bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Continuous oxygen saturation and risk of retinopathy of prematurity in a Japanese cohort
Authors: Kubota Hiroshi , Fukushima Yoko , Kawasaki Ryo , Endo Takao , Hatsukawa Yoshikazu , Ineyama Hiromi , Hirata Katsuya , Hirano Shinya , Wada Kazuko , Nishida Kohji
Published: March 2024

Background/aims

We assessed the associations between retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and continuous measurements of oxygen saturation (SpO2), and developed a risk prediction model for severe ROP using birth data and SpO2data.

Methods

This retrospective study included infants who were born before 30 weeks of gestation between August 2009 and January 2019 and who were screened for ROP at a single hospital in Japan. We extracted data on birth weight (BW), birth length, gestational age (GA) and minute-by-minute SpO2during the first 20 days from the medical records. We defined four SpO2variables using sequential measurements. Multivariate logistic regression was used to develop a model that combined birth data and SpO2data to predict treatment-requiring ROP (TR-ROP). The model’s performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results

Among 350 infants, 83 (23.7%) required ROP treatment. The SpO2variables in infants with TR-ROP differed significantly from those with non-TR-ROP. The average SpO2and high SpO2showed strong associations with GA (r=0.73 and r=0.70, respectively). The model incorporating birth data and the four SpO2variables demonstrated good discriminative ability (AUC=0.83), but it did not outperform the model incorporating BW and GA (AUC=0.82).

Conclusion

Data obtained by continuous SpO2monitoring demonstrated valuable associations with severe ROP, as well as with GA. Differences in the distribution of average SpO2and high SpO2between infants with TR-ROP and non-TR-ROP could be used to establish efficient cut-off values for risk determination.
Interventions in adult patients with multimorbidity in low-income and middle-income countries: protocol for a mixed-methods systematic review
Authors: George Tina , Manski-Nankervis Jo-Anne , Klaic Marlena , Kang Gagandeep , Sudarsanam Thambu David
Published: March 2024

Introduction

Multimorbidity, the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions in the same individual, is a major public health problem in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). The use of single-disease guidelines contributes to polypharmacy, fragmented care and increased treatment burden. Health systems in LMICs are very different from those in high-income countries, and adapting interventions from one to the other may not be feasible. This review aims to systematically present the current evidence for interventions for multimorbidity in the LMIC setting.

Methods and analysis

In this mixed-methods systematic review, we will include all studies of interventions for the care of adults (>18 years of age) with multimorbidity (defined as the presence of two or more chronic illnesses in an individual) in any healthcare organisation (primary, secondary or tertiary care) in an LMIC (as defined by the World Bank), published between 2000 and March 2023. All primary study designs will be included. Studies reported in languages other than English and those describing interventions classified as ‘financial’ or ‘governance arrangement’ according to the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care classification will be excluded. MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, TRIP, SCOPUS and the 3ie databases will be searched. The titles will be screened by one author, and two authors will independently screen all included abstracts and full texts. A third author will resolve conflicts at every stage. Studies will be reviewed for quality of evidence using appropriate tools. Epidemiological, intervention and outcome data will be extracted and summarised. Outcomes of interest for LMICs defined by the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases research group will be analysed. Subgroup analysis according to study types and study settings will be done.

Ethics and dissemination

No ethics approval is required for this systematic review. Results will be disseminated through publication in an open-access journal and presentation at conferences.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42023391897.
Impact of the economic crisis, COVID-19 and the Beirut explosion on ophthalmology training in Lebanon: an observational cohort survey-based study
Authors: Ghannam Alaa Bou , Ibrahim Hanadi Ahmad , Hammoud Bassel , Hamam Rola
Published: March 2024

Objectives

The objective of the study is to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis and the Beirut explosion on the training and work of ophthalmology residents and faculty in Lebanon.

Design

This is an observational cohort survey-based research conducted between January and December 2022.

Setting

The study targeted all ophthalmology residents and core faculty in Lebanon.

Participants

A total of 52 participants, including 27 residents and 25 core faculty members, completed the survey.

Primary outcome measure

Primary outcomes comprised the subjectively reported effect of the three major external stressors on the training and well-being of ophthalmology trainees and educators in Lebanon.

Results

The study found that the majority of ophthalmology residents and core faculty members were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Beirut explosion and the economic crisis in Lebanon. Significant percentage reported financial burden, decrease in outpatient and surgical load and educational activities. Furthermore, most participants reported higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression during the time of crises.

