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Item 1020 steel coated with Ti/TiN by Cathodic Arc and Ion Implantation(Institute of Physics Publishing, 2017-03-08) Bermeo, F.; Quintana, Juan Pablo; Kleiman, Ariel; Sequeda, Federico O.; Márquez, Adrianna BeatrizTiN coatings have been widely studied in order to improve mechanical properties of steels. In this work, thin Ti/TiN films were prepared by plasma based immersion ion implantation and deposition (PBII&D) with a cathodic arc on AISI 1020 steel substrates. Substrates were exposed to the discharge during 1 min in vacuum for the deposition of a Tiunderlayer with the aim of improving the adhesion to the substrate. Then, a TiN layer was deposited during 6 min in a nitrogen environment at a pressure of 3xl0-4 mbar. Samples were obtained at room temperature and at 300 °C, and with or without ion implantation in order to analyze differences between the effects of each treatment on the tribological properties. The mechanical and tribological properties of the films were characterized. The coatings deposited by PBII&D at 300 °C presented the highest hardness and young modulus, the best wear resistance and corrosion performance. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.Item 1D lanthanide coordination polymers based on lanthanides and 4′-hydroxi-4-biphenylcarboxylic acid: Synthesis, structures and luminescence properties(Academic Press Inc., 2019-03-29) D'Vries, Richard F.; Gomez, German E.; Mondragon, Lina Paola; Onna, Diego; Barja, Beatriz C.; Soler-Illia, Galo J.A.A.; Ellena, JavierSynopsis: A family of coordination polymers with formula [Ln(4-OHBBA) 3 (H 2 O) 2 ] with a new 3D supramolecular network topology was obtained. Luminescence properties were studied. Resume: A new family of 1D coordination polymers (CPs) based on 4′-hydroxi-4-biphenylcarboxylic acid (4-OHBBA) linker and lanthanide metals were obtained by hydrothermal synthesis. The compounds were fully characterized and present the general formula [Ln(4-OHBBA) 3 (H 2 O) 2 ] (where Ln = La, Pr), crystallizing in the monoclinic P2 1 /c space group. The CPs are formed by “fish bone-like” chains along [010] direction. Also, the topological analysis revels a 3D supramolecular structure with a 7-nodal 3,3,3,4,4,4,4-connected network and the (6.8 2 ) 2 (6 2 .8) 2 (6 3 .8 2 .10) 2 (6 3 ) 4 (6 5 .8) 2 (8 6 ) point symbol. The luminescence and chemical sensing tests of the europium doped compound was performed, finding that the Eu, Tb and Dy -doped samples exhibited dual emissions from the 4-OHBBA ligand and the lanthanide centresItem A conceptual model for decentralized municipal wastewater management(IWA Publishing, 2018-03-01) Bernal, DianaThis paper proposes a conceptual model for selecting the centralization level for wastewater management in urban areas, which is associated with main sewage collectors and wastewater treatment facilities. The model is supported in the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Cost-Benefit Analysis. Additionally, the model is based on the results of variables and indicators identified previously through an expert consultation process and prioritized by Ranking and Rating Multi-criteria Analysis. Three municipalities of Colombia were used as case studies for model validation purposes. As a result, decentralized plans can be a viable option when their associated benefits are quantified.Item A depth-controlled and energy-efficient routing protocol for underwater wireless sensor networks(2022-09) Lilhore, Umesh Kumar; Khalaf, Osamah Ibrahim; Simaiya, Sarita; Tavera Romero, Carlos Andrés; Abdulsahib, Ghaida Muttashar; Poongodi M.; Kumar, DineshUnderwater wireless sensor network attracted massive attention from researchers. In underwater wireless sensor network, many sensor nodes are distributed at different depths in the sea. Due to its complex nature, updating their location or adding new devices is pretty challenging. Due to the constraints on energy storage of underwater wireless sensor network end devices and the complexity of repairing or recharging the device underwater, this is highly significant to strengthen the energy performance of underwater wireless sensor network. An imbalance in power consumption can cause poor performance and a limited network lifetime. To overcome these issues, we propose a depth controlled with energy-balanced routing protocol, which will be able to adjust the depth of lower energy nodes and be able to swap the lower energy nodes with higher energy nodes to ensure consistent energy utilization. The proposed energy-efficient routing protocol is based on an enhanced genetic algorithm and data fusion technique. In the proposed energy-efficient routing protocol, an existing genetic algorithm is enhanced by adding an