Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Dignity as a Small Candle Flame That Doesn’t Go Out!”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study with Patients Living with Advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Long-term illness, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can expose people to existential suffering that threatens their dignity. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of patients with advanced COPD in relation to dignity. An interpretative phenomenological approach based on lifeworld existentials was conducted to explore and understand the world of the lived experience. Twenty individuals with advanced COPD (GOLD [Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease] stages III and IV) were selected using a purposive sampling strategy. In-depth interviews were used to collect data, which were then analysed using Van Manen’s phenomenology of practice. The existential experience of dignity was understood, in essence, as “a small candle flame that doesn’t go out! ”. Four intertwined constituents illuminated the phenomenon: “Lived body–balancing between sick body and willingness to continue”; “Lived relations–balancing between self-control and belongingness”; “Lived Time–balancing between past, present and a limited future”; and “Lived space–balancing between safe places and non-compassionate places”. This study explains how existential life phenomena are experienced during the final phases of the COPD trajectory and provides ethical awareness of how dignity is lived. More research is needed to investigate innovative approaches to manage complex care in advanced COPD, in order to assist patients in discovering their inner resources to develop and promote dignity.
Improving Hydrophone Preamp Performance with Bias Resistor Feedback

Introducing negative feedback from the amplifier output via the hydrophone bias resistor permits the use of a larger value bias resistor for a given highpass cutoff frequency leading to an improvement in noise performance. Using a generalized feedback model, a 2-pole highpass response can be achieved with only a slight modification of the feedback circuit; the 2-pole response is shown to provide superior rejection of unwanted low-frequency signals from acceleration or thermal effects.
An interferometric observation of topological effect by novel axially symmetrical wave plate

Both optical vortices and polarization vortices (vectorial vortices) are known to have attracted great interest in the field of optics. Although there have been some proposals concerning axially symmetrical polarizers, also referred to as radial polarizers, axially symmetrical wave plates (AS-WPs) have not previously been proposed. Particularly, the AS-WP has strongly dependence on both the wavelength and the temperature. Moreover, the structure of AS-WPs inherently introduce spatial dispersion. As a solution to these problems, we have proposed an achromatic axially symmetrical wave plate (AAS-WP) based on Fresnel reflection that does not introduce spatial dispersion. In this paper, we show the principle of generation, the optical properties of the optical element, and the generation method of the vortex spectrum for changing the polarization order, a well-known characteristic in singularity optics Moreover, in this paper, we also describe a generation technique for a high-order optical vortex based on geometric phase and the interferometric observation of the topological effect of the proposed AAS-WP.
Simplified Damage Assessment Tool for Rails and Crossings Based on Standard Wear and RCF Models

A numerical tool is proposed to simultaneously assess various damage mechanisms that are driven by contact loading. The tool transfers loads to the contact-patch level using three contact parameters: the maximum contact pressure (pmax), the creepage (c) and the contact length (2a). The local wear and RCF predictions are implemented based on existing models from the literature. The load input can originate from numerical vehicle–track simulations or manual input of the user. The assessment tool is applied for a finite element analysis of a fixed manganese crossing nose to prove its validity. The algorithm is implemented via an automated Python code, which, on the one hand enables damage prediction for track components based on standard damage models. On the other hand, knowledge of novel local contact damage models can be transferred to the scale of track components.
Dynamics Changes in Basal Area Increment, Carbon Isotopes Composition and Water Use Efficiency in Pine as Response to Water and Heat Stress in Silesia, Poland

