Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of Evidence-Based Disease Self-Management Programs in a Rural Region: Leveraging and Linking Community and Health Care System Assets

Context Rural populations experience both a higher prevalence of and risk for premature death from chronic conditions than do their urban counterparts. Yet barriers to implement community-based chronic disease self-management programs persist. Program The Living Well program, a multi-sector collaboration between a rural health care system and a network of community-based organizations, has offered the 6-week evidence-based Chronic Disease Self-Management and Diabetes Self-Management workshops since 2017. The program was a response to a quality improvement initiative to improve hypertension and diabetes outcomes throughout the health care system. Implementation Using the rapid cycling quality improvement process, Living Well developed a self-management program recruitment, referral, and coordinating office for a six-county region. Through continuous capacity-building efforts with community partners, as well as leveraging key health care system assets such as the electronic health record and provider detailing, program reach and adoption was increased. Evaluation The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework was used for the process evaluation. During 3 years, more than 750 individuals engaged with the program, with nearly 600 completing a workshop. The region saw increased engagement by primary care clinicians to refer, and structural changes were embedded into the health care system to facilitate clinic–community partnerships. Discussion A coordinated, multi-sector approach is necessary to develop solutions to complex, chronic health problems. A regional coordinating hub is an effective strategy for implementing community-based programs in rural areas. However, low health care system engagement and fragmented funding remain as barriers to optimal implementation.
Exploring Interrelations Between Person-Centered Care and Quality of Life Following a Transition Into Long-Term Residential Care: A Meta-Ethnography

Abstract Background and Objectives Globally, a culture change in long-term residential care (LTRC) moving toward person-centered care (PCC) has occurred in an attempt to improve resident quality of life (QoL). However, a clear understanding of how different aspects contributing to a PCC approach are interrelated with resident QoL is still lacking. This review explores interrelating aspects between PCC and QoL in LTRC using qualitative synthesis. Research Design and Methods Ten relevant primary studies were identified from a search of interdisciplinary research databases providing qualitative information. Studies were critically reviewed for key themes and concepts by the research team. We used a meta-ethnography approach to inductively interpret findings across multiple studies and reinterpreted the information using a constructivist approach. Results We identified 5 second-order constructs sharing commonalities suggesting interrelations between PCC and QoL: (a) maintaining dignity, autonomy, and independence; (b) knowing the whole person; (c) creating a “homelike” environment; (d) establishing a caring culture; and (e) integrating families and nurturing internal and external relationships. Synthesis translation led to the following third-order constructs: (a) personalizing care within routines, (b) optimizing resident environments, and (c) giving residents a voice. Discussion and Implications There are many interrelating aspects of PCC and QoL following a permanent transition into LTRC, but successful implementation of PCC, which enhances QoL, presents challenges due to organizational routines and constraints. However, by prioritizing resident voices to include their needs and preferences in care, QoL can be supported following a transition into LTRC.
The characteristics of pain and dysesthesia in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy

Introduction/aims Patients with diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) may experience paresthesia, dysesthesia, and pain. We aimed to characterize the predictors, symptoms, somatosensory profile, neuropathy severity, and impact of painful DPN and dysesthetic DPN. Methods This study was a cross-sectional study of type 2 diabetes patients with confirmed DPN, diagnosed using widely accepted methods including a clinical examination, skin biopsy, and nerve conduction studies. Findings Of 126 patients with confirmed DPN, 52 had DPN without pain or dysesthesia, 21 had dysesthetic DPN, and 53 painful DPN. Patients with painful DPN were less physically active and suffered from more pain elsewhere than in the feet compared to patients with DPN without pain. Patients with painful DPN had the largest loss of small and large sensory fiber function, and there was a gradient of larger spatial distribution of sensory loss from DPN without dysesthesia/pain to dysesthetic DPN and to painful DPN. This could indicate that patients with dysesthesia had more severe neuropathy than patients without dysesthesia but less than patients with painful DPN. Patients with dysesthetic and painful DPN had higher symptom scores for depression and fatigue than those without dysesthesia/pain with no difference between dysesthetic and painful DPN. Conclusions There was a gradient of increasing sensory loss from DPN without dysesthesia/pain to dysesthetic DPN and to painful DPN. Pain and dysesthesia are common in DPN and both interfere with daily life. It is therefore important to consider dysesthesia when diagnosing and treating patients with neuropathy.
Lumbar Facet Joint Radiofrequency Denervation Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain: Enhanced Outcome Compared With Chemical Neurolysis (Ethyl Alcohol 95% or Glycerol 20%)

