bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Repeated dose 90-days oral toxicity study of Tala Sindura: An Ayurvedic mercuro-arsenical formulation
Authors: Nirmal Shivani , Dalvi Atul Tatyasaheb , Nariya Mukesh , Chaudhari Swapnil Yashwant , Patgiri Biswajyoti
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND:

Tala Sindura is one such mercuro-arsenical formulation extensively used in Ayurvedic therapeutics without any noticeable side effects. Despite this, safety concerns have been raised on such Ayurveda formulations containing heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic as an integral component. So, there is a need to generate scientific evidences on safety aspects of such formulations to prove that they are safe and non-toxic.

METHODS:

In current study, safety profile of Tala Sindura has been evaluated through repeated dose 90-days oral toxicity study. Test drug was administered at TED (22.5 mg/kg), TED ×5 (112.5 mg/kg), TED ×10 (225 mg/kg), and RTED ×10 (225 mg/kg) orally once in a day for 90 days along with honey (vehicle) and distilled water in a dose of 5 mL/kg body weight. Safety of Tala Sindura was assessed on the basis of hematological, biochemical, and histopathological changes in Wistar albino rats.

RESULTS:

Tala Sindura did not produce any significant changes in hematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters at TED and TED ×5 dose levels. Mild cell infiltration with edematous changes were observed in kidney at TED ×10 dose level; however, these changes were reversed in recovery control.

CONCLUSION:

From the present study, it is concluded that Tala Sindura is safe for administration at therapeutic dose level when administered for 90 days in rats.
Comparative pharmacognostical, phytochemical, high-performance thin-layer chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet spectral studies on leaf and rhizome of Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J. Smith
Authors: Thulasi Radhakrishnan , Misro Lakshminarayana , Maurya Rahul , Thirupataiah Boini
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND:

Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J.Smith, belonging to the Polypodiaceae family, is widely used in Ayurvedic formulation preparations and is known commonly as Aswakatri in Sanskrit. Usually, its rhizome part is used in the different formulations of Ayurveda Medicine. Many works in pharmacognostical evaluation and phytochemical analysis help reveal plants’ secondary metabolite constituents. Rhizomes or roots of many plants are the significant part used for medicinal purposes. While using these roots or rhizomes, we have to destroy the whole plant. So if the secondary metabolites in the root or rhizome are also present in aerial parts, there is no need to destroy the plant to get the medicinally important molecule. The available literature comparison of leaf and rhizome needs to be better studied.

METHODS:

The present study aims to compare the pharmacognostical and phytochemical contents of the leaf and rhizome of D. quercifolia using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (HPTLC). Quantitative analysis of plant parts was carried out by estimating total phenolic content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC). Further qualitative analysis of plant parts was carried out by HPTLC using mobile phase toluene:ethyl acetate (9:1, v/v).

RESULTS:

Different spots were observed in the leaf (@ 254 nm—05, 366 nm—07, and 545 nm—05) and rhizome (@366 nm—08 and 545 nm—06) of D. quercifolia. Gallic acid, quercetin, and β-sitosterol are used as a bioactive marker. The β-sitosterol was characteristically observed at 545 nm at R

f
0.28 in both plant parts.

CONCLUSION:

It has been observed that the leaf part of D. quercifolia exhibited more characteristic phytochemical constituents compared to the rhizome part. The TPC, TFC, and HPTLC fingerprint profiles are observed more in the leaf than in the rhizome part.
Acute oral toxicity study of polyherbal formulation: Constac granules
Authors: Porwal Ashwin D. , Bhagwat Gajanan Bhagwan , Kamble Pravin P. , Borate Sudhir
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND:

Constipation is a common and frequently persistent gastrointestinal motility condition. It affects the economic burden, the standard of living, social interaction, and the capacity to carry out everyday tasks. This study aimed to evaluate the acute oral toxicity of Constac granules in Wistar rats.

METHODS:

A total of 12 rats were randomly divided into four groups of three each. Group 1 served as the control and received only distilled water, while groups 2 and 3 received doses of 2000 mg/kg body weight of Constac granules, and group 4 received doses of 5000 mg/kg body weight of Constac granules. The rats were observed for 14 days for any signs of toxicity. Necropsy was performed on all rats at the termination of the study and gross pathology was recorded.

RESULTS:

The results showed no clinical signs of toxicity or mortality observed in any of the control and treatment groups rats during the 14-day observation period. The LD50 value was estimated to be greater than 5000 mg/kg body weight.

CONCLUSION:

The acute oral toxicity study of Constac granules in Wistar rats showed no toxicity at doses up to 5000 mg/kg body weight. These findings showed that the oral administration of the Constac granules is safe to use.
Baby Finger Toothbrush as an Innovative Alternative for Finger Method of Teeth Cleaning to Improve Oral Hygiene in Rural India
Authors: Kulkarni Praveena Venkatesh , Chaukaskar Mrudula Santosh , Kulkarni Venkatesh Vamanrao , Deshmane Gourav Bharat
Published: December 2023

Background:

Most of the rural Indian population cleans the teeth with their finger and they find it difficult to switch to a manual toothbrush. To continue their legacy of cleaning the teeth with their finger, we conducted a study with a baby finger toothbrush, which is used by inserting an index finger for brushing the baby’s teeth.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of a baby finger toothbrush with teeth cleaning method using finger.

