Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing for Health in Healthcare Deserts: A Medical City Master Planning Project in Nigeria

Background: Many countries and communities in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from inadequate access to healthcare and healthy lifestyles as reflected in their high mortality and morbidity rates. Large-scale interventions like the medical city project presented in this article are necessary to address the significant health burdens faced by populations in this region. Objectives: This article shows how evidence-based approaches and multisectoral partnerships guided the development of the 327-acre Medical City master plan in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. This is envisioned to be the first-of-its-kind medical city in this medically underserved “healthcare desert. ” Methods: The five-phased, seven-year (2013–2020) master planning process was guided by the overarching design framework of “sustainable one health” along with its 11 objectives and 64 performance measures. The data/evidence used to guide the planning decision-making process came from case studies, literature reviews, stakeholder interviews, and on-site investigations. Results: The outcome of this project is a comprehensive medical city master plan that includes a self-contained, mixed-use community anchored by a hospital and a primary healthcare village. This medical city provides access to the full range of healthcare services (e.g., curative-to-preventive, traditional-to-alternative) and is supported by multimodal transportation systems and extensive green infrastructure. Conclusions: This project offers theoretical and practical insights on “designing for health” in a frontier market while responding to the complex local contexts that present many unique challenges and opportunities. Those insights provide useful lessons for researchers and professionals interested in promoting health and healthcare services in healthcare deserts.
Hard uncertainties in multiobjective layout optimization of photovoltaic power plants

Abstract This paper describes how to treat hard uncertainties defined by so-called uncertainty maps in multiobjective optimization problems. For the uncertainty map being set-valued, a Taylor formula is shown under appropriate assumptions. The hard uncertainties are modeled using parametric set optimization problems for which a scalarization result is given. The presented new approach for the solution of multiobjective optimization problems with hard uncertainties is then applied to the layout optimization of photovoltaic power plants. Since good weather forecasts are difficult to obtain for future years, weather data are really hard uncertainties arising in the planning process. Numerical results are presented for a real-world problem on the Galapagos island Isabela.
Dissecting Parameters Contributing to the Underprediction of Aldehyde Oxidase-Mediated Metabolic Clearance of Drugs

We investigated the effect of variability and instability in aldehyde oxidase (AO) content and activity on the scaling of in vitro metabolism data. AO content and activity in human liver cytosol (HLC) and five recombinant human AO preparations (rAO) were determined using targeted proteomics and carbazeran oxidation assay, respectively. AO content was highly variable as indicated by the relative expression factor (REF; i.e., HLC to rAO content) ranging from 0.001 to 1.7 across different in vitro systems. The activity of AO in HLC degrades at a 10-fold higher rate in the presence of the substrate as compared with the activity performed after preincubation without substrate. To scale the metabolic activity from rAO to HLC, a protein-normalized activity factor (pnAF) was proposed wherein the activity was corrected by AO content, which revealed up to sixfold higher AO activity in HLC versus rAO systems. A similar value of pnAF was observed for another substrate, ripasudil. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling revealed a significant additional clearance (CL; 66%), which allowed for the successful prediction of in vivo CL of four other substrates, i.e., O-benzyl guanine, BIBX1382, zaleplon, and zoniporide. For carbazeran, the metabolite identification study showed that the direct glucuronidation may be contributing to around 12% elimination. Taken together, this study identified differential protein content, instability of in vitro activity, role of additional AO clearance, and unaccounted metabolic pathways as plausible reasons for the underprediction of AO-mediated drug metabolism. Consideration of these factors and integration of REF and pnAF in PBPK models will allow better prediction of AO metabolism. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study elucidated the plausible reasons for the underprediction of aldehyde oxidase (AO)-mediated drug metabolism and provided recommendations to address them. It demonstrated that integrating protein content and activity differences and accounting for the loss of AO activity, as well as consideration of extrahepatic clearance and additional pathways, would improve the in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of AO-mediated drug metabolism using physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling.
Thermal sensation and comfort model for inhomogeneous indoor environments

