Search

Designing user-adaptive search systems necessitates modeling the user's knowledge state during information seeking. Gaze data offers insights into cognitive processes during task-based reading. Despite its potential, cognitive perspectives have been insufficiently explored in the representation of the user's knowledge state when designing search systems. We reanalyzed an eye-tracking dataset and constructed mixed-effects user models to identify which measurements of gaze activities (i.e., gaze metrics captured by eye trackers) are reflective of the user. Our study's findings indicate that there are statistically significant correlations between gaze metrics that measure the variability of saccadic eye movement and search performance. The accuracy of answers has been significantly influenced by the interaction between the control of saccade trajectories, measured by the standard deviation of absolute saccadic directions and the difficulty of the search task. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of search systems adaptable to the user's state of knowledge.

Dayside magnetosphere interactions are essential for energy and momentum transport between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. In this study, we investigate a new phenomenon within this regime. Sudden enhancements of ion fluxes followed by repeating dropouts and recoveries were observed by Magnetospheric Multiscale on 5 November 2016, which is the very end of the recovery phase from a moderate geomagnetic storm. These repetitive flux variations display energy-dispersive characteristics with periods relevant to ion bounce motion, suggesting they are corresponding echoes. Alongside the flux variations, bipolar electric field impulses originating from external sources were detected. We traced the source region of the initial injection and found it is located near the spacecraft's position. To elucidate the underlying physics, a test-particle simulation is conducted. The results reveal that radial transport resulting from impulse-induced acceleration can give rise to these echoes. Observations demonstrate dayside magnetosphere interactions are more common than we previously considered, which warrants further research., QC 20240226

Extreme rainfall simulations using numerical weather models provide high spatial and temporal resolution data on rainfall. These simulations are useful tools in hydrometeorology that help with risk management for rainfall-derived disasters. Yet we still lack a thorough understanding of how to generate accurate extreme rainfall simulations. This thesis is centred around three main impact factors of extreme rainfall simulations: (1) model spatial and physical configurations, (2) model initialization and spin-up time, and (3) aerosol inputs by coupled module. First, we develop a progressive multimeric configuration optimisation (PMCO) method to comprehensively evaluate impacts from spatial and physical configurations and systematically screen the optimal configuration set for the study area. Second, we present a novel optimal spin-up time identifying (OSTI) framework to help determine the appropriate spin-up time for different rainfall events without too many trial-and-error tests. It is also proved that the model-required initialization time depends on the initial and boundary conditions, which is not fixed and vary with different events and situations. Third, we show the impacts of aerosol properties, transport and seasonality on simulations of different rainfall events. We also performed an attribution analysis of changes in simulation accuracy and summarized under what circumstances the coupled module enhances or weakens simulations. Finally, we discuss what is the most influential factor and how to make advanced extreme rainfall simulations based on the above knowledge, followed by future research that needs to be addressed. Overall, this thesis advances our knowledge in relation to all three above-mentioned aspects and thereby helps us conduct more accurate extreme rainfall simulations.

Yongsheng Cao,1 Jianqin Zhao,2 Yanjuan Ma,2 Shujie Cao,2 Ying Liu2 1Department of Neurology, Sunshine Union Hospital, Weifang, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Sunshine Union Hospital, Weifang, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ying Liu, Department of Endocrinology, Sunshine Union Hospital, 9000 Yingqian Street, Weifang City, Shandong, 261000, People’s Republic of China, Email 175198989@qq.comBackground: Cardiovascular outcome trials indicate renal benefits of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs); however, real-world efficacy and safety studies in Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) are scarce.Methods: This retrospective, single-arm real-world trial involved adults with DKD treated with GLP-1RA for at least 6 months. The primary endpoint was hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels after 6 months.Results: This study included a total of 364 patients with DKD, 153 (42.0%) of whom were female. The median disease duration was 8.0 years, and the mean values of age, HbA1c level, body mass index, and the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) were 52.1 years, 8.6%, 27.8 kg/m2, and 88.0 mg/g, respectively. Additionally, 73.6% and 26.4% of patients had mild and moderate DKD, respectively. Following 6 months of GLP-1RA treatment, the mean HbA1c level and UACR declined by 1.77% and 40.3%, respectively (both p < 0.001). Compared to their baseline values, patients exhibited significant improvements in 24-h urinary protein, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), fasting blood glucose, body weight, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (all p < 0.001). Patients with a disease duration of < 10 years had more pronounced changes in the HbA1c level, UACR, and eGFR (all p < 0.001) than those with a disease duration of ≥ 10 years. Changes in SBP and DBP were more pronounc

Xian-Ping Yang,1,&ast; Ying-Yao Liu,2,&ast; Cai-Yun Zhang,3 Kai-Kai Huang,1 Shan-Shan Han,1 Bao-Ying Liang,1 Ying Lin1 1Department of Dermatology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2The Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Dermatology, Dongguan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Dongguan, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ying Lin, Department of Dermatology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), No. 111 Dade Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510120, People’s Republic of China, Email lin19791226@gzucm.edu.cnAim: Atopic dermatitis (AD) often accompanies skin infections, and bacterial skin infections often cause persistent and worsening symptoms. In this study, we explored the key changes in the microbiota of AD patients, as well as the effects of different ages and the severity of rash on changes in the microbiota.Patients and Methods: A total of 95 AD patients and 77 healthy volunteers were recruited. The AD patients were divided into three groups based age and three groups according to the EASI score. Microorganisms collected from the skin were analyzed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing, revealing species diversity via α and β diversity analyses. Species compositions were compared at the phylum and genus levels. The significance of skin microbiota at the genus level was assessed using the random forest algorithm. Finally, the impact of relationships between different microbial communities on the microbial community composition and the pathogenesis of AD was explored using Pearson correlation coefficients.Results: The species diversity of the skin m

