Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments for disease severity and quality of life in patients with atopic dermatitis: a systematic review of English and Chinese literature

Background Many patient-reported outcome (PRO) on disease severity quality of life (QOL) have been developed for atopic dermatitis (AD) patients. However, none of them on the reliability and validity of the instruments was sufficient for their application in clinical studies. The objective of this study is to identify and assess the quality of recently developed PROs for disease severity and QOL in English and Chinese in AD patients. Methods We conducted a systematic review of PROs for disease severity and QOL for AD from PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and ERIC (English literatures), and CNKI and Wanfang Data (Chinese literatures) from September 2010 to December 2021 with string including “atopic dermatitis” and “scaling”. All studies were screened by 2 reviewers. After being removed duplications, the studies developed the instruments for the AD patients, were reported by patients, and assessing the disease severity or QOL were included. Results Twenty-six instruments were retrieved. Three single-item Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and 8 multidimensional instruments assessing disease severity and 15 assessing QOL were found to be originally developed in English (n=23) or Chinese (n=3). After full assessment on the reliability and validity, 3 NRS and 9 multidimensional instruments were recommended. The 3 NRS were Peak Pruritus/Itch NRS, Skin Pain NRS and Sleep Disturbance (SD) NRS. The multidimensional instruments for disease severity included the Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), the patient oriented-SCORAD (PO-SCORAD), and Atopic Dermatitis Symptom Score (ADSS), and the instruments for QOLs included Infant’s Dermatology Quality of Life Index (IDQOL), Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI), Atopic Dermatitis Control Tool (ADCT), PROMIS® Itch Questionnaire Mood and Sleep (PIQ-MS), PROMIS-Sleep Disturbance (PROMIS-SD), and PROMIS-Sleep-Related Impairment (PROMIS-SRI) for QOL. However, none of the Chinese PROs either originally developed or adapted were fully validated. Discussion Single-item NRS is a complement to multidimensional PROs in assessing the disease severity of AD. Quality of these instruments vary greatly and only a few instruments that meet the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) standards are recommended. Therefore, standardization of PROs is essential for developing new instruments, and for adapting a PRO in other populations with different culture and languages.
An Analysis of the Error Associated to Single and Double Exponential Approximations of Theoretical Poroelastic Models

The temporal evolutions of displacements, strains, stresses, and fluid pressure in a poroelastic material under sustained compression are theoretically expressed as sums of an infinite number of exponentials. However, estimation of an infinite number of time constants is impractical in experimental settings. In the past, empirical models containing a finite number of exponentials have been proposed and used to approximate the theoretical poroelastic models. At the present time, however, the degree of error associated with such approximations is unclear. In this paper, we present an analysis of the error encountered when approximating a poroelastic model containing an infinite number of exponentials with a single or double exponential model. As a testing platform, the presented error analysis is applied to the estimation of effective Poisson’s ratio (EPR) and fluid pressure in a uniform cylindrical poroelastic sample and a cylindrical poroelastic sample containing an inclusion under stress relaxation. Our results show that, when the infinite number of exponentials in the theoretical models are approximated with finite number of exponentials, significant error is invoked only in the first few time samples of the EPR and fluid pressure, while the error is negligible for the remaining time samples. We also show that, when estimating clinically relevant mechanical parameters such as Poisson’s ratio or the product of aggregate modulus and interstitial permeability, such approximation invokes small error (<3%) in comparison to the general model with infinite number of exponentials. Therefore, such approximation may be acceptable in techniques aiming at reconstructing mechanical parameters from poroelastographic data.
Sickness Presenteeism among Employees Having Workplace Conflicts—Results from Pooled Analyses in Latvia

The study’s objective was to investigate the associations between workplace conflicts and self-reported sickness presenteeism defined as going to work while being ill. Cross-sectional survey data pooled from four national surveys in years 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2018 with a study sample of 6368 employees (mean age 42.9 years and 52.9% females) were used. Respondents were randomly drawn from different regions and industries; therefore, the sample is representative of the working population of Latvia. The computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) method was used to collect data at respondents’ places of residence. The associations between conflicts in the workplace and presenteeism were analyzed by using binomial logistic regression and calculated as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusted (aOR) for gender, age, education, and survey year. On average, 11% of respondents reported sickness presenteeism during the last year. The odds of presenteeism significantly increased for all types of workplace conflicts, but most for conflicts with managers (OR = 2.84). The odds of presenteeism doubled for those reporting conflicts with other employees (OR = 2.19) and conflicts with customers (OR = 1.85). The odds of sickness presenteeism were significantly higher if the workplace conflicts occurred often (seven times for conflicts between managers and employees, and four times for conflicts with customers) and with other employees. Presenteeism frequency increased more than three times if respondents had more than two types of conflict at work. The results of this study show that having any type of conflict in the workplace significantly increases the frequency of sickness presenteeism, especially when conflicts are frequent or an employee has more types of conflicts in the workplace. The study results justify the need to implement targeted and effective workplace conflict management measures at the organizational level to decrease sickness presenteeism.
Efficacy and Challenges in the Treatment of Diastasis Recti Abdominis—A Scoping Review on the Current Trends and Future Perspectives

Diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) is more prevalent in women during pregnancy and postpartum. However, there is a lack of awareness regarding this condition among women. The prevalence of DRA is high in late pregnancy and reduces during postpartum. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the treatment strategies for DRA and to discuss the significance of the technology towards better diagnosis and treatment. This work investigated 77 research articles published in the recognized research databases. The study aims to analyze the diagnostic and treatment procedures and the role of technology within them. The management strategy for DRA can either be conservative or surgical. Exercise therapy has been shown to improve functional impairments. These exercises focus on recruiting the abdominal muscles. Electromyography and Ultrasound imaging have been employed as useful tools in assessing the abdominal muscles effectively. This study has examined the treatment methods for DRA to obtain a better understanding of the existing methods. Further investigation and experimentation into therapeutic exercises is strongly recommended to identify the best set of exercises for a faster resolution. Further studies regarding the role of technology to assess therapeutic exercises would be worthwhile.
Finite-State Machine for Level-Ground Walking Control of an Ankle-Foot Orthosis

- This paper presents a control algorithm for an active ankle-foot orthosis that provides level-ground walking assistance with adaptable control parameters. Instead of the impedance-control usually used in lower-limb assistive devices, an admittance control is used, and the control parameters are adapted with respect to gait events detected by a finite-state machine based on foot pressure sensors. In this work, the state machine can not only detect the various phases of the walking cycle but also undesirable events such as an unexpected lifting of the foot, reversing or even the user's intent to stop. It selects the best parameters that will allow a safe control of the orthosis. The control system was implemented and evaluated on a single subject. The ability of the device to provide appropriate functionality (kinematics and kinetics) during ground-walking is compared to those of a healthy subject. Results from tests indicates that the orthosis can provide desirable level-ground walking behavior.
Partial Point Cloud Registration With Deep Local Feature

How to accurately register partial point cloud still remains a challenging task, because of its irregular and unordered structure in a non-Euclidean space, noise, outliers, and other unfavorable factors. In this article, an effective partial point cloud registration network is proposed by devising a two-stage deep local feature extraction process and an outlier filtering strategy. To be specific, on the one hand, to effectively capture geometric interdependency in the low-level space, a local attention feature extraction module is explored to extract local contextual attention features by highlighting different attention weights on neighborhoods. On the other hand, in the local feature aggregation module, two position encoding blocks are applied to increase the receptive field of each point in the high-level space. Of these, an attentive pooling can automatically learn important local features to alleviate the possible information loss. Furthermore, to derive the weight of the putative correspondence, an outlier filtering module is designed by consisting of point context normalization block, differentiable pooling layer, and differentiable unpooling layer. Moreover, in order to enhance robustness, a weighting point cloud registration model is formulated to alleviate outliers by considering the contribution of each correspondence. Experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate that the proposed approach is competitive to several state-of-the-art algorithms.
Feature Selection of The Anomaly Network Intrusion Detection Based on Restoration Particle Swarm Optimization

: Intrusion detection systems are vital for detecting networking attacks due to their ability to analyze network data and find different types of attacks. The high-dimensional internet data leads to feature selection becoming a fundamental process in network intrusion detection systems. The current approaches are insufficient to determine the most effective features in the network data due to the nature of intrusion attacks appearance compared to the normal data. Moreover, the wrapper feature selection methods suffer from the search time complexity such as the standard PSO algorithm for feature selection. The standard Particle Swarms Optimization (PSO) algorithm suffers from the stagnation effect in local optima. This paper proposes a new wrapper feature selection model called Restoration Particle Swarms Optimization (RPSO) to select highly relevant feature data taking into consideration the limitation of the premature convergence between the particles which results in a stagnation problem during the iteration for the optimal features. Moreover, we utilize the randomness value to overcome the stagnation problem, reduce data volume and decrease the processing time. The Random Forest algorithm uses to classify the feature selected with our solution. As a result, we consider the NSL-KDD benchmark dataset to evaluate the proposed solution. The experiments show that the performance evaluation achieves high results in general accuracy (85%) compared to standard PSO up to 83.86%. Additionally, the results show that the proposed solution increased the detecting rate of low distributing classes in the training data up to (521 classes) compared with standard PSO by (79 classes).
Beyond SMARCB1 Loss: Recent Insights into the Pathobiology of Epithelioid Sarcoma

Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) is a very rare and aggressive mesenchymal tumor of unclear origin and uncertain lineage characterized by a prevalent epithelioid morphology. The only recurrent genetic alteration reported in ES as yet is the functional inactivation of SMARCB1 (SWI/SNF-related matrix-associated actin-dependent regulator of chromatin subfamily B member 1), a key component of the SWI/SNF (SWItch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable) chromatin remodeling complexes. How SMARCB1 deficiency dictates the clinicopathological characteristics of ES and what other molecular defects concur to its malignant progression is still poorly understood. This review summarizes the recent findings about ES pathobiology, including defects in chromatin remodeling and other signaling pathways and their role as therapeutic vulnerabilities.
The Influence of Weather and Climate Variability on Groundwater Quality in Zanzibar

Climate change and variability have been inducing a broad spectrum of impacts on the environment and natural resources including groundwater resources. The study aimed at assessing the influence of weather, climate variability, and changes on the quality of groundwater resources in Zanzibar. The study used the climate datasets including rainfall (RF), Maximum and Minimum Temperature (T max and T min ), the records acquired from Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) Zanzibar office for 30 (1989-2019) and 10 (2010-2019) years periods. Also, the Zanzibar Water Authority (ZAWA) monthly records of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Electrical Conductivity (EC), and Ground Water Temperature (GWT) were used. Interpolation tech-niques were used for controlling outliers and missing datasets. Indeed, correlation, trend, and time series analyses were used to show the relationship between climate and water quality parameters. However, simple statistical analyses including mean, percentage changes, and contributions to the annual and seasonal mean were calculated. Moreover, t and paired t- tests were used to show the significant changes in the mean of the variables for two defined periods of 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 at p ≤ 0.05. Results revealed that seasonal variability of groundwater quality from March to May (MAM) has shown a significant change in trends ranging from 0.1 to 2.8 mm/L/yr, between climate and water quality parameters in MAM and OND. Besides, the paired correlation has shown significant changes in all parameters except the rainfall. Conclusively, the study has shown a strong influence of climate variability on the quality of groundwater in Zanzibar, and calls for more studies to extrapolate these results throughout Tanzania.
Artificial Intelligence in a Christian Perspective of Humanity and Personhood

This article examines the notion of humanity and personhood in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the Christian perspective. In general view, humanity is the human race collectively, while personhood is the state or fact of being a person, while for the Christian, personhood is an exhibition of the unity of the spiritual and corporeal in human existence that represents an essential characteristic of a human being. The concept is rooted in the Book of Genesis chapters one and two where God created man in His Image (Imago Dei) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. AI on the other hand is a machine, but not a mere machine, since it has a purpose like a human being and also can evolve autonomously and unimaginably when it plugs into a network. Realizing this fact leaves a question of whether AI could hypothetically have personhood in the future, or if it already has since the beginning of its creation, even if it is only a minimal version of personhood. This exploration shows criteria of minimal personhood qualities equal to humanity according to the Christian perspective, through the literature study of the church fathers' writings about the body, soul, free-will, and the possibility of the personhood of AI. From the Christian perspective, the current available AIs do not meet the minimal criteria of personhood. If hypothetically there will be an AI that can meet a few of the criteria, the Christian perspective sees that AI cannot supersede the image of God in which human beings are created.
Inspection Tool for Flexible Manufacturing System

The capability to impact quick changeover on an assembling line, starting with one item then onto the next, is a key essential for expanded flexibility. The requirement for nonstop product changeovers and the creation of slighter cluster sizes are getting more important. Furthermore, production lines are ordinarily made up of machines from diverse makers. In the occasion of an item changeover, numerous distinctive settings must be made at these machines. This undertaking describes a set of "configuration for changeover" decides that have been determined from activity exploration, completed inside a mixed bag of segments. Automatic arrangement offers extensive potential for upgrading manufacturing methods and reduced production cost. The research will also investigate the state of the art technologies that can support rapid changeover automation.
Knowledge Mobilization in Agile Information Systems Projects: A Literature Analysis

