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Background: Improving hypertension control is a public health priority. However, consistent identification of uncontrolled hypertension using computable definitions in electronic health records (EHR) across health systems remains uncertain. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we applied two computable definitions to the EHR data to identify patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension and to evaluate differences in characteristics, treatment, and clinical outcomes between these patient populations. We included adult patients (≥ 18 years) with hypertension (based on either ICD-10 codes of hypertension or two elevated blood pressure [BP] measurements) receiving ambulatory care within Yale-New Haven Health System (YNHHS; a large US health system) and OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium (OneFlorida; a Clinical Research Network comprised of 16 health systems) between October 2015 and December 2018. We identified patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension based on either a single BP measurement from a randomly selected visit or all BP measurements recorded between hypertension identification and the randomly selected visit). Results: Overall, 253,207 and 182,827 adults at YNHHS and OneFlorida were identified as having hypertension. Of these patients, 83.1% at YNHHS and 76.8% at OneFlorida were identified using ICD-10-CM codes, whereas 16.9% and 23.2%, respectively, were identified using elevated BP measurements (≥ 140/90 mmHg). A total of 24.1% of patients at YNHHS and 21.6% at OneFlorida had both diagnosis code for hypertension and elevated blood pressure measurements. Uncontrolled hypertension was observed among 32.5% and 43.7% of patients at YNHHS and OneFlorida, respectively. Uncontrolled hypertension was disproportionately higher among Black patients when compared with White patients (38.9% versus 31.5% in YNHHS; p < 0.001; 49.7% versus 41.2% in OneFlorida; p < 0.001). Medication prescription for hypertension management was more common in patients with uncontrolled hypertension when compared with those with controlled hypertension (overall treatment rate: 39.3% versus 37.3% in YNHHS; p = 0.04; 42.2% versus 34.8% in OneFlorida; p < 0.001). Patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension had similar incidence rates of deaths, CVD events, and healthcare visits at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The two computable definitions generated consistent results. Conclusions: While the current EHR systems are not fully optimized for disease surveillance and stratification, our findings illustrate the potential of leveraging EHR data to conduct digital population surveillance in the realm of hypertension management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of cobalt nanocrystal-graphene quantum dot-Ti3C2TX monolithic film electrode (Co-GQD-Ti3C2TX) is reported via self-assembly of Ti3C2TX nanosheets induced by protonated arginine-functionalized graphene quantum dot and subsequent reduction of cobalt (III). The resulting Co-GQD-Ti3C2TX shows good monolithic architecture, mechanical property, dispersibility and conductivity. The structure achieves excellent supercapacitor and sensing behavior. The self-charging supercapacitor produced by printing viscous Co-GQD-Ti3C2TX hydrogel on the back of flexible solar cell surface provides high specific capacitance (296 F g−1 at 1 A g−1), high-rate capacity (153 F g−1 at 20 A g−1), capacity retention (98.1% over 10,000-cycle) and energy density (29.6 W h kg−1 at 299.9 W kg−1). The electrochemical chip produced by printing Co-GQD-Ti3C2TX hydrogel on paper exhibits sensitive electrochemical response towards uric acid. The increase of uric acid between 0.01 and 800 μM causes a linear increase in differential pulse voltammetry signal with a detection limit of 0.0032 μM. The self-powered sensing platform integrating self-charging supercapacitor, electrochemical chip and micro electrochemical workstation was contentedly applied to monitoring uric acid in sweats and shows one broad application prospect in wearable electronic health monitoring device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriate supervision is critical in offender management, but requires effective tools to guide decisions and interventions. This research project investigated the effectiveness of Global Positioning System monitoring in reducing re-offending, while considering the impact of Global Positioning System monitoring on the offender's well-being. The method consisted of evaluating a matched sample of Global Positioning System monitored offenders (n = 220) versus non-Global Positioning System1 monitored (n = 219) subject to extended supervision and parole orders over a 24-month follow-up period. All participants were male offenders released from prison within New Zealand. The results showed statistically significant differences for 'non-violent' and 'violent' re-offending rates, with Global Positioning System monitoring being associated with lower rates of recidivism. There was no evidence of increased distress in those men subject to Global Positioning System monitoring. This study provides novel information about Global Positioning System monitoring and contributes to our understanding of how this tool can reduce recidivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mismatches are incongruencies between programmatic policies and working practices that engender counter-productive dynamics or outcomes relative to aspirations. The present article addresses electronic monitoring programs for domestic violence/intimate partner violence, examining how mismatches may emerge during their implementation or later. Electronic monitoring programs aim to surveil and deter defendants facing domestic violence/intimate partner violence–related charges during court-supervised release, with the aim of enhancing victim safety. Analysis of qualitative and survey data from a national (US) study suggests that domestic violence/intimate partner violence–focused strategies reliant on surveillance technology may be prone to generating mismatches rooted in discrepancies between victims' expectations, defendant risk profiles, and program operations. Policy implications of mismatches in victim-focused initiatives are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing complexity of digital systems, managing power dissipation and energy consumption in digital circuits, particularly in emerging embedded systems for artificial intelligence and signal processing applications, has become a challenging issue. The emerging paradigm of approximate computing offers the potential to reduce energy consumption and enhance speed by trading accuracy. This paper introduces several 4-bit approximate multipliers and outlines a systematic approach for constructing extended bit-length multipliers by leveraging lower bit-length counterparts. Our evaluations confirm that, in comparison with state-of-the-art approximate multipliers, the proposed multipliers demonstrate energy reduction of up to 50, 76, and 83% in 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit multipliers, respectively. Additionally, the reduction in energy-delay product (EDP) reaches up to 86, 93, and 97%, correspondingly. The efficiency of the proposed approximate multipliers has been explored and confirmed in executing various image processing algorithms, a