Trees can be used as archives of changes in the environment. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of the impact of water stress and increase in air temperature on BAI and carbon stable isotopic composition and water use efficiency of pine. Dendrochronological methods together with mass spectrometry techniques give a possibility to conduct a detailed investigation of pine growing in four industrial forests in Silesia (Poland). Detailed analysis-based bootstrap and moving correlation between climatic indices (temperature, precipitation, and Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index) and tree parameters give the chance to check if the climatic signals recorded by trees can be hidden or modified over a longer period of time. Trees have been found to be very sensitive to weather conditions, but their sensitivity can be modified and masked by the effect of pollution. Scots pine trees at all sites systematically increased the basal area increment (BAI) and the intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) and decreased δ13C in the last century. Furthermore, their sensitivity to the climatic factor remained at a relatively high level. Industrial pollution caused a small reduction in the wood growth of pines and an increase in the heterogeneity of annual growth responses of trees. The main factors influencing the formation of wood in the pines were thermal conditions in the winter season and pluvial conditions in the previous autumn, and also in spring and summer in the year of tree ring formation. The impact of thermal and pluvial conditions in the year of tree ring formation has also been reflected in the isotopic composition of tree rings and water use efficiency. Three different scenarios of trees’ reaction link to the reduction of stomata conductance or changes in photosynthesis rate as the response to climate changes in the last 40 years have been proposed.
A 409.6 GOPS and 204.8 GFLOPS Mixed-Precision Vector Processor System for General-Purpose Machine Learning Acceleration

As machine learning (ML) technology has become critical in various artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as image classification, object detection, and natural language processing, the latest ML models require massive computations and various operations to attain high accuracy, as shown in Fig.1. In order to cope with the computational challenges, many hardware accelerators have been proposed [1-4]. However, most of them have focused on a specific or a few models in the target domain, as shown in the table, only to achieve high performance without considering generic usages for various applications. With little programmability, the previous accelerators are often unable to adapt to model updates and algorithmic changes or suffer from low utilization if they adopt a new model. In addition, many support only fixed-point data types and arithmetic units, which limits their usage to emerging ML models.
Genome-Based Analysis of Virulence Factors and Biofilm Formation in Novel P. aeruginosa Strains Isolated from Household Appliances

In household washing machines, opportunistic pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa are present, which represent the household as a possible reservoir for clinical pathogens. Here, four novel P. aeruginosa strains, isolated from different sites of household appliances, were investigated regarding their biofilm formation. Only two isolates showed strong surface-adhered biofilm formation. In consequence of these phenotypic differences, we performed whole genome sequencing using Oxford Nanopore Technology together with Illumina MiSeq. Whole genome data were screened for the prevalence of 285 virulence- and biofilm-associated genes as well as for prophages. Linking biofilm phenotypes and parallelly appearing gene compositions, we assume a relevancy of the las quorum sensing system and the phage-encoded bacteriophage control infection gene bci, which was found on integrated phi297 DNA in all biofilm-forming isolates. Additionally, only the isolates revealing strong biofilm formation harbored the ϕCTX-like prophage Dobby, implicating a role of this prophage on biofilm formation. Investigations on clinically relevant pathogens within household appliances emphasize their adaptability to harsh environments, with high concentrations of detergents, providing greater insights into pathogenicity and underlying mechanisms. This in turn opens the possibility to map and characterize potentially relevant strains even before they appear as pathogens in society.
Nanocrystalline-to-amorphous transition in nanolaminates grown by low temperature atomic layer deposition and related mechanical properties

We report on a comprehensive structural and nanoindentation study of nanolaminates of Al2O3 and ZnO synthesized by atomic layer deposition (ALD). By reducing the bilayer thickness from 50 nm to below 1 nm, the nanocrystal size could be controlled in the nanolaminate structure. The softer and more compliant response of the multilayers as compared to the single layers of Al2O3 and ZnO is attributed to the structural change from nanocrystalline to amorphous at smaller bilayer thicknesses. It is also shown that ALD is a unique technique for studying the inverse Hall-Petch softening mechanism (E. Voce and D. Tabor, J. Inst. Metals 79(12), 465 (1951)) related to grain size effects in nanomaterials.
Endothelial Monocyte-Activating Polypeptide-II Is an Indicator of Severity and Mortality in COVID-19 Patients

