Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heart Rate Lowering Significantly Increases Feasibility in Doppler Recording Blood Flow Velocity in Coronaries during Transthoracic Doppler Echocardiography

Background: Coronary blood flow Doppler recording by Transthoracic Doppler in convergent mode (E-Doppler TTE) might be further improved by lowering heart rate (HRL) down to <60 bpm, since low HR < 60 b/m causes a disproportional lengthening of the diastole, so the coronaries are still for a longer time, very much improving the Doppler signal/noise ratio. Methods: A group of 26 patients underwent E-Doppler TTE before and after HR lowering in four branches of the coronary tree, namely, the left main (LMCA); left anterior descending (LAD), subdivided into three segments: proximal, mid and distal; proximal left circumflex (LCx); and obtuse marginal (OM). Color and PW coronary Doppler signal was judged by two expert observers as undetectable (SCORE 1), weak or with clutter artifacts (SCORE 2), or well delineated (SCORE 3). In addition, local accelerated stenotic flow (AsF) was measured in the LAD before and after HRL. Results: Beta-blockers significantly decreased the mean HR from 76 ± 5 to 57 ± 6 bpm (p < 0.001). Before HRL, the Doppler quality was very poor in the proximal and mid-LAD segments (median score value = 1 in both), while in the distal LAD, it was significantly better but still suboptimal (median score value = 1.5, p = 0.009 vs. proximal and mid-LAD score). After HRL, blood flow Doppler recording in the three LAD segments was strikingly improved (median score value = 3, 3 and 3, p = ns), so the effect of HRL was more efficacious in the two more proximal LAD segments. In 10 patients undergoing coronary angiography (CA), no AsF as expression of transtenotic velocity was detected at baseline. After HRL, thanks to the better quality and length of color flow, ASF was detected in five patients while in five others, it was not in perfect agreement with CA (Spearman correlation coefficient = 1, p < 0.01). The color flow in the proximal LCx and OM was extremely poor at baseline (color flow length 0 and 0, median (interquartile range) mm, respectively) and improved considerably after HRL (color flow length 23 [13.5] and 25 [12.0] mm, respectively, p < 0.001). Conclusions: HRL greatly improved the success rate of blood flow Doppler recording in coronaries, not only in the LAD, but also in the LCx. Therefore, AsF for stenosis detection and coronary flow reserve assessment can have wider clinical applications. However, further studies with larger samples are needed to confirm these results.
Multiscale salient point-based retrieval of fracture cases

Fractures are common injuries, some complicated fractures may require a surgical intervention. When such an operation is planned it can be beneficial to have access to similar past cases including follow ups to compare, which method might be the most adapted one in a particular situation. At the orthopaedic service of the University hospitals of Geneva a database of past cases including pre- and post-operative images and case descriptions has been created over the past years with the goal to support clinical decision making. Images play an important role in the decision making process and the judgment of a fracture, but visual image content is currently not directly accessible for search. At the moment, search is mainly via a classification system of the fractures or in the patient record itself only by patient ID. In this paper we propose a solution that combines visual information from several images in a case to calculate similarity between cases and allow thus an access to visually similar cases. Such a system can complement the text- or classification-based search that has been used so far. In a preliminary study, we used pixel-grid-based salient-point features to build a first prototype of case-based visual retrieval of fracture cases. Cases belonging to different fracture classes were beforehand often confused due to the similar bone structures in the various images. In this article, a multi-scale approach is used in order to perform similarity measures at both large and small scales. When compared to the first prototype, the introduction of scale and spatial information allowed improving the performance of the system. Cases containing similar bone structures but with dissimilar fractures are generally ranked lower whereas more relevant cases are returned. The system can thus be expected to perform sufficiently well for use in clinical practice and particularly for teaching.
Estimation of the Mean of a Univariate Normal Distribution with Known Variance

We consider the estimation of the unknown mean "e" of a univariate normal distribution N("e", 1) given a single observation "x". We wish to obtain an estimator which is admissible and has good risk (and regret) properties. We first argue that the "usual" estimator "t" ("x") e "x" is not necessarily suitable. Next, we show that the traditional pretest estimator of the mean has many undesirable properties. Thus motivated, we suggest the Laplace estimator, based on a "neutral" prior for "e", and obtain its properties. Finally, we compare the Laplace estimator with a large class of (inadmissible) estimators and show that the risk properties of the Laplace estimator are close to those of the minimax regret estimator from this large class. Thus, the Laplace estimator has good risk (regret) properties as well. Questions of admissibility, risk and regret are reviewed in the appendix. Copyright Royal Economic Society 2002
Customized Cash Transfers: Financial Lives and Cash-Flow Preferences in Rural Kenya