Conclusions

This study emphasises the need to support healthcare professionals during times of crisis, as they are on the frontlines and can experience high levels of stress, anxiety and depression. By providing support and resources to healthcare professionals, they can better cope with the challenges they face and continue to provide essential care to their patients.
Development and feasibility of a conceptual model for planning individualised physical exercise training (IPET) for older adults: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Teljigovic Sanel , Dalager Tina , Nielsen Nina Odgaard , Holm Lars , Ejvang Mette Bahn , Sjøgaard Gisela , Søgaard Karen , Sandal Louise Fleng
Published: March 2024

Objective

Older adults constitute a heterogeneous group, and the focus of the individual physical exercise is often subject to the reasoning and experience of health professionals or exercise physiologists who prescribe them. Thus, this is the first effort to explicitly conceptualise the planning of individualised physical exercise training (IPET) for older adults in an outpatient setting and investigate individual exercise preferences.

Design

The concept ofIPET was developed by researchers, exercise physiologists and health professionals from a real-life outpatient setting using an iterative approach. Health indicators assessing aerobic capacity, strength, balance and musculoskeletal pain/discomfort sites form the basis of physical exercise recommendations. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the basis of implementingIPET.

Setting

Outpatient setting.

Participants

We included 115 older adults (70 females) from an outpatient setting with a median age of 74 years.

Outcome measures

Health indicators assessing aerobic capacity, strength, balance and musculoskeletal pain/discomfort sites were collected and informed the concept ofIPET that structures exercise programmes based on the individual citizen’s needs and physical exercise preferences. Exceeding a health indicator cut-point results in exercise content mitigating the risk associated with the health indicator.

Results

We included 115 older adults (70 females) from an outpatient setting median age of 74 years. Approximately two-thirds of participants exceeded at least one health indicator cut-point for aerobic training. One-third of the participants exceeded the cut-point for upper extremity strength, and almost all participants >99% exceeded the cut-point for lower extremity strength. Approximately two-thirds of the participants exceeded the cut-point for functional/balance training. The most prevalent site of musculoskeletal pain was the lower extremities. Eight of 20 training combinations were used, clustering the 115 participants primarily in three main training combinations.

Discussion

This study shows that older adults vary in physical functioning, indicating that exercise preferences and rehabilitation needs are individual.

Trial registration number

NCT04862481.
University staff perspectives on determinants of high-quality health professions student placements in regional, rural and remote Australia: protocol for a mixed-method study
Authors: Quilliam Claire , Green Elyce , Rasiah Rohan L , Sheepway Lyndal , Seaton Catherine , Moore Leigh , Bailie Jodie , Matthews Kylie Maree , Ferns Jane , Debenham James , Taylor Carolyn , Fitzgerald Kathryn , Ridd Melissa
Published: March 2024

Introduction

In rural areas, work-integrated learning in the form of health student placements has several potential benefits, including contributing to student learning, enhancing rural health service capacity and attracting future rural health workforce. Understanding what constitutes a high-quality rural placement experience is important for enhancing these outcomes. There is no current standardised definition of quality in the context of rural health placements, nor is there understanding of how this can be achieved across different rural contexts. This study is guided by one broad research question: what do university staff believe are the determinants of high-quality health professions student placements in regional, rural and remote Australia?

Methods and analysis

This study will adopt a convergent mixed-method design with two components. Component A will use explanatory sequential mixed methods. The first phase of component A will use a survey to explore determinants that contribute to the development of high-quality health student placements from the perspective of university staff who are not employed in University Departments of Rural Health and are involved in the delivery of health student education. The second phase will use semistructured interviews with the same stakeholder group (non-University Department of Rural Health university staff) to identify the determinants of high-quality health student placements. Component B will use a case study Employing COnceptUal schema for policy and Translation Engagement in Research mind mapping method to capture determinants that contribute to the development of high-quality health student placements from the perspective of University Department of Rural Health university staff.

Ethics and dissemination

The University of Melbourne Human Ethics Committee approved the study (2022-23201-33373-5). Following this, seven other Australian university human research ethics committees provided external approval to conduct the study. The results of the study will be presented in several peer-review publications and summary reports to key stakeholder groups.
Knowledge, attitude and practices of insulin therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Almheiri Ayesha , Binjab Eman Ali , Albloushi Maha Murad , Alshamsi Mohamed Taryam , Khansaheb Hamda Hassan , Zidan Marwan , Hassoun Ahmed Abdul Karim
Published: March 2024

Objectives

This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin regarding insulin therapy.

Design

A cross-sectional study.

Setting

This study was conducted at the Dubai Diabetes Center from 1 December 2018 to 1 March 2020.

Participants

Face-to-face interviews were conducted for 350 participants with type 2 diabetes at the Dubai Diabetes Center. Interviews followed the structured format of a questionnaire designed to obtain demographic details and score participants on knowledge, attitude and practices. We included patients aged >18 years and receiving insulin therapy. Patients with type 1 diabetes, pregnant women with gestational diabetes, those aged <18 years or those with a history of dementia were excluded.

