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Marriage at a young age remains a significant social issue requiring special attention, particularly in Indonesia. This study aims to analyze the implementation of the Child Marriage Prevention Policy in Majalengka Regency, as regulated by Regent Regulation Number 54 of 2021, which focuses on the prevention of child marriages. The research employs a qualitative descriptive method, utilizing primary and secondary data sources through observation, interviews, and documentation. The findings reveal that the rate of child marriages in Majalengka Regency is still increasing, despite the government's efforts to implement preventive measures, including socialization strategies aimed at reducing the incidence of child marriages. One of the main challenges in effectively preventing child marriages is the limited human resources available for implementing the program. This research highlights the need for strengthened resources and better coordination among stakeholders to effectively reduce the prevalence of child marriages in the region. The study also suggests that additional interventions, such as enhanced education and community involvement, are essential to complement the ongoing efforts and address this persistent issue comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterised by a prominent and progressive deterioration in language abilities, which significantly impacts quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Speech and language therapy plays a crucial role in offering interventions. Group intervention is one mode of delivery that could benefit communication functioning and overall wellbeing of people with PPA (pwPPA) and their care partners. Group interventions are also more efficient than one‐to‐one intervention and may facilitate peer support. Aims: The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the current evidence for the effectiveness of speech and language therapy groups for pwPPA and their care partners. Specifically, this paper considered three questions: 1.What evidence‐based speech and language therapy groups for pwPPA and their care partners have been reported to date?2.Are group communication interventions effective in improving quality of life and communication function for pwPPA and their care partners?3.Are group communication interventions that are designed for people with communication difficulties of other aetiologies (such as stroke) effective for pwPPA? In addition, this review aimed to describe the structure and content of groups, including aims, disciplines involved, size and frequency of group meetings, and outcome measures. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO were used to retrieve articles of interest. A total of 10 studies published between 2009 and 2022 met the eligibility criteria and therefore were included in this study. Data were extracted from the articles regarding the structure and content of groups. Main Contribution: Although evidence is currently limited, results suggest that speech and language therapy group intervention can improve specific linguistic processes, the use of communication strategies and psychosocial well‐being. The importance of multidisciplinary input and care partners' involvement in groups was highlighted, along with the benefits of creative non‐verbal activities as tools for self‐expression. There is also initial evidence that telehealth group provision and one‐off group sessions may be feasible and can benefit psychosocial well‐being. Lastly, intentional recruitment and explicit education on different aphasia types are described as important when pwPPA participate in groups with mixed diagnoses. Conclusions: The literature on speech and language therapy group interventions for PPA shows promise of positive effects on communication function and psychosocial well‐being of both pwPPA and their care partners. Speech and language therapists can consider these published interventions when designing and implementing similar groups, but more robust evidence is required to confirm the relative effectiveness of this approach. What this paper adds: What is already known on this subject: Speech pathology led group intervention shows some promise in benefitting communication functioning and overall well‐being of pwPPA and their carers, but there has been no systematic evaluation of all the evidence regarding the efficacy of speech and language therapy led groups.Establishing feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of speech and language therapy group interventions for pwPPA and their carers may present a valuable addition for managing this progressive language disability. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: Although evidence is currently limited, results from this systematic review suggest that speech and language therapy led group intervention can improve specific linguistic processes, the use of communication strategies and psychosocial well‐being for pwPPA and their carers.The importance of multidisciplinary input and carers' involvement in groups was highlighted, along with the benefits of creative non‐verbal activities as tools for self‐expression. There is also initial evidence that telehealth group provision for carers may be feasible and can benefit psychosocial wellbeing.Lastly, intentional recruitment and explicit education on different aphasia types are described as important when pwPPA participate in groups with mixed diagnoses. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: A synthesis of the evidence base for speech and language therapy led PPA groups, as well as a description of the group components and formats, will be valuable for clinical service planning, and will guide future examination of group options for pwPPA and their carers.Speech and language therapists can also consider the research findings from this systematic review when designing and implementing similar groups in their local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All common variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) exhibit naming deficits. Variants are distinguished by relative deficits in repetition (logopenic; lvPPA), object knowledge (semantic; svPPA), and agrammatism or articulation (non-fluent/agrammatic; nfavPPA; Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011). The Hopkins Action Naming Assessment (HANA) is a 30-item verb naming task that can distinguish between variants (Stockbridge et al., 2021). Item-level accuracy is driven by target verb frequency, semantic information density, and conceptual concreteness of the target word (Stockbridge, Venezia, et al., 2022). In this investigation, we examined whether word frequency, semantic density, concreteness, and age of acquisition (AoA) also shaped the incorrect responses patients provided. We hypothesised that error responses would vary in these dimensions as a function of PPA variant. The HANA was administered to 271 participants with PPA, resulting in 443 total administrations and 4,529 analysable error responses. Standardised differences between error and target responses for frequency, density, concreteness, and AoA were calculated and averaged for each patient. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for correlated samples was used to compare variants and planned post-hoc analyses examined the effect of variant on each response quality. Participants were similar in age, sex, handedness, and education. There was a significant interaction between PPA variant and the standardised mean differences in lexical qualities (Pillai's Trace = 0.11, F(9, 747) = 3.19, p < 0.001). Univariate ANOVAs revealed significant differences in the semantic density of error responses relative to the target (F(3) = 7.91, p < 0.001, ηP2= 0.09), as individuals with lvPPA tended to produce error responses with greater semantic density than the target when compared to the words produced by individuals with nfavPPA (mean difference = 1.45, 95%CI = [0.60,2.29], p < 0.001; Figure 1). PPA variants also differed in the concreteness of their error responses relative to the target (F(3) = 5.99, p<0.001, ηP2 = 0.07), as error responses produced by individuals with nfavPPA were significantly more concrete than those with lvPPA (mean difference = 0.08, 95%CI = [0.02,0.13], p = 0.003) or svPPA (mean difference=0.08, 95%CI = [0.02,0.14], p = 0.007). Variants did not differ significantly in AoA or frequency of responses relative to their targets. All variants tended to produce more frequent words with a lower AoA than the target verb. Error responses tended to be more semantically dense, more concrete, higher frequency, and younger AoA than the target verb. However, PPA variants differed significantly in the extent to which these broader trends held true. These distinct patterns may be included as part of a larger diagnostic picture that to distinguish among PPA variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Scene memory is prone to systematic distortions potentially arising from experience with the external world. Boundary transformation, a well-known memory distortion effect along the near-far axis of the three-dimensional space, represents the observer's erroneous recall of scenes' viewing distance. Researchers argued that normalization to the prototypical viewpoint with the high-probability viewing distance influenced this phenomenon. Herein, we hypothesized that the prototypical viewpoint also exists in the vertical angle of view (AOV) dimension and could cause memory distortion along scenes' vertical axis. Human subjects of both sexes were recruited to test this hypothesis, and two behavioral experiments were conducted, revealing a systematic memory distortion in the vertical AOV in both the forced choice (n = 79) and free adjustment (n = 30) tasks. Furthermore, the regression analysis implied that the complexity information asymmetry in scenes' vertical axis and the independent subjective AOV ratings from a large set of online participants (n = 1,208) could jointly predict AOV biases. Furthermore, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment (n = 24), we demonstrated the involvement of areas in the ventral visual pathway (V3/V4, PPA, and OPA) in AOV bias judgment. Additionally, in a magnetoencephalography experiment (n = 20), we could significantly decode the subjects' AOV bias judgments ~140 ms after scene onset and the low-level visual complexity information around the similar temporal interval. These findings suggest that AOV bias is driven by the normalization process and associated with the neural activities in the early stage of scene processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plasmon pole approximation used for the stopping function in a dense electron plasma is given a temperature‐dependent cutoff wavenumber via the ion projectile thermal wavelength. Excepted for projectile inter‐ion distance smaller than the target electron screening length and small ion fragment velocities, featuring a attosecond interaction time with a maximum correlated ion stopping (CIS) in inertial confinement fusion and warm dense matter (WDM), the given procedure is shown to yield back accurately the CIS estimated within the standard random phase approximation framework at any temperature, provided the ion fragment distribution is taken Gaussian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectivesIn Italy, approximately 650 individuals receive a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) every year. Unfortunately, the frequency with which patients are referred to speech-language services is suboptimal, likely due to skepticism regarding the value of speech-language therapy in the context of neurodegeneration.Materials and methodsWe conducted a virtual survey of speech and language therapists (SLTs) across Italy, to collect information about the assessment, intervention and management of patients with PPA. To ensure that as many SLTs as possible received the survey, the Italian Federation of SLTs (Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, FLI) aided in disseminating the survey.ResultsIn total, 336 respondents participated in the online survey, 140 of whom had previous experience with PPA patients. Respondents indicated having seen a total of 428 PPA patients in the previous 24 months (three patients on average, range: 0-40). SLTs who reported never working with PPA identified underdiagnoses, low referral rates and the rarity of the clinical syndrome as major reasons for their lack of experience with PPA. SLTs with experience working with PPA indicated that patients may not have accessed services because of service dysfunction and geographical barriers. Respondents reported using informal interviews during assessments and tests developed for post-stroke aphasia, while impairment-based/restitutive interventions were utilised most often.ConclusionFindings may serve to inform health policy organisations regarding the current shortcomings and needed recommendations for improving the care of individuals with PPA in Italy. Improving awareness of the utility of rehabilitation among SLTs and other clinical service providers may serve to facilitate access to intervention, which in turn will serve to better support individuals living with PPA.What this paper addsWhat is already known on the subject Speech and language therapists (SLTs) play a crucial role in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). However, the frequency with which individuals with PPA are referred for speech and language services is suboptimal due to skepticism regarding the value of speech and language therapy in the context of neurodegeneration, the scarcity of SLTs with expertise in the treatment of PPA and the lack of awareness of the SLT role amongst referrers. What this paper adds to existing knowledge In recognition of the lack of published information on the provision of speech and language therapy services and clinicians' approaches to the assessment and treatment of individuals with PPA in Italy, we conducted an online survey to evaluate the current referral patterns for speech and language therapy services and to examine the current barriers to access these services for individuals with PPA in Italy. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The data presented here support that SLTs view treatment as useful for individuals with PPA and other professional figures and may serve to improve access to intervention, which in turn will serve to better support individuals living with PPA. The results highlight the need to inform health policy organisations about current gaps and aid in developing recommendations for improving the care of individuals with PPA, in order to understand how SLTs can best support individuals with PPA and their families.

