The Atopic Dermatitis Control Tool, A High-Performance Tool for Optimal Support

The evaluation of global atopic dermatitis control is key to minimizing the disease burden. The Atopic Dermatitis Control Tool (ADCT) has been developed for this purpose. Participants [diagnosed by a physician] were recruited using a real-life methodology and asked to answer a questionnaire to provide sociodemographic and personal information. The ADCT algorithm described by Pariser was used to categorize patients as having controlled or uncontrolled atopic dermatitis. Data were collected on 1606 patients. The patients’ median age was 40 quartiles [31, 42.45] years, and 1,023 (63.7%) patients were women. A total of 1,146 (71.4%) patients did not have controlled atopic dermatitis according to the ADCT score. Patients with uncontrolled disease were at a significantly higher risk of a high stress level and had more opportunities to miss work than patients with controlled disease. In this study, we showed that a key factor for predicting the disease burden is patient self-assessed disease control in terms of multiple dimensions: stress, sleep, quality of life, work absenteeism and loss of productivity.

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Fibre prestressed polymer-matrix composites: a review

Journal of Composite Materials ◽

10.1177/0021998316637906 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 39-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Nawras H Mostafa ◽

ZN Ismarrubie ◽

SM Sapuan ◽

MTH Sultan

Keyword(s):

Manufacturing Process ◽

High Performance ◽

Polymer Matrix Composites ◽

High Stress ◽

Reinforced Composites ◽

Moulding Process ◽

Residual Stress State ◽

The Matrix ◽

High Stress Level ◽

Fibre Reinforced Composites

This article reviews the literature studies based on improving the mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced composites using fibre-prestressing method. The idea is characterized by pretensioning the fibres either elastically or viscoelastically prior matrix curing. The beginnings of the studies in this field were focused on reducing fibre waviness and breaking the weaker fibres by pretensioning the fibres to a relatively high stress level prior moulding process. In the last three decades, the concept of fibre prestressing had been developed to include its ability to reduce the effect of undesired residual stresses existence accompanying manufacturing process of fibre-reinforced composites. The main advantage of fibre prestressing method is to generate a desired and controlled residual stress state within the matrix in order to obstruct the initiation and propagation of cracks. Various techniques of fibre prestressing have been reviewed to show their scope of applications, developments and limitations. Therefore, the findings drawn from this review can be used for further studies in the field of fibre prestressed composites in order to select the most suitable methodology and develop it to fit the manufacturing process requirements towards a production of high-performance composites without a considerable additional cost.

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Extrapolative Collaborative Filtering Recommendation System with Word2Vec for Purchased Product for SMEs

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13137156 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 7156

Author(s):

Kyoung Jun Lee ◽

Yu Jeong Hwangbo ◽

Baek Jeong ◽

Ji Woong Yoo ◽

Kyung Yang Park

Keyword(s):

Collaborative Filtering ◽

High Performance ◽

Recommendation System ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Personal Information ◽

Business Environment ◽

Share Data ◽

Artificial Intelligence Technology ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

Start Ups

Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) want to introduce recommendation services to boost sales, but they need to have sufficient amounts of data to introduce these recommendation services. This study proposes an extrapolative collaborative filtering (ECF) system that does not directly share data among SMEs but improves recommendation performance for small and medium-sized companies that lack data through the extrapolation of data, which can provide a magical experience to users. Previously, recommendations were made utilizing only data generated by the merchant itself, so it was impossible to recommend goods to new users. However, our ECF system provides appropriate recommendations to new users as well as existing users based on privacy-preserved payment transaction data. To accomplish this, PP2Vec using Word2Vec was developed by utilizing purchase information only, excluding personal information from payment company data. We then compared the performances of single-merchant models and multi-merchant models. For the merchants with more data than SMEs, the performance of the single-merchant model was higher, while for the SME merchants with fewer data, the multi-merchant model’s performance was higher. The ECF System proposed in this study is more suitable for the real-world business environment because it does not directly share data among companies. Our study shows that AI (artificial intelligence) technology can contribute to the sustainability and viability of economic systems by providing high-performance recommendation capability, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.

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Personal Information as Symmetry Breaker in Disagreements

Philosophy ◽

10.1017/s0031819121000292 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Diego E. Machuca

Keyword(s):

Personal Information ◽

Conscious Experience ◽

Real Life ◽

Cognitive Capacities ◽

First Order ◽

Natural Reaction ◽

Epistemic Standing

Abstract When involved in a disagreement, a common reaction is to tell oneself that, given that the information about one's own epistemic standing is clearly superior in both amount and quality to the information about one's opponent's epistemic standing, one is justified in one's confidence that one's view is correct. In line with this natural reaction to disagreement, some contributors to the debate on its epistemic significance have claimed that one can stick to one's guns by relying in part on information about one's first-order evidence and the functioning of one's cognitive capacities. In this article, I argue that such a manoeuvre to settle controversies encounters the problem that both disputants can make use of it, the problem that one may be wrong about one's current conscious experience, and the problem that it is a live possibility that many of one's beliefs are the product of epistemically distorting factors. I also argue that, even if we grant that personal information is reliable, when it comes to real-life rather than idealized disagreements, the extent of the unpossessed information about one's opponent's epistemic standing provides a reason for doubting that personal information can function as a symmetry breaker.

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How Relevant Is It to Use Mineral Proxies to Mimic the Atmospheric Reactivity of Natural Dust Samples? A Reactivity Study Using SO2 as Probe Molecule

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11030282 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 282

Author(s):

Darya Urupina ◽

Manolis N. Romanias ◽

Frederic Thevenet

Keyword(s):

High Performance ◽

Real Life ◽

Complex Mixtures ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

The Real ◽

Atmospheric Processes ◽

Real Effects ◽

Mineral Aerosols ◽

Life Impact ◽

Reactivity Study

The experimental investigation of heterogeneous atmospheric processes involving mineral aerosols is extensively performed in the literature using proxy materials. In this work we questioned the validity of using proxies such as Fe2O3, FeOOH, Al2O3, MgO, CaO, TiO2, MnO2, SiO2, and CaCO3 to represent the behavior of complex mixtures of minerals, such as natural desert and volcanic dusts. Five volcanic dusts and three desert dusts were compared to a number of metal oxides, commonly used in the literature to mimic the behavior of desert dusts in the ability to form sulfites and sulfates on the surface exposed to SO2 gas. First, all samples were aged at room temperature, atmospheric pressure, under controlled experimental conditions of 175 ppm SO2 for 1 h under 30% of relative humidity. Second, they were extracted with 1% formalin and analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to quantify and compare the amount of sulfites and sulfates formed on their surfaces. It was evidenced that under the experimental conditions of this study neither one selected pure oxide nor a mixture of oxides can adequately typify the behavior of complex mixtures of natural minerals. Therefore, to evaluate the real-life impact of natural dust on atmospheric processes it is of vital importance to work directly with the natural samples, both to observe the real effects of desert and volcanic dusts and to evaluate the relevancy of proposed proxies.

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Did the NSA and GCHQ Diminish Our Privacy? What the Control Account Should Say

Moral Philosophy and Politics ◽

10.1515/mopp-2019-0063 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 29-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leonhard Menges

Keyword(s):

Mobile Phone ◽

Personal Information ◽

Real Life ◽

Mobile Phone Data ◽

Standard Account ◽

Do So

AbstractA standard account of privacy says that it is essentially a kind of control over personal information. Many privacy scholars have argued against this claim by relying on so-called threatened loss cases. In these cases, personal information about an agent is easily available to another person, but not accessed. Critics contend that control accounts have the implausible implication that the privacy of the relevant agent is diminished in threatened loss cases. Recently, threatened loss cases have become important because Edward Snowden’s revelation of how the NSA and GCHQ collected Internet and mobile phone data presents us with a gigantic, real-life threatened loss case. In this paper, I will defend the control account of privacy against the argument that is based on threatened loss cases. I will do so by developing a new version of the control account that implies that the agents’ privacy is not diminished in threatened loss cases.

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Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Sustainable Highway and Road System

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym13010060 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 60

Author(s):

Md Arifuzzaman ◽

Muhammad Aniq Gul ◽

Kaffayatullah Khan ◽

S. M. Zakir Hossain

Keyword(s):

Experimental Data ◽

High Performance ◽

Adhesion Force ◽

Model Development ◽

Real Life ◽

Bayesian Optimization ◽

Support Vector ◽

Adhesive Properties ◽

Bayesian Optimization Algorithm ◽

The Mean

There are several environmental factors such as temperature differential, moisture, oxidation, etc. that affect the extended life of the modified asphalt influencing its desired adhesive properties. Knowledge of the properties of asphalt adhesives can help to provide a more resilient and durable asphalt surface. In this study, a hybrid of Bayesian optimization algorithm and support vector regression approach is recommended to predict the adhesion force of asphalt. The effects of three important variables viz., conditions (fresh, wet and aged), binder types (base, 4% SB, 5% SB, 4% SBS and 5% SBS), and Carbon Nano Tube doses (0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%) on adhesive force are taken into consideration. Real-life experimental data (405 specimens) are considered for model development. Using atomic force microscopy, the adhesive strength of nanoscales of test specimens is determined according to functional groups on the asphalt. It is found that the model predictions overlap with the experimental data with a high R2 of 90.5% and relative deviation are scattered around zero line. Besides, the mean, median and standard deviations of experimental and the predicted values are very close. In addition, the mean absolute Error, root mean square error and fractional bias values were found to be low, indicating the high performance of the developed model.

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Design aspects of (super)hydrophobic mesh based oil-collecting device with improved efficiency

SN Applied Sciences ◽

10.1007/s42452-021-04179-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Weikang Xu ◽

Zhentao Zhang ◽

Xiaomei Cai ◽

Yazhen Hong ◽

Tianliang Lin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

Water Surface ◽

High Performance ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Real Life ◽

Oily Wastewater ◽

Coating Materials ◽

The Past ◽

Oil Storage ◽

Future Success

AbstractEffective treatment of frequent oil spills and endless discharged oily wastewater is crucial for the ecosystem and human health. In the past two decades, the collection of oil from water surface has been widely studied through the simple fabrication of superhydrophobic meshes with various coating materials, but little attention is paid to the design aspects of the meshes based oil-collecting device and practical oil collection. Here, 3D-printing devices with different configurations of (super)hydrophobic meshes, circular truncated cone (CTC), cylinder and inverted CTC, and the same inverted cone-shaped structure (below the meshes for temporary oil storage) are investigated. Results demonstrate that the CTC meshes based device especially for an oblate one not only shows higher stability and discharge of the collected oils than previous reports, but also allows floating oils to enter the (super)hydrophobic mesh faster. We anticipate that future success in developing high-performance (super)hydrophobic meshes and the further optimization of the CTC mesh-based device parameters will make our proposed device more practical for the treatment of real-life oil spills.

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Prevalence and factors associated with smoking among Tunisian secondary school-adolescents

International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health ◽

10.1515/ijamh-2019-0088 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Houda Ben Ayed ◽

Sourour Yaich ◽

Mariem Ben Hmida ◽

Maissa Ben Jemaa ◽

Maroua Trigui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Associated Factors ◽

Age Groups ◽

High Stress ◽

Smoking Behavior ◽

Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Current Smoking ◽

Part Time ◽

High Stress Level

AbstractObjectivesThis study aimed to estimate the extent of smoking experience among high and middle school adolescents in Southern Tunisia and to delineate its potential associated factors.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among middle and high school-adolescents in the governorate of Sfax, South of Tunisia in the 2017–2018 school-years. A questionnaire was anonymously administered to a representative sample of 1,210 school-adolescents randomly drawn.ResultsThe mean age of the school-adolescents was 15.6 ± 4.2 years. The prevalence of lifetime smoking was 16.7% (95% CI=[14.7–18.8%]) (boys 32.6%; girls 5.9%;p<0.001). Among the respondents, 13.9% (95% CI=[11.9–15.8%]) were current smokers. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, independent associated factors of current smoking were male gender (Adjusted (AOR)=10.2; p<0.001), 16–17 and 18–19-year age-groups (AOR=2; p=0.005 and AOR=2.6; p=0.001, respectively), below average academic performance (AOR=5.2; p=0.012), divorced parents (AOR=3.9; p=0.007), family monthly income ≥800 dollars (AOR=2.1; p=0.001), having a part time job (AOR=3.9; p<0.001) and a perceived high stress level (AOR=1.98; p=0.008). Secondhand smoke (AOR=1.8; p=0.011) and concomitant alcohol drink (AOR=14.56; p<0.001) were independent predictors of current smoking, while high education level of the father was independently associated with lower prevalence of current smoking (AOR=0.17; p<0.001).ConclusionThe prevalence of lifetime and current smoking were relatively high in Southern Tunisian middle and high schools. Multilevel influences on youth smoking behavior had been identified, which reflected the need to conceive appropriate school interventions and effective antismoking education program.

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Behaviour of UHPFRCs in compression under high stress-rates

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/201818302005 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 183 ◽

pp. 02005

Author(s):

Ezio Cadoni ◽

Matteo Dotta ◽

Daniele Forni

Keyword(s):

Reinforced Concrete ◽

Mechanical Behaviour ◽

High Performance ◽

High Stress ◽

Slight Reduction ◽

Fibre Reinforcement ◽

Fibre Reinforced Concrete ◽

Dynamic Event ◽

The Matrix ◽

High Performance Fibre

The paper presents the results obtained on cylindrical Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete specimens with diameter of 30mm and a height of 60mm under compression at high stress rate (1.7–2.3 TPa/s). Four different percentages of fibre reinforcement are considered (1, 2, 3, and 4% fibre content) and compared with the results of the matrix (UHPC). A slight reduction of the strength and fracture time with the introduction of fibres is observed. The experimental results are analysed and discussed with the intent to better understand the mechanical behaviour of UHPFRC materials in case of dynamic event under service loading conditions.

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Atopic dermatitis in adolescents: effectiveness and safety of dupilumab in a 16‐week real‐life experience during the COVID ‐19 pandemic in Italy

Dermatologic Therapy ◽

10.1111/dth.15035 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Luca Stingeni ◽

Katharina Hansel ◽

Elettra Antonelli ◽

Giacomo Dal Bello ◽

Cataldo Patruno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atopic Dermatitis ◽

Life Experience ◽

Real Life

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