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Immobilized graphene oxide-based membranes for improved pore wetting resistance in membrane distillation
No full textMembrane distillation (MD) is a useful method for the purification of difficult feedwaters but it cannot be applied in a range of industries due to pore wetting. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) laminate coatings are explored to overcome the pore wetting issues. Air gap MD (AGMD) configuration was considered, using a 35 g L-1 NaCl solution with 150 mg L-1 (150 ppm) of Triton X-100 surfactant as feed material. The GO is deposited as a laminate membrane on top of a commercial porous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) support and good adhesion is achieved through the use of polydopamine to form a hydrophilic tri-layer membrane. The small pore size achieved with the laminate GO led to increased pore wetting resistance for at least 90 h compared to 20 min with pristine commercial PVDF. Additionally, the extra layers of GO and polydopamine did not affect the membrane flux. Overall, a tri-layer immobilized GO membrane is synthesized with superior performance when compared to current commercial membranes, meaning that MD can be used for a new range of wastewater applications
Challenges to and Facilitators of Occupational Epidemiology Research in the UK
No full textThis study investigated the challenges and facilitators of occupational epidemiology (OE) research in the UK, and evaluated the impact of these challenges. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with leading UK-based OE researchers, and a survey of UK-based OE researchers were conducted. Seven leading researchers were interviewed, and there were 54 survey respondents. Key reported challenges for OE were diminishing resources during recent decades, influenced by social, economic and political drivers, and changing fashions in research policy. Consequently, the community is getting smaller and less influential. These challenges may have negatively affected OE research, causing it to fail to keep pace with recent methodological development and impacting its output of high-quality research. Better communication with, and support from other researchers and relevant policy and funding stakeholders was identified as the main facilitators to OE research. Many diseases were initially discovered in workplaces, as these make exceptionally good study populations to accurately assess exposures. Due to the decline of manufacturing industry, there is a perception that occupational diseases are now a thing of the past. Nevertheless, new occupational exposures remain under-evaluated and the UK has become reliant on overseas epidemiology. This has been exacerbated by the decline in the academic occupational medicine base. Maintaining UK-based OE research is hence necessary for the future development of occupational health services and policies for the UK workforce
Coalitions and public action in the reshaping of corporate responsibility: the case of the retail banking industry
No full textThis paper addresses the question of whether and how public action via civil society and/or government can meaningfully shape industry-wide corporate responsibility (ICR) behaviour. We explore how, in principle, ICR can come about and what conditions might be effective in promoting more ethical behaviour. We propose a framework to understand attempts to develop more responsible behaviour at an industry level through processes of negotiation and coalition building. We suggest that any attempt to meaningfully influence ICR would require stakeholders to possess both power and legitimacy; moreover, magnitude and urgency of the issue at stake may affect the ability to influence ICR. The framework is applied to the retail banking industry, focusing on post-crisis experiences in two countries - Spain and the UK - where there has been considerable pressure on the retail banking industry by civil society and/or government to change behaviours, especially to abandon unethical practices. We illustrate in this paper how corporate responsibility at the sector level in retail banking is the product of context-specific processes of negotiation between civil society and public authorities, on behalf of customers and other stakeholders, drawing on legal and other institutions to influence industry behaviour
Suggested application of HER2+ breast tumor phenotype for germline TP53 variant classification within ACMG/AMP guidelines
