Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Laparoscopic Surgical Skills of Trainees with Scene Independent and Dependent Eye Gaze Metrics

Eye metrics have been used to objectively evaluate proficiency levels in psychomotor tasks, including aviation, driving, sports, and surgery. Despite extensive research devoted to developing and utilizing eye metrics, the literature does not contain any explicit comparison between scene independent and dependent eye metrics for understanding skill acquisition or characterizing expertise. This study collected eye tracking data from medical students practicing the peg transfer task and computed both scene independent and dependent eye metrics to indicate proficiency. K-means clustering analysis on the eye metrics yielded three clusters corresponding to three proficiency levels which showed significantly different trial completion time. The box plots of the eye-gaze metrics illustrated different patterns of scene independent and dependent eye metrics with respect to proficiency levels, highlighting the need for further examination of these metrics for accurate and useful applications.
Sample size simulation for unit root, structural break and regime shifts

Unit root test is an important means to determine the integration order of a variable which has involved different methods of testing for stationarity. Simulation method is adopted in this study to verify whether unit root, structural breaks and regime shifts exist in the sample considered. For sample sizes of 20 and 50 as small, 100 and 250 as medium, and 2500 and 5000 as large, the enhanced Dickey-Fuller test and Zivot-Andrews test were used. The experiment was conducted 5000 times for each sample size, and the results demonstrated that there is presence of unit root at level for all sample sizes taken into consideration, but they were integrated of order 1. This implies that they are stationary at first difference. The results also showed that there are structural breaks at various levels depending on sample size, but it was noted that the breaks remained stable regardless of size when the sample size was large. The MSVAR results demonstrated that regime 1 is more resilient than regime 2, and that regime 1 is projected to last longer than regime 2. As a result, we draw the conclusion that simulation can be utilized to verify a real-world situation.
Operational Quality Control and Enhancement of Radar Data to Support Regional Flash Flood Warning Systems

AbstractThe paper draws from recent experience with operational regional flash flood warning systems deployed worldwide that utilize radar precipitation data as input to provide regional warnings at high spatial resolution. This paper focuses on radar precipitation data quality control and adjustments in context of making the radar data useful in hydrologic application specific to flash flood warnings. Aspects discussed are radar precipitation preprocessing for hydrologic application, identifying regions of inappropriate radar data for hydrologic use, developing bias adjustment strategies using limited rain gauge networks under the radar umbrella, and impacts of radar precipitation uncertainty on soil water estimates that impact in turn predictions and warnings. The bias adjustment strategies presented are twofold: (1) adjusting for the long-term mean bias in the radar precipitation data (climatological bias adjustment), and (2) accounting for event-specific, temporal deviations from the climatological bi.
Analysis of the apoplast fluid proteome during the induction of systemic acquired resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Background Plant-pathogen interactions occur in the apoplast comprising the cell wall matrix and the fluid in the extracellular space outside the plasma membrane. However, little is known regarding the contribution of the apoplastic proteome to systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Methods Specifically, SAR was induced by inoculating plants with Pst DC3000 avrRps4. The apoplast washing fluid (AWF) was collected from the systemic leaves of the SAR-induced or mock-treated plants. A label free quantitative proteomic analysis was performed to identified the proteins related to SAR in AWF. Results A total of 117 proteins were designated as differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs), including numerous pathogenesis-related proteins, kinases, glycosyl hydrolases, and redox-related proteins. Functional enrichment analyses shown that these DAPs were mainly enriched in carbohydrate metabolic process, cell wall organization, hydrogen peroxide catabolic process, and positive regulation of catalytic activity. Comparative analysis of proteome data indicated that these DAPs were selectively enriched in the apoplast during the induction of SAR. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate the apoplastic proteome is involved in SAR. The data presented herein may be useful for future investigations on the molecular mechanism mediating the establishment of SAR.
Performance Evaluation Of Wearable Antennas For Body Area Network Applications

: In this paper, we present the performance evaluation of wearable antennas for body area network applications. Wearable antennas developed on various substrate materials such as cotton, silk, and jeans are designed and developed and their performance under various constraints is measured to validate the simulated results and use in body area network applications. The proposed antennas operate at a fundamental frequency of 2.45 GHz which facilitates the unlicensed operation in the ISM band making wearable antennas usable in various industry, scientific, and medical applications.
Cambrian–Ordovician boundary in the Taconic allochthon, eastern New York, and its interregional correlation

