Is It Safe to Perform Lung Surgery During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients are rapidly growing in our community. Patients with compromised lungs and older age are supposedly at high risk of poor outcomes with COVID-19. We aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 impact on lung surgery during this pandemic at our hospital. Methodology: This is a retrospective study of all lung surgery patients at our hospital in Boca Raton over three months (February to April 2020). All patients who remained for at least one-day inpatient post-lung surgery were assessed to see if they had an increased incidence of coronavirus infection during the hospital stay or at the follow-up office visit. Results: A total of 44 patients underwent thoracic surgery. It was found that there was no incidence of coronavirus infection in these patients. Conclusion: With adequate precautions, older patients can undergo lung surgery during this pandemic. There was no incidence of COVID-19 found among the patients during the hospital stay or at the first follow-up in the office. Also, the postoperative course was not adversely affected. Keywords: covid-19; lung cancer; lung surgery; thoracic surgery

Bile Leak following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy due to Perforated Duodenal Ulcer in Patient with Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass

Background and Aims. Screening for gastric diseases in symptomatic outpatients with conventional esophagogastroduodenoscopy (C-EGD) is expensive and has poor compliance. We aimed to explore the efficiency and safety of magnetic-controlled capsule gastroscopy (MCCG) in symptomatic outpatients who refused C-EGD. Methods. We performed a retrospective study of 76794 consecutive symptomatic outpatients from January 2014 to October 2019. A total of 2318 adults () in the MCCG group who refused C-EGD were matched with adults in the C-EGD group using propensity-score matching (PSM). The detection rates of abnormalities were analyzed to explore the application of MCCG in symptomatic patients. Results. Our study demonstrated a prevalence of gastric ulcers (GUs) in patients with functional dyspepsia- (FD-) like symptoms of 8.14%. The detection rate of esophagitis and Barrett’s esophagus was higher in patients with typical gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms than in patients in the other four groups (). The detection rates of gastric ulcers in the five groups (abdominal pain, bloating, heartburn, follow-up, and bleeding) were significantly different (). The total detection rate of gastric ulcers in symptomatic patients was 9.7%. A total of 7 advanced carcinomas were detected by MCCG and confirmed by endoscopic or surgical biopsy. The advanced gastric cancer detection rate was not significantly different between the MCCG group and the C-EGD matched group in terms of nonhematemesis GI bleeding (2 vs. 2, ). In addition, the overall focal lesion detection rate in the MCCG group was superior to that in the C-EGD matched group (224 vs. 184, ). MCCG gained a clinically meaningful small bowel diagnostic yield of 54.8% (17/31) out of 31 cases of suspected small bowel bleeding. No patient reported capsule retention at the two-week follow-up. Conclusion. MCCG is well tolerated, safe, and technically feasible and has a considerable diagnostic yield. The overall gastric diagnostic yield of gastric focal lesions with MCCG was comparable to that with C-EGD. MCCG offered a supplementary diagnosis in patients who had a previously undiagnostic C-EGD, indicating that MCCG could play an important role in the routine monitoring and follow-up of outpatient. MCCG shows its safety and efficiency in symptomatic outpatient applications

