132 research outputs found

    CarrierCapture.jl: anharmonic carrier capture

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    This release includes bug fixes and improvements as suggested as part of the JOSS review processThis release includes bug fixes and improvements as suggested as part of the JOSS review processv0.

    Effect of deformation on components of internal stress tensor in grains of FCC-polycristal

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    Study of contributions of internal stress tensor components in deformed of austenitic steel was carriedout. The tensor components of internal stresses were determined with using bending extinction contours observing on electron microscope images of the steel

    Are physical measures good indicators of clinical image quality at low dose levels? A pilot study

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    Background - For dose reduction actions, the principle of “image quality as good as possible” to “image quality as good as needed” requires to know whether the physical measures and visual image quality relate. Visual evaluation and objective physical measures of image quality can appear to be different. If there is no noticeable effect on the visual image quality with a low dose but there is a objective physical measure impact, then the overall dose may be reduced without compromising the diagnostic image quality. Low dose imaging can be used for certain types of observations, e.g. thoracic scoliosis, control after metal implantation for osteosynthesis, reviewing pneumonia and tuberculosis. Aim of the study - To determine whether physical measures of noise predict visual (clinical) image quality at low dose levels

    Proton therapy of a pregnant patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

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    Background and purpose: Radiotherapy during pregnancy is rarely administered due to lack of data and practical challenges. This is the first detailed report of proton therapy as cancer treatment for a pregnant patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Materials and methods: Pencil beam scanning proton therapy was prescribed to a pregnant patient to a total dose of 70 Gy (RBE) to the therapeutic CTV and 54.25 Gy to the prophylactic CTV, delivered in 35 fractions with a simultaneous integrated boost technique. Results: Phantom measurements showed a thirty-fold decrease in fetal radiation dose when using proton compared to photon therapy, with a total fetal dose of 5.5 mSv for the complete proton treatment, compared to 185 and 298 mSv for the photon treatment with and without lead shielding, respectively. After adminstering proton therapy during pregnancy, at 39 weeks of gestation, a healthy boy with a birthweight on the 83th percentile was delivered. Pediatric follow-up at 2 months of age of the offspring showed normal growth and age-adequate motor development with no signs of neurological problems. MR follow-up of the tumor 3 months after the end of treatment showed complete remission. Conclusion: This case demonstrates the potential of proton therapy for treatment during pregnancy. Compared to photon therapy, proton therapy can significantly limit fetal dose, while simultaneously offering a more optimized treatment to the patient

    Validation of Claims Data for Absorbing Pads as a Measure for Urinary Incontinence after Radical Prostatectomy, a National Cross-Sectional Analysis

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    The use of healthcare insurance claims data for urinary incontinence (UI) pads has the potential to serve as an objective measure for assessing post-radical prostatectomy UI rates, but its validity for this purpose has not been established. The aim of this study is to correlate claims data with Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for UI pad use. Patients who underwent RP in the Netherlands between September 2019 and February 2020 were included. Incontinence was defined as the daily use of ≥1 pad(s). Claims data for UI pads at 12-15 months after RP were extracted from a nationwide healthcare insurance database in the Netherlands. Participating hospitals provided PROMS data. In total, 1624 patients underwent RP. Corresponding data of 845 patients was provided by nine participating hospitals, of which 416 patients were matched with complete PROMs data. Claims data and PROMs showed 31% and 45% post-RP UI (≥1 pads). UI according to claims data compared with PROMs had a sensitivity of 62%, specificity of 96%, PPV of 92%, NPV of 75% and accuracy of 81%. The agreement between both methods was moderate (κ = 0.60). Claims data for pads moderately align with PROMs in assessing post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence and could be considered as a conservative quality indicator.</p

    Primary care obesity management in Hungary: evaluation of the knowledge, practice and attitudes of family physicians