encoding strategy, a crossover procedure, and an improved mutation operation that helps determine the nodes. The proposed model also utilized an enhanced back propagation neural network for data fusion operation, which is based on multi-hop system and also operates a highly optimized momentum technique, which helps to choose only optimum energy nodes and avoid duplicate selections that help to improve the overall energy and further reduce the quantity of data transmission. In the proposed energy-efficient routing protocol, an enhanced cluster head node is used to select a strategy that can analyze the remaining energy and directions of each participating node. In the simulation, the proposed model achieves 86.7% packet delivery ratio, 12.6% energy consumption, and 10.5% packet drop ratio over existing depth-based routing and energy-efficient depth-based routing methods for underwater wireless sensor network.Item A Facile Glycerol-Assisted Synthesis of Low-Cu2+-Doped CoFe2O4 for Electrochemical Sensing of Acetaminophen(2023-11) Alfonso González, José Guillermo; Granja Banguera, Claudia Patricia; Morales Morales, Jimmy Alexander; Dector, AndrésThis work devised a simple glycerol-assisted synthesis of a low-Cu2+-doped CoFe2O4 and the electrochemical detection of acetaminophen (AC). During the synthesis, several polyalcohols were tested, indicating the efficiency of glycerin as a cosolvent, aiding in the creation of electrode-modifier nanomaterials. A duration of standing time (eight hours) before calcination produces a decrease in the secondary phase of hematite. The synthesized material was used as an electrode material in the detection of AC. In acidic conditions (pH 2.5), the limit of detection (LOD) was 99.4 nM, while the limit of quantification (LOQ) was found to be (331 nM). The relative standard deviation (RSD), 3.31%,was computed. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity of a low-Cu2+-doped CoFe2O4-modified electrode Cu0.13Co0.87Fe2O4/GCE corresponds extremely well with its resistance Rct, which was determined using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique and defined its electron transfer capacity. The possibility of a low-Cu2+-doped CoFe2O4 for the electrochemical sensing of AC in humanurine samples was studied. The recovery rates ranging from 96.5 to 101.0% were obtained. These findings suggested that the Cu0.13Co0.87Fe2O4/GCE sensor has outstanding practicability and could be utilized to detect AC content in real complex biological samples.Item A facile synthesis of stable β-amino-N-/O-hemiacetals through a catalyst-free three-component Mannich-type reaction(Elsevier Ltd, 2017-03-02) Abonia, Rodrigo; Castillo, Juan C.; Garay, Alexander; Insuasty, Braulio; Quiroga, Jairo; Nogueras, Manuel; Cobo, Justo; D'Vries, Richard F.A practical, straightforward and one-step procedure for the synthesis of novel and stable b-amino-N-/Ohemiacetals (i.e. c-aminoalcohols) is provided. The title compounds were obtained in good to excellent yields through an uncatalyzed three-component reaction by treatment of secondary amines with polyformaldehyde and electron-rich alkenes in acetonitrile as solvent at ambient temperature. The reactions proceeded with the formation of iminium ions, through a Mannich-type reaction, as the key intermediates for the generation of the target products. Single crystal X-ray analysis of derivative 4l confirmed unequivocally the structure and stability of the obtained compounds.Item A hybrid metaheuristic based on neurocomputing for analysis of unipolar electrohydrodynamic pump flow(2021-11) Khan, Muhammad Fawad; Sulaiman, Muhammad; Tavera Romero, Carlos Andrés; Alkhathlan, AliA unipolar electrohydrodynamic (UP-EHD) pump flow is studied with known electric potential at the emitter and zero electric potential at the collector. The model is designed for electric potential, charge density, and electric field. The dimensionless parameters, namely the electrical source number (Es ), the electrical Reynolds number (ReE ), and electrical slip number (Esl ), are considered with wide ranges of variation to analyze the UP-EHD pump flow. To interpret the pump flow of the UP-EHD model, a hybrid metaheuristic solver is designed, consisting of the recently developed technique sine–cosine algorithm (SCA) and sequential quadratic programming (SQP) under the influence of an artificial neural network. The method is abbreviated as ANN-SCA-SQP. The superiority of the technique is shown by comparing the solution with reference solutions. For a large data set, the technique is executed for one hundred independent experiments. The performance is evaluated through performance operators and convergence plots.Item A low-cost, free-software platform with hard real-time performance for control