The subject of this work is thermal comfort in complex non-uniform environments with special regard to aircraft cabins. Under non-uniform conditions, it is difficult to define an acceptable or comfortable range by using only the whole body thermal sensation vote. In complex thermal environments, large thermal differences exist around the occupants. This means that standard comfort models, which consider the human body as one compartment fail in the case of non-uniform environments. Clear evaluations are only possible by considering local effects. The 33 node comfort model (33 NCM) developed for this study relates local thermal sensation and comfort in a psychological model to skin temperatures, which are defined by a physiological model. 16 single body parts are resolved with a subdivision into a core and a skin layer. The local thermal sensation and comfort of the single body parts is transformed into an overall thermal sensation and comfort vote. Since the integrated models for the physiological and psychological part are based on a limited range of experiments with only partly known boundary conditions and the effects of intraand inter-individual differences, the whole model is calibrated with self-obtained experimental data generated in an automated optimization process. As a result, the optimized set of design parameters is limited to the field of application. The used experimental data reflect the thermal sensation and comfort votes of sitting passengers in an aircraft cabin with a mixing or displacement ventilation system. The universal validity of the underlying model makes it possible, however, to transfer the whole process to any other indoor environment. The book begins with an introduction into the fundamental principles of human physiology and goes on to derive the body’s reactions in terms of thermal sensation and comfort from human physiology and the definition of the human body state. Chapter four presents the various aspects of thermal modelling and developed models. The development of the 33 NCM is based on experiments (chapter five) and numerical flow simulations (chapter six) to collect further information on the environmental conditions. The underlying mathematical models for the 33 NCM are explained in chapter seven. Chapter eight defines the optimization process used for calibrating the model. In addition to tests using the author’s own experimental data, the model is validated using data from previous research (chapter nine). Chapter ten demonstrates the application of the 33 NCM as a stand-alone model or in a coupled mode with numerical flow simulations.
Knapsack Problems with Side Constraints

The thesis considers a specific class of resource allocation problems in Combinatorial Optimization: the Knapsack Problems. These are paradigmatic NP-hard problems where a set of items with given profits and weights is available. The aim is to select a subset of the items in order to maximize the total profit without exceeding a known knapsack capacity. In the classical 0-1 Knapsack Problem (KP), each item can be picked at most once. The focus of the thesis is on four generalizations of KP involving side constraints beyond the capacity bound. More precisely, we provide solution approaches and insights for the following problems: The Knapsack Problem with Setups; the Collapsing Knapsack Problem; the Penalized Knapsack Problem; the Incremental Knapsack Problem. These problems reveal challenging research topics with many real-life applications. The scientific contributions we provide are both from a theoretical and a practical perspective. On the one hand, we give insights into structural elements and properties of the problems and derive a series of approximation results for some of them. On the other hand, we offer valuable solution approaches for direct applications of practical interest or when the problems considered arise as sub-problems in broader contexts.
A cross-sectional survey of symptoms and daily living among patients with polycythemia vera and their treating physicians in Japan

ABSTRACT Objectives This Japanese cross-sectional survey evaluated the symptoms, daily living activities, and treatment needs of patients with polycythemia vera (PV), as perceived by patients themselves and their physicians. Methods The study was conducted at 112 centers (March to July 2022) and included PV patients aged ≥20 years (n = 265) and their attending physicians (n = 151). The patient and physician questionnaires included 34 and 29 questions, respectively, to assess daily living, PV symptoms, treatment goals, and physician-patient communication. Results Concerning daily living (primary endpoint), work (13.2%), leisure activities (11.3%), and family life (9.6%) were most affected by PV symptoms. Patients aged <60 years more frequently reported an impact on daily living than patients aged ≥60 years. Some patients (30%) reported anxiety about their future condition. The most common symptoms were pruritus (13.6%) and fatigue (10.9%). Pruritus was ranked as the first treatment need for patients, while physicians ranked it fourth. Concerning treatment goals, physicians prioritized thrombosis/vascular event prevention, while patients prioritized delaying PV progression. Physicians were less satisfied with physician-patient communication than patients. Conclusions Patients’ daily living was largely affected by PV symptoms. There are differences in physician and patient perceptions of symptoms, daily living, and treatment needs in Japan. Trial registration UMIN Japan identifier: UMIN000047047.
Stress-enhanced cardiac lncRNA Morrbid protects hearts from acute myocardial infarction