This study focuses on how knowledge is mobilized in agile information systems (IS) projects. One crucial success factor of those projects is to mobilize knowledge through different knowledge management processes. It is vital to establish efficient knowledge management (KM) processes to generate a knowledge culture based on transparency and communication. Communication channels, digital tools, and platforms are essential for establishing a KM infrastructure supporting the knowledge work of the project organization. Thus, each IS implementation team should maintain a knowledge base and a knowledge potential at some level. However, this is not always the case. We conducted a literature review to survey the extant research on the role of KM in agile system development projects. The agile approach is often associated with the networking model and tacit knowledge. The findings indicate that the agile approach is supposed to promote KM. While tacit knowledge is rooted in the analogue process of continuous actions and informal communication, explicit knowledge is captured in digital records of documentation and databases. In KM, the personalization model (behavioural, networking) and the codification (technocratic, repository) model is central. The choice of system development method (agile versus plan-driven) influences how knowledge is mobilized in the project organization. An agile approach heavily relies on informal communication, tacit knowledge sharing, and light documentation. In contrast, the plan-driven methods such as the waterfall approach generate more explicit knowledge through documentation. Communities of practice are important structures for transforming from plan-driven to agile approaches. We present a framework showing specific challenges the literature identifies concerning the efficient mobilization of knowledge in the agile context. For large-scale agile projects, informal coordination mechanisms were important. This study identifies several measures for overcoming barriers and risks for knowledge sharing in the agile context.
Comparisons of Age-at-Death Distributions among Extinct Hominins and Extant Nonhuman Primates Indicate Normal Mortality

Most modern mammalian populations exhibit higher mortality at both ends of the age-at-death distribution. Yet our hominin ancestors reportedly do not exhibit this same distribution, with explanations ranging from predation to taphonomic causes. This paper compares mortality distributions of extant nonhuman primates to fossil hominins by applying the D0-14/D age-at-death estimation method. Using subadult and adult counts for four extinct hominin taxa, we fitted the hominin data to a modern human mortality curve, resulting in hypothetical mortality distributions. With the expectation that fossil hominin taxa likely fall somewhere on the continuum of nonhuman primate to human life histories, we compared the distributions to those of five extant catarrhine primate populations. Subadult mortality amongst the extinct hominin groups was typically within the range of that of extant nonhuman primate groups, and the previously reported high mortality amongst young and middle-aged adults in hominin assemblages may be explained by normal, multi-cause deaths.
Damage and retrofitting monitoring in reinforced concrete structures along with long-term strength and fatigue monitoring using embedded Lead Zirconate Titanate patches

This article aims at developing a generic system for the damage and retrofitting monitoring along with long-term strength and first-stage fatigue monitoring of reinforced concrete structures using embedded Lead Zirconate Titanate sensors in the form of concrete vibration sensors. The concrete vibration sensor is a ready-to-use sensor, and its unique packaging renders it very compatible for embedment in reinforced concrete structures. In addition to cost-effectiveness, the concrete vibration sensors are also characterized by excellent structure-compatibility and durability. In this article, both finite element method and experimental investigations have been employed to establish the feasibility of using curvature (second-order derivative) and other higher order derivatives of displacement mode shapes for damage detection and retrofitting assessment. The experiments are conducted on a real-life-sized reinforced concrete beam. The concrete vibration sensors embedded on the outer faces of the reinforced concrete beam are coupled to obtain the curvature and higher order mode shapes of the beam in pristine, damaged and retrofitted conditions. It is found that the curvature mode shape–based response of concrete vibration sensors can successfully identify the location of damage both numerically and experimentally. However, the third-order mode shape is unable to correctly identify the location of damage. Before introducing damage in the beam, the effect of long-term dynamic loading from Day 6 to Day 108 after casting of the reinforced concrete beam is also monitored. Both the global monitoring technique (in which flexural rigidity of the beam is monitored) and the local electro-mechanical impedance technique (where the equivalent stiffness identified by concrete vibration sensors is monitored) successfully detected the decreasing fatigue strength of the reinforced concrete beam. Degradation of the strength of reinforced concrete beam results due to the development of micro-cracks in the concrete because of the continuous vibrations (9.3 million load cycles) experienced by it via shaker. This is the first-of-its-kind proof-of-concept application of equivalent stiffness concept for monitoring curing of a large-sized reinforced concrete structure. It is also the first study on first-stage fatigue monitoring carried out before the ‘retrofitting-stage’ of the structure. Complete experimental investigations after the ‘retrofitting-stage’ covering all three stages of fatigue have been covered by the authors in their related publication.