bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MANAJEMEN HUBUNGAN MASYARAKAT DI SEKOLAH / MADRASAH
Authors: Miasari Rahmalia Syifa , Julianti Tanti , Pangestu Andrean , Suprinanto Suprinanto
Published: February 2022

Ruang pendidikan dan masyarakat adalah iklim hidup yang tidak bisa dipisahkan. Sekolah adalah tempat untuk belajar, sedangkan iklim daerah setempat adalah tempat untuk konsekuensi dari proses pelatihan dan pertunjukan di sekolah. Apa dan bagaimana mewujudkannya di sekolah senantiasa dikaitkan dengan nilainya untuk lebih mengembangkan kehidupan dan kehidupan di kancah publik. Kelompok masyarakat sebagai salah satu pemilik sekolah menjunjung tinggi dan mengambil bagian dalam pengembangan lebih lanjut pengajaran di sekolah. Sekolah dan jaringan tetap berhubungan terus-menerus. Iklim edukatif adalah segala yang ada dan terjadi dalam interaksi instruktif, karena kumpulan materi atau iklim edukatif ikut serta dalam upaya membina diri. Untuk situasi ini, pelatihan para eksekutif berfokus pada iklim sebagai manusia, khususnya daerah setempat dalam memahami proses pengajaran yang berkualitas
Évaluation in vitro et in vivo des activités biologiques des extraits de propolis et pollen
Authors: Haimoud S. Ali , Allem R. , Djeffaland K. Benyahla , Lembarki N.E.
Published: February 2022

Les produits naturels et les métabolites secondaires possèdent des vertus thérapeutiques qui nécessitent des études plus approfondies sur leurs composants et leurs activités biologiques. C’est dans ce contexte que nous avons mené une étude qui avait comme objectifs : la détermination de la teneur en phénols totaux et en flavonoïdes et l’étude de l’activité antioxydante, antibactérienne et antispasmodique des extraits de propolis et pollen d’abeilles. Les teneurs les plus élevées (p < 0,05) en phénols totaux (59,41 ± 0,71 mg EAG/g) et flavonoïdes (6,37 ± 0,10 mg EC/g) ont été trouvées dans les extraits éthanoliques du pollen et de propolis respectivement. L’extrait aqueux de propolis montre un potentiel antioxydant plus élevé (p < 0,05) par rapport aux extraits testés avec les deux méthodes (test du DPPH et la méthode de FRAP). En revanche, avec la méthode du blanchissement de la β-carotène, l’extrait éthanolique de propolis exerce l’activité la plus élevée (84,49 ± 1,37 %). Les résultats de l’activité antibactérienne ont montré des diamètres des zones d’inhibition allant de 11,00 ± 0,14 jusqu’à 21,60 ± 0,28 mm. L’administration orale des extraits au dosage de 250 mg/kg PC permet de diminuer les crampes abdominales provoquées par l’acide acétique. La présente étude a montré que les sous-produits de la ruche contiennent des composants qui peuvent être utilisés dans la prévention de plusieurs infections bactériennes et exploités dans l’industrie alimentaire et pharmaceutique.
Systems neuroimmunology: a review of multiomics methodologies to characterize neuroimmunological interactions in spinal and cranial diseases
Authors: Zamanian Cameron , Bhandarkar Archis R. , Monie Dileep D. , Moinuddin FM , Vile Richard G. , Quiñones-Hinojosa Alfredo , Bydon Mohamad
Published: February 2022

Neuroimmunology plays a critical role in our understanding of the pathophysiological processes that underlie a variety of diseases treated by neurosurgeons, including degenerative disc disease (DDD), glioblastoma (GBM), aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), and others. Compared with traditional methods in neuroimmunology, which study one pathway or gene at a time, emerging multiomics methodologies allow for holistic interrogation of multiple immune-signaling pathways to test hypotheses and the effects of therapeutics at a systems level. In this review, the authors summarize key concepts for gathering and analyzing multiomics data so that neurosurgeons can contribute to the emerging field of systems neuroimmunology. Additionally, they describe 3 use cases, based on original research published by their group and others, that utilize transcriptomic, metabolomic, and proteomic analyses to study immune-signaling pathways in DDD, aSAH, and GBM. Through these use cases, techniques for performing machine learning and network-based analyses to generate new clinical insights from multiomics data are shared. The authors hope that neurosurgeons might use this review as a summary of common tools and principles in systems immunology to better engage in creating the immunotherapies of tomorrow.
Immunotherapeutic treatments for spinal and peripheral nerve tumors: a primer
Authors: Bryant Jean-Paul , Lu Victor M. , Govindarajan Vaidya , Perez-Roman Roberto J. , Levi Allan D.
Published: February 2022

OBJECTIVE

Spinal and peripheral nerve tumors are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality despite the current standard of care. Immunotherapy is an emerging therapeutic option to improve the prognoses of these tumors. Therefore, the authors sought to present an updated and unifying review on the use of immunotherapy in treating tumors of the spinal cord and peripheral nerves, including a discussion on mechanism of action, drug delivery, current treatment techniques, and preclinical and clinical studies.

