Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vaginal Hysterectomy Suturing Skills Training Model and Curriculum.

BACKGROUND Declining vaginal hysterectomy numbers in obstetrics and gynecology training programs highlights the need for innovative methods to teach vaginal surgical skills. We describe our experience with a vaginal hysterectomy skills simulation curriculum. INSTRUMENT A low-fidelity bench model was constructed to simulate four vaginal hysterectomy suturing tasks. A polyvinyl chloride downspout adapter and low-cost materials simulate the Heaney pedicle stitch, simple pedicle stitch, double ligature, and continuous running stitch. EXPERIENCE Faculty expert vaginal surgeons established proficiency levels for each task. Resident (N=30) pass rates for tasks 1, 2, and 3 were 1 of 30 (3.3%), 7 of 30 (23.3%), and 4 of 30 (13.3%), respectively, for the left side, and 3 of 30 (10%), 9 of 30 (30%), and 10 of 30 (33.3%), respectively, for the right side. For task 4, the pass rate was 14 of 30 (46.7%). The majority of residents felt that the model simulates the technical skills required for vaginal hysterectomy and agreed that vaginal skills laboratory training would improve their ability to perform procedures in the operating room. Ninety-two percent of residents felt that a vaginal surgery skills curriculum would be a useful addition to their simulation education. CONCLUSION A proficiency-based vaginal hysterectomy skills simulation curriculum using a low-fidelity model may be an important training and evaluation tool for vaginal surgical skills training.
Improving on nature's shortcomings: evolving a lipase for increased lipolytic activity, expression and thermostability.

An enzyme must be soluble, stable, active and easy to produce to be useful in industrial applications. Not all enzymes possess these attributes. We set out to determine how many changes are required to convert an enzyme with poor properties into one that has useful properties. Lipase Lip3 from Drosophila melanogaster had been previously optimised for expression in Escherichia coli. The expression levels were good, but Lip3 was mainly insoluble with poor activity. Directed evolution was used to identify variants with enhanced activity along with improved solubility. Five variants and the wild-type (wt) enzyme were purified and characterised. The yield of the wt enzyme was just 2.2 mg/L of culture, while a variant, produced under the same conditions, gave 351 mg. The improvement of activity of the best variant was 200 times higher than that of the wt when the crude lysates were analysed using pNP-C8, but with purified protein, the improvement observed was 1.5 times higher. This means that most of the increase of activity is due to increase in solubility and stability. All the purified variants showed increased thermal stability compared with the wt enzyme that had a T1/2 of 37°C, while the mutant with P291L of 42.2°C and the mutant R7_47D with five mutations had a value of 52.9°C, corresponding to an improvement of 16°C. The improved variants had between five and nine changes compared with the wt enzyme. There were four changes that were found in all 30 final round variants for which sequences were obtained; three of these changes were found in the substrate-binding domain.
Community perspectives of South African adolescents’ experiences seeking treatment at local HIV clinics and how such clinics may influence engagement in the HIV treatment cascade: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Despite having the largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) program in the world, only 14% of South African adolescents living with HIV (ALWH) are on ART. The purpose of this study was to identify aspects of the clinic environment that either improve or inhibit ALWH’s ability to engage in HIV care. We conducted fifty-nine semi-structured, in-depth interviews with ALWH (n = 20; 13–19 years of age), their caregivers (n = 19), and local stakeholders (n = 20) in Cape Town, South Africa. Data were coded and analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches to content analyses. Codes were grouped into positive and negative aspects of the HIV clinic environment, and into suggestions on how clinic practices could be improved to facilitate ALWH treatment retention and ART adherence. Positive clinic factors included: community co-location; familiarity with clinic staff; and adolescent only/adolescent-friendly clinic spaces. Negative clinic factors included: clinic visit frequency; overcrowding and long wait times; discrimination and stigma; lack of confidentiality; inflexible appointment-scheduling; and staff attitudes. ALWHs’ clinic experiences affect their ability to remain in care and adhere to their treatment regimens. These findings support a call for innovative approaches that improve ALWH’s clinic experiences and support them as they progress along the HIV treatment cascade.
Using mental contrasting with implementation intentions to reduce bedtime procrastination: two randomised trials