Materials and Methods:

Sixty adults who cleaned their teeth with their fingers were divided into two groups. Those participants who were willing to use baby finger toothbrushes were included in Group A and the remaining participants were part of Group B. A nonrandomized controlled trial study design was used. Group A Participants were asked to use baby finger toothbrushes for 15 days. The oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-S) was recorded for both the groups on day 1 and after 15 days. We then compared the oral hygiene status for those who use baby finger toothbrush with those who clean the teeth using finger.

Results:

OHI-S was significantly higher in the participants cleaning teeth with their fingers compared to the participants using baby finger toothbrush after 15 days. It showed that using a baby finger toothbrush is more effective than using your fingers to improve oral hygiene. Participants who used the baby finger toothbrush had the median OHI-S of 1.33, which is close to a good OHI-S (good-OHI-S = 0.0–1.2) and indicates that baby finger toothbrush was able to maintain “Fair” oral hygiene.

Conclusion:

To improve oral hygiene in rural India, where most individuals clean teeth with their fingers, a baby finger toothbrush can be used as an improvised method of tooth cleaning.
Dysfunctional Internet Behavior Patterns and its Relation to Oral Health Status among Adolescents in Coimbatore: A Cross-sectional Study
Authors: Jagan P. , Pauline C. Jemimah , Kumar Suchithra Sampath
Published: December 2023

Aim:

The aim is to assess dysfunctional Internet behavior patterns and their influence on oral health status among adolescents.

Methodology:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed and conducted among college-going adolescents in the Coimbatore district. The estimated sample size was 196. This sample was drawn from across the city through a simple random sampling methodology. Data were collected on a specially designed pro forma, which contained three parts.

Statistical Analysis:

Descriptive analysis was carried out. The Chi-square test was used to test statistical significance. Univariate logistic regression analysis of factors associated with risk at Internet Addiction Test in the study population was carried out. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

There was a difference in the proportion of oral hygiene index scores (χ2 = 52.06), plaque index scores, and gingival index scores across Internet Addiction Tests and were statistically significant (P < 0.05), whereas the Decayed Missing Filled Teeth index scores across Internet Addiction Test was statistically not significant (P = 0.54). Univariate regression analysis revealed that compared to good oral hygiene, the odds of risk at the Internet Addiction Test was 2.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.8–8.7) times in fair and the association was statistically not significant (P > 0.05). The odds of risk at Internet Addiction Test in poor oral hygiene was 15.5 (95% CI = 4.16–58.11) times, and the association was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Our results have indicated that the time spent on the Internet, which is otherwise labeled as “Addiction” in adolescents, is related to the risk of oral health problems.
Assessment of Nicotine Dependence and Readiness to Change among Patients Attending Tobacco Cessation Clinic: A Cross-sectional Study
Authors: Gupta Vinay Kumar , Kankane Nishita , Mishra Gaurav , Kumar Sumit
Published: December 2023

Background:

Nicotine is the addictive substance present in tobacco which makes quitting tobacco difficult.

Objective:

This study was done to assess nicotine dependence and stage of readiness to change among tobacco users visiting the Tobacco Cessation Clinic (TCC) Lucknow.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study was performed in the TCC of a Government Dental College. The data were recorded in the tobacco cessation registration forms of tobacco users and then analyzed through statistical software using the Chi-square test.

Results:

The number of tobacco users was more in males (88%) than in females (12%) with a preference for smokeless type (63.4%) of tobacco usage. Most of the tobacco users were of 25–34 years of age group (34.9%). It was also observed that the maximum number of tobacco users was married (68.3%) and had graduate/postgraduate degree (62.3%). It was also seen that usually, the monthly expense on tobacco products by either gender was Rs. 1000–2400. More than 50% of the tobacco users had tried quitting before because of health issues and craving was the main reason for relapse. We also observed that the highest level of nicotine dependence was amongst the smokeless tobacco users with a history of 5–10 years of tobacco use (43.3%).

Conclusion:

It was found that most of the patients who attended the TCC had medium level of dependence on nicotine and where in the preparation phase to quit the habit.
Relationship of Anthropometric Measurements and Nutritional Status with Early Childhood Caries among Rural Preschool Children – A Cross-sectional Analytical Study
Authors: Phogat Ritu , Rani Geeta , Manjunath B. C. , Kumar Adarsh , Rani Vatchala
Published: December 2023

Objectives:

The objective is to assess the association between anthropometric measurements and nutritional status with early childhood caries among 3–5 years old rural children.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted at rural Anganwadi centers (AWCs) among 868 preschool children selected from 80 AWCs centers using a multistage sampling technique. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, mid-arm circumference, and head circumference were assessed. The nutritional status of children was calculated based on Z scores using the World Health Organization Anthropometry software version 3.2.2. Dental caries experience was recorded using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System index. SPSS version 20 was used for statistical analysis. The association between nutritional status and dental caries was obtained using correlation and regression analysis.

