Drones are increasingly used for a wide range of applications including mapping, monitoring, detection, tracking and videography. Drone software and flight mission programs are, however, still ...largely marketed for “urban” use such as property photography, roof inspections or 3D mapping. As a result, much of the flight mission software is reliant upon an internet connection and has built-in cloud-based services to allow for the mosaicking of imagery as a direct part of the image collection process. Another growing use for drones is in conservation, where drones are monitoring species and habitat change. Naturally, much of this work is undertaken in areas without internet connection. Working remotely increases field costs, and time in the field is often aligned with specific ecological seasons. As a result, pilots in these scenarios often have only one chance to collect appropriate data and an opportunity missed can mean failure to meet research aims and contract deliverables. We provide a simple but highly practical piece of code allowing drone pilots to quickly plot the geographical position of captured photographs and assess the likelihood of the successful production of an orthomosaic. Most importantly, this process can be performed in the field with no reliance on an internet connection, and as a result can highlight any missing sections of imagery that may need recollecting, before the opportunity is missed. Code is written in R, a familiar software to many ecologists, and provided on a GitHub repository for download. We recommend this data quality check be integrated into a pilot’s standard image capture process for the dependable production of mosaics and general quality assurance of drone collected imagery.
Over the last decade use of raw acceleration metrics to assess physical activity has increased. Metrics such as Euclidean Norm Minus One (ENMO), and Mean Amplitude Deviation (MAD) can be used to ...generate metrics which describe physical activity volume (average acceleration), intensity distribution (intensity gradient), and intensity of the most active periods (MX metrics) of the day. Presently, relatively little comparative data for these metrics exists in youth. To address this need, this study presents age- and sex-specific reference percentile values in England youth and compares physical activity volume and intensity profiles by age and sex.
Wrist-worn accelerometer data from 10 studies involving youth aged 5 to 15 y were pooled. Weekday and weekend waking hours were first calculated for youth in school Years (Y) 1&2, Y4&5, Y6&7, and Y8&9 to determine waking hours durations by age-groups and day types. A valid waking hours day was defined as accelerometer wear for ≥ 600 min·d
and participants with ≥ 3 valid weekdays and ≥ 1 valid weekend day were included. Mean ENMO- and MAD-generated average acceleration, intensity gradient, and MX metrics were calculated and summarised as weighted week averages. Sex-specific smoothed percentile curves were generated for each metric using Generalized Additive Models for Location Scale and Shape. Linear mixed models examined age and sex differences.
The analytical sample included 1250 participants. Physical activity peaked between ages 6.5-10.5 y, depending on metric. For all metrics the highest activity levels occurred in less active participants (3
-50
percentile) and girls, 0.5 to 1.5 y earlier than more active peers, and boys, respectively. Irrespective of metric, boys were more active than girls (p < .001) and physical activity was lowest in the Y8&9 group, particularly when compared to the Y1&2 group (p < .001).
Percentile reference values for average acceleration, intensity gradient, and MX metrics have utility in describing age- and sex-specific values for physical activity volume and intensity in youth. There is a need to generate nationally-representative wrist-acceleration population-referenced norms for these metrics to further facilitate health-related physical activity research and promotion.
This study proposes a cost-based adaptive (CBA) droop control strategy for use in a voltage source converter (VSC)-based multi-terminal high voltage direct current (MTDC) system. Rather than using a ...fixed droop gain, we suggest the CBA droop control scheme, which reduces the total incremental generation cost of ac systems, while sharing the burden based on the available capacity of VSCs at the post-contingency-steady-state operating point. Following a certain VSC outage in the MTDC system, unbalanced power is allocated based on the equal incremental cost principle to reduce the total active power generation cost. The results were verified through a transient simulation on an MTDC system with four monopole VSCs, and outage contingency scenarios were presented with three groups of generation cost curves. The results indicate that the CBA droop control strategy can provide greater contributions to the economic operation of the MTDC system, while achieving robust control.
The effectiveness and predictability of 2 different oral appliance (OA) designs to reduce the respiratory event index (REI) in moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients requires ...elucidation. The primary aim of the trial was to determine if 2 widely used midline-traction and bilateral-thrust OA designs differ in effectiveness to reduce the REI within a single test population categorized by OSA severity. Moderate and severe adult OSA patients, who were previously prescribed continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP) but were dissatisfied with it (n = 56), were studied by home-polygraphy in a randomized crossover trial using either midline-traction with restricted mouth opening (MR) or bilateral thrust with opening permitted (BP) design OAs. OAs were used nightly for 4 wk (T2) followed by a 1-wk washout period, then 4 wk (T4) using the alternate OA. REI and oxygen saturation (SaO2) were primary outcomes, while predictability and efficacy comparison of the 2 OAs were secondary outcomes. Thirty-six participants had used MR and BP OAs during both 4-wk study legs. Twenty (55.6%) MR OA-using participants, 25 (69.4%) BP OA-using participants, and 16 (44.4%) participants using both OAs had significant REI reductions. Overall baseline (T0) median REI (interquartile range) of 33.7 (20.7–54.9) was reduced to 18.0 (8.5–19.4) at T2 and to 12.5 (8.2–15.9) at T4 (P < 0.001). Comparison of the 2 sequence groups’ (MR-BP and BP-MR) REI showed the median differences between T0 and T2 and T4 were highly significant (P < 0.001). Regression analysis predicted about half of all users will have REIs between 8 and 16 after 2 mo. Baseline overjet measures >2.9 mm predicted greater OA advancement at T4. Mean and minimum SaO2 did not change significantly from T0 to T2 or T4. MR and BP OA designs similarly attenuated REI in moderate and severe OSA individuals who completed the 8-wk study protocol with greater REI reduction in those with severe OSA (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219034).