We examine the preferences of low-income households in Kenya over the structure of unconditional cash transfers. We find, first, that most prefer lumpier transfers, and many prefer delayed receipt—unlike the structures typical of safety-net programs, but consistent with evidence on the financial challenges of poverty. Second, poverty itself affects preferences: a little more financial slack when deciding increases desired delay. Finally, financial slack pays back: some delay—aligning transfers better with the seasonal cycle—increases deliberation, income, and goal progress 1.5 years later
Screening for days to Flowering and Photo Insensitivity in Vigna mungo

Earliness and photo insensitivity is a crucial factor for accommodation of crops in different cropping systems across different agro ecological zones. In the current study we used a core set of 98 genotypes consisting of germplasm as well as released varieties of blackgram to screen it for its response to photoperiodism. Data on days to first flowering and days to fifty percent flowering (DFF) was noted for the individual lines in all the three seasons (Kharif, late kharif, and zaid). An absolute mean difference for days to flowering in all possible combinations and mean of all absolute mean differences were calculated. The core set of genotypes display a huge difference in days to flowering, and thus their differential response to photoperiodism. The set of genotypes were further categorized into early, medium and late flowering according to the mean number of days required for flowering. A total of 32 early, 21 medium, and 2 late flowering lines were identified and were common across both season and years. Similarly, 13 photoperiod insensitive and 8 photoperiod sensitive lines were identified for further validation and studies.
General non-stationary models for short-term and long-term fading channels

This paper discusses the use of stochastic differential equations to model signal envelope variations over large areas, which are subject to long-term fading effects from the transmitter to local areas, followed by short-term fading effects in local areas around the receiver. Based on first principles, we model the dynamics of the instantaneous power received of each multipath component, in the case of the short-term model, and power loss in dBs in the case of the long-term channel model using mean-reverting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. With these models at hand, explicit expressions for signal envelope distributions are derived. They include generalizations of Rayleigh, Rician, log-normal, etc., distributions to their time-varying analogs. From these computations the second order statistics of the received signal are obtained.
Particle image velocimetry studies on the swirling flow structure in the vortex gripper

In this article, particle image velocimetry was used to measure the two-dimensional flow field for vortex gripper. The vortex gripper was divided into two parts for respective research, including vortex cup and the gas film gap. In the part of vortex cup, the tangential velocity increases gradually, and the velocity decreases intensely in the vicinity of the vortex cup’s wall after it reaches maximum. In addition, the velocity decreases gradually with the increase of the gas film gap. In the part of gas film gap, the tangential velocity increases to maximum along the radial direction first; after the air flows into the gas film gap due to the viscous impedance, it decreases gradually. When the gas film gap’s thickness is smaller, the velocity almost decreases to zero at the external edge of the skirt. However, when the gas film gap increases to a certain thickness, the velocity does not decrease to zero, and the flow air still keeps a certain speed out of it. The velocity decreases gradually with the increase of the gas film gap. The radial velocity in the vortex cup and the gas film gap is of very small order of magnitude comparing with the average velocity and tangential velocity. The analysis of the Reynolds number shows that the flow in the vortex cup is the turbulent flow, and at the part of the gas film gap, the Reynolds number increases with the increase of the gas film gap, and the flow changes from the laminar flow to the turbulent flow. Through the particle image velocimetry experiment, the vortex gripper’s internal flow structure is studied. It is the theory support of the computational fluid dynamics simulation study for vortex gripper and the structure optimization in the future work.
Accurate flux vector splitting for shocks and shear layers

Abstract The advection upstream splitting method (AUSM) was recently developed by Liou and Steffen for accurate predictions of viscous flows. The special merits of AUSM compared to other upwind schemes are the low computational complexity and the low numerical diffusion. However, it is known that the original method also has several deficiencies. It locally produces pressure oscillations in the vicinity of shocks and in cases of adverse grid situations and flow alignment. In this paper a hybrid flux vector splitting scheme is proposed which switches from AUSM to van Leer at shock waves, ensuring a sharp and clean resolution of strong shocks. In order to achieve sufficient damping, a modified dissipative term is introduced, which prevents the scheme from being undamped as the Mach number approaches zero. Various modifications of the standard MUSCL implementations for second-order accuracy are proposed, which yield an accurate resolution of viscous shear layers without spurious oscillations. The ability of the improved flux vector splitting scheme is demonstrated by the computation of two-and three-dimensional viscous flows.
Whose security is it? Elitism and the global approach to maritime security in Africa

