Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate

Introduction: Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) offers superior voiding outcomes to traditional transurethral resection and less morbidity than open simple prostatectomy. Likewise, HoLEP has been determined to result in excellent outcomes regardless of gland size. We present a step-by-step surgical approach to HoLEP describing both the traditional enucleation technique and a modified “top-down” surgical technique. Materials and Methods: In this video, two techniques are presented that were performed by two (A.E.K., J.E.L.) surgeons at our institution. Results: In the examples of the two enucleation techniques mentioned, outcomes are similar with regard to surgical and functional outcomes. Conclusions: HoLEP as a treatment for BPH with associated lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) results in excellent patient outcomes and can be offered to patients regardless of prostate volume

An analysis of how well serious games cover the PMBOK

Playing the role of project manager requires a certain level of knowledge and experience from previous projects, thus enabling better decision making. The use of serious games increasingly allows newer project managers to gain the necessary experience and knowledge in a controlled environment. Since several serious games have been developed, the need then arose to conduct a study to measure the level of coverage these simulators provide to the PMBOK. Fifteen games were included in this study and it is remarkable the effort that has been made to improve these tools, as it was found that of the 12 games, 7 covers at least 3 of the 5 process groups found in the PMBOK. It was also found that more than 80% of the serious games cover time management and that less than 20% of the games do not cover the procurement area. Our study recommends that comparative studies be done between simulators in ways to evaluate the improvements that newer simulators bring. Studies to evaluate the teaching learning method of the simulators should also be conducted so that the efficiency of this teaching learning method can be evaluated.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Optimizing Service Orchestration in OutSystems

The growing demand for continuous development and deployment is causing many to steer away from the traditional monolithic architectural style and opt instead for Service- Oriented Architectures (SOAs). Adopting an architecture that is based on loosely-coupled services leads to enhanced modularity and flexibility, further translated into a philosophy of iterative, evolutionary development. The benefits of this development pattern were also made available in the OutSystems low-code platform, with the introduction of services as a new development building-block. Moreover, the independence innate to the multiple services that comprise a SOA hints at possible opportunities for task parallelism: as long as different remote calls to services don’t interfere with each other, they could be performed in parallel. As an immediate result, there could be speedups in multiple parts of an application’s layers. Idle time waiting for data could be reduced, along with internal business logic that could be carried out faster, factors that would positively impact the overall flow of any application. In this thesis we propose the design and implementation of an optimization process that targets the heart of the SOA: the orchestrator itself, the conductor of service interaction that enables the different business processes involved in a software system. The work produced comprises a set of data analysis and representation techniques that work together with the goal of detecting and informing opportunities for safe parallelism in the interaction and composition of the services that make up software factories. The formal definition of the algorithm is accompanied with a prototype that targets the OutSystems platform, with the achievement of considerable speedups in common scenarios. The results obtained suggest the viability of such a mechanism in the world of SOAs

CH2D+, the Search for the Holy Grail

CH2D+, the singly deuterated counterpart of CH3+, offers an alternative way to mediate formation of deuterated species at temperatures of several tens of K, as compared to the release of deuterated species from grains. We report a longstanding observational search for this molecular ion, whose rotational spectroscopy is not yet completely secure. We summarize the main spectroscopic properties of this molecule and discuss the chemical network leading to the formation of CH2D+, with explicit account of the ortho/para forms of H2, H3+ and CH3+. Astrochemical models support the presence of this molecular ion in moderately warm environments at a marginal level.Comment: 25 pages, 6 Figures Accepted in Journal of Physical Chemistry A. "Oka Festschrift: Celebrating 45 years of Astrochemistry

Um compêndio de medidas (frequentes e recentes) usadas em comportamento organizacional

Um dos obstáculos frequentes à actividade de investigação decorre da dificuldade de identificar medidas estáveis e testadas para operacionalizar as variáveis em estudo. Este artigo identifica um conjunto de instrumentos de medida, usados recente e/ou frequentemente pelos investigadores do comportamento organizacional. Não sendo um guia exaustivo, este compêndio pretende facultar um acesso mais rápido e direccionado àqueles que produzem investigação neste domínio científico

Aggregates explain the high clay retention of small constructed wetlands : a micromorphological study

