New England Research (United States)

ABSTRACT MicroCT imaging is performed before and after confined compression testing on a minicore of Boise sandstone in order to extract quantitative information regarding the microstructural controls on compaction initiation and distribution, with the ultimate goal of formulating compressibility predictions at in situ conditions. In contrast with traditional compaction studies, our analysis focuses on local statistics among regions of a given sample as opposed to global statistics in a sample set. The original workflow includes a segmentation strategy and the definition of a series of metrics that are evaluated throughout the entire image volumes before and after testing. The results suggest that local porosity and sorting are the main controls on local strength, whereas neighborhoods with larger mean grain size do not appear to be more prone to yielding. This is consistent with previous findings on confined comminution which emphasize the tendency of grain size distributions to become self-similar through the elimination of same size neighbors at all scales. INTRODUCTION The limited ability to predict the onset and development of compaction at the pore scale in high porosity reservoir rocks undergoing depletion represents a substantial barrier to the optimization of appraisal and production planning. Compaction may be potentially beneficial as a pressure support mechanism but can also be a hindrance to overall flow properties through reservoir compartmentalization and fines production/migration. This topic has been the focus of many studies both within industry and academia (Fatt, 1958; Zhang et al., 1990a; Schutjens et al., 1998; Wong and Baud, 1999; Olsson et al., 2002). Beyond conventional reservoir operations, better understanding of the mechanical behavior of confined granular aggregates is of interest in many other subsurface applications from 4D seismic interpretation to storage and subsidence, but also across industries in environmental and civil engineering domains. As a powerful extension of traditional microscopy work, non-destructive X-ray CT imaging has been enabling investigations that were not previously possible. An example is the in-situ monitoring of 3D microstructural changes occurring in materials under active loading, with the continuous introduction of ever more sophisticated setups (e.g. Renard et al., 2016; Voltolini et al., 2019; Shahin et al., 2022; Francois et al., 2022).

Hospital readmission is often associated with unfavorable patient outcomes and a large cost of resources. Therefore, preventing avoidable re-hospitalizations is imperative. To target this problem, one important metric that researchers and practitioners strive to reduce is the 30-day hospital readmission rate. In this paper, we introduce a general decision support system that utilizes machine learning (ML) based patientspecific prediction to guide the suggestion of patient intervention program assignment, with the objective of minimizing the readmission cost for hospitals. This work has three major contributions. First, the proposed solution is highly scalable by using PySpark. Second, we outline solution architecture components including (1) data injection (both real-time sensor reading and data at rest), processing, and analysis, and (2) ML model building, evaluation, deployment and scoring. Third, we discuss how the ML prediction results can be taken into account in a decision support system by presenting a rich visualization.

У статті представлено літературний огляд проблеми використання інноваційних інструментів веб-спостереження, зокрема Google Trends (GT), з метою визначення точного початку сезону спор цвілі. Алергія на цвіль є значним пусковим механізмом розвитку поширених респіраторних розладів – алергічного риніту та астми, хронічного обструктивного захворювання легень тощо. Метою дослідження було вивчення сезонності запитів GT в Україні з кількістю спор Alternaria. Спори роду Alternaria – найпоширеніша складова повітря у всіх регіонах світу, що утворюють інфекційний посівний матеріал численних видів рослин, а також спричиняють важку інгаляційну алергію. Точне визначення настання сезону спор цвілі є вирішальним для підтвердження діагнозу алергії на цвіль та розробки персоналізованого лікування для пацієнтів з алергічним ринітом та астмою. Найбільш комплексним підходом є розвиток загальноєвропейської мережі моніторингу, яка поєднує всі ці стратегії. GT може бути корисним інструментом для диференціації сезонів спор Alternaria, особливо коли вони співпадають з сезоном цвітіння амброзії. Чотири терміни "нежить", "сльози", "задишка" та "кашель" (кирилицею) слід використовувати в Україні для пояснення впливу спор Alternaria. Поєднання запитів GT з кількістю спор може бути використано в масштабних епідеміологічних дослідженнях. Розвиток загальноєвропейської сигнальної мережі моніторингу алергічних захворювань зумовлює проблему перекладу пошукових термінів різними європейськими мовами. Отримані результати можна використовувати як ефективний інструмент запобігання або мінімізації впливу алергену на пацієнтів під час сезону Alternaria.

Introduction: Although malnourishment is associated with mortality in adult dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a paradox exists where obesity is protective. We aim to look at the role of these risk factors in pediatric DCM. Hypothesis: We hypothesize malnourishment (MN) and obesity are risk factors for death or heart transplantation. Methods: The NHLBI- funded Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry (PCMR) database was used for this analysis of patients (age < 18 years) with idiopathic or familial DCM and myocarditis. Patients were categorized by anthropological measurements: MN (defined as BMI <5% for ≥2years or weight for length <5% for <2 years), obese (BMI> 95% for ages ≥2years or weight for length >95% for <2 years), and normal. Results: Of 904 DCM patients, 23.7% (214) were MN, 13.3% (120) were obese, and 63.1% (570) were normal (Table). Obese patients were significantly older (p<0.001) and more likely to have a family history of DCM (both p<0.05). MN were more likely to have congestive heart failure, increased cardiac dimensions, and higher ventricular mass (p<0.01). In a Kaplan Meier analysis, there was a difference in time to death or transplant by groups (Figure, p=0.0498). Adjusting for age and myocarditis, MN was associated with increased risk of death (HR: 1.857, 95%CI: 1.159-2.977, p=<0.001), but obesity was not (HR: 1.362, 95%CI: 0.722, 2.566). Competing outcome analysis showed an increased risk of death for MN (p=0.026) but no difference between groups in transplant rate (p=0.159). Conclusion: Malnourishment is significantly associated with poor clinical outcomes. Unlike adult DCM where obesity is protective, obesity is not associated with improved survival in pediatric DCM.