BackgroundAimMethods and proceduresOutcomes and resultsConclusionsPrimary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with atrophy of the frontotemporal region. It is primarily characterized by language impairments that become accentuated over time, often leading to isolation and social exclusion. There are three main subtypes, the semantic (svPPA), non-fluent (nfvPPA), and logopenic (lvPPA) variants, each presenting distinct language deficits, as captured by standard assessment batteries. However, such assessments often fail to adequately identify functional communication (dis)abilities in everyday life, which is crucial for effective diagnosis and treatment. One understudied aspect of communication is informativeness, the conveyance of an appropriate amount of information in an efficient fashion.This study aimed to identify the unique features of each variant of PPA that distinguish it from healthy controls, and the dissimilarity across PPA groups, in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency with which Spanish-speaking individuals with PPA conveyed information.Thirty-two Spanish-speaking patients with one of the three variants of PPA and 11 healthy individuals were audio-recorded performing a picture description task. The resulting recordings were transcribed, and the contents labelled according to whether they constituted relevant or off-topic content, each type of content being further divided into subcategories. In total, 51 parameters related to the (1) overall amount of speech and number of correct information units, (2) amount of relevant content, (3) completeness of the content, and (4) off-topic information were considered. Nonparametric analyses were conducted to assess the divergence from heathy controls of each PPA group, and the dissimilarity across PPA groups.Results revealed disruptions in informativeness in all PPA variants compared to controls, with lvPPA characterized by inadequate content and a high concentration of off-topic elements, nfvPPA by inadequate content but efficient delivery, and svPPA by inadequate content delivered inefficiently.This study revealed that all three variants of PPA are characterized by reduced informativeness, although each exhibits unique patterns in communicative efficiency and the presence of off-topic information. By assessing the total amount of relevant speech, efficiency in conveying content, and the presence of off-topic elements, this research enhances our understanding of the distinct communication impairments characterizing lvPPA, nfvPPA, and svPPA, and provides valuable insights that can be applied to developing tailored remedial strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The center‐periphery visual field axis guides early visual system organization with enhanced resources devoted to central vision leading to reduced peripheral performance relative to that of central vision (i.e., behavioral eccentricity effect) for many visual functions. The center‐periphery organization extends to high‐order visual cortex where, for example, the well‐studied face‐sensitive fusiform face area (FFA) shows sensitivity to central vision and the place‐sensitive parahippocampal place area (PPA) shows sensitivity to peripheral vision. As we have recently found that face perception is more sensitive to eccentricity than place perception, here we examined whether these behavioral findings reflect differences in FFA's and PPA's sensitivities to eccentricity. We assumed FFA would show higher sensitivity to eccentricity than PPA would, but that both regions' modulation by eccentricity would be invariant to the viewed category. We parametrically investigated (fMRI, n = 32) how FFA's and PPA's activations are modulated by eccentricity (≤8°) and category (upright/inverted faces/houses) while keeping stimulus size constant. As expected, FFA showed an overall higher sensitivity to eccentricity than PPA. However, both regions' activation modulations by eccentricity were dependent on the viewed category. In FFA, a reduction of activation with growing eccentricity ("BOLD eccentricity effect") was found (with different amplitudes) for all categories. In PPA however, qualitatively different BOLD eccentricity effect modulations were found (e.g., at 8° mild BOLD eccentricity effect for houses but a reverse BOLD eccentricity effect for faces and no modulation for inverted faces). Our results emphasize that peripheral vision investigations are critical to further our understanding of visual processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gate Diffusion Input Logic (GDI) is utilized to build a novel design method for an area and efficient Kogge Stone adder, a widely used high-speed parallel adder. The aim of this is to reduce the space required for the circuit while maintaining the same degree of performance by utilizing the Gate Diffusion Input Logic (GDI). The study gives a thorough examination of the circuit architecture, power estimation, area estimation, and delay analysis of the GDI logic-based Kogge Stone adder. The proposed design is compared in terms of area, power, and delay to the Kogge Stone adders, which use CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) and Pass Transistor Logic (PTL). The findings suggest that the GDI logic-based design may be beneficial for digital signal processing and other applications requiring compact, low-power and low-area calculations. This analysis makes use of the Tanner EDA Tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arithmetic Logic Unit is the brain of all processors, is composed of an Adder circuit. The main component of multiplier circuits is the adder, which performs subtraction (by 2's complement arithmetic). Since the most fundamental operation in mathematics is addition, and the adder is the most essential part of the processor, the study of VLSI arithmetic has required many digital VLSI researchers. When designing digital systems employing the VLSI approach, the digital adder plays a major role. Low power VLSI based adder designs perform poorly because of the propagation delay issue. With the aid of the PPA design, an assessment of adders' availability for low power VLSI designs with minimal propagation delay is conducted. Using these performance measures, this study compares and evaluates the performance of several parallel prefix adders, allowing readers to select the optimum adder architecture for their application Specific Integrated Circuits implementations. The