Results

The median age of participants was 61 years (first quartile, 53 years; third quartile, 67 years); 35.7% were male individuals and 64.3% were female individuals. The median percentage scores for knowledge, attitude and practices were 62.5% (62.5%, 75%), 85.7% (71.4%, 100%) and 77.7% (66.6%, 88.8%), respectively. Highly educated participants had a high level of knowledge. Significant negative correlations were found between the percentage knowledge scores and participants’ age and between the participants’ percentage attitude scores and haemoglobin A1C levels; Spearman’s correlations were −0.182 (p<0.001) and −0.14 (p=0.008), respectively. A significant positive Spearman’s correlation of 0.123 (p=0.021) was found between the percentage knowledge and percentage practice scores. No correlations were found among knowledge levels, participants’ haemoglobin A1c levels and duration of insulin use.

Conclusion

Patients with type 2 diabetes receiving insulin therapy and attending the Dubai Diabetes Center had adequate knowledge, a positive attitude and correct practice regarding insulin therapy. However, knowledge of specific facts did not always translate into correct behaviours and practices.
Self-management needs, strategies and support for sickle cell disease in developing countries: a scoping review protocol
Authors: Druye Andrews Adjei , Boso Christian Makafui , Amoadu Mustapha , Obeng Paul , Nabe Bernard , Kagbo Justice Enock , Doe Patience Fakornam , Okantey Christiana , Ofori Godson Obeng , Opoku-Danso Rita , Agyare Dorcas Frempomaa , Osei Berchie Gifty , Owusu Gifty , Nsatimba Frederick , Abraham Susanna Aba
Published: March 2024

Introduction

Sickle cell disease (SCD) poses a significant global health burden, particularly affecting individuals in developing countries with constrained healthcare resources. While research on self-management in the context of SCD is emerging, it has predominantly focused on primary studies, and there is a notable dearth of evidence synthesis on SCD self-management in developing countries. This scoping review aims to identify and map self-management needs of individuals living with SCD, the strategies they employed to meet those needs, and the support systems available to them.

Methods and analysis

The review will be conducted following the Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) 29 framework to comprehensively examine the landscape of SCD self-management research. Searches will be performed in PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Dimensions AI, with additional searches in other databases and grey literature. Indexed literature published in English from inception to January 2024 will be included. Reference list from included studies will also be searched manually. Two teams will be constituted to independently screen titles, abstracts and full text against the eligible criteria. Data will be extracted from included studies onto a customised data extraction form.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval is not required for this review due to the fact that it synthesises information from available publications. The findings will be disseminated through publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Also, the findings will possibly be presented at relevant international and national conferences. This protocol has already been registered with the Open Science Framework. The study characteristics such as design and setting will be descriptively analysed and presented as graphs, tables and figures. Thematic analysis will also be conducted based on the study objectives and presented as a narrative summary.
A realist synthesis of multicentre comparative audit implementation: exploring what works and in which healthcare contexts
Authors: McGlacken-Byrne Sinéad M , Murphy Nuala P , Barry Sarah
Published: March 2024

Background

Multicentre comparative clinical audits have the potential to improve patient care, allow benchmarking and inform resource allocation. However, implementing effective and sustainable large-scale audit can be difficult within busy and resource-constrained contemporary healthcare settings. There are little data on what facilitates the successful implementation of multicentre audits. As healthcare environments are complex sociocultural organisational environments, implementing multicentre audits within them is likely to be highly context dependent.

Objective

We aimed to examine factors that were influential in the implementation process of multicentre comparative audits within healthcare contexts—what worked, why, how and for whom?

Methods

A realist review was conducted in accordance with the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards reporting standards. A preliminary programme theory informed two systematic literature searches of peer-reviewed and grey literature. The main context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations underlying the implementation processes of multicentre audits were identified and formed a final programme theory.

Results

69 original articles were included in the realist synthesis. Four discrete CMO configurations were deduced from this synthesis, which together made up the final programme theory. These were: (1) generating trustworthy data; (2) encouraging audit participation; (3) ensuring audit sustainability; and (4) facilitating audit cycle completion.

Conclusions

This study elucidated contexts, mechanisms and outcomes influential to the implementation processes of multicentre or national comparative audits in healthcare. The relevance of these contextual factors and generative mechanisms were supported by established theories of behaviour and findings from previous empirical research. These findings highlight the importance of balancing reliability with pragmatism within complex adaptive systems, generating and protecting human capital, ensuring fair and credible leadership and prioritising change facilitation.
RCEM best practice guideline: suspected cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome in emergency departments
Authors: Humphries Christopher , Gillings Marianne
Published: March 2024

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is an episodic syndrome of cyclic vomiting in the context of the prolonged use of cannabis. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine Toxicology Special Interest Group has produced guidance to support emergency medicine clinicians with the recognition and treatment of people experiencing CHS.