Cambrian–Ordovician boundary interval dendroid graptolites and conodonts occur in continental slope facies in the Taconic allochthon. The upper part of the Hatch Hill Formation has lowest Ordovician (lowest Tremadocian) nematophorous dendroid and lower Fauna B-aspect conodont assemblages with Cordylodus caseyi (emend.) and Iapetognathus preaengensis. Comparable dendroid-conodont faunas occur in Baltoscandia, northeastern China, and western Newfoundland; this suggests that no diachroneity can be demonstrated between the lowest occurrences of Rhabdinopora flabelliformis in a number of faunal provinces. A practical and correlatable Cambrian–Ordovician boundary stratotype horizon defined by the lowest occurrence of a Rhabdinopora flabelliformis assemblage within an interval with lower Fauna B-aspect conodonts is advocated. A biostratigraphic horizon defined by conodonts has far less utility due to strong lithofacies-conodont biofacies linkages, unresolved problems with the species-level taxonomy of cordylodans, and possible diachronous first-appearances of Cordylodus species. Because the areally most extensive Cambrian–Ordovician boundary sequences are siliciclastic-dominated (Avalonian, Baltoscandian, Gondwanan-Hercynian platforms and shale-dominated slope sequences), the lowest local occurrence of R. flabelliformis assemblages provides a practical and traditional definition for the base of the Ordovician System and Tremadocian Series in regions where conodonts are rare or recoverable only with difficulty. Strata correlative with the Cambrian–Tremadocian boundary interval are not represented across most of Laurentia. In this region, the “Sauk III Subsequence” locally has an important unconformity within it, and lower Tremadocian-equivalent rocks can unconformably overlie units as low as the Proterozoic. The earliest Ordovician featured a relatively simple eustatic history characterized by an “early Tremadocian onlap”; no compelling evidence supports a eustatic fall-rise couplet, or “Black Mountain eustatic event,” in this interval. Available stratigraphic information is reinterpreted to demonstrate an initially slow and subsequently higher rate of continued sea level rise in the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary interval.
The Paracrine Effect of Hyaluronic Acid-Treated Endothelial Cells Promotes BMP-2-Mediated Osteogenesis

The combination of hyaluronic acid (HA) and BMP-2 has been reported to promote bone regeneration. However, the interaction of endothelial cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) during HA + BMP-2 treatment is not fully understood. This study aimed to analyze the direct effect of HA, as well as the paracrine effect of HA-treated endothelial cells, on the BMP-2-mediated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. The angiogenic differentiation potential of HA at different molecular weights and different concentrations was tested. The direct effect of HA, as well as the indirect effect of HA-treated human umbilical cord endothelial cells (HUVECs, i.e., conditioned medium (CM)-based co-culture) on the BMP-2-mediated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs was analyzed using alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and activity, alizarin red S (ARS) staining, and RT-qPCR of osteogenic markers. Angiogenic differentiation markers were also analyzed in HUVECs after treatment with HA + BMP-2. The bone regeneration potential of BMP-2 and HA + BMP-2 was analyzed in a rat ectopic model. We found that 1600 kDa HA at 300 µg/mL promoted tube formation by HUVECs in vitro and upregulated the mRNA expression of the angiogenic markers CD31, VEGF, and bFGF. HA inhibited, but conditioned medium from HA-treated HUVECs promoted, the BMP-2-mediated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, as indicated by the results of ALP staining and activity, ARS staining, and the mRNA expression of the osteogenic markers RUNX-2, ALP, COLI, and OPN. HA + BMP-2 (50 ng/mL) upregulated the expression of the angiogenesis-related genes VEGF and bFGF in HUVECs and bone regeneration in vivo compared to BMP-2 treatment. In conclusion, the paracrine effect of hyaluronic acid-treated endothelial cells promotes BMP-2-mediated osteogenesis, suggesting the application potential of HA + BMP-2 in bone tissue engineering.
A learnable EEG channel selection method for MI-BCI using efficient channel attention

Introduction During electroencephalography (EEG)-based motor imagery-brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCIs) task, a large number of electrodes are commonly used, and consume much computational resources. Therefore, channel selection is crucial while ensuring classification accuracy. Methods This paper proposes a channel selection method by integrating the efficient channel attention (ECA) module with a convolutional neural network (CNN). During model training process, the ECA module automatically assigns the channel weights by evaluating the relative importance for BCI classification accuracy of every channel. Then a ranking of EEG channel importance can be established so as to select an appropriate number of channels to form a channel subset from the ranking. In this paper, the ECA module is embedded into a commonly used network for MI, and comparative experiments are conducted on the BCI Competition IV dataset 2a. Results and discussion The proposed method achieved an average accuracy of 75.76% with all 22 channels and 69.52% with eight channels in a four-class classification task, outperforming other state-of-the-art EEG channel selection methods. The result demonstrates that the proposed method provides an effective channel selection approach for EEG-based MI-BCI.
Using Screen-Based Technologies to Assess Handwriting in Children: A Preliminary Study Choosing Human–Machine Interaction