Abstract Objective: The importance of getting a good night sleep is critical, yet for many this remains elusive. Bedtime procrastination—the notion that people delay going to bed for no legitimate reason—is one area that has received little attention, despite its associations with worse sleep outcomes. In the present research, we investigated how to effectively self-regulate bedtime procrastination. Design: In two studies (N1 = 383, N2 = 221), undergraduate students participated either in an online self-regulation exercise called mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) or a motivationally-relevant control exercise (Study 1) or a sleep hygiene control group (Study 2). We then assessed outcomes three weeks (Study 1) or one week (Study 2) later. Main Outcome Measures: We assessed commitment to reduce bedtime procrastination and self-reported bedtime procrastination using two different measures. Results: We found that MCII (compared to control) increased commitment to reduce bedtime procrastination. In both studies this corresponded to a reduction in the average minutes of bedtime procrastination per night. Conclusion: MCII is a simple and cost-effective self-regulation tool for reducing bedtime procrastination. Future research should seek to reveal the mechanisms that undergird bedtime procrastination, as well as understand the present findings in other populations and contexts.
Novel vectors for functional interrogation of Xenopus ORFeome coding sequences

The current Xenopus ORFeome contains ~10,250 validated, full‐length cDNA sequences without stop codons from Xenopus laevis and ~3,970 from Xenopus tropicalis cloned into Gateway‐compatible entry vectors. To increase the utility of the ORFeome, we have constructed the Gateway‐compatible destination vectors pDXTP and pDXTR, which in combination can control the spatial and temporal expression of any open reading frame (ORF). pDXTP receives a promoter/enhancer of interest, which controls the spatial expression of a doxycycline‐inducible transcription factor rtTA. pDXTR receives an ORF of interest, which is controlled by a tetracycline response element enabling temporal control of ORF expression via rtTA activation by simple addition of doxycycline to the rearing water at any desired time point. These vectors can be integrated into the genome via well‐established microinjection‐based SceI, tol2, or phi‐C31 transgenesis procedures and contain fluorescence reporters to confirm transgene integration. Cell‐autonomous verification of ORF expression occurs via red nuclear fluorescence due to an mCherry‐histone H2B fusion protein that is cleaved from the ORF during translation. Function of all essential features of pDXTP and pDXTR has been experimentally validated. pDXTP and pDXTR provide flexible molecular cloning and transgenesis options to accomplish tissue‐specific inducible control of ORF expression in transgenic Xenopus.
Comparison of ultrasound‐guided transmuscular quadratus lumborum block catheter technique with surgical pre‐peritoneal catheter for postoperative analgesia in abdominal surgery: a randomised controlled trial

Following abdominal surgery, the provision of postoperative analgesia with local anaesthetic infusion through both transmuscular quadratus lumborum block and pre‐peritoneal catheter have been described. This study compared these two methods of postoperative analgesia following laparotomy. Eighty‐two patients 18–85 years of age scheduled to undergo elective surgery were randomly allocated to receive either transmuscular quadratus lumborum block or pre‐peritoneal catheter block. In the transmuscular quadratus lumborum group, an 18‐gauge Tuohy needle was passed through the quadratus lumborum muscle under ultrasound guidance to reach its anterior aspect. A 20‐ml bolus of ropivacaine 0.375% was administered and catheters placed bilaterally. In the pre‐peritoneal catheter group, 20 ml of ropivacaine 0.375% was infiltrated at each of three subcutaneous sub‐fascial levels, and pre‐peritoneal plane catheters were placed bilaterally. Both groups received an infusion of ropivacaine 0.2% at 5 ml.h−1, continued up to 48 h along with a multimodal analgesic regime that included regular paracetamol and patient‐controlled analgesia with fentanyl. The primary end‐point was postoperative pain score on coughing, assessed using a numerical rating score (0–10). Secondary outcomes were pain score at rest, fentanyl usage until 48 h post‐operation, satisfaction scores and costs. There was no treatment difference between the two groups for pain score on coughing (p = 0.24). In the transmuscular quadratus lumborum group, there was a reduction in numerical rating score at rest (p = 0.036) and satisfaction scores on days 1 and 30 (p = 0.004, p = 0.006, respectively), but fentanyl usage was similar. In the transmuscular quadratus lumborum group, the highest and lowest blocks observed in the recovery area were T4 and L1, respectively. The transmuscular quadratus lumborum technique cost 574.64 Australian dollars more per patient than the pre‐peritoneal catheter technique.
Real-Time View Planning for Unstructured Lumigraph Modeling

