In this paper we construct a paramaterized family of annular homeomorphisms with Birkhoff-like rotational attractors that vary continuously with the parameter, are all homeomorphic to a unique ...topological object, called the R.H. Bing's pseudo-circle, yet display an interesting boundary dynamics. Namely, in the constructed family of homeomorphisms the outer prime ends rotation number vary continuously with the parameter through the interval 0,1/2. This, in particular, answers a question from Boroński et al. (2020) 15. Furthermore, these attractors preserve the induced Lebesgue measure from the circle and have strong measure-theoretic and statistical properties. To show main results of the paper we first prove a result of an independent interest, that Lebesgue-measure preserving circle maps generically satisfy the crookedness condition which implies that generically the inverse limits of Lebesgue measure-preserving circle maps are the pseudo-solenoids. For degree one circle maps, this implies that the generic inverse limit in this context is the pseudo-circle.
Photography has often been considered tainted as a source of research data, even in tourism, its natural habitat. This situation is undoubtedly a legacy of the prejudice that many social scientists ...held toward the use of visual data when the academic study of tourism took off in the 1970s and 1980s. Tourism research has therefore persistently favoured textual data over visual data. This paper argues that the power of photography to prove and move can be harnessed to bridge this theoretical and practical cognitive gap. Issues relating to the performance of photography, including those of timing and intent, as well as the speed of information exchange, need however to be considered when designing and implementing research using photographic data. This implies a need to review the 'circle of representation' of tourism destination images, as well as to divide participant-generated image methods into two strands: found photographs and commissioned photographs.
•Tourism researchers have been prejudiced against the use of photographs as data.•The power of photography to move and to prove can be positively harnessed.•Issues relating to the performance of photography, such as timing and intent, have vital methodological implications.•Participant-generated-image methods should be divided into two strands: found photographs and commissioned photographs.•Recent changes in photographic practices and technology require the ‘circle of representation’ to be revisited.
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•Circle-to-circle amplification (C2CA) products were affinity-enriched in microfluidics.•C2CA products were measured with both discrete and average signal modes to modulate ...sensitivity.•Microfluidic affinity chromatography enrichment (μACE) detected <1.7 × 103 copies/mL ZIKV RNA.•C2CA-μACE was benchmarked against RT-qPCR providing a Pearson r = 0.95 (discrete signal mode).•C2CA-μACE was demonstrated for ZIKV RNA quantification on in vitro infected PBMCs of healthy donors.
Sensitive viral diagnostic methods are increasingly in demand to tackle emerging epidemics. The Zika virus (ZIKV) is particularly relevant in tropical resource limited settings (RLS) and is associated with intermittent epidemics such as the recent 2016 ZIKV outbreak in South America, wherein Zika fever was classified by WHO as a public health emergency of international concern. Thus, there is an urgent need for widespread Zika fever diagnostics and efficient drug therapies.
ZIKV diagnostics are typically performed using RT-qPCR in centralized laboratories. While extremely sensitive, RT-qPCR requires rapid heating-cooling cycles, combined with continuous fluorescence measurements to allow quantification, implying high costs and limiting availability of molecular diagnostics in RLS. Here, we report isothermal amplification of ZIKV cDNA using padlock probes followed by two rounds of Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA), termed as circle-to-circle amplification (C2CA), combined with a microfluidic affinity chromatography enrichment (μACE) platform. This platform allowed the detection of <17 vRNA copies per reaction mixture, equivalent to ∼3 aM, showed a positive correlation with RT-qPCR in both average (r = 0.80) and discrete (r = 0.95) signal modes, and was validated for drug efficiency tests using in vitro infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 3 healthy donors. This performance shows significant promise towards highly sensitive, albeit simple and cost-effective point-of-care viral diagnostics.
Dynamic measurement precision assessment has been achieved for a differential circle measurement application. Differential circle diameter measurement, in image analysis, typically requires fitting a ...circle model that optimizes for image distortions, defects or occlusions. The differential task occurs when precise measurements of diameter change are required given object size variation with time. An automated system was designed to provide diameter measurements and associated measurement precision of images of a fuel droplet undergoing combustion in zero gravity for the FLEX-2 dataset. An image gradient-based, least-squares boundary point fitting method to a circle or ellipse model is used for diameter measurement. The presence of soot aggregates poses significant challenges for diameter measurements when it occludes part of the droplet boundary. The precision of the diameter measurements depends upon the image quality. Using synthetic image simulations that model the soot behavior, we developed a model based on image quality measures that assesses the measurement precision for each individual diameter measurement. Thus, diameter measurements with precision assessments were made available for follow-up scientific analysis. As a result, the algorithm's success rate for measurable runs was 98%. In cases of limited occlusion, a measurement precision of ±0.2 pixels for the FLEX-2 dataset was achieved.
