bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Domain Adaptation of Population-Based of Bolted Joint Structures for Loss Detection of Tightening Torque
Authors: da Silva Samuel , Omori Yano Marcus , Teloli Rafael de Oliveira , Chevallier Gaël , Ritto Thiago G.
Published: October 2023

This paper investigates how to improve the performance of a classifier of tightening torque in bolted joints by applying transfer learning. The procedure uses vibration measurements to extract features and to train a classifier using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The key to enhancing the surrogate model for torque loss detection is considering the bolted joint structures with more qualitative and quantitative knowledge as the source domain, where labels are known and the classifier is trained. After applying a domain adaptation method, it is possible to reuse this trained classifier for a target domain, i.e., a set of different limited data of bolted joint structures with unknown labels. Four different bolted joint structures are analyzed. The new experimental tests adopt a wide range of torque in the bolts to extract the features with the respective labels under safe or unsafe tightening torque. All combinations of possible source or target domains are considered in the application to demonstrate whether the method can aid the detection of the loss of tightening torque, reducing the learning steps and the training sample. A guidance list is discussed based on this population-based structural health monitoring (SHM) of bolted joint structures.
Human-Comfort Evaluation for a Patient-Transfer Robot Through a Human–Robot Mechanical Model
Authors: Chen Mengqian , Li Shunda , Yang Zhiqiang , Liu Qiming , Guo Shijie
Published: October 2023

Patient-transfer robot, which can transfer a bedridden care receiver from a bed to a wheelchair or a pedestal pan and back, was not widely used due to inadequate safety and comfort. A human comfort evaluation function based on force analysis was proposed to improve the comfort of a dual-arm transfer robot. First, a human–robot mechanical model was construct by simplifying the structure of human body and the robot. Then, the internal and external forces acting on human body were calculated by the developed human–robot mechanical model. After that, a comfort evaluation function was established through mechanical analysis and a questionnaire investigation method. To assess the validity of the proposed method, first we employed the comfort evaluation function to estimate human comfort, and obtained that the comfort level is proportional to the electromyography (EMG) signal and pressure signal of human. Then we applied the function to a dual-arm patient-transfer robot to optimizing lifting points and transfer posture and found it can effectively reduce the human–robot contact force and the burden of the waist by 44.2%, improving the comfortability of the care receiver.
Intelligent Setpoint Optimization for a Range Extender Hybrid Electric Vehicle With Opposed Piston Engine
Authors: Drallmeier Joseph A. , Nazari Shima , Solbrig Charles , Middleton Robert , Siegel Jason
Published: October 2023

This paper presents the exploration and optimization of a hybridized opposed piston (OP) engine. In this work, the exhaust crankshaft lead (ECL) is introduced as a controllable parameter in the hybridized OP engine enabled by eliminating the conventional geartrain linking the two crankshafts of an OP engine. This allows for variation in the effective compression and expansion ratio of the engine, along with scavenging performance. This novel control actuator as well as the adjustable speed and load setpoint in a series hybrid OP engine powertrain architecture necessitates an intensive calibration effort to realize any possible efficiency improvements. However, the OP engine within this series hybrid powertrain does not need to operate in highly transient conditions, but rather its operating point is fixed or slowly varying. This property permits the use of online calibration techniques. After manually sweeping speed and ECL values at two power setpoints, the use of an extremum-seeking type intercycle optimization algorithm to optimize the operating setpoint is validated, showing that near optimal speed and ECL setpoints can be selected despite the relatively flat operating map of the OP engine.
A wavefront adaptive sensing beamformer for ocean acoustic waveguides
Authors: Ganti Anil , Martinez Michael , Hickman Granger , Krolik Jeffrey
Published: October 2023

This paper addresses robust adaptive beamforming for passive sonar in uncertain, shallow-water environments. Conventional beamforming is still common in passive sonar because adaptive beamformers suffer from signal mismatch in complex multipath environments. Existing approaches to robust adaptive beamforming try to model and account for the uncertainty in the beamformer's hypothesized signal subspace by using additional linear or quadratic constraints. Doing so, however, reduces the adaptivity of the beamformer and is prone to insufficiently suppressing interference. Instead, this paper uses blind source separation methods to adaptively estimate the complex spatial wavefronts of both targets and interference without requiring detailed physical modeling of the channel. By exploiting the different temporal spectra and/or frequency-selective multipath fading of targets and interference, this approach constructs a “signal-free” covariance matrix without imposing directional gain constraints. In doing so, the wavefront adaptive sensing (WAS) beamformer is able to separate targets from strong interference that is within the conventional beam width of the target. Simulation results in a realistic shallow-water channel are presented as well as results using the SWellEx96 S59 data with an injected target to show that the proposed WAS beamformer outperforms conventional and minimum variance adaptive beamformers in a shallow-water scenario.
Active control on topological interface states of elastic wave metamaterials with double coupled chains
Authors: Wang Shuai , Wang Yi-Ze
Published: October 2023