Background It was hypothesized that radiofrequency denervation (RFD) of lumbar facet joints is associated with superior pain abolishment and less complications than chemical neurolysis (with ethyl alcohol or glycerol) in patients with chronic facet joint arthropathy. Methods For this prospective cohort study, adult patients with chronic lumbar facet joint arthropathy were prospectively enrolled between 2017 and 2019. The following groups were compared before the intervention and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after the intervention: RFD, chemical neurolysis with ethyl alcohol 95% (EA-95), or glycerol 20% (Gly-20). Outcome parameters included the Core Outcome Measures Index for the back (COMI-back), World Health Organization (WHO) pain ladder level, and visual analog scale (VAS). P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results A total of 95 patients with a mean age of 63.7 years were included. Among them, 30 patients underwent RFD, 30 patients were treated with EA-95, and 35 individuals were treated with Gly-20. After 6 weeks, RFD patients had significantly lower VAS scores compared with the EA-95 group. After 6 months, both VAS and COMI were significantly lower in RFD patients than in the Gly-20 group. Twelve months after intervention, VAS scores were significantly lower in the RFD group compared with the Gly-20 group. Conclusions This study reveals that RFD is associated with improved pain relief and quality of life compared with chemical neurolysis for facet joint-related chronic lower back pain and should be considered as the treatment of choice in patients with chronic low back pain due to facet joint arthropathy. Clinical Relevance The current study provides information that may improve clinical decision making in the treatment of chronic lumbar facet joint arthropathy and to appropriately counsel such patients about expected outcomes.
“Can You Hear Me Now … ?” What the New Physical Education Acoustic Standard Means to You and Your Students

The purpose of this article is to introduce the new “Acoustic Standard for Physical Education Teaching Environments ANSI/ASA S12.60-2019/Part 4” and share the research evidence that formed the basis for developing this physical education-specific standard, provide an overview of how the standard was developed, and offer practical suggestions for physical educators in how this standard can be used at times when school districts are planning the construction of new school buildings.
Doran's Being in Africa

| 61 Doran had very particular ways of doing almost everything: always all-in, always fulltilt. Exhibition-oriented research was among the activities he loved most in life, and Doran could become so set on packing as much into a day as possible that niceties like eating, finding a little shade during hottest hours, and slowing down to take a couple extra breaths were low priorities. Doran’s exhilaration was infectious, as was the sheer joy he took in simply being in Africa, with friends made at every turn. The laughing leitmotif of his famously lame jokes accompanied Doran’s eye for creative brilliance in the most mundane of circumstances—witness an extensive collection he acquired for the Fowler of hand-inscribed Ghanaian truck mud-flaps bearing pithy prose. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I took several trips with Doran to choose works for the Fowler-organized exhibition A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal.1 Doran had already visited Dakar a number of times for the West African Museums Program, of which his dearest friend Phil Ravenhill was founder, and along the way, Doran had amassed reverse-glass paintings. As was typical of his many-faceted abilities, he found the perfect strong-sided briefcase to transport such delicate works safely back to California. The problem was, a full briefcase of panes is fully painful to carry, especially while struggling to lift it into an overhead, pretending that the burden is so feather-light as to be immune to excess-baggage fees. Somehow, every time Doran and I traveled back from Senegal together, the arm-lengthening task fell to me. As he located such eye-catching works, other sides of Doran’s feet-on-the-ground methodology were at play. He tracked down and became fast friends with artists such as the late Mor Gueye, then doyen of Dakar’s many reverse-glass painters (Fig. 1). Mor was deeply devoted to the Mouride Sufi Way and painted countless images of Sheikh Amadu Bamba, its founding saint. After an introduction by Doran, Polly and I worked closely with Mor, featuring many of his vibrant paintings in A Saint in the City and bringing him to Los Angeles (with two other Senegalese artists) for
Research on semantic segmentation method of urban streetscape image based on deep learning

In computer vision technology, semantic segmentation technology occupies a very important area, which is widely used in driverless and other fields. Semantic segmentation of urban streetscape image is a difficult task, improving segmentation accuracy has been one of the ultimate goal for a long time. There are some problems in segmentation accuracy, including insufficient access to context information and the dim segmentation results at the edge of different objects. Here, based on the full convolution neural network (FCN) in deep learning, we select duel attention network (DANet)1 as our baseline, which introduces attention mechanism to detect context information and its mIoU on Cityscapes reaches 0.646 and pixAcc reaches 0.941. Besides, we try to get richer multiscale context information by replacing the position attention module (PAM) with compact position attention module (CPAM) . In addition, we use a loss function based on distance to edge and the number of new pixels to adjust the imbalance between positive and negative samples. Finally, compared to the baseline, the former figure rises 1.5 percent and the latter rises 1.8 percent. The accuracy of semantic edge segmentation is improved.
Analysis and research on the change of characteristic parameters with age based on PPG signal