The acquisition of a fluid and legible handwriting in elementary school has a positive impact on multiple skills (e.g., reading, memory, and learning of novel information). In recent years, the growing percentages of children that encounter mild to severe difficulties in the acquisition of grapho-motor parameters (GMPs) has highlighted the importance of timely and reliable assessments. Unfortunately, currently available tests relying on pen and paper and human-based coding (HBC) require extensive coding time, and provide little or no information on motor processes enacted during handwriting. To overcome these limitations, this work presents a novel screen-based platform for Grapho-motor Handwriting Evaluation & Exercise (GHEE). It was designed to support both fully automatic machine-based coding (MBC) of quantitative GMPs and human-machine interaction coding (MBC+HBC) of GMPs accounting for qualitative aspects of a child’s personal handwriting style (i.e., qualitative GMPs). Our main goal was to test: the GHEE coding approach in a relevant environment to assess its reliability compared to HBC; the efficacy of human-machine interaction in supporting coding of qualitative GMPs; and the possibility to provide data on kinematic aspects of handwriting. The preliminary results on 10 elementary school children showed reliability of fully automatic MBC of quantitative GMPs with respect to traditional HBC, a higher resolution of mixed human-machine interaction systems in assessing qualitative GMPs, and suitability of this technology in providing new information on handwriting kinematics.
Three Cases of Tickborne Francisella tularensis Infection, Austria, 2022

Tularemia is increasing in Austria. We report Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica isolated from 3 patients who had been bitten by arthropods. Next-generation sequencing showed substantial isolate similarity. Clinicians should consider bloodstream F. tularensis infections for patients with signs/symptoms of ulceroglandular tularemia, and surveillance of potential vectors should be intensified.
Real-Time Implementation of a Frequency Shifter for Enhancement of Heart Sounds Perception on VLIW DSP Platform

Auscultation of heart sounds is important to perform cardiovascular assessment. External noises may limit heart sound perception. In addition, heart sound bandwidth is concentrated at very low frequencies, where the human ear has poor sensitivity. Therefore, the acoustic perception of the operator can be significantly improved by shifting the heart sound spectrum toward higher frequencies. This study proposes a real-time frequency shifter based on the Hilbert transform. Key system components are the Hilbert transformer implemented as a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter, and a Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer (DDFS), which allows agile modification of the frequency shift. The frequency shifter has been implemented on a VLIW Digital Signal Processor (DSP) by devising a novel piecewise quadratic approximation technique for efficient DDFS implementation. The performance has been compared with other DDFS implementations both considering piecewise linear technique and sine/cosine standard library functions of the DSP. Piecewise techniques allow a more than 50% reduction in execution time compared to the DSP library. Piecewise quadratic technique also allows a more than 50% reduction in total required memory size in comparison to the piecewise linear. The theoretical analysis of the dynamic power dissipation exhibits a more than 20% reduction using piecewise techniques with respect to the DSP library. The real-time operation has been also verified on the DSK6713 rapid prototyping board by Texas Instruments C6713 DSP. Audiologic tests have also been performed to assess the actual improvement of heart sound perception. To this aim, heart sound recordings were corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise, crowded street noise, and helicopter noise, with different signal-to-noise ratios. All recordings were collected from public databases. Statistical analyses of the audiological test results confirm that the proposed approach provides a clear improvement in heartbeat perception in noisy environments.
Effects of Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) Fruit Extract Supplemented in Cashmere Goats with a High-Concentrate Diet on Growth Performance, Ruminal and Colonic Fermentation and SARA