Earlier studies have shown that small constructed wetlands are more efficient as sedimentation basins for eroded soil material than expected from calculations based on detention time. It has been suggested that this is caused by sedimentation of aggregates. The present microscopic study of thin sections made from undisturbed samples of wetland sediments confirmed that the fine silt and clay fractions are present in aggregated form. Aggregates from the wetland sediments had the same mineralogical composition as those from the corresponding arable land, but were more rounded, indicating erosion during transport. To prevent breakdown of aggregates, wetlands should therefore be constructed as close to the source of erosion as possible. A correct prediction of particle retention in constructed wetlands has to take into account the presence of aggregates. Textural analysis methods, which require clay dispersion pre-treatment, are not suitable for the calculation of the retention of fine silt and clay

Tentative Detection of the Nitrosylium Ion in Space

We report the tentative detection in space of the nitrosylium ion, NO$^+$. The observations were performed towards the cold dense core Barnard 1-b. The identification of the NO$^+$ $J$=2--1 line is supported by new laboratory measurements of NO$^+$ rotational lines up to the $J$=8--7 transition (953207.189\,MHz), which leads to an improved set of molecular constants: $B_0 = 59597.1379(62)$\,MHz, $D_0 = 169.428(65)$\,kHz, and $eQq_0(\textrm{N}) = -6.72(15)$\,MHz. The profile of the feature assigned to NO$^+$ exhibits two velocity components at 6.5 and 7.5 km s$^{-1}$, with column densities of $1.5 \times 10^{12}$ and $6.5\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$, respectively. New observations of NO and HNO, also reported here, allow to estimate the following abundance ratios: $X$(NO)/$X$(NO$^+$)$\simeq511$, and $X$(HNO)/$X$(NO$^+$)$\simeq1$. This latter value provides important constraints on the formation and destruction processes of HNO. The chemistry of NO$^+$ and other related nitrogen-bearing species is investigated by the means of a time-dependent gas phase model which includes an updated chemical network according to recent experimental studies. The predicted abundance for NO$^+$ and NO is found to be consistent with the observations. However, that of HNO relative to NO is too high. No satisfactory chemical paths have been found to explain the observed low abundance of HNO. HSCN and HNCS are also reported here with an abundance ratio of $\simeq1$. Finally, we have searched for NNO, NO$_2$, HNNO$^+$, and NNOH$^+$, but only upper limits have been obtained for their column density, except for the latter for which we report a tentative 3-$\sigma$ detection.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal October 20, 201

Ionization fraction and the enhanced sulfur chemistry in Barnard 1

Barnard B1b has revealed as one of the most interesting globules from the chemical and dynamical point of view. It presents a rich molecular chemistry characterized by large abundances of deuterated and complex molecules. Furthermore, it hosts an extremely young Class 0 object and one candidate to First Hydrostatic Core (FHSC). Our aim was to determine the cosmic ray ionization rate and the depletion factors in this extremely young star forming region. We carried out a spectral survey towards Barnard 1b as part of the IRAM Large program ASAI using the IRAM 30-m telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). This provided a very complete inventory of neutral and ionic C-, N- and S- bearing species with, up to our knowledge, the first secure detections of the deuterated ions DCS+ and DOCO+. We used a state-of-the-art pseudo-time-dependent gas-phase chemical model to determine the value of the cosmic ray ionization rate and the depletion factors. The observational data were well fitted with $\zeta_{H_2}$ between 3E-17 s$^{-1}$ and 1E-16 s$^{-1}$. Elemental depletions were estimated to be ~10 for C and O, ~1 for N and ~25 for S. Barnard B1b presents similar depletions of C and O than those measured in pre-stellar cores. The depletion of sulfur is higher than that of C and O but not as extreme as in cold cores. In fact, it is similar to the values found in some bipolar outflows, hot cores and photon-dominated regions. Several scenarios are discussed to account for these peculiar abundances. We propose that it is the consequence of the initial conditions (important outflows and enhanced UV fields in the surroundings) and a rapid collapse (~0.1 Myr) that permits to maintain most S- and N-bearing species in gas phase to great optical depths. The interaction of the compact outflow associated with B1b-S with the surrounding material could enhance the abundances of S-bearing molecules, as well.Comment: Paper accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 28 pags, 21 figure