The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) is an ultrahigh energy (UHE, > 1017 eV) neutrino detector designed to observe neutrinos by searching for the radio waves emitted by the relativistic products of ...neutrino-nucleon interactions in Antarctic ice. In this paper, we present constraints on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos between 1016 and 1021 eV resulting from a search for neutrinos in two complementary analyses, both analyzing four years of data (2013–2016) from the two deep stations (A2, A3) operating at that time. We place a 90% CL upper limit on the diffuse all flavor neutrino flux at 1018 eV of EF(E) = 5.6 × 10−16 cm−2 s−1 sr−1. This analysis includes four times the exposure of the previous ARA result and represents approximately 1 / 5 th the exposure expected from operating ARA until the end of 2022.
Summary
Background
Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) can classify skin diseases at a level equivalent to a dermatologist, but their performance in specific areas requires further research.
...Objective
To evaluate the performance of a trained DCNN‐based algorithm in classifying benign and malignant lip diseases.
Methods
A training set of 1629 images (743 malignant, 886 benign) was used with Inception‐Resnet‐V2. Performance was evaluated using another set of 344 images and 281 images from other hospitals. Classifications by 44 participants (six board‐certified dermatologists, 12 dermatology residents, nine medical doctors not specialized in dermatology and 17 medical students) were used for comparison.
Results
The outcomes based on the area under curve, sensitivity and specificity were 0·827 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·782–0·873, 0·755 (95% CI 0·673–0·827) and 0·803 (95% CI 0·752–0·855), respectively, for the set of 344 images; and 0·774 (95% CI 0·699–0·849), 0·702 (95% CI 0·579–0·808) and 0·759 (95% CI 0·701–0·813), respectively, for the set of 281 images. The DCNN was equivalent to the dermatologists and superior to the nondermatologists in classifying malignancy. After referencing the DCNN result, the mean ± SD Youden index increased significantly for nondermatologists, from 0·201 ± 0·156 to 0·322 ± 0·141 (P < 0·001).
Conclusions
DCNNs can classify lip diseases at a level similar to dermatologists. This will help unskilled physicians discriminate between benign and malignant lip diseases.
What's already known about this topic?
Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) can classify malignant and benign skin diseases at a level equivalent to dermatologists.
The lips are a unique feature in terms of histology and morphology.
Previous studies of DCNNs have not investigated tumours on specific locations.
What does this study add?
This study shows that DCNNs can distinguish rare malignant and benign lip disorders at the same rate as dermatologists.
DCNNs can help nondermatologists to distinguish malignant lip diseases.
What are the clinical implications of this work?
DCNNs can distinguish malignant and benign skin diseases even at specific locations such as the lips, as well as board‐certified dermatologists.
Malignant lip diseases are rare and difficult for less trained doctors to differentiate them from benign lesions.
This study shows that in dermatology, DCNN can help improve decision‐making processes for rare skin diseases in specific areas of the body.
Plain language summary available online
To assess the outcome of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) according to factors associated with necessity for longer treatment in conjunction with the duration of treatment.
We prospectively ...collected the data of patients with SAB consecutively during 12 to 39 months from 11 hospitals. If multiple episodes of SAB occurred in one patient, only the first episode was enrolled. Factors associated with necessity for longer treatment were defined as follows: persistent bacteraemia, metastatic infection, prosthesis and endocarditis. If any of the factors were present, then the case was defined as longer antibiotic treatment warranted (LW) group; those without any factors were defined as shorter antibiotic treatment sufficient (SS) group. Poor outcome was defined as a composite of 90-day mortality or 30-day recurrence. Duration of antibiotic administration was classified as <14 or ≥14 days in the SS group and <28 or ≥28 days in the LW group.
Among 2098 cases, the outcome was analysed in 1866 cases, of which 591 showed poor outcome. The SS group accounted for 964 cases and the LW group for 852. On multivariate analysis, age over 65 years, pneumonia, higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and chronic liver diseases were risk factors for poor outcome. Administration of antibiotics less than the recommendation was associated with poor outcome, but this significance was observed only in the LW group (adjusted odds ratio = 1.68; 95% confidence interval, 1.00–2.83; p 0.05).