This brief adds dynamic variables to decentralized periodic event-triggered control (DPETC), denoting dynamic DPETC (DDPETC) for wireless cyber-physical systems whose sensors are distributed and ...bandwidths are limited, and studies the stability and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathcal {L}_{2} </tex-math></inline-formula>-gain. In DDPETC, dynamic variables that require only local information are designed and added to the event-triggered mechanisms (ETMs). This dynamic variable can guarantee that the ETMs still be localized which does not require information from other nodes. For implementations with DDPETC, at each periodic sampling time the ETMs decide events based on new measurements from local sensors. Those measurements that trigger the events are transmitted to controllers, and after network transmission delays, they are received and the controller computes the control actions. The transmissions of these control actions from controllers to actuators are also decided by ETMs. The feasibility of the approach is shown via two examples. Numerical results show that, with the same stability and performance, DDPETC can save more than 40% events, making it more suitable for wireless cyber-physical systems.
Abstract Objective Radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer is associated with increased morbidity over an extrafascial hysterectomy. The goal of this study was to determine incidence of and risk ...factors for parametrial involvement (PI) based on conization specimen (CS) and to potentially identify candidates for less radical surgery. Methods Patients with FIGO IA2–IIA cervical cancer treated with radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection (RH) from 2000 to 2010 were retrospectively identified. Data was extracted from operative and pathology reports. Statistical analyses were performed using Fisher's exact test, t -test, and asymptotic logistic regression. Results Of 267 RH patients identified, 118 (44%) had conization prior to RH. The incidence of PI was 15.7% overall and 7.5% in patients treated with conization prior to RH. There was no association between PI and histology, stage, grade, or tumor size. Conization patients with PI were more likely to have LVSI on CS (77.8% vs. 29.4%) and positive lymph nodes (LNP) (66.7% vs. 8.3%). Of patients with positive endocervical curettage, a modest 12% had PI, which was not statistically significant. Tumor size, depth of invasion, and margin status on CS were not statistically associated with PI. In logistic regression analysis, LNP alone or LNP + LVSI were predictive of PI. Conclusions The incidence of PI in early-stage cervical cancer is significant. Only LVSI on CS and LNP were predictors of PI in the current study. While there may be select patients with early stage cervical cancer who can be spared parametrectomy, additional research is warranted.
Technologies to support the Internet of Things are becoming more important as the need to better understand our environments and make them smart increases. As a result it is predicted that ...intelligent devices and networks, such as WSNs, will not be isolated, but connected and integrated, composing computer networks. So far, the IP-based Internet is the largest network in the world; therefore, there are great strides to connect WSNs with the Internet. To this end, the IETF has developed a suite of protocols and open standards for accessing applications and services for wireless resource constrained networks. However, many open challenges remain, mostly due to the complex deployment characteristics of such systems and the stringent requirements imposed by various services wishing to make use of such complex systems. Thus, it becomes critically important to study how the current approaches to standardization in this area can be improved, and at the same time better understand the opportunities for the research community to contribute to the IoT field. To this end, this article presents an overview of current standards and research activities in both industry and academia.
Background
Patients with peanut allergy (PA) experience significant burden of illness, which impacts health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), particularly in adolescence. There is a paucity of ...research evaluating drivers of HRQoL scores.
Methods
A prospective, online survey of adolescents with self‐reported, provider‐diagnosed PA completed from November 2018 to January 2019 was used to explore drivers of the real‐world impact of PA on HRQoL using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL) and other measures. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify potential factors associated with PedsQL scores and to understand the level of association.
Results
A total of 102 adolescents were included. The final model included 10 variables: race, reported strict peanut avoidance, satisfaction with prophylaxis, moderate‐to‐severe reaction within the past 12 months, touching peanut as cause of most severe reaction, fear of reaction, age, gender, comorbidities, and daily life limitations. In total, three items were shown to be strong predictors of the PedsQL total score including cause of severe reaction was touching peanut (yes), level of agreement with avoiding peanut (completely agree), and satisfaction with prophylaxis (not very much/not at all).
Conclusions
There is substantial heterogeneity in the impact of the burden of PA on PedsQL scores across patients. This indicates the importance of shared and individualized decision making for PA management to optimize outcomes and improve HRQoL.
Extracellular Vesicles (EV) have become an interesting focus as novel biomarkers of disease and are increasingly reported upon in humans and other species. The Minimal Information for Studies of ...Extracellular Vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018) guidelines were published to improve rigor and standardisation within the EV field and provide a framework for the reliable isolation and characterisation of EV populations. However, this rigor and standardisation has been challenging in the area of comparative medicine. Herein we present the successful isolation of EVs from human and canine plasma using Size Exclusion Chromatography and characterise these EVs according to best international practice. This study provides evidence for the reliable comparison of human and canine EVs isolated by this approach, and a baseline description of the EVs from healthy dogs to inform future biomarker studies. This work also demonstrates that the MISEV2018 guidelines can be successfully applied to EVs isolated from canine plasma.
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