Forecasting the levels of disability in the older population of England: Application of neural nets

Deep neural networks are powerful tools for modelling non-linear patterns and are very effective when the input data is homogeneous such as images and texts. In recent years, there have been attempts to apply neural nets to heterogeneous data, such as tabular and multimodal data with mixed categories. Transformation methods, specialised architectures such as hybrid models, and regularisation models are three approaches to applying neural nets to this type of data. In this study, first, we apply K-modes clustering algorithm to define different levels of disability based on responses related to mobility impairments, difficulty in performing Activities of Daily Livings (ADLs), and Instrumental Activities of Daily Livings (IADLs). We consider three cases, namely binary, 3-level, and 4-level disability. We then try Wide & Deep, TabTransformer, and TabNet models to predict these levels using socio-demographic, health, and lifestyle factors. We show that all models predict different levels of disability reasonably well with TabNet outperforming other models in the case of binary disability and in terms of 4 metrics. We also find that factors such as urinary incontinence, ever smoking, exercise, and education are important features selected by TabNet that affect disability

Protest Visual Arts in Iran from the 1953 Coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution

There have been conducted a few numbers of researches with protest-related subjects in visual arts in a span between the two major unrests, the 1953 Coup and the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This study tries to investigate how the works of Iranian visual artists demonstrate their reactions to the 1953 Coup and progresses towards modernization that occurred after the White Revolution of Shāh in 1963. The advent of the protest concept has coincided with the presence of Modern and Contemporary art in Iran when the country was occupied by allies during the Second World War. The 1953 Coup was a significant protest event that motivated some of the artists to react against the monarchy’s intention. Although, poets, authors, journalists, and writers of plays were pioneer to combat dictatorship, the greatest modernist artists of that time, impressed by the events after the 1953 Coup, just used their art as rebellious manifest against the governors

Metal-organic frameworks for selective gas separation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Listed in 2019 Dean's List of Exceptional ThesesWith an ever increasing need for a more energy-efficient and environmentally benign procedure for gas separation, adsorbents with tailored structures and tunable surface properties are in high demand. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), constructed from metalcontaining nodes connected by organic bridges, are such a new type of porous materials. They are promising candidates as adsorbents for gas separations due to their large surface areas, adjustable pore sizes and controllable properties, as well as acceptable thermal stability. However, the bottleneck in this context is that MOFs are expensive to be fabricated and majority of them are not stable in harsh environments, which are often required by industrial processes. In this thesis, we introduce three families of metal-organic frameworks with exceptional gas separation performance for a variety of different gas mixtures separation. Their unique separation performances are well supported by isotherm measurement, X-ray crystallography, DFT calculations, and breakthrough test. These MOFs are all readily synthesizable by inexpensive precursor and highly stable at extreme conditions

A promising approach to low electrical percolation threshold in PMMA nanocomposites by using MWCNT-PEO predispersions

Electrical conductive poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanocomposites with low percolation threshold are very challenging to be prepared. Here, we show that the miscibility between poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as matrix for predispersions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and PMMA represents an efficient approach to achieve very low electrical percolation threshold. PMMA/PEO-MWCNTs nanocomposites were prepared by a two-step solution casting method involving pre-mixing of MWCNTs with PEO and then mixing of PEO-MWCNTs with PMMA, resulting in a PMMA/PEO ratio of 80/20 wt%. The electrical percolation threshold (EPT) value was determined to be ~ 0.07 wt% which is significantly lower than most of the reported EPT values in the literature for PMMA/CNT composites. The very low electrical percolation threshold was attributed to the effectual role of PEO in self-assembly of secondary structures of nanotubes into an electrically conductive network. This was further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and by comparing the obtained EPT value with the prediction of the excluded volume model in which statistical percolation threshold is defined based on uniform distribution of high-aspect ratio sticks in a matrix. Moreover, based on UV–Vis measurements and linear viscoelastic rheological measurements, optical and rheological percolation thresholds were obtained at nearly 0.01 wt% and 0.5 wt%, respectively

The Main Clinical Indicators of Sarcopenia in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disease: Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction Approach

Patients with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) have a disorder in muscle structure and function, but their function increases with physical progress and decreases the risk of general, and muscular weakness are more likely to develop sarcopenia. We randomly selected patients (N = 38) with mean age of 72 ± 1.0 years old men and women elderly with chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis and obesity with dyspnea score ≥ 2 in MRC index. All patients after receiving research information and signing informed consent have gone through performing clinical assessments. They performed femur bone mineral density (FBMD) and ultrasound on the rectus femoris muscle mid-tight cross-sectional area (RFMTCSA) in the quadriceps muscle. The significant changes in BMI were seen in all patients, pre-rehabilitation, BMI = 30 ± 1.06 kg/m2 and post-rehabilitation, BMI = 29 ± 1.00 kg/m2. In Pearson’s correlation of r = 0.607 between T-score and Z-score in FBMD and RFMTCSA in pre-rehabilitation, there is a little bit significant correlation between the variables than in the Pearson’s correlation of r = 0.910 in post-rehabilitation, P < 0.00. Comparing femur bone and rectus femoris muscle parameters as indicators for diagnosis of sarcopenia in chronic respiratory patients, we observed that in rectus femoris muscle, ultrasound is the most effective foot muscle detector

Epidemiological characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in IRAN: A single center study.

BackgroundAn outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran has spread throughout the country. Identifying the epidemiological characteristics of this disease will help to make appropriate decisions and thus control the epidemic. The aim of this study was characterization of the epidemiological features of COVID-19 in Iran.MethodsIn this retrospective study, data related to the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients admitted to Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from 19 February 2020 to 15 April 2020 have been analyzed and reported. Patient characteristics including age, gender and underlying diseases were investigated. Data were collected through patient records. Sex ratio, Case Fatality Rate (CFR) and daily trend of cases were also determined. A multiple logistic regression analysis was also performed to assess affecting factors on mortality.ResultsFrom February 19, 2020 to April 15, 2020, 12870 patients referred to the hospital emergency department, of which 2968 were hospitalized with COVID-19 diagnosis. The majority of cases were in the age group of 50 to 60 years of old. The male-to-female ratio was 1.93:1. A total of 239 deaths occurred among all cases for an overall CFR of 1.85% based on the total number of patients (both outpatient and inpatient) and 8.06% among hospitalized patients. Out of all patients 10.89% had comorbidity. Diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic Kidney diseases and cancer were the most common comorbidities with 3.81, 2.02 , 1.99 , 1.25, 0.60 and 0.57 %, respectively. Male gender (OR=1.45, 95% CI: 1.08-1.96), older age (OR=1.05, 95% CI: 1.04-1.06) and having underlying diseases (OR=1.53, 95% CI: 1.04-2.24) were significantly associated with mortality.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that Male gender, older age and having comorbidities were significantly associated with the risk of death among COVID-19 patients. It is important to pay special attention to male elderly patients with underlying diseases