Considerations regarding recognition, investigation and communication are discussed, and recommendations regarding treatment options (which include haloperidol and capsaicin) are made. There is a focus on making recommendations on the best available evidence.
Liver outcomes following proctocolectomy in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis
Authors: Ryan Thomas , Segal Jonathan P
Published: March 2024

Background

The aims of this narrative review are to examine the impact of proctocolectomy on the liver in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis (PSC-UC), mainly focusing on graft loss, and to compare the different proctocolectomy techniques to help determine which is the best for PSC-UC patients.

Methods

A literature search was performed using the online databases MEDLINE and Embase. Studies found via the search were evaluated against both inclusion and exclusion criteria by two independent reviewers (TR and JS). Relevant studies were included in the review.

Results

Seven studies were deemed relevant through the literature search and review process and another one was included via other sources, therefore, eight studies were included in the final review.

Conclusions

Proctocolectomy does not appear to have a negative impact on the liver and ileostomy appears to have better outcomes in terms of graft loss compared with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. However, more high-quality studies on this topic are required as the existing literature is limited, and therefore, the findings should not be overinterpreted.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between long working hours and hypertension risk
Authors: Ahn Joonho , Song Ji-Hun , Shin In-Soo , Cho In Young , Kang Mo-Yeol
Published: March 2024

Background

Hypertension, a major public health problem worldwide, has been linked to lifestyle factors and work conditions, with conflicting evidence on the association between long work hours and risk of hypertension.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to investigate the relationship between working hours and hypertension or blood pressure, assessed the risk of bias and performed subgroup analyses. The protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews.

Results

The pooled OR for the association between long working hours and risk of hypertension was 1.09 (95% CI: 0.88 to 1.35) in the 15 studies that used hypertension as the outcome. In the three studies that used blood pressure as the outcome, diastolic blood pressure was higher among those with long working hours compared with those with non-long working hours (1.24 mm Hg, 95% CI: 0.19 to 2.29). In subgroup analysis, the pooled OR for the association between long working hours and risk of hypertension was 1.28 (95% CI: 1.14 to 1.44) and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.64 to 1.56) in women and men, respectively.

Conclusions

Although this study could not clearly confirm the relationship between long working hours and hypertension, the subgroup analysis suggests that long working hours may be associated with hypertension, particularly among women. More reliable research is needed to establish causality.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42023406961.
Risk of stroke with different levels of leisure-time physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
Authors: De Santis Federico , Romoli Michele , Foschi Matteo , Sciancalepore Francesco Domenico , D'Anna Lucio , Barba Lorenzo , Abu-Rumeileh Samir , Sacco Simona , Ornello Raffaele
Published: March 2024

Background

Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) protects against vascular diseases. Whether and to what extent different levels of LTPA, including lower ones, benefit stroke prevention is still unclear.

Methods

We searched prospective cohort studies, indexed on PubMed and Scopus, published in English up to 22 April 2023, that investigated, in a general healthy population, the relationship between different predefined LTPA levels, compared with inactivity, and the risk of any type of stroke. We applied random effect modelling for meta-analyses and meta-regression to control for the impact of age and sex.

Results

Out of 3064 screened articles, 15 articles on 16 cohorts of subjects were included in meta-analyses, with a total of 752 050 followed-up subjects. Mean follow-up was 125.7±77.5 months. Included studies identified three (none, below target and ideal) to five (none, insufficient, low, moderate and intense) levels of LTPA. In the five studies identifying three levels of LTPA, compared with no LTPA, below target (risk ratio (RR)=0.82, 95% CI=0.75 to 0.88) and ideal LTPA significantly reduced stroke risk (RR=0.71, 95% CI=0.58 to 0.86).

Lower levels of LTPA also mitigated stroke risk in studies reporting on four (n=6; RR=0.73, 95% CI=0.62 to 0.87 favouring moderate LTPA over no LTPA) and five levels (n=2; RR=0.71, 95% CI=0.58 to 0.88 favouring moderate LTPA over no LTPA). The benefits of LTPA were independent of age and sex.

Conclusions

According to our results, all levels of LTPA can be beneficial for stroke prevention, including levels currently regarded as low or insufficient. People should be encouraged to be physically active even at the lowest levels.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42023425302.
Physical activity and body mass related to catch-up lung function growth in childhood: a population-based accelerated cohort study
Authors: Koch Sarah , Peralta Gabriela Prado , Carsin Anne-Elie , Abellan Alicia , Roda Celine , Torrent Maties , Iñiguez Carmen , Ballester Ferran , Ferrero Amparo , Zabaleta Carlos , Lertxundi Aitana , Guxens Mònica , Vrijheid Martine , Sunyer Jordi , Casas Maribel , Garcia-Aymerich Judith
Published: March 2024

Objective

The existence of catch-up lung function growth and its predictors is uncertain. We aimed to identify lung function trajectories and their predictors in a population-based birth cohort.

