bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
World Health Organization and knowledge translation in maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition
Authors:   STAGE (Strategic Technical Advisory Group of Experts), Duke Trevor , AlBuhairan Fadia S , Agarwal Koki , Arora Narendra K , Arulkumaran Sabaratnam , Bhutta Zulfiqar A , Binka Fred , Castro Arachu , Claeson Mariam , Dao Blami , Darmstadt Gary L , English Mike , Jardali Fadi , Merson Michael , Ferrand Rashida A , Golden Alma , Golden Michael H , Homer Caroline , Jehan Fyezah , Kabiru Caroline W , Kirkwood Betty , Lawn Joy E , Li Song , Patton George C , Ruel Marie , Sandall Jane , Sachdev Harshpal Singh , Tomlinson Mark , Waiswa Peter , Walker Dilys , Zlotkin Stanley
Published: December 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a mandate to promote maternal and child health and welfare through support to governments in the form of technical assistance, standards, epidemiological and statistical services, promoting teaching and training of healthcare professionals and providing direct aid in emergencies. The Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (MNCAHN) was established in 2020 to advise the Director-General of WHO on issues relating to MNCAHN. STAGE comprises individuals from multiple low-income and middle-income and high-income countries, has representatives from many professional disciplines and with diverse experience and interests.

Progress in MNCAHN requires improvements in quality of services, equity of access and the evolution of services as technical guidance, community needs and epidemiology changes. Knowledge translation of WHO guidance and other guidelines is an important part of this. Countries need effective and responsive structures for adaptation and implementation of evidence-based interventions, strategies to improve guideline uptake, education and training and mechanisms to monitor quality and safety. This paper summarises STAGE’s recommendations on how to improve knowledge translation in MNCAHN. They include support for national and regional technical advisory groups and subnational committees that coordinate maternal and child health; support for national plans for MNCAHN and their implementation and monitoring; the production of a small number of consolidated MNCAHN guidelines to promote integrated and holistic care; education and quality improvement strategies to support guidelines uptake; monitoring of gaps in knowledge translation and operational research in MNCAHN.
BRAFV600E-mutated combined large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma responding to targeted therapy
Authors: Sakamoto Tomohiro , Arai Katsunori , Makishima Karen , Yamasaki Akira
Published: December 2021

We present a case of combined large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), harbouring aBRAFV600E mutation, which significantly benefited fromBRAF-targeted therapy. A 57-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for headache and vomiting. A head MRI showed a large tumour in her brain, and a whole-body CT revealed a tumour in the hilum of the right lung and mediastinal lymphadenopathies. Both the resected brain tumour and the mediastinal lymph node tissue contained LCNEC. Next-generation sequencing revealed aBRAFV600E mutation, and a combination therapy with dabrafenib and trametinib was initiated. The patient had a good response to treatment. Like non–small cell lung cancer patients, LCNEC patients should undergo multiplex somatic mutation testing.
Vocal cord paralysis as a presenting sign of autosomal recessive spinocerebellar atrophy type 10
Authors: Vaughan David , Affendi Adrinda , Sheahan Patrick , Sweeney Brian
Published: December 2021

Acquired vocal cord paralysis (VCP) is caused by dysfunction or injury of one or both recurrent laryngeal nerves. Here we report a 41-year-old man with spinocerebellar atrophy, autosomal recessive type 10 (SCAR10) due to an autosomal recessive mutation in the ANO10 gene, with VCP as the presenting symptom. He later developed ataxia and speech disturbance.
Eosinophilic fasciitis (Shulman disease) with clinical, imaging and pathological correlation
Authors: Primitivo Ana , Madeira Nathalie , Lopez Dolores , Afonso Diana
Published: December 2021

Eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) is a rare subacute fibrosing disorder of unknown aetiology, characterised by thickening of the muscular fascia and subcutaneous tissue, leading to swelling of limbs and trunk and sparing fingers and toes. Eosinophilic infiltration and degranulation may prompt tissue damage and consequent fibrosis due to the accumulation of collagen and extracellular matrix proteins. MRI is the best imaging modality for diagnosis, depicting fascial thickening and enhancement. MRI may also have a significant role in excluding alternative diagnosis and guiding the skin–muscle biopsy.

We report a case of EF with clinical and pathological correlation, highlighting the diagnostic value of MRI for early diagnosis and further treatment.
Improving maternal and child health in Pakistan: a programme evaluation using a difference in difference analysis
Authors: Malik Muhammad Ashar , Rohm Lara Riedige , van Baal Pieter , van Doorslaer Eddy van Doorslaer
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Pakistan is a country with high maternal and infant mortality. Several large foreign funded projects were targeted at improving maternal, neonatal and child health. The Norway-Pakistan Partnership Initiative (NPPI) was one of these projects. This study aims to evaluate whether NPPI was successful in improving access and use of skilled maternal healthcare.