Myeloid RNA regulator of Bim-induced death (Morrbid) is a newly identified leukocyte-specific long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). However, the expression and biological functions of Morrbid in cardiomyocytes and heart disease are currently unclear. This study was meant to determine the role of cardiac Morrbid in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to identify the potential cellular and molecular mechanisms involved. We found that both human and mouse cardiomyocytes could express a significant amount of Morrbid and that its expression was increased in cardiomyocytes with hypoxia or oxidative stress as well as in mouse hearts with AMI. Overexpression of Morrbid reduced the myocardial infarct size and cardiac dysfunction, whereas the infarct size and cardiac dysfunction deteriorated in cardiomyocyte-specific Morrbid-KO (Morrbidfl/fl/Myh6-Cre) mice. We identified that Morrbid had a protective effect against hypoxia- or H2O2-induced apoptosis; this was also confirmed in vivo in mouse hearts after AMI. We further discovered that serpine1 was a direct target gene of Morrbid that was involved in the Morrbid-mediated protective effect on cardiomyocytes. In summary, we have found, for the first time to our knowledge, that the cardiac Morrbid is a stress-enhanced lncRNA that protects hearts from AMI via antiapoptosis through its target gene serpine1. Morrbid may be a novel promising therapeutic target for ischemic heart diseases such as AMI.
Experiences of American Health Departments, Health Systems, and Community Organizations in COVID-19 Vaccine Provision for Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant Communities

ABSTRACT. Effective provision of COVID-19 vaccines could mitigate the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by many immigrant communities. To describe organizational experiences in using COVID-19 vaccination programs, qualitative interviews were conducted from September 2020 to April 2021 with representatives from public health, health system, and community organizations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic among immigrant communities across the United States. Interviews followed a semistructured interview guide and were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. A latent thematic analysis was facilitated by Dedoose software. Interviews representative of 18 public health departments, 20 healthcare systems, and 18 community organizations were included in the analysis. Five identified themes referenced the importance of 1) appreciating community and individual heterogeneity in health priorities and attitudes; 2) addressing vaccine fears with trustworthy messages; 3) ensuring equitable access to vaccine opportunities; 4) making substantive investments in community partnerships and outreach; and 5) adapting to meet new needs. It is essential that vaccine efforts consider community heterogeneity, communicate in a trustworthy and culturally and linguistically appropriate manner, strive for equitable provision of care, build partnerships, and learn from prior experiences.
A Low-Profile Microstrip-Fed Monopole Antenna with Frequency Selective Surface for C band Satellite Applications

This paper proposes a low profile microstrip-fed circular ring monopole antenna with frequency selective surface (FSS) to achieve high gain and directivity. The FSS unit cell is designed using a square loop with inductive loaded T-shape patch which operates in the extended C-band. The proposed antenna has a dimension of 28×30×1.6 mm3 which is designed on an FR4 substrate and the FSS unit cell size is 7×8×1.6 mm3. The effects of antenna parameters on its performance have been examined through parametric analysis and optimized dimensions are realized. The results demonstrate that the antenna provides improvement in gain and directivity of 2.74 dB and 1.40 dB, respectively over the frequency range of 3.7–4.2 GHz. The low profile, simple geometry and descent gain are the key features of the design and may be a good candidate for satellite down link communication.
Fitting Empirical Distributions for Vessels Behavioural Analysis and Maritime Anomaly Detection

Naval behaviour characterization and maritime anomaly detection represents two active area of research. Although multiple probabilistic approaches have been implemented for explaining different parametric maritime phenomena, most of them are focused only on the analysis of primary kinematic data, such as position, speed, course of vessels, or lateral displacement relative to an obstacle. This article presents an analysis on multiple complex maritime activities (e.g., fishing, drifting, hidden activities) that were derived by processing AIS messages collected in the Black Sea region. Quantitative histograms were made for each type of activity while probability and cumulative distribution functions were plotted using kernel density estimation applications. After that, multiple evaluation metrics analysed the possibilities of representing these distributions in the form of known parametric distributions (e.g., Gaussian, Gamma, Rayleigh, Log-normal). Finally, there were extracted the parameters that best fitted these distributions. Also, a universal parametric distribution was searched to best fit all observed maritime activities.
Packaging style design based on visual semantic segmentation technology and intelligent cyber physical system

The integration of image segmentation technology into packaging style design significantly amplifies both the aesthetic allure and practical utility of product packaging design. However, the conventional image segmentation algorithm necessitates a substantial amount of time for image analysis, rendering it susceptible to the loss of vital image features and yielding unsatisfactory segmentation results. Therefore, this study introduces a novel segmentation network, G-Lite-DeepLabV3+, which is seamlessly incorporated into cyber-physical systems (CPS) to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of product packaging image segmentation. In this research, the feature extraction network of DeepLabV3 is replaced with Mobilenetv2, integrating group convolution and attention mechanisms to proficiently process intricate semantic features and improve the network’s responsiveness to valuable characteristics. These adaptations are then deployed within CPS, allowing the G-Lite-DeepLabV3+ network to be seamlessly integrated into the image processing module within CPS. This integration facilitates remote and real-time segmentation of product packaging images in a virtual environment.Experimental findings demonstrate that the G-Lite-DeepLabV3+ network excels at segmenting diverse graphical elements within product packaging images. Compared to the original DeepLabV3+ network, the intersection over union (IoU) metric shows a remarkable increase of 3.1%, while the mean pixel accuracy (mPA) exhibits an impressive improvement of 6.2%. Additionally, the frames per second (FPS) metric experiences a significant boost of 22.1%. When deployed within CPS, the network successfully accomplishes product packaging image segmentation tasks with enhanced efficiency, while maintaining high levels of segmentation accuracy.
Optimized Pricing Mechanism and Design of Carbon Finance Structured Products