Data for predicting the severity and mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are limited, and investigations are ongoing. Endothelial monocyte-activating protein II (EMAP-II) is a multifunctional polypeptide with pro-inflammatory properties. EMAP-II is a significant pathogenic component in chronic inflammatory lung diseases and lung injury. In this study, we aimed to assess the potential utility of EMAP-II as a predictor of COVID-19 severity and mortality. This study included 20 healthy volunteers and 60 verified COVID-19 patients. Nasopharyngeal samples from COVID-19-positive subjects and normal volunteers were collected at admission. The nasopharyngeal samples were subjected to EMAP-II real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). EMAP-II RNA was not detected in nasopharyngeal swabs of normal controls and mild to asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and was only detectable in severe COVID-19 patients. EMAP-II critical threshold (Ct) was positively associated with lymphocyte percentages and oxygen saturation (p < 0.001) while being negatively associated with age (p = 0.041), serum CRP, ferritin, and D-dimer levels (p < 0.001). EMAP-II Ct cutoff ≤34 predicted a worse outcome in COVID-19 illness, with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. Our study suggests that EMAP-II could be considered a potential biomarker of COVID-19 severity. EMAP-II can predict the fatal outcome in COVID-19 patients.
Selecting Path Delay Faults Through the Largest Subcircuits of Uncovered Lines

Tests for path delay faults are important for covering small delay defects whose cumulative effect causes a circuit to fail. The number of path delay faults, and the number of tests for them, may be large even when a path selection criterion requires the detection of a path delay fault through every line in the circuit. This article suggests a refinement of this criterion that targets a uniform coverage of the circuit using path delay faults. To address this target, the test generation procedure finds contiguous subcircuits whose lines are uncovered by path delay faults, and targets path delay faults through the largest such subcircuits. When a path delay fault is detected, the subcircuit it goes through is partitioned into smaller subcircuits. The sizes of the resulting subcircuits are evaluated in advance to select the path delay faults with the largest impact on coverage. Experimental results for benchmark circuits use a transition fault test set as a baseline, and demonstrate that a limited number of additional tests can improve the coverage of the circuit significantly based on this criterion.
Different Oncologic Outcomes in Early-Onset and Late-Onset Sporadic Colorectal Cancer: A Regression Analysis on 2073 Patients

Simple Summary Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is on the rise. Reasons are unknown and comparative results about long-term survival are still widely debated. This study aimed to explore the effect of early age of onset in a surgical population of sporadic colorectal cancer patients. Early age of onset resulted independently and is associated with worse oncologic outcomes also in stage I patients. This study suggested that EOCRC may have a more aggressive tumoral phenotype compared with late-onset CRC. A better understanding of the biology of EOCRC is needed to revise —and eventually modify—current strategies of treatment and surveillance. Abstract The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing in the population aged ≤ 49 (early-onset CRC-EOCRC). Recent studies highlighted the biological and clinical differences between EOCRC and late-onset CRC (LOCRC-age ≥ 50), while comparative results about long-term survival are still debated. This study aimed to investigate whether age of onset may impact on oncologic outcomes in a surgical population of sporadic CRC patients. Patients operated on for sporadic CRC from January 2010 to January 2022 were allocated to the EOCRC and LOCRC groups. The primary endpoint was the recurrence/progression-free survival (R/PFS). A total of 423 EOCRC and 1650 LOCRC was included. EOCRC had a worse R/PFS (p < 0.0001) and cancer specific survival (p < 0.0001) compared with LOCRC. At Cox regression analysis, age of onset, tumoral stage, signet ring cells, extramural/lymphovascular/perineural veins invasion, and neoadjuvant therapy were independent risk factors for R/P. The analysis by tumoral stage showed an increased incidence of recurrence in stage I EOCRC (p = 0.014), and early age of onset was an independent predictor for recurrence (p = 0.035). Early age of onset was an independent predictor for worse prognosis, this effect was stronger in stage I patients suggesting a potentially—and still unknown—more aggressive tumoral phenotype in EOCRC.
Blind Adaptive Beamforming of Narrowband Signals using an Uncalibrated Antenna-Array by Machine Learning