Methods

We used data from three rounds (2009–2010, 2011–2012 and 2013–2014) of the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM). A difference-in-difference regression framework was used to estimate the effectiveness of NPPI and its different programme components with respect to maternal healthcare seeking behaviour of pregnant women. Various parts of the PSLM were combined to examine the healthcare seeking behaviour response of pregnant women to exposure to NPPI.

Results

Trends in maternal care seeking behaviour of pregnant women were similar in districts exposed to NPPI and control districts. Consequently, only a weak and insignificant impact of NPPI on maternal care seeking behaviour was found. However, women in districts which used vouchers or which implemented contracting were more likely to seek skilled assistance with their delivery.

Conclusion

We conclude that the objective to improve access to and use of skilled care was not achieved by NPPI. The small effects identified for vouchers and contracts on skilled birth attendance hold some promise for further experimentation.
Phase 2 trial design of BMS-986278, a lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA1) antagonist, in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or progressive fibrotic interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD)
Authors: Corte Tamera J , Lancaster Lisa , Swigris Jeffrey J , Maher Toby M , Goldin Jonathan G , Palmer Scott M , Suda Takafumi , Ogura Takashi , Minnich Anne , Zhan Xiaojiang , Tirucherai Giridhar S , Elpers Brandon , Xiao Hong , Watanabe Hideaki , Smith R Adam , Charles Edgar D , Fischer Aryeh
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and non-IPF, progressive fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (PF-ILD), are associated with a progressive loss of lung function and a poor prognosis. Treatment with antifibrotic agents can slow, but not halt, disease progression, and treatment discontinuation because of adverse events is common. Fibrotic diseases such as these can be mediated by lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), which signals via six LPA receptors (LPA1–6). Signalling via LPA1appears to be fundamental in the pathogenesis of fibrotic diseases. BMS-986278, a second-generation LPA1antagonist, is currently in phase 2 development as a therapy for IPF and PF-ILD.

Methods and analysis

This phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, international trial will include adults with IPF or PF-ILD. The trial will consist of a 42-day screening period, a 26-week placebo-controlled treatment period, an optional 26-week active-treatment extension period, and a 28-day post-treatment follow-up. Patients in both the IPF (n=240) and PF-ILD (n=120) cohorts will be randomised 1:1:1 to receive 30 mg or 60 mg BMS-986278, or placebo, administered orally two times per day for 26 weeks in the placebo-controlled treatment period. The primary endpoint is rate of change in per cent predicted forced vital capacity from baseline to week 26 in the IPF cohort.

Ethics and dissemination

This study will be conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice guidelines, Declaration of Helsinki principles, and local ethical and legal requirements. Results will be reported in a peer-reviewed publication.

Trial registration number

NCT04308681.
Mental health and behavioural factors involved in road traffic crashes by young adults: analysis of the Raine Study
Authors: Tait Robert , Ivers Rebecca , Marino Jennifer L , Doherty Dorota , Graham Petra L , Cunich Michelle , Sanci Lena , Steinbeck Katharine , Straker Leon , Skinner S Rachel
Published: December 2021

Background

Road traffic crashes (RTC) are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in young people. Severe mental health and behavioural conditions increase the likelihood of RTC, as do a range of driving-risk activities.

Method

We used data from the Raine Study, a prebirth cohort from Perth, Australia, to assess the relationship between measures of common mental health or behavioural conditions (Child Behavior Checklist Internalising and Externalising scores) at age 17 and subsequent RTC by 27 years, controlling for substance use and driving-risk activities.

Results

By 27 years of age, of 937 participants, 386 (41.2%) reported zero crashes and 551 (58.8%) reported ≥1 crashes. In the baseline Poisson model, increased Externalising scores (eg, aggression and delinquency) were associated with increased RTC (incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.02, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.02): increased Internalising scores (eg, anxiety and depression) were associated with fewer RTC (IRR=0.99, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.00). In the fully adjusted model, the mental health measures were not significant (Externalising IRR=1.01, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.02: Internalising IRR=0.99, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.00). Risky driver activities, such as falling asleep while driving (IRR=1.34), more frequent use of a hands-free telephone (IRR=1.35) and more frequent hostility towards other drivers (IRR=1.30) increased the rate of RTC.

Conclusion

Measures of mental health scores at age 17 were not predictive of subsequent RTC, after adjusting for measures of driving-risk activities. We need to better understand the determinants of externalising and risky driving behaviours if we are to address the increased risk of RTC.
Should coronavirus policies remain in place to prevent future paediatric influenza deaths?
Authors: Perdomo Dianela
Published: December 2021

