Introduction: Using computed tomography (CT) and treatment planning systems (TPS) in radiotherapy, due to the difference in photon beam energy on CT and linear accelerator, it is necessary to convert Hounsfield units (HU) to relative electron density (RED) values. The aim of this dosimetric study was to determine whether there is a significant effect of potential in the CT tube, field of view size (FOV), and phantom dimensions on the CT conversion curve CT-RED. The second aim is whether there are significant differences between the CT-RED obtained by the Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS) Thorax 002LFC phantom and the “reference” curve in the TPS, obtained by the CIRS 062M pelvis phantom, at the same CT conditions.Methods: Heterogeneous CIRS 062M and CIRS Thorax 002LFC phantoms were used, which anatomically and dimensionally represent the human pelvis, head, and thorax, with a set of known RED inserts. They were scanned on a CT LightSpeed GE simulator and obtained CT-RED.Results: The high voltage in the CT tube had a significant effect on the HU (t = 10.72, p < 0.001) for RED values >1.1, while FOV as a parameter did not show statistical significance for the 062M pelvis phantom. Comparing the slopes (062M pelvis and head) of the CT-RED for RED ≥ 1.1, the obtained value is t = 1.404 (p = 0.163). In the case of a 062M pelvis and a 002LFC phantom, we have seen a difference in RED values (for the same HU value) of 5 % in the RED region ≥ 1.1 (bone).Conclusion: Patients should be imaged on a CT simulator only at the potential of the CT tube on which the conversion curve was recorded. The influence of the FOV and scanned phantom dimensions is not statistically significant on the appearance of the calibration curve (RED ≥ 1.1).

The research deals with the optimisation of CNC turning process parameters to determine the optimal parametric combination that provides the minimal surface roughness (Ra) and maximal material removal rate. The experiment was conducted by the CNC turning process of S355J2 carbon steel. Data from the Taguchi design of experiments were the subject of analysis with Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). In the present study, three process parameters, such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, were chosen for the experimentation. It was found that 250 m/min cutting speed, 0.10 mm/rev feed rate and 1.8 mm depth of cut presented the optimal parametric combination by both used multi-objective optimisation methods. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at a 95 % confidence level was used to determine the most significant parameters. Finally, the accuracy of GRA and TOPSIS results were validated by confirmation experiments.

Trends of globalization very often cause the emergence of phenomena that asymmetrically affect the overall sustainability of the transport system. In order to predict certain situations and potentially be able to manage the transport system, it is necessary to manage risk situations and traffic safety in a timely manner. This study has conducted an investigation which implies defining the level of safety of a total of nine sections of two-lane roads. The main aim of the paper is to create a new multiphase model consisting of CRITIC (The CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation), Fuzzy FUCOM (Full Consistency Method), DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), and Fuzzy MARCOS (Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to the COmpromise Solution) methods for determining the level of traffic safety on road sections under the conditions of uncertainty. In order for the created model to be adequately applied, eight parameters were created, and they were classified through four inputs and four outputs. To calculate the significance of the inputs, the CRITIC method based on the symmetric correlation matrix was used, and taking into account the nature of the outputs, the Fuzzy FUCOM method based on averaged values using the fuzzy Bonferroni Mean (BM) operator was applied to determine their weights. To determine the degree of safety, the DEA model was created. After that, the Fuzzy MARCOS method was used in order to determine the final ranking of the remaining five sections of the road network. Finally, the verification of results was performed through three phases of Sensitivity Analysis (SA).

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the cytogenotoxic effects of methylparaben, ethylparaben and butylparaben using battery of tests in plant cells (Allium cepa assay) and human lymphocytes (chromosome aberration test and alkaline comet assay). Our results for A. cepa assay showed that none of the tested parabens showed an inducing effect on root growth. Mitotic index values decreased with increasing parabens concentration. Ethylparaben (0.10 mg/L) induced a higher number of vagrants and multipolarity, as well as the number of sticky chromosomes (0.50 mg/L), while butylparaben (0.25 and 0.50 mg/L) increased the frequency of sticky chromosomes. Higher frequency of apoptosis and necrosis was observed for ethylparaben (0.50 mg/L) and methylparaben (0.10 and 0.50 mg/L). As for chromosome aberrations test in human lymphocytes, the mitotic index was reduced with an increase in the concentration of all three tested parabens. Differences between methylparaben (0.25 mg/L), ethylparaben (0.10 mg/L) and butylparaben (0.25 mg/L) and controls for acentric fragments, chromatid breaks and polyploidy were observed. Increased frequency of apoptosis was induced by methylparaben and ethylparaben at concentrations of 0.25 and 0.50 mg/L. Alkaline comet assay demonstrated that 0.25 and 0.50 mg/L of ethylparaben and butylparaben have genotoxic potential by increasing the tail intensity against controls. These results suggest that methyl-, ethyl- and butylparaben possess certain geno/cytotoxic potential.