Multiple wireless communication systems compete within the same frequency range. The spatial domain adds an extra degree of freedom to the time and frequency domain. In this paper we introduce a machine learning model in the spatial domain designed to enhance the signal of interest and mitigate interfering signals. The method described does not require a calibrated antenna-array-RF-chain. It is based on a neural network that learns the structure of the signal of interest and separates it from other signals in the time, frequency and spatial domains. It does so without the need of any additional information and can very easily be used as a ballast to increase the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR).
Reml estimation for repeated measures analysis

Models for repeated measures or growth curves consist of a mean response plus error and the errors are usually correlated. Both maximum likelihood and residual maximum likelihood (REML) estimators of a regression model with dependent errors are derived for cases in which the variance matrix of the error model admits a convenient Cholesky factorisation. This factorisation may be linked to methods for producing recursive estimates of the regression parameters and recursive residuals to provide a convenient computational method. The method is used to develop a general approach to repeated measures analysis.
A multi-scale method based on U-Net for brain tumor segmentation

A accurately segmented tumor region has great significance in assessing the sick person with the conditions. Aiming at the problems that existing deep learning has limited ability to perceive 3D context in medical image segmentation tasks, and the edge information of tumors cannot be well preserved. Therefore, we propose an effective method to improve 3D U-Net model for segmentation. Firstly, adding a multi-scale feature extraction module can extract more receptive fields and improve the adaptability of the model to features of different scales. Secondly, decoding the position attention mechanism is added after the first upsampling, so that more effective global and local details can be extracted. Using the public dataset BraTS 2020 for training and testing, the average dice values of the proposed network model in the overall tumor area, tumor core region and tumor enhancement area reached 88.96%, 86.48% and 84.32%, respectively. From those results, we can see that the improved model has a better segmentation effect in evaluation indexes than basic models.
New functionalities in BeA: Exams as photos and gamification

BeA is a platform that combines the traditional way of taking exams, i.e. written on paper, and the digital treatment of the rest of the process, mainly correction by the teacher and revision by the students. The article presents two new features recently added to the BeA tool. On the one hand, the option to digitize the exams using photos in addition to scanning. On the other hand, the possibility of making games of questions to be answered from a mobile device, introduced as a gamification element. Both features contribute to extending the capabilities of the tool, making it more versatile and transversal throughout the course.
Correction Equation for Hemoglobin Values Obtained Using Point of Care Tests—A Step towards Realistic Anemia Burden Estimates

Digital hemoglobinometers have been used as point-of-care tests (POCT) to estimate the burden of anemia in community-based studies and national-level surveys in India. As the accuracy of hemoglobin estimated in POCT varies, there is a need for adjustments to the POCT-hemoglobin to ensure they are closer to reality and are comparable. We used data (collected between 2016 and 2020) (N = 1145) from four studies from India: three among pregnant women and 6–59-month-old children from Haryana and the fourth from a national nutritional survey among 1–19-year-old children. We compared the same individuals’ POCT-hemoglobin (capillary blood) and automated hematology analyzers (AHA) hemoglobin (venous blood) and developed a predictive linear regression model to obtain the correction equation for POCT-hemoglobin. We analyzed paired data from 1145 participants. The correction equation for obtaining the true hemoglobin value = 3.35 + 0.71 × POCT-hemoglobin using capillary blood (adjusted R2—64.4% and mean squared error −0.841 g/dL). In comparison with the AHA-hemoglobin, the mean difference of POCT-hemoglobin was 0.2 g/dL, while with the predicted Hb obtained from the correction equation it was 0.01 g/dL. The correction equation was the first attempt at deriving the true hemoglobin values from the POCTs. There is a need for multi-country collaborative studies to improve the correction equation by adjusting for factors affecting hemoglobin estimation.
SPIRA: Building an Intelligent System for Respiratory Insufficiency Detection