This study aimed to investigate the impact of acute velocity stress on the exercise physiology of mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi). Initially, the relative critical swimming speed (U’crit) was estimated to be around 4.87 body lengths per second (bl/s), while the relative burst swimming speed (U’burst) reached approximately 8.60 bl/s. Then, the results showed that as the flow velocity increased, the oxygen consumption rate (MO2) of mandarin fish gradually elevated, while the cost of transport (COT) displayed a decreasing trend. Subsequently, four groups were established for the experiment, including control group (0 %Ucrit), low flow velocity (20 %Ucrit), medium flow velocity (50 %Ucrit) and high flow velocity (80 %Ucrit). The results showed that with the increase of flow velocity, the content of muscle glycogen decreased gradually and the content of muscle lactate increased significantly. Furthermore, the results of serum myocardial enzymes and antioxidant enzymes showed that the levels of creatine kinase (CK), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) exhibited an initial increase followed by a decrease. During the examination of the gills, the highest level of Na+-K+-ATPase was reached at 80 %Ucrit, while the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly reduced. Additionally, transcriptomic sequencing was conducted on 0 %Ucrit and 80 %Ucrit groups, resulting in the identification of 101 upregulated genes and 116 downregulated genes. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were significantly enriched in lipid metabolism and signal transduction. Finally, it was observed that the MAPK signaling pathway within the signaling transduction pathway exhibited the highest number of annotated DEGs. In general, it can be inferred that mandarin fish may regulate lipid peroxidation levels, and MAPK signaling pathway as an adaptive response to mitigate the effects induced by acute velocity stress. The a

The sensitivity of tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) to its precursors volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) determines the emission reduction strategy for O 3 mitigation. Due to the lack of comprehensive vertical measurements of VOCs, the vertical distribution of O 3 sensitivity regimes has not been well understood. O 3 precursor sensitivity determined by ground -level measurements has been generally used to guide O 3 control strategy. Here, to precisely diagnose O 3 sensitivity regimes at different heights in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), we developed a vertical measurement system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle platform to conduct comprehensive vertical measurements of VOCs, NO X and other relevant parameters. Our results suggest that the O 3 precursor sensitivity shifts from a VOC-limited regime at the ground to a NO X -limited regime at upper layers, indicating that the ground -level O 3 sensitivity cannot represent the situation of the whole PBL. We also found that the state-of-the-art photochemical model tends to underestimate oxygenated VOCs at upper layers, resulting in overestimation of the degree of VOCs-limited regime. Therefore, thorough vertical measurements of VOCs to accurately diagnose O 3 precursor sensitivity is in urgent need for the development of effective O 3 control strategies.

The stemness loss–associated dysregeneration of impaired alveolar type 2 epithelial (AT2) cells abolishes the reversible therapy of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We here report an inhalable mucus-penetrating lipid nanoparticle (LNP) for codelivering dual mRNAs, promoting realveolarization via restoring AT2 stemness for IPF treatment. Inhalable LNPs were first formulated with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and our in-house–made ionizable lipids for high-efficiency pulmonary mucus penetration and codelivery of dual messenger RNAs (mRNAs), encoding cytochrome b5 reductase 3 and bone morphogenetic protein 4, respectively. After being inhaled in a bleomycin model, LNPs reverses the mitochondrial dysfunction through ameliorating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthesis, which inhibits the accelerated senescence of AT2 cells. Concurrently, pathological epithelial remodeling and fibroblast activation induced by impaired AT2 cells are terminated, ultimately prompting alveolar regeneration. Our data demonstrated that the mRNA-LNP system exhibited high protein expression in lung epithelial cells, which markedly extricated the alveolar collapse and prolonged the survival of fibrosis mice, providing a clinically viable strategy against IPF.

Chunliu Hou,1,&ast; Ying Liu,2,&ast; Xuesen Su,1 Shouyuan Tian,1 Yan Li1,2 1College of Anesthesia, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Tianjin Jizhou People’s Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shouyuan Tian; Yan Li, Email chinatsyjj@sxmu.edu.cn; drliyan@163.comBackground: Due to the global prevalence of opioid drugs, postsurgical prescriptions can lead to substantial opioid consumption, highlighting the increasing need for alternative medications. Alternative medicines can markedly lessen the usage of opioids after surgery, but the variety and notable side effects of these alternatives require meticulous experimental support.Objective: This study explored the efficacy and safety of ulinastatin for alleviating postsurgical pain, for reducing the need for opioids, and for inclusion in conventional treatment methods.Methods: A total of 108 patients undergoing elective hip replacement were randomly allocated into either the experimental group (56 cases, standard pain relief treatment plus 60 IU ulinastatin) or the control group (40 cases, standard pain relief treatment). The main outcomes measured were the total consumption of opioids at 24, 48, and 72 h postoperatively. Secondary outcomes comprised patient-reported pain indices and levels of satisfaction with pain control. The frequency of adverse events evaluated medication safety.Results: There were no statistically significant differences in age, sex, or underlying diseases between the two groups. Over 24 hours, opioid consumption was higher in the standard treatment group (66.6 mg; mean difference [MD]: 4.43 mg; 95% CI: 57.6– 75.5) than in the intervention group (54.5 mg; MD: 1.91 mg; 95% CI: 50.7– 58.3). The standard treatment group exhibited a notably higher incidence of adverse reactions. However, there was no disparity in post-discharge satisfacti