The 2019–2020 to 2020–2021 influenza seasons in the USA saw a dramatic 99.5% decrease in paediatric mortality, with only one influenza death recorded during the latter season. This decrease has been attributed to a substantial reduction in transmission, resulting from the various restrictive measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, onset March 2020. The relative disappearance of influenza raises specific policy questions, such as whether these measures should be kept in place after COVID-19 transmission reaches acceptable levels or herd immunity is achieved. Given the nature of these measures as liberty restricting, it is worth discussing their intended outcome and what values they promote. Do these measures in fact promote health, or simply give the comfort of safety while undermining long-term health and individual liberties? I argue that the year-long endurance of the pandemic well into 2021 may have flattened our value landscape into one where health reigns supreme. Discussions are underway regarding whether we should modify previously accepted health risks, such as the risk of contracting influenza. In this paper, I attempt to clarify the values that motivate our policies and discuss how our present historical context has appreciated the value of health. I also provide an analysis of various pandemic policies and their relation to influenza paediatric deaths. Ultimately, the cost of certain measures on values such as education, socialisation and liberty, among others, is too high to justify their use beyond regulating the spread of COVID-19.
Occupation and COVID-19 mortality in England: a national linked data study of 14.3 million adults
Authors: Nafilyan Vahe , Pawelek Piotr , Ayoubkhani Daniel , Rhodes Sarah , Pembrey Lucy , Matz Melissa , Coleman Michel , Allemani Claudia , Windsor-Shellard Ben , van Tongeren Martie , Pearce Neil
Published: December 2021

Objectives

To estimate occupational differences in COVID-19 mortality and test whether these are confounded by factors such as regional differences, ethnicity and education or due to non-workplace factors, such as deprivation or prepandemic health.

Methods

Using a cohort study of over 14 million people aged 40–64 years living in England, we analysed occupational differences in death involving COVID-19, assessed between 24 January 2020 and 28 December 2020.

We estimated age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) per 100 000 person-years at risk stratified by sex and occupation. We estimated the effect of occupation on COVID-19 mortality using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for confounding factors. We further adjusted for non-workplace factors and interpreted the residual effects of occupation as being due to workplace exposures to SARS-CoV-2.

Results

In men, the ASMRs were highest among those working as taxi and cab drivers or chauffeurs at 119.7 deaths per 100 000 (95% CI 98.0 to 141.4), followed by other elementary occupations at 106.5 (84.5 to 132.4) and care workers and home carers at 99.2 (74.5 to 129.4). Adjusting for confounding factors strongly attenuated the HRs for many occupations, but many remained at elevated risk. Adjusting for living conditions reduced further the HRs, and many occupations were no longer at excess risk. For most occupations, confounding factors and mediators other than workplace exposure to SARS-CoV-2 explained 70%–80% of the excess age-adjusted occupational differences.

Conclusions

Working conditions play a role in COVID-19 mortality, particularly in occupations involving contact with patients or the public. However, there is also a substantial contribution from non-workplace factors.
Clinician and patient experience of neurology telephone consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Nakornchai Tagore , Conci Elena , Hensiek Anke , Brown J William L
Published: December 2021

Background

Telephone consultations are already employed in specific neurological settings. At Cambridge University Hospitals, the COVID-19 pandemic initially prompted almost all face-to-face appointments to be delivered by telephone, providing a uniquely unselected population to assess.

Objectives

We explored patient and clinician experience of telephone consultations; and whether telephone consultations might be preferable for preidentifiable subgroups of patients after the pandemic.

Methods

Clinicians delivering neurological consultations converted to telephone between April and July 2020 were invited to complete a questionnaire following each consult (430 respondents) and the corresponding patients were subsequently surveyed (290 respondents). The questionnaires assessed clinician and patient goal achievement (and the reasons for any dissatisfaction). Clinicians also described consultation duration (in comparison to face to face) while patients detailed comparative convenience and preference.

Results

The majority of clinicians (335/430, 78%) and patients (227/290, 78%) achieved their consultation goals by telephone, particularly during follow-up consultations (clinicians 272/329, 83%, patients 176/216, 81%) and in some disease subgroups (eg, seizures/epilepsy (clinicians 114/122 (93%), patients 71/81 (88%)). 95% of telephone consultations were estimated to take the same or less time than an equivalent face-to-face consultation. Most patients found telephone consultations convenient (69%) with 149/211 (71%) indicating they would like telephone or video consultations to play some role in their future follow-up.

Conclusion

Telephone consultations appear effective, convenient and popular in prespecified subgroups of neurological outpatients. Further work comparing telephone, video and face-to-face consultations across multiple centres is now needed.
RF system challenges for future $$\hbox {e}^+ \hbox {e}^-$$ circular colliders
Authors: Brunner Olivier , Jensen Erk , Karpov Ivan , Montesinos Eric , Peauger Franck , Syratchev Igor
Published: December 2021

The RF system is the centrepiece of any future circular lepton collider. In particular, the system is required to support the high intensity beams needed for pushing the luminosity at the lower energy regimes of future energy-frontier circular lepton colliders (e.g. for operation in the Z peak and at the WW threshold). Capturing, storing the beam and replacing energy losses from synchrotron radiation demand low frequency, low shunt resistance cavities, low number of cells and high RF power per cell. Controlling the beam both transversely and longitudinally requires sophisticated beam control and timing systems. Additional RF systems are used to ensure transverse stability (feedback systems) and to increase the luminosity (crab cavities). Operation at high energies (such as the ZH and $${\mathrm{t}{\overline{\mathrm{t}}}}$$

t

t
¯

threshold) requires a very large accelerating voltage, since synchrotron radiation leads to significantly higher energy losses per turn which must be compensated. Since the RF system is to be optimised in size and energy efficiency for varying demands for the different operational modes, the spectrum of R &D challenges covers a wide range of technologies.
Analytical solutions of the fifth-order time fractional nonlinear evolution equations by the unified method
Authors: Majeed Abdul , Rafiq Muhammad Naveed , Kamran Mohsin , Abbas Muhammad , Inc Mustafa
Published: December 2021