The most important uncontrollable factor in the decrease of blood vessel elasticity is aging. Therefore, if the deterioration of blood vessel function can be detected early, it will play an important role in the prevention of various cardiovascular diseases. This paper aims to find the characteristic parameters of pulse wave waveforms that are highly correlated with cardiovascular diseases and provide early warning for possible cardiovascular diseases. In this paper, the pulse waves of 6 healthy volunteers of different ages were collected, 100 samples were collected for each age, and the cardiovascular characteristic parameters of each sample were extracted. In order to overcome the instability of the pulse waveform during the acquisition of a single sample, this paper proposes a multi-waveform superimposition average processing method based on edge detection. This method separates the collected samples individually, selects excellent one-week waveforms for fusion, and then uses the fused average waveform to extract feature parameters, and finally calculates the average and standard deviation of each sample feature parameter at each age stage. So as to analyze the changes of PPG characteristic parameters in different age groups. The experimental results show that the inflow time, the inflow time index, the outflow time index, the ratio of inflow time to outflow time vary with age, and there is a strong correlation, while outflow time, reflection parameters, main wave and dicrotic wave time difference is not particularly sensitive to changes in age.
A holistic assessment of discolouration processes in water distribution networks

Abstract Reducing discolouration events in aging water supply networks is a major challenge facing water utilities worldwide as they are required to comply with increasingly stringent water quality regulations in a proactive and cost-effective manner. Emerging control methods for dynamic reconfiguration of network topologies could reduce the risk of discolouration by regulating hydrodynamic conditions to facilitate the implementation of self-cleaning networks. This review paper provides a holistic assessment of mechanisms and pathways which govern discolouration processes, associated models and the impact of system hydraulics so that control rules can be formulated. The possible role of biofilms in conditioning the wall-bound cohesive layers is identified and methods for their effective removal are discussed. The information presented identifies key variables and research gaps to facilitate the development of near real-time hydraulic and network topology control for the long-term and proactive management of discolouration risk.
Underground target detection and location estimation based on scattering curve feature recognition network

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a non-destructive detection method, which is widely used in shallow underground target detection. The development of machine learning and artificial intelligence technology has promoted the development of GPR data processing at the aspect of automatic and intelligent. This paper proposes a neural network for recognizing the characteristics of underground targets scattering curve from GPR B-scan data. Firstly, GPR B-scan echo data is preprocessed in three steps: data normalization, data standardization and sample division to product samples. Secondly, a new neural network is designed to identify the characteristic points of scattering curve in three adjacent A-scan echo data. According to characteristic point categories, underground targets location and depth can be obtained by adopting the corresponding relationship between time delay and depth. Compared with the existing methods, this method has the advantages of automation, rapid processing and no need for expert decision-making. Simulation and on-site data processing experiments are carried out and its ability on accuracy and higher position estimation accuracy for incomplete data is verified.
Active quenching circuit with adjustable reverse bias voltage for single photon avalanche diodes arrays

In this paper, a quenching circuit architecture, where the reverse bias voltage is adjustable, was proposed to deal with the non-uniform breakdown voltages of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) linear arrays. A global resistor string digital-to-analog converter (DAC) was applied in this architecture to provide an optional potential for the anode of SPAD. Adjusting the anode voltage of SPAD according to its breakdown voltage can guarantee each detector in the array with similar excess bias voltage. The bias voltage of each pixel is adjustable from 0 to 2V with the step length of 62.5mV. Also, based on the reverse bias voltage regulation circuit, a novel active quenching circuit was designed, which can quickly quench the avalanche process, and simulated in the 1×128 SPAD readout circuit for further verification. The SPAD array was fabricated in SiC technology and the quenching and readout circuit was fabricated in TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The whole 1×128 SiC SPAD arrays and circuits were packaged by gold wire bonding. The measurements show that the SPAD array can realize avalanche detection and quenching, moreover the dark count uniformity of array SPADs can be significantly improved.
Characteristics Analysis of Segmental Rotor Type 3-Phase SRMs

In this study, two types of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) with segmental rotors are presented in detail. The first is a 6/5 segmental rotor type, whereas the second is a 12/8 segmental rotor type. Both motor types have the same stator, rotor, and winding configurations. The stator is constructed with special stator poles, namely, exclusively designed exciting and auxiliary poles. The rotor is constructed from a series of discrete segments, each of which is embedded into the nonmagnetic isolator. The windings are only wound on the exciting poles, and no winding is wound on the auxiliary poles. Given these configurations, short flux paths and high flux-linkage utilization rate are achieved in the proposed motors, which may reduce the magnetomotive force requirement and increase the electrical utilization of a machine. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed motors, their characteristics, such as magnetic flux distribution, flux-linkage, torque, radial force, and efficiency, are analyzed and compared with those of a conventional 12/8 SRM. Meanwhile, two prototypes, one for each proposed segmental rotor type, are also designed and manufactured. Finally, the validity of the proposed motors is further verified by test results.
Arsenic Transformation in Soil-Rice System Affected by Iron-Oxidizing Strain (Ochrobactrum sp.) and Related Soil Metabolomics Analysis

Iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) could oxidize Fe(II) and mediate biomineralization, which provides the possibility for its potential application in arsenic (As) remediation. In the present study, a strain named Ochrobactrum EEELCW01 isolated previously, was inoculated into paddy soils to investigate the effect of FeOB inoculation on the As migration and transformation in paddy soils. The results showed that inoculation of Ochrobactrum sp. increased the proportion of As in iron-aluminum oxide binding fraction, which reduced the As bioavailability in paddy soils and effectively reduced the As accumulation in rice tissues. Moreover, the inoculation of iron oxidizing bacteria increased the abundance of KD4-96, Pedosphaeraceae and other bacteria in the soils, which could reduce the As toxicity in the soil through biotransformation. The abundance of metabolites such as carnosine, MG (0:0/14:0/0:0) and pantetheine 4’-phosphate increased in rhizosphere soils inoculated with FeOB, which indicated that the defense ability of soil-microorganism-plant system against peroxidation caused by As was enhanced. This study proved that FeOB have the potential application in remediation of As pollution in paddy soil, FeOB promotes the formation of iron oxide in paddy soil, and then adsorbed and coprecipitated with arsenic. On the other hand, the inoculation of Ochrobactrum sp. change soil microbial community structure and soil metabolism, increase the abundance of FeOB in soil, promote the biotransformation process of As in soil, and enhance the resistance of soil to peroxide pollution (As pollution).
Editorial: Red Blood Cell Vascular Adhesion and Deformability, Volume II

Red blood cells (RBCs) are highly specialized cells that carry respiratory gases (McMahon et al.). During circulation, erythrocytes are subjected to shear stress caused by blood flow and extreme physical restrictions, especially when pushed through the narrow capillaries and sinuses of the spleen (Yedgar et al., 2002; Li et al., 2021; Van Cromvoirt et al., 2021). RBC has unique flowaffecting properties that play a major role in hemodynamics, and their normal function is essential for adequate blood flow and tissue perfusion in large and small blood vessels (Yedgar et al., 2002; Barshtein et al., 2018b). These features include the deformability of RBCs (Lu M. et al.; Atwell et al.; Barshtein et al.; Hsu et al.) and their ability to adhere (Lu M. et al.) to the endothelial cells lining the vascular system. Under normal conditions, RBCs are entirely deformable, and their adhesion is negligible (Yedgar et al., 2002; Barshtein et al., 2018b). However, under numerous pathological conditions (Lu M. et al.; Atwell et al.; Hsu et al.) and during cold storage in the blood bank (Barshtein et al.), the rigidity and adhesion of RBCs increase, which contributes to impaired flow behavior. The deformability of RBCs is predominantly modulated by the erythrocyte shape, its membrane structure/composition (Barshtein et al.; Lu D. et al.; Hsu et al.), and the cytosol content (McMahon et al.). Herewith, RBC adhesion to endothelial cells (EC) depends on external membrane composition (Koshkaryev et al., 2009; Colin et al., 2014) and extracellular medium content (Barshtein et al.). This research topic contains articles devoted to biophysical (Barshtein et al.; Lu M. et al.; Atwell et al.), biochemical (Lu D. et al.; McMahon et al.), and physiological (McMahon et al.; Lu D. et al.; Atwell et al.; Hsu et al.; Sun et al.) aspects of RBC flow-affecting properties, as well as the role of these features in blood microcirculation. In addition, the effect of various pathologies (Lu M. et al.; Atwell et al.; Sun et al.) and in-vitro aging (Barshtein et al.) on the features under consideration are discussed here. The authors pay special attention to the deformability and adhesion of RBC characteristics for two types of hemoglobinopathies; sickle anemia (Lu M. et al.; Lu D. et al.) and thalassemia (Lu D. et al.).
Photovoltaic Fed Flyback Converters using Improved Perturb and Observe Algorithm

The solar energy is widely available all over the world. Nowadays electricity has become part and parcel of our life. As the consumption of electricity increases progressively, it is necessary to switch over to renewable energy resources. This paper aims at providing steady power to the load connected to the grid using Maximum power point tracking algorithm (MPPT) based on Improved Perturb and Observe method. This method provides an efficient way of improving the steady power supplied to the load. The dc power from the PV module is converted into AC power using highly isolated fly back converters and is then supplied to the grid connected load. The solar irradiance may not remain constant around the clock. In order keep track of maximum power produced by the PV module and to obtain the modifiable step size, the improved P&O technique is adopted. This technique also features in improving the accuracy and efficiency in an infinitesimal way.