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Implementation of clinical breast examination screening programme as part of primary care in Vietnam: An analysis of contextual factors
No full textClinical breast examination (CBE) screening for breast cancer in Vietnam was proved to be cost-effective and acceptable to women. However, the outcomes of the implementation of such proposed programme are unknown. To inform the design and implementation planning of the proposed screening programme, this study investigated and analysed the contextual factors of implementing a CBE programme as part of primary care in Vietnam. Regarding methods, the Breast Health Global Initiative Framework and its seven contextual domains for breast cancer health care (including i. epidemiological, ii. policy/legal, iii. geographical/environmental, iv. service and organisational, v. financial, vi. social and economic, vii. cultural and psychosocial) guided the programme implementation analysis. Literature review, documentary analysis of polices, and key informant interviews (with representatives of health authorities at all four levels of Vietnam health system) were used to gather data for each domain. The results show that Vietnam's policy context pointed to the focus on cancer early detection through screening. According to key informants, district level was the most appropriate level for organising and delivering a CBE programme, and only doctors should perform a CBE. Knowledge about breast cancer and perceived susceptibility to receiving a breast cancer diagnosis was positively associated with CBE uptake. In conclusions, the current policy framework supports the implementation of a CBE screening programme in Vietnam. CBE should be performed by doctors, at the district level, and alongside health promotion.<br/
Auditory stimulation and cognitive bias in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)
No full textDomestic dogs have been shown to respond to their auditory environment, with different genres of music triggering different behavioral and physiological responses. It is still unknown, however, whether the auditory environment can influence canine affect. This study therefore explored the influence of auditory stimulation on the short-term mood of dogs. Forty-five pet dogs were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions of auditory stimulation (a control of silence, classical music, or audiobook). While being exposed to the auditory stimulus relevant to their condition, each subject animal participated in a commonly employed cognitive bias test, during which their latency to approach a bowl placed in one of the three ambiguous positions was recorded. All dogs were successfully trained, with intact animals taking fewer sessions to reach criterion than neutered subjects. As expected, dogs became increasingly slower to reach the bowl the further it was positioned from the positive location. The animals’ latency to reach the bowl placed in the ambiguous positions did not differ significantly between auditory conditions. The study suggests that canine affect is not influenced by the auditory environment, at least in the short term. Methodological issues, both in relation to the protocol adopted in the present investigation and the cognitive bias test more generally, are considered.<br/
Enabling distributed generative artificial intelligence in 6G: mobile edge generation
No full textMobile edge generation (MEG) is an emerging technology that allows the network to meet the challenging traffic load expectations posed by the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GAI). A novel MEG model is proposed for deploying GAI models on edge servers (ES) and user equipment (UE) to jointly complete text-to-image generation tasks. In the generation task, the ES and UE will cooperatively generate the image according to the text prompt given by the user. To enable the MEG, a pre-trained latent diffusion model (LDM) is invoked to generate the latent feature, and an edge-inferencing MEG protocol is employed for data transmission exchange between the ES and the UE. A compression coding technique is proposed for compressing the latent features to produce seeds. Based on the above seed-enabled MEG model, an image quality optimization problem with energy constraint is formulated. The transmitting power of the seed is dynamically optimized by a deep reinforcement learning agent over the fading channel. The proposed MEG-enabled text-to-image generation system is evaluated in terms of image quality and transmission overhead. The numerical results indicate that, compared to the conventional centralized generation-and-downloading scheme, the symbol number of the transmission of MEG is materially reduced. In addition, the proposed compression coding approach can improve the quality of generated images under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, and the DRL-enabled dynamic power control further improves the image quality under the energy constraint compared to static transmit power control
Stone law: immutability and legal worldbuilding