regression model developed for stock price prediction, and in executing quadrature amplitude demodulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital world encodes our lives with incriminating clues. How you travel, live, love, and shop are tracked through growing surveillance technologies. Police have recognized this reality and are actively exploiting new surveillance tools for investigative purposes. The Fourth Amendment--the constitutional protection meant to limit police search powers--has not kept up with the privacy and security threats of these new digital technologies. Current doctrine has remained stymied by legal tests asking all the wrong questions about "reasonable expectations of privacy" and "trespass" searches. While the Supreme Court has acknowledged that "digital is different," it has not yet provided a coherent theory to protect individuals from growing digital surveillance. This Article offers an alternative Fourth Amendment theory based on the harm of rummaging--a principle that can trace its lineage from the Founding debates around General Warrants and the Writs of Assistance to the Supreme Court's most recent cases on cell phone location data. Fear of government agents rummaging into private homes and papers motivated the passage of the Fourth Amendment and has remained a doctrinally coherent throughline recurring in Fourth Amendment cases. This Article develops the "rummaging test" as a new way to see the harms of government collection of digital evidence. The Article excavates rummaging as an original justification for the Fourth Amendment and then demonstrates how the digital rummaging concept perfectly responds to the harms of government surveillance in the digital age. The rummaging test recognizes that the arbitrary, overbroad, invasive, exposing collection of personal data reflects the same harms that gave rise to the Fourth Amendment in the first instance. The Article seeks to refocus attention on the government's power to rummage through personal data by examining legal challenges around smart-home data and long-term pole cameras. The hope is to move the longstanding background principle against rummaging to the foreground of Fourth Amendment analysis and thereby answer some of the hardest questions facing courts confronting challenges to digital surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses how wearing an EM affects stereotype-consistent delinquent attitudes and cognitions, and whether feeling stigmatized for wearing an EM contributes to broader negative functioning for youth enrolled in an EM program. A total of 98 juveniles currently enrolled in an EM program were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) Stigma Salience (prompted to think about and describe wearing an EM), and (b) Stigma Non-salience (prompted to think about and describe their day). As hypothesized, youth with greater personal and group stigma for wearing an EM, also reported greater negative experiences while wearing an EM. This research can inform evidence-based practitioners, academics, and policymakers considering and crafting regulations for youth on EM or consider alternatives to EM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the implementation of a digital verification system known as Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) across homecare services for older and disabled adults within the US Medicaid program. EVV systems are used to conduct daily check-ins through GPS tracking and biometric identity verification. While touted as a means to identify and deter "fraud, waste, and abuse," the digital monitoring also generates detailed data trails on the lives and habits of service recipients, as well as constraining their daily movements. Drawing on qualitative interviews with workers and clients, I argue that this case study calls attention to how harms from digitalization of social welfare provision emerge from workplace surveillance and labor management, and how EVV becomes a tool for more finely tuning classifications of different types of paid and unpaid care. The burdensome digital compliance hurdles reinforced older employment tensions between the state, care workers, and public benefits recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children and families from priority populations experienced significant psychosocial and mental health issues to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they also faced significant barriers to service access, particularly families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. With most child and family health nurse clinics ceasing in-person consultations due to the pandemic, many children missed out on health and developmental checks. The aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives and experiences of family members and service providers from an urban, CALD community regarding the implementation of a digital, developmental surveillance, Watch Me Grow-Electronic (WMG-E) program. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 family members, service navigators, and service providers in a multicultural community in South Western Sydney, Australia. This qualitative study is an implementation evaluation which formed as part of a larger, two-site, randomised controlled trial of the WMG-E program. A reflexive thematic analysis approach, using inductive coding, was adopted to analyse the data. Results: Participants highlighted the comprehensive and personalised support offered by existing child and family health services. The WMG-E was deemed beneficial because the weblink was easy and quick to use and it enabled access to a service navigator who support family access to relevant services. However, the WMG-E was problematic because of technology or language barriers, and it did not facilitate immediate clinician involvement when families completed the weblink. Conclusions: Families and service providers in this qualitative study found that using WMG-E empowered parents and caregivers to access developmental screening and learn more about their child's development and engage with relevant services. This beds down a new and innovative solution to the current service delivery gap and create mechanisms that can engage families currently not accessing services, and increases knowledge around navigating the health and social care services. Notwithstanding the issues that were raised by families and service providers, which include accessibility challenges for CALD communities, absence of clinical oversight during screening, and narrow scope of engagement with available services being offered, it is worth noting that improvements regarding these implementation factors must be considered and addressed in order to have longevity and sustainability of the program. Trial registration. The study is part of a large randomised controlled trial (Protocol No. 1.0, Version 3.1) was registered with ANZCTR (registration number: ACTRN12621000766819) on July 21st, 2021 and reporting of the trial results will be according to recommendations in the CONSORT Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Twins (DT) play a key role in Industry 4.0 applications, and the technology is in the process of being mature. Since its conceptualisation, it has been heavily contextualised and often misinterpreted as being merely a virtual model. Thus, it is crucial to define it clearly and have a deeper understanding of its architecture, workflow, and implementation