A cross comparison between different methods measuring environmental parameters for occupant window behaviour

When studying occupant window behaviour in buildings, the measurement of environmental factorsoften requires dedicated measuring equipment. Currently, there is no universally accepted methods forthe measurement, and in particular the location of sensors. Therefore, researchers more often selectedthe one they are most familiar with, which reduces the comparability of the collected data for differentstudies. This study, therefore, has carried out a comprehensive review on the existing methods used tomeasure significant environmental factors, such as indoor and outdoor temperatures, on occupantwindow opening behaviour. The study repeated different methods to measure both indoor temperatureand outdoor temperature in a case study and compared the measurement results. From the analysis, itwas found that the differences due to various indoor measurement methods was not quite significant,although there were obvious deviations from the reference value. Some environmental factors, such assolar gain and window opening, had greater influences and created larger differences. For outdoormeasurement, the distance between the location of measured data to the case study building seemed tohave significant impact. To make use of different behavioural studies as shared data base, it isrecommended to develop a comprehensive standard methodology for measuring environmental factors

TeacherLM: Teaching to Fish Rather Than Giving the Fish, Language Modeling Likewise

Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit impressive reasoning and data augmentation capabilities in various NLP tasks. However, what about small models? In this work, we propose TeacherLM-7.1B, capable of annotating relevant fundamentals, chain of thought, and common mistakes for most NLP samples, which makes annotation more than just an answer, thus allowing other models to learn "why" instead of just "what". The TeacherLM-7.1B model achieved a zero-shot score of 52.3 on MMLU, surpassing most models with over 100B parameters. Even more remarkable is its data augmentation ability. Based on TeacherLM-7.1B, we augmented 58 NLP datasets and taught various student models with different parameters from OPT and BLOOM series in a multi-task setting. The experimental results indicate that the data augmentation provided by TeacherLM has brought significant benefits. We will release the TeacherLM series of models and augmented datasets as open-source.Comment: 5 figures, 15 page

Thyroid dose assessments due to inhalation of 131I for nuclear medicine workers

BackgroundIn general, medical staff who work in nuclear medicine should be entirely safe in their professional environment. Nevertheless, we already know that the working environment of the nuclear medicine staff is not completely safe due to the handling of high amounts of radionuclides for diagnostic and therapy applications, which is especially relevant for 131I (as a non-sealed source).PurposeThe goal of this study was to assess the inhaled 131I thyroid dose in nuclear medicine workers and to introduce a simple method for internal exposure monitoring.MethodsUsing 2-IN*2-in NaI (Tl) scintillation spectrometer and its supporting software (InSpector Maintenance Utility and Genie 2000), from 2019 to 2021, internal thyroid irradiation monitoring, an internal thyroid irradiation monitoring investi A NaI (Tl) scintillation spectrometer and its sugation was carried out for 3 consecutive years, between 2019 and 2021, in staff members of nuclear medicine departments engaged with iodine therapy.Results131I activity was found highest in the thyroid of nuclear medicine workers involved with the manual packaging and delivery of the radioisotope, while it was not detected in staff members involved with the automatic packaging and drug delivery. The activity range was found to be 30.00 ± 6.60–6070.00 ± 1335.40 Bq for the exposed personnel, and the estimated dose was 0.05–6.77 mSv. In 2021, three workers had an annual equivalent dose above 5 mSv.ConclusionBy monitoring the thyroid 131I in staff members of the nuclear medicine department, it was found that there are 131I internal occupational exposure risks. The best solution is automatic packaging and drug delivery

Seismic architecture of Yongle isolated carbonate platform in Xisha Archipelago, South China Sea

