Random Linear Network Coding Simulations

Network coding is a widely studied theoretical networking scheme with the potential for improving digital communications. The scheme allows a network node to combine information from multiple edges onto a single edge. Message symbols are represented as elements in a finite field of the form 2n. In a broadcast scenario, network coding achieves information transmission rates at the network\u27s mincut max-flow bound. This potential for improving network efficiency has motivated researchers to consider the practical implications of the scheme.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2019/1010/thumbnail.jp

Perceived cognitive functioning in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy compared to matched healthy women: Evidence from a Portuguese study

Aim: Cognitive concerns are one of the most frequently reported symptoms by breast cancer survivors. This study aimed to evaluate perceived cognitive functioning in Portuguese women with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy. Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolling 146 women (73 with breast cancer and 73 healthy) was conducted from August to October 2017, invited to participate through online dissemination. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires to collect sociodemographic and clinical data and assess perceived cognitive functioning and psychological adjustment variables (anxiety and depression). Results: Compared to healthy women, women with breast cancer showed significantly lower scores on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog) subscales and higher levels of depression. Both groups showed significant negative correlations between perceived cognitive functioning and anxiety and depression. Health status and depression seem to better explain perceived cognitive functioning, with health status adding significantly more explained variance beyond sociodemographic and psychological adjustment variables. Conclusion: The current findings provide evidence for the existence of more cognitive complaints among Portuguese women with breast cancer, compared to healthy individuals. Anxiety, depression, age and education also explain perceived cognitive functioning. Considering that health status and psychological adjustment seem to significantly explain perceived cognitive functioning, special attention should be given by health-care professionals, including nurses, to designing clinical interventions for breast cancer patients to help manage cognitive impairment

Coordinate noncommutativity in strong non-uniform magnetic fields

Noncommuting spatial coordinates are studied in the context of a charged particle moving in a strong non-uniform magnetic field. We derive a relation involving the commutators of the coordinates, which generalizes the one realized in a strong constant magnetic field. As an application, we discuss the noncommutativity in the magnetic field present in a magnetic mirror.Comment: 4 page

The potential for the use of population health indices in the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme: a Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) report

The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS; http://pbms.ceh.ac.uk/) is the umbrella project that encompasses the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s National Capability activities for contaminant monitoring and surveillance work on avian predators. The PBMS aims to detect and quantify current and emerging chemical threats to the environment and in particular to vertebrate wildlife. Each bird that is submitted to the scheme is given a post-mortem examination during which approximately 60 macroscopic observations and measurements are made. The information gathered during this examination could potentially be used to monitor health status of the birds at the time of their death or at a particular stage of their development. In the current study, we focused on examining potential health indicators for the sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, as a candidate species partly because we have a long track record of collecting carcasses and eggs of this species, and so hold a substantial associated post-mortem (PM) observations and egg morphometric data sets. This species is sexually dimorphic, another reason for using it as a candidate species as it allowed us to investigate if the various health indices would need to be (and could be) defined separately by age class and sex. We were able to establish baseline “norms” in the form of Shewhart charts for indicators that could be broadly categorised as indicators of change in: (i) population demography because of altered recruitment, survival and mortality (measures were sex ratio, proportion of first-year birds, proportion deaths from starvation or disease, eggshell index); (ii) nutritional status (measures were body weight, fat score, condition index) and (iii) physiological stress (fluctuating asymmetry). The measurements necessary to calculate these indices are routinely captured by the PBMS through direct input into an Oracle database at the time of PM examination. We also explored the potential for annual monitoring of feather corticosterone as a simple effects biomarker for environmental stress, including environmental contaminants, but further work and resource would be needed to incorporate any such measure into annual health surveillance monitoring. We outline how the health indices described here could be reported in real-time and extended to other species to provide surveillance across different trophic strategists, and ecosystems. This report is intended to prompt debate about the type of population health indices that may be of use in assessing environmental health. It is not intended to be definitive in terms of which should be used