scales. This paper reviews the notion of a Digital Twin represented in the literature and analyses different kinds of descriptions, including several definitions and architectural models. A new fit-for-all definition is proposed which describes the underlying technology without being context-specific and also overcomes the pitfalls of the existing generalised definitions. In addition, the existing three-dimensional and five-dimensional models of the DT architecture and their characteristic features are analysed. A new simplified two-branched model of DT is introduced, which retains a clear separation between the real and virtual spaces and outlines the latter based on the two key modelling approaches. This model is then extended for condition monitoring of electronic components and systems, and a hybrid approach to Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is further elaborated on. The proposed framework, enabled by the two-branched Digital Twin model, combines the physics-of-degradation and data-driven approaches and empowers the next generation of reliability assessment methods. Finally, the benefits, challenges, and outlook of the proposed approach are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The profound impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to an increased demand for sustainable pandemic governance practices. This study explored emerging hybrid governance practices that provide robust evidence on how to address the complex challenges of pandemics effectively. South Korea, which was severely affected by COVID-19, has implemented a novel governance approach using a whole-of-nation (WoN) model. This hybrid pandemic governance approach, which integrates both whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches, has enabled synergistic and cohesive multi-sectoral coordination among all stakeholders (public authorities, private enterprises, and civil society) to address multifaceted challenges collectively and strengthen their resilience capacity. This study investigated South Korea's WoN practices and their embedded context and identified key governance enablers facilitating this approach. Methods: This study employed a case study design based on an extensive analysis of policy and program documents, drawing on South Korea's publicly available data from January 1, 2020 to March 30, 2023. It assessed six system-level collaborative pandemic governance practices and key enablers, all of which were intended to fortify the country's pandemic response. Results: The primary areas of the country's WoN governance practices for COVID-19 control were (i) whole-of-government policy-making and response, (ii) COVID-19 testing system, (iii) digital surveillance of COVID-19, (iv) COVID-19 triage and treatment system, (v) domestic vaccine production, and (vi) community engagement. Key governance enablers for implementing the WoN model were establishing a legal foundation, ensuring decisive and strong governance and leadership, increasing public investment, applying a whole-of-health approach with augmented investment in public health, enhancing crisis communication, and mobilizing local leaders and civil society organizations in the national public health response. Conclusions: In exploring innovative approaches to pandemic governance for increased efficacy, responsiveness, and impact, the WoN approach emerged as highly relevant. This example of emerging practice allows policy-makers to re-evaluate their governance strategies and initiatives to improve multi-agency partnerships across the country in their pandemic-preparedness planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phishing is one of the most important security threats in modern information systems causing different levels of damages to end-users and service providers such as financial and reputational losses. State-of-the-art anti-phishing research is highly fragmented and monolithic and does not address the problem from a pervasive computing perspective. In this survey, we aim to contribute to the existing literature by providing a systematic review of existing experimental phishing research that employs EEG and eye-tracking methods within multi-modal and multi-sensory interaction environments. The main research objective of this review is to examine articles that contain results of at least one EEG-based and/or eye-tracking-based experimental setup within a phishing context. The database search with specific search criteria yielded 651 articles from which, after the identification and the screening process, 42 articles were examined as per the execution of experiments using EEG or eye-tracking technologies in the context of phishing, resulting to a total of 18 distinct papers that were included in the analysis. This survey is approaching the subject across the following pillars: a) the experimental design practices with an emphasis on the applied EEG and eye-tracking acquisition protocols, b) the artificial intelligence and signal preprocessing techniques that were applied in those experiments, and finally, c) the phishing attack types examined. We also provide a roadmap for future research in the field by suggesting ideas on how to combine state-of-the-art gaze-based mechanisms with EEG technologies for advancing phishing research. This leads to a discussion on the best practices for designing EEG and gaze-based frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Piezoelectrics & Acoustooptics is the property of Piezoelectric & Acoustooptic and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There has been a steady rise in the number of deaths throughout the world due to heart diseases. This can be mitigated, to a large extent, if cardiovascular disorders can be detected timely and efficiently. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) and phonocardiograms (PCGs) are the two most popular diagnostic tools used for detecting cardiac problems. Another simple and efficient method for quickly identifying cardiovascular illness is Auscultation. In this work, the cardiac sound signal has been transformed into its equivalent spectrogram representation for detecting cardiac problems. The novelty of the proposed approach is the deployment of customized transfer learning (TL) models on sub-component of a spectrogram called Harmonic Spectrogram, instead of taking full spectrogram. Experiments have been conducted using PhysioNet 2016, which is considered a benchmark dataset. TL models, viz. MobileNet, DenseNet121, InceptionResnetV2, VGG16, and InceptionV3 have been put to use for categorizing cardiac sound waves as normal or pathological. The results exhibit that the MobileNet has achieved greater accuracy (93.45%), recall (92.46%), Precision (97.82%), F1 Score (95.06%) than many of the peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Track and field (T&F) is a highly popular sport for adolescents. The diversity of running, jumping, and throwing events within the sport can result in unique injury patterns for adolescent track and field participants. The purpose of this study was to estimate injury risk in adolescent T&F and describe the types of injuries resulting in ED visits, classified by T&F events. Emergency department (ED) data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System were obtained for a 20-year period from 2000 through 2019. Cases involving 14- to 18-year-olds participating in T&F were classified by sex, case severity, involved body region, and