This key purpose of this study is to investigate soliton solution of the fifth-order Sawada–Kotera and Caudrey–Dodd–Gibbon equations in the sense of time fractional local [Formula: see text]-derivatives. This important goal is achieved by employing the unified method. As a result, a number of dark and rational soliton solutions to the nonlinear model are retrieved. Some of the achieved solutions are illustrated graphically in order to fully understand their physical behavior. The results demonstrate that the presented approach is more effective in solving issues in mathematical physics and other fields.
Influence of non-uniform inflow on unsteady internal flow characteristics of waterjet pump
Authors: Liu Chao , Chen Hongxun , Ma Zheng
Published: December 2021

Waterjet propulsion has many advantages when operating at high-speed conditions. As a special way of navigation, it is mostly used in high-speed ships and shallow draft ships. In this paper, a mixed-flow waterjet pump was taken as the research object. For the two cases of non-uniform inflow and uniform inflow, a modified RANS/LES method was adopted for unsteady calculation of the whole channel, aiming at investigating the influence mechanism of the non-uniform inflow on the energy performance and pressure pulsation characteristics of the waterjet pump. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the waterjet pump were comprehensively analyzed such as head, efficiency, axial-force, internal flow and pressure pulsation. It is found that the non-uniform inflow will reduce the external characteristics of the waterjet pump and lead to the huge fluctuation of energy performance with time. Low-speed swirls occur locally in the intake duct for non-uniform inflow, in which condition the vorticity is much higher than that for uniform inflow. In terms of the low-speed area, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], the values under non-uniform inflow condition are generally larger than those under uniform flow condition when in the impeller and guide vane zone. The dominant frequencies of pressure pulsation are, respectively, [Formula: see text], 7[Formula: see text] and 4[Formula: see text] in the intake duct, impeller and diffuser, which are almost consitent for the two cases. However, the frequency features are more diverse, and the amplitudes corresponding to the same frequencies are more intense for non-uniform inflow.
Vertex Identification in Grids and Prisms
Authors: Kono Yuya , Zhang Ping
Published: December 2021

A red-white coloring of a nontrivial connected graph [Formula: see text] of diameter [Formula: see text] is an assignment of red and white colors to the vertices of [Formula: see text] where at least one vertex is colored red. Associated with each vertex [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] is a [Formula: see text]-vector, called the code of [Formula: see text], whose [Formula: see text]th coordinate is the number of red vertices at distance [Formula: see text] from [Formula: see text]. A red-white coloring of [Formula: see text] for which distinct vertices have distinct codes is called an identification coloring or ID-coloring of [Formula: see text]. A graph [Formula: see text] possessing an ID-coloring is an ID-graph. The minimum number of red vertices among all ID-colorings of an ID-graph [Formula: see text] is the identification number or ID-number of [Formula: see text]. It is shown that the grid [Formula: see text] is an ID-graph if and only [Formula: see text] and the prism [Formula: see text] is an ID-graph if and only if [Formula: see text].
Elastic Bottom Effects on Ocean Water Wave Scattering by a Composite Caisson-Type Breakwater Placed Upon a Rock Foundation in a Two-Layer Fluid
Authors: Barman Koushik Kanti , Bora Swaroop Nandan
Published: December 2021

The association of oblique surface gravity waves with a caisson-type multi-chamber porous breakwater fitted with a perforated front wall in a two-layer fluid is studied in finite ocean depth with an elastic bottom. This study focuses on the influence of porous parameters of the interface-piercing structure on wave attenuation in surface and interfacial modes. The flexural gravity wave motion establishes the influence of the elastic bottom. The reflection coefficients for waves in both modes are evaluated to show their effects on the free surface and interface elevations and the waveloads. Consequently, the appropriateness of various configurations of the structure on the wave scattering is studied. Due to wave dissipation by the structure, less waveload is detected on the stiff wall and less elevation is noticed in the porous zone. The structure’s multi-chamber division allows it to have more dissipative and reflective properties. Adjustment of the structure’s height, breadth, and porous parameter leads to achieving good amount of wave reflection and maximum energy dissipation. An optimal width can be determined for a suitable configuration of the structure so that a breakwater can be built with an acceptable level of reflection and dissipation characteristics. The shear force and bottom deflection show how elastic parameters of the sea-floor affect wave scattering.
Rationality of the Petersson Inner Product of Cohen’s Kernels
Authors: You Yuanyi , Zhang Yichao
Published: December 2021

