Assessing nitrogen (N) status is important from economic and environmental standpoints. To date, many spectral indices to estimate cotton chlorophyll or N content have been purely developed using statistical analysis approach where they are often subject to site-specific problems. This study describes and tests a novel method of utilizing physical characteristics of N-fertilized cotton and comb...

BACKGROUND In this prospective cohort study, we estimated the risk of developing more than 1 metabolic risk factor, using different obesity indices. In addition, we investigated the relative usefulness of the obesity indices for predicting development of such risk factors and calculated optimal cutoffs for the obesity indices. METHODS The cohort comprised 10 038 representative residents of a ...

OBJECTIVE Early detection of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, such as obesity, is crucial to prevent adverse long-term effects on individuals' health. Therefore, the aims were: (1) to explore the robustness of neck circumference (NC) as a predictor of CVD and examine its association with numerous anthropometric and body composition indices and (2) to release sex and age-specific NC cu...

Saline lakes can increase the soil and water salinity of the coastal areas. The main aim of this study is to distinguish the characteristics of the spectral reflectance of saline soil, analyze the statistical relationship between soil EC and characteristics of the spectral reflectance of saline soil, and to map soil salinity east of the Maharloo Lake. The correlation between field measurements ...

BACKGROUND Adipose tissue inflammation and dysregulated adipokine secretion are implicated in obesity-related insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. We evaluated the use of serum adiponectin, an anti-inflammatory adipokine, and several proinflammatory adipokines, as biomarkers of diabetes risk and whether they add to traditional risk factors in diabetes prediction. METHODS We studied 1300 no...

BACKGROUND Serial assessment of right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) predicts the clinical outcome of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) enables RVEF monitoring, but its applicability is limited in clinical practice. This study aimed to examine the correlation between changes in CMRI-derived RVEF with those in echocardiographic indices in ...

We consider the Minimum Vertex Cover problem in intersection graphs of axis-parallel rectangles on the plane. We present two algorithms: The first is an EPTAS for non-crossing rectangle families, rectangle families R where R1 \ R2 is connected for every pair of rectangles R1, R2 ∈ R. This algorithm extends to intersection graphs of pseudo-disks. The second algorithm achieves a factor of (1.5 + ...

An axiomatization of the interaction between the players of any coalition is given. It is based on three axioms: linearity, dummy and symmetry. These interaction indices extend the Banzhaf and Shapley values when using in addition two equivalent recursive axioms. Lastly, we give an expression of the Banzhaf and Shapley interaction indices in terms of pseudo-Boolean functions.