the T&F event patients were engaged in at the time of their injury. National estimates and Injury rates were calculated using national high school T&F participation data. Longitudinal trends in ED visits were measured using linear regression. Rate ratios (RRs) were used to compare the risk and severity of ED visits by sex. 8,060 track and field related ED encounters were observed, representing an estimated 272,227 encounters nationally over the 20-year study period. The rate of ED encounters increased significantly over the study period (p < 0.001). Adolescent females exhibited a higher rate of ED encounters (RR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.22–1.24), but a lower rate of hospital admissions (RR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.64–0.73) compared to males. The lower extremity was the most commonly injured body region for most T&F events, but this differed for sprinting, high jumping, shot put, and javelin events. Most T&F events resulted in unique injury patterns characteristic of their athletic demands. There was an increasing trend of ED visits from adolescent T&F participants throughout the 20-year study period with different injury patterns observed by sex and T&F event discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is a serious threat to the fruit industry. Implementing monitoring procedures is essential for effective pest control. The monitoring of B. dorsalis is predominantly conducted through the use of yellow sticky traps and baited traps, followed by manual counting. However, this approach is both time consuming and labor intensive. In this study, we employed automated identification and counting devices for monitoring the adult population dynamics of B. dorsalis in four counties with disparate climatic types in Yunnan. The differing climatic types and temperature fluctuations resulted in disparate population dynamics of B. dorsalis in the four counties, yet there were two peaks of adult emergence in each year. Furthermore, the population of B. dorsalis was correlated with temperature. The automated monitoring system employed in the study permitted the daily monitoring of adult B. dorsalis populations, thereby facilitating the tracking of the daily dynamics of B. dorsalis by farmers and researchers alike. Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a global economic pest that poses a serious threat to the fruit industry. In the southwest of China, Yunnan Province sustains a severe infestation of B. dorsalis. An automated monitoring system designed for B. dorsalis was employed in this study to elucidate the annual population dynamics of B. dorsalis in four counties: Yuanjiang, Huaping, Guangnan, and Ludian in Yunnan. The system utilizes sex parapheromone and image recognition technology. The data uploaded by the device are used to analyze the annual population dynamics of B. dorsalis in different regions. The results showed that the populations of adult B. dorsalis in all four counties peaked twice annually, with Yuanjiang experiencing the earliest peak periods, followed by Huaping, Guangnan, and Ludian. Adult B. dorsalis occurred in Yuanjiang throughout the year, and Yuanjiang had the highest number of B. dorsalis monitored. In Huaping, adult B. dorsalis occurred in March–December and was highly active, with a high population density in 2019. Bactrocera dorsalis did not occur in December in Guangnan but only in May–October in Ludian. Bactrocera dorsalis abundance was correlated with temperature in all four areas. The outcomes of this experiment provide a practical foundation for developing control strategies targeting B. dorsalis in various orchards across each county. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, Flanders, Belgium's northern Dutch-speaking community, adopted legislation that for the first time mentions juvenile electronic monitoring. The government has nevertheless yet to decide on its implementation. Other countries' policies, that share Flanders' principles of constructive sanctioning, rehabilitation, responsibility, safety, restoration and evidence-based practices, such as England and Wales, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Sweden, can therefore inspire lesson-drawing. Juvenile electronic monitoring is advised to be applied (1) when juveniles can understand it, (2) for limited durations, (3) using global positioning system (GPS), (4) with therapeutic treatments, (5) consent, (6) incentivised schedules, (7) individualised breach procedures, (8) restorative options and (9) regular evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyberdating abuse (CDA) is a complex phenomenon with detrimental consequences for well-being. Previous literature has shown that romantic anxious attachment schemes lead to perpetration of CDA behaviors. However, less attention has been paid to examining factors moderating and mediating the effect of anxious attachment on CDA perpetration. Our research is pioneering in examining (a) the moderating role of gender and the heterosexual script (HS; i.e., gender roles in heterosexual relationships) in the positive association between anxious attachment and CDA perpetration and (b) whether romantic anxious attachment indirectly influences CDA perpetration via electronic partner surveillance (EPS) and online jealousy. Across two cross-sectional studies (N = 698 young adults), we observed that high levels of anxious attachment predicted more frequent perpetration of direct cyberaggression against a partner in men with high HS adherence (vs. low HS), whereas this effect was not found among women. Additionally, we found that the positive association between anxious attachment and cybercontrol perpetration can be mediated through increases in EPS use and frequency of online jealousy. Our research contributes to a better understanding of some factors leading to CDA perpetration and may favor the development of CDA intervention programs based on the violence's characteristics and gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Animal health surveillance systems in Kenya have undergone significant changes and faced various challenges throughout the years. Methods: In this article, we present a comprehensive overview of the Kenya animal health surveillance system (1944 to 2024), based on a review of archived documents, a scoping literature review, and an examination of past surveillance assessments and evaluation reports. Results: The review of archived documents revealed key historical events that have shaped the surveillance system. These include the establishment of the Directorate of Veterinary Services in 1895, advancements in livestock farming, the implementation of mandatory disease control interventions in 1944, the growth of veterinary services from a section to a ministry in 1954, the disruption caused by the Mau Mau insurrection from 1952 to 1954, which led to the temporary halt of agriculture in certain regions until 1955, the transition of veterinary clinical services from public to private, and the progressive privatization plan for veterinary services starting in 1976. Additionally, we highlight the development of electronic surveillance from 2003 to 2024. The scoping literature review, assessments and evaluation reports uncovered several strengths and weaknesses of the surveillance system. Among the strengths are a robust legislative framework, the adoption of technology in surveillance practices, the existence of a formal