This study presented recently reprocessed multi-channel seismic data and multi-beam bathymetric map to reveal the geomorphology and stratigraphic architecture of the Yongle isolated carbonate platform in the Xisha Archipelago, northwestern South China Sea. Our results show that the upper slope angles of Yongle carbonate platform exceed 10° and even reach to ∼32.5° whereas the lower slope angles vary from .5° to 5.3°. The variations of slope angles show that margins of Yongle Atoll belong to escarpment (bypass) margins to erosional (escarpment) margins. The interior of carbonate platform is characterized by sub-parallel to parallel, semi-continuous to continuous reflectors with medium-to high-amplitude and low-to medium-frequency. The platform shows a sub-flat to flat-topped shape in its geometry with aggradation and backstepping occurring on the platform margins. According to our seismic-well correlation, the isolated carbonate platform started forming in Early Miocene, grew during Early to Middle Miocene, and subsequently underwent drowning in Late Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary. Large-scale submarine mass transport deposits are observed in the southeastern and southern slopes of Yongle Atoll to reshape the slopes since Late Miocene. The magmatism and hydrothermal fluid flow pipes around the Yongle Atoll have been active during 10.5–2.6 Ma. Their activity might intensify dolomitization of the Xisha isolated carbonate platforms during Late Miocene to Pliocene. Our results further suggest that the Yongle carbonate platform is situated upon a pre-existing fault-bounded block with a flat pre-Cenozoic basement rather than a large scale volcano as previously known and the depth of the basement likely reached to 1400 m, which is deeper than the well CK-2 suggested

Epidemiology, management, and outcomes of sepsis in ICUs among countries of differing national wealth across Asia

Rationale: Directly comparative data on sepsis epidemiology and sepsis bundle implementation in countries of differing national wealth remain sparse. Objectives: To evaluate across countries/regions of differing income status in Asia 1) the prevalence, causes, and outcomes of sepsis as a reason for ICU admission and 2) sepsis bundle (antibiotic administration, blood culture, and lactate measurement) compliance and its association with hospital mortality. Methods: A prospective point prevalence study was conducted among 386 adult ICUs from 22 Asian countries/regions. Adult ICU participants admitted for sepsis on four separate days (representing the seasons of 2019) were recruited. Measurements and Main Results: The overall prevalence of sepsis in ICUs was 22.4% (20.9%, 24.5%, and 21.3% in low- income countries/regions [LICs]/lower middle-income countries/ regions [LMICs], upper middle-income countries/regions, and high-income countries/regions [HICs], respectively; P , 0.001). Patients were younger and had lower severity of illness in LICs/ LMICs. Hospital mortality was 32.6% and marginally significantly higher in LICs/LMICs than HICs on multivariable generalized mixed model analysis (adjusted odds ratio, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.00–3.37; P = 0.049). Sepsis bundle compliance was 21.5% at 1 hour (26.0%, 22.1%, and 16.2% in LICs/LMICs, upper middle-income countries/regions, and HICs, respectively; P , 0.001) and 36.6% at 3 hours (39.3%, 32.8%, and 38.5%, respectively; P = 0.001). Delaying antibiotic administration beyond 3 hours was the only element independently associated with increased mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 2.53; 95% confidence interval, 2.07–3.08; P , 0.001). Conclusions: Sepsis is a common cause of admission to Asian ICUs. Mortality remains high and is higher in LICs/LMICs after controlling for confounders. Sepsis bundle compliance remains low. Delaying antibiotic administration beyond 3 hours from diagnosis is associated with increased mortality

Prognostic evaluation of quick sequential organ failure assessment score in ICU patients with sepsis across different income settings

Background There is conflicting evidence on association between quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) and sepsis mortality in ICU patients. The primary aim of this study was to determine the association between qSOFA and 28-day mortality in ICU patients admitted for sepsis. Association of qSOFA with early (3-day), medium (28-day), late (90-day) mortality was assessed in low and lower middle income (LLMIC), upper middle income (UMIC) and high income (HIC) countries/regions. Methods This was a secondary analysis of the MOSAICS II study, an international prospective observational study on sepsis epidemiology in Asian ICUs. Associations between qSOFA at ICU admission and mortality were separately assessed in LLMIC, UMIC and HIC countries/regions. Modified Poisson regression was used to determine the adjusted relative risk (RR) of qSOFA score on mortality at 28 days with adjustments for confounders identified in the MOSAICS II study. Results Among the MOSAICS II study cohort of 4980 patients, 4826 patients from 343 ICUs and 22 countries were included in this secondary analysis. Higher qSOFA was associated with increasing 28-day mortality, but this was only observed in LLMIC (p < 0.001) and UMIC (p < 0.001) and not HIC (p = 0.220) countries/regions. Similarly, higher 90-day mortality was associated with increased qSOFA in LLMIC (p < 0.001) and UMIC (p < 0.001) only. In contrast, higher 3-day mortality with increasing qSOFA score was observed across all income countries/regions (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that qSOFA remained associated with 28-day mortality (adjusted RR 1.09 (1.00–1.18), p = 0.038) even after adjustments for covariates including APACHE II, SOFA, income country/region and administration of antibiotics within 3 h. Conclusions qSOFA was independently associated with 28-day mortality in ICU patients admitted for sepsis. In LLMIC and UMIC countries/regions, qSOFA was associated with early to late mortality but only early mortality in HIC countries/regions