Depression in children and adolescents often has its roots in difficult family relationships. The therapy approach CBASP (Cognitive Behavioural Analysis System of Psychotherapy), which was developed ...especially for the treatment of chronic depression, has now been adapted for the therapy of children and adolescents in an age-sensitive way. The procedure is presented for the first time in this manual for therapeutic practice. The programme is aimed at depressive patients aged ten to 21 years in an outpatient setting. Difficult relationship experiences and current interpersonal problems are particularly addressed. The programme is modular and can be individually adapted to the course of the disorder and includes individual and joint sessions for patients and caregivers. The modules and interventions differ in age-appropriate approach and problem content and include attractively prepared working materials.
Depressionen bei Kindern und Jugendlichen gründen oft in schwierigen familiären Beziehungserfahrungen. Der speziell für die Behandlung chronischer Depressionen entwickelte Therapieansatz CBASP (Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy) wurde nun alterssensibel für die Therapie von Kindern und Jugendlichen adaptiert. Das Vorgehen wird in diesem Manual erstmals für die therapeutische Praxis dargestellt. Das Programm richtet sich an depressive Patient:innen im Alter von zehn bis 21 Jahren im ambulanten Setting. Besonders addressiert werden schwierige Beziehungserfahrungen und aktuelle interpersonelle Probleme. Modular aufgebaut lässt sich das Programm individuell an den Störungsverlauf anpassen und umfasst Einzel- sowie gemeinsame Sitzungen von Patient:innen und Bezugspersonen. Die Module und Interventionen unterscheiden sich altersgerecht in Ansprache und Probleminhalten und beinhalten ansprechend aufbereitete Arbeitsmaterialien.
During unilateral selective cerebral perfusion (uSCP), with right axillary artery or brachiocephalic trunk cannulation, the brain receives blood only via the right common carotid artery and right ...vertebral artery (VA). The left hemisphere is perfused mainly through the circle of Willis (CW). However, at least 50% of individuals have some variation in the CW. The aim of the present work was to study the variations in CW and VA that could have an impact on haemodynamics during uSCP.
From May 2005 to March 2012, a total number of 250 circles obtained via routine dissection for medico-legal reasons were examined. The external diameters of all CW segments and both VAs were measured. From January 2008 to March 2012, a total number of 250 patients subjected to computed tomographic angiography of the CW were also examined.
Nine evident configurations of the CW that could cause hypoperfusion during uSCP were observed. They were subdivided in to seven types, according to location and the number of major vessels at risk of hypoperfusion. Type IA: hypo/aplasia of left posterior communicating artery (PComA), found in 35.6% of cases; Type IB: hypo/aplasia of anterior communicating artery (AComA), found in 2% of cases; Type IIA: hypo/aplasia of both left PComA and AComA, found in 4.8% of cases; Type IIB: hypo/aplasia of precommunicating (P1) segment of left posterior cerebral artery or right VA, found in 9.2% of cases; Type IIIA: hypo/aplasia of precommunicating (A1) segment of right anterior cerebral artery, found in 6% of cases; Type IIIB: hypo/aplasia of both right VA and AComA, found in 0.2% of cases; Type IV: hypo/aplasia of both right A1 and right VA or both right A1 and left P1, found in 0.8% of cases. All types were present in 58.6% of all examined CWs.
Our results show that CW variations are present in a significant number of patients. Our data support the need for extensive preoperative examination and meticulous intraoperative monitoring of cerebral perfusion during uSCP. Finally, our data support the superiority of bilateral SCP over uSCP, because most of the variations reported do not have haemodynamic significance during bilateral SCP.
Cerebral blood flow, arterial pulsation, and vasomotion play important roles in the transport of waste metabolites out of the brain. Impaired vasomotion results in reduced driving force for the ...perivascular/glymphatic clearance of beta-amyloid. Noninvasive cerebrovascular characteristic features that potentially assess these transport mechanisms are mean blood flow (MBF) and pulsatility index (PI). In this study, 4D flow MRI was used to measure intra-cranial flow features, particularly MBF, PI, resistive index (RI) and cross-sectional area in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment and in age matched and younger cognitively healthy controls. Three-hundred fourteen subjects participated in this study. Volumetric, time-resolved phase contrast (PC) MRI data were used to quantify hemodynamic parameters from 11 vessel segments. Anatomical variants of the Circle of Willis were also cataloged. The AD population reported a statistically significant decrease in MBF and cross-sectional area, and also an increase in PI and RI compared to age matched cognitively healthy control subjects. The 4D flow MRI technique used in this study provides quantitative measurements of intracranial vessel geometry and the velocity of flow. Cerebrovascular characteristics features of vascular health such as pulsatility index can be extracted from the 4D flow MRI data.