intersectoral coordination platform, the implementation of syndromic, sentinel, and community-based surveillance methods, and the presence of a feedback mechanism. On the other hand, the system's weaknesses include the inadequate implementation of strategies and enforcement of laws, the lack of standard case definitions for priority diseases, underutilization of laboratory services, the absence of formal mechanisms for data sharing across sectors, insufficient resources for surveillance and response, limited integration of surveillance and laboratory systems, inadequate involvement of private actors and communities in disease surveillance, and the absence of a direct supervisory role between the national and county veterinary services. Discussion and recommendations: To establish an effective early warning system, we propose the integration of surveillance systems and the establishment of formal data sharing mechanisms. Furthermore, we recommend enhancing technological advancements and adopting artificial intelligence in surveillance practices, as well as implementing risk-based surveillance to optimize the allocation of surveillance resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Çalışma ve Toplum is the property of Calisma ve Toplum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sun, Y.; Zhang, S.; Yang, S.; Zhou, W.; Cui, X., and Wu, Y., 2024. Review and analysis of electronic monitoring (EM) minimum standards for pelagic main fishing gear. Journal of Coastal Research, 40(4), 816–825. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Observer systems for monitoring and collecting catch information from pelagic fisheries are essential in ensuring the sustainable harvesting of pelagic fisheries resources. The emergence in recent years of electronic observers that rely on video surveillance is gradually becoming a complementary or alternative measure to human observers. Electronic observers' security and ease of use make full electronic monitoring (EM) of ocean-going fishing ships possible while ensuring complete data availability. The development and improvement of its standards are the keys to ensuring the large-scale application of EM. This paper summarizes and justifies the minimum standards for EM for pelagic fishing by analyzing the standards and current status of human observers, documenting the functions and applications of EM systems, comparing the monitoring capabilities of human observers and EM, and analyzing the characteristics of the three main fishing methods: purse seine, trawl, and longline, respectively, in terms of equipment platform technology, data collection, and data management. The development of EM standards can clarify the cost of the entire monitoring process, ensure the compliance and economics of EM, and achieve effective long-term monitoring of pelagic fishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in cognitive neuroscience, particularly in electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing, image generation, and brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), have opened up new avenues for research. This study introduces a novel framework, Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Neurological Signals (BRAINS), which leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to extract meaningful information from EEG signals and generate images. The BRAINS framework addresses the limitations of traditional EEG analysis techniques, which struggle with nonstationary signals, spectral estimation, and noise sensitivity. Instead, BRAINS employs Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and contrastive learning, which effectively handle time-series EEG data and recognize intrinsic connections and patterns. The study utilizes the MNIST dataset of handwritten digits as stimuli in EEG experiments, allowing for diverse yet controlled stimuli. The data collected are then processed through an LSTM-based network, employing contrastive learning and extracting complex features from EEG data. These features are fed into an image generator model, producing images as close to the original stimuli as possible. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating AI and EEG technology, offering promising implications for the future of brain–computer interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In the last decade, a fundamental shift in the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) took place due to the introduction of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators. Adequate medication adherence is a prerequisite for their effectiveness, but little is known about adherence to CFTR modulators. We aimed to assess the extent of medication adherence to CFTR modulators in patients with CF and assess which characteristics are associated with adherence. Methods A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was performed. Studies needed to report adherence to CFTR modulators. Main outcomes were: 1) level of medication adherence and 2) associations of demographic and/or clinical characteristics with adherence. Results In total, 4082 articles were screened and 21 full-text papers were assessed for eligibility. Ultimately, seven studies were included. Most studies were retrospective and focused on adherence to ivacaftor or lumacaftor–ivacaftor with only one focusing on elexacaftor–tezacaftor–ivacaftor. The majority used pharmacy refill data with adherence determined with the proportion of days covered (PDC) or the medication possession ratio (MPR). One study additionally used electronic monitoring and patient self-reported adherence. Adherence was 0.62–0.99 based on pharmacy data (PDC or MPR), 61% via electronic monitoring and 100% via self-report. Age <18 years appeared to be associated with good adherence, as was a higher lung function. Conclusions Despite the wide variety of adherence methods used, adherence to CFTR modulators is suboptimal, based on objective measures such as pharmacy refill data or electronic monitoring. CFTR modulator adherence measurement and definitions requires more standardisation with a preference for objective and granular methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lyme disease surveillance based on provider and laboratory reports underestimates incidence. We developed an algorithm for automating surveillance using electronic health record data. We identified potential Lyme disease markers in electronic health record data (laboratory tests, diagnosis codes, prescriptions) from January 2017--December 2018 in 2 large practice groups in Massachusetts, USA. We calculated their sensitivities and positive predictive values (PPV), alone and in combination, relative to medical record review. Sensitivities ranged from 57% (95% CI 47%--69%) for immunoassays to 87% (95% CI 70%--100%) for diagnosis codes. PPVs ranged from 53% (95% CI 43%--61%) for diagnosis codes to 58% (95% CI 50%--66%) for immunoassays. The combination of a diagnosis code and antibiotics within 14 days or a positive Western blot had a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI 86%--100%) and PPV of 82% (95% CI 75%--89%). This algorithm could make Lyme disease surveillance more efficient and consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The healthcare industry has evolved with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), which uses advanced computational methods and algorithms, leading to quicker inspection, forecasting, evaluation and