When a TeV-scale leptoquark has a sizeable Yukawa coupling, its dominant production mechanism at hadron colliders is the partonic-level lepton-quark fusion. Even though the parton distribution functions for leptons inside the proton are minuscule, they get compensated by the resonant enhancement. We present the first computation of higher order radiative corrections to the resonant leptoquark production cross section at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Next-to-leading (NLO) QCD and QED corrections are similar in size but come with the opposite sign. We compute NLO K-factors for a wide range of scalar leptoquark masses, as well as, all possible combinations of quark and lepton flavors and leptoquark charges. Theoretical uncertainties due to the renormalisation and factorisation scale variations and the limited knowledge of parton distribution functions are quantified. We finally discuss how to disentangle the flavor structure of leptoquark interactions by exploiting the interplay between different production channels.

Using X-ray single crystal diffraction, the crystal structures of biologically active benzoxazole derivatives were determined. DFT calculation was performed with standard 6-31G*(d), 6-31G** and 6-31+G* basis set to analyze the molecular geometry and compare with experimentally obtained X-ray crystal data of compounds. The calculated HOMO-LUMO energy gap in compound 2 (2-(2-hydroxynaphtalen-1-yl)-4-methyl-7-isopropyl-1,3-benzoxazol-5-ol) is 3.80 eV and this small gap value indicates that compound 2 is chemically more reactive compared to compounds 1 (4-methyl-2-phenyl-7-isopropyl-1,3-benzoxazol-5-ol) and 3 (2-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-methyl-7-isopropyl-1,3-benzoxazol-5-ol). The crystal structures are stabilized by both intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in which an intermolecular O-H⋅⋅⋅N hydrogen bond generates N3 and O7 chain motif in compounds 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The calculated bond lengths and bond angles of all three compounds are remarkably close to the experimental values obtained by X-ray single crystal diffraction.

O artigo analisa textos de estudantes do setimo ano, do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola publica do campo, de Barreiras – BA. Nessa analise, consideramos o contexto social, economico e cultural a que pertencem esses estudantes. Metodologicamente, trabalhamos etnografia de sala de aula, realizando: observacao, descricao e analise, e participacao colaborativa, com a aplicacao de sequencia didatica, e o uso do texto biografico, subsidiando a producao do texto autobiografico. A luz da teoria dos letramentos multiplos e da leitura sociolinguistica, foi possivel reconhecer a necessidade da observacao do lugar de pertenca do estudante no/do campo e suas distintas praticas de conhecimento de leitura e de escrita, bem como a importância da valorizacao dessa cultura no contexto escolar. Encontramos nos textos escritos, evidentes demarcacoes dos fatores socioculturais de seu autor, com multiplas expressoes e marcas linguisticas que identificam o lugar de pertencimento que, em certos casos, nao sao compreendidas em sala de aula.

There is a great demand for accurate non‐invasive measures to better define the natural history of disease progression or treatment outcome in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and to facilitate the inclusion of a large range of participants in DMD clinical trials. This review aims to investigate which MRI sequences and analysis methods have been used and to identify future needs. Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Inspec, and Compendex databases were searched up to 2 November 2019, using keywords “magnetic resonance imaging” and “Duchenne muscular dystrophy.” The review showed the trend of using T1w and T2w MRI images for semi‐qualitative inspection of structural alterations of DMD muscle using a diversity of grading scales, with increasing use of T2map, Dixon, and MR spectroscopy (MRS). High‐field (>3T) MRI dominated the studies with animal models. The quantitative MRI techniques have allowed a more precise estimation of local or generalized disease severity. Longitudinal studies assessing the effect of an intervention have also become more prominent, in both clinical and animal model subjects. Quality assessment of the included longitudinal studies was performed using the Newcastle‐Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale adapted to comprise bias in selection, comparability, exposure, and outcome. Additional large clinical trials are needed to consolidate research using MRI as a biomarker in DMD and to validate findings against established gold standards. This future work should use a multiparametric and quantitative MRI acquisition protocol, assess the repeatability of measurements, and correlate findings to histologic parameters.

Deep learning (DL) and the collocation method are merged and used to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) describing structures' deformation. We have considered different types of materials: linear elasticity, hyperelasticity (neo‐Hookean) with large deformation, and von Mises plasticity with isotropic and kinematic hardening. The performance of this deep collocation method (DCM) depends on the architecture of the neural network and the corresponding hyperparameters. The presented DCM is meshfree and avoids any spatial discretization, which is usually needed for the finite element method (FEM). We show that the DCM can capture the response qualitatively and quantitatively, without the need for any data generation using other numerical methods such as the FEM. Data generation usually is the main bottleneck in most data‐driven models. The DL model is trained to learn the model's parameters yielding accurate approximate solutions. Once the model is properly trained, solutions can be obtained almost instantly at any point in the domain, given its spatial coordinates. Therefore, the DCM is potentially a promising standalone technique to solve PDEs involved in the deformation of materials and structural systems as well as other physical phenomena.