Metadynamics investigations of the AlN/GaN superlattice

Pressure-induced phase transitions of the AlN/GaN superlattice at ambient temperature are systematically investigated using density-functional–based metadynamics simulations. Accompanied with the hexagonal-to-tetragonal phase transition, the coordination number increases to six from four. The homogeneous deformation pathway is energetically favorable and driven by the dynamical instability. Furthermore, no stable intermediate structure of five-fold coordination appears during the evolutionary process of phase transition. The band gap of the hexagonal phase is always direct, and that of the tetragonal phase always indirect due to the strong p-d repulsion. As the metastep number increases, the band gap is enlarged to an ultraviolet-spectrum range

Effects of high-tidal-volume mechanical ventilation on the expression of PX receptor and inflammatory response in lung tissue of rats

Ventilator-induced lung injury is a severe complication mainly caused from mechanical ventilation (MV), associated with the upregulation of inflammation response. The mechanism still remains unclear. This study aims to explore the effects of pathological damage, neutrophil infiltration, expression of P 2 X 7 receptor, and activation of Caspase-1 in lung tissue using a rat model. Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into sham group, conventional MV group, and high-tidal-volume ventilation group and fed with clean water and rat food. The sham group received tracheotomy without MV; conventional MV group was given 7 mL/kg tidal volume ventilation, and high-tidal-volume MV group was given 28 mL/kg tidal volume ventilation. All the rats were sacrificed after 4 h of ventilation or spontaneous breath. Lung wet/dry ratio was measured, and paraffin sections were prepared for pathological injury assessment and immunohistochemistry of P 2 X 7 and myeloperoxidase levels. Lung homogenate was used for Western blot analysis of P 2 X 7 receptor and Caspase-1 levels and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of P 2 X 7 gene expression level. Compared to sham group and conventional MV group, high-tidal-volume MV led to an increase in lung wet/dry ratio and histology score. High-tidal-volume ventilation also led to chemotaxis of neutrophils. The expression levels of protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) of P 2 X 7 receptor were significantly upregulated. Cleaved-caspase-1 expression was also upregulated. All data provide the evidence that high-tidal-volume MV can lead to lung injury, neutrophils infiltration, and upregulation of cleaved-Caspase-1 level. This result may be related to the upregulation of P 2 X 7 receptor expression

Influence of Convection Term on Temperature Field during Soil Freezing

In recent years, the numerical model of frozen soil has mainly focused on the water-heat equation of unsaturated soil, which is of great significance to predicting engineering stability in frozen soil areas. In these numerical models, the change of freezing temperature is usually ignored, and 0 °C is often used as the freezing condition. In addition, most equations only consider the effect of latent heat released during water freezing on the frozen soil and ignore the effect of high-temperature water on the heat transfer of frozen soil when unfrozen water migrates to the frozen zone. Therefore, there will be deviations under long-time simulation. At the same time, due to excessive attention to the moisture field and neglect of the selection of the temperature field, there is no clear conclusion on when to choose the heat transfer equation with the convection term. The equation in this paper considered the change of freezing temperature under different initial saturation conditions and the convection effect during moisture migration. Through COMSOL 5.5 software simulation, they were combined with the experiment to verify. Three different hydrothermal equations were selected to analyze the effects of latent heat and the effects of convection on the temperature field under different initial saturation conditions. The results show that the convection term plays an essential role in the heat transfer equation for unsaturated soil with high initial saturation. Additionally, the frost heave occurs mainly above the ice front interface. This study provides a reference for when to choose the heat transfer equation with convective terms and can provide help for the construction and prediction of frozen soil in the future