treatment. In the context of healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI) uses sophisticated computational methods to evaluate, decipher and draw conclusions from patient data. AI has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry in several ways, including better managerial effectiveness, individualized treatment regimens and diagnostic improvements. In this research, the ECG signals are preprocessed for noise elimination and heartbeat segmentation. Multi-feature extraction is employed to extract features from preprocessed data, and an optimization technique is used to choose the most feasible features. The i-AlexNet classifier, which is an improved version of the AlexNet model, is used to classify between normal and anomalous signals. For experimental evaluation, the proposed approach is applied to PTB and MIT_BIH databases, and it is observed that the suggested method achieves a higher accuracy of 98.8% compared to other works in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military organizations are generally defined by a "cult of the offensive." For cyberspace, this gives rise to an empirical puzzle, at least in the United States. What accounts for the early restraint and skepticism about cyber offense publicly expressed by many US military cyber leaders? In this article, I explore the US military's approach to cyberspace as a theory-developing case study. I examine more than a decade of public discourse among senior military leaders about when and how the military should employ cyber force. I argue that, in the formative years of US military cyber organization, the military's predisposition to the offense was challenged by other cultural and institutional influences, especially from the signals intelligence and strategic nuclear communities. Moreover, this influence shaped the public discourse even after US military cyber organizations gained greater autonomy and turned toward more objectively offensive strategies. This suggests implications for theory and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nahezu allen Etappen des Forschungszyklus ist eine zunehmende Abhängigkeit von wenigen kommerziellen Anbietern zu sehen, wobei diese Anbieter teils direkt begrenzen, was der Forschung an Arbeitsmöglichkeiten und Fragestellungen erreichbar ist. Hierauf reagieren Politik, Förderer und Governance mit dem Versuch, digitale Souveränität zu stärken. In den konkreten Maßnahmen treffen sie sich dabei mit Konzepten von Open Science, die ebenfalls wissenschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Relevanz bei Sicherung der Wissenschaftsautonomie und Wahlfreiheit zu verbinden suchen. Als zentraler Punkt erweist sich eine Veränderung der Renommeestrukturen, die sich direkt auf die infrastrukturellen Anforderungen wie dem aufgeschwemmten und fehlgeleiteten Publikationswesen auswirkt. Eine Stärkung von Open Science und der digitalen Souveränität in den wissenschaftlichen Infrastrukturen ermöglicht dabei auch verbesserte gesellschaftliche Verpflichtung von Wissenschaft und dadurch, den Einfluss der „Merchants of Doubt" und der von ihnen betriebenen Wissenschaftsskepsis zurückzudrängen. Dies erfordert auch entsprechende Anstrengungen seitens der Bibliotheken. At almost all stages of the research cycle, there is an increasing dependence on a small number of commercial providers, with these providers sometimes directly limiting what research can achieve in terms of work opportunities and questions. Politics, funding bodies, and governance are responding to this by attempting to strengthen digital sovereignty. In terms of specific measures, they are meeting with concepts of open science that also seek to combine scientific and societal relevance while safeguarding scientific autonomy and freedom of choice. A central point is a change in reputation structures, which has a direct impact on infrastructural requirements such as the bloated and misguided publication system. Strengthening the digital sovereignty of scientific infrastructures also makes it possible to improve the social obligation of science and thus to push back the influence of the "merchants of doubt" and the science scepticism they promote. This also requires corresponding efforts on the part of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic required swift responses from governments at all levels. Government agencies were faced with the immense task of mitigating the health, social, and economic effects of COVID-19. These actions and responses included developing mobile phone location tracking systems and 'electronic fences' alongside the use of big data analytics. Whether intentionally or not, this led to questions about the rise of the 'biosurveillance state'. In this paper, we examine the extent to which digital democracy has emerged as a contested concept in Taiwan. Furthermore, we ask: to what extent is the use of digital surveillance for disease control and prevention justifiable, and to what extent can personal privacy be sacrificed when adopting digital surveillance measures with the aim of securing collective safety? We compare Taiwanese citizens' concerns about personal privacy with those in other democracies, such as the UK, and those in the EU and North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Taiwan's robust democratic system and the challenges it faces in maintaining its democratic values amid increasing external pressures. Topics include the resilience of Taiwan's democracy in the face of growing authoritarianism, the impact of populism and racialization, and the implications of digital surveillance for privacy and public safety.

Objectives of this review are to highlight how accurate evaluation of residual symptoms with an easy-to-use electronic enabler in primary care may improve functional recovery and overall mental health outcomes, and how such an enabler may guide pharmacotherapy selection and positively impact the patient journey. Here, we show the potential advantages of electronic enablers in primary care, which include the possibility for a deeper "dive" into the patient journey and facilitation of treatment optimisation. At the policy and practice levels, electronic enablers endorsed by government agencies and local psychiatric associations may receive greater PCP attention and backing, improve patient involvement in shared clinical decision-making, and help to reduce the general stigma around mental health disorders. In the Gulf region, an easy-to-use electronic enabler in primary care, incorporating aspects of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to monitor amotivation, and aspects of the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale to monitor anhedonia, could markedly improve the patient journey from residual symptoms through to full functional recovery in individuals with MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital surveillance in the workplace also brings new challenges in terms of occupational health and safety. The use of algorithmic management and surveillance technologies in the workplace affects the privacy and rights of employees, can hinder freedom of association and damage working conditions, as well as their mental and physical health. At the level of the European Union, the regulation of the use of algorithms at the workplace is aimed at by proposing a directive to improve the working conditions of people working through digital work platforms. The exact legal status of workers