Methods

We applied group-based trajectory modelling to z-scores of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (zFEV1) and z-scores of forced vital capacity (zFVC) from 1151 children assessed at around 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 18 years. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to test whether potential prenatal and postnatal predictors were associated with lung function trajectories.

Results

We identified four lung function trajectories: a low (19% and 19% of the sample for zFEV1and zFVC, respectively), normal (62% and 63%), and high trajectory (16% and 13%) running in parallel, and a catch-up trajectory (2% and 5%) with catch-up occurring between 4 and 10 years. Fewer child allergic diseases and higher body mass index z-score (zBMI) at 4 years were associated with the high and normal compared with the low trajectories, both for zFEV1and zFVC. Increased children’s physical activity during early childhood and higher zBMI at 4 years were associated with the catch-up compared with the low zFEV1trajectory (relative risk ratios: 1.59 per physical activity category (1.03–2.46) and 1.47 per zBMI (0.97–2.23), respectively). No predictors were identified for zFVC catch-up growth.

Conclusion

We found three parallel-running and one catch-up zFEV1and zFVC trajectories, and identified physical activity and body mass at 4 years as predictors of zFEV1but not zFVC catch-up growth.
HFpEF and sex: understanding the role of sex differences
Authors: Smereka Yuliia , Ezekowitz Justin A.
Published: March 2024

Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome with many etiological factors and complex pathophysiology affecting millions worldwide. Males and females can have distinct clinical presentation and prognosis, and there is an emerging understanding of the factors that highlight the similarities and differences to synthesize and present available data for sex-specific differences in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). While the majority of data demonstrate more similarities than differences between females and males in terms of heart failure, there are key differences. Data showed that females have a higher risk of developing HFpEF, but a lower risk of mortality and hospitalization. This can be conditioned by different profiles of comorbidities, postmenopausal changes in sex hormone levels, higher levels of inflammation and chronic microvascular dysfunction in females. These factors, combined with different left ventricular dimensions and function, which are more pronounced with age, lead to a higher prevalence of LV diastolic dysfunction at rest and exercise. As a result, females have lower exercise capacity and quality of life when compared to males. Females also have different activities of systems responsible for drug transformation, leading to different efficacy of drugs as well as higher risk of adverse drug reactions. These data prove the necessity for creating sex-specific risk stratification scales and treatment plans.
Nonneutral Weibel model plasma in the non-minimal CPT-odd coupling
Authors: Soares D. N. , Belich H. , Spalenza W. , Braga F. L.
Published: March 2024

Inspired by the extension of the Standard Model, we investigate the effects of the space-time anisotropy caused by Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) on a plasma column confinement configuration. The model of Plasma taken into account is the z-pinch model that was in the earliest efforts in fusion power research. This model comprises particles in a nonequilibrium cylindrical distribution, which remains stationary in the absence of collisions. We propose a disturbance in the distribution by a Lorentz violation environment. As proposed by Carroll, Field, and Jackiw, in a scenario of (LSV), a background field vector could couple with the electromagnetic field, modifying the classical behavior of the electromagnetic field. As reported here, considering the presence of a background field vector, the intensities of the fields and particle densities would be disturbed by the influence of the LSV. For different values of the background field vector coupling constant, the contribution of the background vector field could modify the intensity of the electromagnetic fields, and concentrate even more the electrons densities in the edge of the plasma column, evidencing a behavior similar to a skin effect in this plasma column.
Privacy-Preserving and Cross-Domain Human Sensing by Federated Domain Adaptation with Semantic Knowledge Correction
Authors: Gong Kaijie , Gao Yi , Dong Wei
Published: March 2024

Federated Learning (FL) enables distributed training of human sensing models in a privacy-preserving manner. While promising, federated global models suffer from cross-domain accuracy degradation when the labeled source domains statistically differ from the unlabeled target domain. To tackle this problem, recent methods perform pairwise computation on the source and target domains to minimize the domain discrepancy by adversarial strategy. However, these methods are limited by the fact that pairwise source-target adversarial alignment alone only achieves domain-level alignment, which entails the alignment of domain-invariant as well as environment-dependent features. The misalignment of environment-dependent features may cause negative impact on the performance of the federated global model. In this paper, we introduce FDAS, a Federated adversarial Domain Adaptation with Semantic Knowledge Correction method. FDAS achieves concurrent alignment at both domain and semantic levels to improve the semantic quality of the aligned features, thereby reducing the misalignment of environment-dependent features. Moreover, we design a cross-domain semantic similarity metric and further devise feature selection and feature refinement mechanisms to enhance the two-level alignment. In addition, we propose a similarity-aware model fine-tuning strategy to further improve the target model performance. We evaluate the performance of FDAS extensively on four public and a real-world human sensing datasets. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superior effectiveness of FDAS and its potential in the real-world ubiquitous computing scenarios.
Exploring Uni-manual Around Ear Off-Device Gestures for Earables
Authors: Shimon Shaikh Shawon Arefin , Neshati Ali , Sun Junwei , Xu Qiang , Zhao Jian
Published: March 2024