IMPORTANCE: Visual-motor integration (VMI) is typically examined in children to promote handwriting, but it may also be relevant for adults' capacity for technology use. OBJECTIVE: To examine the reliability and validity of speed of completion of the box clicking test, a web-based test of VMI. DESIGN: Participants in the Understanding America Study completed online surveys on a regular basis, including a very brief (less than 30 s) self-administered box clicking test. For validity testing, we examined whether box clicking speed was associated with constructs relevant to visual-perceptual skills and motor coordination, the skills underlying VMI. Test-retest reliability was examined by computation of intraclass correlation coefficients. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 11,114 adults. MEASURES: Measures included the completion time for the box clicking task and measures relevant to visual perception (e.g., perceptual speed) and motor coordination (e.g., self-reported functional limitation). RESULTS: Results suggested that the box clicking test was a VMI task. Slower test performance was associated with lower visual-perceptual speed and a greater likelihood of reporting difficulties with dressing, a motor coordination relevant task. Box clicking tests taken within at least 2 yr of one another had moderate test-retest stability, but future studies are needed to examine test-retest reliabilities over brief (e.g., 2-wk) time intervals. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The box clicking test may serve both as a tool for research and to clinically observe whether clients have VMI difficulties that interfere with computer, smartphone, or tablet use. Plain-Language Summary: Use of devices such as smartphones and computers is increasingly becoming integral for daily functioning. Visual-motor integration (VMI) has often been addressed by occupational therapists to support handwriting of children, but it may also be important for technology use by adults. Prior literature supports the relevance

PurposeThe PICCH research project contributes to opening a dialogue between cultural heritage archives and users. Hence, the users are identified and their information needs, the search strategies they apply and the search challenges they experience are uncovered.Design/methodology/approachA combination of questionnaires and interviews is used for collection of data. Questionnaire data were collected from users of three different audiovisual archives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two user groups: (1) scholars searching information for research projects and (2) archivists who perform their own scholarly work and search information on behalf of others.FindingsThe questionnaire results show that the archive users mainly have an academic background. Hence, scholars and archivists constitute the target group for in-depth interviews. The interviews reveal that their information needs are multi-faceted and match the information need typology by Ingwersen. The scholars mainly apply collection-specific search strategies but have in common primarily doing keyword searching, which they typically plan in advance. The archivists do less planning owing to their knowledge of the collections. All interviewees demonstrate domain knowledge, archival intelligence and artefactual literacy in their use and mastering of the archives. The search challenges they experience can be characterised as search system complexity challenges, material challenges and metadata challenges.Originality/valueThe paper provides a rare insight into the complexity of the search situation of cultural heritage archives, and the users’ multi-facetted information needs and hence contributes to the dialogue between the archives and the users.

In this study, we propose a novel long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model that leverages color features (HSV: hue, saturation, value) extracted from street images to estimate air quality with particulate matter (PM) in four typical European environments: urban, suburban, villages, and the harbor. To evaluate its performance, we utilize concentration data for eight parameters of ambient PM (PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, particle number concentration, lung-deposited surface area, equivalent mass concentrations of ultraviolet PM, black carbon, and brown carbon) collected from a mobile monitoring platform during the nonheating season in downtown Augsburg, Germany, along with synchronized street view images. Experimental comparisons were conducted between the LSTM model and other deep learning models (recurrent neural network and gated recurrent unit). The results clearly demonstrate a better performance of the LSTM model compared with other statistically based models. The LSTM-HSV model achieved impressive interpretability rates above 80%, for the eight PM metrics mentioned above, indicating the expected performance of the proposed model. Moreover, the successful application of the LSTM-HSV model in other seasons of Augsburg city and various environments (suburbs, villages, and harbor cities) demonstrates its satisfactory generalization capabilities in both temporal and spatial dimensions. The successful application of the LSTM-HSV model underscores its potential as a versatile tool for the estimation of air pollution after presampling of the studied area, with broad implications for urban planning and public health initiatives.

