BEYOND CLOTHING

BEYOND CLOTHING, a sole proprietorship business formed in February 2020 by Pia Andrade, officially started operations in November 2020 with the mission to provide athletic apparel to Generation Y and Generation Z residing in Region IV-A as they want to help promote healthy lifestyles. BEYOND CLOTHING offered athletic Coolpass fabric shirts priced at Php 400.00 which are available in five sizes and four colors as their flagship product. They diversified into athletic Taslan shorts priced at Php 349.00, which are available in two sizes and two colors. BEYOND CLOTHING entered the athletic apparel market using the market penetration pricing strategy. BEYOND CLOTHING used digital marketing in advertising their products. Both their flagship product and their product diversification, featuring designs made and owned by BEYOND CLOTHING, are comfortable and durable. The strengths of BEYOND CLOTHING that set it apart from its competitors are its products’ durability and features, their meet-up and delivery services, their efficient teamwork, their good supplier relationship and inventory management, and their effective advertising. A total of 120 shirts were produced by the business with a start-up capital of Php 30,000.00 sourced from the owner and the managers. As their break-even was reached, BEYOND CLOTHING allocated Php 3,800.00 for their product diversification. BEYOND CLOTHING will continue its operations after graduating at the end of the academic year

Management of Portal Hypertension in Children

Management of portal hypertension in children has evolved over the past several decades. Portal hypertension can result from intrahepatic or extrahepatic causes. Management should be tailored to the child based on the etiology of the portal hypertension and on the functionality of the liver. The most serious complication of portal hypertension is gastroesophageal variceal bleeding, which has a mortality of up to 30%. Initial treatment of bleeding focuses on stabilizing the patient. Further treatment measures may include endoscopic, medical, or surgical interventions as appropriate for the child, depending on the cause of the portal hypertension. β-Blockers have not been proven to effectively prevent primary or secondary variceal bleeding in children. Sclerotherapy and variceal band ligation can be used to stop active bleeding and can prevent bleeding from occurring. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts and surgical shunts may be reserved for those who are not candidates for transplant or have refractory bleeding despite medical or endoscopic treatment

A Molecular Characterization of the Allelic Expression of the BRCA1 Founder Δ9–12 Pathogenic Variant and Its Potential Clinical Relevance in Hereditary Cancer:International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome is a genetic condition that increases the risk of breast cancer by 80% and that of ovarian cancer by 40%. The most common pathogenic variants (PVs) causing HBOC occur in the BRCA1 gene, with more than 3850 reported mutations in the gene sequence. The prevalence of specific PVs in BRCA1 has increased across populations due to the effect of founder mutations. Therefore, when a founder mutation is identified, it becomes key to improving cancer risk characterization and effective screening protocols. The only founder mutation described in the Mexican population is the deletion of exons 9 to 12 of BRCA1 (BRCA1Δ9–12), and its description focuses on the gene sequence, but no transcription profiles have been generated for individuals who carry this gene. In this study, we describe the transcription profiles of cancer patients and healthy individuals who were heterozygous for PV BRCA1Δ9–12 by analyzing the differential expression of both alleles compared with the homozygous BRCA1 control group using RT–qPCR, and we describe the isoforms produced by the BRCA1 wild-type and BRCA1Δ9–12 alleles using nanopore long-sequencing. Using the Kruskal–Wallis test, our results showed a similar transcript expression of the wild-type allele between the healthy heterozygous group and the homozygous BRCA1 control group. An association between the recurrence and increased expression of both alleles in HBOC patients was also observed. An analysis of the sequences indicated four wild-type isoforms with diagnostic potential for discerning individuals who carry the PV BRCA1Δ9–12 and identifying which of them has developed cancer

Mixed emotions: The contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism

It is widely accepted that autism is associated with disordered emotion processing, and in particular, with deficits of emotional reciprocity such as impaired emotion recognition and reduced empathy. However, a close examination of the literature reveals wide heterogeneity within the autistic population with respect to emotional competence. Here we argue that, where observed, emotional impairments are due to alexithymia - a condition that frequently co-occurs with autism - rather than a feature of autism per se. Alexithymia is a condition characterized by a reduced ability to identify and describe one’s own emotion, but which results in reduced empathy and an impaired ability to recognize the emotions of others. We briefly review studies of emotion processing in alexithymia, and in autism, before describing a recent series of studies directly testing this ‘alexithymia hypothesis’. If found to be correct, the alexithymia hypothesis has wide-reaching implications for the study of autism, and how we might best support sub-groups of autistic individuals with, and without, accompanying alexithymia. Finally, we note the presence of elevated rates of alexithymia, and inconsistent reports of emotional impairments, in eating disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and anxiety disorders. We speculate that examining the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of these disorders may bear fruit in the same way that it is starting to do in autism