By explicitly calculating and then analytically continuing the Fourier expansion of the twisted double Eisenstein series [Formula: see text] of Diamantis and O’Sullivan, we prove a formula of the Petersson inner product of Cohen’s kernel and one of its twists, and obtain a rationality result. This extends a result of Kohnen and Zagier.
Free terminal time optimal control of a fractional-order model for the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Authors: Jafari Mohsen , Kheiri Hossein
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we present a fractional model for the HIV/AIDS epidemic and incorporate into the model control parameters of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), behavioral change and antiretroviral therapy (ART) aimed at controlling the spread of diseases. We prove the local and global asymptotic stability of disease-free and endemic equilibria of the model. We present a general fractional optimal control problem (FOCP) with free terminal time and develop the Adapted Forward-Backward Sweep method for numerical solving of the FOCP. Necessary conditions for a state/control/terminal time triplet to be optimal are obtained. The results show that the use of all controls increases the life expectancy of HIV-treated patients with ART and remarkably increases the number of people undergoing PrEP and changing their sexual habits. Also, when the derivative order [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) limits to 1, the value of optimal terminal time increases while the value of objective functional decreases.
ChestLive
Authors: Chen Yanjiao , Xue Meng , Zhang Jian , Guan Qianyun , Wang Zhiyuan , Zhang Qian , Wang Wei
Published: December 2021

Voice-based authentication is prevalent on smart devices to verify the legitimacy of users, but is vulnerable to replay attacks. In this paper, we propose to leverage the distinctive chest motions during speaking to establish a secure multi-factor authentication system, named ChestLive. Compared with other biometric-based authentication systems, ChestLive does not require users to remember any complicated information (e.g., hand gestures, doodles) and the working distance is much longer (30cm). We use acoustic sensing to monitor chest motions with a built-in speaker and microphone on smartphones. To obtain fine-grained chest motion signals during speaking for reliable user authentication, we derive Channel Energy (CE) of acoustic signals to capture the chest movement, and then remove the static and non-static interference from the aggregated CE signals. Representative features are extracted from the correlation between voice signal and corresponding chest motion signal. Unlike learning-based image or speech recognition models with millions of available training samples, our system needs to deal with a limited number of samples from legitimate users during enrollment. To address this problem, we resort to meta-learning, which initializes a general model with good generalization property that can be quickly fine-tuned to identify a new user. We implement ChestLive as an application and evaluate its performance in the wild with 61 volunteers using their smartphones. Experiment results show that ChestLive achieves an authentication accuracy of 98.31% and less than 2% of false accept rate against replay attacks and impersonation attacks. We also validate that ChestLive is robust to various factors, including training set size, distance, angle, posture, phone models, and environment noises.
SmartLOC
Authors: Ding Yi , Jiang Dongzhe , Liu Yunhuai , Zhang Desheng , He Tian
Published: December 2021

On-demand delivery is a rapidly developing business worldwide, where meals and groceries are delivered door to door from merchants to customers by the couriers. Couriers' real-time localization plays a key role in on-demand delivery for all parties like the platform's order dispatching, merchants' order preparing, couriers' navigation, and customers' shopping experience. Although GPS has well solved outdoor localization, indoor localization is still challenging due to the lack of large-coverage, low-cost anchors. Given the high penetration of smartphones in merchants and frequent rendezvous between merchants and couriers, we employ merchants' smartphones as indoor anchors for a new sensing opportunity. In this paper, we design, implement and evaluate SmartLOC, a map-free localization system that employs merchants' smartphones as anchors to obtain couriers' real-time locations. Specifically, we design a rendezvous detection module based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), build indoor shop graphs for each mall, and adopt graph embedding to extract indoor shops' topology. To guarantee anchors' accuracy and privacy, we build a mutual localization module to iteratively infer merchants' state (in-shop or not) and couriers' locations with transformer models. We implement SmartLOC in a large on-demand delivery platform and deploy the system in 566 malls in Shanghai, China. We evaluate SmartLOC in two multi-floor malls in Shanghai and show that it can improve the accuracy of couriers' travel time estimation by 24%, 43%, 70%, and 76% compared with a straightforward graph solution, GPS, Wi-Fi, and TransLoc.
CHIMERA
Authors: Paredes Luis , McMillan Caroline , Chan Wan Kyn , Chandrasegaran Senthil , Singh Ramyak , Ramani Karthik , Wilde Danielle
Published: December 2021

