Detection of the tulip breaking virus (TBV) in tulips using optical sensors

The tulip breaking virus (TBV) causes severe economic losses for countries that export tulips such as the Netherlands. Infected plants have to be removed from the field as soon as possible. There is an urgent need for a rapid and objective method of screening. In this study, four proximal optical sensing techniques for the detection of TBV in tulip plants were evaluated and compared with a visual assessment by crop experts as well as with an ELISA (enzyme immunoassay) analysis of the same plants. The optical sensor techniques used were an RGB color camera, a spectrophotometer measuring from 350 to 2500 nm, a spectral imaging camera covering a spectral range from 400 to 900 nm and a chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system that measures the photosynthetic activity. Linear discriminant classification was used to compare the results of these optical techniques and the visual assessment with the ELISA score. The spectral imaging system was the best optical technique and its error was only slightly larger than the visual assessment error. The experimental results appear to be promising, and they have led to further research to develop an autonomous robot for the detection and removal of diseased tulip plants in the open field. The application of this robot system will reduce the amount of insecticides and the considerable pressure on labor for selecting diseased plants by the crop expert. © 2010 The Author(s

The Amsterdam Hip Protector Study: Compliance and determinants of compliance

Hip protectors appear to be effective in reducing the incidence of hip fractures. However, compliance is often poor. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the compliance and determinants of compliance with external hip protectors. A prospective study was performed in residents from apartment houses for the elderly, homes for the elderly and nursing homes with a high risk for hip fracture (n = 276). The study was performed within the framework of the Amsterdam Hip Protector Study, a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of external hip protectors on the incidence of hip fractures. Compliance was assessed by unannounced visits at 1, 6 and 12 months after inclusion in the study. During the visits, a member of the research team checked whether the participant was wearing the hip protector and, if so, whether it was worn correctly. Furthermore, data on potential determinants of compliance were collected by interviewing the participants or their nurses. Compliance was 60.8% after 1 month (n = 217), 44.7% after 6 months (n = 246), and 37.0% after 12 months (n = 230). Of those wearing the hip protector, 86.7%, 91.7% and 96.5% of the participants were wearing the hip protector correctly after 1, 6 and 12 months respectively; and 14.8%, 16.1% and 8.8% respectively reported wearing the hip protector at night. Compliance after 12 months was predicted by the compliance after 1 month (RR = 2.04; 90% CI: 1.05-3.96). Furthermore, people who experienced one or more falls in the half year before baseline had a lower probability of being compliant at 6 months (RR = 0.72; 90% CI: 0.52-0.99). In conclusion, compliance is a very important issue in hip protector research and implementation. Although, the compliance percentages were moderately high during the unannounced visits in this study, not everyone was wearing the protector correctly and most participants did not wear the hip protector during the night

Ion cyclotron wall conditioning experiments on Tore Supra in presence of the toroidal magnetic field

Wall conditioning techniques applicable in the presence of the high toroidal magnetic field will be required for the operation of ITER for tritium removal, isotopic ratio control and recovery to normal operation after disruptions. Recently ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) experiments have been carried out on Tore Supra in order to assess the efficiency of this technique in ITER relevant conditions. The ICRF discharges were operated in He/H-2 Mixtures at the Tore Supra nominal field (3.8 T) and a RF frequency of 48 MHz, i.e. within the ITER operational space. RF pulses of 60 s (max.) were applied using a standard Tore Supra two-strap resonant double loop antenna in ICWC mode, operated either in pi or 0-phasing with a noticeable improvement of the RF coupling in the latter case. In order to assess the efficiency of the technique for the control of isotopic ratio the wall was first preloaded using a D-2 glow discharge. After 15 minutes of ICWC in He/H-2 gas mixtures the isotopic ratio was altered from 4% to 50% at the price of an important H implantation into the walls. An overall analysis comparing plasma production and the conditioning efficiency as a function of discharge parameters is given

A new lab facility for measuring bidirectional reflectance/emittance distribution functions of soils and canopies