No systematic effects of sampling direction on climate-growth relationships in a large-scale, multi-species tree-ring data set

Ring-width series are important for diverse fields of research such as the study of past climate, forest ecology, forest genetics, and the determination of origin (dendro-provenancing) or dating of archaeological objects. Recent research suggests diverging climate-growth relationships in tree-rings due to the cardinal direction of extracting the tree cores (i.e. direction-specific effect). This presents an understudied source of bias that potentially affects many data sets in tree-ring research. In this study, we investigated possible direction-specific growth variability based on an international (10 countries), multi-species (8 species) tree-ring width network encompassing 22 sites. To estimate the effect of direction-specific growth variability on climate-growth relationships, we applied a combination of three methods: An analysis of signal strength differences, a Principal Component Gradient Analysis and a test on the direction-specific differences in correlations between indexed ring-widths series and climate variables. We found no evidence for systematic direction-specific effects on tree radial growth variability in high-pass filtered ring-width series. In addition, direction-specific growth showed only marginal effects on climate-growth correlations. These findings therefore indicate that there is no consistent bias caused by coring direction in data sets used for diverse dendrochronological applications on relatively mesic sites within forests in flat terrain, as were studied here. However, in extremely dry, warm or cold environments, or on steep slopes, and for different life-forms such as shrubs, further research is advisable.</p

Linearization of the mathematical model of a hydraulic actuator connected to a manipulator arm

Streszczenie W pracy przedstawiono metodę linearyzacji modelu matematycznego układu hydraulicznego połączonego z ramieniem manipulatora. Układ zamodelowano w dwóch postaciach: w postaci równań różniczkowych, oraz modelu quasi-liniowego. Uzyskany model uproszczony poddano weryfikacji z modelem dokładnym. Model taki może być wykorzystany w procesach identyfikacji metodą najmniejszych kwadratów, która jest jedną z najbardziej efektywnych metod identyfikacji. Drugim obszarem zastosowań może być projektowanie układów regulacji.The paper presents the method of linearization of a hydraulic actuator system connected to a manipulator arm. Fig. 1 shows a drive system supplied with constant pressure . The flow controller (2) acts as a throttling valve, while the hydraulic actuator (1) is a receiver. The constant pressure is provided by the pump (3). The arm-actuator system presented in Fig. 2 is a one-dimensional model. In the analysis, the elements connecting the actuator to the arm are not taken into consideration. This way it is easier to determine the system dynamic properties. The method used in this study requires expanding the linear function in a Taylor series around the operating point and considering linear terms only. After linearization of the mathematical model of a manipulator connected to a hydraulic actuator, there was obtained a simplified model (7) representing well the real system model behaviour (1). The simplified model was compared with the accurate one. In the case of the second-order, quasi-linear model and the mathematical model of the hydraulic actuator system, both signals fully coincide (Fig. 6). That is why the simplification to such a form is justified. The hydraulic actuator system was designed in two forms: as differential equations(1) (accurate model), and as a quasi-linear model (10) (simplified one). The simplified model can be used for identification purposes using the least squares method, which is one of the most effective identification method. Another area of application can be design of control systems

A problem of optimal cylindricity profile matching

The bird-cage strategy used for measuring cylindricity is reported to be the most effective, as it provides the most detailed information about an analyzed object. The average values of profiles measured with the cross-section and the generatrix strategies may differ slightly, yet this may result from some design imperfections of the measurement instruments used. In this study, the problem of optimal profile matching is formulated and solved. As a result, the differences between the values of the registered profiles at the points of intersection of the scanning trajectories can be minimized

Separation Of Non-Periodic And Periodic 2D Profile Features Using B-Spline Functions

The form, waviness and roughness components of a measured profile are separated by means of digital filters. The aim of analysis was to develop an algorithm for one-dimensional filtering of profiles using approximation by means of B-splines. The theory of B-spline functions introduced by Schoenberg and extended by Unser et al. was used. Unlike the spline filter proposed by Krystek, which is described in ISO standards, the algorithm does not take into account the bending energy of a filtered profile in the functional whose minimization is the principle of the filter. Appropriate smoothness of a filtered profile is achieved by selecting an appropriate distance between nodes of the spline function. In this paper, we determine the Fourier transforms of the filter impulse response at different impulse positions, with respect to the nodes. We show that the filter cutoff length is equal to half of the node-to-node distance. The inclination of the filter frequency characteristic in the transition band can be adjusted by selecting an appropriate degree of the B-spline function. The paper includes examples of separation of 2D roughness, as well as separation of form and waviness of roundness profiles