No full textEarly-onset breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, caused by germline TP53 pathogenic variants. It has repeatedly been suggested that breast tumors from TP53 carriers are more likely to be HER2+ than those of non-carriers, but this information has not been incorporated into variant interpretation models for TP53. Breast tumor pathology is already being used quantitatively for assessing pathogenicity of germline variants in other genes, and it has been suggested that this type of evidence can be incorporated into current ACMG/AMP guidelines for germline variant classification. Here, by reviewing published data and using internal datasets separated by different age-groups, we investigated if breast tumor HER2+ status has utility as a predictor of TP53 germline variant pathogenicity, considering age at diagnosis. Overall, our results showed that the identification of HER2+ breast tumors diagnosed before the age of 40 can be conservatively incorporated into the current TP53-specific ACMG/AMP PP4 criterion, following a point system detailed in this manuscript. Further larger studies will be needed to re-assess the value of HER2+ breast tumors diagnosed at a later age. <br/
The Level of Evidence, Scientific Impact and Social Impact of Clinical Studies in Periodontology: A Methodological Study
No full textAims: To analyze the level of evidence (LOE) of clinical studies in the field of periodontology, and to investigate whether LOE is a predictor of scientific impact and social impact. Materials and Methods: All clinical studies published in five leading periodontal journals during 2015 - 2019 were identified and screened for eligibility. The LOE of the included studies were assessed with a modified Oxford 2011 LOE tool. Citation counts and Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS) were harvested from Web of Science and Altmetric Explorer, respectively. In addition, multivariable generalized estimation equation (GEE) analyses were used to investigate associations among LOE, citation count and AAS. Results: A total of 768 clinical studies in periodontology were included, among which the proportion of level-1, level-2, level-3, and level-4 studies was 10.4%, 44.8%, 13.5%, and 31.3%, respectively. In the multivariable GEE analyses, high LOE was a significant predictor of higher citation count (P=0.016) and higher AAS (P<0.001). Conclusion: The LOE of clinical studies in the periodontal field is relatively high in general, although it varies significantly in different journals. Studies with high LOE tend to have greater scientific impact and social impact than low LOE studies
Database Workload Capacity Planning using Time Series Analysis and Machine Learning
No full textWhen procuring or administering any I.T. system or a component of an I.T. system, it is crucial to understand the computational resources required to run the critical business functions that are governed by any Service Level Agreements. Predicting the resources needed for future consumption is like looking into the proverbial crystal ball. In this paper we look at the forecasting techniques in use today and evaluate if those techniques are applicable to the deeper layers of the technological stack such as clustered database instances, applications and groups of transactions that make up the database workload. The approach has been implemented to use supervised machine learning to identify traits such as reoccurring patterns, shocks and trends that the workloads exhibit and account for those traits in the forecast. An experimental evaluation shows that the approach we propose reduces the complexity of performing a forecast, and accurate predictions have been produced for complex workloads
Play and Prosociality are Associated with Fewer Externalising Problems in Children with Developmental Language Disorder: The Role of Early Language and Communication Environment
No full textBackground: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are at higher risk of poorer mental health compared to children without DLD. There are, however, considerable individual differences that need to be interpreted, including the identification of protective factors. Aims: Pathways from the early language and communication environment (ELCE, 1-2 years) to internalising (peer and emotional problems) and externalising (conduct problems and hyperactivity) problems in middle childhood (11 years) were mapped using structural equation modelling. Specifically, the role of indirect pathways via social skills (friendships, play, and prosociality) in childhood (7-9 years) was investigated.Methods and Procedures: Secondary analysis of existing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) was undertaken. The study sample consisted of 6,531 children (394 with DLD). Outcomes and Results: The pathways from the ELCE to internalising and externalising problems were similar for children with and without DLD. For both groups, a positive ELCE was associated with more competent social play and higher levels of prosociality in childhood, which in turn were associated with fewer externalising problems in middle childhood. Furthermore, better friendships and higher levels of prosociality in childhood were both associated with fewer internalising problems in middle childhood. Conclusions and Implications: A child’s ELCE is potentially important not only for the development of language but also for social development. Furthermore, in the absence of adequate language ability, play and prosocial behaviours may allow children with DLD to deploy, practise, and learn key social skills, thus protecting against externalising problems. We suggest that consideration be given to play- and prosociality-based educational and therapeutic services for children with DLD.<br/