Recently, a laboratory measurement facility has been realized for assessing the anisotropic reflectance and emittance behaviour of soils, leaves and small canopies under controlled illumination conditions. The facility consists of an ASD FieldSpec 3 spectroradiometer covering the spectral range from 350 – 2500 nm at 1 nm spectral sampling interval. The spectroradiometer is deployed using a fiber optic cable with either a 1°, 8° or 25° instantaneous field of view (IFOV). These measurements can be used to assess the plant pigment (chlorophyll, xanthophyll, etc.) and non-pigment system (water, cellulose, lignin, nitrogen, etc.). The thermal emittance is measured using a NEC TH9100 Infrared Thermal Imager. It operates in a single band covering the spectral range from 8 – 14 mm with a resolution of 0.02 K. Images are 320 (H) by 240 (V) pixels with an IFOV of 1.2 mrad. A 1000 W Quartz Tungsten Halogen (QTH) lamp is used as illumination source, approximating the radiance distribution of the sun. This one is put at a fixed position during a measurement session. Multi-angular measurements are achieved by using a robotic positioning system allowing to perform either reflectance or emittance measurements over almost a complete hemisphere. The hemisphere can be sampled continuously between 0° and 80° from nadir and up to a few degrees from the hot-spot configuration (depending on the IFOV of the measurement device) for a backscattering target. Measurement distance to targets can be varied between 0.25 and 1 m, although with a distance of more than 0.6 m it is not possible to cover the full hemisphere. The goal is to infer the BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) and BTDF (bidirectional thermal distribution function) from these multi-angular measurements for various surface types (like soils, agricultural crops, small tree canopies and artificial objects) and surface roughness. The steering of the robotic arm and the reading of the spectroradiometer and the thermal camera are all fully automated

Perioperative antioxidants for adults undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the benefits and harms of antioxidant use in the perioperative period in adults who undergo non‐cardiac surgery

FAULT DIAGNOSIS OF GENERATION IV NUCLEAR HTGR COMPONENTS USING THE ENTHALPY-ENTROPY GRAPH APPROACH

Abstract: Fault diagnosis (FD) is an important component in modern nuclear power plant (NPP) supervision to improve safety, reliability, and availability. In this regard, a significant amount of experience has been gained in FD of generation II and III water-cooled nuclear energy systems through active research. However, new energy conversion methodologies as well as advances in reactor and component technology support the study of different FD methods in modern NPPs. This paper presents the application of the enthalpy-entropy (h-s) graph for FD of generation IV nuclear high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) components. The h-s graph is adapted for fault signature generation by comparing actual operating plant graphs with reference models. Multiple input feature sets (patterns) are generated for the fault classification algorithm based on the error, area, and direction of the fault residuals. The effectiveness of the FD method is demonstrated by classifying 24 non-critical single faults in the main power system of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) during normal steady state operation as well as load following of the plant. Reference and fault data are calculated for the thermo-hydraulic network by means of a simulation model in Flownex ® Nuclear. The results show that the proposed FD method produces different uncorrelated fault signatures for all the examined fault conditions

Detection of the tulip breaking virus (TBV) in tulips using optical sensors

The tulip breaking virus (TBV) causes severe economic losses for countries that export tulips such as the Netherlands. Infected plants have to be removed from the field as soon as possible. There is an urgent need for a rapid and objective method of screening. In this study, four proximal optical sensing techniques for the detection of TBV in tulip plants were evaluated and compared with a visual assessment by crop experts as well as with an ELISA (enzyme immunoassay) analysis of the same plants. The optical sensor techniques used were an RGB color camera, a spectrophotometer measuring from 350 to 2500 nm, a spectral imaging camera covering a spectral range from 400 to 900 nm and a chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system that measures the photosynthetic activity. Linear discriminant classification was used to compare the results of these optical techniques and the visual assessment with the ELISA score. The spectral imaging system was the best optical technique and its error was only slightly larger than the visual assessment error. The experimental results appear to be promising, and they have led to further research to develop an autonomous robot for the detection and removal of diseased tulip plants in the open field. The application of this robot system will reduce the amount of insecticides and the considerable pressure on labor for selecting diseased plants by the crop expert. © 2010 The Author(s