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    BACKGROUND: Obesity, a threatening pandemic, has an important public health implication. Before proper medication is available, primary care providers will have a distinguished role in prevention and management. Their performance may be influenced by many factors but their personal motivation is still an under-researched area. METHOD: The knowledge, attitudes and practice were reviewed in this questionnaire study involving a representative sample of 10% of all Hungarian family physicians. In different settings, 521 practitioners (448 GPs and 73 residents/vocational trainees) were questioned using a validated questionnaire. RESULTS: The knowledge about multimorbidity, a main consequence of obesity, was balanced.Only 51% of the GPs were aware of the diagnostic threshold for obesity; awareness being higher in cities (60%) and the highest among residents (90%). They also considered obesity an illness rather than an aesthetic issue.There were wider differences regarding attitudes and practice, influenced by the the doctors' age, gender, known BMI, previous qualification, less by working location.GPs with qualification in family medicine alone considered obesity management as higher professional satisfaction, compared to physicians who had previously other board qualification (77%vs68%). They measured their patients' waist circumference and waist/hip ratio (72%vs62%) more frequently, provided the obese with dietary advice more often, while this service was less frequent among capital-based doctors who accepted the self-reported body weight dates by patients more frequently / commonly. Similar reduced activity and weight-measurement in outdoor clothing were more typical among older doctors.Diagnosis based on BMI alone was the highest in cities (85%). Consultations were significantly shorter in practices with a higher number of enrolled patients and were longer by female providers who consulted longer with patients about the suspected causes of developing obesity (65%vs44%) and offered dietary records for patients significantly more frequently (65%vs52%). Most of the younger doctors agreed that obesity management was a primary care issue.Doctors in the normal BMI range were unanimous that they should be a model for their patients (94%vs81%). CONCLUSION: More education of primary care physicians, available practical guidelines and higher community involvement are needed to improve the obesity management in Hungary

    Social dilemmas among unequals

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this record.Direct reciprocity is a powerful mechanism for evolution of cooperation, based on repeated interactions. It requires that interacting individuals are sufficiently equal, such that everyone faces similar consequences when they cooperate or defect. Yet inequality is ubiquitous among humansand is generally considered to undermine cooperation and welfar. Most previous models of reciprocity neglect inequality. They assume that individuals are the same in all relevant aspects. Here we introduce a general framework to study direct reciprocity among unequals. Our model allows for multiple sources of inequality. Subjects can differ in their endowments, their productivities, and in how much they benefit from public goods. We find that extreme inequality prevents cooperation. But if subjects differ in productivity, some endowment inequality can be necessary for cooperation to prevail. Our mathematical predictions are supported by a behavioral experiment where we vary the subjects’ endowments and their productivities. We observe that overall welfare is maximized when the two sources of heterogeneity are aligned, such that more productive individuals receive higher endowments. In contrast, when endowments and productivities are misaligned, cooperation quickly breaks down. Our findings have implications for policy-makers concerned with equity, efficiency, and public goods provisioning.European Research Council Start GrantGraph GamesAustrian Science Fund (FWF)Office of Naval ResearchJohn Templeton FoundationISTFELLOW program

    Video transects reveal that tidal sand waves affect the spatial distribution of benthic organisms and sand ripples

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    The sandy seabed of shallow coastal shelf seas displays morphological patterns of various dimensions. The seabed also harbors a rich ecosystem. Increasing pressure from human-induced disturbances necessitates further study on drivers of benthic community distributions over morphological patterns. Moreover, a greater understanding of the sand ripple distribution over tidal sand waves may improve morphological model predictions. Here we analyzed the biotic abundance and ripple morphology in sand wave troughs and crests using video transects. We found that both the epibenthos and endobenthos are significantly more abundant in sand wave troughs, where ripples are less abundant and more irregularly shaped. Finally, we show that camera systems are relatively quick and effective tools to study biotic spatial patterns in relation to seabed morphology

    Guilds in the transition to modernity: the cases of Germany, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands

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    One important aspect of the transition to modernity is the survival of elements of the Old Regime beyond the French Revolution. It has been claimed that this can explain why in the late 19th and early 20th centuries some Western countries adopted national corporatist structures while others transformed into liberal market economies. One of those elements is the persistence or absence of guild traditions. This is usually analyzed in a national context. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by investigating the development of separate trades in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands throughout the 19th century. We distinguish six scenarios of what might have happened to crafts and investigate how the prevalence of each of these scenarios in the three countries impacted on the emerging national political economies. By focusing on trades, rather than on the national political economy, our analysis demonstrates that in each country the formation of national political economies and citizenship rights was not the result of a national pattern of guild survival. Rather, the pattern that emerged by the end of the 19th century was determined by the balance between old and new industries, and between national and regional or local government
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