engineering education(John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2018-11-04) González Vargas, Andrés M.; Serna Ramirez, Juan M.; Fory Aguirre, Carlos; Ojeda Misses, Alejandro; Cardona Ordoñez, John M.; Tombé Andrade, Jimmy; Soria López, AlbertoIn this paper, we present a novel portable servomechanism control platform for educational purposes. The platform main features are: low cost, reliable and robust hardware, high‐speed USB interface, free open source software (FOSS), graphical interface modeling (via Scilab/XCos) and hard real‐time performance based on the Real‐Time Application Interface for Linux (RTAI). The platform is easy to interface with any computer and can be carried home by students, opening many new possibilities for practical assignments in control courses. We include application examples and student feedback regarding their experience during various workshops in which the system was demonstratedItem A mathematical model for the optimal scheduling of smart home electrical loads(World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society, 2018-01-01) Moya Chavez, Francisco David; Da Silva, Luiz C. P.; Lopez A., Juan C.This study develops a mathematical model for the optimal scheduling of controllable electrical loads in a smart home - MCELS. The goal of the MCELS is to minimize the total cost of the energy consumed by the smart house while decreasing the power supplied by the distribution network, still respecting requirements stablished by the costumer. To verify the MCELS results, a GRASP algorithm was used to compare both methodologies. A typical residential user in the area of Sao Paulo (Brazil), which has strong solar radiation, is established as a case study. The results show that the GRASP algorithm reduces the energy purchased from the network in approximatively 4%. Meanwhile, the MCELS provides a reduction of 6% on the energy used from the grid. This work also includes simulations where an electrical vehicle equipped with batteries of high storage capacity is recharged. Analysis of the results showed a superior performance of the MCELS if comparison with the GRASP algorithm, in five major aspects: a) lower use of the grid, b) reduction of electricity bill, c) higher use of renewable sources, d) reduction of demand peaks, and e) lower computation timeItem A multi-country survey on the impact of COVID-19 on dental practice and dentists’ feelings in Latin America(2022-12) Moraes, Rafael R.; Cuevas Suárez, Carlos E.; Escalante Otárola, Wilfredo G.; Fernández, María R.; Dávila Sánchez, Andrés; Grau-Grullon, Patricia; Fernández, Eduardo; López, Tania M.; Grazioli, Guillermo; Arana, Luis A.; Rondón, Luis F.; Torrez, Willy B.; Lima, Giana S.; Schuch, Helena S.; Correa, Marcos B.; Demarco, Flavio F.Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has signifcantly infuenced the routine of healthcare workers. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on dental practice and dentists’ feelings in Latin America. Methods: A survey was conducted with dentists from 11 Spanish-speaking Latin American countries in September– December 2020. Professionals were invited by email and via an open campaign promoted on social media. The questions investigated dental care routines, practice changes, and feelings about the pandemic. Descriptive statistics were used to identify frequencies and distributions of variables. Proportions were compared using chisquare tests. Results: A total of 2127 responses were collected from a sample with diverse demographic, sex, work, and education characteristics. The impact of COVID-19 was considered high/very high by 60% of respondents. The volume of patients assisted weekly was lower compared with the pre-pandemic period (mean reduction=14±15 patients). A high rate of fear to contracting the COVID-19 at work was observed (85%); 4.9% of participants had a positive COVID19 test. The main professional challenges faced by respondents were reduction in the number of patients or fnancial gain (35%), fear of contracting COVID-19 (34%), and burden with or difculty in purchasing new personal protec‑ tive equipment (22%). The fear to contracting COVID-19 was infuenced by the number of weekly appointments. A positive test by the dentists was associated with their reports of having assisted COVID-19 patients. The most cited feelings about the pandemic were uncertainty, fear, worry, anxiety, and stress. Negative feelings were more prevalent for professionals who did not receive training for COVID-19 preventive measures and those reporting higher levels of fear to contract the disease. Conclusion: This multi-country survey indicated a high impact of the pandemic on dental care routines in Latin America. A massive prevalence of bad feelings was associated