METHODS

Current data in the literature regarding immunotherapy were collated and summarized. Targeted tumors included primary and secondary spinal tumors, as well as peripheral nerve tumors.

RESULTS

Four primary modalities of immunotherapy (CAR T cell, monoclonal antibody, viral, and cytokine) have been reported to target spine and peripheral nerve tumors. Of the primary spinal tumors, spinal cord astrocytomas had the most preclinical evidence supporting immunotherapy success with CAR T-cell therapy targeting the H3K27M mutation, whereas spinal schwannomas and ependymomas had the most evidence reported for monoclonal antibody therapy preclinically. Of the secondary spinal tumors, primary CNS lymphomas demonstrated some clinical response to immunotherapy, whereas multiple myeloma and bone tumor experiences with immunotherapy were largely limited to concept only. Within peripheral nerve tumors, the use of immunotherapy to treat neurofibromas in the setting of syndromes has been suggested in theory, and possible immunotherapeutic targets have been identified in malignant peripheral nerve tumors. To date, there have been 2 clinical trials involving spine tumors and 2 clinical trials involving peripheral nerve tumors that have reported results, all of which are promising but require validation.

CONCLUSIONS

Immunotherapy to treat spinal and peripheral nerve tumors has become an emerging area of research and interest. A large amount of preclinical data supporting the translation of this therapy into practice, aimed at ameliorating the poor prognoses of specific tumors, have been reported. Future clinical studies for translation will focus on the optimal therapy type and administration route to best target these tumors, which often preclude total surgical resection given their proximity to the neural and vascular elements of the spine.
Novel Bio-inspired Inverse Kinematics for Fault-Tolerant Multilegged Robots
Authors: Kumar Ashwin , Kothari Mihir Singh , Mitra Santanu
Published: February 2022

Abstract: Nature has the best design, which has evolved over millennia for sustainability. The current research aims to provide a generalized algorithm for multi-legged fault-tolerant walking robots with 3 degrees of freedom per leg. An inverse-kinematics-based model has been implemented for strategic foot placement. Animals walk over rough ground and move each leg separately, often falling in a non-standard gait. The present work allows a provision for the designed robot to move over uneven terrain in a controlled manner, using adaptive gaits while maintaining a constant hip height. One of the key features of the developed algorithm is the ability to adapt locomotion and continue functioning even if some legs are injured. An experimental study was carried out in order to validate the effectiveness and applicability of the current algorithm. As far as the present knowledge of the authors goes, there is no systematic study of developing a generalized algorithm for fault-tolerant multi-legged robots available in the open literature.
Electrical Transport and Current Conduction Mechanisms in ZnO/Si Heterojunction Diode
Authors: Benhaliliba M.
Published: February 2022

Abstract: The objective of this research is the relevant equations of electrical transport inside a junction device based on metallic oxides like zinc oxides retained on silicon substrate by spray pyrolysis process. Many characteristics, such as the heterojunction diode's non-ideal conduct, electronic conduction of electrons and gaps in the conduction and valence bands, charge carriers caught by trap centers, hopping conduction, and tunnel effect, are used in various conduction processes at electronic junctions. Poole-Frenkel (PF) emission, Schottky emissions, and trap aided tunneling are some of the other conduction mechanisms examined inside forward/reverse bias for ZnO/Si heterojunctions (TAT). This article also confirms, addresses, and elucidates the effect of temperature on the I-V properties of ZnO/Si.

https://ecee.colorado.edu/~bart/book/book/chapter3/ch3_9.htm
THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (AL2LC SCALE)
Authors: V. Grubor Jelena
Published: February 2022

The context of L2 learning (L2LC) is the most immediate learning environment for L2 learners, hence potentially influencing their L2 attitudes and linguistic behaviour. In this paper, we focused on an affective variable (students’ attitudes), and social (the classroom as a community of practice/CoP), but also cultural indirectly (students’ integration into their CoP). The main aim of the study was to explore the attitudes of two age and educational profile groups to the L2LC, and subsidiary to determine whether their evaluation of the L2LC is connected with the extent to which they are exposed to the L2 through its use as the language of instruction (L2LoI), and the age when they started learning the L2. The main administered instrument was the AL2LC scale, which showed good psychometric properties, and the gathered quantitative data were analysed in IBM SPSS 21. In a nutshell, the results show that the L2LC is one composite factor, closely connected with the frequency of use L2LoI, which gives rise to its actual employment in L2 classes. Secondary school students evaluated their overall L2LC better, and significant differences were found between the age and educational profile groups on individual components. In conclusion, further investigations are needed in order to analyse the L2LC in more detail, but within a broader concept of the L2 learning environment, including other sources of input learners are exposed to, as well as their relation to students’ L2 learning attitudes, and potentially achievement.
THE DENIED PREDICATE AND ITS APPEARANCE IN THE NOVEL DEAD AND ALIVE BY THE SERBIAN AUTHOR IVAN ZLATKOVIĆ
Authors: Simović Marija
Published: February 2022