We identify and examine the solar wind intervals near the sonic critical point (i.e., $M_S \sim 1$) observed by the Parker Solar Probe (PSP). The near subsonic wind intervals show similar properties: a low density, an extremely low velocity, a low proton temperature, and essentially no magnetic field deflections compared with the surrounding solar wind. The extremely low velocity is the primary contributor to the near crossing of the sonic critical point rather than the sound speed, which is roughly constant in these intervals. Source tracing with a potential field source surface (PFSS) model suggests that the near subsonic intervals all connect to the boundaries inside coronal holes. Heliospheric current sheet (HCS) and partial HCS crossings around the near subsonic intervals indicate that the near subsonic wind is a transition layer between the slow and fast wind. The above scenario is consistent with the nature of the near subsonic wind as a low Mach-number boundary layer (LMBL), which facilitates the crossing of the sonic critical point at 15-20 $R_S$. Moreover, we find a dependence of the amplitude of switchbacks on the radial sonic Mach number. Magnetic field deflections essentially disappear near the sonic critical point, which suggests that switchbacks originate from above the sonic critical point., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We report on the first direct in situ measurements of a fast coronal mass ejection (CME) and shock in the corona, which occurred on 2022 September 5. In situ measurements from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft near perihelion suggest two shocks with the second one decayed, which is consistent with more than one eruptions in coronagraph images. Despite a flank crossing, the measurements indicate unique features of the young ejecta: a plasma much hotter than the ambient medium suggestive of a hot solar source, and a large plasma $\beta$ implying a highly non-force-free state and the importance of thermal pressure gradient for CME acceleration and expansion. Reconstruction of the global coronal magnetic fields shows a long-duration change in the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), and the observed field polarity reversals agree with a more warped HCS configuration. Reconnection signatures are observed inside an HCS crossing as deep as the sonic critical point. As the reconnection occurs in the sub-Alfv\'enic wind, the reconnected flux sunward of the reconnection site can close back to the Sun, which helps balance magnetic flux in the heliosphere. The nature of the sub-Alfv\'enic wind after the HCS crossing as a low Mach-number boundary layer (LMBL) leads to in situ measurements of the near subsonic plasma at a surprisingly large distance. Specifically, an LMBL may provide favorable conditions for the crossings of the sonic critical point in addition to the Alfv\'en surface., Comment: Accepted for publication in the The Astrophysical Journal

Within the emerging live-streaming commerce context, streamer-consumer gender match has been considered an important topic in studies on advertising hedonic products. However, it is still under-explored how streamer-consumer gender match affects the mapping from functional benefits to advertising effectiveness when advertising utilitarian products and how the mechanism is contingent on heterogeneous price signals. To somewhat address the research gaps, we develop a number of hypotheses based on the elaboration likelihood model together with the price signaling mechanism and examine the research model drawing on a 28-day panel on 685 smartphones sold on Douyin Live Shopping. The empirical results indicate that (1) functional benefit performance has a positive effect on advertising effectiveness for utilitarian products with a middle-price signal, and the effect is stronger when the products are sold by male rather than female streamers; (2) also for advertising utilitarian products with a middle-price signal, male consumers resist male streamers when streamers leverage utilitarian information to stimulate consumers’ purchase intention; and (3) functional benefit performance contributes little to advertising effectiveness for utilitarian products with a high-price or low-price signal. The evidence uncovers that gender match mainly makes a difference to appending extra hedonic cues rather than amplifying the conversion of utilitarian information in the sense of advertising utilitarian products. The findings also highlight the risk of neglecting within-category heterogeneities in the by-product-category research on live-streaming advertising., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Data obtained from Parker Solar Probe (PSP) since 2021 April have shown the first in situ observation of the solar corona, where the solar wind is formed and accelerated. Here we investigate the alpha-proton differential flow and its characteristics across the critical Alfv\'en surface (CAS) using data from PSP during encounters 8-10 and 12-13. We first show the positive correlation between the alpha-proton differential velocity and the bulk solar wind speed at PSP encounter distances. Then we explore how the characteristics of the differential flow vary across the CAS and how they are affected by Alfv\'enic fluctuations including switchbacks. We find that the differential velocity below the CAS is generally smaller than that above the CAS, and the local Alfv\'en speed well limits the differential speed both above and below the CAS. The deviations from the alignment between the differential velocity and the local magnetic field vector are accompanied by large-amplitude Alfv\'enic fluctuations and decreases in the differential speed. Moreover, we observe that $V_{\alpha p}$ increases from $M_A < 1$ to $M_A \simeq 2$ and then starts to decrease, which suggests that alphas may remain preferentially accelerated well above the CAS. Our results also reveal that in the sub-Alfv\'enic solar wind both protons and alphas show a strong correlation between their velocity fluctuations and magnetic field fluctuations, with a weaker correlation for alphas. In contrast, in the super-Alfv\'enic regime the correlation remains high for protons, but is reduced for alphas., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Xulei Sui,1 Peipei Feng,1 Xiaoyuan Sun,1 Peng Liang,1 Ying Liu,2 Guowei Zhang3 1Department of Radiology, Yantaishan Hospital, Yantai City, 264001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Yantaishan Hospital (East Courtyard), Yantai City, 264003, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiology, Yantaishan Hospital (East Courtyard), Yantai City, 264003, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Guowei Zhang, Department of Radiology, Yantaishan Hospital (East Courtyard), No. 10087 Keji Avenue, Laishan District, Yantai City, 264003, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0535-6602048, Email zhangguoweiyt@163.comPurpose: This study determined the digital mammography and ultrasonography imaging features of pure invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast (PIMPC) and the correlation with pathologic features.Patients Methods: Nineteen patients diagnosed with PIMPC at Yantaishan Hospital from October 2015 to February 2022 were included in the study group. Forty patients with breast masses diagnosed as nonspecific invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast (NIDC) from July to December 2021 were included in the control group. Digital mammography and ultrasonography features were compared between the two groups.Results: Patients with PIMPC had a younger age profile compared to patients with NIDC (P=0.017). Moreover, PIMPC masses were smaller than NIDC masses (P=0.040). Imaging features analysis revealed significant differences in age groups (< 45 years: χ²=5.971, P=0.044) and the presence of spiculations or the crab claw sign (χ²=8.583, P=0.004) between patients with PIMPC and NIDC. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the presence of calcifications, blood flow grading, pathologic molecular subtypes between the study and control groups. The Ki-67 proliferative index (χ²=1.052, P=0.389), vascular invasion (χ²=2.263, P=0.197), and lymph node metastasis (χ²=1.968, P=0.386) showed no significant differences between PI