Min-Max Elementwise Backward Error for Roots of Polynomials and a Corresponding Backward Stable Root Finder
No full textA new measure called min-max elementwise backward error is introduced for approximate roots of scalar polynomials p(z). Compared with the elementwise relative backward error, this new measure allows for larger relative perturbations on the coefficients of p(z) that do not participate much in the overall backward error. By how much these coefficients can be perturbed is determined via an associated max-times polynomial and its tropical roots. An algorithm is designed for computing the roots of p(z). It uses a companion linearization C(z) = A&#x100000;zB of p(z) to which we added an extra zero leading coefficient, and an appropriate two-sided diagonal scaling that balances A and makes B graded in particular when there is variation in the magnitude of the coefficients of p(z). An implementation of the QZ algorithm with a strict deflation criterion for eigenvalues at infinity is then used to obtain approximations to the roots of p(z). Under the assumption that this implementation of the QZ algorithm exhibits a graded backward error when B is graded, we prove that our new algorithm is min-max elementwise backward stable. Several numerical experiments show the superior performance of the new algorithm compared with the MATLAB roots function. Extending the algorithm to polynomial eigenvalue problems leads to a new polynomial eigensolver that exhibits excellent numerical behaviour compared with other existing polynomial eigensolvers, as illustrated by many numerical tests
Discovering Business Problems Using Problem Hypotheses: A Goal-Oriented and Machine Learning-Based Approach
No full textDiscovering business problems hindering business goals and a deep understanding of those problems are often more important than finding solutions. However, business organizations face difficulties finding business problems hidden in Big Data using machine learning. The specific difficulties might include a lack of methods in exploring potential problems, figuring out necessary data features associated with potential problems, and validating potential problems. This paper presents the Metis+ framework that supports the discovery of business problems using problem hypotheses. Metis+ consists of essential modeling concepts, semantic reasoning methods, and processes for ensuring that potential business problems are analyzed in the context of business goals, hypothesized problems are systematically and explicitly mapped to relevant data features in a data set, and supervised machine learning models are built to get insights into problem hypotheses. Semantic reasoning methods are then utilized to validate or invalidate hypothesized problems. The Metis+ framework is illustrated with a loan case study in the PKDD’99 Financial Data Set. The experiment results show that Metis+ can help explore and validate problem hypotheses, leading to identifying the most significant problem
Breast cancer risk factors and survival by tumor subtype: pooled analyses from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium
No full textBackground: It is not known if modifiable lifestyle factors that predict survival after invasive breast cancer differ by subtype. Methods: We analyzed data for 121,435 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 67 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium with 16,890 deaths (8,554 breast cancer-specific) over 10 years. Cox regression was used to estimate associations between risk factors and 10-year all-cause mortality and breast cancer-specific mortality overall, by estrogen receptor (ER) status, and by intrinsic-like subtype. Results: There was no evidence of heterogeneous associations between risk factors and mortality by subtype (adjusted p>0.30). The strongest associations were between all-cause mortality and BMI ≥30 vs 18.5-25 kg/m2 (HR (95%CI): 1.19 (1.06,1.34)); current vs never smoking (1.37 (1.27,1.47)), high vs low physical activity (0.43 (0.21,0.86)), age ≥30 years vs <20 years at first pregnancy (0.79 (0.72,0.86)); >0 to <5 years vs ≥10 years since last full term birth (1.31 (1.11,1.55)); ever vs never use of oral contraceptives (0.91 (0.87,0.96)); ever vs never use of menopausal hormone therapy, including current estrogen-progestin therapy (0.61 (0.54,0.69)). Similar associations with breast cancer mortality were weaker; e.g. 1.11 (1.02,1.21) for current vs never smoking. Conclusions: We confirm associations between modifiable lifestyle factors and 10-year all-cause mortality. There was no strong evidence that associations differed by ER status or intrinsic-like subtype. Impact: Given the large dataset and lack of evidence that associations between modifiable risk factors and 10-year mortality differed by subtype, these associations could be cautiously used in prognostication models to inform patient-centered care