Systemverstehen beim hochautomatisierten Fahren

Hintergrund: Die Automation von Systemen schreitet immer weiter voran. Viele Studien beschäftigen sich mit der Messung von mentalen Modellen zu automatisierten Systemen auf Basis von Daten aus subjektiven Methoden. Die subjektiven Methoden erzeugen aufgrund der zeitlichen und inhaltlichen, dynamischen Entwicklung automatisierter Systeme keine langfristig vergleichbaren Ergebnisse über verschiedene Automationslevel und Versuchsaufbauten hinweg. Ziel: Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, den Aufbau und die Aktualisierung mentaler Modelle des Fahrers hochautomatisierter Fahrzeuge zu messen, das Vertrauen in und die Akzeptanz von solchen Systemen in Beziehung zu setzen und mit Hilfe einer in diesem Kontext neuen, objektiven Methode den Einfluss von Systembeschreibungen auf mentale Modelle beim hochautomatisierten Fahren zu zeigen und zu evaluieren. Methode: Es wurden drei Studien durchgeführt, in denen mentale Modelle mittels Systembeschreibungen manipuliert wurden. Die erste Studie fand in einer laborähnlichen Umgebung vor einem Laptop statt und die mentalen Modelle wurden mit Hilfe einer subjektiven Messmethode untersucht. Die zweite Studie fand in einem Fahrsimulator statt und es wurden zwei objektive Messmethoden verglichen. Die dritte Studie fand ebenfalls im Fahrsimulator statt und eine der objektiven Messmethoden aus Studie zwei wurde anhand einer größeren Stichprobe und längeren Fahrt evaluiert. Ergebnisse: In Summe konnte die Manipulation mentaler Modelle über das Lesen von Systembeschreibungen repliziert werden (Beggiato & Krems, 2013) und eine objektive Messmethode zur Ableitung des Einflusses von Systembeschreibungen auf mentale Modelle während einer hochautomatisierten Fahrt gefunden werden. Der Einfluss mentaler Modelle auf das Vertrauen und die Akzeptanz in hochautomatisierte Systeme war geringer als erwartet. Die Auswertung der objektiven Messungen mentaler Modelle beim hochautomatisierten Fahren ergab, dass vor allem die Phase des Einschaltprozesses der Automation zu einer Anpassung des mentalen Modells führte. Dies hatte wiederum auf informationsverarbeitende Prozesse im Verlauf der Fahrt und während der Übernahme der Fahraufgabe durch den Fahrer (Übernahmephase) Einfluss. Dennoch war sowohl die subjektive Messmethode, als auch die objektive Messmethode im Stande die Entwicklung mentaler Modelle darzustellen. Fazit: Eine objektive Messmethode steht den bisherigen subjektiven Messmethoden in der Sensibilität in nichts nach. Im Gegenteil, sie bietet eine weitaus genauere Auflösung der Einflüsse auf den Aufbau und die Aktualisierung mentaler Modelle (Studie 2 Experiment 2). Das Messen von Aufbau und Aktualisierung mentaler Modelle mit einer objektiven, verhaltensbasierten Methode ist vor allem aufgrund der langfristigen Vergleichbarkeit der Ergebnisse zu empfehlen. Um die Einflüsse mentaler Modelle auf das Vertrauen und die Akzeptanz genauer zu betrachten, wird ein weiteres Experiment empfohlen, das im Realverkehr durchgeführt wird. Anwendung: Mögliche Anwendung finden die Ergebnisse in der Entwicklung von objektiven Messmethoden mentaler Modelle automatisierter Fahrzeuge jeden Automationslevels und bei der Serienentwicklung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen. Zudem wird offensichtlich, dass der Fahrer zum korrekten Aufbau eines mentalen Modells, Informationen zu den Fahrzeugfunktionen und dessen Grenzen benötigt. Nur konkretes Wissen über die mentale Verarbeitung und Speicherung von Informationen während einer hochautomatisierten Fahrt, führt zu Hinweisen bezüglich einer optimal auf das hochautomatisierte Fahren abgestimmte instruktionale Maßnahme in Form von zum Beispiel Informationsmaterial für den Fahrer. Eine Kurzanleitung zu hochautomatisierten Systemen, Tutorials in Form von YouTube Videos oder Probefahrten können womöglich die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Unfalls aufgrund eines mentalen Modells das nicht der Realität entspricht (inkorrektes Modell) verringern. Weiterführende Untersuchungen um dies zu klären, werden auf Grundlage dieser Ausarbeitung empfohlen

Ammonia, water, and hydrogen: Can nuclear motion be described classically?

The hypothesis that nuclear motion can be described classically has been tested for several critical systems. We investigate the inversion of ammonia and the heat capacities of water and hydrogen. We use conventional ab initio molecular dynamics, which describes nuclear motion classically and the electron cloud using density functional theory. Ammonia inversion is described perfectly by the tunneling of the p orbital through the molecular plane. Nuclear tunneling is not needed to describe this phenomenon. While the investigation of heat capacities is hampered by the brief simulation times and limited system sizes, we can nevertheless make some qualitative statements. Indeed, the heat capacity can be frozen out in molecular dynamics simulations of solids, and hence, a quantized description is not required. © 2019 The Authors. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Analysing Sound Environment and Architectural Characteristics of Libraries through Indoor Soundscape Framework

This study presents the indoor soundscape framework in detail by describing the variables and factors that form an indoor soundscape study. The main objective is to introduce a new indoor soundscaping framework and systematically explain the variables that contribute to the overall evaluation of an indoor soundscape. Hence, the dependencies of physical and psychoacoustical factors of the sound environment and the spatial factors of the built entity are statistically tested. The new indoor soundscaping framework leads to an overarching evaluation perspective of enclosed sound environments, combining objective room acoustics research and noise control engineering with architectural analysis. Therefore, it is hypothesised that case spaces with certain plan organisations, volumetric relations, and spatial referencing lead to differentiated sound pressure level (SPL) and loudness (N) values. SPL and N parametric variances of the sound environments are discussed through the statistical findings with respect to the architectural characteristics of each library case space. The results show that the relation between crowd level variances and sound environment parametric values is statistically significant. It is also found that increasing the atrium height and atrium void volume, the atrium’s presence as a common architectural element, and its interpenetrating reference and domain containment results in unwanted variances and acoustic formations, leading to high SPL and N values