No full textIn N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, core laws are written on stone. But the tablets are incomplete, open to interpretation and their authorship uncertain. Nonetheless, Stone Law forms the basis of the governance system. Ultimately, the narrative reveals that the Stone Laws are recent in origin and an instrument of subjugation whose claims to common sense belie its harms. This article considers immutability in law and the ways in which particular laws become as if written in stone. Constitutional law and jus cogens are two examples of immutable worldbuilding laws represented as inevitable, absolute, unyielding and perpetual. Debates in law and humanities on genre, performance, interpretation and the concerns of a particular era are often reflected and refracted through both the laws and the literature of an era. In particular, the practice of worldbuilding is used to demonstrate the wariness necessary when laws are represented as immutable.<br/
Infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics for predicting commercial categories of virgin olive oils and supporting the panel test
No full textThe aim of this study was to create rapid and sustainable instrumental methods for screening virgin olive oils (VOOs) to support the Panel test. The Panel test is the official sensory method used in EU regulations to determine the commercial category of VOOs. The Panel test is based on a time-consuming and expensive approach, so reducing the number of samples to be analysed is crucial. Spectroscopy offers a potential solution for quickly determining VOOs composition and predicting their quality grade. In this context, three spectroscopic techniques were explored: Near-Infrared (NIR), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopy. A dataset of 100 VOOs samples, categorized into the three official grades (extra virgin, EVOO, virgin, VOO and lampante, LOO) established in EU, based on the Panel test results, was analysed. An initial analysis of all spectra revealed typical for triacylglycerols molecular vibrations and not good variability between types of samples, indicating low specificity. However, FT-IR data paired with two different Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) models – one differentiating LOO from non-LOO (VOO and EVOO) and another distinguishing LOO from VOO – yielded promising results. Cross-validation indicated successful sample classification with percentages ranging from 81% to 96%, in which LOO vs. no-LOO model showed the highest performance. These findings suggest that FT-IR coupled with chemometric analysis holds promise, particularly for discriminating LOO (inedible) from the higher-quality grade VOO and EVOO categories. Further research efforts are needed to possibly make the herein developed models more robust and potentially extend their application to differentiate all three VOO quality grades.<br/
Preferences and attitudes on acetate- versus lactate-buffered crystalloid solutions for intravenous fluid therapy − an international survey
No full textBackgroundClinical practice guidelines recommend use of buffered crystalloid solutions in critically ill patients but do not distinguish between solutions based on different buffering anions, that is, acetate- versus lactate-buffered solutions. We therefore surveyed relevant physicians about their preferences and attitudes toward each solution.MethodsWe conducted an international online survey of anesthesiologists (within perioperative care) and intensive care unit (ICU) physicians. The survey comprised 13 questions on respondents' attitudes and preferences regarding the use of acetate- and/or lactate-buffered crystalloid solutions, including their opinions on a potential clinical trial comparing these solutions and the clinical importance of such a trial.ResultsA total of 1321 respondents participated, with a response rate of 34%, ranging from 14% to 96% across 18 countries. Most surveyed physicians reported using buffered crystalloid solutions “very often” (76%) or “often” (16%). Availability of acetate- and lactate-buffered solutions varied, as 35% of respondents reported having both types available, 35% reported having only acetate-, and 24% reported having only lactate-buffered solutions available.Most respondents (87%) would support a randomized trial in adult emergency surgical patients and ICU patients comparing an acetate- versus lactate-buffered crystalloid solution. The median rating of the clinical importance of this question was 5 (interquartile range 4–6) on a scale from 1 to 9.ConclusionsIn this international survey, the reported use of buffered crystalloid solutions was high. Availability of the different solutions varied widely. The support for a potential randomized trial was high, with the clinical importance rated important but not critical by most respondents.<br/
Some results and questions on r -amenability
No full textThe notion of an r-amenable Banach lattice algebra was introduced by M. Roelands as an order counterpart to the well-known notion of amenability for Banach algebras. In this note, we consider the implications of r-amenability for various classes of Banach lattice algebras, and in particular, the question of whether r-amenability implies amenability. We also pose some questions arising from this research.<br/