Inappropriately short antibiotic treatment was associated with poor outcome in the LW group. Vigilant evaluation for risk factors to determine the duration of treatment may improve the outcome among patients with SAB.
This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with the prebiotics fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) and mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) on the performance, small intestinal microflora, and ...immune response of broilers. Two hundred forty 1-d-old Ross broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 6 dietary treatment groups: control, avilamycin (6 mg/kg), 0.25% FOS, 0.5% FOS, 0.025% MOS, and 0.05% MOS. Each treatment was fed to 4 replicates of 10 birds per diet for 4 wk. Except for the 0.5% FOS group, the overall BW gains of birds treated with avilamycin and prebiotics were significantly(P < 0.05) higher than those of the control group. No significant differences were found between the control and supplemented groups in overall feed intake, feed conversion, and mortality. The 0.05% MOS group was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than the control and 0.5% FOS groups in heterophil:lymphocyte ratio and basophil level. Concentrations of plasma IgA and IgG were not significantly different among the treatment groups. Quantitative real-time PCR indicated that supplementation of the diet with avilamycin or prebiotics caused significant (P < 0.05) changes in the small intestinal microbial community, as determined in samples obtained at the ileocecal junction. The populations of Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli decreased with 0.25% FOS, 0.05% MOS, or avilamycin, and lactobacilli increased in the 0.25% FOS and 0.25% MOS treatment groups. Total bacteria increased in the 0.25% FOS and 0.05% MOS treatments and decreased in the avilamycin treatment. Feeding 0.25% FOS and 0.05% MOS resulted in an increase in lactobacillus community diversity in the ileum. Our results showed that 0.25% FOS and 0.05% MOS were comparable with avilamycin in improving productivity in broilers raised in wire floor cages up to 28 d of age. Plasma immunoglobulins were not affected by prebiotics, but the heterophil:lymphocyte ratio, basophil level, and microbial population in the ileum were significantly affected.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a tickborne viral disease, has been identified in China, South Korea, and Japan since 2009. We found retrospective evidence of SFTS virus (SFTSV) ...infection in Vietnam, which suggests that SFTSV infections also occur in Vietnam, where the virus has not been known to be endemic.
In CO2 cycles with high-temperature heat sources that are used in applications such as nuclear power, concentrated solar power, and combustion, partial condensation transcritical CO2 (T-CO2) cycles ...or recompression supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) cycles are considered to be promising cycles; this is because these cycles cause a reduction in the large internal irreversibility in the recuperator owing to the higher specific heat of the high-pressure side than that of the low-pressure side. However, if heat is available in the low-temperature range, the T-CO2 Rankine cycles (or fully-cooled S-CO2 cycles) will be more effective than the T-CO2 Brayton cycles (or less-cooled S-CO2 cycles) and even than the partial condensation T-CO2 cycles (or recompression S-CO2 cycles). This is because the compression work is reduced while achieving the same temperature rise by heat recovery through the recuperator before the high-temperature heater.
The proposed T-CO2 Rankine cycles or fully-cooled S-CO2 cycles using both the low- and high-temperature heat sources can maximize the power output of the CO2 power cycle with the given high-temperature heat sources. Moreover, the proposed CO2 cycles combined with the low-temperature thermal energy storage offer the advantage of load leveling over other CO2 cycles, with the given high-temperature heat sources.
► We study a novel transcritical (or supercritical) CO2 cycle using both low- and high-temperature heat sources (LH T-CO2). ► We perform an energy and exergy analysis of the LH T-CO2 cycles in comparison with other CO2 cycles. ► The LH T-CO2 cycles can reduce both exergy losses of the recuperator and high-temperature heater. ► The LH T-CO2 cycles can produce more power and improve the energy and exergy efficiencies in comparison with other CO2 cycles. ► The LH T-CO2 cycles can be applied to the nuclear power plant and thermo-electrical energy storage with transcritical CO2 cycles.
