MLEA: a solution for users of android in UTP Virtual

This paper describes a design of an educational platform for a mobile learning architecture, which is a state of the art topic in distance education. The product will allow users to interact in an efficient, flexible, and transparent fashion with a web-based education environment, in this case Module Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle), using Android mobile devices. In order to provide a strong and lasting architecture, the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) methodology is used given that it allows easy software re-utilization as well as integration of heterogeneous services. The architecture is based on web services implemented with Representational State Transfer (REST), as it has been demonstrated to be lighter and less consuming than other protocols, for devices with limited resources such as mobile devices. Web services provide the communication means between the server side and the client side of the architecture, whereas agents are used to deliver the services itself. The authors propose the development of an environment that facilitates the integration of various educational resources to support m-learning. An important aspect of the proposal is the offering of a tool to provide customized alerts for students and teachers, enabling them to remain updated about activities taking place in the coursesThis paper describes a design of an educational platform for a mobile learning architecture, which is a state of the art topic in distance education. The product will allow users to interact in an efficient, flexible, and transparent fashion with a web-based education environment, in this case Module Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle), using Android mobile devices. In order to provide a strong and lasting architecture, the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) methodology is used given that it allows easy software re-utilization as well as integration of heterogeneous services. The architecture is based on web services implemented with Representational State Transfer (REST), as it has been demonstrated to be lighter and less consuming than other protocols, for devices with limited resources such as mobile devices. Web services provide the communication means between the server side and the client side of the architecture, whereas agents are used to deliver the services itself. The authors propose the development of an environment that facilitates the integration of various educational resources to support m-learning. An important aspect of the proposal is the offering of a tool to provide customized alerts for students and teachers, enabling them to remain updated about activities taking place in the course

Post-treatment of Anaerobic Reactor Effluent by Double Filtration with Gravel and Clinoptilolite and Ozone Disinfection

Anaerobic reactors are an excellent alternative in the treatment of domestic effluents. However, this system presents the disadvantage of requiring post-treatment. Many technologies have been studied and rapid filtration systems have proven to be a viable alternative for the post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluents. This study evaluates the efficacy of an anaerobic reactor effluent post-treatment system using double filtration (DF), which consists of an upward gravel filter and a downward filter of clinoptilolite, and disinfection by ozonation. The system was evaluated using physicochemical and microbiological parameters. The lowest ozone dose (0.4 mg L-1) indicated possible oxidation of fractions of biodegradable organic matter with BOD removals above 95%. Higher ozone concentrations (5.0 and 7.0 mg L-1) improved COD removal and total nitrogen removal. Regarding microbiological parameters, over 87% E. coli and 89% total coliforms could be removed only with the use of DF, while total inactivation was observed using doses above 5.0 mg L-1 ozone. The results showed that following the proposed treatment, the effluent treated with the DF/Ozonation combination meets the guidelines for reuse in toilets, irrigation of orchards, cereals, pastures, and other crops through runoff or by punctual irrigation system according to the NBR 13969/97. According to these results, DF using clinoptilolite followed by ozonation is a promising technology for the anaerobic reactor effluent post-treatment. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i4.161

Efeitos dos Exercícios Físicos em Pacientes Submetidos à Quimioterapia Paliativa

Introdução: O envelhecimento no Brasil avança a passos largos com aumento da prevalência de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis (DCNTs), sendo estas as principais causas de óbito no mundo. As neoplasias são a segunda DCNT mais prevalente e demandam muitos recursos em saúde. A quimioterapia paliativa é um dos tratamentos de escolha para controle de sintomas da neoplasia, pode promover desde fadiga à neuropatia periférica. Por este motivo, os exercícios físicos têm sido recomendados em pacientes com esse tipo de tratamento. Objetivo: Verificar os efeitos dos exercícios físicos em pacientes submetidos a quimioterapia paliativa. Método: Revisão sistemática, seguindo as orientações PRISMA. Pesquisa realizada nas bases de dados eletrônicas LILACS, MEDLINE, PEDro, Clinical Trial e SciELO, consultado pelos descritores: terapia medicamentosa (drug therapy), índice de gravidade da doença (severity of illness index), reabilitação (rehabilitation), exercício físico (physical exercise) e cuidados paliativos (palliative care). Incluídos artigos em português e inglês, sem delimitação de data, ensaios clínicos. A avaliação da qualidade metodológica seguiu a escala de risco de viés da Cochrane. Resultados: Selecionados 10 artigos, sendo cinco com baixo risco de viés; três com viés incerto; e dois com alto risco. Todos os estudos observaram melhora significativa no grupo intervenção quando comparado ao grupo controle nos seguintes desfechos: qualidade vida, controle de sintomas e autonomia. Quanto ao tipo de exercício, apenas cinco compararam diferentes modalidades de exercícios (aeróbios, resistidos ou mistos) e não encontraram diferença estatística entre eles. Outros quatro artigos utilizaram um tipo de exercício, e apenas um estudo utilizou eletroestimulação, não promovendo avanço no nível de atividade física, força muscular e controle de sintomas (dor e fadiga). Conclusão: Embora poucos estudos na literatura, os exercícios físicos parecem contribuir para melhora da força muscular, qualidade de vida, controle de sintomas e manutenção da funcionalidade em pacientes submetidos a quimioterapia paliativa