Small form factor limits physical input space in earable (i.e., ear-mounted wearable) devices. Off-device earable inputs in alternate mid-air and on-skin around-ear interaction spaces using uni-manual gestures can address this input space limitation. Segmenting these alternate interaction spaces to create multiple gesture regions for reusing off-device gestures can expand earable input vocabulary by a large margin. Although prior earable interaction research has explored off-device gesture preferences and recognition techniques in such interaction spaces, supporting gesture reuse over multiple gesture regions needs further exploration. We collected and analyzed 7560 uni-manual gesture motion data from 18 participants to explore earable gesture reuse by segmentation of on-skin and mid-air spaces around the ear. Our results show that gesture performance degrades significantly beyond 3 mid-air and 5 on-skin around-ear gesture regions for different uni-manual gesture classes (e.g., swipe, pinch, tap). We also present qualitative findings on most and least preferred regions (and associated boundaries) by end-users for different uni-manual gesture shapes across both interaction spaces for earable devices. Our results complement earlier elicitation studies and interaction technologies for earables to help expand the gestural input vocabulary and potentially drive future commercialization of such devices.
CrossGAI
Authors: Deng Hanhui , Jiang Jianan , Yu Zhiwang , Ouyang Jinhui , Wu Di
Published: March 2024

Fashion design usually requires multiple designers to discuss and collaborate to complete a set of fashion designs, and the efficiency of the sketching process is another challenge for personalized design. In this paper, we introduce a fashion design system, CrossGAI, that can support multiple designers to collaborate on different devices and provide AI-enhanced sketching assistance. Based on the design requirements analysis acquired from the formative study of designers, we develop the system framework of CrossGAI implemented by the user-side web-based cross-device design platform working along with the server-side AI-integrated backend system. The CrossGAI system can be agilely deployed in LAN networks which protects the privacy and security of user data. To further improve both the efficiency and the quality of the sketch process, we devised and exploited generative AI modules, including a sketch retrieval module to retrieve sketches according to stroke or sketch drawn, a sketch generation module enabling the generation of fashion sketches consistent with the designer's unique aesthetic, and an image synthesis module that could achieve sketch-to-image synthesis in accordance with the reference image's style. To optimise the computation offloading when multiple user processes are handled in LAN networks, Lyapunov algorithm with DNN actor is utilized to dynamically optimize the network bandwidth of different clients based on their access history to the application and reduce network latency. The performance of our modules is verified through a series of evaluations under LAN environment, which prove that our CrossGAI system owns competitive ability in AIGC-aided designing. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis on user experience and work quality demonstrates the efficiency and effectiveness of CrossGAI system in design work.
Embracing Distributed Acoustic Sensing in Car Cabin for Children Presence Detection
Authors: Su Yuqi , Zhang Fusang , Niu Kai , Wang Tianben , Jin Beihong , Wang Zhi , Jiang Yalan , Zhang Daqing , Qiu Lili , Xiong Jie
Published: March 2024

Contactless acoustic sensing has been actively exploited in the past few years to enable a large range of applications, ranging from fine-grained vital sign monitoring to coarse-grained human tracking. However, existing acoustic sensing systems mainly work on smartphone or smart speaker platforms. In this paper, we envision an exciting new acoustic sensing platform, i.e., car cabin which is inherently embedded with a large number of speakers and microphones. We propose the new concept of distributed acoustic sensing and develop novel designs leveraging the unique characteristics of rich multi-path in car cabin to enable fine-grained sensing even when the primary reflection is totally blocked. By using child presence detection as the application example, we show that child presence can be detected through body motions or even subtle breath (when the child is sleeping or in coma) at all locations in the cabin without any blind spots. We further show that the proposed system can robustly work in different car cabins, achieving an average detection accuracy of 97% and a false alarm rate always below 2% under different scenarios including those challenging ones such as rear-facing seat blockage. We believe the proposed distributed sensing modality in car cabin pushes acoustic sensing one big step towards real-life adoption.
EchoPFL
Authors: Li Xiaochen , Liu Sicong , Zhou Zimu , Guo Bin , Xu Yuan , Yu Zhiwen
Published: March 2024