Context - Process Mining is a discipline that intersects business process management and data science. Event logs are extracted from information systems and analyzed through various techniques in data science to optimize business processes and improve user experience or process efficiency. Data preprocessing is an important part of data analysis, which often occupies most of the time in the analysis process. Purpose - In most of the existing studies, we could see the descriptions of the event log preprocessing techniques used in specific case studies. However, only one research classified event log preprocessing techniques, but this taxonomy is not task-oriented and operation-based and does not include all preprocessing techniques. So this thesis project aims to propose a new taxonomy while exploring the relationship between the choice of data preprocessing techniques and domain, data domain, analysis purpose, and process mining task. Method and result - A two-phase research method, systematic literature review (SLR), and taxonomy development are applied in this thesis project. A taxonomy of event log preprocessing techniques with six high-level categories and twenty low-level categories is proposed. The high-level category consists of log filtering, log transformation, log abstraction, log integration, log enriching, and log reduction. The results of SLR show that the selection of log filtering is not data domain-dependent, whereas the choice of other log preprocessing techniques is. Data domain and analysis purpose affect the log preprocessing techniques selection, and the intended PM tasks do not have a significant impact on it. Contribution - For scientific contribution, this research will fill in the gaps in academic research and update existing basic operations of event log preprocessing; For practical contribution, this research will provide insights to analysts in making preprocessing technique selection decisions in different task contexts.

Ying Liu, Jinsheng Hu Department of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jinsheng Hu, Department of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, No. 850 Huanghe Road Shahekou District, Dalian, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China, Email hujspsy@126.comIntroduction: Social disturbance is a significant autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom. Action representation, which is a fundamental component of social interaction, can be investigated through kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI). KMI has been commonly studied with the well-developed laterality judgment paradigm, wherein participants are required to discriminate the laterality of a hand rotated by different angles along one or more axes. Here, we investigated the KMI processing in individuals with ASD by hand laterality judgment paradigm with eye-tracking methodology.Methods: The current study included 22 participants with ASD and 22 typical developing (TD) peers matched for age, gender, and intelligence. Participants were asked to judge the laterality of hand-with-tooth brush images.Results: Compared to the TD controls, individuals with ASD performed KMI with lower accuracy and longer response time in both correct and incorrect action conditions. The incorrect action representation had greater effect on KMI for individuals with ASD. Differences in eye-movement patterns were also observed, characterized by individuals with ASD were more focused on the object area while TD peers were more focused on the hand area.Conclusion: Results suggest that while altered KMI performance was observed, the incorrect action representation elicited more engagement of KMI in both groups. The object-centered eye-movement pattern may contribute to the refine of motor simulation intervention for individuals with ASD.Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, kinesthetic motor imagery, action representation, eye-tracking

Xu-Rui Shen,1,&ast; Ying-Ying Liu,2,&ast; Rui-Qi Qian,1,&ast; Wei-Yun Zhang,2 Jian-An Huang,1 Xiu-Qin Zhang,1 Da-Xiong Zeng2 1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Suzhou Dushu Lake Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiu-Qin Zhang, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, No. 188, Shizi Street, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-18912616972, Email zxq92@sina.com Da-Xiong Zeng, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Suzhou Dushu Lake Hospital, No. 9 Chongwen Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15895567963, Email zengdaxiong2018@126.comPurpose: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are newly identified endogenous non-coding RNAs that function as crucial gene modulators in the development of several diseases. By assessing the expression levels of circRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), this study attempted to find new biomarkers for COPD screening.Patients and Methods: We confirmed altered circRNA expression in PBMCs of COPD (n=41) vs controls (n=29). Further analysis focused on the highest and lowest circRNA expression levels. The T-test is used to assess the statistical variances in circRNAs among COPD patients in the smoking and non-smoking cohorts. Additionally, among smokers, the Spearman correlation test assesses the association between circRNAs and clinical indicators.Results: Two circRNAs, hsa_circ_0042590 and hsa_circ_0049875, that were highly upregulated and downregulated in PBMCs from COPD patients were identified and verified. Smokers with COPD had lower hsa_circ_0042590 and higher hsa_circ_0049875

Yang Liu,1,2,&ast; Hui Yang,1,2,&ast; Xueshu Fu,1,2 Luting Zhong,1,2 Ping Xu,1,2 Fang Fang,1,2 Ying Liu,1,2 Qing Li,1,2 Ya’nan Yan,1,2 Shanchuang Wei,1,2 Junqing Wang,1,2 Chunhua Zhang1– 3 1Department of Gynaecology, Affiliated Hospital of YangZhou University Huai ‘an Maternal and Child Health Care Center, Huai’an, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gynaecology, The Huai’an Maternity and Child Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Huai’an, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese & Western Clinical Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chunhua Zhang, Department of Gynaecology, The Huai’an Maternity and Child Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Huai’an, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13952326117, Email hafyzch@126.comBackground: Multiple primary cancer (MPC) refers to the presence of more than one cancer in an individual. Triple primary malignancies are uncommon.Case: We report the case of a 50-year-old postmenopausal woman in our gynecology department, diagnosed with endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and unilateral breast cancer. She carried germline mutations in BRCA2, PALB2, and RECQL4, along with a somatic pathogenic variant in TP53. Endometrial cancer patients harboring germline pathogenic variants in BRCA2 exhibit a heightened risk of ovarian and breast cancer. BRCA2 is known to play a role in the development of ovarian and breast cancer, while PALB2 is identified as a gene associated with breast cancer susceptibility. RECQL4 has been linked to breast cancer, cervical cancer, and other tumors.Conclusion: Genetic testing may be imperative for identifying MPC in endometrial cancer patients. For individuals with BRCA2 and other gene pathogenic variants, routine examination and monitoring of the endometrium, ovaries, b