This work will be about the denied predicate and its appearance in the novel Dead and Alive by the Serbian author Ivan Zlatkovic. It has been largely acknowledged in semantics that action sentences denote events, but we want to find out what happens when these sentences are denied. Precisely, we will check whether they denote only the states in that case. It is believed that a negative action phrase presents something that did not happen and that they introduce some sort of negative event. For this, we ask the question of whether it is possible that a negative sentence presents action and can denote an event. Some linguists including Kamp and Reyle (1993) believe that the negative sentences do not describe eventualities but denote facts to which a reference point in time normally cannot be assigned. Since negation often implies a pause in the action, whereby the given possibility is negated and points out the absence of it, our goal is to indicate the occurrence of a negated event by which it still can be stated the existence and happening of the certain action with its own temporal referent depending on its pragmatic environment, that is crucial for our interpretation of the given event. The objective of this article is to describe the problem of negated events and the negation of rupture. In this regard, we demonstrate how linguists Saussure (2000), Kamp and Reyle (1993), as well as Amsili and Le Draoulec (1996) approached it. It should be noted that this term negation of rupture (négation de rupture in French) implies the reaction of the subject to the absence of an expected event that takes place outside the habit of the subject or the agent of the sentence (Saussure 2000, 260). We gave the example in affirmative and negative form with the same meaning (Jovan ne s’est pas arrêté au signe du policier- Jovan a continué à sa route au dépit du signe du policier (Jovan didn’t stop his car despite the sign of the police officer). Despite the fact that the positive expression and its negated form point to the same meaning, it is very important to answer how we can determine the temporal discourse referent of negated events.
STUDENTS’ INTERACTION IN ONLINE CLASSES DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC IN NORTH MACEDONIA
Authors: Xhaferi Brikena , Xhaferri Gëzim
Published: February 2022

The purpose of this paper was to analyze students’ interaction activities used in online classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The notion of interaction is widely recognized in the field of second language acquisition following Long’s interaction hypothesis (1985) which states that language proficiency is highly increased if there is an interaction in the FL classroom. For interaction in online classes teachers need to encourage high student interactivity and create a supportive and friendly environment and the first step toward achieving this would be provide a syllabus that clearly and simply describes expectations for the course in general and notes specific guidelines for each assignment, instructions, and deadlines (Durrington et al., 2006). Therefore, this issue remains challenging for teachers who are expected to convert their classroom teaching into an online platform, thus, maintaining the students’ interaction as the central element in teaching. Without any doubts, this task requires additional time, preparation, and technical support. Adequate staff development and student motivation are critical to ensure that faculty can design online courses effectively and develop the skills in enhancing students’ interaction. The research instruments used for this study are students’ questionnaires, students’ reflections and classroom observations of online teaching. The study was conducted at South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia with 80 students majoring in English Language and Literature as well as 5 EFL teachers. The results of the study showed that students perceived interaction as a very important element of the qualitative teaching and have given useful suggestions for teachers to increase their engagement in interaction activities. Given the restrictions of online teaching, in all online classes observed, exemplary interaction was achieved through Question and Answer method Comprehension technique and Discussion and Analysis of Online Videos where the students interacted with the teacher and their peers.
La construcción de la identidad en el periodismo literario de Juan José Millás: el caso Nevenka Fernández
Authors: Fuentes Hernández Paula
Published: February 2022

En la prolífica trayectoria del escritor español Juan José Millás (Valencia, 1946) el periodismo ocupa un lugar destacado. Lejos de ser un oficio circunstancial, este autor ha simultaneado la publicación de sus novelas con una extensa carrera en los medios de comunicación nacionales, convirtiéndose en articulista habitual del diario El País o reportero destacado del suplemento dominical El País Semanal. Todos estos trabajos presentan similitudes estructurales, lingüísticas y discursivas con su escritura ficción. No obstante, entre todas estas semejanzas que son posibles localizar, existe una que atraviesa a toda su producción y que sienta las bases de elementos tan significativos como la selección de personajes o el enfoque del relato: el tema de la identidad. Con el fin de hacer un estudio extenso sobre este tema y demostrar las conexiones que existen entre su literatura y su periodismo, este artículo propone un análisis en profundidad de la obra de no-ficción Hay algo que no es como me dicen: el caso Nevenka Fernández contra la realidad, en la que Millás reflexiona acerca de la identidad del individuo y de los factores que intervienen en su construcción.
El directo con señal móvil en programas informativos de televisión generalista. El caso de Espejo Público de Antena 3
Authors: Santana Mahmut Saida , Sanz de León Vicente
Published: February 2022