with the pandemic.Item A new algorithm for detecting and correcting bad pixels in infrared images(Ingenieria e Investigacion, 2010-07-22) Restrepo Girón, Andrés David; Loaiza Correa, HumbertoAn image processing algorithm detects and replaces abnormal pixels individually, highlighting them amongst their neighbours in a sequence of thermal images without affecting overall texture, like classical filtering does. Bad pixels from manufacture or constant use of a CCD device in an IR camera are thus detected and replaced with a very good success rate, thereby reducing the risk of bad interpretation. Some thermal sequences from CFRP plates, taken by a Cincinnati Electronics InSb IR camera, were used for developing and testing this algorithm. The results were compared to a detailed list of bad pixels given by the manufacturer (about 70% coincidence). This work becomes relevant considering that the number of papers on this subject is low; most of them talk about astronomical image pre-processing. Moreover, thermographic non-destructive testing (TNDT) techniques are gaining popularity in Colombia at introductory levels in industrial sectors such as energy generation and transmission, sugar production and military aeronautics.Item A note on the use of dolphins as bait in the artisanal fisheries off Bahía Solano, Chocó, Colombia(Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 2008) Avila, Isabel C.; García, Carolina; Bastidas, Juan CarlosWe evaluated dolphin hunting for bait in Bahía Solano, Chocó, Colombia, from July 2005 to April 2006. We interviewed 122 fishermen (18.2% of the registered fishermen in the zone) and obtained data from landings at a fishing company. Only fishermen using longlines (n=94; 37.3%) confirmed using dolphins for bait. One adult dolphin was reported to provide enough bait for two fishing bouts, capturing between 75 kg and 152 kg of fish. We could not obtain additional information about date, specific location or dolphin species, but the most probable captured species are Tursiops truncatus (common bottlenose dolphin) and Stenella attenuata (pantropical spotted dolphin), since these are the most commonly encountered species in coastal waters. A minimum of nine dolphins were reported killed during the study period (1 dolphin/month). Extrapolating these numbers to all fishermen using longlines in the region (250), an absolute minimum of 24 dolphins might have been taken during the study period (2.7 dolphins/month). Presumably many fishermen even while they also took dolphins, did not communicate this to the interviewers, considering dolphins are legally protected in Colombia. Fish species captured with dolphin bait include Brotula clarkae, Cephalopholis acanthistius, Epinephelus cifuentesi, Mustelus lunulatus and Lobotes pacificus.Item A novel and low-complexity peak detection algorithm for heart rate estimation from low-amplitude photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals(Taylor and Francis Ltd, 2019-03) Argüello Prada, Erick Javier; Serna Maldonado, Rafael DanielLow-amplitude PPG signals are more affected by noise contamination and other undesirable effects because the signal strength is comparable to noise power. Although several authors claim that decreases in the amplitude of the PPG wave should be addressed from signal acquisition and conditioning stages such decreases can also be associated with changes in the patient condition. In that instance, it is important to ensure continuous and reliable HR monitoring which, in turn, depends on how robust is the peak detection method. Numerous efforts have been made to develop algorithms for accurate PPG peak detection under high motion artefact conditions. However, little has been done regarding peak detection in low-amplitude PPG signals. In an attempt to address this issue, a novel and simple peak detection algorithm for PPG signals was proposed. Results show that our method could be a good contribution for robust strategies that can dynamically adapt their peak detection method to circumstances in which a decrease in the amplitude of the PPG signal is expected. Still, more extensive testing under a wide range of conditions (e.g. intensive physical exercise) is needed to perform a rigorous validation.Item A phylogenetic study to assess the link between biome specialization and diversification in swallowtail butterflies(2022-10) Gamboa, Sara; Condamine, Fabien L.; Cantalapiedra, Juan L.; Varela, Sara; Pelegrín, Jonathan S.; Menéndez, Iris; Blanco, Fernando; Hernández Fernández, ManuelThe resource-use hypothesis, proposed by E.S. Vrba, states that habitat fragmenta-tion caused by climatic oscillations would affect particularly biome specialists (speciesinhabiting only one biome), which might show higher speciation and extinction