Topological elastic wave metamaterials have shown significant advantages in manipulating wave propagation and realizing localized modes. However, topological properties of most mechanical metamaterials are difficult to change because of structural limitations. This work proposes the elastic wave metamaterials with double coupled chains and active control, in which band inversion and topological interface modes can be achieved by flexibly tuning negative capacitance circuits. Finite element simulations and experiments are performed to demonstrate the topological interface modes, which show good agreements with the theoretical results. This research seeks to provide effective strategies for the design and application of topological elastic wave metamaterials.
Exploring Physical Educators’ Self-Efficacy to Teach Students With Disabilities in General Physical Education
Authors: Nowland Lindsey A.
Published: October 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which in-service physical education teachers construct their self-efficacy beliefs toward teaching students with disabilities in general physical education classes. Using a qualitative descriptive approach situated within self-efficacy theory, data were collected via semistructured audio-recorded interviews with 16 in-service physical educators. Three interrelated themes were constructed: (a) The more I do it, the better I feel: the importance of professional experiences; (b) I’ve learned from others: the influence of colleagues; and (c) Being in the general educational setting is a challenge: the impact of contextual factors. Findings supported the influence of the four sources of self-efficacy (i.e., mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and affective and physiological state), in addition to potential contextual factors (i.e., class sizes and availability of hands-on support), impacting participants’ self-efficacy to teach students with disabilities in general physical education classes.
Extreme long-lifetime self-assembled monolayer for air-stable molecular junctions
Authors: Chen Ningyue , Li Shuwei , Zhao Peng , Liu Ran , Xie Yu , Lin Jin-Liang , Nijhuis Christian A. , Xu Bingqian , Zhang Liang , Xu Huaping , Li Yuan
Published: October 2023

The molecular electronic devices based on self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on metal surfaces demonstrate novel electronic functions for device minimization yet are unable to realize in practical applications, due to their instability against oxidation of the sulfur-metal bond. This paper describes an alternative to the thiolate anchoring group to form stable SAMs on gold by selenides anchoring group. Because of the formation of strong selenium-gold bonds, these stable SAMs allow us to incorporate them in molecular tunnel junctions to yield extremely stable junctions for over 200 days. A detailed structural characterization supported by spectroscopy and first-principles modeling shows that the oxidation process is much slower with the selenium-gold bond than the sulfur-gold bond, and the selenium-gold bond is strong enough to avoid bond breaking even when it is eventually oxidized. This proof of concept demonstrates that the extraordinarily stable SAMs derived from selenides are useful for long-lived molecular electronic devices and can possibly become important in many air-stable applications involving SAMs.
Ion trap and release dynamics enables nonintrusive tactile augmentation in monolithic sensory neuron
Authors: Kweon Hyukmin , Kim Joo Sung , Kim Seongchan , Kang Haisu , Kim Dong Jun , Choi Hanbin , Roe Dong Gue , Choi Young Jin , Lee Seung Geol , Cho Jeong Ho , Kim Do Hwan
Published: October 2023

An iontronic-based artificial tactile nerve is a promising technology for emulating the tactile recognition and learning of human skin with low power consumption. However, its weak tactile memory and complex integration structure remain challenging. We present an ion trap and release dynamics (iTRD)–driven, neuro-inspired monolithic artificial tactile neuron (NeuroMAT) that can achieve tactile perception and memory consolidation in a single device. Through the tactile-driven release of ions initially trapped within iTRD-iongel, NeuroMAT only generates nonintrusive synaptic memory signals when mechanical stress is applied under voltage stimulation. The induced tactile memory is augmented by auxiliary voltage pulses independent of tactile sensing signals. We integrate NeuroMAT with an anthropomorphic robotic hand system to imitate memory-based human motion; the robust tactile memory of NeuroMAT enables the hand to consistently perform reliable gripping motion.
Modulo-addition operation enables terahertz programmable metasurface for high-resolution two-dimensional beam steering
Authors: Li Weili , Chen Benwen , Hu Xinyu , Guo Hangbing , Wang Sheng , Wu Jingbo , Fan Kebin , Zhang Caihong , Wang Huabing , Jin Biaobing , Chen Jian , Wu Peiheng
Published: October 2023

Electrically controlled terahertz (THz) beamforming antennas are essential for various applications such as wireless communications, security checks, and radar to improve coverage and information capacity. The emerging programmable metasurface provides a flexible, cost-effective platform for THz beam steering. However, scaling such arrays to achieve high-gain beam steering faces several technical challenges. Here, we propose a pixelated liquid crystal THz metasurface with a crossbar structure, thereby increasing the array scale to more than 3000. The coding pattern on the programmable device is generated by the modulo-addition of the coding sequences on the top and bottom layers. We experimentally demonstrate the programmable liquid crystal metasurface capable of active beam deflection in the upper half-space. This scale-up of programmable devices opens exciting opportunities in pencil beamforming, high-speed information processing, and optical computing.
Emerging materials and technologies for electrocatalytic seawater splitting
Authors: Jin Huanyu , Xu Jun , Liu Hao , Shen Haifeng , Yu Huimin , Jaroniec Mietek , Zheng Yao , Qiao Shi-Zhang
Published: October 2023