Este artículo analiza formal y técnicamente las conexiones en directo de la televisión mediante envío de señal móvil, dado que es la cualidad que garantizará el futuro de la televisión. Metodología: utilizando técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas se han analizado las conexiones en directo a lo largo de una semana del magacín Espejo Público, estableciendo una primera variable en torno a su duración. Un segundo bloque se centra en la narrativa audiovisual y características formales de su emisión. Se han realizado entrevistas en profundidad a la directora y a la productora del programa. Resultados y Conclusiones: el uso de la señal móvil en el directo en televisión se ha implementado progresivamente a lo largo de los últimos 10 años, agilizando su producción, ampliando sus ubicaciones, sus movimientos y sus desplazamientos, asumiendo y siendo incorporado a sus sistemas de producción por la mayor parte de las televisiones, especialmente en los magacines informativos de actualidad. Tras el análisis de sus conexiones, desde el punto de vista informativo, periodístico y audiovisual, se concluye que la mayoría de las conexiones en directo en Espejo Público cumplen con la esencia del más puro directo televisivo, por su valor informativo directo y por ser "directos sincrónicos".
Una mirada a la transparencia informativa institucional a través de los Social Media
Authors: Gutiérrez Brito Jesús , Callejo Gallego Manuel Javier , Agudo Arroyo Yolanda
Published: February 2022

Este trabajo es parte de una investigación empírica que tiene por objeto explorar la participación ciudadana en la consecución de la transparencia informativa institucional a través de los social media. A partir de un estudio de corte cualitativo, utilizando grupos de discusión, se indaga y analiza la existencia de una “transparencia receptora” fundamentada en los presupuestos de una fenomenología del ámbito escópico y la concepción de la mirada que formula la teoría lacaniana. Las conclusiones del trabajo discuten y matizan la idea genérica que relaciona indefectiblemente el grado creciente de accesibilidad a la información con la producción efectiva de transparencia en la ciudadanía, especialmente si se tiene en cuenta las deficiencias en las que incurre el emisor al comunicar información inaccesible y/o limitada desde el punto de vista del receptor. Sobre este particular, el trabajo platea una tipología de transparencias informativas y en especial la emergencia de  una “transparencia verosímil” vinculada al papel activo del ciudadano cuando la información a la que accede es incoherente o no cumple cabalmente con la información que se demanda.
Taming the Data in the Internet of Vehicles
Authors:   California State University, Fresno, Tayeb Shahab
Published: February 2022

As an emerging field, the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has a myriad of security vulnerabilities that must be addressed to protect system integrity. To stay ahead of novel attacks, cybersecurity professionals are developing new software and systems using machine learning techniques. Neural network architectures improve such systems, including Intrusion Detection System (IDSs), by implementing anomaly detection, which differentiates benign data packets from malicious ones. For an IDS to best predict anomalies, the model is trained on data that is typically pre-processed through normalization and feature selection/reduction. These pre-processing techniques play an important role in training a neural network to optimize its performance. This research studies the impact of applying normalization techniques as a pre-processing step to learning, as used by the IDSs. The impacts of pre-processing techniques play an important role in training neural networks to optimize its performance. This report proposes a Deep Neural Network (DNN) model with two hidden layers for IDS architecture and compares two commonly used normalization pre-processing techniques. Our findings are evaluated using accuracy, Area Under Curve (AUC), Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC), F-1 Score, and loss. The experimentations demonstrate that Z-Score outperforms no-normalization and the use of Min-Max normalization.
The interrelated roles of the regional and local government in developing local partnerships in Italy
Authors: Zuffada Elena
Published: February 2022

Building partnerships is becoming an important issue at the local level of government in many countries. Different experiences can be traced throughout Europe, as well as in other OECD countries. This is because partnerships, especially in small local authorities, can help to manage services in a more efficient and effective way. Nevertheless, building a relationship is difficult, nor is it always successful, as many scholars emphasise. For a number of reasons, higher levels of government may then play a significant role in supporting partnerships between different stakeholders. Given the shortage of empirical studies on this subject, this paper combines conceptual and empirical analysis, and is based upon: • the direct observation of a number of partnerships in Italy, with particular reference to those Regions in which the birth and the development of partnerships have been positively influenced by the regional level of government; • surveys of other partnerships which have been formalised in Italy; • a literature review and the analysis of official documents. The issues analysed in this article are the critical aspects of partnership building, and the role played by higher levels of government in activating or facilitating partnerships. It is in fact clear that higher levels of government may gain considerable benefit from the development of partnerships at the local level. Some consideration will also be given to institutional reforms in Italy, since a relevant part of the reform effort is meant to redesign the distribution of responsibilities between the different levels of government. Finally, the paper deals with comparative aspects, and investigates the existence of common patterns and trends in the different regional experiences examined.
TUpper: A top level ontology within standards1
Authors: Grüninger Michael , Ru Yi , Thai Jona
Published: February 2022