three adder topologies taken into considered in this Article include the Han carlson adder, Brent kung, Kogge stone adders. Xilinx ZYNQ XC7Z020 (7000 series) SoC is used to implement the adders using the Vivado Design Suite 2014 and Verilog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of research have uncovered the neural basis of place (or "scene") processing in adulthood, revealing a set of three regions that respond selectively to visual scene information, each hypothesized to support distinct functions within scene processing (e.g., recognizing a particular kind of place versus navigating through it). Despite this considerable progress, surprisingly little is known about how these cortical regions develop. Here we review the limited evidence to date, highlighting the first few studies exploring the origins of cortical scene processing in infancy and the several studies addressing when the scene regions reach full maturity, unfortunately with inconsistent findings. This inconsistency likely stems from common pitfalls in pediatric functional magnetic resonance imaging, and accordingly, we discuss how these pitfalls may be avoided. Furthermore, we point out that almost all studies to date have focused only on general scene selectivity and argue that greater insight could be gleaned by instead exploring the more distinct functions of each region as well as their connectivity. Finally, with this last point in mind, we offer a novel hypothesis that scene regions supporting navigation (including the occipital place area and retrosplenial complex) mature later than those supporting scene categorization (including the parahippocampal place area). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to explore the effect of polyphosphoric acid (PPA) on the low-temperature creep properties of styrene–butadiene-styrene (SBS) and crumb rubber (CR)-modified asphalt binder. PPA-SBS and PPA-CR composite-modified asphalt with different PPA contents were prepared by a high-speed shear method. The low-temperature properties of composite-modified asphalt were studied by bending beam rheometer (BBR) test, and the test results were fitted by the Burgers model to assess the creep property of the asphalt. From the test results, it is demonstrated that the low-temperature properties of polymer-modified asphalt were weakened after PPA was added. At low temperatures, the stiffness modulus (S) of PPA-CR composite-modified asphalt was half that of PPA-SBS, and the creep rate (m) was more than 9.4% higher. The results of relaxation time ($\lambda$ λ), dissipated energy ratio (DER), and the derivative of creep compliance (J'(t)) showed that the creep property of PPA-CR composite-modified asphalt is better than that of PPA-SBS and SBS-modified asphalt at low temperatures. Moreover, the antiaging ability of polymer-modified asphalt was also ameliorated by incorporating PPA, regardless of SBS or CR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iraqi National Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants present with distinct disruptions in speech-language functions with little known about the interplay between affected and spared regions within the speech-language network and their interaction with other functional networks.The Neurodegenerative Research Group, Mayo Clinic, recruited 123 patients with PPA (55 logopenic (lvPPA), 44 non-fluent (nfvPPA) and 24 semantic (svPPA)) who were matched to 60 healthy controls. We investigated functional connectivity disruptions between regions within the left-speech-language network (Broca, Wernicke, anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG), supplementary motor area (SMA), planum temporale (PT) and parietal operculum (PO)), and disruptions to other networks (visual association, dorsal-attention, frontoparietal and default mode networks (DMN)).Within the speech-language network, multivariate linear regression models showed reduced aMTG-Broca connectivity in all variants, with lvPPA and nfvPPA findings remaining significant after Bonferroni correction. Additional loss in Wernicke-Broca connectivity in nfvPPA, Wernicke-PT connectivity in lvPPA and greater aMTG-PT connectivity in svPPA were also noted. Between-network connectivity findings in all variants showed reduced aMTG-DMN and increased aMTG-dorsal-attention connectivity, with additional disruptions between aMTG-visual association in both lvPPA and svPPA, aMTG-frontoparietal in lvPPA, and Wernicke-DMN breakdown in svPPA.These findings suggest that aMTG connectivity breakdown is a shared feature in all PPA variants, with lvPPA showing more extensive connectivity disruptions with other networks.

Substituting petroleum asphalt with bio-asphalt produced by biological waste recycling can mitigate the dependence on non-renewable resource oil. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of bio-asphalt as a substitute for petroleum asphalt by analyzing its rheological properties. Therefore, in this study, modified asphalt was prepared using styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer (SBS), polyphosphoric acid (PPA), and bio-asphalt (BA) as modifiers, and the short-term aging test of the modified asphalt was carried out. Then the rheological properties of the modified asphalt were analyzed through the Temperature Scanning (TS) test, the Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) test, and the Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) test; finally, the Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) test, Fluorescence Microscopy (FM) test to study the modification mechanism and microscopic characteristics of asphalt. The results show that adding BA improved the low-temperature rheological properties of modified asphalt while reducing the high-temperature rheological properties of PPA modified asphalt. The BA, SBS, and PPA combination exhibited excellent performance in high and low-temperature conditions. The short-term aging process enhances the high-temperature rutting resistance of modified asphalt but adversely affects its low-temperature performance. Fluorescence microscopy tests have demonstrated that BA improves the compatibility of SBS and PPA in asphalt. Meanwhile, FTIR has revealed that BA and SBS are physically mixed, and BA and PPA undergo a chemical reaction. This study suggests that BA could be a viable and sustainable alternative to petroleum asphalt, with promising performance characteristics when combined with SBS and PPA modifiers.