The economic growth of marine fishery in China is overall stable, with output of mariculture, marine fishing, and carbon emission of marine fishery is increasing. To integrate the concept of ...low-carbon and green development into the whole process of marine fishery development, it is necessary to comprehend the status quo and development trend of marine fishery carbon emission. This study measures the carbon emissions of marine fisheries in the Northern Marine Economic Circle, a development region representing China’s marine fisheries, from 2006 to 2019. We employed a system dynamics approach to establish a marine fisheries carbon emission dynamic model. In our model, five scenarios are set up to dynamically simulate the development and evolution trend of future marine fisheries carbon emissions, under the impact of rapid economic development, energy structure adjustment, and industrial structure adjustment. The results are as follows. (i) Total carbon emissions from marine fisheries in the northern marine economic zone show a year-on-year increase from 2006 to 2019. (ii) Simulations from the five scenarios indicate that rapid economic development significantly impact the increase of carbon emissions from marine fisheries, while adjustment of the energy and industrial structures helped control carbon emissions from marine fisheries. This study provides relevant information to control carbon emissions at the marine level, and predicts the development trend of carbon emissions from marine fisheries, which can provide a reference for fisheries to seek an effective path of energy conservation and emission reduction, and improve their high-quality development level.
•The marine economic growth model should be modified and improved.•Carbon emissions of marine fisheries in Northern Marine Economic Circle.•The carbon emission of marine fishery in China.
Circle detection in digital images is an important problem in computer vision, pattern recognition, and artificial intelligence. However, the common circle detection strategies, including random ...sample consensus, randomized Hough transform, and randomized circle detection, have a very low sampling efficiency and thus a slow detection speed, owing to aimless random sampling. This paper proposes a fast and accurate randomized circle detection algorithm, with the aim to improve the speed and accuracy of circle detection based on random sampling. The proposed algorithm mainly focuses on four aspects: calculating circle parameters, determining candidate circles, searching for true circle, and improving detection accuracy. To verify the effectiveness of our algorithm, contrastive experiments were conducted on lots of synthetic and real images. The results show that our algorithm achieved much higher detection speed and accuracy than random sample consensus, randomized Hough transform, and randomized circle detection, and realized similar robustness as the three contrastive strategies. The research ideas can also be applied to ellipse detection.
•An effective method for determining candidate circles is proposed.•A fast method for searching for true circle is proposed.•A strategy for improving detection accuracy is suggested.•Our algorithm was compared through experiments against other classical algorithms.
A novel microRNA (miRNA) quantification method has been developed using one-step rolling circle-quantitative PCR (RC-qPCR) analysis. Vent (exo-) DNA polymerase is firstly utilized to combine a ...rolling circle amplification (RCA) and qPCR in one step with high sensitivity and specificity in our RC-qPCR assay. Before performing the RC-qPCR, a padlock probe is ligated only when it is perfectly hybridized with miRNA. This ligation-based miRNA assay is highly specific for mature miRNAs, discriminating among related miRNAs that differ by as little as one nucleotide. It exhibits a dynamic range of seven orders of magnitude with a detection limit of 500 aM, and could be also used for the quantification of other small RNA molecules such as short interfering RNAs (siRNAs).
A novel microRNA quantification method has been developed using Rolling Circle-quantitative PCR (RC-qPCR) analysis. This RC-qPCR combines rolling circle amplification (RCA) and qPCR in one step with high sensitivity and specificity based on Vent (exo-) DNA polymerase. The former two enzymes for RCA and qPCR are replaced by Vent (exo-) DNA polymerase, which make detection more simple and time-saving. We expect our rapid, facile, and reliable PCR method will be a promising candidate for detection of miRNA in biomedical applications. Display omitted
•Rolling circle amplification (RCA) and qPCR are combined in one step and one tube by using Vent (exo-) DNA polymerase.•MiRNA could function as a trigger to initiate the RCA in the presence of DNA polymerase.•This RC-qPCR afforded a highly selective and sensitive detection for miRNA with minimized reagents and working steps.•Our rapid, facile, and reliable PCR method would be a promising candidate for detection of miRNA in biomedical applications.
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