Upper ontologies have traditionally arisen from the approach in which concepts that are common across a set of domains can be axiomatized at a general level. The rationale is that reuse across domains is to be supported through specialization of the general concepts from an upper ontology. Similarly, semantic integration between ontologies is to be achieved through the general concepts they specialize. The TUpper Ontology follows an alternative approach (referred to as the sideways approach) to the conventional upper ontology paradigm. Rather than think of an upper ontology as a monolithic axiomatization centred on a taxonomy, the sideways approach considers an upper ontology to be a modular ontology composed of generic ontologies that cover concepts including those related to time, process, and space. TUpper is therefore composed of a set of generic ontologies, and each generic ontology axiomatizes a particular set of generic concepts (e.g., the classes and relations relevant for time, process, and space). The TUpper Ontology is designed as a top-level ontology that contains modules from the ontologies within existing international standards.
Role of White Matter Abnormalities in the Relationship Between Microbleed Burden and Cognitive Impairment in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy
Authors: Jo Sungyang , Cheong E-Nae , Kim Nayoung , Oh Jungsu S. , Shim Woo Hyun , Kim Hyung-Ji , Lee Sun Ju , Lee Yoojin , Oh Minyoung , Kim Jae Seung , Kim Bum Joon , Roh Jee Hoon , Kim Sang Joon , Lee Jae-Hong
Published: February 2022

Background: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) often presents as cognitive impairment, but the mechanism of cognitive decline is unclear. Recent studies showed that number of microbleeds were associated with cognitive decline. Objective: We aimed to investigate how microbleeds contribute to cognitive impairment in association with white matter tract abnormalities or cortical thickness in CAA. Methods: This retrospective comparative study involved patients with probable CAA according to the Boston criteria (Aβ+ CAA) and patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Aβ+ AD), all of whom showed severe amyloid deposition on amyloid PET. Using mediation analysis, we investigated how FA or cortical thickness mediates the correlation between the number of lobar microbleeds and cognition. Results: We analyzed 30 patients with Aβ+ CAA (age 72.2±7.6, female 53.3%) and 30 patients with Aβ+ AD (age 71.5±7.6, female 53.3%). The two groups showed similar degrees of cortical amyloid deposition in AD-related regions. The Aβ+ CAA group had significantly lower FA values in the clusters of the posterior area than did the Aβ+ AD group (family-wise error-corrected p < 0.05). The correlation between the number of lobar microbleeds and visuospatial function was indirectly mediated by white matter tract abnormality of right posterior thalamic radiation (PTR) and tapetum, while lobar microbleeds and language function was indirectly mediated by the abnormality of left PTR and sagittal stratum. Cortical thickness did not mediate the association between lobar microbleeds and cognition. Conclusion: This result supports the hypothesis that microbleeds burden leads to white matter tract damage and subsequent cognitive decline in CAA.
Lessons from Detecting Cognitive Impairment Including Dementia (DetectCID) in Primary Care
Authors: Bernstein Sideman Alissa , Chalmer Rachel , Ayers Emmeline , Gershon Richard , Verghese Joe , Wolf Michael , Ansari Asif , Arvanitis Marina , Bui Nhat , Chen Pei , Chodos Anna , Corriveau Roderick , Curtis Laura , Ehrlich Amy R. , Tomaszewski Farias Sarah E. , Goode Collette , Hill-Sakurai Laura , Nowinski Cindy J. , Premkumar Mukund , Rankin Katherine P. , Ritchie Christine S. , Tsoy Elena , Weiss Erica , Possin Katherine L.
Published: February 2022

Background: Cognitive impairment, including dementia, is frequently under-detected in primary care. The Consortium for Detecting Cognitive Impairment, including Dementia (DetectCID) convenes three multidisciplinary teams that are testing novel paradigms to improve the frequency and quality of patient evaluations for detecting cognitive impairment in primary care and appropriate follow-up. Objective: Our objective was to characterize the three paradigms, including similarities and differences, and to identify common key lessons from implementation. Methods: A qualitative evaluation study with dementia specialists who were implementing the detection paradigms. Data was analyzed using content analysis. Results: We identified core components of each paradigm. Key lessons emphasized the importance of engaging primary care teams, enabling primary care providers to diagnose cognitive disorders and provide ongoing care support, integrating with the electronic health record, and ensuring that paradigms address the needs of diverse populations. Conclusion: Approaches are needed that address the arc of care from identifying a concern to post-diagnostic management, are efficient and adaptable to primary care workflows, and address a diverse aging population. Our work highlights approaches to partnering with primary care that could be useful across specialties and paves the way for developing future paradigms that improve differential diagnosis of symptomatic cognitive impairment, identifying not only its presence but also its specific syndrome or etiology.
A Mechanism to Assess the Effectiveness Anomaly Detectors in Industrial Control Systems
Authors: Liyakkathali Salimah , Furtado Francisco , Sugumar Gayathri , Mathur Aditya
Published: February 2022