The limited availability of freshwater in renewable energy-rich areas has led to the exploration of seawater electrolysis for green hydrogen production. However, the complex composition of seawater presents substantial challenges such as electrode corrosion and electrolyzer failure, calling into question the technological and economic feasibility of direct seawater splitting. Despite many efforts, a comprehensive overview and analysis of seawater electrolysis, including electrochemical fundamentals, materials, and technologies of recent breakthroughs, is still lacking. In this review, we systematically examine recent advances in electrocatalytic seawater splitting and critically evaluate the obstacles to optimizing water supply, materials, and devices for stable hydrogen production from seawater. We demonstrate that robust materials and innovative technologies, especially selective catalysts and high-performance devices, are critical for efficient seawater electrolysis. We then outline and discuss future directions that could advance the techno-economic feasibility of this emerging field, providing a roadmap toward the design and commercialization of materials that can enable efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable seawater electrolysis.
Unraveling the promoter effect and the roles of counterion exchange in glycosylation reaction
Authors: Chang Chun-Wei , Lin Mei-Huei , Chiang Tsun-Yi , Wu Chia-Hui , Lin Tzu-Chun , Wang Cheng-Chung
Published: October 2023

The stereoselectivity of glycosidic bond formation continues to pose a noteworthy hurdle in synthesizing carbohydrates, primarily due to the simultaneous occurrence of S
N
1 and S
N
2 processes during the glycosylation reaction. Here, we applied an in-depth analysis of the glycosylation mechanism by using low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance and statistical approaches. A pathway driven by counterion exchanges and reaction byproducts was first discovered to outline the stereocontributions of intermediates. Moreover, the relative reactivity values, acceptor nucleophilic constants, and Hammett substituent constants (σ values) provided a general index to indicate the mechanistic pathways. These results could allow building block tailoring and reaction condition optimization in carbohydrate synthesis to be greatly facilitated and simplified.
Neural prosthesis control restores near-normative neuromechanics in standing postural control
Authors: Fleming Aaron , Liu Wentao , Huang He (Helen)
Published: October 2023

Current lower-limb prostheses do not provide active assistance in postural control tasks to maintain the user’s balance, particularly in situations of perturbation. In this study, we aimed to address this missing function by enabling neural control of robotic lower-limb prostheses. Specifically, electromyographic (EMG) signals (amplified neural control signals) recorded from antagonistic residual ankle muscles were used to drive a robotic prosthetic ankle directly and continuously. Participants with transtibial amputation were recruited and trained in using the EMG-driven robotic ankle. We studied how using the EMG-controlled ankle affected the participants’ anticipatory and compensatory postural control strategies and stability under expected perturbations compared with using their daily passive devices. We investigated the similarity of neuromuscular coordination (by analyzing motor modules) of the participants, using either device in a postural sway task, to that of able-bodied controls. Results showed that, compared with their passive prosthesis, the EMG-controlled prosthesis enabled participants to use near-normative postural control strategies, as evidenced by improved between-limb symmetry in intact-prosthetic center-of-pressure and joint angle excursions. Participants substantially improved postural stability, as evidenced by a reduction in steps or falls using the EMG-controlled prosthetic ankle. Furthermore, after relearning to use residual ankle muscles to drive the robotic ankle in postural control, nearly all participants’ motor module structure shifted toward that observed in individuals without limb amputations. Here, we have demonstrated the potential benefit of direct EMG control of robotic lower limb prostheses to restore normative postural control strategies (both neural and biomechanical) toward enhancing standing postural stability in amputee users.
Brief exosuit use improves post-stroke gait
Authors: Yashinski Melisa
Published: October 2023

After only 2 weeks of training with an exoskeleton suit, post-stroke individuals improved their knee flexion and gait.
Wastewater surveillance facilitates climate change–resilient pathogen monitoring
Authors: Diamond Megan B. , Yee Elizabeth , Bhinge Manisha , Scarpino Samuel V.
Published: October 2023

Traditional disease surveillance systems are ill-equipped to handle climate change–driven shifts in pathogen dynamics. If paired with wastewater surveillance, a cost-effective and scalable approach for generating high-resolution health data, such next-generation systems can enable effective resource allocation and delivery of targeted interventions.
Drug discovery in Africa tackles zoonotic and related infections
Authors: Hikaambo Christabel N. , Shakela Natalia , Woodland John G. , Wicht Kathryn J. , Chibale Kelly
Published: October 2023

Zoonotic and related infections pose an enormous health threat to the world’s second-most populous continent. Despite the challenges faced by drug discovery scientists in Africa, recent progress toward identifying potential medicines across diverse disease areas is a cause for optimism and an indicator of progress in African-led scientific initiatives.
What keeps me up at night
Authors: Fauci Anthony S.
Published: October 2023