The rise of mobile devices with abundant sensory data and local computing capabilities has driven the trend of federated learning (FL) on these devices. And personalized FL (PFL) emerges to train specific deep models for each mobile device to address data heterogeneity and varying performance preferences. However, mobile training times vary significantly, resulting in either delay (when waiting for slower devices for aggregation) or accuracy decline (when aggregation proceeds without waiting). In response, we propose a shift towards asynchronous PFL, where the server aggregates updates as soon as they are available. Nevertheless, existing asynchronous protocols are unfit for PFL because they are devised for federated training of a single global model. They suffer from slow convergence and decreased accuracy when confronted with severe data heterogeneity prevalent in PFL. Furthermore, they often exclude slower devices for staleness control, which notably compromises accuracy when these devices possess critical personalized data. Therefore, we propose EchoPFL, a coordination mechanism for asynchronous PFL. Central to EchoPFL is to include updates from all mobile devices regardless of their latency. To cope with the inevitable staleness from slow devices, EchoPFL revisits model broadcasting. It intelligently converts the unscalable broadcast to on-demand broadcast, leveraging the asymmetrical bandwidth in wireless networks and the dynamic clustering-based PFL. Experiments show that compared to status quo approaches, EchoPFL achieves a reduction of up to 88.2% in convergence time, an improvement of up to 46% in accuracy, and a decrease of 37% in communication costs.
Towards Unified Representation Learning for Career Mobility Analysis with Trajectory Hypergraph
Authors: Zha Rui , Sun Ying , Qin Chuan , Zhang Le , Xu Tong , Zhu Hengshu , Chen Enhong
Published: March 2024

Career mobility analysis aims at understanding the occupational movement patterns of talents across distinct labor market entities, which enables a wide range of talent-centered applications, such as job recommendation, labor demand forecasting, and company competitive analysis. Existing studies in this field mainly focus on a single fixed scale, investigating either individual trajectories at the micro-level or crowd flows among market entities at the macro-level. Consequently, the intrinsic cross-scale interactions between talents and the labor market are largely overlooked. To bridge this gap, we propose
UniTRep
, a novel unified representation learning framework for cross-scale career mobility analysis. Specifically, we first introduce a trajectory hypergraph structure to organize the career mobility patterns in a low-information-loss manner, where market entities and talent trajectories are represented as nodes and hyperedges, respectively. Then, for learning the
market-aware talent representations
, we attentively propagate the node information to the hyperedges and incorporate the market contextual features into the process of individual trajectory modeling. For learning the
trajectory-enhanced market representations
, we aggregate the message from hyperedges associated with a specific node to integrate the fine-grained semantics of trajectories into labor market modeling. Moreover, we design two auxiliary tasks to optimize both intra-scale and cross-scale learning with a self-supervised strategy. Extensive experiments on a real-world dataset clearly validate that UniTRep can significantly outperform state-of-the-art baselines for various tasks.
Delay Threshold for Social Interaction in Volumetric eXtended Reality Communication
Authors: Cortés Carlos , Viola Irene , Gutiérrez Jesús , Jansen Jack , Subramanyam Shishir , Alexiou Evangelos , Pérez Pablo , García Narciso , César Pablo
Published: March 2024

Immersive technologies like eXtended Reality (XR) are the next step in videoconferencing. In this context, understanding the effect of delay on communication is crucial. This article presents the first study on the impact of delay on collaborative tasks using a realistic Social XR system. Specifically, we design an experiment and evaluate the impact of end-to-end delays of 300, 600, 900, 1,200, and 1,500 ms on the execution of a standardized task involving the collaboration of two remote users that meet in a virtual space and construct block-based shapes. To measure the impact of the delay in this communication scenario, objective and subjective data were collected. As objective data, we measured the time required to execute the tasks and computed conversational characteristics by analyzing the recorded audio signals. As subjective data, a questionnaire was prepared and completed by every user to evaluate different factors such as overall quality, perception of delay, annoyance using the system, level of presence, cybersickness, and other subjective factors associated with social interaction. The results show a clear influence of the delay on the perceived quality and a significant negative effect as the delay increases. Specifically, the results indicate that the acceptable threshold for end-to-end delay should not exceed 900 ms. This article additionally provides guidelines for developing standardized XR tasks for assessing interaction in Social XR environments.
Efficient Optimization of Sparse User Encoder Recommenders
Authors: Rendle Steffen
Published: March 2024

Embedding representations are a popular approach for modeling users and items in recommender systems, e.g., matrix factorization, two-tower models, or autoencoders, in which items and users are embedded in a low-dimensional, dense embedding space. On the other hand, there are methods that model high-dimensional relationships between items, most notably item-based collaborative filtering (CF), which is based on an item-to-item similarity matrix. Item-based CF was proposed over two decades ago and gained new interest through new learning methods in the form of SLIM [
18
] and, most recently, EASE [
25
]. In this work, we rephrase traditional item-based CF as sparse user encoders in which the user encoder is an (arbitrary) function and the item representation is learned. Item-based CF is a special case in which the sparse user encoding is the one-hot encoding of a user’s history. In contrast to typical dense user/item encoder models, this work targets high-dimensional and sparse user encoders. The core contribution is an efficient closed-form learning algorithm that can solve arbitrary sparse user encoders. Several applications of this algorithm are presented, including higher-order encoders, hashed encoders, and feature-based encoders.
Enhanced Video Super-Resolution Network towards Compressed Data
Authors: Li Feng , Wu Yixuan , Li Anqi , Bai Huihui , Cong Runmin , Zhao Yao
Published: March 2024