The Yale-Potsdam Stellar Isochrones Spada, F.; Demarque, P.; Kim, Y.-C. ...
The Astrophysical journal,
04/2017, Volume:
838, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We introduce the Yale-Potsdam Stellar Isochrones (YaPSI), a new grid of stellar evolution tracks and isochrones of solar-scaled composition. In an effort to improve the Yonsei-Yale database, special ...emphasis is placed on the construction of accurate low-mass models ( ), and in particular on their mass-luminosity and mass-radius relations, both crucial for characterizing exoplanet-host stars, and, in turn, their planetary systems. The YaPSI models cover the mass range 0.15- densely enough to permit detailed interpolation in mass, and the metallicity and helium abundance ranges Fe/H = −1.5 to +0.3 and Y0 = 0.25-0.37 are specified independently of each other (i.e., no fixed relation is assumed). The evolutionary tracks are calculated from the pre-main sequence up to the tip of the red giant branch. The isochrones, with ages between 1 Myr and 20 Gyr, provide UBVRI colors in the Johnson-Cousins system, and JHK colors in the homogenized Bessell & Brett system, derived from two different semi-empirical -color calibrations from the literature. We also provide utility codes, such as an isochrone interpolator, in age, metallicity, and helium content, and an interface of the tracks with an open-source Monte Carlo Markov-Chain tool for the analysis of individual stars. Finally, we present comparisons of the YaPSI models with the best empirical mass-luminosity and mass-radius relations available to date, as well as isochrone fitting of well-studied stellar clusters.
Advances in lithium—sulfur batteries Zhang, X.; Xie, H.; Kim, C.-S. ...
Materials science & engineering. R, Reports : a review journal,
November 2017, 2017-11-00, 20171101, 2017-11, Volume:
121
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Display omitted
This review is focused on the state-of-the-art of lithium-sulfur batteries. The great advantage of these energy storage devices in view of their theoretical specific capacity ...(2500Whkg−1, 2800WhL−1, assuming complete reaction to Li2S) has been the motivation for a huge amount of works. However, these batteries suffer of disadvantages that have restricted their applications such as high electrical resistance, capacity fading, self-discharge, mainly due to the so-called shuttle effect. Strategies have been developed with the recent modifications that have been proposed as a remedy to the shuttle effect, and the insulating nature of the polysulfides. All the elements of the battery are concerned and the solution, as we present herewith, is a combination of modification of the cathode, of the separator, of the electrolyte, including the choice of binder, even though few binder-free architectures have now been proposed.
Aims To investigate whether fatty liver per se is an independent risk factor of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Koreans.
Methods We examined the clinical and laboratory data of 5372 ...non‐diabetic participants (3670 men and 1702 women; age 46.8 ± 8.4 years, range 20–79 years) who underwent voluntary medical check‐ups in 2000 and follow‐up examinations in 2005.
Results Two hundred and thirty‐three participants (4.3%) developed T2DM after 5 years. Univariate analysis showed that the development of diabetes was associated with: male sex; family history of diabetes; smoking; older age; higher body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hepatic enzymes, total cholesterol and triglycerides; lower HDL cholesterol; and the presence of fatty liver on ultrasonography at baseline. In multiple logistic regression models, after adjusting for age, sex and alcohol consumption, patients with fatty liver were at significantly higher risk of developing T2DM compared to those without fatty liver relative risk (RR) 3.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.89–5.31. After further adjustment for smoking, BMI, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, FPG, alanine aminotransferase and ultrasonographer, fatty liver remained significantly associated with the development of T2DM (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.04–2.20). Patients with moderate to severe fatty liver had higher risk ratios than patients with mild fatty liver. Exclusion of frequent drinkers did not attenuate the association.
Conclusions Fatty liver on ultrasonography is associated with the development of T2DM, independently of classical risk factors, in Korean adults.
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