Abstract Africa’s marine environment and resources that lie beneath it are central to the continent’s sustainable development and actualising the ambitions set out by the African Union in its Agenda 2063, where the oceans are described as the frontier of Africa’s development. The continent’s maritime domain and resources are also attractive to foreign partners relying on its oceans to enhance their economic development and geostrategic interests. Serving the interests of all parties, especially the 38 coastal states and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and land-linked countries on the continent that benefit from the maritime sector, comes with challenges, some of which manifest as threats to the sustainable resource extraction and safety of those that use the maritime domain. We explored the literature, policy documents and maritime security reports database, together with our experiences as African maritime governance and security experts, to critically examine maritime security in Africa and unravel how extra-regional actors have securitised maritime threats. We show how the selective framing of what constitutes threats and associated resourcing of responses to counter them, often dictated by foreign interests, is an elite project that undermines a holistic notion of maritime security that would benefit the African people.
Physiological demands in simulated tennis matches and hitting tests take account of the translational and rotational kinetic energy ratio of the ball

Assessment of fatigue effect on hitting ability in tennis has been controversial in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between player fatigue and groundstroke type in tennis. We hypothesized that subjects with higher blood lactate concentration during play would apply heavier spin to the ball. We divided players into two groups based on their blood lactate concentration during a pre-measured hitting test (HIGH and LOW). Each group performed a simulated match-play protocol consisting of repeated running and hitting tests, which simulated a three-set match. Heart rate, percent of heart rate reserve, oxygen uptake, pulmonary ventilation, and respiratory exchange were measured. The distance between the ball's landing point and the target, and the ball's kinematics, were recorded during the hitting test between sets. We found no significant difference in ball kinetic energy between groups, but the HIGH group hit the ball with a greater ratio of rotational kinetic energy to total kinetic energy. However, the progression of the simulation protocol did not affect physiological responses (including blood lactate concentration) or hitting ability. Therefore, it is suggested that the type of groundstrokes used by players is one of the factors that should be considered when discussing fatigue in tennis.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Its Association With Neurodegenerative Disorders

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a highly prevalent macular condition that primarily affects the older population. It is the primary cause of blindness amongst the elderly population. It is an inflammatory disease that characteristically shows choroidal neovascularization and geographic atrophy. The exact pathomechanism of developing AMD is not known. However, certain factors such as increased age, smoking, genetic factors and certain environmental factors are usually associated with the development of the disease. AMD also involves oxidative stress-mediated destruction of retinal pigment epithelial cells and, consequently, that of retinal photoreceptors. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disorder involving the nervous system that usually affects people aged 65 and over. Both AMD and AD are age-related, degenerative conditions that have several similarities and share many of the same risk factors such as vascular conditions like arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure and obesity. It is believed that the early emergence of the clinical manifestations of AMD and AD may also be significantly influenced by oxidative stress and genetic polymorphism in complement factor H. A common pathogenic pathway between AD and AMD is quite likely. Amyloid-β is an aberrant protein that accumulates within the brains of Alzheimer's patients and appears as plaques on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These plaques are a pathognomonic sign of Alzheimer's disease. Similar to this, amyloid-β deposits are reported to build up beneath the retina of AMD patients, which appear as tiny clusters of protein-lipid substances known as drusen. It has also been found that individuals suffering from AMD exhibit an increased chance of developing AD than those with no AMD.
Deep Learning Technique-Enabled Web Application Firewall for the Detection of Web Attacks

New techniques and tactics are being used to gain unauthorized access to the web that harm, steal, and destroy information. Protecting the system from many threats such as DDoS, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, etc., is always a challenging issue. This research work makes a comparative analysis between normal HTTP traffic and attack traffic that identifies attack-indicating parameters and features. Different features of standard datasets ISCX, CISC, and CICDDoS were analyzed and attack and normal traffic were compared by taking different parameters into consideration. A layered architecture model for DDoS, XSS, and SQL injection attack detection was developed using a dataset collected from the simulation environment. In the long short-term memory (LSTM)-based layered architecture, the first layer was the DDoS detection model designed with an accuracy of 97.57% and the second was the XSS and SQL injection layer with an obtained accuracy of 89.34%. The higher rate of HTTP traffic was investigated first and filtered out, and then passed to the second layer. The web application firewall (WAF) adds an extra layer of security to the web application by providing application-level filtering that cannot be achieved by the traditional network firewall system.
Understanding Use Intention of mHealth Applications Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT-2) Model in China