Results:

Out of the total children examined for the present study 49.65% were male and 50.34% were female. The prevalence of malnutrition among study participants was stunting (15.4%), underweight (7.4%), and wasting (5.0%), respectively. A study reported a negative correlation between body mass index and caries scores (r = −0.094; P = 0.005). Children with stunting, wasting, and underweight, respectively, had 2.3, 4.5, and 8.3 times odds of having dental caries than well-nourished children.

Conclusion:

Children with malnutrition may have higher chances of developing dental caries than their healthy counterparts.
Determining Mathematical Standards for Smile Designing Using Berry’s Biometric Index and the Golden Proportion
Authors: Mall Vidhi Rajesh , Gaikwad Ashwini , Jadhav Madhura Avinash , Patil Rajlaxmi , Chavan Shivani , Ingale Vinaya
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

Berry’s biometric index correlates the bizygomatic width to the width of the maxillary central incisors (CIs). It has also been suggested that dental and facial esthetics follow the concept of the golden ratio (1.61803). The present research aims to evaluate the practical applicability of Berry’s bizygomatic index and the golden ratio to the width of the maxillary anterior teeth.

Materials and Methods:

The bizygomatic width and the width of all the maxillary anterior teeth were measured for a total sample of n = 100. The width of maxillary CI was calculated by Berry’s biometric index and the other teeth by golden ratio. The measured and calculated values were compared by means of statistical analysis.

Results:

The age of study participants ranged from 19 to 35 years with a mean of 24.99 years (standard deviation = ±5.098). There was no statistically significant difference between the measured and the calculated values (P > 0.05). The relative Dahlberg’s error was found to be low for all the teeth.

Conclusion:

Berry’s biometric index along with golden proportion can be reliably used to determine the mesiodistal width of the maxillary anterior teeth. The methods can be implemented in cases where there is no reference to determine the width of upper anterior teeth during any esthetic restorative procedure. Maxillary anterior teeth dictate the esthetics of a smile; therefore, this study attempts to shed light on the importance of the coherent use of these mathematical ratios to provide an objective formula for smile rehabilitation.
Baseline Serum Albumin Levels for Predicting Progression-free Survival in Patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Single-center Prospective Study in Syria
Authors: Younis Mariam Deeb , Asaad Remal Abdulaziz , Hussein Firas Hasan
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:

A low baseline serum albumin (SA) level is considered an adverse prognostic indicator of various solid tumors and hematological malignancies. However, studies evaluating the relationship between SA levels and survival in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients are limited in Syria. Thus, this is the first study to assess the impact of baseline SA as an independent prognostic factor on progression-free survival (PFS) over 18 months (1.5 years) in Syrian NHL patients.

METHODS:

We prospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with de novo NHL who met the inclusion criteria and were admitted to the Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Center at Tishreen University Hospital (TUH) in Latakia, Syria, between January 2021 and December 2021. The baseline SA concentration was measured. The PFS rate was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were carried out.

RESULTS:

Sixty patients in total were included. SA’s optimal cutoff value for survival analysis was 3.95 g/dL, according to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Patients were categorized into two groups based on that value, 25 (41.7%) had low (≤3.95 g/dL) and 35 (58.3%) had high SA levels (>3.95 g/dL). The PFS rate for 18 months was 56.7%. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that patients with low SA had a significantly inferior PFS rate (28% vs. 77.1%, P < .001). The independent prognostic significance of SA was verified by multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSION:

Low baseline SA levels (≤3.95 g/dL) could be a simple and effective factor in predicting poor 18-month PFS in Syrian NHL patients. To verify our findings, more extensive research is advised.
The Effect of Ferritin Level and Gene Expression of β-globin Promoter with β-thalassemia Patients in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Iraq
Authors: Salih Mayssam Makki , Al-Ziaydi Ahmed Ghdhban , Alzamili Aelan Hadi Hassan
Published: December 2023

BACKGROUND:

The genetic condition β-thalassemia causes a deficit in the β-globin chain. Goblins are produced under the supervision of at least nine different genes. Thalassemia can be distinguished from other disorders by changes in these genes, which can lead to issues with hemoglobin synthesis. A typical side effect of thalassemia syndromes is iron overload, which raises the risk of mortality and can cause organ damage. Blood ferritin levels as well as total iron of body reserves have a positive correlation when there is no inflammation.

OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study was to assess the ferritin level of an Iraqi patient and the relationship between β-thalassemia and gene expression of β-globin.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A case–control study included 60 samples with mean age (17.76 ± 0.88; 28 males and 32 females) which had been collected from patients who were diagnosed with β-thalassemia and 60 samples with mean age (22.7 ± 0.75; 29 males, 31 females) which were collected from apparently healthy individuals as a control group (CG). The procedure’s outcome is monitored using polymerase chain reaction and the Fluorecare instrument.