Efficacy of fenbendazole against gastrointestinal nematodes in naturally infected goats in Maputo Province, Mozambique using in vivo, in vitro and molecular assessment
No full textAnthelmintic resistance occurs worldwide in strongyles of ruminants but data from low-income countries are sparse and rarely apply most up to date methods, while effects of management practices in these countries are poorly documented. In Mozambique, benzimidazole resistance has been previously reported; the present study followed this up in detail, applying in vivo faecal egg count (FEC) reduction test (FECRT), in vitro egg hatch test (EHT) and molecular deep amplicon sequencing approaches targeting the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2, nemabiome) and the isotype 1 β-tubulin gene to determine the resistance status on farms and the strongyle species involved. Adult Landim goats (433) from six semi-intensive and ten extensive farms (22-30 animals/farm) from Maputo Province were visited April 2021 to February 2022. Fenbendazole (5 mg/kg bw, Panacur®) was administered orally and FEC determined using Mini-FLOTAC. The eggCounts package was used to calculate FECRs with 90% confidence intervals from paired day 0 and 14 data. In vivo and in vitro tests detected AR on 5/16 (31%) farms. This included 1/10 extensive and 4/6 semi-intensive farms. The odds of finding resistant strongyles on a semi-intensive commercial farm was 40-fold higher than on an extensive farm (p = 0.016, logistic regression). A strong, negative correlation was observed between FECRT and EHT EC values (Pearson's R = -0.83, P = 0.001; Cohen's κ coefficient 1.0). Nemabiome data showed that Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis and unclassified Oesophagostomum closely related to Oesophagostomum columbianum were most abundant before treatment and in particular H. contortus frequencies increased after treatment. Benzimidazole resistance associated polymorphisms were detected in H. contortus and T. colubriformis. Moreover, there were hints that resistance alleles were present in Trichostrongylus axei and Teladorsagia circumcincta. Farmers should regularly test the efficacy of anthelmintics used and consider more sustainable worm control approaches to reduce selection for resistance
Efficient methods to build structural performance envelopes in characteristic load space
No full textPerformance envelopes provide a novel methodology that quantifies the load bearing capacity of a structure in a reduced dimension load space. The envelopes relate the complex loads acting on a structure to the corresponding structural failure constraints and may find many applications within the aircraft structural design process. Constructing envelopes for industrial problems is of particular interest, where the state-of-the-art implementation involves a point cloud meshing and surface modelling strategy. A main challenge in implementing envelopes within an engineering process is the large associated computational costs of construction. The contribution of this article is a robust and efficient strategy to reduce the computational costs of building a performance envelope. The paper presents a method to build the envelopes using a ray-scaling approach. The novel approach is validated by building 3-dimensional envelopes for a representative industrial problem (stiffened panels of AIRBUS’s XRF-1 wing). The results demonstrate a ∼ 42 % reduction in the computation costs compared to the preceding research. The improved construction efficiency makes the employment of envelopes more feasible for large industrial scale processes or when individual failure assessments are computationally expensive.<br/
The influential factors of CSR reporting in China: A systematic literature review and future research agenda
No full textDespite China’s increasing integration into the global economy, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding of the drivers and consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in this unique and dynamic sociopolitical context. This systematic literature review examines the various factors that influence the nature, extent, and process of CSR reporting in China. It synthesises empirical evidence from 54 peer-reviewed research papers published from 2004 to 2023. The review findings reveal a number of influential factors, which are classified into three categories based on Adams (2002): corporate characteristics, general contextual factors, and internal contextual factors, and indicate a complex interplay of political, regulatory, economic, and organisational influences shaping the Chinese CSR reporting practice over the past two decades. This review highlights notable gaps in the extant literature, particularly the dearth of (qualitative) studies exploring general and internal contextual factors. It further proposes a future research agenda calling for deeper inquiries into the evolution, efficacy, and impact of CSR reporting in China and beyond