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the healthcare industry, especially public health resources and resource allocation. With the change in people’s lifestyles and increased demand for medical and health care in the post-pandemic era, the Internet and home healthcare have rapidly developed. As an essential part of Internet healthcare, mobile health (mHealth) applications help to fundamentally address the lack of medical resources and meet people’s healthcare needs. In this mixed-method study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 users in China (mean age = 26.13, SD = 2.80, all born in China) during the pandemic, based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT-2) mode, and identified four dimensions of user needs in mHealth scenarios: convenience, control, trust, and emotionality. Based on the interview results, we adjusted the independent variables, deleted the hedonic motivation and the habit, and added the perceived trust and perceived risk as the variables. Using a structural equation model (SEM), we designed the questionnaire according to the qualitative results and collected data from 371 participants (above 18 years old, 43.9% male) online to examine the interrelationships these variables. The results show that performance expectancy (β = 0.40, p < 0.001), effort expectancy (β = 0.40, p < 0.001), social influence (β = 0.14, p < 0.05), facilitating condition (β = 0.15, p < 0.001), and perceived trust (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) had positive effects on use intention. Perceived risk (β = −0.31, p < 0.001) harmed use intention, and price value (β = 0.10, p > 0.5) had no significant effects on use intention. Finally, we discussed design and development guidelines that can enhance user experience of mHealth applications. This research combines the actual needs and the main factors affecting the use intention of users, solves the problems of low satisfaction of user experience, and provides better strategic suggestions for developing mHealth applications in the future.
The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Hermit Crab Diogenes edwardsii (Anomura: Diogenidae) and Phylogenetic Relationships within Infraorder Anomura

A complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) can provide important information for gene rearrangement, molecular evolution and phylogenetic analysis. Currently, only a few mitogenomes of hermit crabs (superfamily Paguridae) in the infraorder Anomura have been reported. This study reports the first complete mitogenome of the hermit crab Diogenes edwardsii assembled using high-throughput sequencing. The mitogenome of Diogenes edwardsii is 19,858 bp in length and comprises 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. There are 28 and six genes observed on the heavy and light strands, respectively. The genome composition was highly A + T biased (72.16%), and exhibited a negative AT-skew (−0.110) and positive GC-skew (0.233). Phylogenetic analyses based on the nucleotide dataset of 16 Anomura species indicated that D. edwardsii was closest related to Clibanarius infraspinatus in the same family, Diogenidae. Positive selection analysis showed that two residues located in cox1 and cox2 were identified as positively selected sites with high BEB value (>95%), indicating that these two genes are under positive selection pressure. This is the first complete mitogenome of the genus Diogenes, and this finding helps us to represent a new genomic resource for hermit crab species and provide data for further evolutionary status of Diogenidae in Anomura.
IMAPS: A High-Resolution, Echelle Spectrograph To Record Far-Ultraviolet Spectra Of Stars From Sounding Rockets

We have incorporated contemporary grating and detector technologies into the design of a new sounding rocket payload which consists of a slitless, objective grating spectrograph with no transmission elements in the opti-cal train (or detector). Built several years ago, this instrument has an effective collecting area of about 4 cm2 and can record spectra of point-like sources at a wavelength resolution of 0. 004Å (profile FWITM) and with a sample interval (pixel width) of 0. 002Å. It is designed to give continuous coverage over the wavelength range 950 < X < 1150A, a region of immense importance to our research on the interstellar medium. The instrument, called the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS), has flown on a Black Brant rocket and obtained a spectrum of superb quality on an early-type star, π Scorpii. Data obtained on this flight also demonstrated the excellent response of our imaging detector, which uses an electron-bombarded CCD to register individual photoevents.
Biomarkers associated with functional improvement after stroke rehabilitation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective This study aims to identify blood and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers that are correlated to the functional improvement of stroke patients after rehabilitation therapy, and provide ideas for the treatment and evaluation of stroke patients. Methods The PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched for articles published in the English language, from inception to December 8, 2022. Results A total of 9,810 independent records generated 50 high-quality randomized controlled trials on 119 biomarkers. Among these records, 37 articles were included for the meta-analysis (with a total of 2,567 stroke patients), and 101 peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were included for the qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis results revealed a moderate quality evidence that stroke rehabilitation significantly increased the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum. Furthermore, the low-quality evidence revealed that stroke rehabilitation significantly increased the concentration of serum noradrenaline (NE), peripheral blood superoxide dismutase (SOD), peripheral blood albumin (ALB), peripheral blood hemoglobin (HB), and peripheral blood catalase (CAT), but significantly decreased the concentration of serum endothelin (ET) and glutamate. In addition, the changes in concentration of these biomarkers were associated with significant improvements in post-stroke function. The serum BNDF suggests that this can be used as a biomarker for non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) therapy, and to predict the improvement of stroke patients. Conclusion The concentration of serum BNDF, NE, ET and glutamate, and peripheral blood SOD, ALB, HB and CAT may suggest the function improvement of stroke patients.