The lessons of COVID-19 must be heeded if the world is to be prepared for the next emergent pathogen with pandemic potential.
IL-23 receptor signaling licenses group 3-like innate lymphoid cells to restrict a live-attenuated oral Chlamydia vaccine in the gut
Authors: He Ying , Wang Yihui , He Rongze , Abdelsalam Ahmed Mohamed , Zhong Guangming
Published: October 2023

An IFNγ-susceptible mutant of
Chlamydia muridarum
is attenuated in pathogenicity in the genital tract and was recently licensed as an
intr
acellular
O
ral vaccine
v
ector or intrOv. Oral delivery of intrOv induces transmucosal protection in the genital tract, but intrOv itself is cleared from the gut (without shedding any infectious particles externally) by IFNγ from group 3-like innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s). We further characterized the intrOv interactions with ILC3s in the current study, since the interactions may impact both the safety and efficacy of intrOv as an oral Chlamydia vaccine. Intracolonic inoculation with intrOv induced IFNγ that in return inhibited intrOv. The intrOv-IFNγ interactions were dependent on RORγt, a signature transcriptional factor of ILC3s. Consistently, the transfer of oral intrOv-induced ILC3s from RORγt-GFP reporter mice to IFNγ-deficient mice rescued the inhibition of intrOv. Thus, IFNγ produced by intrOv-induced ILC3s is likely responsible for inhibiting intrOv, which is further supported by the observation that oral intrOv did induce significant levels of IFNγ-producing LC3s (IFNγ
+
ILC3s). Interestingly, IL-23 receptor knockout (IL-23R
−/−
) mice no longer inhibited intrOv, which was accompanied by reduced colonic IFNγ. Transfer of oral intrOv-induced ILC3s rescued the IL-23R
−/−
mice to inhibit intrOv, validating the dependence of ILC3s on IL-23R signaling for inhibiting intrOv. Clearly, intrOv induces intestinal IFNγ
+
ILC3s for its own inhibition in the gut, which is facilitated by IL-23R signaling. These findings have provided a mechanism for ensuring the safety of intrOv as an oral Chlamydia vaccine and a platform for investigating how oral intrOv induces transmucosal protection in the genital tract.
Nonadditive functional interactions between ligand-binding sites of the multidrug efflux pump AdeB from
Acinetobacter baumannii
Authors: Leus Inga V. , Roberts Sean R. , Trinh Anhthu , W. Yu Edward , Zgurskaya Helen I.
Published: October 2023

Multidrug efflux is one of the major mechanisms of antibiotic resistance identified in clinical isolates of the human pathogen
Acinetobacter baumannii
. The multiple antibiotic resistance in this species is often enabled by the overproduction of the tripartite efflux pump AdeABC. In this pump, AdeB is the inner membrane transporter from the resistance-nodulation-division (RND) superfamily of proteins, which is responsible for the recognition and efflux of multiple structurally unrelated compounds. Like other RND transporters, AdeB is a trimeric protein with ligand-binding sites located in the large periplasmic domains. Previous structural studies, however, highlighted the uniqueness of AdeB interactions with ligands. Up to three ligand molecules were bound to one protomer of AdeB, mapping its substrate translocation path. In this study, we introduced single and double substitutions in the identified ligand-binding sites of AdeB. Our results show that the mechanism of substrate translocation by AdeB is different from that of other characterized RND transporters and that the functional interactions between the sites are nonadditive. We identified AdeB mutants with both the loss and the gain of antibiotic susceptibility phenotypes, as well as AdeB mutations making
A. baumannii
cells overproducing such pump variants even more susceptible to multiple antibiotics than efflux-deficient cells.

IMPORTANCE

Multidrug efflux pumps of the resistance-nodulation-division superfamily of proteins are important contributors to various aspects of bacterial physiology and antibiotic resistance. Studies of the best-characterized model transporter AcrB from
Escherichia coli
suggested that these transporters operate by a functional rotation mechanism in which various substrates bind to at least two different binding sites. This study suggests that the mechanism of AdeB is distinct and that the binding sites in this transporter are functionally linked.
Contact sites between host organelles and pathogens: boon or bane?
Authors: Mehra Chahat , Pernas Lena
Published: October 2023

A microbe and its host are in constant communication. An emerging platform for direct communication is the membrane contact sites that form between several pathogens and host organelles. Here, we review our progress on the molecular mechanisms underlying contact sites between host mitochondria and the human parasite
Toxoplasma gondii
. We discuss open questions regarding their function during infection as well as those formed between the host endoplasmic reticulum and
Toxoplasma
.
Surveillance for rat hepatitis E in wastewater networks, Italy
Authors: Palombieri Andrea , Di Profio Federica , Sarchese Vittorio , Fruci Paola , Suffredini Elisabetta , Martella Vito , Veneri Carolina , Bonanno Ferraro Giusy , Mancini Pamela , La Rosa Giuseppina , Di Martino Barbara
Published: October 2023

Rat hepevirus is an emerging zoonotic pathogen associated with human hepatitis and distantly related to the hepatitis E virus. By using broadly reactive primers for hepevirus, we detected viral RNA in 68/155 (43.9%) of sewage specimens collected from 14 wastewater treatment plants serving about half of the population of Abruzzo, Italy. On sequence analysis, the 68 strains showed 79.0%–91.6% identities to reference sequences of rodent and human origin, segregating in different genetic groups with a clear geographic/wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)-related pattern.