We propose an algorithm for generating an unstructured lumigraph in real-time from an image stream. This problem has important applications in mixed reality, such as telepresence, interior design or as-built documentation. Unlike conventional texture optimization in structure from motion, our method must choose views from the input stream in a strictly incremental manner, since only a small number of views can be stored or transmitted. This requires formulating an online variant of the well-known view-planning problem, which must take into account what parts of the scene have already been seen and how the lumigraph sample distribution could improve in the future. We address this highly unconstrained problem by regularizing the scene structure using a regular grid structure. Upon the grid structure, we define a coverage metric describing how well the lumigraph samples cover the grid in terms of spatial and angular resolution, and we greedily keep incoming views if they improve the coverage. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm quantitatively and qualitatively on a variety of synthetic and real scenes, and demonstrate visually appealing results obtained at real-time frame rates (in the range of 3Hz-100Hz per incoming image, depending on configuration).
Competing biomedical HIV prevention strategies: potential cost‐effectiveness of HIV vaccines and PrEP in Seattle, WA

Promising HIV vaccine candidates are steadily progressing through the clinical trial pipeline. Once available, HIV vaccines will be an important complement but also potential competitor to other biomedical prevention tools such as pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Accordingly, the value of HIV vaccines and the policies for rollout may depend on that interplay and tradeoffs with utilization of existing products. In this economic modelling analysis, we estimate the cost‐effectiveness of HIV vaccines considering their potential interaction with PrEP and condom use.
Theranostic Nanoprobes Mediated Simultaneous Monitoring and Inhibition of P-glycoprotein Potentiates Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Therapy.

Multidrug resistance is a major cause of failure in the clinical cancer therapy, in which the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays a crucial role. Herein, we fabricate a theranostic nanoprobe with the function of simultaneous detection and inhibition of P-gp to diagnose and combat multidrug-resistant cancer in vitro and in vivo. For constructing nanoprobe, elacridar modified quantum dots (QDs-Ela), acting as gatekeeper, are grafted onto the doxorubicin (DOX) loaded, folic acid (FA) decorated meso-porous silica nanoparticles (MSNs). Upon targeted uptake by multidrug-resistant cancer cells, adriamycin-resistant human hepatoma cells Bel-7402/ADR are used as a model, the acidic environment results in QDs-Ela removing from nanoprobe and subsequent DOX releasing. The removed QDs-Ela could specifically combine with P-gp on the cancer cell membrane and inhib-it their active sites, which prevents the efflux of intracellular DOX and increases the retention of DOX. Another way, the fluo-rescence intensity of the binding QDs-Ela quantifies the P-gp expression level. Subsequently, in vitro and in vivo experiments both demonstrate the enhanced multidrug-resistant cancer therapy efﬁcacy, i.e. nanoprobe has 10 times better curative effect than free DOX. In addition, due to the conjugation of FA, the nanoprobe exhibits selective cell targeting ability to Bel-7402/ADR cells compared to human normal hepatic cells L-O2. This nanoplatform paves a new avenue for the accurate treat-ment of multidrug-resistant cancers.
FMD Stereo SLAM: Fusing MVG and Direct Formulation Towards Accurate and Fast Stereo SLAM