Respiratory insufficiency is a medic symptom in which a person gets a reduced amount of oxygen in the blood. This paper reports the experience of building SPIRA: an intelligent system for detecting respiratory insufficiency from voice. It compiles challenges faced in two succeeding implementations of the same architecture, summarizing lessons learned on data collection, training, and inference for future projects in similar systems.
Optical Ranicon detectors for photon counting imaging. I

We discuss the design and development of Ranicon detectors for optical photon counting imaging on ground‐based telescopes. The significant factors which determine the performance of these detectors are found to be the proximity focusing stage, the microchannel‐plate stack (MCP), and the signal processing electronics. For applications in optical astronomy, the low photon counting efficiency typically found with optical MCP‐based detectors, due to ion barrier films, presents an additional consideration. We review the performance of each stage of the Ranicon detector and the techniques for achieving optimal performance. A new approach to the signal processing electronics reduces nonlinearity, while achieving increased processing speeds and a position error corresponding to <21 μm FWHM. A significant improvement in detector performance is achieved with an advanced Ranicon incorporating a reduced proximity focusing gap and an unfilmed input plate in the MCP stack. The theoretical spatial resolution of both sta.
Heart Uptake of [18F]Fluoro-4-Thia-Oleate in a Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Mouse Model

The world-wide high incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is of concern for its progression to insulin resistance, steatohepatitis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The increased uptake of fatty acids in critical organs plays a major role in NAFLD progression. Male Ceacam1−/− mice that develop NAFLD, insulin resistance and CVD on normal chow are a potential model for studying the dysregulation of fatty acid uptake. [18F]fluoro-4-thia-oleate ([18F]FTO) was chosen as a fatty acid reporter because of its higher uptake and retention in the heart in an animal model of CVD. Male wild-type (WT) or Ceacam1−/− mice fasted 4–6 h were administered [18F]FTO i.v. , and dynamic PET scans were conducted in an MR/PET small animal imaging system along with terminal tissue biodistributions. Quantitative heart image analysis revealed significantly higher uptake at 35 min in Ceacam1−/− (6.0 ± 1.0% ID/cc) vs. WT (3.9 ± 0.6% ID/cc) mice (p = 0.006). Ex vivo heart uptake/retention (% ID/organ) was 2.82 ± 0.45 for Ceacam1−/− mice vs. 1.66 ± 0.45 for WT mice (p < 0.01). Higher kidney and pancreas uptake/retention in Ceacam1−/− was also evident, and the excretion of [18F]FTO into the duodenum was observed for both WT and Ceacam1−/− mice starting at 10 min. This study suggests that the administration of [18F]FTO as a marker of fatty acid uptake and retention may be an important tool in analyzing the effect of NAFLD on lipid dysregulation in the heart.
Design Approach for Pattern-Reconfigurable Patch Antenna Without Extra Feeding Networks

In this communication, an efficient approach with multiple loading techniques is proposed to design a low profile, single-fed, pattern reconfigurable patch antenna with broadside and dual-beam radiation patterns. Initially, a transmission-line model is developed to theoretically investigate the resonant frequency of a rectangular patch antenna with radiation efficiency ( $\eta _{r}$ ) into consideration as well. It is revealed that the frequency overlap in the two states without significantly sacrificing $\eta _{r}$ can be achieved by properly loading shorting pins and open-ended stubs. Besides, the two center-loaded elements, i.e., a shunt capacitor and a series inductor, are also studied for demonstration of their unique effects on impedance matching for both states or operating modes. Then, a design guideline is summarized based on the theoretical analysis. Following the developed guideline, two examples working at the same operating frequency of 2.45 GHz are designed, fabricated, and tested. Measured gains of 9.6 (8.7) and 5.6 (5.3 dBi) of antenna example A (example B) are obtained for broadside and dual-beam modes, respectively. The measured and simulated results are observed in good agreement, thereby demonstrating the validity of the proposed scheme. The merits of low profile, high gain, and no need of extra feeding networks make the proposed antennas good candidates for modern communication systems.