The rise in attacks on Industrial Control Systems (ICS) makes it imperative for the anomaly detection mechanisms (ADMs) to be complete with respect to a set of attacks. In this work, a method is proposed to create and launch simulated attacks on ICS. In the proposed method, referred to as ICS Resilience (ICSRes), attacks are generated using a tool suite named A6. A6 mutates data exchanged between any two PLCs connected via the communications network as well as between a PLC and the sensors and actuators connected to it via a Remote Input/Output (RIO) unit. It consists of both single-point and multi-point mutations that can be manipulated in static or in dynamic form. A two-part case study was conducted to assess the effectiveness and completeness of ICSRes and A6 when compared with that of launching humanly designed attacks. Effectiveness is defined as the ability to detect complex attacks that causes process anomalies and completeness refers to the ability to detect the type of attack. In Part I of the study, the attacks were automatically generated and launched using A6. In Part II a set of attacks was generated and launched manually while participating in an international cyber-exercise. In both parts of the study three ADMs, installed in an operational water treatment testbed, were used to assess their completeness with respect to the generated attacks. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of ICSRes and the tools in highlighting the strength and weaknesses of the ADMs and the value of using A6.
Multiple strategies grey wolf optimizer for constrained portfolio optimization
Authors: Yu Xiaobing , Liu Zhenjie
Published: February 2022

Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) is competitive to other population-based algorithms. However, considering that the conventional GWO has inadequate global search capacity, a GWO variant based on multiple strategies, i.e., adaptive Evolutionary Population Dynamics (EPD) strategy, differential perturbation strategy, and greedy selection strategy, named as ADGGWO, is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the adaptive EPD strategy is adopted to enhance the search capacity by updating the position of the worst wolves according to the best ones. Secondly, the exploration capacity is extended by the use of differential perturbation strategy. Thirdly, the greedy selection improves the exploitation capacity, contributing to the balance between exploration and exploitation capacity. ADGGWO has been examined on a suite from CEC2014 and compared with the traditional GWO as well as its three latest variants. The significance of the results is evaluated by two non-parametric tests, Friedman test and Wilcoxon test. Furthermore, constrained portfolio optimization is applied in this paper to investigate the performance of ADGGWO on real-world problems. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm, which integrates multiple strategies, outperforms the traditional GWO and other GWO variants in terms of both accuracy and convergence. It can be proved that ADGGWO is not only effective for function optimization but also for practical problems.
Native Voices Exhibition: Stories of Health, Wellness, and Illness from American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians
Authors: Wood Frederick B. , Altemus Anne R. , Siegel Elliot R.
Published: February 2022