IMPORTANCE

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection constitutes a significant health problem worldwide. In recent years, in addition to the zoonotic HEV3 and HEV4, emerging highly divergent hepevirus of rat origin (rat HEV [RHEV]) has been associated with human acute and chronic hepatitis. As environmental surveillance can be a complementary tool to explore emerging viruses of human and rodent origin, we investigated the epidemiology and the genetic variability of RHEV targeting 14 wastewater treatment plants in an Italian geographic area considered a hot spot for HEV infection in humans. Our results revealed that RHEV is a significant component of the wastewater microbiota with viral RNA detected in 43.9% of the specimens tested, adding further evidence to the need to investigate more in depth the real burden of RHEV infections in humans.
Multivariate examination of the sediment-deficient southeast Australian continental shelf
Authors: Nordsvan Adam R. , McKenzie N. Ryan , Colleps Cody L. , Koch Alexander , Khan Nicole S.
Published: October 2023

Continental shelves are the most morphologically variable element within the source-to-sink system owing to the numerous processes that influence their formation. A recent multivariate analysis of a global compilation of modern continental shelf data showed that much of the variability is related to tectonic setting, the degree to which the shelf has been glaciated, and carbonate production. While these factors play first-order roles in determining the morphology of shelves, other controlling mechanisms such as siliciclastic sediment supply, wave and tidal energy, bedrock lithology, and sea-level fluctuations are not as well understood. Here, we report findings from a detailed investigation of the southeast Australian shelf that explored how sediment distribution, wave energy, and bedrock lithology influence shelf morphology. The high-resolution analysis suggests that the southeast Australian shelf has 11 distinct shelf types. No strong relationships exist between the shelf attributes or shelf type with their onshore catchments. However, a substantial section boundary correlates with a bedrock contact between the Sydney Basin in the south and the New England Orogen to the north. South of this boundary, we propose that the shelf morphology reflects transgression with low sediment supply, whereas to the north, the morphology reflects transgression with higher sediment input. Although several factors contributed to this difference in shelf morphology, we suggest that sediment distribution and retention due to the active wave climate during the most recent transgression likely played a vital role.
Supplemental Material: Cenozoic dextral transpressional tectonics in the northwestern Qaidam Basin, northern Tibet: Evidence from paleomagnetic and kinematic analysis of the arcuate belts
Authors: Peng Luying , Guo Zhaojie , et al.
Published: October 2023

Figure S1 (temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility curves), Figure S2 (hysteresis loops), Figure S3 (field tests), Figures S4 and S5 (raw seismic profiles), Tables S1 and S2 (demagnetization steps of specimens with stable and unstable characteristic remanent magnetization, respectively), Table S3 (high-temperature component [HTC] directions of specimens from data sets A and B), Table S4 (site-mean directions), and Sampling sites.kmz file (locations of the sampling sites; see Supplemental Text S1 to access).
KCNV2-associated retinopathy: genotype–phenotype correlations –KCNV2study group report 3
Authors: de Guimaraes Thales A C , Georgiou Michalis , Robson Anthony G , Fujinami Kaoru , Vincent Ajoy , Nasser Fadi , Khateb Samer , Mahroo Omar A , Pontikos Nikolas , Vargas Maurício E , Thiadens Alberta A H J , Carvalho Emanuel R de , Nguyen Xuan-Than-An , Arno Gavin , Fujinami-Yokokawa Yu , Liu Xiao , Tsunoda Kazushige , Hayashi Takaaki , Jiménez-Rolando Belén , Martin-Merida Maria Inmaculada , Avila-Fernandez Almudena , Salas Ester Carreño , Garcia-Sandoval Blanca , Ayuso Carmen , Sharon Dror , Kohl Susanne , Huckfeldt Rachel M , Banin Eyal , Pennesi Mark E , Khan Arif O , Wissinger Bernd , Webster Andrew R , Heon Elise , Boon Camiel J F , Zrenner Eberhard , Michaelides Michel
Published: October 2023

Background/aims

To investigate genotype–phenotype associations in patients withKCNV2retinopathy.

Methods

Review of clinical notes, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), molecular variants, electroretinography (ERG) and retinal imaging. Subjects were grouped according to the combination ofKCNV2variants—two loss-of-function (TLOF), two missense (TM) or one of each (MLOF)—and parameters were compared.