Federal Research, Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results: Report to Congressional Requesters [with Responses from Federal Agencies]

Why GAO Did This Study Research and development helps catalyze breakthroughs that improve the overall health and wellbeing of our society. Federal research and development expenditures averaged about $135 billion annually for fiscal years 2015 to 2017. According to OSTP, providing free public access to federally funded research results can improve both the impact and accountability of this important federal investment. In February 2013, OSTP directed federal agencies with more than$100 million in annual research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of federally funded research. GAO was asked to examine public access to federally funded research results. This report examines the extent of agencies’ (1) progress implementing plans to increase public access to federally funded research results and (2) coordination on public access plan implementation. GAO administered a questionnaire to 19 federal agencies selected based on annual research and development expenditure amounts, among other criteria; reviewed agency documents; and interviewed officials from 11 agencies, OSTP, and 21 stakeholder organizations. What GAO Found The 19 agencies that GAO reviewed have made progress implementing their plans to increase public access to federally funded research results (publications and data), as called for in a 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum. However, some agencies have not fully implemented some aspects of their plans, in particular those related to data access and mechanisms to ensure researchers comply with public access requirements. Agencies are coordinating with each other and with nonfederal stakeholders to implement public access plans, including through an interagency group led by OSTP and five other agencies. However, the group has not fully implemented selected leading practices identified by GAO that can enhance and sustain interagency collaboration, such as defining and articulating common outcomes. For example, according to OSTP staff, key outcomes have not yet been decided upon. Agency officials and stakeholders identified several challenges to implementing public access plans that interagency coordination might help them address, such as • Absence of common standards in several areas; • Measuring effectiveness of public access plan implementation; and • Balancing providing public access with safeguarding sensitive information. By taking steps to fully implement relevant leading collaboration practices, the interagency group could help agencies better marshal their collective efforts to address common challenges to public access plan implementation. What GAO Recommends GAO is making 37 recommendations to 16 agencies to promote full and effective implementation of agency public access plans. For example, GAO recommends that OSTP and 5 agencies leading a public access interagency group take steps to fully implement selected leading collaboration practices. Of the 16 agencies, 15 agreed with GAO’s recommendations while 1 (OSTP) disagreed. GAO continues to believe the recommendation to OSTP is warranted

Post-treatment of Anaerobic Reactor Effluent by Double Filtration with Gravel and Clinoptilolite and Ozone Disinfection

Anaerobic reactors are an excellent alternative in the treatment of domestic effluents. However, this system presents the disadvantage of requiring post-treatment. Many technologies have been studied and rapid filtration systems have proven to be a viable alternative for the post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluents. This study evaluates the efficacy of an anaerobic reactor effluent post-treatment system using double filtration (DF), which consists of an upward gravel filter and a downward filter of clinoptilolite, and disinfection by ozonation. The system was evaluated using physicochemical and microbiological parameters. The lowest ozone dose (0.4 mg L-1) indicated possible oxidation of fractions of biodegradable organic matter with BOD removals above 95%. Higher ozone concentrations (5.0 and 7.0 mg L-1) improved COD removal and total nitrogen removal. Regarding microbiological parameters, over 87% E. coli and 89% total coliforms could be removed only with the use of DF, while total inactivation was observed using doses above 5.0 mg L-1 ozone. The results showed that following the proposed treatment, the effluent treated with the DF/Ozonation combination meets the guidelines for reuse in toilets, irrigation of orchards, cereals, pastures, and other crops through runoff or by punctual irrigation system according to the NBR 13969/97. According to these results, DF using clinoptilolite followed by ozonation is a promising technology for the anaerobic reactor effluent post-treatment. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i4.161

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes:Evidence from genome-wide association studies

First published: 16 February 202

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements