Clustering and hotel room prices in Dubai

In this article, we study the influence of the room properties, hotel amenities, hotel location, and, more importantly, the characteristics of hotels in the surrounding area on the prices of hotel rooms. The effects of different determinants are estimated using the hedonic price model for a cross-section of 250 hotels in Dubai. In addition to the typical characteristics of hotels and hotel rooms such as hotel amenities, star rating, and room size, we include location-specific characteristics such as accessibility to public transportation, airport, and, more importantly, clustering variables to capture the effects of local competition and spillovers from surrounding hotels. Our results indicate significant and strong effects of accessibility to attractions, transportation, hotel’s star rating, and room size, as expected. Our estimations also indicate that local competition reduces the room price, and local quality spillover increases the room price, and both effects are predominantly limited to the hotel’s immediate surroundings. Our estimations indicate that having one more hotel in the immediate surroundings decreases the room price by about one percent, and an increase in the average quality of the hotels in the immediate surroundings by one star rating increases the room price by more than 20%.

Machine learning to estimate the local quality of protein crystal structures

Low-resolution electron density maps can pose a major obstacle in the determination and use of protein structures. Herein, we describe a novel method, called quality assessment based on an electron density map (QAEmap), which evaluates local protein structures determined by X-ray crystallography and could be applied to correct structural errors using low-resolution maps. QAEmap uses a three-dimensional deep convolutional neural network with electron density maps and their corresponding coordinates as input and predicts the correlation between the local structure and putative high-resolution experimental electron density map. This correlation could be used as a metric to modify the structure. Further, we propose that this method may be applied to evaluate ligand binding, which can be difficult to determine at low resolution.

Cognition in Primary Care Community Resource Directory for Individuals, Caregivers, and Providers

A KAER Model recommendation is to refer individuals diagnosed with dementia to resources that help them prepare for the future and services that provide ongoing support. The purpose of this project was to locate local quality services and develop a resource directory for persons with cognitive impairment for use by providers, staff, individuals, families, and caregivers. We worked with a Community Advisory Board and interviewed individuals and caregivers to understand what resources are useful and important to include in the resource directory. We built a web-based resource directory that allows users to query resources based on specific needs. We integrated the resource directory within the electronic health record for providers to include after visit summaries. A resource directory was deployed for community use, with goals of sustainability and longevity after this project is completed.

Urban Morphometrics and the Intangible Uniqueness of Tangible Heritage. An Evidence-Based Generative Design Experiment in Historical Kochi (IN)

Asia is urbanising rapidly. Current urbanisation practices often compromise sustainability, prosperity, and local quality of life while context-sensitive alternatives show very limited impact. A third way is necessary to integrate mass-production, heritage, and human values. As part of UNICITI’s initiative, A Third Way of Building Asian Cities, we propose a scalable and replicable methodology which captures unique morphological traits of urban types (i.e., areas with homogenous urban form) to inform innovative large-scale and context-sensitive practices. We extract urban types from a large set of quantitative descriptors and provide a systematic way to generate figure-grounds aligned with such urban types. The application of the proposed methodology to Kochi (IN) reveals 24 distinct urban types with unique morphological features. Profiles, containing design-relevant values of morphometrics, are then produced for a selection of urban types located in the historical district of Fort Kochi/Mattancherry. Based on these, figure-ground design demonstrations are carried out in three sample sites. Outcomes seem aligned with the urban character of their respective types, while allowing distinct design expressions, suggesting that the proposed approach has potential to inform the design in historical/heritage areas and, more broadly, the search for a Third Way of Building Asian Cities.

Assessment of some baryte ores from Northern Cross-River, Nigeria, for oilfield drilling fluid supplement

There is a very high demand for the American Petroleum Institute (API) grade baryte in Nigeria due to the continuous massive drilling in oil and gas fields. Considering the presumption that local baryte is of low quality, processed baryte is imported, leading to great national revenue losses. Some baryte deposits in the Northern Cross River, Nigeria were sampled and studied in field and laboratories, based on API standard requirements (2004 and 2010), to ascertain their suitability for use as weighting additive in drilling fluids. Furthermore, flame testing of the samples yielded yellowish-green flame indicating barium presence; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses confirmed the mineralogy and chemical composition of the samples, respectively. The results revealed the Specific Gravity, SG range of 4.37 to 4.52; concentration of alkali earth metals as calcium 8.40mg/kg to 62.10mg/Kg; the residue >75micron and particle sizes <6microns processed had normal range, respectively below 3% and 30%; and the samples’ BaSO4 %weightcomposition was over 90%. The chemical analysis indicated no significant undesired minerals. Galena gangue with baryte was observed in three locations though these could be easily beneficiated through physical separation. The tests and analyses result qualified the Northern Cross River baryte samples as high-grade API standard baryte, suitable for oilfield drilling fluid. Further estimation of the baryte reserves in this region was highly recommended, as this might proffer a substantial solution to the sustainable supply of excellent local quality drilling baryte in Nigerian oilfields.

A strategic guide for the development of a corporate sepsis program

Background: Sepsis is a major health burden. Guidelines call for healthcare providers to establish sepsis care improvement programs to enhance patient care and outcome. A comprehensive sepsis program has been developed at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and implemented across its 13 facilities before embarking on a bigger journey. Methods: Senior leadership engagement and collaboration with pertinent departments are key to any initiative's success. A subject matter expert was appointed as Clinical Lead and Chair of the Program and held accountable to sponsors. Stakeholders were identified and invited to participate in the corporate steering group. Given that facilities may have differing challenges, patient population, or resources, a facility-level sepsis committee was established adopting a similar structure to the corporate committee. Each facility committee reviewed, implemented, and reported to the respective local quality and safety committee. Training, reporting and monitoring were undertaken at the local followed by the corporate level. Standardized sepsis pathways and guidelines were developed and implemented. Monitoring is crucial to ensure a program remains on track. This was attained using a corporate dashboard in which all cases of sepsis, irrespective of facility, time or age were reported and reviewed. Regular reports were sent to the Corporate Quality Improvement and Safety Committee. This, subsequently, is discussed at the Executive Management Committee. Findings: The implementation of a Corporate Sepsis Program was successful and extended to include other organisations (Sidra Medicine, Primary Health Care Corporation and the Qatar Red Crescent). An education subcommittee designed and delivered a nursing training program and e-learning as a collaboration between the Hamad International Training Centre (HITC), clinical and nursing informatics, and medical and nursing education. This resulted in timely and appropriate management. Conclusion: HMC Sepsis Program improved sepsis outcome in Qatar. A systematic approach, application of evidence-based practice, staff empowerment, senior leadership engagement, a clear structure of governance, quality assurance and reporting are critical elements of its success.

DeepEMhancer: a deep learning solution for cryo-EM volume post-processing

Cryo-EM maps are valuable sources of information for protein structure modeling. However, due to the loss of contrast at high frequencies, they generally need to be post-processed to improve their interpretability. Most popular approaches, based on global B-factor correction, suffer from limitations. For instance, they ignore the heterogeneity in the map local quality that reconstructions tend to exhibit. Aiming to overcome these problems, we present DeepEMhancer, a deep learning approach designed to perform automatic post-processing of cryo-EM maps. Trained on a dataset of pairs of experimental maps and maps sharpened using their respective atomic models, DeepEMhancer has learned how to post-process experimental maps performing masking-like and sharpening-like operations in a single step. DeepEMhancer was evaluated on a testing set of 20 different experimental maps, showing its ability to reduce noise levels and obtain more detailed versions of the experimental maps. Additionally, we illustrated the benefits of DeepEMhancer on the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase.

PD-L1 Testing in Cytological Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Specimens: A Comparison with Biopsies and Review of the Literature

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is used for treatment prediction in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While cytology may be the only available material in the routine clinical setting, testing in clinical trials has mainly been based on biopsies. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We included 2 retrospective cohorts of paired, concurrently sampled, cytological specimens and biopsies. Also, the literature on PD-L1 in paired cytological/histological samples was reviewed. Focus was on the cutoff levels ≥1 and ≥50% positive tumor cells. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Using a 3-tier scale, PD-L1 was concordant in 40/47 (85%) and 66/97 (68%) of the paired NSCLC cases in the 2 cohorts, with kappa 0.77 and 0.49, respectively. In the former cohort, all discordant cases had lower score in cytology. In both cohorts, concordance was lower in samples from different sites (e.g., biopsy from primary tumor and cytology from pleural effusion). Based on 25 published studies including about 1,700 paired cytology/histology cases, the median (range) concordance was 81–85% (62–100%) at cutoff 1% for a positive PD-L1 staining and 89% (67–100%) at cutoff 50%. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The overall concordance of PD-L1 between cytology and biopsies is rather good but with significant variation between laboratories, which calls for local quality assurance.

Antenatal magnesium sulfate to prevent cerebral palsy

Magnesium sulfate given to women before birth at <30 weeks’ gestation reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in their children. Our study aimed to assess the impact of a local quality improvement programme, primarily using plan-do-study-act cycles, to increase the use of antenatal magnesium sulfate. After implementing our quality improvement programme, an average of 86% of babies delivered at <30 weeks’ gestation were exposed to antenatal magnesium sulfate compared with a historical baseline rate of 63%. Our study strengthens the case for embedding quality improvement programmes in maternal perinatal care to reduce the impact of cerebral palsy on families and society.