We propose a novel stereo visual SLAM framework considering both accuracy and speed at the same time. The framework makes full use of the advantages of key-feature-based multiple view geometry (MVG) and direct-based formulation. At the front-end, our system performs direct formulation and constant motion model to predict a robust initial pose, reprojects local map to find 3D-2D correspondence and finally refines pose by the reprojection error minimization. This frontend process makes our system faster. At the back-end, MVG is used to estimate 3D structure. When a new keyframe is inserted, new mappoints are generated by triangulating. In order to improve the accuracy of the proposed system, bad mappoints are removed and a global map is kept by bundle adjustment. Especially, the stereo constraint is performed to optimize the map. This back-end process makes our system more accurate. Experimental evaluation on EuRoC dataset shows that the proposed algorithm can run at more than 100 frames per second on a consumer computer while achieving highly competitive accuracy.
In Search of Synergies between Corporate Entrepreneurship Activities : A Literature Review Research Agenda

Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) became the new paradigm for organizations to cope with the accelerated development of innovations. Therefore, especially established organizations increasingly implement CE activities, even in combination. Scholars point out that a coordinated portfolio of CE activities could yield synergies and thus higher value for the organization and further call for more scientific examinations. This literature review aims to better the understanding of the combined and coordinated use of CE activities as well as about resulting synergies. Results show that there are only very few studies that addressed a combination and/or coordination of CE activities with respect to the creation of additional value, however, without empirical analyses. Yet, five categories of direct and indirect synergies could be derived. Discussing the results as well as the heterogenous use of terminology and concepts, this paper concludes with a research agenda for future analyses.
Energy-Efficient HTTP Adaptive Streaming with Hybrid TCP/UDP Over Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

In this work, we propose an energy-efficient HTTP adaptive streaming with hybrid TCP/UDP over heterogeneous wireless networks. Unlike the existing HTTP adaptive streaming system, the proposed system can utilize both TCP and UDP to overcome the performance degradation problem of TCP and improve the energy efficiency. The proposed system handles the types of transport protocols, requested video quality, and amount of data received through each wireless network as control variables based on network conditions, buffer occupancy, and energy condition of mobile terminal. When UDP is selected, the proposed system employs Raptor code as a forward error correction scheme to support a reliable data delivery, and adaptively chooses the proper Raptor code parameters such as symbol size and amount of redundant data, and requests redundant data from the server to reduce the overhead. The proposed system is fully implemented in an Android-based mobile terminal and tested in real WiFi and LTE networks. The experiment results show that the proposed system can achieve good energy efficiency while providing a seamless high-quality HTTP adaptive streaming service.
A Grid-Connected Smart Extendable Structure for Hybrid Integration of Distributed Generations

In this paper, a novel grid-connected smart and plug-and-play type extendable structure named unified multiport power electronic converter (UMPEC) for hybrid integration of distributed generation (DG) systems is presented. The proposed structure contains two types of connector ports. The first one is a set of AC connectors, which can be easily used to connect different types and numbers of AC-based DGs along with grid and loads. The second one is a set of DC connectors, which can interface DC-based DGs and storage units. Compared with the conventional and recently invented multi-stage power electronic topologies, the proposed structure enjoys less number of power electronic components, compactness, and plug-and-play capability of integrating AC and DC-based DGs. Considering shared components between different ports and their imposed boundaries on the operation of the UMPEC, a modified sequential space vector modulation is addressed, which makes it possible to control different ports independently, without compromising with maximum power harnessing from individual sources, which is another salient feature of this work. The proposed structure operation and performance is verified using a three DC and two AC connectors version, where wind and photovoltaic systems are independently interfaced to the grid.
On-line 3D active pose-graph SLAM based on key poses using graph topology and sub-maps