RESULTS:

Ferritin levels in thalassemia patients were higher than in CG patients. The β-globin expression in the thalassemia group was significantly lower than in the CG. The discovery of two essential sequences thymine-adenine-thymine-adenine and cytosine-adenine-thymine-adenine in the β-gene promoter that are crucial in the start of transcription can account for this downregulation. Changes made to these sequences decreased the affinity of transcription factors, which in turn restricted the transcription of the messenger ribonucleic acid. Examples of these transcription factors are erythroid Kruppel-like factor and specificity protein 1.

CONCLUSION:

Ferritin can be a useful indicator of severe iron overload. The results showed that the level of expression of β-globin was dramatically downregulated within the thalassemia group as compared with the CG future prospective of this study.
Accuracy of the postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity screening criteria in predicting prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity in the tertiary hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
Authors: Bunyavee Chavisa , Hemarat Kornwipa
Published: December 2023

PURPOSE:

The postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity (G-ROP), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) predictive model, was developed in North America with high sensitivity and fewer infants examined. This study aimed to validate this model in Thai infants by assessing sensitivity and comparing it to the current American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) screening guideline.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The records of infants screened for ROP were retrospectively reviewed from 2015 to 2020. G-ROP model was applied to calculate sensitivity for prethreshold type 1 and 2 ROP and the reduction of the number of infants examined.

RESULTS:

Of 129 infants screened, there were 102 infants who met G-ROP criteria. The mean gestational age at birth was 29.7 ± 2.7 weeks. The mean birth weight was 1177.8 ± 401.3 g. Both G-ROP and AAO detected prethreshold type 1 ROP in 24 of 24 infants (sensitivity, 100%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 85.8%–100%). Furthermore, they detected all four infants prethreshold type 2 ROP with 100% of sensitivity (95% CI, 39.8–100.0). The reduction in infants receiving examinations using G-ROP was 20.9%.

CONCLUSIONS:

G-ROP model provided high sensitivity and lessen unnecessary examinations for ROP screening in Thai infants.
Genetics of the anterior segment dysgenesis
Authors: Paredes Diego I. , Capasso Jenina E. , Wyman Celeste S. , Levin Alex V.
Published: December 2023

The anterior segment dysgeneses are a broad group of heterogeneous disorders characterized by developmental abnormalities of the anterior segment of the eye, including primary congenital aphakia, Peters sequence, aniridia, and Axenfeld–Rieger spectrum. These conditions can have overlapping phenotypes and both genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity. This article provides a strategy for both phenotyping and then genotyping using a targeted stepwise approach.
New horizons in aniridia management: Clinical insights and therapeutic advances
Authors: Gour Abha , Tibrewal Shailaja , Garg Aastha , Vohra Mehak , Ratna Ria , Sangwan Virender Singh
Published: December 2023

Congenital aniridia is a rare genetic eye disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of the iris from birth. Various theories and animal models have been proposed to understand and explain the pathogenesis of aniridia. In the majority of cases, aniridia is caused by a mutation in the PAX6 gene, which affects multiple structures within the eye. Treating these ocular complications is challenging and carries a high risk of side effects. However, emerging approaches for the treatment of aniridia-associated keratopathy, iris abnormalities, cataract abnormalities, and foveal hypoplasia show promise for improved outcomes. Genetic counseling plays a very important role to make informed choices. We also provide an overview of the newer diagnostic and therapeutic approaches such as next generation sequencing, gene therapy, in vivo silencing, and miRNA modulation.
Efficient Course Recommendation using Deep Transformer based Ensembled Attention Model
Authors: Madhavi A , Nagesh A , Govardhan A
Published: December 2023

The exponential development of online learning resources has led to an information overload problem. Therefore, recommender systems play a crucial role in E-learning to provide learners with personalised course recommendations by automatically identifying their preferences. In addition, e-Learning platforms such as MOOCs and LMS have been criticised for their low course completion rates, and one of the primary reasons is that they do not provide personalised course recommendations for users with varying interests. Rapidly locating the courses that users are interested in on enormous e-Learning platforms can have a significant impact on the quality of learning and the dissemination of knowledge to the learner. This paper examines the most prevalent recommendation techniques utilised in E-learning.  We examined how to apply Deep Transformer based Ensembled Attention Model (DTEAM) on e-Learning system in order to achieve personalized course recommendations.  The proposed recommendation model uses BERT as its foundation integrated MLM and Transformers. Predicted course recommendations are more aligned with the interests of users. Our experimental results proved that traditional recommendation algorithms, such as collaborative filtering and item-based filtering are incapable of producing superior results. The consequence of the research can assist students in selecting courses according to their preferences and improve their learning caliber
Secondary Malignancies in Multiple Myeloma in Korean Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Study
Authors: Park Boyoung , Lee Eunyoung , Yoon Junghyun , Park YoungJu , Eom Hyeon-Seok
Published: December 2023