Impacto psicológico e fisiológico do cancro parental: um estudo comparativo

A investigação sugere que a prestação de cuidados em oncologia pode produzir activação emocional com características aversivas nos cuidadores. A literatura sustenta que os filhos adultos cuidadores, particularmente, podem perceber a experiência de cancro parental como uma experiência traumática. Este estudo incidiu sobre as consequências psicológicos e fisiológicos da prestação de cuidados em situação de cancro parental. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, com dois grupos (cada um com N=78) de filhos adultos (com cancro parental vs. com pais sem doença crónica). Os participantes foram avaliados nas variáveis de distress, sintomas de stress traumático, exaustão do cuidador e medidas psicofisiológicas (ritmo cardíaco e condutância da pele). Foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos nas variáveis psicológicas e fisiológicas. A resposta de pico no ritmo cardíaco, no grupo de cancro parental, destacou-se como um importante preditor da severidade de sintomas de stress traumático, após controladas as variáveis de distress e exaustão do cuidador. Este estudo sublinha o papel fundamental das medidas psicológicas e fisiológicas no estudo de factores de stress associados à prestação de cuidados em oncologia. Existe uma relevância clínica do foco de intervenções no distress e na reactividade fisiológica destes cuidadores.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The portuguese version of the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS) in a clinical sample: psychometric properties and measurement invariance across sex

The Emotion Regulation of Others and Self Scale (EROS) is commonly used to measure individual differences in the use of strategies to regulate one’s own and other people’s emotions. This study aimed to examine its psychometric properties and measurement invariance across sex in a Portuguese clinical sample. For this purpose, we tested the factorial structure of the EROS in a sample of 390 adults (259 women; Mage = 34.33; SD = 9.99) undergoing active psychotherapy in a private clinic. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the four-factor solution proposed by the original authors (intrinsic affect-improving, intrinsic affect-worsening, extrinsic affect-improving and extrinsic affect-worsening) fitted well to our data. Invariance across sex was determined by using multi-group analyses. Additionally, reliability analysis indicated good coefficients for all the dimensions. The pattern of associations of the EROS subscales with dispositional mindfulness, ruminative thinking, psychological inflexibility, emotional intelligence, and psychopathological symptoms were examined. As expected, small to moderate correlations were found evidencing the convergent construct validity of the EROS. Findings suggest that the EROS is a psychometrically sound approach for assessing individual differences in emotion regulation in clinical samples

Naked singularities in cylindrical collapse of counterrotating dust shells

Solutions describing the gravitational collapse of asymptotically flat cylindrical and prolate shells of (null) dust are shown to admit globally naked singularities

Potent Trivalent Inhibitors of Thrombin through Hybridization of Salivary Sulfopeptides from Hematophagous Arthropods

Blood feeding arthropods, such as leeches, ticks, flies and mosquitoes, provide a privileged source of peptidic anticoagulant molecules. These primarily operate through inhibition of the central coagulation protease thrombin by binding to the active site and either exosite I or exosite II. Herein, we describe the rational design of a novel class of trivalent thrombin inhibitors that simultaneously block both exosites as well as the active site. These engineered hybrids were synthesized using tandem diselenide-selenoester ligation (DSL) and native chemical ligation (NCL) reactions in one-pot. The most potent trivalent inhibitors possessed femtomolar inhibition constants against alpha-thrombin and were selective over related coagulation proteases. A lead hybrid inhibitor possessed potent anticoagulant activity, blockade of both thrombin generation and platelet aggregation in vitro and efficacy in a murine thrombosis model at 1 mg kg(-1). The rational engineering approach described here lays the foundation for the development of potent and selective inhibitors for a range of other enzymatic targets that possess multiple sites for the disruption of protein-protein interactions, in addition to an active site

Surface and electronic structure of MOCVD-grown Ga(0.92)In(0.08)N investigated by UV and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies

The surface and electronic structure of MOCVD-grown layers of Ga(0.92)In(0.08)N have been investigated by means of photoemission. An additional feature at the valence band edge, which can be ascribed to the presence of In in the layer, has been revealed. A clean (0001)-(1x1) surface was prepared by argon ion sputtering and annealing. Stability of chemical composition of the investigated surface subjected to similar ion etching was proven by means of X-ray photoemission spectroscopy.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Composition measurement of epitaxial Sc<inf>x</inf>Ga<inf>1-x</inf>N films

Four different methods for measuring the compositions of epitaxial ScxGa1-xN films were assessed and compared to determine which was the most reliable and accurate. The compositions of epitaxial ScxGa1-xN films with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.26 were measured directly using Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and indirectly using c lattice parameter measurements from x-ray diffraction and c/a ratio measurements from electron diffraction patterns. RBS measurements were taken as a standard reference. XPS was found to underestimate the Sc content, whereas c lattice parameter and c/a ratio were not reliable for composition determination due to the unknown degree of strain relaxation in the film. However, the Sc flux used during growth was found to relate linearly with x and could be used to estimate the Sc content