Results

Ninety-two patients were included. The mean age of onset (mean±SD) in TLOF (n=55), TM (n=23) and MLOF (n=14) groups was 3.51±0.58, 4.07±2.76 and 5.54±3.38 years, respectively. The mean LogMAR BCVA (±SD) at baseline in TLOF, TM and MLOF groups was 0.89±0.25, 0.67±0.38 and 0.81±0.35 for right, and 0.88±0.26, 0.69±0.33 and 0.78±0.33 for left eyes, respectively. The difference in BCVA between groups at baseline was significant in right (p=0.03) and left eyes (p=0.035). Mean outer nuclear layer thickness (±SD) at baseline in TLOF, MLOF and TM groups was 37.07±15.20 µm, 40.67±12.53 and 40.38±18.67, respectively, which was not significantly different (p=0.85). The mean ellipsoid zone width (EZW) loss (±SD) was 2051 µm (±1318) for patients in the TLOF, and 1314 µm (±965) for MLOF. Only one patient in the TM group had EZW loss at presentation. There was considerable overlap in ERG findings, although the largest DA 10 ERG b-waves were associated with TLOF and the smallest with TM variants.

Conclusions

Patients with missense alterations had better BCVA and greater structural integrity. This is important for patient prognostication and counselling, as well as stratification for future gene therapy trials.
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) clinical practice guideline on immunotherapy for the treatment of melanoma, version 3.0
Authors: Pavlick Anna C , Ariyan Charlotte E , Buchbinder Elizabeth I , Davar Diwakar , Gibney Geoffrey T , Hamid Omid , Hieken Tina J , Izar Benjamin , Johnson Douglas B , Kulkarni Rajan P , Luke Jason J , Mitchell Tara C , Mooradian Meghan J , Rubin Krista M , Salama April KS , Shirai Keisuke , Taube Janis M , Tawbi Hussein A , Tolley J Keith , Valdueza Caressa , Weiss Sarah A , Wong Michael K , Sullivan Ryan J
Published: October 2023

Since the first approval for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for the treatment of cutaneous melanoma more than a decade ago, immunotherapy has completely transformed the treatment landscape of this chemotherapy-resistant disease. Combination regimens including ICIs directed against programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) with anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) agents or, more recently, anti-lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) agents, have gained regulatory approvals for the treatment of metastatic cutaneous melanoma, with long-term follow-up data suggesting the possibility of cure for some patients with advanced disease. In the resectable setting, adjuvant ICIs prolong recurrence-free survival, and neoadjuvant strategies are an active area of investigation. Other immunotherapy strategies, such as oncolytic virotherapy for injectable cutaneous melanoma and bispecific T-cell engager therapy for HLA-A*02:01 genotype-positive uveal melanoma, are also available to patients. Despite the remarkable efficacy of these regimens for many patients with cutaneous melanoma, traditional immunotherapy biomarkers (ie, programmed death-ligand 1 expression, tumor mutational burden, T-cell infiltrate and/or microsatellite stability) have failed to reliably predict response. Furthermore, ICIs are associated with unique toxicity profiles, particularly for the highly active combination of anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4 agents. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) convened a panel of experts to develop this clinical practice guideline on immunotherapy for the treatment of melanoma, including rare subtypes of the disease (eg, uveal, mucosal), with the goal of improving patient care by providing guidance to the oncology community. Drawing from published data and clinical experience, the Expert Panel developed evidence- and consensus-based recommendations for healthcare professionals using immunotherapy to treat melanoma, with topics including therapy selection in the advanced and perioperative settings, intratumoral immunotherapy, when to use immunotherapy for patients withBRAFV600-mutated disease, management of patients with brain metastases, evaluation of treatment response, special patient populations, patient education, quality of life, and survivorship, among others.
Restraint in somatic healthcare: how should it be regulated?
Authors: Guenna Holmgren Amina , von Vogelsang Ann-Christin , Lindblad Anna , Juth Niklas
Published: October 2023

Restraint is regularly used in somatic healthcare settings, and countries have chosen different paths to regulate restraint in somatic healthcare. One overarching problem when regulating restraint is to ensure that patients with reduced decision-making capacity receive the care they need and at the same time ensure that patients with a sufficient degree of decision-making capacity are not forced into care that they do not want. Here, arguments of justice, trust in the healthcare system, minimising harm and respecting autonomy are contrasted with different national regulations. We conclude that a regulation that incorporates an assessment of patients’ decision-making capacity and considers the patient’s best interests is preferable, in contrast to regulations based on psychiatric diagnoses or regulations where there are no legal possibilities to exercise restraint at all in somatic care.
Narrative Medicine Theory and Practice: the Double Helix Model
Authors: Butchart Liam , Parsa Shabnam
Published: October 2023

The genesis of the medical humanities as a discrete academic discipline engendered a need for a theoretical framework, a function taken on by the growing narrative medicine movement. More recently, scholars have begun to develop a critical medical humanities, an analytical movement that emphasises the fundamental enmeshment of the sciences and humanities. Building on Helene Scott-Fordsmand’s work on reversing the medical humanities, this paper develops an alternative to the current version of narrative medicine. We propose a new interpretive heuristic, the Double Helix Model, and place it in critical dialogue with the Columbia School’s close reading based-approach. Through this new conceptual frame, we suggest that critical narrative medicine may empower clinicians to contribute to the reorientation of the roles of the sciences and humanities, benefiting providers, scholars and patients.
Theoretical and field investigation into the vacuum formation in the siphon-vacuum drainage system for soft ground improvement
Authors: Shu Junwei , Sun Hongyue , An Ni
Published: October 2023

