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Communication is the most important thing in everyday life. Paralegals need skills in communication to optimize the services they provide. So, this activity aims to equip paralegals with good and correct communication techniques, which are a basic requirement, so that they can optimize their abilities. The method applied in this training activity was socialization, which was organized by the UMS Master of Law program in collaboration with PDNA Ngawi. Each paralegal in this training receives an explanation of the theory and practices communication techniques. This training has a positive impact on paralegals, who will be in charge of carrying out their main duties and functions in providing legal aid services to the wider community.

The population dynamics of Tetranychus urticae Koch on two varieties of peach (Prunus persica var. Royal Majestic, and Prunus persica var. Kaweah) and one variety of nectarine (Prunus persica var. nucipersica var. Zephyr) were monitored for three years from 2019 to 2022. The results of this study showed that over the course of these three years, infestation peaks occurred in March and declined later in October. For all three varieties, the infestation profile varied from year to year. The Royal Majestic variety was the most infested by T. urticae, with average infestation percentages of 57.06%, 44.11%, and 50.97%, respectively during the three years. As for the two other varieties, the infestation was less pronounced during the three years with average infestation percentages of 31%, 15.42%, and 15.50% on Kaweah and 5.31%, 29.21%, and 26.06% on Zephyr. The results of intra-plant infestation showed that during that during this study periods, the lower stratum was the one with the highest average infestation percentages, with average infestation percentages of 57.29%, 26.08%, and 28.37% respectively on the Royal Majestic, Zephyr, and Kaweah varieties. Concerning the middle stratum, the percentages of infestation are 53.19%, 19.42%, and 19.96% respectively for the Royal Majestic, Zephyr, and Kaweah varieties. For the upper stratum the percentages of infestation are 47.87%, 11.56%, and 9.54% respectively for the Royal Majestic, Zephyr, and Kaweah varieties.

In this paper, the problem of searching and tracking uncooperative and unidentified mobile ground target using a quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle (QUAV) is investigated. The proposed strategy is an Image-Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) approach, combined with the virtual camera concept and robust control. This strategy makes use of the rough prior information of the target, in contrast with existing strategies, which will alleviate the problem of altitude estimation noise and enhance the overall accuracy. Hence, a new vision-based sliding mode controller (SMC) is designed to control the quadcopter taking into account the flight phase’s heterogeneity, the external disturbances and parameters uncertainties as well as the target maneuverability. In order to get a better insight about the SMC tuning and adjustment, three different reaching laws are evaluated and compared. The proposed controller allows an automatic execution of the flight strategy whilst the searching phase relies on the Camera Coverage Area (CCA) technique. The vision-based technique allows an automatic QUAV altitude tuning for optimal target observation and tracking. Another contribution of this work is the fact that the designed controller validity and stability overspan the entire scenario to reach the universal and to smoothen out surges generated by control switching. Numerical simulations are conducted to compare the proposed SMC controllers and validate the effectiveness of the whole strategy.

Ureteral stenting following uncomplicated ureteroscopy is common practice. Several studies have proven the safety of omitting routine stent placement following distal ureteral stone treatment. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the utility of stent placement for proximal ureteroscopy. We designed a prospective, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the role of ureteral stent placement following ureteroscopy for proximal ureteral and renal stones.Seventy-two patients with proximal ureteral or renal stones measuring up to 1.5cm were prospectively randomized into stented (37) or unstented (35) groups. The surgeon was blinded to the treatment group until after stone treatment. Patients tracked postoperative pain medications and completed validated pain questionnaires on postoperative days 0, 3, 7 and 28. Stents were removed on postoperative day 7. Postoperative follow up imaging was obtained at four weeks.No statistical differences between the two groups in terms of demographics or stone characteristics. Operative time was longer in the stented group (p0.03). Patients in the stented group had more irritative urinary symptoms (p.0001) and pain (p.0001), lower quality of life scores (p0.001) and used more narcotics (p.0005) during the first week but no differences at 30 days. Emergency room visits and overall complication rates were similar between the two groups. 3 nonstented patients required stent placement. 2 stented patients required early stent removal. Urinary tract infections developed in 3 stented but in no unstented patients. Postoperative imaging did not reveal any hydronephrosis in either group and the total stone free rate (SFR) was 94%.For the majority of uncomplicated ureteroscopic treatment of proximal ureteral and kidney stones, it may be safe to omit ureteral stents in order to potentially decrease urinary symptoms and pain while improving short-term quality of life. Further studies with larger patient cohorts may be warranted to confirm our results.

The present study was aimed at converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added products such as methanol, which can provide not only a potential solution for controlling the carbon dioxide concentration level in the atmosphere but also can offer an alternative approach for the production of renewable energy sources. From this perspective, various hybrid photoelectrocatalysts were synthesized, characterized and used as photocathodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol in an aqueous medium under visible light irradiation. Flat silicon (Si) and pyramidal textured silicon (SiPY) substrates, covered with polyaniline (PANI) with or without sensitization with copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) particles, were investigated. It was observed that the combination of PANI and copper (I) oxide greatly increased PEC carbon dioxide reduction to methanol owing to the enhancement in the carbon dioxide chemisorption capacity by the photocathode surface and at the same time facilitated the separation of photogenerated electron–hole (e−/h+) pairs. The PEC results demonstrated that the applied potential impacts the photocurrent stability. Sensitization with copper (I) oxide effectively separated the photogenerated e−/h+ pairs and, therefore, enhanced the PEC carbon dioxide reduction activity of the hybrid photocatalyst. The best faradaic efficiency for methanol formation reached 57.66%, which was recorded when the copper (I) oxide/PANI/SiPY heterostructure was used as a photocathode at an applied potential of −1.2 V against the saturated calomel electrode.