Purpose This study investigated the incidence of secondary malignancy in multiple myeloma (MM) patients compared with that in the general population using a population-based database covering all residents in Korea.Materials and Methods Based on the national health insurance system in Korea, all people primarily diagnosed with MM between January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2018 were identified. A total of 9,985 MM patients aged ≥ 20 years in Korea were included.Results Among them, 237 (2.4%) developed secondary malignancies by 2018. The standardized incidence rates (SIRs) of all secondary malignancies in MM patients were 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 0.98), with a higher incidence of hematologic malignancies than in the general population with an SIR of 3.80 (95% CI, 2.61 to 5.00). The incidence rates of both lymphoid malignancy (SIR, 3.56; 95% CI, 2.31 to 4.82) and myeloid malignancy (SIR, 3.78; 95% CI, 1.16 to 6.39) were higher in MM patients than in the general population. In contrast, a lower incidence of solid cancer was observed in MM patients than in the general population (SIR, 0.76, 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.86). There was no significant difference in survival in MM patients without secondary malignancies, with hematologic malignancy, and with solid cancer (p=0.413).Conclusion MM patients had a greater risk of secondary malignancies, especially hematologic malignancies, than the general population. Future studies with a focus on analyzing patients’ history, treatment details, and genetic information in various stages of MM patients are needed to better understand the mechanism behind this increased risk.
On a complex collar neighbourhood theorem
Authors: Hill C. Denson , Nacinovich Mauro
Published: December 2023

In this note we review and add an extra precision to the proof of our collar neighbourhood theorem for strictly pseudoconvex complex manifolds with boundary.
О групповых свойствах классов SH- и TH-алгоритмов Фейстеля с линейно зависящими от координат ключа функциями усложнения
Authors: Pogorelov Boris Aleksandrovich , Pudovkina Marina Aleksandrovna
Published: December 2023

SH- и ТН-алгоритмы, основу которых составляют регистры сдвига длины $m \ge 3$ над полем $GF({2^n})$, являются обобщениями алгоритма Фейстеля. К их числу относятся известные алгоритмы блочного шифрования RC2 и MARS. В данной работе рассматриваются классы алгоритмов блочного шифрования, у которых компонентами раундовых функций являются SH- и ТН- преобразования над произвольной конечной абелевой группой $X$ с линейно зависящими от координат раундового ключа функциями усложнения. Для данных классов алгоритмов устанавливаются ограничения на выбор функции усложнения, при которых группа $G$, порожденная частичными раундовыми функциями, вложима в подгруппу экспоненцирования групп. В этих условиях приводятся метрики на блоках текстов, сохраняемые группой $G$, в частности, функцией шифрования на любом ключе.
Теоремы обращения и теоремы устойчивости для аппроксимативных представлений конечных групп
Authors: Gowers William Timothy , Hatami Varzaneh Omid
Published: December 2023

Полезной мерой квазислучайности для вещественных или комплекснозначных функций,определенных на конечных (или, более общим образом, на локально компактных) группах является $U^2$-норма. Простые соображения, связанные с анализом Фурье, дают теорему обращения, которая показывает, что ограниченная функция с большой $U^2$-нормой, определенная на конечной абелевой группе, должна существенно коррелировать с некоторым характером. Это утверждение обобщается на функции, определенные на произвольных конечных группах и принимающие значения в пространстве $\mathrm{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$. Теперь вывод состоит в том, что функция коррелирует с представлением - хотя и с тем изменением, что, как показано, размерность представления отличается от $n$ не более чем на константу, но не обязательно равна $n$. Есть простые примеры, показывающие, что это ослабление напрашивающегося вывода необходимо. Доказательство гораздо менее непосредственно, чем в случае скалярных функций на абелевых группах.
В качестве простого следствия доказана теорема устойчивости для почти представлений. Эта теорема утверждает, что если $G$ - конечная группа, а $f\colon G\to\mathrm{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ - функция, близкая к представлению в том смысле, что норма Гильберта-Шмидта разности $f(xy)-f(x)f(y)$ (также известная как норма Фробениуса) мала для всех $x,y\in G$, то должно существовать такое представление $\rho$, что норма Гильберта-Шмидта разности $f(x)-\rho(x)$ мала для каждого $x$. Размерность $\rho$ снова не обязательно равна $n$, но она должна быть близка к $n$. Также получены теоремы устойчивости для других $p$-норм Шаттена.
Библиография: 14 названий.
A metric description of flexible octahedra
Authors: Mikhalev Sergei Nikolaevich
Published: December 2023

A new description of flexible Bricard octahedra is obtained using conditions in terms of edge lengths. It is suitable for the study of a number of problems in the metric geometry of octahedra and, in particular, for searching for a proof of the conjecture of Sabitov on the vanishing of all but the leading coefficients of the polynomial for the volume of a type $3$ octahedron.
Bibliography: 17 titles.
Нелокальные симметрии интегрируемых линейно вырожденных уравнений: сравнительное исследование
Authors: Baran H , Krasil'shchik Iosif Semenovich , Morozov Oleg Igorevich , Vojčak Petr
Published: December 2023