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) exhibition known as Native Voices reflected Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D.’s keen and long-held desire to help improve public understanding of Native American health challenges and honor the culture, tradition, and healing ways of Native Peoples. A centerpiece of the exhibition was a large set of video interviews that Dr. Lindberg conducted with Native health and community leaders. Dr. Lindberg and his team engaged Native advisors in the exhibition development; sought Native input through Listening Circles, Tribal Consultations; and site visits, and made the video interviews accessible via interactive kiosks and iPads. For its time, this was state-of-the-art exhibition technology. The exhibition also included Native artifacts and art works to complement the videos, including a scale model of the iconic Hokule’a Native Hawaiian voyaging canoe, and a full-size Lummi Indian Healing Totem Pole. The totem journeyed across the U.S. prior to its installation next to the NLM herbal garden in Bethesda, MD. A traveling version of the exhibition visited more than 130 venues in 40 States across the U.S. The interview clips and other content are accessible on the exhibition website, and the full-length interviews are retained in the NLM permanent video collection.
Evaluating photoneutron dose equivalents for lung cancer using PMMA phantoms undergoing 15 MV IMRT
Authors: Xu Hai-Bing , Dong An-Ding , Liu Mu-Tai , Tseng Hsien-Chun , Chen Chien-Yi , Tsai Sung-Yi
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: According to statistics of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2017, the second leading cause of death in Taiwan was lung cancer. OBJECTIVE: Routine treatment planning does not consider photoneutron dose equivalent (PNDE) of patient induced secondary radiation resulting from primary exposure of lung cancer. However, such treatment is potentially important for improving estimates of health risks. METHODS: This study used 10, 30, 50, 70, and 90 kg of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantoms as patient to measure PNDE varying anatomical area during lung cancer of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment. Paired thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-600 and 700) were calibrated using university reactor neutrons. TLDs were inserted into phantom which was closely corresponded of the represented tissues or organs. RESULTS: Neutron doses (ND) of organ or tissue (N⁢DT) were determined in these phantoms using paired TLDs approach. The risks of incurring fatal secondary malignancies, maximum statistical and total errors were estimated. Evaluated PNDE ranged from 0.80 ± 0.12 to 0.56 ± 0.08 mSv/Gy for these phantoms. CONCLUSION: The estimated N⁢DT decreased with increasing distance that is from the central axis. Evaluated PNDE and N⁢D𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛 for these phantoms were discussed. This investigation also identified secondary risks associated with PNDE relating to radiation protection.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors diagnosis on multi-center endoscopic ultrasound images using multi-scale image normalization and transfer learning
Authors: Liu Chengcheng , Guo Yi , Jiang Fei , Xu Leiming , Shen Feng , Jin Zhendong , Wang Yuanyuan
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Automated diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors’ (GISTs) cancerization is an effective way to improve the clinical diagnostic accuracy and reduce possible risks of biopsy. Although deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have proven to be very effective in many image classification problems, there is still a lack of studies on endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) images of GISTs. It remains a substantial challenge mainly due to the data distribution bias of multi-center images, the significant inter-class similarity and intra-class variation, and the insufficiency of training data. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to classify GISTs into higher-risk and lower-risk categories. METHODS: Firstly, a novel multi-scale image normalization block is designed to perform same-size and same-resolution resizing on the input data in a parallel manner. A dilated mask is used to obtain a more accurate interested region. Then, we construct a multi-way feature extraction and fusion block to extract distinguishable features. A ResNet-50 model built based on transfer learning is utilized as a powerful feature extractor for tumors’ textural features. The tumor size features and the patient demographic features are also extracted respectively. Finally, a robust XGBoost classifier is trained on all features. RESULTS: Experimental results show that our proposed method achieves the AUC score of 0.844, which is superior to the clinical diagnosis performance. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the results have provided a solid baseline to encourage further researches in this field.
MR brain tissue classification based on the spatial information enhanced Gaussian mixture model
Authors: Bian Zijian
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Classifying T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance brain scans into cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter and white matter is one of the most critical tasks in neurodegenerative disease analysis. Since manual delineation is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, automated methods have been widely adopted for this purpose. One group of commonly used method by biomedical researchers are based on Gaussian mixture model. The main drawbacks of this model include complex computational cost and parameter selection with the presence of imaging defects such as intensity inhomogeneity and noise. OBJECTIVE: To alleviate these aspects, an improved Gaussian mixture model-based method is proposed in this work. METHODS: Standard mixture model was used to formulate individual voxel intensity. A set of spatial weightings were created to represent local tissue characteristics. The emphasis of this method is its “lite” and robust implementation mode highlighted by a dedicated entropy term. The Expectation-Maximization algorithm was then iteratively executed to estimate model parameters. The Maximum a Posteriori criterion was employed to determine for each voxel if it belongs to a certain tissue. RESULTS: The proposed method was validated on both simulated and real MR scans. The averaged Dice coefficient of segmented brain tissues on each dataset ranged between [66.41, 87.42] for cerebrospinal fluid, [80.57, 85.35] for gray matter, and [83.17, 85.63] for white matter. CONCLUSIONS: Experiments illustrated the effectiveness and reliability in tissue classification against imaging defects compared with manually constructed reference standard.
Design of automatic urine collection system for medical system applications
Authors: Cheng Li , Hao Chenru , Wang Yanpeng , Zhang Jingjing , Wen Yunlong , Chi Ziqiang , Li Xiuyuan , Yang Haibo , Wu Yanru , Guo Lisha , Zhao Ruibin
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: The results of urine tests are often affected by improper midstream urine collection time, urine spilling, and urine pollution, all of which can lead to an increase in the test error. OBJECTIVE: To solve this problem, aiming at improving the toilet environment at the hospitals and public physical examination centers, this paper designs an automatic urine collection system. It can automatically adjust the position of the urine cup with an infrared remote controller, or manually, adjust the position of the urine cup in special situations according to the needs of the user. It also has an alarm function. METHODS: The overall size and shape are designed based on the squatting pan, suitable for disposable plastic urine cups of different shapes and sizes. It can realize the automatic collection of midstream urine, manual collection in exceptional cases, emergency stops, and rescue calls. RESULTS: Through the trial survey, there was a significant difference between the statistical results of using the device and not using the device (t= 13.937, P= 0.000). 96% of the subjects thought that the design of the system was reasonable, 22% thought that it was inconvenient to use, and 91.7% of the medical staff thought that the system met the sampling requirements. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the trial evaluation is satisfactory, and the proposed collection system is suitable for use in hospitals at all levels and public health examination centers with a large amount of inspection.