on digital platforms, namely whether they should be classified as employees or not, remains an open discussion at European level. The occupational health and safety risks encountered in the case of work on digital platforms are not specific and exclusive to it, as most of them are also specific to work performed outside such a platform. Unionization is one of the measures by which the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work shows that steps can be taken to improve health and safety conditions when working on digital platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomedical signal processing is crucial in many sectors that save lives. Artificial intelligence improvement in signal collection and conditioning boosted this application's adaptability to varied bodily circumstances. In this study, a novel method is put forth for predicting the type of stroke in the human brain based on the observation of the Electroencephalography (EEG) signal. The signal is the first condition for removing undesirable frequencies by passing through a lowpass filter. To accurately extract the signal features, the signal is first transformed into a 1-second frame format and then normalised. Certain statistical and frequency domain aspects are highlighted to increase taxonomic accuracy. Under the wavelet packet transform, the empirical mode decomposition approach is utilised to recover the most information feasible from the signal. After training on extracted characteristics, the extreme learning machine is regarded to conduct classification. These work achieves 94.95 of Sensitivity, 84.95 of Specificity, 93.74 of Precision, 96.96 of Accuracy, 96.12 of F1 Score. Compared to the standard procedures, the proposed techniques have a greater accuracy rate of about 98%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powered scooters, including electric scooters (e-scooters), have become an increasingly available and popular mode of personal transportation, but the health risks of these devices are poorly explored. We aim to quantify the increase in frequency of powered scooter–associated head and neck region injuries occurring yearly from 2010 to 2019, and to compare the frequency and severity of injury with those involving unpowered scooters. Here we present a retrospective cross-sectional study of all patients with head and neck injuries associated with powered and unpowered scooters seen in emergency departments reporting to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019. During this time frame, a total of 1,620 injuries associated with powered scooters and a total of 5,675 injuries associated with unpowered scooters were reported to the NEISS. The database estimates these to reflect a nationwide total of 54,036 powered scooter–related injuries and 168,265 unpowered scooter–related injuries. Powered scooter injuries have increased for both children and adults since 2014, and estimated powered scooter injuries (16,243) surpassed estimated unpowered scooter injuries (14,124) when including all age groups for the first time in 2019. In 2019, adults are estimated to have nearly twice as many powered scooter–related head and neck injuries as children (10,884 vs. 5,359, respectively). In 2019, a higher proportion of powered scooter–related injuries involving adults were severe injuries when compared with those involving children (13.3 vs. 5.2%, respectively). Interestingly, unpowered scooters still cause many more estimated injuries in children than powered scooters did during 2019 (11,953 vs. 5,083). We find that powered scooters are now associated with a greater number and severity of head and neck injuries among the adult population than the pediatric population. But unpowered scooters still cause more head and neck injuries than powered scooters in the pediatric population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The implementation of digital disease surveillance systems at national levels in Africa have been challenged by many factors. These include user applicability, utility of IT features but also stable financial support. Funding closely intertwines with implementations in terms of geographical reach, disease focus, and sustainability. However, the practice of evidence sharing on geographical and disease coverage, costs, and funding sources for improving the implementation of these systems on the continent is unclear. Objectives: To analyse the key characteristics and availability of evidence for implementing digital infectious disease surveillance systems in Africa namely their disease focus, geographical reach, cost reporting, and external funding support. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature for the period 2003 to 2022 (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022300849). We searched five databases (PubMed, MEDLINE over Ovid, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) and websites of WHO, Africa CDC, and public health institutes of African countries. We mapped the distribution of projects by country; identified reported implementation cost components; categorised the availability of data on cost components; and identified supporting funding institutions outside Africa. Results: A total of 29 reports from 2,033 search results were eligible for analysis. We identified 27 projects implemented in 13 countries, across 32 sites. Of these, 24 (75%) were pilot projects with a median duration of 16 months, (IQR: 5–40). Of the 27 projects, 5 (19%) were implemented for HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis, 4 (15%) for malaria, 4 (15%) for all notifiable diseases, and 4 (15%) for One Health. We identified 17 cost components across the 29 reports. Of these, 11 (38%) reported quantified costs for start-up capital, 10 (34%) for health personnel compensation, 9 (31%) for training and capacity building, 8 (28%) for software maintenance, and 7(24%) for surveillance data transmission. Of 65 counts of external funding sources, 35 (54%) were governmental agencies, 15 (23%) foundations, and 7 (11%) UN agencies. Conclusions: The evidence on costing data for the digitalisation of surveillance and outbreak response in the published literature is sparse in quantity, limited in detail, and without a standardised reporting format. Most initial direct project costs are substantially donor dependent, short lived, and thus unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of authoritarianism in the world has led to increased debates about digital authoritarianism as well as the diffusion of authoritarianism. However, these two topics have not been addressed together despite the digital world being a strong candidate for diffusion. This study explores whether digital authoritarian diffusion occurs from China and/or Russia to Türkiye by examining the models of China and Russia and unpacking the Turkish model of digital authoritarianism. We argue that the Turkish model is inspired by the Chinese and Russian models, but without the active promotion of those models by authoritarian centres. Instead, analyses of the legal framework, technology and surveillance practices suggest that there is an indirect and passive as well as internally driven process at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a mixed-methods approach that draws on over 4000 pages of organizational documents and two quantitative data sets from federal and state entities, the authors ask, has the growth of electronic surveillance by local