Wearable technologies draw on a range of disciplines, including fashion, textiles, HCI, and engineering. Due to differences in methodology, wearables researchers can experience gaps or breakdowns in values, goals, and vocabulary when collaborating. This situation makes wearables development challenging, even more so when technologies are in the early stages of development and their technological and cultural potential is not fully understood. We propose a common ground to enhance the accessibility of wearables-related resources. The objective is to raise awareness and create a convergent space for researchers and developers to both access and share information across domains. We present CHIMERA, an online search interface that allows users to explore wearable technologies beyond their discipline. CHIMERA is powered by a Wearables Taxonomy and a database of research, tutorials, aesthetic approaches, concepts, and patents. To validate CHIMERA, we used a design task with multidisciplinary designers, an open-ended usability study with experts, and a usability survey with students of a wearables design class. Our findings suggest that CHIMERA assists users with different mindsets and skillsets to engage with information, expand and share knowledge when developing wearables. It forges common ground across divergent disciplines, encourages creativity, and affords the formation of inclusive, multidisciplinary perspectives in wearables development.
Computing Touch-Point Ambiguity on Mobile Touchscreens for Modeling Target Selection Times
Authors: Yamanaka Shota , Usuba Hiroki
Published: December 2021

Finger-Fitts law (FFitts law) is a model to predict touch-pointing times, modified from Fitts' law. It considers the absolute touch-point precision, or a finger tremor factor σa, to decrease the admissible target area and thus increase the task difficulty. Among choices such as running an independent task or performing parameter optimization, there is no consensus on the best methodology to measure σa. This inconsistency could be detrimental to HCI studies such as pointing technique evaluations and user group comparisons. By integrating the results of our 1D and 2D touch-pointing experiments and reanalyses of previous studies' data, we examined the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to compute σa. We found that the parameter optimization method is a suboptimal choice for predicting the performance.
Janus
Authors: Istomin Timofei , Leoni Elia , Molteni Davide , Murphy Amy L. , Picco Gian Pietro , Griva Maurizio
Published: December 2021

Proximity detection is at the core of several mobile and ubiquitous computing applications. These include reactive use cases, e.g., alerting individuals of hazards or interaction opportunities, and others concerned only with logging proximity data, e.g., for offline analysis and modeling. Common approaches rely on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ultra-wideband (UWB) radios. Nevertheless, these strike opposite tradeoffs between the accuracy of distance estimates quantifying proximity and the energy efficiency affecting system lifetime, effectively forcing a choice between the two and ultimately constraining applicability.

Janus reconciles these dimensions in a dual-radio protocol enabling accurate and energy-efficient proximity detection, where the energy-savvy BLE is exploited to discover devices and coordinate their distance measurements, acquired via the energy-hungry UWB. A model supports domain experts in configuring Janus for their use cases with predictable performance. The latency, reliability, and accuracy of Janus are evaluated experimentally, including realistic scenarios endowed with the mm-level ground truth provided by a motion capture system. Energy measurements show that Janus achieves weeks to months of autonomous operation, depending on the use case configuration. Finally, several large-scale campaigns exemplify its practical usefulness in real-world contexts.
Context-Aware Compilation of DNN Training Pipelines across Edge and Cloud
Authors: Yao Dixi , Xiang Liyao , Wang Zifan , Xu Jiayu , Li Chao , Wang Xinbing
Published: December 2021

Empowered by machine learning, edge devices including smartphones, wearable, and IoT devices have become growingly intelligent, raising conflicts with the limited resource. On-device model personalization is particularly hard as training models on edge devices is highly resource-intensive. In this work, we propose a novel training pipeline across the edge and the cloud, by taking advantage of the powerful cloud while keeping data local at the edge. Highlights of the design incorporate the parallel execution enabled by our feature replay, reduced communication cost by our error-feedback feature compression, as well as the context-aware deployment decision engine. Working as an integrated system, the proposed pipeline training framework not only significantly speeds up training, but also incurs little accuracy loss or additional memory/energy overhead. We test our system in a variety of settings including WiFi, 5G, household IoT, and on different training tasks such as image/text classification, image generation, to demonstrate its advantage over the state-of-the-art. Experimental results show that our system not only adapts well to, but also draws on the varying contexts, delivering a practical and efficient solution to edge-cloud model training.
SmartKC
Authors: Gairola Siddhartha , Bohra Murtuza , Shaheer Nadeem , Jayaprakash Navya , Joshi Pallavi , Balasubramaniam Anand , Murali Kaushik , Kwatra Nipun , Jain Mohit
Published: December 2021

Keratoconus is a severe eye disease affecting the cornea (the clear, dome-shaped outer surface of the eye), causing it to become thin and develop a conical bulge. The diagnosis of keratoconus requires sophisticated ophthalmic devices which are non-portable and very expensive. This makes early detection of keratoconus inaccessible to large populations in low-and middle-income countries, making it a leading cause for partial/complete blindness among such populations. We propose SmartKC, a low-cost, smartphone-based keratoconus diagnosis system comprising of a 3D-printed placido's disc attachment, an LED light strip, and an intelligent smartphone app to capture the reflection of the placido rings on the cornea. An image processing pipeline analyzes the corneal image and uses the smartphone's camera parameters, the placido rings' 3D location, the pixel location of the reflected placido rings and the setup's working distance to construct the corneal surface, via the Arc-Step method and Zernike polynomials based surface fitting. In a clinical study with 101 distinct eyes, we found that SmartKC achieves a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 80.4%. Moreover, the quantitative curvature estimates (sim-K) strongly correlate with a gold-standard medical device (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.77). Our results indicate that SmartKC has the potential to be used as a keratoconus screening tool under real-world medical settings.
RFaceID
Authors: Luo Chengwen , Yang Zhongru , Feng Xingyu , Zhang Jin , Jia Hong , Li Jianqiang , Wu Jiawei , Hu Wen
Published: December 2021

