourable effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors as adjunctive treatment to thrombolysis, beta-blockers and nitrates. We have, therefore, studied the effects of captopril as adjuvant therapy to thrombolysis, betablockers and nitrates (standard therapy) on left ventricular performance in 77 consecutive patients with uncomplicated Q-wave acute myocardial infarction, by the measurement of the pre-ejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio before and after (0.25-0.50 mg) phenylephrine administration on the 4th and 30th post-infarction days. Patients were randomized on day 4 either to continue standard therapy alone (group 1, 35 patients) or to receive oral captopril therapy (125 mg t.i.d.) in addition to standard therapy (group 2, 42 patients) in a double-blind parallel study. Among the patients of group 1 there was a significant deterioration of left ventricular function after phenylephrine administration. This was shown by an increase of pre-ejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio only in the subset of patients with ejection fraction &lt; 40%, as measured by contrast ventriculography, on both the 4th and 30th post-infarction days changing from 0.435 ± 0.070 to 0.528 ± 0.101, P &lt; 0.01 and from 0.404 ± 0.098 to 0.515 ± 0.092, P &lt; 0.02, respectively. In contrast there were no significant changes in patients with ejection fraction ≥ 40%. Among patients of group 2, phenylephrine administration induced a significant increase, only on the 4th day, in pre-ejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio only in the subset of patients with ejection fraction &lt; 40% changing from 0.410 ± 0.107 to 0.535 ± 0.102, P &lt; 0.01. In the remaining patients with ejection fraction ≥ 40% there were no significant changes on either the 4th or 30th post-infarction days. Furthermore, a significant improvement was observed after phenylephrine administration in the pre-ejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio between the 4th and 30th post-infarction days, which changed from 0.535 ± 0.102 on day 4 to 0.368 ± 0.052 on day 30 (P &lt; 0.004). Also, a four-way ANOVA detected a significant reduction of heart rate in patients with ejection fraction &lt; 40% from day 4 to day 30. The results indicate that: (1) the response of pre-ejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio after increasing afterload may be a useful non-invasive method for the detection of left ventricular dysfunction in myocardial infarction patients; and (2) captopril adjuvant therapy as compared to thrombolysis, beta-blockers and nitrates alone, after phenylephrine administration, improves the left ventricular performance response in asymptomatic Q-wave post-infarction patients and beneficially affects heart rate. This effect is most pronounced in patients with ejection fraction &lt; 40% whereas those with ejection fraction ≥ 40% do not obtain clear benefit

The Effectiveness of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Alone or Combined with Cognitive Training on the Cognitive Performance of Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review

Objective: The present study reviewed published evidence on the effectiveness of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) on the cognitive performance of patients with Traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: A systematic search of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases was carried out. Randomized Controlled Studies published before March 2020 were included. Methodological evaluation was performed based on the Risk of Bias Cochrane tool. A total of 10 placebo-controlled studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were involved in the qualitative analysis, two assessing NIBS combined with cognitive training (CT) and eight evaluating NIBS alone. Results: All but one retrieved article were appraised as of high-risk of bias (one paper was assessed as of unclear-risk owing to considerable underreporting). With the potential exception of attention, our findings were not indicative of a superior efficacy of NIBS-CT to CT alone, regarding the improvement of any of the rest assessed cognitive deficits. Executive function, processing speed, attention, working, and visuospatial memory were only occasionally found to benefit from NIBS alone compared to sham therapy (only one study reported relevant benefits per neuropsychological outcome). Verbal memory and verbal fluency (phonemic-semantic) were consistently found not to benefit from NIBS. Depression measures were the only outcomes associated with a beneficial effect of NIBS in more than one article. Conclusion: Our findings did not provide sufficient high-quality evidence to support the exclusive use of NIBS or combined NIBS-CT to improve any impaired cognitive function in TBI patients. Owing to the suboptimum methodological quality of published studies, additional research is of potential value. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved

Quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis receiving glatiramer acetate or interferon in Greek clinical practice

Aim: To evaluate glatiramer acetate (GA) or IFN-β effects on quality of life (QoL) in people with relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis (PwRRMS) in Greece. Methods: A prospective, practice-based study. QoL/function/symptoms were assessed by seven questionnaires/scales. Results: Significant increases in Short Form-36 (SF-36) health survey scores occurred with GA in four of the eight domains and three of the eight domains at 6 and 12 months, respectively, versus baseline. Similar and significant SF-36 score improvements occurred with GA in treatment-naive PwRRMS. SF-36 scores were unaffected in GA-treated, IFN-β treatment-experienced PwRRMS, or with IFN-β versus baseline. Slight improvements in fatigue and sexual satisfaction were evident (6 months). No deteriorations were seen in the other four instruments. Conclusion: The findings show that 12-month treatment with GA, but not IFN-β, improved certain QoL parameters in treatment-naive PwRRMS. Plain language summary People with relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis (PwRRMS) are treated with drugs, for example, glatiramer acetate (GA) or IFN-β. We checked if these drugs improved quality of life (QoL) in PwRRMS in Greece. QoL was measured by seven questionnaires, asking many questions on aspects of life. One survey showed significant improvements with GA treatment in almost half of the question groups. Similar improvements in this survey were seen with GA in patients who had no other previous treatments. No changes were seen in GA-treated PwRRMS who previously received IFN-β, or treated with IFN-β alone. Slight improvements in fatigue and sexual satisfaction were seen. No QoL deteriorations were seen in the other four questionnaires. Twelve months of GA treatment, but not IFN-β, improved certain QoL parameters in treatment-naive PwRRMS. © 2022 Future Medicine Ltd