Продолжено исследование интегрируемых по Лаксу уравнений. Рассмотрены четыре трехмерных уравнения: уравнение rdDym $u_{ty}=u_x u_{xy}-u_y u_{xx}$, уравнение Павлова $u_{yy}=u_{tx}+u_y u_{xx}-u_x u_{xy}$, уравнение универсальной иерархии $u_{yy}=u_t u_{xy}-u_y u_{tx}$ и модифицированное уравнение тканей Веронезе $u_{ty}=u_t u_{xy}-u_y u_{tx}$. Для каждого из уравнений путем разложения известных пар Лакса в формальный ряд по спектральному параметру построены два дифференциальных накрытия и дано полное описание алгебр нелокальных симметрий, ассоциированных с этими накрытиями. Для каждой из четырех пар накрытий полученные алгебры Ли симметрий обнаруживают похожие (но не идентичные) структуры: все они являются (полу)прямыми произведениями алгебры Витта, алгебры векторных полей на прямой и алгебр петель; все они также содержат компоненты конечной градуировки. Обсуждается действие операторов рекурсии на тени нелокальных симметрий.
Development of Systematic Reviews to Inform WHO’s Recommendations for Elimination and Prevention of Re-Establishment of Malaria: Methodology
Authors: Tusell Maria , Steinhardt Laura C. , Gutman Julie , Schneider Zachary D. , Bhamani Beena , Shah Monica P. , Martí Coma-Cros Elisabet , Gimnig John E. , Allen Koya C. , Akl Elie A. , Lindblade Kim A.
Published: December 2023

The basis for an evidence-based recommendation is a well-conducted systematic review that synthesizes the primary literature relevant to the policy or program question of interest. In 2020, the WHO commissioned 10 systematic reviews of potential interventions in elimination or post-elimination settings to summarize their impact on malaria transmission. This paper describes the general methods used to conduct this series of systematic reviews and notes where individual reviews diverged from the common methodology. The paper also presents lessons learned from conducting the systematic reviews to make similar future efforts more efficient, standardized, and streamlined.
Reducing Malaria Transmission through Reactive Indoor Residual Spraying: A Systematic Review
Authors: Gimnig John E. , Steinhardt Laura C. , Awolola Taiwo Samson , Impoinvil Daniel , Zohdy Sarah , Lindblade Kim A.
Published: December 2023

In the final stages of malaria elimination, interventions to reduce malaria transmission are often centered around a confirmed case of malaria, as cases tend to cluster together at very low levels of transmission. The WHO commissioned a systematic review of the literature and synthesis of evidence for reactive indoor residual spraying (IRS) to develop official recommendations for countries. Several electronic databases were searched in November 2020. A total of 455 records were identified and screened; 20 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Two cluster-randomized trials met the inclusion criteria for epidemiological outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using standard criteria. Because one study was a superiority trial in which the comparator included reactive case detection or mass drug administration and the other was a noninferiority trial in which the comparator was proactive, focal IRS, results could not be pooled. In the superiority trial, reactive IRS reduced malaria prevalence by 68% (risk ratio [RR]: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.13–0.80; certainty of evidence: HIGH) compared with no reactive IRS. No difference was observed for clinical malaria (RR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.38–1.11; certainty of evidence: MODERATE). In the noninferiority study, the mean difference in incidence between reactive IRS and proactive IRS was 0.10 additional case per 1,000 person-years, which was within the prespecified noninferiority bound (95% CI: −0.38 to 0.58; certainty of evidence: MODERATE). The evidence indicates that reactive IRS may be a cost-effective tool for the prevention of malaria in elimination settings. As only two cluster-randomized controlled trials from sub-Saharan Africa were found, additional high-quality studies should be encouraged.
An Road Boundary Detection Algorithm Based on Radar that Can Improve Multiple-Target Tracking Performance for Autonomous Vehicles on Highway Condition
Authors: Li Fu-Xiang , Zhu Yuan
Published: December 2023

Radar is playing more and important role in multiple object detection and tracking system due to the fact that Radar can not only determine the velocity instantly but also it is less influenced by environment conditions. However, Radar faces the problem that it has many detection clutter，false alarms and detection results are easily affected by the reflected echoes of road boundary in traffic scenes. Besides this, With the increase of the number of targets and the number of effective echoes, the number of interconnection matrices increases exponentially in joint probability data association, which will seriously affect the real-time and accuracy of high-speed scene algorithms.in the tracking system. So, A method of using millimeter wave radar to detect and fit the boundary guardrail of high-speed road is proposed, and the fitting results are applied to the vehicle detection and tracking system to improve the tracking accuracy. Through the comparison and verification of ablation experiments, this method can screen out the impact of the guardrail reflection echo on the vehicle detection and tracking in real time, and improve the stability of the detection and tracking system.
A Sequential Method for Automotive Millimeter-Wave Radar Self-Calibration Based on Optimization
Authors: Pan Song , Lu Xinfei , Ren Wenping , Xue Dan
Published: December 2023