Face recognition (FR) has been widely used in many areas nowadays. However, the existing mainstream vision-based facial recognition has limitations such as vulnerability to spoofing attacks, sensitivity to lighting conditions, and high risk of privacy leakage, etc. To address these problems, in this paper we take a sparkly different approach and propose RFaceID, a novel RFID-based face recognition system. RFaceID only needs the users to shake their faces in front of the RFID tag matrix for a few seconds to get their faces recognized. Through theoretical analysis and experiment validations, the feasibility of the RFID-based face recognition is studied. Multiple data processing and data augmentation techniques are proposed to minimize the negative impact of environmental noises and user dynamics. A deep neural network (DNN) model is designed to characterize both the spatial and temporal feature of face shaking events. We implement the system and extensive evaluation results show that RFaceID achieves a high face recognition accuracy at 93.1% for 100 users, which shows the potential of RFaceID for future facial recognition applications.
SpeeChin
Authors: Zhang Ruidong , Chen Mingyang , Steeper Benjamin , Li Yaxuan , Yan Zihan , Chen Yizhuo , Tao Songyun , Chen Tuochao , Lim Hyunchul , Zhang Cheng
Published: December 2021

This paper presents SpeeChin, a smart necklace that can recognize 54 English and 44 Chinese silent speech commands. A customized infrared (IR) imaging system is mounted on a necklace to capture images of the neck and face from under the chin. These images are first pre-processed and then deep learned by an end-to-end deep convolutional-recurrent-neural-network (CRNN) model to infer different silent speech commands. A user study with 20 participants (10 participants for each language) showed that SpeeChin could recognize 54 English and 44 Chinese silent speech commands with average cross-session accuracies of 90.5% and 91.6%, respectively. To further investigate the potential of SpeeChin in recognizing other silent speech commands, we conducted another study with 10 participants distinguishing between 72 one-syllable nonwords. Based on the results from the user studies, we further discuss the challenges and opportunities of deploying SpeeChin in real-world applications.
SkinKit
Authors: Ku Pin-Sung , Molla Md. Tahmidul Islam , Huang Kunpeng , Kattappurath Priya , Ranjan Krithik , Kao Hsin-Liu Cindy
Published: December 2021

The emergence of on-skin interfaces has created an opportunity for seamless, always-available on-body interactions. However, developing a new fabrication process for on-skin interfaces can be time-consuming, challenging to incorporate new features, and not available for quick form-factor preview through prototyping. We introduce SkinKit, the first construction toolkit for on-skin interfaces, which enables fast, low-fidelity prototyping with a slim form factor directly applicable to the skin. SkinKit comprises modules consisting of skin-conformable base substrates and reusable Flexible Printed Circuits Board (FPCB) blocks. They are easy to attach and remove under tangible plug-and-play construction but still offer robust conductive connections in a slim form. Further, SkinKit aims to lower the barrier to entry in building on-skin interfaces without demanding technical expertise. It leverages a variety of preprogrammed modules connected in unique sequences to achieve various function customizations. We describe our iterative design and development process of SkinKit, comparing materials, connection mechanisms, and modules reflecting on its capability. We report results from single- and multi- session workshops with 34 maker participants spanning STEM and design backgrounds. Our findings reveal how diverse maker populations engage in on-skin interface design, what types of applications they choose to build, and what challenges they faced.
CycleGuard
Authors: Jin Wenqiang , Murali Srinivasan , Cho Youngtak , Zhu Huadi , Li Tianhao , Panik Rachael Thompson , Rimu Anika , Deb Shuchisnigdha , Watkins Kari , Yuan Xu , Li Ming
Published: December 2021

Every year 41,000 cyclists die in road traffic-related incidents worldwide [47]. One of the most startling and infuriating conflicts that cyclists experience is the so-called "right hook". It refers to a vehicle striking a cyclist heading in the same direction by turning right into the cyclist. To prevent such a crash, this work presents CycleGuard, an acoustic-based collision detection system using smartphones. It is composed of a cheap commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) portable speaker that emits imperceptible high-frequency acoustic signals and a smartphone for reflected signal reception and analysis. Since received acoustic signals bear rich information of their reflecting objects, CycleGuard applies advanced acoustic ranging techniques to extract those information for traffic analysis. Cyclists are alerted if any pending right hook crashes are detected. Real-time alerts ensure that cyclists have sufficient time to react, apply brakes, and eventually avoid the hazard. To validate the efficacy of CycleGuard, we implement a proof-of-concept prototype and carry out extensive in-field experiments under a broad spectrum of settings. Results show that CycleGuard achieves up to 95% accuracy in preventing right hook crashes and is robust to various scenarios. It is also energy-friendly to run on battery-powered smartphones.
Application of Dynamic Temperature-Humidity Chamber for Measuring Moisture Sorption Isotherms of Biomaterials as Compared to the Conventional Isopiestic Method
Authors: Al-Khalili Maha , Al-Habsi Nasser , Rahman Mohammad Shafiur
Published: December 2021