INTRODUCTION: The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is a useful neuropsychological test for describing episodic memory impairment in dementia. However, there is limited research on its utility in early‐onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). We assess the influence of amyloid and diagnostic syndrome on several memory scores in EOAD. METHODS: We transcribed RAVLT recordings from 303 subjects in the Longitudinal Early‐Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study. Subjects were grouped by amyloid status and syndrome. Primacy, recency, J‐curve, duration, stopping time, and speed score were calculated and entered into linear mixed effects models as dependent variables. RESULTS: Compared with amyloid negative subjects, positive subjects exhibited effects on raw score, primacy, recency, and stopping time. Inter‐syndromic differences were noted with raw score, primacy, recency, J‐curve, and stopping time. DISCUSSION: RAVLT measures are sensitive to the effects of amyloid and syndrome in EOAD. Future work is needed to quantify the predictive value of these scores. Highlights: RAVLT patterns characterize various presentations of EOAD and EOnonADAmyloid impacts raw score, primacy, recency, and stopping timeTiming‐based scores add value over traditional count‐based scores [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The injection molding process of a polyphthalamide (PPA) controller wire holder was simulated by using simulation technology and the flatness of its copper contact surface was calculated and analyzed. The optimal gate position was obtained based on the gate positioning algorithm and the construction of the runner system was completed. The maximum flatness of the copper contact surface under the initial process is 0.155 9 mm, which does not meet the design requirements. Therefore, an orthogonal test is designed to optimize the flatness. The range and variance analysis show that the influence of the cavity temperature on the flatness is extremely significant, the holding time and the injection time are significant, the melt temperature is not significant, and the optimized process is A4B1C3D4. The maximum flatness of the part under the optimized process is 0.089 8 mm, the optimization rate reaches 42.4%, which meets the design requirements, and the filling state is good. The actual test results also verify the feasibility of the optimized process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple approaches are under development for delivering temporary intensity modulated brachytherapy (IMBT) using partially shielded applicators wherein the delivered dose distributions are sensitive to spatial uncertainties in both the applicator position and shield orientation, rather than only applicator position as with conventional high‐dose‐rate brachytherapy (HDR‐BT). Sensitivity analyses to spatial uncertainties have been reported as components of publications on these emerging technologies, however, a generalized framework for the rigorous determination of the spatial uncertainty tolerances of dose‐volume parameters is needed. Purpose: To derive and present the population percentile allowance (PPA) method, a generalized mathematical and statistical framework to evaluate the tolerance of temporary IMBT approaches to spatial uncertainties in applicator position and shield orientation. Methods: A mathematical formalism describing geometric applicator position and shield orientation shifts was derived that supports straight and curved applicators and applies to serial and helical rotating shield brachytherapy (RSBT) and direction modulated brachytherapy (DMBT). The PPA method entails defining the percentage of a patient population receiving a given therapy that is, allowed to receive dose‐volume errors in the target volume and specified organs at risk of a defined percentage or less, then determining what combinations of applicator position and shield orientation systematic errors would be expected to produce that outcome in the population. The PPA method was applied to the use case of multi‐shield helical 169Yb‐based RSBT for cervical cancer, with 45° and 180° shield emission angles. A total of 37 cervical cancer patients were considered in the population, with average (± 1 standard deviation) HR‐CTV volumes of 79 cm3 ± 37 cm3 and optimized baseline treatment plans (no spatial uncertainties applied) created for each patient to meet dose‐volume requirements of 85 GyEQD2 (equivalent uniform dose in 2 Gy fraction), with D2cc tolerance doses of 90 GyEQD2, 75 GyEQD2, and 75 GyEQD2 for bladder, rectum, and sigmoid colon, respectively. Results: For the PPA requirement that 90% of cervical cancer patients receiving multi‐shield helical RSBT could have a maximum dose‐volume uncertainty of 10% for high‐risk clinical target volume (HR‐CTV) D90 (minimum dose to hottest 90%) and bladder, rectum, and sigmoid colon D2cc (minimum dose to hottest 2 cm3), the tolerance systematic applicator position and shield orientation uncertainties were approximately ± 1.0 mm and ± 4.25°, respectively. For ± 1.5 mm and ± 5° systematic applicator position and shield orientation tolerances, 90% of the patients considered would have a maximum dose‐volume uncertainty of 12.8% or less. Conclusion: The PPA method was formalized to determine the temporary IMBT spatial uncertainty tolerances that would be expected to result in an allowed percentage of a population of patients receiving relative dose‐volume errors above a defined percentage. Multi‐shield, helical 169Yb‐based RSBT for cervical cancer was evaluated and tolerances determined, which, if applied on each treatment fraction, would represent an extreme situation. The PPA method is applicable to a variety of temporary IMBT approaches and can be used to rigorously determine the design parameters for the delivery systems such as mechanical driver motor accuracy, shield angle backlash, applicator rotation, and applicator fixation stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher energy requirement for asphaltic layer construction with asphalt binder containing reactive elastomeric terpolymer (RET) and poly phosphoric acid (PPA) can be addressed to a greater extent with the addition of warm mix asphalt (WMA) additives. However, moisture damage related problem is one of the concerns with such addition, which further aggravates with an increase in ageing level. The addition of lime may help in addressing moisture damage related problems in such cases. Previous research works show that based on the interaction between asphalt binder