Yanping Guo,1 Zhangbin Yu,2 Huiying Tu,2 Biying Zheng,1 Jiamin Li,1 Ying Liu1 1Department of Pediatrics, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neonatology, Shenzhen People’s Hospital (The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, the First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology), Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yanping Guo; Ying Liu, Tel +86-15919990131 ; +86-13902992158, Email guoyanping1223@163.com; 13902992158@139.comBackground and Objectives: To examine the correlation between the concentration of vitamin D (VD) in venous blood at approximately 4 weeks of age (± 4 weeks of age) and neonatal outcomes in preterm infants (birth weight < 1500 g or gestational age < 32 weeks) in two neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) located in Shenzhen, China.Methods and Study Design: Preterm infants were split into two groups based on their VD concentration at ± 4 weeks of age: VD insufficiency (VDI) group (≤ 20 ng/mL) and VD sufficient (VDS) group (> 20 ng/mL). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to examine relationships between outcomes and VDI.Results: Of 230 infants in total, 119 (51.7%) were assigned to the VDI group and 111 to the VDS group (48.3%). No correlation was found between serum VD at ± 4 weeks of age and gestational age (p> 0.05). The starting point of the two groups for oral VD intake did not differ significantly (p> 0.05). At ± 4 weeks of age, oral VD dose (P< 0.05) was greater in the VDS group. Gestational diabetes mellitus was associated with VDI (OR=1.94, 95% CI 1.01– 3.75, p=0.047) after controlling for this risk. Following correction for gestational age and oral VD dosage at ± 4 weeks old, VDI was also linked to a significant risk of retinopathy of prematurity (OR=2.00, 95% CI 1.08– 3.68, p< 0.027).Conclusion: Preterm newborns (gestational age < 32 weeks or birth age < 1500 g

Meiju Deng,1,2,&ast; Yongqin Zeng,2,3,&ast; Ying Liu,2 Xiaolei Wang,1,2 Na Chen,1,2 Mengyuan Zhang,1,4– 6 Meiqing Jiang,1,4– 6 Hongxin Zhao,2 Juan Du1,4– 6 1Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100015, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical Center for HIV/AIDS, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100015, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nephrology, The Affiliated Hospital Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550004, People’s Republic of China; 4Beijing Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing, 100015, People’s Republic of China; 5National Center for Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100015, People’s Republic of China; 6National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Beijing, 100015, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Juan Du; Hongxin Zhao, Email duj656@ccmu.edu.cn; Drzhao66@ccmu.edu.cnBackground: The aging of the immune system is associated with various diseases. It is worth exploring the changes of the immune system in aging. Previous studies have shown that aged T cells have enhanced expression of co-inhibitory molecules. However, it remains unclear whether aged NK cells exhibit similar characteristics to aged T cells. The objective of our research was to clarify this aspect.Patients and Methods: This study included 98 adults aged 24– 90 years (50 males and 48 females). We detected the subset of peripheral blood NK cells and the expression of various receptors on NK cells among donors of different age groups by flow cytometry. Immune subsets were initially defined by forward and side-scatter characteristics and then staining with the appropriate marker.Results: The absolute number and subset distribution of NK cells were not associat

Yinan Zhao,1 Yan Gu,2 Ying Liu,3 Zhongping Guo4 1Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, The Affiliated First People’s Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Lianyungang Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Lianyungang, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Lianyungang Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Lianyungang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yan Gu, Department of Radiology, Lianyungang First People’s Hospital, 1st Floor, Building 2, Gaoxin District, No. 6 East Zhenhua Road, Haizhou District, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 18961327326, Email 13815617997@139.comPurpose: To analyze the relationship among distribution location, characteristics, and vulnerability of carotid plaque using CTA and provide more information on the risk factors of carotid atherosclerotic plaque.Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the CTA images of the head and neck of 93 patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis was developed in 148 carotid arteries. The plaques were divided into a high-risk plaque group and a low-risk plaque group according to whether the plaques had high-risk characteristics. The maximum cross-sectional area of carotid artery bifurcation plaque on the axial image was selected, and the cross-sectional lumen was equally divided into four 90-degree sectors, ventral side wall, dorsal side wall, inner side wall, and outer side wall. The differences in the characteristics and distribution locations of the plaques in the two groups were analyzed. The characteristic parameters of the cross-sectional plaques at the bifurcation of the carotid artery. The logistic regression analysis was used to further analyze the risk factors associated with plaque vulnerability.Results: Among 148 carotid ar