Effect of COVID vaccination on monthly migraine days:a longitudinal cohort study

BACKGROUND: This longitudinal cohort study aimed to investigate changes in migraine-related outcomes following COVID-19 infection and vaccination. METHODS: We identified 547 clinically diagnosed migraine patients from the Leiden Headache Center who kept a headache E-diary during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020 to August 2022). We sent a questionnaire to register their COVID-19 infection and/or vaccination dates. After applying inclusion criteria, n = 59 participants could be included in the infection analysis and n = 147 could be included in the vaccination analysis. Primary outcome was the change in monthly migraine days (MMD) between 1 month prior and 1 month post COVID-19 infection or vaccination. Secondary outcome variables were change in monthly headache days (MHD) and monthly acute medication days (MAMD). RESULTS:Vaccination against COVID-19 was associated with an increase in MMD (1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.57-1.55; p &lt; 0.001), MHD (1.52; 95% CI = 0.91-2.14; p &lt; 0.001) and MAMD (0.72; 95% CI = 0.33-1.12; p &lt; 0.001) in the first month post-vaccination. COVID-19 infection solely increased the number of MAMD (1.11; 95% CI = 0.10-1.62; p &lt; 0.027), but no statistically significant differences in MMD or MHD were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings imply that vaccination against COVID-19 is associated with an increase in migraine, indicating a possible role of inflammatory mediators in migraine pathophysiology.</p

A comprehensive assessment of risk factors for falls in middle-aged adults: co-ordinated analyses of cohort studies in four countries

© 2019, International Osteoporosis Foundation and National Osteoporosis Foundation. Summary: We identified demographic, health and lifestyle factors associated with falls in adults aged 50–64 years from Australia, The Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland. Nearly all factors were associated with falls, but there were differences between countries and between men and women. Existing falls prevention programs may also benefit middle-aged adults. Introduction: Between ages 40–44 and 60–64 years, the annual prevalence of falls triples suggesting that middle age may be a critical life stage for preventive interventions. We aimed to identify demographic, health and lifestyle factors associated with falls in adults aged 50–64 years. Methods: Harmonised data were used from four population-based cohort studies based in Australia (Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, n = 10,641, 51–58 years in 2004), Ireland (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, n = 4663, 40–64 years in 2010), the Netherlands (Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam, n = 862, 55–64 years in 2012–13) and Great Britain (MRC National Survey of Health and Development, n = 2987, 53 years in 1999). Cross-sectional and prospective associations of 42 potential risk factors with self-reported falls in the past year were examined separately by cohort and gender using logistic regression. In the absence of differences between cohorts, estimates were pooled using meta-analysis. Results: In cross-sectional models, nearly all risk factors were associated with fall risk in at least one cohort. Poor mobility (pooled OR = 1.71, CI = 1.34–2.07) and urinary incontinence (OR range = 1.53–2.09) were consistently associated with falls in all cohorts. Findings from prospective models were consistent. Statistically significant interactions with cohort and sex were found for some of the risk factors. Conclusion: Risk factors known to be associated with falls in older adults were also associated with falls in middle age. Compared with findings from previous studies of older adults, there is a suggestion that specific risk factors, for example musculoskeletal conditions, may be more important in middle age. These findings suggest that available preventive interventions for falls in older adults may also benefit middle-aged adults, but tailoring by age, sex and country is required

Should prevention of falls start earlier? Co-ordinated analyses of harmonised data on falls in middle-aged adults across four population-based cohort studies

© 2018 Peeters et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The prevalence of risk factors for falls increases during middle-age, but the prevalence of falls in this age-range is often overlooked and understudied. The aim was to calculate the prevalence of falls in middle-aged adults (aged 40–64 years) from four countries. Data were from four population-based cohort studies from Australia (Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, n = 10556, 100% women, 51–58 years in 2004), Ireland (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, n = 4968, 57.5% women, 40–64 years in 2010), the Netherlands (Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, n = 862, 51.6% women, 55–64 years in 2012–13) and Great Britain (MRC National Survey of Health and Development, n = 2821, 50.9% women, 53 years in 1999). In each study, falls assessment was based on recall of any falls in the past year. The prevalence of falls was calculated for the total group, for each country, for men and women separately, and for 5-year age-bands. The prevalence was higher in Australia (27.8%, women only) and the Netherlands (25.1%) than in Ireland (17.6%) and Great Britain (17.8%, p<0.001). Women (27.0%) had higher prevalences than men (15.2%, p<0.001). The prevalence increased from 8.7% in 40–44 year olds to 29.9% in 60–64 year olds in women, and from 14.7% in 45–49 year olds to 15.7% in 60–64 year olds in men. Even within 5-year age-bands, there was substantial variation in prevalence between the four cohorts. Weighting for age, sex and education changed the prevalence estimates by less than 2 percentage points. The sharp increase in prevalence of falls in middle-age, particularly among women supports the notion that falls are not just a problem of old age, and that middle-age may be a critical life stage for preventive interventions