ratesthan biome generalists. If true, lineages would accumulate biome-specialist species.This effect would be particularly exacerbated for biomes located at the periphery ofthe global climatic conditions, namely, biomes that have high/low precipitation andhigh/low temperature such as rainforest (warm-humid), desert (warm-dry), steppe(cold-dry) and tundra (cold-humid). Here, we test these hypotheses in swallowtail but-terflies, a clade with more than 570 species, covering all the continents but Antarctica,and all climatic conditions. Swallowtail butterflies are among the most studied insects,and they are a model group for evolutionary biology and ecology studies. Continentalmacroecological rules are normally tested using vertebrates, this means that there arefewer examples exploring terrestrial invertebrate patterns at global scale. Here, wecompiled a large Geographic Information System database on swallowtail butterflies'distribution maps and used the most complete time-calibrated phylogeny to quantifydiversification rates (DRs). In this paper, we aim to answer the following questions: (1)Are there more biome-specialist swallowtail butterflies than biome generalists? (2)Is DR related to biome specialization? (3) If so, do swallowtail butterflies inhabitingextreme biomes show higher DRs? (4) What is the effect of species distribution area?Our results showed that swallowtail family presents a great number of biome special-ists which showed substantially higher DRs compared to generalists. We also foundthat biome specialists are unevenly distributed across biomes. Overall, our results areconsistent with the resource-use hypothesis, species climatic niche and biome frag-mentation as key factors promoting isolation.Item A search engine optimization recommender system(CEUR-WS, 2019-09-19) Hoyos, Christian D.; Duque, Juan C.; Barco, Andres F.; Vareilles, EliseSearch Engine Optimization reefers to the process of improving the position of a given website in a web search engine results. This is typically done by adding a set of parameters and metadata to the hypertext files of the website. As nowadays the majority of the web-content creators are non-experts, automation of the search engine optimization process becomes a necessity. On this regard, this paper presents a recommender system to improve search engine optimization based on the site’s content and creator’s preferences. It exploits text analysis for labels and tags, artificial intelligence for deducing content intention and topics, and case-based reasoning for generating recommendations of parameters and metadata. Recommendations are given in natural language using a predefined set of sentencesItem A SSVEP-BCI setup based on Depth-of-Field(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017-02-23) Cotrina, Anibal; Botti Benevides, Alessandro; Castillo Garcia, Javier; Botti Benevides, Alessander; Rojas Vigo, David; Ferreira, Andre; Bastos Filho, Teodiano FreireIn optical systems, the range of distance near the point of focus where objects are perceived sharply is referred as depth-of-field; objects outside this region are defocused and blurred. Furthermore, ophthalmology studies state that the amplitude and the latency of visual evoked potentials are affected by defocusing. In this context, this paper evaluates a novel setup for a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) brain-computer interface, in which two stimuli are presented together in the center of the user's field of view but at different distances ensuring that if one stimulus is focused on, the other one is non-focused, and vice versa. The evaluation was conducted with eight healthy subjects who were asked to focus on just one stimulus at a time. An average accuracy rate of 0.93 was achieved for a time window of 4 s by employing well know SSVEP detection methods. Results show that distinguishable SSVEP can be elicited by the focused stimulus regardless of the non-focused one is also present in the field of view. Finally, this approach allows users to send commands through a stimuli selection by focusing mechanism that does not demand neck, head, and/or eyeball movements.Item Acoustic characteristics of vot in plosive consonants produced by parkinson’s patients(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2020-09-01) Argüello Vélez, Patricia; Arias Vergara, Tomás; González Rátiva, María Claudia; Orozco Arroyave, Juan Rafael; Nöth, Elmar; Schuster, Maria ElkeVoice Onset Time (VOT) has been used as an acoustic measure for a better understanding of the impact of different motor speech disorders in speech production. The purpose of our paper is to present a methodology for the manual measuring of VOT in voiceless plosive sounds and to analyze its suitability to detect specific