Compared to the traditional drainage consolidation measures for soft ground improvement, the siphon-vacuum drainage method (SVD) offers more advantages, for example, improved drainage efficiency, lower maintenance costs, lower demand for energy and materials, and less environmental impact. Hence, it is expected to be widely applied in soft ground improvement. However, the mechanism of vacuum formation in the system remains unclear. In this study, the vacuum formation mechanism of SVD is investigated based on the theoretical deduction of the variations of the water level and air pressures during the siphon drainage and seepage processes. A theoretical model is developed to describe the vacuum formation, allowing the estimation of the varying air pressure, water level, seepage rate, and discharge rate in the system. Moreover, a field investigation was carried out in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, to further validate the correctness of the developed model. This study also provides further insights and suggestions into the field application of SVD for soft ground improvement.
Assessing the Cross-Border Impacts of Climate Change Response Measures on Iran: A Qualitative System Analysis
Authors: Najafighodousi Atiyeh , Zamani Leila , Nemati Fariba
Published: October 2023

To achieve Goal 13, which addresses climate change and promotes sustainable development, mitigation policies, and measures have been implemented globally and nationally. However, such practices can lead to unintended side effects, which vary between countries based on their economic structures and governance status and may jeopardise the achievement of other goals. It is vital to alleviate these effects, especially in vulnerable countries. To do so, a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of policies must be conducted, and appropriate interventions must be implemented to mitigate the negative effects that have already begun in oil-exporting developing countries. This study aims to assess the cross-border consequences of response measures on Iran’s economic, social, and environmental status using a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). The findings indicate that these policies directly affect the government’s revenues and expenditures, which in turn affect economic activities and indirectly affect socioeconomic variables.
Can Students without Prior Knowledge Use ChatGPT to Answer Test Questions? An Empirical Study
Authors: Shoufan Abdulhadi
Published: October 2023

With the immense interest in ChatGPT worldwide, education has seen a mix of both excitement and skepticism. To properly evaluate its impact on education, it is crucial to understand how far it can help students without prior knowledge answer assessment questions. This study aims to address this question as well as the impact of the question type. We conducted multiple experiments with computer engineering students (experiment group:n=41 to 56), who were asked to use ChatGPT to answer previous test questions before learning about the related topics. Their scores were then compared with the scores of previous-term students who answered the same questions in a quiz or exam setting (control group:n=24 to 61). The results showed a wide range of effect sizes, from -2.55 to 1.23, depending on the question type and content. The experiment group performed best answering code analysis and conceptual questions but struggled with code completion and questions that involved images. However, the performance in code generation tasks was inconsistent. Overall, the ChatGPT group’s answers lagged slightly behind the control group’s answers with an effect size of -0.16. We conclude that ChatGPT, at least in the field of this study, is not yet ready to rely on by students who do not have sufficient background to evaluate generated answers. We suggest that educators try using ChatGPT and educate students on effective questioning techniques and how to assess the generated responses. This study provides insights into the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT in education and informs future research and development.
DESPP-DETR: A Dense Connection Efficient Spatial Pooling DEtection TRansformer for Vehicle Detection
Authors: P. Krishnendhu S. , Mohandas Prabu
Published: October 2023

Real-time vehicle detection is a challenging and vital task in intelligent transportation systems. The key requirements for a vehicle detection model are speed and accuracy. However, existing real-time vehicle detection models often sacrifice one of these qualities in favor of the other. This trade-off makes them unfit for real-time deployment, where both speed and accuracy are equally important. Additionally, occlusion, which refers to the obstruction or partial covering of vehicles, further complicates detection and affects the system’s accuracy. In this study, we propose DESPP-DETR, a one-stage detection network for real-time vehicle detection. It is based on bipartite matching and a transformer encoder-decoder architecture, with the addition of a dense connection block and enhanced spatial pyramid pooling. The presence of dense connection block strengthens feature extraction. The enhanced spatial pyramid pooling eliminates the fixed-size constraint and increases the network’s learning capacity. When compared to existing models, DESPP-DETR achieves greater accuracy in real-time vehicle detection. On the MS COCO 2017 dataset, the proposed model achieves an improved mean average precision (mAP) of 75.53%, making it a promising solution for intelligent transportation systems.
Modeling Interference for Individual Treatment Effect Estimation from Networked Observational Data
Authors: Huang Qiang , Ma Jing , Li Jundong , Guo Ruocheng , Sun Huiyan , Chang Yi
Published: October 2023