Yue Wang,&ast; Liyan Chu,&ast; He Li, Yingjie Du, Shanshan Wang, Ying Liu, Guyan Wang Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Guyan Wang, Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 1 Dongjiaominxiang, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13910985139, Email guyanwang2006@163.comPurpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether preoperative video distraction reduces the incidence of emergence delirium in preschool children under general anesthesia with sevoflurane.Patients and Methods: In this prospective randomized controlled study, children aged 3– 6 years were randomized to receive either video distraction (Group V) or common clinical practice (Group C) from arrival at the holding area to induction of anesthesia. The primary outcome was the incidence of emergence delirium. Preoperative anxiety scores, assessed by the simple modified Yale Perioperative Anxiety Scale, were also collected.Results: A total of 160 patients were included in our study. The children in Group V (n=80) exhibited a significantly lower incidence of emergence delirium than did those in Group C (n=80) (12.5% vs 35.0%; RR 0.36, 95% CI 0.19, 0.69; P =0.0008). The maximum Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium score in Group V was significantly lower than that in Group C (3.0 vs 5.0; mean difference − 2.64, 95% CI: − 4.12, − 1.16; P=0.0003). The simple modified Yale Perioperative Anxiety Scale scores at separation from parents and the onset of inhalation induction in Group V were significantly lower than those in Group C (36.4 ± 9.9 vs 48.2 ± 16.7; mean difference 11.92, 95% CI 7.25, 16.59; P< 0.0001 and 41.5 ± 15.9 vs 59.7 ± 21.5; mean difference 18.11, 95% CI 11.76, 24.47; P< 0.0001).Conclusion: Preoperative video distraction

Automated hand gesture recognition has long been a focal point in the AI community. Traditionally, research in this field has predominantly focused on scenarios with access to a continuous flow of hand's images. This focus has been driven by the widespread use of cameras and the abundant availability of image data. However, there is an increasing demand for gesture recognition technologies that operate on low-power sensor devices. This is due to the rising concerns for data leakage and end-user privacy, as well as the limited battery capacity and the computing power in low-cost devices. Moreover, the challenge in data collection for individually designed hardware also hinders the generalisation of a gesture recognition model. In this study, we unveil a novel methodology for pattern recognition systems using adaptive and agile error correction, designed to enhance the performance of legacy gesture recognition models on devices with limited battery capacity and computing power. This system comprises a compact Support Vector Machine as the base model for live gesture recognition. Additionally, it features an adaptive agile error corrector that employs few-shot learning within the feature space induced by high-dimensional kernel mappings. The error corrector can be customised for each user, allowing for dynamic adjustments to the gesture prediction based on their movement patterns while maintaining the agile performance of its base model on a low-cost and low-power micro-controller. This proposed system is distinguished by its compact size, rapid processing speed, and low power consumption, making it ideal for a wide range of embedded systems.

Bathyarchaeia represent a class of archaea common and abundant in sedimentary ecosystems. Here we report 56 metagenome-assembled genomes of Bathyarchaeia viruses identified in metagenomes from different environments. Gene sharing network and phylogenomic analyses led to the proposal of four virus families, including viruses of the realms Duplodnaviria and Adnaviria, and archaea-specific spindle-shaped viruses. Genomic analyses uncovered diverse CRISPR elements in these viruses. Viruses of the proposed family “Fuxiviridae” harbor an atypical Type IV-B CRISPR-Cas system and a Cas4 protein that might interfere with host immunity. Viruses of the family “Chiyouviridae” encode a Cas2-like endonuclease and two mini-CRISPR arrays, one with a repeat identical to that in the host CRISPR array, potentially allowing the virus to recruit the host CRISPR adaptation machinery to acquire spacers that could contribute to competition with other mobile genetic elements or to inhibit host defenses. These findings present an outline of the Bathyarchaeia virome and offer a glimpse into their counter-defense mechanisms.

Large language models have achieved remarkable success in general language understanding tasks. However, as a family of generative methods with the objective of next token prediction, the semantic evolution with the depth of these models are not fully explored, unlike their predecessors, such as BERT-like architectures. In this paper, we specifically investigate the bottom-up evolution of lexical semantics for a popular LLM, namely Llama2, by probing its hidden states at the end of each layer using a contextualized word identification task. Our experiments show that the representations in lower layers encode lexical semantics, while the higher layers, with weaker semantic induction, are responsible for prediction. This is in contrast to models with discriminative objectives, such as mask language modeling, where the higher layers obtain better lexical semantics. The conclusion is further supported by the monotonic increase in performance via the hidden states for the last meaningless symbols, such as punctuation, in the prompting strategy., Comment: This work was completed on February 15th, 2024, and submitted to ACL 2024

This paper reviews the NTIRE 2024 challenge on image super-resolution ($\times$4), highlighting the solutions proposed and the outcomes obtained. The challenge involves generating corresponding high-resolution (HR) images, magnified by a factor of four, from low-resolution (LR) inputs using prior information. The LR images originate from bicubic downsampling degradation. The aim of the challenge is to obtain designs/solutions with the most advanced SR performance, with no constraints on computational resources (e.g., model size and FLOPs) or training data. The track of this challenge assesses performance with the PSNR metric on the DIV2K testing dataset. The competition attracted 199 registrants, with 20 teams submitting valid entries. This collective endeavour not only pushes the boundaries of performance in single-image SR but also offers a comprehensive overview of current trends in this field., Comment: NTIRE 2024 webpage: https://cvlai.net/ntire/2024. Code: https://github.com/zhengchen1999/NTIRE2024_ImageSR_x4