articulation problems in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. The experiments are performed with recordings of the diadochokinetic evaluation which consists in the rapid repetition of the syllables /pa-ta-ka/. A total of 50 PD patients and 50 healthy speakers (HC) participated in this study. Manual measurements include VOT values and also duration of the closure phase, duration of the consonant, and the maximum spectral energy during the burst phase. Results indicate that the methodology is consistent and allows the automatic classification between PD patients and healthy speakers with accuracies of up to 77% .Item Acquisition Protocol and Comparison of Myoelectric Signals of the Muscles Innervated by the Ulnar, Radial and Medial Nerves for a Hand Orthoses(Springer, 2020-03-03) Bermeo Varón, Leonardo A.; Villarejo Mayor, John J.; Arcos, Edgar F.; Quiguanas, Diana M.; Bravo, Andrea A.; Perez Plaza, VanessaThis paper proposes a protocol for obtaining surface myoelectric signals in muscles of the upper limb for characterization of hand movement patterns. To characterize the movement patterns, the magnitude of the signal from each muscle is compared, for eight movements: (i) flexion, (ii) extension, (iii) ulnar and (iv) radial deviation of the hand, (v) metacarpophalangeal flexion, (vi) metacarpophalangeal extension, (vii) opposition and (viii) adduction thumb. Specific points were considered to acquire the signals from muscles innervated by the radial, medial and ulnar nerve, following the recommendations of the SENIAM project, in six intact people, using a myoelectric signal acquisition system. Seven protocols with recommendations for the location of sensors in the muscles were obtained, intended to establish combinations to reduce the number of sensors for future designs of assistive technologies, such as active orthoses. The suitable characteristic patterns for the hand movements studied allows the identification of a reduced set of sensors, considering the same eight movements. In this way, the functionality and rehabilitation processes of hand injuries are improved, facilitating the execution of activities of daily living.Item Acute and subacute toxicity of Salvia scutellarioides in mice and rats(Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2007-01-19) Ramírez, Jorge H.; Palacios, Mauricio; Tamayo, Oscar; Jaramillo, Roberto; Gutiérrez, OscarThe acute and subacute toxicity of the aqueous extract of Salvia scutellarioides (Lamiaceae) was studied in mice and rats. In the acute toxicity test, oral administration of 2 g/kg of Salvia scutellarioides produced neither mortality nor changes in behavior or any other physiological activities. In subacute toxicity studies, no mortality was observed when the two doses of 1 or 2 g/kg day of aqueous extract of Salvia scutellarioides extract were administered orally for a period of 28 days. In the blood chemistry analysis, no significant changes occurred, including glucose, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, conjugated billirrubin, total billirrubin, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, total protein, albumin, prothrombin time (PT) and thromboplastin partial time (PTT) of both sexes. Hematological analysis showed no differences in any of the parameters examined (WBC count, platelet and hemoglobin estimation) in either the control or treated group of both sexes. The urinalysis was negative for glucose, ketonic bodies, casts, red blood cells, and albumin in the control and treatment groups. There were no significant differences in the body and organ weights between controls and treated animals of both sexes. Pathologically, neither gross abnormalities nor histopathological changes were observed.Item Acute coronary syndromes: Epidemiology and diagnosis(Salud Uninorte, 2009) Cassiani Miranda, Carlos Arturo; Cabrera G, ArmandoAcute coronary syndromes are a major public health problem. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) includes acute myocardial infarction (AMI), with or without ST elevation and unstable angina. The annual incidence of AMI is 565,000 new events and 300,000 recurrent attacks each year. Risk factors for heart disease (CD) ischemic include: smoking, high levels of serum lipids, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, morbid obesity, sedentary lifestyle, low daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, alcohol problem and psychosocial index. The initial assessment of an ACS should focus on the discomfort chest, signs and symptoms and risk factors for ACS. Biological markers of myocardial injury today are not essential to decide the initial management but have contributed to an increased sensitivity of diagnosis and provide data for the prognosis of patients.