Video super-resolution (VSR) algorithms aim at recovering a temporally consistent high-resolution (HR) video from its corresponding low-resolution (LR) video sequence. Due to the limited bandwidth during video transmission, most available videos on the internet are compressed. Nevertheless, few existing algorithms consider the compression factor in practical applications. In this paper, we propose an enhanced VSR model towards compressed videos, termed as ECVSR, to simultaneously achieve compression artifacts reduction and SR reconstruction end-to-end. ECVSR contains a motion-excited temporal adaption network (METAN) and a multi-frame SR network (SRNet). The METAN takes decoded LR video frames as input and models inter-frame correlations via bidirectional deformable alignment and motion-excited temporal adaption, where temporal differences are calculated as motion prior to excite the motion-sensitive regions of temporal features. In SRNet, cascaded recurrent multi-scale blocks (RMSB) are employed to learn deep spatio-temporal representations from adapted multi-frame features. Then, we build a reconstruction module for spatio-temporal information integration and HR frame reconstruction, which is followed by a detail refinement module for texture and visual quality enhancement. Extensive experimental results on compressed videos demonstrate the superiority of our method for compressed VSR. Code will be available at
https://github.com/lifengcs/ECVSR
.
SsAG
: Summarization and Sparsification of Attributed Graphs
Authors: Ali Sarwan , Ahmad Muhammad , Beg Maham Anwer , Khan Imdad Ullah , Faizullah Safiullah , Khan Muhammad Asad
Published: March 2024

Graph summarization has become integral for managing and analyzing large-scale graphs in diverse real-world applications, including social networks, biological networks, and communication networks. Existing methods for graph summarization often face challenges, being either computationally expensive, limiting their applicability to large graphs, or lacking the incorporation of node attributes. In response, we introduce
SsAG
, an efficient and scalable lossy graph summarization method designed to preserve the essential structure of the original graph.

SsAG
computes a sparse representation (summary) of the input graph, accommodating graphs with node attributes. The summary is structured as a graph on supernodes (subsets of vertices of
G
), where weighted superedges connect pairs of supernodes. The methodology focuses on constructing a summary graph with
k
supernodes, aiming to minimize the reconstruction error (the difference between the original graph and the graph reconstructed from the summary) while maximizing homogeneity with respect to the node attributes. The construction process involves iteratively merging pairs of nodes.

To enhance computational efficiency, we derive a closed-form expression for efficiently computing the reconstruction error (RE) after merging a pair, enabling constant-time approximation of this score. We assign a weight to each supernode, quantifying their contribution to the score of pairs, and utilize a weighted sampling strategy to select the best pair for merging. Notably, a logarithmic-sized sample achieves a summary comparable in quality based on various measures. Additionally, we propose a sparsification step for the constructed summary, aiming to reduce storage costs to a specified target size with a marginal increase in RE.

Empirical evaluations across diverse real-world graphs demonstrate that
SsAG
exhibits superior speed, being up to 17 × faster, while generating summaries of comparable quality. This work represents a significant advancement in the field, addressing computational challenges and showcasing the effectiveness of
SsAG
in graph summarization.
Exploring the Voltage Stability of Birnessitic Bi-MnO2 Cathodes Formed In Situ in NaOH and KOH-Based Electrolytes
Authors: Ramirez-Meyers Katrina , Wu Xinsheng , Whitacre Jay F.
Published: March 2024

MnO2, in its many phases, is abundant, non-flammable, non-toxic, reliable, made with abundant materials using simple manufacturing methods, and can have a high theoretical capacity for some phases (up to 617 mAh g−1). Here we have investigated the sensitivity of the performance ofbirnessite—produced in situ—to the presence of Bi2O3, depth-of-discharge, electrolyte salt type, and relative electrolyte volume. We prepared cathodes composed of 45 wt% MnO2, 22.5 wt% Bi2O3, and 22.5 wt% carbon additives, and compared cycling stability in two electrolytes—6.6 M KOH (27 wt%) and 6.6 M NaOH (21 wt%), and two types of 3-electrode test fixtures (flooded beaker or electrolyte-lean T-cell). Our results showed that birnessite can be synthesized electrochemically in NaOH, and cycling the cathode in NaOH improves its stability when compared to cycling in KOH. We tested the cathode in electrolyte-lean environments and found a drastic improvement in cycling stability in NaOH. The cathode exhibited higher initial capacity in lean amounts of KOH, but capacity retention plummeted after the first 20 cycles. In contrast, the cathode in NaOH delivered 65% of the theoretical capacity for over 400 cycles.