While nationality is a pivotal demographic element that enhances the performance of language models, it has received far less scrutiny regarding inherent biases. This study investigates nationality bias in ChatGPT (GPT-3.5), a large language model (LLM) designed for text generation. The research covers 195 countries, 4 temperature settings, and 3 distinct prompt types, generating 4,680 discourses about nationality descriptions in Chinese and English. Automated metrics were used to analyze the nationality bias, and expert annotators alongside ChatGPT itself evaluated the perceived bias. The results show that ChatGPT's generated discourses are predominantly positive, especially compared to its predecessor, GPT-2. However, when prompted with negative inclinations, it occasionally produces negative content. Despite ChatGPT considering its generated text as neutral, it shows consistent self-awareness about nationality bias when subjected to the same pair-wise comparison annotation framework used by human annotators. In conclusion, while ChatGPT's generated texts seem friendly and positive, they reflect the inherent nationality biases in the real world. This bias may vary across different language versions of ChatGPT, indicating diverse cultural perspectives. The study highlights the subtle and pervasive nature of biases within LLMs, emphasizing the need for further scrutiny., Comment: Accepted by LREC-COLING 2024

Sequential recommender systems explore users' preferences and behavioral patterns from their historically generated data. Recently, researchers aim to improve sequential recommendation by utilizing massive user-generated multi-modal content, such as reviews, images, etc. This content often contains inevitable noise. Some studies attempt to reduce noise interference by suppressing cross-modal inconsistent information. However, they could potentially constrain the capturing of personalized user preferences. In addition, it is almost impossible to entirely eliminate noise in diverse user-generated multi-modal content. To solve these problems, we propose a trustworthy sequential recommendation method via noisy user-generated multi-modal content. Specifically, we explicitly capture the consistency and complementarity of user-generated multi-modal content to mitigate noise interference. We also achieve the modeling of the user's multi-modal sequential preferences. In addition, we design a trustworthy decision mechanism that integrates subjective user perspective and objective item perspective to dynamically evaluate the uncertainty of prediction results. Experimental evaluation on four widely-used datasets demonstrates the superior performance of our model compared to state-of-the-art methods. The code is released at https://github.com/FairyMeng/TrustSR.

Fundus diseases are major causes of visual impairment and blindness worldwide, especially in underdeveloped regions, where the shortage of ophthalmologists hinders timely diagnosis. AI-assisted fundus image analysis has several advantages, such as high accuracy, reduced workload, and improved accessibility, but it requires a large amount of expert-annotated data to build reliable models. To address this dilemma, we propose a general self-supervised machine learning framework that can handle diverse fundus diseases from unlabeled fundus images. Our method's AUC surpasses existing supervised approaches by 15.7%, and even exceeds performance of a single human expert. Furthermore, our model adapts well to various datasets from different regions, races, and heterogeneous image sources or qualities from multiple cameras or devices. Our method offers a label-free general framework to diagnose fundus diseases, which could potentially benefit telehealth programs for early screening of people at risk of vision loss.

Machine learning-based fundus image diagnosis technologies trigger worldwide interest owing to their benefits such as reducing medical resource power and providing objective evaluation results. However, current methods are commonly based on supervised methods, bringing in a heavy workload to biomedical staff and hence suffering in expanding effective databases. To address this issue, in this article, we established a label-free method, name 'SSVT',which can automatically analyze un-labeled fundus images and generate high evaluation accuracy of 97.0% of four main eye diseases based on six public datasets and two datasets collected by Beijing Tongren Hospital. The promising results showcased the effectiveness of the proposed unsupervised learning method, and the strong application potential in biomedical resource shortage regions to improve global eye health., Comment: ISBI 2024

In the archetypal antiferroelectric PbZrO_{3}, antiparallel electric dipoles cancel each other, resulting in zero spontaneous polarization at the macroscopic level. Yet in actual hysteresis loops, the cancellation is rarely perfect and some remnant polarization is often observed, suggesting the metastability of polar phases in this material. In this work, using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy methods on a PbZrO_{3} single crystal, we uncover the coexistence of the common antiferroelectric phase and a ferrielectric phase featuring an electric dipole pattern of ↓↑↓. This dipole arrangement, predicted by Aramberri et al. to be the ground state of PbZrO_{3} at 0 K, appears at room temperature in the form of translational boundaries. The dual nature of the ferrielectric phase, both a distinct phase and a translational boundary structure, places important symmetry constraints on its growth. These are overcome by sideways motion of the boundaries, which aggregate to form arbitrarily wide stripe domains of the polar phase embedded within the antiferroelectric matrix.

Advances in computer science technologies have shed light on artificial neural networks (ANN). ANN shows its power and efficiency in various classification and regression problems and is gaining more and more popularity in various fields. In this dissertation, we investigate treatment effects estimation using fully connected shallow network, and explore sparse deep neural network regression and functional derivative estimation. The first part of this dissertation provides a unified framework for efficient estimation of various types of treatment effects (TE) in observational data with a diverging number of covariates through a generalized optimization. We show that the number of confounders is allowed to increase with the sample size, and further investigate how fast it can grow with the sample size to ensure root-n consistency of the resulting TE estimator. Moreover, we establish asymptotic normality and semiparametric efficiency of the TE estimator. The second part of this dissertation proposes a penalized deep ReQU network estimator (PDRN) obtained from empirical risk minimization framework. The proposed neural network bases on Jacobi polynomial approximation on the hyperbolic cross/sparse grid and alleviates the "curse of dimensionality". Our PDRN estimator also provides smooth functional derivative estimation. Our estimators are illustrated through simulation studies and multiple real data examples.