Implementation calibration of automotive radar systems plays a fundamental but crucial role to guarantee sensor performance. The commonly used method relies on the environment such as a specific test station for static calibration or a straight metal guardrail for dynamic calibration. In this paper, a sequential method for estimating the radar angle misalignment derived from the Lagrange Multiplier Method in solving an optimization problem is proposed. The sequential method, which requires radar measurements and vehicle speed measurements as input, is more environment-free and can yield a consistent estimation. A simulation study is conducted to validate the consistency and analyze the influence of noise. The result shows that the radar azimuth measurement noise has little influence that the bias could be compensated and the effect of non-gaussianity is negligible. The radar velocity measurement noise bias and vehicle speed measurement noise bias have a linear effect whose coefficient depends on the radar orientation on the angle misalignment estimation. A real road testing is carried out and the result demonstrates that the method proposed could provide an estimation with an error no more than 0.26 degrees. An artificial error with 1 degree is added to the calibration result of the proposed method to study the miscalibration influence on sensor fusion based on the neural net. The result shows that the precision and recall deteriorate significantly with the artificial error, especially for the small targets like pedestrians, the reduction could reach 14% for precision and 17% for recall.
Synthetic Data for 2D Road Marking Detection in Autonomous Driving
Authors: Bie Xiaofang , Zhang Song , Meng Chao , Mei Jinren , Li Jian , He Xin
Published: December 2023

The development of autonomous driving generally requires enormous annotated data as training input. The availability and quality of annotated data have been major restrictions in industry. Data synthesis techniques are then being developed to generate annotated data. This paper proposes a 2D data synthesis pipeline using original background images and target templates to synthesize labeled data for model training in autonomous driving. The main steps include: acquiring templates from template libraries or alternative approaches, augmenting the obtained templates with diverse techniques, determining the positioning of templates in images, fusing templates with background images to synthesize data, and finally employing the synthetic data for subsequent detection and segmentation tasks. Specially, this paper synthesizes traffic data such as traffic signs, traffic lights, and ground arrow markings in 2D scenes based on the pipeline. The effectiveness of this pipeline was verified on the public TT100k dataset and the CeyMo dataset by image detection tasks. Template positioning methods including random location and same position replacement were employed for synthesis in traffic sign detection. For ground arrow marking detection, template positioning methods encompassing inverse perspective transformation and lane line positioning were utilized. Extensive experiments were carried out on the TT100K dataset and the CeyMo dataset. The performance between those open datasets and the synthetic data in this paper were then compared. The results show that the detection model trained entirely on synthetic data can achieve up to 86% mAP@0.5 on the TT100k dataset validation set, and choosing 50% of the CeyMo training set for fine-tuning can achieve 77% mAP@0.5. We have verified that data synthesis for categories with less data can effectively mitigate the class imbalance problem in datasets. This demonstrates that the pipeline proposed in this paper is a practical and effective approach in the field of autonomous driving data synthesis.
A Method for Generating Occupancy Grid Maps Based on 4D Millimeter-Wave Radar Point Cloud Characteristics
Authors: Liu Chang , Lu Xinfei , Xue Dan , Wu Li
Published: December 2023

4D millimeter wave radar is a high-resolution sensor that has a strong perception ability of the surrounding environment. This paper uses millimeter wave radar point cloud to establish a static probabilistic occupancy grid map for static environment modeling. In order to obtain a clean occupancy grid map, we classify the point cloud according to the result of dynamic point clustering and project the classified point cloud into the grid map. Based on the distribution and category of millimeter wave radar point cloud, we propose a calculation model of grid occupancy probability. After obtaining the occupancy probability according to the calculation model, we calculate the posterior occupancy probability by using the motion law of self-vehicle and Bayesian filtering, and construct a stable probabilistic occupancy grid map. We test the method on real roads, and the results show that the proposed method can effectively suppress the influence of noise points on the quality of grid map, and improve the effect of grid map in long-distance range.
Synthesizing Data for Autonomous Driving: Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Meets Augmented Reality
Authors: Meng Chao , Zhang Song , Wang Hanchao , Gu Kai , Wang Tong , Mei Jinren
Published: December 2023

Synthetic data holds significant potential for improving the efficiency of perception tasks in autonomous driving. This paper proposes a practical data synthesis pipeline that employs multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) to automatically generate dynamic traffic participant trajectories and leverages augmented reality (AR) processes to produce photo-realistic images. This AR process blends clean static background images extracted from real photos using image matting techniques, with dynamic foreground images rendered from 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) models in a rendering engine. We posit that this data synthetic pipe line has strong image photorealism, flexible way of interaction scenarios generation and mature tool chain, which has the prospect of large-scale engineering application.
Research on Vulnerable Road User Detection Algorithm based on Improved Deep Learning
Authors: Yi Zhenxing , Zhan Zhenfei , Zhou Guilin , Lv Fengyao , Mao Qing , Sun Bowen
Published: December 2023