and particular WMA additive, the viscosity may undesirably increase also. So far, the influence of different WMA additives (wax, chemical surfactant (CS) and water-based (WB)) on the workability related properties of asphalt binder containing RET and PPA is not understood. It is also not clear if such warm mix additives with/without lime can help in improving long-term bonding with different aggregate types or not. Therefore, this research work aimed at identifying the appropriate WMA additive (with/without lime) which can help in (a) addressing the workability related problem and (b) improving long-term bonding with different aggregate types. To achieve this, different types of WMA additives (with/without lime) were added to RET and PPA modified binder. Viscosity-based measurement and chemical analysis using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were performed to understand workability and underlying chemical changes. Results indicated that although wax and CS-based warm mix additives can help in reducing energy demand, the addition of WB warm mix additive will have a negative impact from the workability perspective. Likewise, dynamic contact angle for different binder combinations was measured to evaluate the surface free energy components, which further helped to examine the long-term bonding with different aggregate types. Among different WMA additive types, the use of wax-based WMA additive was found to be most effective in improving compatibility with different aggregate types. Also, irrespective of the binder combination, the addition of lime improved the long-term bonding with considered aggregate types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As renewable energy (RE) costs decrease, private non-subsidized revenue sources, such as power purchase agreements (PPA), will increase in off-grid areas. This paper's objective is to improve policymakers' and utilities' understanding of PPA's role in mitigating private investors' risks in off-grid areas to accelerate the energy transition. The paper built a PPA dataset for the largest off-grid area in the Philippines and developed novel and efficient techniques to evaluate the risk mitigation ability of a PPA. While oil-based technologies are expensive, they are low-capital-intensive, and the fuel, the bulk of the cost, is passed through to consumers and primarily funded by subsidies. In contrast, the most affordable energy source, RE, requires higher upfront capital investments, financed primarily with equity. Investors chose low-capital-intensive technologies (oil), rehabilitated power plants, and utilized old equipment, all investment decisions to mitigate residual PPA risks, i.e., distribution utilities' low creditworthiness and capital recovery uncertainty. Presenting the investment as a PPA residual mitigation tool is one of the paper's contributions to the literature. The distribution utility needs to reduce investors' uncertainty by covering reasonable investors' costs. Policymakers need to level the playing field between fossil fuels and RE by reducing subsidies and strengthening distribution utility creditworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The current study aims to determine the brain areas critical for response to anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in PPA. Anodal tDCS and sham were administered over the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), combined with written naming/spelling therapy. Thirty people with PPA were included in this study, and assessed immediately, 2 weeks, and 2 months post-therapy. We identified anatomical areas whose volumes significantly predicted the additional tDCS effects. For trained words, the volumes of the left Angular Gyrus and left Posterior Cingulate Cortex predicted the additional tDCS gain. For untrained words, the volumes of the left Middle Frontal Gyrus, left Supramarginal Gyrus, and right Posterior Cingulate Cortex predicted the additional tDCS gain. These findings show that areas involved in language, attention and working memory contribute to the maintenance and generalization of stimulation effects. The findings highlight that tDCS possibly affects areas anatomically or functionally connected to stimulation targets.

Tertiary institutions often require huge investments in capital projects for effective learning to be actualized. In Nigeria, public tertiary institutions are usually funded fully by the Federal Government through interventionist institutions like Tetfund which are usually saddled with the responsibility of providing the fund required to achieve both human and infrastructure development required for effective knowledge impartation. The public procurement system in Nigeria has over the years been known for abuse which has led to a myriad of problems including inflation, delay, poor quality of work, and outright project abandonment. Before the enactment of the Nigerian public procurement act in 2007, there were no specific procedures laid down for the procurement of public goods and services in Nigeria. The implication of this was that every procurement entity in Nigeria such as Ministries, Parastatals, and Agencies of Government was at liberty to decide and adopt any procurement method and strategy of their choice to determine and award contracts to contractors of their choice. This situation was largely responsible for the observed lapses in the procurement of public goods and services. With the advent of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) in 2007, one expected these perceived lapses to abate. This study, therefore, assesses the impact of the PPA in the procurement of public projects in the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, both Nigerian public Tertiary Institutions in Anambra State, South-East Nigeria. Data for the study were collected using a structured questionnaire distributed to staff of the physical planning units of the two institutions, construction industry professionals in the Faculty of Environment Sciences both at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and Federal Polytechnic, Oko all in Anambra State as well as Quantity Surveyors in the state. In all, a total of one hundred and twenty-eight (128) structured research questionnaires were distributed; data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Based on the outcome of the research, appropriate recommendations were made including a call for regular training and retraining of procurement officers to keep them abreast with global trends as well as provisions of the Nigerian procurement Act.