criminal justice agencies, with corresponding database interoperability and information sharing, changed how federal agencies—specifically immigration agencies—operate? We focus on the CalGang Database, California's statewide gang intelligence database, to document how, since its inception in 1998, CalGang has grown both in the number of individuals under surveillance and the number of what we call adjacent users, which we define as people who can access CalGang data but were not initially intended as users and who, in pre-digital surveillance eras, would have a much more difficult time obtaining the information. In this paper we focus specifically on adjacent users in the immigration system who determine the detention and deportation of noncitizens by leveraging an information sharing agreement that gave U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to Calgang between January 2006 and October 2016. Using a two-way "difference in differences" approach, we estimate the impact of CalGang interoperability on federal adjacent users by comparing outcomes across immigration cases that began before or after the data sharing agreement ended. Our qualitative and quantitative analyses both demonstrate that immigration adjudicators' access to local electronic surveillance information is associated with an increase in the number of immigrants facing criminal immigration charges that do not necessarily require a formal criminal conviction in state court, and that deportation rates are higher when ICE has access to local electronic surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential harms of stationary bike injuries in pediatric patients have been highlighted in the literature, but prior work is limited to case series and without population-level analysis. The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of pediatric stationary bike injuries occurring in the US over the last decade using a national database. Injuries resulting from stationary bike use in pediatric patients from 2012 to 2021 were identified using coding from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database. Patient demographics, injury characteristics, and case narratives were examined. National annual estimates of injury frequency/incidence were calculated using weighting and survey package in R. Univariate analyses were used to compare injuries among groups. We identified 525 stationary bike injuries representing an estimated total of 15,509 injuries in the population. Pediatric patients sustained an average of 1,551 injuries annually, with an estimated yearly increase of 288 injuries (p < 0.01) after 2019. While males sustained more injuries, there were age-dependent differences in frequency of injuries between sexes (p < 0.01). The upper extremity was the most commonly injured body region overall, but children 5 and under sustained more injuries to the head/neck. The most common overall injury type was lacerations, while fractures predominated in the 6 to 11-year-old age group. Fifty-six percent of injuries were sustained not while riding the bike, most notably among children under 12. Our findings indicate that the impact of stationary bike injury in the pediatric population is not insignificant, and most injuries are related to improper play rather than traditional exercise use. Gender and age-related patterns differed in regard to the type and mechanism of injury sustained. Children 5 and under sustain a disproportionate amount of injuries to the head, neck, and upper extremity. As stationary bikes grow in popularity, preventative measures should be considered to reduce injuries to young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, theories of signification are introduced to advance fugitive pedagogy in black education, digital culture, and beyond. However, scholars seldom question the dialogic thinking that substantiates many of these positions. Nonetheless, the algorithms and agents that control advanced technology and digitalization continue to trouble many of our presuppositions about Bakhtinian dialogism and texts. As a result, this paper argues that fugitive pedagogy may be too quiescent as a discourse and paradigm for understanding the character of black education and surveillance in the digital age. Digitalization not only rearticulates and reproduces various forms of racial surveillance, but it also extends the afterlife of racial chattel slavery in education. Using Foucauldian architectonics as a paradigm, this paper explains why discursive parasitism and panopticism are more comprehensive as a discourse for illuminating and explicating why so many of the challenges that black education faced in the past persist in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waveform design is a crucial factor in electronic surveillance (ES) systems. In this paper, we introduce an algorithm that designs a low probability of intercept (LPI) radar waveform. Our approach directly minimizes the detection probability of summation detectors based on FFT filter banks. The algorithm is derived from the general quadratic optimization framework, which inherits the monotonic properties of such methods. To expedite overall convergence, we have integrated acceleration schemes based on the squared iterative method (SQUAREM). Additionally, the proposed algorithm can be executed through fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations, enhancing computational efficiency. With some modifications, the algorithm can be adjusted to incorporate spectral constraints, increasing its flexibility. Numerical experiments indicate that our proposed algorithm outperforms existing ones in terms of both intercept properties and computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encephalitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) are often caused or triggered by viruses—but the specific pathogen commonly remains unidentified in routine care. We explored the use of viral metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in addition to PCR testing of non-invasive stool samples to see if unbiased testing could potentially increase diagnostic yield. To identify specific clinical cases at the point of care, we took advantage of a previously published digital app allowing instant clinical case classification based on consensus case criteria, the VACC-Tool. This hospital-based prospective digital surveillance program assessed 100 pediatric patients (mean age: 11 years, range: 0.15–17.85; 49% male) with case-confirmed encephalitis and/or ADEM. Analysis of case classification at the point of care revealed that in routine care, 96% of confirmed encephalitis/ADEM cases had been missed. Overall agreement of routine care diagnoses with digital encephalitis/ADEM case classification was <50%. Also in routine care, only 13% of cases held a virus-related diagnosis, i.e., herpesvirus (n = 8) and enterovirus infection (n = 5). Use of mNGS increased the yield of virus detection by 77% (n = 23 virus hits). Specifically, mNGS identified 10 additional virus species beyond herpes- and enteroviruses. Of the additional 23 virus hits detected with mNGS, PCR confirmation was possible post hoc in 14 cases (61%). Linking digital case classification, mNGS, and PCR testing may not be feasible in routine care at this point but may help to provide hints to the pathogenesis of encephalitis/ADEM in childhood, warranting further research and exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]