M. Dixon et al., We use stacked spectra of the host galaxies of photometrically identified Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) to search for correlations between Hubble diagram residuals and the spectral properties of the host galaxies. Utilizing full spectrum fitting techniques on stacked spectra binned by Hubble residual, we find no evidence for trends between Hubble residuals and properties of the host galaxies that rely on spectral absorption features (, MD would like to acknowledge support through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. This research was supported by the Australian Research Council The Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM; project number CE200100008) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav; project number CE170100004). This project/publication was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge this grant ID 61807, Two Standard Models Meet. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, NSF’s NOIRLab, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, Texas A&M University, and the OzDES Membership Consortium. Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory at NSF’s NOIRLab (NOIRLab Prop. ID 2012B-0001; PI: J. Frieman), which is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MICINN under grants ESP2017-89838, PGC2018-094773, PGC2018-102021, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We acknowledge support from the Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT) do e-Universo (CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. Based on data acquired at the Anglo-Australian Telescope, under program A/2013B/012. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which the AAT stands, the Gamilaraay people, and pay our respects to elders past and present.

Background: Social and demographic factors may influence patient treatment by physicians. This study analyzes the influence of patient sociodemographics on prescription practices among hand surgeons. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of all hand surgeries (N = 5278) at a single academic medical center from January 2016 to September 2018. The average morphine milligram equivalent (MME) prescribed following each surgery was calculated and then classified by age, race, sex, type of insurance, and history of substance use or chronic pain. Multivariate linear regression was used to compare MME among groups. Results: Overall, patients with a history of substance abuse were prescribed 31.2 MME more than those without ( P < .0001), and patients with a history of chronic pain were prescribed 36.7 MME more than those without ( P < .0001). After adjusting for these variables and the type of procedure performed, women were prescribed 11.2 MME less than men ( P = .0048), and Hispanics were prescribed 16.6 MME more than whites ( P = .0091) overall. Both Hispanic and black patients were also prescribed more than whites following carpal tunnel release (+19.0 and + 20.0 MME, respectively; P < .001). Patients with private insurance were prescribed 24.5 MME more than those with Medicare ( P < .0001), but 25.0 MME less than those with Medicaid ( P < .0001). There were no differences across age groups. Conclusions: Numerous sociodemographic factors influenced postoperative opioid prescription among hand surgeons at our institution. These findings highlight the importance of establishing more uniform, evidence-based guidelines for postoperative pain management, which may help minimize subjectivity and prevent the overtreatment or undertreatment of pain in certain patient populations.

Background: Accurate camera and hand-eye calibration are essential to ensure high-quality results in image-guided surgery applications. The process must also be able to be undertaken by a nonexpert user in a surgical setting. Purpose: This work seeks to identify a suitable method for tracked stereo laparoscope calibration within theater. Methods: A custom calibration rig, to enable rapid calibration in a surgical setting, was designed. The rig was compared against freehand calibration. Stereo reprojection, stereo reconstruction, tracked stereo reprojection, and tracked stereo reconstruction error metrics were used to evaluate calibration quality. Results: Use of the calibration rig reduced mean errors: reprojection (1.47 mm [SD 0.13] vs. 3.14 mm [SD 2.11], p-value 1e−8), reconstruction (1.37 px [SD 0.10] vs. 10.10 px [SD 4.54], p-value 6e−7), and tracked reconstruction (1.38 mm [SD 0.10] vs. 12.64 mm [SD 4.34], p-value 1e−6) compared with freehand calibration. The use of a ChArUco pattern yielded slightly lower reprojection errors, while a dot grid produced lower reconstruction errors and was more robust under strong global illumination. Conclusion: The use of the calibration rig results in a statistically significant decrease in calibration error metrics, versus freehand calibration, and represents the preferred approach for use in the operating theater.

We characterise the properties and evolution of Bright Central Galaxies (BCGs) and the surrounding intracluster light (ICL) in galaxy clusters identified in overlapping regions of the Dark Energy Survey and Atacama Cosmology Telescope Survey (DES-ACT), covering the redshift range $0.20$14.4. We also measure the stellar mass - halo mass (SMHM) relation for the BCG+ICL system and find that the slope, $\beta$, which characterises the dependence of $M_{\rm 200m,SZ}$ on the BCG+ICL stellar mass, increases with radius. The outskirts are more strongly correlated with the halo than the core, which supports that the BCG+ICL system follows a two-phase growth, where recent growth ($z, Comment: 19 pages, 12 Figures, 3 Tables. Submitted to MNRAS on 9/7/2022 -- Metadata typo corrected

The coronavirus invaded the world in late 2019. It includes many subtypes, majorly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Jordan has faced enormous hardships in dealing with the abrupt spread of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Jordan has taken severe and deterring measures to combat the disease’s spread, such as closing Jordanian schools and institutions. Medical imaging professionals (MIPs) play a vital role in corona patients’ diagnosis, management, and treatment planning, and their awareness is essential to understand. This study focuses on medical imaging professionals (MIPs) and their aid in COVID-19 planning. The knowledge and perception of the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed using a live cross-sectional survey conducted during the outbreak. Medical imaging professionals and trainees in private, military, and government hospitals provided data. Regarding the diagnosis of COVID-19, the researchers have found that molecular biology techniques are the first line of defence, whereas nasopharyngeal swabs and the polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are also prevalent among medical professionals for COVID-19 testing. Overall, medical imaging experts and interns in Jordan exhibited expected levels of knowledge and perception. They advised following the CDC and WHO guidelines in their healthcare settings to offer an acceptable approach during the pandemic.