Purpose: In primary progressive aphasia (PPA), multimodal means may gradually become more important in conversations. In this study, the aim was to investigate the functions of hand movements of a man with PPA. Method: Peter and Karen participated in this study. Peter was diagnosed with nonfluent PPA two years prior to data collection. Casual conversation and cognitive and linguistic testing were audio- and video-recorded. Analyses were informed by multimodal interaction analytical approaches. Results: The results showed that Peter's opportunities to engage in conversations were enabled within a co-operative framework, where Peter would contribute within a predetermined slot using a variety of multimodal resources to, for example, organize turn-taking or repair difficulties relating to verbal output. Discussion and conclusions: Studying multimodal resources across tasks may reveal important features of the ways in which persons with communicative impairment adjust to different contexts. In clinical settings, multimodal resources need to be viewed as multi-layered actions rather than as isolated contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare earth-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:RE) systems are attractive for future optoelectronic devices such as phosphors, displays, and LEDs with emission in the visible spectral range, working even in a radiation-intense environment. The technology of these systems is currently under development, opening up new fields of application due to the low-cost production. Ion implantation is a very promising technique to incorporate rare-earth dopants into ZnO. However, the ballistic nature of this process makes the use of annealing essential. The selection of implantation parameters, as well as post-implantation annealing, turns out to be non-trivial because they determine the luminous efficiency of the ZnO:RE system. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the optimal implantation and annealing conditions, ensuring the most efficient luminescence of RE3+ ions in the ZnO matrix. Deep and shallow implantations, implantations performed at high and room temperature with various fluencies, as well as a range of post-RT implantation annealing processes are tested: rapid thermal annealing (minute duration) under different temperatures, times, and atmospheres (O2, N2, and Ar), flash lamp annealing (millisecond duration) and pulse plasma annealing (microsecond duration). It is shown that the highest luminescence efficiency of RE3+ is obtained for the shallow implantation at RT with the optimal fluence of 1.0 × 1015 RE ions/cm2 followed by a 10 min annealing in oxygen at 800 °C, and the light emission from such a ZnO:RE system is so bright that can be observed with the naked eye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ε -Consensus-Halving problem, a fundamental problem in fair division, there are n agents with valuations over the interval [0, 1], and the goal is to divide the interval into pieces and assign a label ``+"" or `` - "" to each piece, such that every agent values the total amount of ``+"" and the total amount of `` - "" almost equally. The problem was recently proven by Filos-Ratsikas and Goldberg [Proceedings of the 50th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, 2018, pp. 51--64; Proceedings of the 51st Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, 2019, pp. 638--649] to be the first ``natural"" complete problem for the computational class PPA, answering a decade-old open question. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the problem becomes easy to solve if one restricts the class of valuation functions. To this end, we provide the following contributions. First, we obtain a strengthening of the PPA-hardness result of Filos-Ratsikas and Goldberg [Proceedings of the 51st Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, 2019, pp. 638--649] to the case when agents have piecewise uniform valuations with only two blocks. We obtain this result via a new reduction, which is in fact conceptually much simpler than the corresponding one in Filos-Ratsikas and Goldberg [Proceedings of the 51st Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, 2019, pp. 638--649]. Then, we consider the case of single-block (uniform) valuations and provide a parameterized polynomial-time algorithm for solving ε-Consensus-Halving for any ε, as well as a polynomial-time algorithm for ε = 1/2. Finally, an important application of our new techniques is the first hardness result for a generalization of Consensus-Halving, the Consensus-1/kDivision problem [F. W. Simmons and F. E. Su, Math. Social Sci., 45 (2003), pp. 15--25]. In particular, we prove that ε -Consensus-1/3-Division is PPAD-hard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We resolve the computational complexity of three problems known as Necklace Splitting, Consensus-Halving, and Discrete Ham sandwich, showing that they are PPAcomplete. For NECKLACE SPLITTING, this result is specific to the important special case in which two thieves share the necklace. These are the first PPA-completeness results for problems whose definition does not contain an explicit circuit, thus settling the status of PPA as a class that captures the complexity of such “natural’ problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivesPost hoc analyses of EAGLES data to examine safety and efficacy of first-line smoking cessation pharmacotherapies in smokers with bipolar disorders (BD).MethodsSmokers with BD I/II (n = 285; 81.4% with BD I) and a comparison nonpsychiatric cohort (NPC; n = 2794) were randomly assigned to varenicline, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), or placebo for 12 weeks, plus weekly counseling. Primary outcomes were occurrence of moderate to severe neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPSAEs) and Weeks 9-12 biochemically-confirmed continuous abstinence (CA) rates.ResultsFor BD smokers, NPSAE risk differences versus placebo were: varenicline, 6.17 (95% CI: -7.84 to 20.18); bupropion, 4.09 (-8.82 to 16.99); NRT, -0.56 (-12.34 to 11.22). ORs for Weeks 9-12 CA, comparing active medication to placebo among BD smokers were: varenicline, 2.61 (0.68-9.95); bupropion, 1.29 (0.31-5.37), NRT, 0.71 (0.14-3.74). Pooling across treatments, NPSAE occurrence was higher (10.7% versus 2.3%; P

Neuropsychological tests (NPTs), which are routinely used in clinical practice for assessment of dementia, are also considered to be essential for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), especially the behavioral variants of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA) at their initial clinical presentations. However, the heterogeneous features of these diseases, which have many overlapping signs, make differentiation between AD and FTLD highly challenging. Moreover, NPTs were primarily developed in Western countries and for native speakers of non-tonal languages. Hence, there is an ongoing dispute over the validity and reliability of these tests in culturally different and typologically diverse language populations. The purpose of this case series was to examine which of the NPTs adjusted for Taiwanese society may be used to distinguish these two diseases. Since AD and FTLD have different effects on individuals' brain, we combined NPTs with neuroimaging. We found that participants diagnosed with FTLD had lower scores in NPTs assessing language or social cognition than AD participants. PPA participants also had lower measures in the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test than those diagnosed with bvFTD, while bvFTD participants showed poorer performances in the behavioral measures than PPA participants. In addition, the initial diagnosis was supported by the standard one-year clinical follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modified asphalt with high content SBS is widely used in asphalt pavement due to its excellent high and low temperature performance. However, its anti-aging performance is insufficient. In order to improve the anti-aging performance of SBS modified asphalt, nano-ZnO, nano-TiO2, nano-SiO2 and polyphosphoric acid (PPA) were added to high content (6.5 wt%) linear SBS modified asphalt as anti-aging agents in this study. Moreover, Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), Fluorescence Microscope, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy were employed to reveal the mechanism, through the investigation of the rheological and microscopic properties of modified asphalt before and after aging. The results showed that the influence of nanoparticles on the rutting resistance and fatigue resistance of high content SBS modified asphalt is weak, mainly because there is only weak physical interaction between nanoparticles and the SBS modifier, but no obvious chemical reaction. The significant cross-networking structure of high content SBS modified asphalt even has an adverse effect on the anti-aging performance of nano-modifiers. However, PPA obviously makes the cross-linked network structure of SBS modified asphalt more compact, and significantly improves the performance after short-term aging and long-term aging, mainly due to the chemical reaction between PPA and the active groups in SBS modified asphalt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ciência Florestal (01039954) is the property of Ciencia Florestal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As renewable energy (RE) costs decrease, private non-subsidized revenue sources, such as power purchase agreements (PPA), will increase in off-grid areas. This paper’s objective is to improve policymakers’ and utilities’ understanding of PPA’s role in mitigating private investors’ risks in off-grid areas to accelerate the energy transition. The paper built a PPA dataset for the largest off-grid area in the Philippines and developed novel and efficient techniques to evaluate the risk mitigation ability of a PPA. While oil-based technologies are expensive, they are low-capital-intensive, and the fuel, the bulk of the cost, is passed through to consumers and primarily funded by subsidies. In contrast, the most affordable energy source, RE, requires higher upfront capital investments, financed primarily with equity. Investors chose low-capital-intensive technologies (oil), rehabilitated power plants, and utilized old equipment, all investment decisions to mitigate residual PPA risks, i.e., distribution utilities’ low creditworthiness and capital recovery uncertainty. Presenting the investment as a PPA residual mitigation tool is one of the paper’s contributions to the literature. The distribution utility needs to reduce investors’ uncertainty by covering reasonable investors’ costs. Policymakers need to level the playing field between fossil fuels and RE by reducing subsidies and strengthening distribution utility creditworthiness.