Simple Summary At present, cashmere goats are usually raised in a semi-intensive system to reduce the damage to grassland resources and ensure a more balanced intake of nutrients in China. Additionally, for maximizing production performance, intensive feeding management usually significantly increases the proportion of concentrate in the diet, which will seriously harm ruminant health in the long run. Noni fruit and its extracts showed good production-promoting and anti-inflammatory effects in poultry and freshwater fish production. However, it is unclear whether ethanol extract of noni fruit can alleviate the adverse effects of high-concentrate on goats. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a high-concentrate diet supplemented with noni fruit extract (NFE) on growth performance, ruminal and colonic fermentation, nutrient digestion, and subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) of cashmere kids. The results showed that although a high-concentrate diet improved the growth performance of cashmere goats, it was at the expense of healthy fermentation modes of rumen and colon, such as significantly decreased pH and obviously increased lactic acid in rumen and colon. The supplementation of 0.10% NFE in a high-concentrate diet could not only effectively alleviate SARA and colon fermentation disorders induced by high-concentrate, but also improve the feed conversion efficiency in cashmere kids. Abstract This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of noni fruit extract (NFE) on growth performance, ruminal and colonic fermentation, nutrient digestion, and subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) of cashmere goats with the high-concentrate diet. Twenty-four cashmere kids (17.9 ± 1.45 kg of BW ± SD) were randomly assigned to three treatments: low-concentrate diet, high-concentrate (HC) diet, or HC diet supplemented with NFE at 1 g per kg DM (0.1%). The results showed that although the HC diet improved the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR), it was accompanied by SARA with a decreased pH and an increased lactic acid of both rumen and colon, and decreased digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF)and acid detergent fiber (ADF). The supplementation of 0.10% NFE in the HC diet could not only effectively alleviate SARA symptoms and colon fermentation disorders, such as reversing the decrease of pH and alleviating the increase of lactic acid in rumen and colon, but also mitigate the decline of fiber digestibility caused by long-term feeding in the HC diet, and increase the digestibility of crude protein(CP) and dry matter (DM), which improved the ADG and FCR of cashmere kids. Thus, NFE provides new strategies for alleviating SARA and promoting cashmere goat growth.
Does “one size” fit all? Comparing video-feedback in different courses

Several surveys show that students appreciate feedback on their assignments in order to learn more, and to understand more about their academic progress. In order to personalize the feedback, this has been recorded on video and distributed to the students. In video-feedback, we as lecturers can stress certain messages in a different way than in written feedback. It is also possible to communicate a lot more in a 3-5-minute video. In this paper, we compare the students’ opinions about video-feedback. In one course, the students received both video-feedback and written feedback as a follow up on the same assignment, and in two other courses they only received video-feedback. Through interviews, we have investigated two different approaches. This has allowed us to look into two different approaches, and how students perceive this. In the course with the video-feedback and the written feedback, the students prefer the written feedback, and in the two courses with video-feedback only, the students are very positive and report on learning outcomes from the feedback in addition to them also wanting video-feedback in other courses as well. The results were surprising, as theory explains why video-feedback should be preferred.
The Impact of Technology Attention and Investors on Stock Returns: Taking Science and Technology Innovation Board Company as an Example

Since the fourth anniversary of the opening of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, the number of listed companies on the board has reached 546, with a total fundraising amount of 858.242-billion-yuan, accounting for 42% of the total domestic A-share financing during the same period. The stock return on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has become a topic of concern for investors. This article uses indirect indicators from 2021 to 2023, and uses principal component analysis to construct investor attention and investor sentiment indicators. By using panel analysis, it is found that investor attention has a negative impact on stock return, investor sentiment has a positive moderating effect on investor attention-stock return. In order to further explore the impact and effect of differences in investor sentiment and investor attention in the high and low sentimental group, it conducted a heterogeneity test, which found that the relationship between investor attention and stock returns in the low sentiment group is significantly negative, but not in high group. And there is a significant positive correlation between the investor sentiment moderating effect and stock returns in the high sentiment group, but not in the low sentiment group. This result can be beneficial for guiding market regulatory authorities and consumers to supervise and invest rationally in stocks on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
Minibasins and salt canopy in foreland fold‐and‐thrust belts: The central Sivas Basin, Turkey

The Sivas Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau (Turkey), which formed in the context of a foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt (FTB), exhibits a typical wall and basin (WAB) province characterized by symmetric minibasins separated by continuous steep‐flanked walls and diapirs. Extensive fieldwork including regional and detailed local mapping of the contacts and margins of minibasins, and interpretation of a set of 2‐D regional seismic lines, provide evidence for the development of a shallow evaporite level separating two generations of minibasins within the WAB province. Here beds of symmetric exposed minibasins along diapir flank are younger than minibasins observed over autochthonous evaporites. Laterally away from the WAB province, increase in wavelength of the tectonic structures suggests a deepening of the decollement level. We interpret that a shallower evaporite level developed in the form of an evaporite canopy, triggered by significant lateral shortening. The Upper Eocene‐Lower Oligocene autochthonous Tuzhisar evaporite level was remobilized by the northward migrating sedimentary load and the tilting of the southern basin margin during propagation of the foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt. Asymmetric and symmetric primary minibasins were overrun by an allochthonous sheet forming a canopy. A second generation of salt withdrawal minibasins subsided into the allochthonous salt sheet. The polygonal pattern of the WAB province influences the growing fold‐and‐thrust belt system during the late stage of the secondary minibasins development. The Sivas FTB basin is the result of the interaction between fold‐and‐thrust belt propagation, evaporite remobilization, and interaction between evaporite flow and sedimentation in the minibasins.