Combination of variational mode decomposition and coherent factor for ultrasound computer tomography
Authors: Wang Shanshan , Zou Xinyi , Zeng Liang , Song Junjie , Zhou Liang , Ding Mingyue , Yuchi Ming
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) is a promising technique for improving the detection of breast cancer. Image quality of USCT has a major impact on the breast cancer diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: This paper investigates the combination of variational mode decomposition (VMD) and coherent factor method for USCT image quality enhancement. METHODS: The signals can be decomposed into multiple intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) sifting through the frequency by VMD method. Refactoring the remaining IMFs, spatio-temporally smoothed coherence factor (STSCF) beamforming method is applied to reconstructed data for USCT. RESULTS: The validation of combination the VMD and STSCF is described through the breast phantom experiment and in vivo experiments. The evaluation indicators such as contrast ratio (CR), contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) have been better improved in the experimental results. For the breast phantom, the proposed method gives a higher resolution and the better contrast properties for the hyperechoic cyst. The borders of cysts and tumors in the breast phantom can be distinguished clearly. For volunteer breast experiments, artifacts are removed more efficiently while the clutters are suppressed simultaneously. CONCLUSION: The combination of VMD and STSCF can further reduce the noise and suppress the side lobes.
Suppression of acoustic reflection artifact in endoscopic photoacoustic tomographic images based on approximation of ideal signals
Authors: Sun Zheng , Zhang Xiaoxue
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: In endoscopic photoacoustic tomography (EPAT), the photoacoustically induced ultrasonic wave reflects at tissue boundaries due to the acoustic inhomogeneity of the imaged tissue, resulting in reflection artifacts (RAs) in the reconstructed images. OBJECTIVE: To suppress RAs in EPAT image reconstruction for improving the image quality. METHODS: A method was presented to render the cross-sectional images of the optical absorption with reduced RAs from acoustic measurements. The ideal photoacoustic signal was recovered from acoustic signals collected by the detector through solving a least square problem. Then, high-quality images of the optical absorption distribution were reconstructed from the ideal signal. RESULTS: The results demonstrated the improvement in the quality of the images rendered by this method in comparison with the conventional back-projection (BP) reconstructions. Compared with the short lag spatial coherence (SLSC) method, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), normalized mean square absolute distance (NMSAD), and structural similarity (SSIM) were improved by up to 8%, 20%, and 5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This method was capable of rendering images displaying the complex tissue types with reduced RAs and lower computational burden in comparison with previously developed methods.
Clinical analysis of severe COVID-19 patients
Authors: Wang Hao , Sun Bin , Li Xiayuan , Wang Yun , Yang Zhengping
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Patients with unexplained pneumonia appeared in Wuhan, Hubei Province at the end of 2019. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical data of patients with severe COVID-19. METHODS: Medical records of 28 severe patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Wuhan Xinzhou District People’s Hospital were collected from January 31 to March 17. RESULTS: The mortality rate of severe patients in our study was 39.3%. There were statistically significant differences in age, admission systolic blood pressure, lymphocyte count, albumin, total bilirubin, and lactate dehydrogenase between the death group and the survival group (P< 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in APACHE II, CURB-65, SOFA, respiratory frequency, systolic pressure, platelet, procalcitonin, albumin, creatinine, creatine kinase isoenzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, chloride ion, prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, arterial partial pressure of oxygen, and FiO2 at ICU between the death group and the survival group (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Fever and cough are the main symptoms, which is useful for predicting the prognosis to dynamically measure the APACHE II, CURB-65, SOFA, respiratory frequency, lymphocyte count, platelet, lactate dehydrogenase, and coagulation tests. The drugs that protect the liver and heart may improve the survival rate of patients with severe COVID-19.
Comparative accuracy of a shoulder range motion measurement sensor and Vicon 3D motion capture for shoulder abduction in frozen shoulder
Authors: Park Chanhee , An Yeongsang , Yoon Hyunsik , Park Ilbong , Kim Kyoungtae , Kim Chungyoo , Cha Youngjoo
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Although patients with frozen shoulders have the range of motion (ROM) of their shoulder’s abduction movements measured at hospital and the physical therapy visits, multiple visits to check for progress is often difficult. Thus, we developed an artificial intelligence-based image recognition detectable sensor (AIRDS) intended for easy use at home. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of a sensor (AIRDS) measuring shoulder abduction angle, thus offering a valid and feasible system for monitoring patients with frozen shoulder. METHODS: Ten patients with frozen shoulder (5 males, 5 females) performed shoulder joint movements while being measured with the AIRDS system and the 3-dimensional Vicon system. The measure of the outcome included the linear regression of the shoulder abduction joint kinematics. RESULTS: Linear regression analysis of the AIRDS system and the Vicon system demonstrated a significant correlation coefficient of R2= 0.9979 (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide novel, promising evidence that AIRDS can accurately measure the timing and total spatial characteristics of clinical movements. AIRDS is designed to provide real-time ROM measurements for joint mobility using artificial intelligence instead of the judgement of the physical therapist.
The role of splicing factor PRPF8 in breast cancer
Authors: Cao Difei , Xue Jiaying , Huang Guoqing , An Jing , An Weiwei
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND: Alternative splicing is a mechanism to produce different proteins with diverse functions from one gene. Many splicing factors play an important role in cancer progression. PRPF8 is a core protein component of the spliceosome complex, U4/U6-U5 tri-snRNP. OBJECTIVE: However, PRPF8 involved in mRNA alternative splicing are rarely included in the prognosis. METHODS: We found that PRPF8 was expressed in all examined cancer types. Further analyses found that PRPF8 expression was significantly different between the breast cancer and paracancerous tissues. RESULTS: Survival analyses showed that PRPF8-high patients had a poor prognosis, and the expression of PRPF8 is associated with distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and post progression survival (PPS). Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) has revealed that PRPF8 expression is correlated with TGF-β, JAK-STAT, and cell cycle control pathways. Consistent with these results, upon PRPF8 silencing, the growth of MCF-7 cells was reduced, the ability of cell clone formation was weakened, and p⁢21 expression was increased. CONCLUSIONS: These results have revealed that PRPF8 is a significant factor for splicing in breast cancer progression.