: Carbon finance play an essential role in the promotion of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and one support for the development of carbon finance is the structured deposit launched by banks. This article first examines the pricing rationality of a carbon finance structured deposit by using risk neutrality pricing, GARCH model, Cholesky decomposition, BS Model, Monte Carlo simulation, geometric Brownian motion, Heston model and Merton jump-diffusion model, etc., parameters used for asset pricing are all estimated with reasonable basis. Moreover, this article also optimized its design from the perspectives of increasing market participants and risk diversification. Finally, several enlightenments are summarized and put forward.
Supercritical angle fluorescence as a tool to study the interaction between lipid bilayer and peptides

The understanding of processes occurring at the interface between two media are of prior importance in various fields of research, from material sciences to biology. A custom-made microscope objective based on the supercritical angle technique was developed in our group, allowing to probe these interfacial events by carrying out surface-sensitive and low invasive spectroscopy of aqueous samples. A biological example of particular interest is the comprehension of neurodegenerative diseases which seem caused by the interaction of specific peptides with the membrane of the neurons. Taking advantage of our optical setup, we used supercritical angle fluorescence spectroscopy to specifically monitor the interaction between a supported lipid bilayer (SLB) and the Amyloid β peptide, notably responsible of the Alzheimer disease. Different forms of the peptide (40 and 42 amino acids composition) were tested and the interfacial fluorescence measured to get information about the lipid integrity and mobility. The adsorption of the peptide was also characterized in terms of kinetic and affinity.
AB Toxins as High-Affinity Ligands for Cell Targeting in Cancer Therapy

Conventional targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer have limitations, including the development of acquired resistance. However, novel alternatives have emerged in the form of targeted therapies based on AB toxins. These biotoxins are a diverse group of highly poisonous molecules that show a nanomolar affinity for their target cell receptors, making them an invaluable source of ligands for biomedical applications. Bacterial AB toxins, in particular, are modular proteins that can be genetically engineered to develop high-affinity therapeutic compounds. These toxins consist of two distinct domains: a catalytically active domain and an innocuous domain that acts as a ligand, directing the catalytic domain to the target cells. Interestingly, many tumor cells show receptors on the surface that are recognized by AB toxins, making these high-affinity proteins promising tools for developing new methods for targeting anticancer therapies. Here we describe the structure and mechanisms of action of Diphtheria (Dtx), Anthrax (Atx), Shiga (Stx), and Cholera (Ctx) toxins, and review the potential uses of AB toxins in cancer therapy. We also discuss the main advances in this field, some successful results, and, finally, the possible development of innovative and precise applications in oncology based on engineered recombinant AB toxins.
Discrete-time sliding mode control with an input filter for an electro-hydraulic actuator

This study presents a discrete-time sliding mode control (DSMC) with an input filter for a low damping electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) suffering from large control volume variation. Non-switching type reaching law and one-step delayed estimation of disturbance are combined in the DSMC. Different from existing DSMC strategies which view parametric uncertainty as a lumped bounded disturbance, the influence of parametric uncertainty on the system stability is analysed, which results to a two terms iterative expression of state. The stability criterion for this iteration is put forward. To stabilise the EHA that has a large control volume variation, a first-order input filter for the control input is introduced. The disturbance resulting from the input filter is expressed and the stability criterion with the input filter is derived. Both simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach on the position tracking of the EHA with large volume variation.
A high-precision realization of online junction temperature estimation

The on-state voltage at high current is very suitable as a sensitive parameter for junction temperature monitoring. But there are still problems in applications, such as accuracy, noise, temperature drift, and verification. In this paper, an accurate online sampling module was designed. A compensation method was adopted to improve the sampling accuracy of the existing current sensor. With a novel sudden-stop control strategy, an offline junction temperature measurement is used to verify the online monitoring results. Finally, an experimental verification is carried out on a 600V/ 250kW three-phase inverter system.