Measurement of water activity and moisture sorption isotherms of foods and biomaterials are important to determine the state of water. In this work, a dynamic temperature-humidity (DTH) controlled chamber was used to measure water sorption isotherm and compared with the conventional isopiestic method. Temperature and relative humidity of DTH chamber can be controlled in the range of -15 to 100°C and 0 to 98%, respectively; thus, measurement of water activity at any point can be measured within the above ranges. The DTH chamber method showed high reproducibility as compared with the conventional isopiestic method when measured isotherms of cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulase were compared at 30°C. Finally, isotherm data of cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulase were generated in the temperature range of 10-90°C using DTH chamber, and these were modelled by BET and GAB equations. The model parameters were correlated with the temperature.
Antitrypanosomal Effect of Hydromethanolic Extract of Solanum anguivi Lam on Field Isolates of Trypanosoma congolense Infected Mice
Authors: Abdeta Debela , Abay Solomon Mequanente , Giday Mirutse , Kebede Nigatu , Terefe Getechew
Published: December 2021

Introduction. Trypanosomiasis is one of the world’s most serious infectious diseases caused by Trypanosoma parasites. Concern about resistance to conventional antitrypanosomal drugs, mosquito vector resistance to existing insecticide side effects of existing antitrypanosomal drugs justifies the urgent need for more effective, tolerable, and affordable drugs. Objective. The present study is aimed at determining the in vivo antitrypanosomal effect of the hydromethanolic extracts of Solanum anguivi fruit extracts against the field isolates of T. congolense. Methods. The 80% methanol extracts of S. anguivi fruits were prepared by cold maceration technique. In vivo curative tests were done to check the effect of plant extract against T. congolense in Swiss albino mice. Plant extracts were administered at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/body weight. Acute toxicity of the extracts at 2000 mg/kg was performed according to OECD guidelines. Data obtained from the experiment were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey test. Results. This study indicated that extract did not exhibit any sign of acute toxicity up to 2000 mg/kg/body weight. In curative test, extracts reduced parasitemia, preventing the drop in packed cell volume and body weight significantly (

p
<
0.05

), compared to control. Groups provided with the extract before infection got prolonged incubation period with chemoprophylactic effect at the doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg. Phytochemical analysis showed presence of flavonoids, steroids, triterpens, saponins, glycosides, tannins, and alkaloids. Conclusion. The extract showed promising curative. Further effort is required to isolate and purify specific compounds responsible for antitrypanosomal activity of studied plant.
Application of Image Denoising Method Based on Two-Way Coupling Diffusion Equation in Public Security Forensics
Authors: Wang Yiqun , He Changpeng , Li Zhenjiang
Published: December 2021

This paper uses the web live broadcast and on-demand platform based on the B/S architecture as the application side and designs a video image forensic system that can meet multiple police types and multiple application scenarios. The system uses mobile phones as the video image capture terminal to solve the problem of rapid response and concealment and uses 5G communication technology as the transmission medium to solve the problem of device mobility and link maintenance. The problem of diversification of the use and application modes of multiple police types is solved; the video image evidence is managed in a centralized storage, audit, and export method, and the security and authenticity of the evidence are solved. While the system realizes a series of functions such as the collection, transmission, storage, and application of video image evidence, it also realizes the application-side video image live broadcast function according to actual work needs and solves the large-scale case command and decision-making problem that has been plagued by public security organs. In order to remove the noise in the public security forensic images and to smooth the noise while retaining the details of the image, this paper proposes a denoising algorithm based on the two-way coupling diffusion equation. By improving the second-order partial differential equation, a new diffusion function with better diffusion effect than the original model is constructed. We combined the adaptive edge threshold and stop criterion to establish a new denoising algorithm model, which can get better denoising results. When the noise level is low, the PSNR value and SSIM value of several denoising methods are relatively ideal, and the result is at a higher level, the denoising picture effect is better, and there is no obvious incomplete noise removal or detail problems. As the noise level increases, the denoising results will gradually decrease, and the effects will also vary to different degrees. When the noise intensity increases, visually, it can be clearly seen that the two-way coupled diffusion equation and DnCNN have better denoising effects. When the noise level is high, the two-way coupled diffusion equation network is used to use the clear image and the denoised image for indistinguishable calculation. The method in this paper almost retains all the texture details in the clear image, and there are almost no artifacts and images. On the other hand, the color of the image after denoising by the method in this paper is more vivid, and it is closer to the target picture in terms of picture definition and tone, the denoising effect is ideal, and the generated image has a higher degree of restoration. Compared with the residual GAN, the two-way coupling diffusion equation network converges faster and the network performance is improved.