In this paper, we present an on-line active pose-graph simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) frame-work for robots in three-dimensional (3D) environments using graph topology and sub-maps. This framework aims to find the best trajectory for loop-closure by re-visiting old poses based on the T-optimality and D-optimality metrics of the Fisher information matrix (FIM) in pose-graph SLAM. In order to reduce computational complexity, graph topologies are introduced, including weighted node degree (T-optimality metric) and weighted tree-connectivity (D-optimality metric), to choose a candidate trajectory and several key poses. With the help of the key poses, a sampling-based path planning method and a continuous-time trajectory optimization method are combined hierarchically and applied in the whole framework. So as to further improve the real-time capability of the method, the sub-map joining method is used in the estimation and planning process for large-scale active SLAM problems. In simulations and experiments, we validate our approach by comparing against existing methods, and we demonstrate the on-line planning part using a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Disturbance Observer-Based Adaptive Current Control With Self-Learning Ability to Improve the Grid-Injected Current for $LCL$ -Filtered Grid-Connected Inverter

During the design of the conventional current controller for a grid-connected inverter with LCL filter, the parameter mismatches and disturbances are generally neglected, which may seriously affect the control performance, even result in instability. In order to improve the ability of disturbance rejection and ensure a desired control performance, this paper proposes an Adaptive PID (APID) controller with the self-learning ability based on the Disturbance Observer (DOB). First, the full state-feedback and state observer are utilized to achieve active damping and eliminate the effect of computational delay. Then, aiming to estimate and compensate the lumped disturbance, a DOB is designed. Beneficial from DOB, the steady-state performance is almost not affected by model uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics, however, the transient performance is still deteriorated inevitably due to the limitation of DOB. Thus, an online adaptive method using APID is finally proposed to further improve grid-injected current dynamics. The control parameters can be automatically adjusted in real time by adaptive learning rule, which significantly improves the system robustness and the control performance. Simulation and experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.
Towards an Integrated Autonomous Data-Driven Grasping System with a Mobile Manipulator

We present an integrated grasping system for a mobile manipulator to grasp an unknown object of interest (OI) in an unknown environment. The system autonomously scans its environment, models the OI, plans and executes a grasp, while taking into account base pose uncertainty. Due to inherent line of sight limitations in sensing, a single scan of the OI often does not reveal enough information to complete grasp analysis; as a result, our system autonomously builds a model of an object via multiple scans from different locations until a grasp can be performed. A volumetric next-best-view (NBV) algorithm is used to model an arbitrary object and terminates modeling when force closure for the gripper is satisfied. Two experiments are presented: i) modeling and registration error is reduced by selecting viewpoints with more scan overlap, and ii) model reconstruction and grasps are successfully achieved while experiencing base pose uncertainty.
Design And Development Of An Innovative Sensor System For Non-Invasive Monitoring Of Athletic Performances

This paper shows a low-power, wireless and non invasive sensor system for the monitoring of athletic performances. This sensor will allow, for the first time, the evaluation of the anaerobic threshold analyzing only samples of saliva and exhaled breath in order to examine athletic performances with a non-invasive technique.The anaerobic threshold represents the capacity of the athlete to perform an extended exercise. This threshold is characterized by a massive activation of the anaerobic mechanism with the sudden production increase of carbon dioxide, respiratory acts and lactate level. These three figures are detectable by the presented sensor system.
Radar Sensors for Autonomous Driving: Modulation Schemes and Interference Mitigation

Autonomous driving is currently the focus of considerable media attention, and the automotive industry is working on harnessing technological advances to accelerate development. In doing so, different levels of automated driving must be mastered (Table 1) and defined [1]. At higher automation levels, the execution, monitoring, and fallback performance are increasingly handled by the system and not the human driver, resulting in more demanding requirements for the sensor system. As shown in [2], radar sensors are a key technology to enable Society of Automotive Engineers level 5, full automation.