Boosting the Performance of WO3/n‐Si Heterostructures for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: from the Role of Si to Interface Engineering

Metal oxide/Si heterostructures make up an exciting design route to high‐performance electrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. By monochromatic light sources, contributions of the individual layers in WO3/n‐Si heterostructures are untangled. It shows that band bending near the WO3/n‐Si interface is instrumental in charge separation and transport, and in generating a photovoltage that drives the PEC process. A thin metal layer inserted at the WO3/n‐Si interface helps in establishing the relation among the band bending depth, the photovoltage, and the PEC activity. This discovery breaks with the dominant Z‐scheme design idea, which focuses on increasing the conductivity of an interface layer to facilitate charge transport, but ignores the potential profile around the interface. Based on the analysis, a high‐work‐function metal is predicted to provide the best interface layer in WO3/n‐Si heterojunctions. Indeed, the fabricated WO3/Pt/n‐Si photoelectrodes exhibit a 2 times higher photocurrent density at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a 10 times enhancement at 1.6 V versus RHE compared to WO3/n‐Si. Here, it is essential that the native SiO2 layer at the interface between Si and the metal is kept in order to prevent Fermi level pinning in the Schottky contact between the Si and the metal.</p

Historical mystery solved: A multi-analytical approach to the identification of a key marker for the historical use of brazilwood (Caesalpinia spp.) in paintings and textiles

Brazilwood-derived pigments and dyes are found in many historical objects, from European paintings to North American First Nations textiles.</p

РЕГУЛЮВАЛЬНІ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ ІМПУЛЬСНОГО РЕГУЛЯТОРА ПОНИЖУВАЛЬНОГО ТИПУ, ЩО ЗАРЯДЖАЄ АКУМУЛЯТОР ВІД СОНЯЧНОЇ БАТАРЕЇ

Problem. An important element of autonomous power sources, built on the basis of solar batteries, is a battery, operating in a buffer mode. To extend the period of its use, it is necessary to ensure the appropriate modes of its charging and discharging, by regulating the charging and discharge currents. To ensure that maximum power can be transferred to the load in various operating modes, a matching switching regulator is included between the solar battery and the load. In the case of its application, it becomes possible to simultaneously regulate the charging current of the battery. For the most effective regulation of this current, it is necessary to know the regulatory characteristics of the regulator. Goal. The aim of the work is to determine and analyze the regulatory characteristics of the switching voltage regulator step-down type, which charges the battery from the solar battery. Methodology. Using the theory of switching voltage regulators, a relationship between the output characteristic of the source and the regulatory characteristic of the regulator are established. The graphs of the regulatory characteristics are carried out by the graphoanalytical method. Results. The dependence of the output current of the solar battery, from well as the current of the charged battery, on the relative time of the closed state of the key of the switching regulator are analyzes. A technique for constructing the regulatory characteristics of a switching regulator for a given type of output characteristic of a power source and operating voltage of a battery is proposed. For typical output characteristics of the solar battery, graphs of the regulatory characteristics of the switching regulator for various levels of illumination of the solar battery are constructed. When constructing the regulatory characteristics, the possibility of an intermittent current mode in the inductance of the switching regulator is taken into account. Originality. The results obtained make it possible to take into account the influence of the internal resistance of the power supply, in particular, substantially nonlinear, on the regulatory characteristics of the switching regulator. Practical value. The proposed technique can be used to determine the regulatory characteristics of other types of regulators, the power source of which has a non-linear output characteristic. Using the obtained regulatory characteristics, it is possible to determine the conditions under which maximum power will be transmitted from the solar battery to the battery. These characteristics can be used in the elaboration of solar battery charge controllers. Розглянуто підходи до визначення регулювальних характеристик імпульсного регулятора напруги понижувального типу, джерелом живлення якого є сонячна батарея, а навантаженням – акумулятор. Проаналізовано залежність регулювальних характеристик регулятора від типу вихідної характеристики джерела електроживлення з урахуванням нелінійності його внутрішнього опору. Запропоновано методику визначення регулювальної характеристики регулятора для заданого виду вихідної характеристики джерела, з урахуванням можливості виникнення режиму переривчастого струму в його індуктивності. Розроблено рекомендації щодо забезпечення можливості передавання максимально можливої потужності від сонячної батареї до акумулятора.