This paper proposes a detection algorithm based on deep learning for Vulnerable Road Users such as pedestrians and cyclists, which is improved on the basis of YOLOv5 network model. (1) Aiming at the problems of low resolution and insufficient information for small targets, a multi-scale feature fusion method is adopted to integrate shallow features with deep features. In this way, the effective information of small target is enriched, and the accuracy of target detection is improved. (2) In view of the interference of image noise, background and other factors, the channel attention method is introduced to strengthen key features and suppress the interference of noise, which can improve the model's attention to small targets and enable the network to better identify blocked targets; (3) Aiming at the problem that the computing speed of the model is difficult to achieve real-time performance, a deep separable convolution optimization method is proposed to reduce the amount of computation, so as to reduce the computing time of the model. The experimental results show that compared with the YOLOv5 model in KITTI data set, the precision of the improved model is increased by 1.26%, the mAP is increased by 0.76 percentage points, and the detection speed is increased by 2f/s.
Data Synthesis Methods for Parking-Slot Detection
Authors: Li Jian , Zhang Song , Meng Chao , Mei Jinren , Bie Xiaofang , He Xin
Published: December 2023

Parking-slot detection plays a critical role in the self-parking system for autonomous driving. To enhance the complexity of the environmental situations in parking-slot datasets and reduce the difficulty of manual annotation, we design several data synthesis methods to generate new parking-slots under different situations. Methods introduced in this paper include synthesizing parking-slots in AVM (around view monitor) images, generating parking-slots in fisheye images and adding 2D symbols inside parking-slots to form special ones. To test the influence of our synthetic data, we conduct a series of experiments on different tasks. In the parking-slot detection experiments, we design a novel two-stage parking-slot detection method. We use YOLOv7 as the object detector and different from previous methods, we detect the complete parking-slots and marking points at the same time. Then we match marking points and give them a certain order in the second stage. We achieve accuracy of 80.28% and recall of 79.94% on our own data which shows the effectiveness of our method. Then we achieve accuracy of 80.98% and recall of 80.48% with supplementation of synthetic parking-slots data, slightly better with no extra manual annotation. Next, we achieve accuracy of 96.78% and recall of 93.68% in another parking-slot detection experiment for the new type of parking-slots with synthetic symbols inside them. To test the generalization performance of our synthetic data, we conduct semantic segmentation experiments on public dataset. MIoU (Mean Intersection over Union) and the IoU of lane markers decrease by 0.23% and 0.57% respectively under the interference of synthetic parking-slots when parking-slot lines set the same as lane markers.
Test Concrete Scenarios Extraction of Lane-Changing Scenarios Based on China-FOT Naturalistic Driving Data
Authors: Yin Qi , Ma Zhixiong , Zhu Xichan , Fang Xiaowei
Published: December 2023

On account of the insufficient lane-changing scenario test cases and the inability to conduct graded evaluation testing in current autonomous driving system field testing, this paper proposed an approach that combined data-driven and knowledge-driven methods to extract lane-changing test concrete scenarios with graded risk levels for field testing. Firstly, an analysis of the potentially hazardous areas in lane-changing scenarios was conducted to derive key functional lane-changing scenarios. Three typical key functional lane-changing scenarios were selected, namely, lane-changing with a preceding vehicle braking, lane-changing with a preceding vehicle in the same direction, and lane-changing with a rear cruising vehicle in the adjacent lane, and their corresponding safety goals were respectively analyzed. Secondly, the GAMAB criterion was introduced as an evaluation standard for autonomous driving systems. By utilizing lane-changing scenario data selected from the China-FOT naturalistic driving data, a scenario risk classification model and a model for excellent driver response performance in lane-changing scenarios were established. Finally, concrete scenarios corresponding to different risk levels for each type of lane-changing scenario were extracted through simulation. Test concrete cases for field testing were selected at the risk boundaries based on the characteristics of China-FOT naturalistic driving data. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach was capable of effectively extracting 701 high-risk scenarios and 446 medium-risk scenarios from a pool of 9000 concrete scenarios based on key functional lane-changing scenarios. Furthermore, representative lane-changing test concrete cases can be selected from the risk boundaries. This approach enabled a graded evaluation of the lane-changing capability of the autonomous driving system.
An Improved Dueling Double Deep Q Network Algorithm and Its
Application to the Optimized Path Planning for Unmanned Ground
Vehicle
Authors: He Zhaonian , Pang Hui , Bai Zekun , Zheng Lizhe , Liu Lei
Published: December 2023

The traditional Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN) algorithm suffers from slow
convergence and instability when dealing with complex environments. Besides, it
is often susceptible to getting stuck in a local optimal solution and may fail
to discover the optimal strategy. As a result, Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV)
cannot search for the optimal path. To address these issues, the study presents
an Improved Dueling Double Deep Q Network (ID3QN) algorithm, which adopts
dynamic ε-greed strategy, priority experience replay (PER) and Dueling DQN
structure. Where, UGV solves the problem of insufficient exploration and
overexploitation according to the dynamic ε-greed strategy. Moreover,
high-priority experience examples are extracted using the priority experience
replay approach. Meanwhile, the Dueling DQN method can effectively manage the
relationship between state values and dominance values. According to the
experiment’s accomplishments, the ID3QN method outperforms the DDQN approach in
terms of stability and rate of convergence, and obtains a better path in UGV
path planning.