Estimating
individual treatment effect
(ITE) from observational data has attracted great interest in recent years, which plays a crucial role in decision-making across many high-impact domains such as economics, medicine, and e-commerce. Most existing studies of ITE estimation assume that different units at play are independent and do not influence each other. However, many social science experiments have shown that there often exist different levels of interactions between units in observational data, especially in a networked environment. As a result, the treatment assignment of one unit can affect the outcome of other units connected to it in the network, which is referred to as the
interference
or
spillover effect
. In this article, we study an important problem of ITE estimation from networked observational data by modeling the interference between different units and provide a principled framework to support such study. Methodologically, we propose a novel framework,
SPNet
, that first captures the influence of hidden confounders with the aid of graph convolutional network and then models the interference by introducing an environment summary variable and developing a masked attention mechanism. Experimental evaluations on several semi-synthetic datasets based on real-world networks corroborate the superiority of our proposed framework over state-of-the-art individual treatment effect estimation methods.
Asymmetric Dual-Decoder U-Net for Joint Rain and Haze Removal
Authors: Feng Yuan , Hu Yaojun , Fang Pengfei , Liu Sheng , Yang Yanhong , Chen Shengyong
Published: October 2023

This work studies the multi-weather restoration problem. In real-life scenarios, rain and haze, two often co-occurring common weather phenomena, can greatly degrade the clarity and quality of the scene images, leading to a performance drop in the visual applications, such as autonomous driving. However, jointly removing the rain and haze in scene images is ill-posed and challenging, where the existence of haze and rain and the change of atmosphere light, can both degrade the scene information. Current methods focus on the contamination removal part, thus ignoring the restoration of the scene information affected by the change of atmospheric light. We propose a novel deep neural network, named Asymmetric Dual-decoder
U-Net
(ADU-Net), to address the aforementioned challenge. The ADU-Net produces both the contamination residual and the scene residual to efficiently remove the contamination while preserving the fidelity of the scene information. Extensive experiments show our work outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods by a considerable margin in both synthetic data and real-world data benchmarks, including RainCityscapes, BID Rain, and SPA-Data. For instance, we improve the state-of-the-art PSNR value by 2.26/4.57 on the RainCityscapes/SPA-Data, respectively. Codes will be made available freely to the research community.
A Survey on Bid Optimization in Real-Time Bidding Display Advertising
Authors: Ou Weitong , Chen Bo , Dai Xinyi , Zhang Weinan , Liu Weiwen , Tang Ruiming , Yu Yong
Published: October 2023

Real-Time Bidding (RTB) is one of the most important forms of online advertising, where an auction is hosted in real time to sell the individual ad impression. How to design an automated bidding strategy in response to the dynamic auction environment is crucial for improving user experience, protecting the interests of advertisers, and promoting the long-term development of the advertising platform. As an exciting topic in the real-world industry, it has attracted great research interest from several disciplines, most notably data science. There have been abundant studies on bidding strategy design which are based on the large volume of historical ad requests. Despite its popularity and significance, few works provide a summary for bid optimization. In this survey, we present the latest overview of the recent works to shed light on the optimization techniques where most of them are validated in practice. We first explore the optimization problem in different works, explaining how these different settings affect the bidding strategy designs. Then, some forms of bidding functions and specific optimization techniques are illustrated. Further, we specifically discuss a new trend about bidding in first-price auctions, which have gradually become popular in recent years. From this survey, both practitioners and researchers can gain insights of the challenges and future prospects of bid optimization in RTB.
Preliminary Consequences of Blood Pressure Management and Blood Homocysteine Levels with Perindopril in Newly Diagnosed Hypertensive Patients in the Vietnamese Population
Authors: Kim Tran Son , Truong An Bao , Nguyen Phi Hoang , Ngo Toan Hoang , Vu Tuyen Long , Dang Tran Khoa Dang , Vo Phuong Minh , Nguyen Bao The , Le Trong Huynh Tuong , Nguyen Kien Trung , Tran Hung Do
Published: October 2023

Background. Perindopril is an ACE inhibitor that aids in both blood pressure regulation and homocysteine reduction. Objectives. Our study aimed to evaluate the results of controlling blood pressure and blood homocysteine levels by perindopril in patients with primary hypertension. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study with a longitudinal follow-up was conducted on 105 primary hypertensive patients treated with perindopril. Results. The results of our study showed that after 6 weeks of treatment with perindopril, the proportion of patients with the target blood pressure (BP) level accounted for 70.5%, the rate of grade 1 hypertension decreased from 61.0% to 25.7%, grade 2 blood pressure decreased from 17.1% to 3.8%, and there was no case of grade 3 hypertension. At the same time, we also found that the rate of BP control in the group of patients who controlled Hcy below a threshold of 15 μmol/L was significantly higher than in the other group

p
 
<
 
0.05

. Concerning the efficacy of decreasing homocysteine in blood, we discovered that after 6 weeks of treatment with perindopril, the proportion of patients with elevated homocysteine reduced considerably from 74.3% to 40%

p
 
<
 
0.05

. In addition, the homocysteine concentration was 4.33 mol/L lower after treatment than before treatment (95% CI: 3.69–4.97)

p
 
<
 
0.05

. Conclusion. Perindopril helps control blood pressure and reduces blood homocysteine levels in patients with primary hypertension.