It is highly desired to enhance charge separation and O2 adsorption of the pyropheophorbide-a (Ppa) to promote visible-light activity and stability. Herein, Ppa modified 001-facet-exposed TiO2 nanosheets (Ppa/001T) nanocomposites with different weight ratios were fabricated via the self-assembly approach by OH induced. Compared with the bare Ppa, the 8% amount optimized 8Ppa/001T sample displayed 41-fold enhanced activity for degradation of Ametryn (AME) under visible-light irradiation. The promoted photoactivities could be attributed to the accelerated charge carrier's separation by coupling TiO2 as thermodynamic platform for accepting the photoelectrons with high energy from Ppa and the promoted O2 adsorption because of the residual fluoride on TiO2. As for this, a distinctive two radicals (•O2− and •OH) involved pathway of AME degradation is carried out, which is different from the radical pathway dominated by •O2− for the bare Ppa. This work is of utmost importance since it gives us detailed information regarding the charge carrier's separation and the impact of the radical pathway that will pave a new approach toward the design of high activity visible-light driven photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disease spectrum with an urgent need for reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis and monitoring. Speech and language changes occur in the early stages of FTD and offer a potential non-invasive, early, and accessible diagnostic tool. The use of speech and language markers in this disease spectrum is limited by the fact that most studies investigate English-speaking patients. This systematic review examines the literature on psychoacoustic and linguistic features of speech that occur across the FTD spectrum across as many different languages as possible. 76 papers were identified that investigate psychoacoustic and linguistic markers in discursive speech. 75 % of these papers studied English-speaking patients. The most generalizable features found across different languages, are speech rate, articulation rate, pause frequency, total pause duration, noun-verb ratio, and total number of nouns. While there are clear interlinguistic differences across patient groups, the results show promise for implementation of cross-linguistic markers of speech and language across the FTD spectrum particularly for psychoacoustic features., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare the following competing interests: Jonathan D. Rohrer: received a grant from Bluefield Project Alzheimer’s Association and receives consulting fees from Novartis, Wave Life Sciences, Prevail, Alector, Aviado Bio, Takeda, Arkuda therapeutics, and Denali Therapeutics., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In 2005, the Supreme Court of Ghana in Attorney-General v Faroe Atlantic Co Ltd rendered its decision on the interpretation of Article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution. The Court’s decision influenced its subsequent decisions in 2011 and 2012 on the scope and application of Article 181(5). This Case Comment reveals that the Court’s interpretation in relation to the PPA in question was oxymoronic in that it simultaneously held the PPA as both valid and void. The author argues that the Court would have rendered a clearer and fairer decision if it had wholly interpreted Article 181. Its partial interpretation, needless bureaucratic judicial process, and the Government’s lack of due diligence are disincentives to private investment in Ghana’s power sector.

Neuroimaging studies using univariate and multivariate approaches have shown that the fusiform face area (FFA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA) respond selectively to images of faces and places. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which this selectivity to faces or places is based on the shape or texture properties of the images. Faces and houses were filtered to manipulate their texture properties, while preserving the shape properties (spatial envelope) of the images. In Experiment 1, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that patterns of fMRI response to faces and houses in FFA and PPA were predicted by the shape properties, but not by the texture properties of the image. In Experiment 2, a univariate analysis (fMR‐adaptation) showed that responses in the FFA and PPA were sensitive to changes in both the shape and texture properties of the image. These findings can be explained by the spatial scale of the representation of images in the FFA and PPA. At a coarser scale (revealed by MVPA), the neural selectivity to faces and houses is sensitive to variation in the shape properties of the image. However, at a finer scale (revealed by fMR‐adaptation), the neural selectivity is sensitive to the texture properties of the image. By combining these neuroimaging paradigms, our results provide insights into the spatial scale of the neural representation of faces and places in the ventral‐temporal cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]