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This paper is a fine representation of '' a fine balance a novel written by Rohinton Mistry a major Indian writer, written in 1995, that described the Indian people in the period between 1970 to 1984 and all the side effects of the bad political system carried in that era. The project has been divided into an introduction containing a summary of the novel and a statement of the politics and the corruption of the government. One chapter that divided into two topics, the first one concerned the novel and the second concerned with corruption and weak politics in a wide scope. A conclusion that summarized the whole project in one paper that stated the idea of the writer.

Our most recent findings on multi-hop LoRa networks imply that earlier developed multihop routing methods, such as our previously suggested Extended-DRESG scheme, had overlooked some essential information. Although the researchers employed uniform node distributions for their multi-hop models, a full capacity LoRa network may be treated as a Gaussian distribution. Extended-DRESG performs better with a Gaussian distribution than with a uniform distribution of nodes. In contrast to optimal ring-hop combinations created earlier, this observation led to the suggested algorithm for optimal ring positioning and ring-hop combinations in Extended-DRESG. The Extended-DRESG cluster developing technique, which may produce much superior performance in terms of energy efficiency when uniform node distribution is encountered, is further suggested in light of the observations made in this research. Future multi-hop models can benefit from the current observations in two ways: (i) a better understanding of the packet forwarding structure, and (ii) a good cluster formation technique when clusters are established based on their distances from the gateway.

This study is a diachronic comparative analysis of russophobic discourse and enemy images in Helsingin Sanomat's (HS) editorials before and after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the beginning of a full-scale War in Ukraine in 2022. The aim of the research is investigating shifts in discourse and opinions within Helsingin Sanomat's editorials regarding the Russian actions. This study uses editorials by HS as its data. Utilizing the analytical framework of framing theory by Robert Entman, the study focuses on how Russia is framed in the editorials and by employing a diachronic comparison method, the research explores shifts in the frames over time, in this case the before and after of the two major geopolitical events. The study found that there has been a significant change in frames, especially between the two events, most notably after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there is a drastic change to the former.

Contains fulltext : 304837.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access), For most patients, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are preferred over vitamin K antagonists for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and for venous thromboembolism treatment. However, randomized controlled trials suggest that DOACs may not be as efficacious or as safe as the current standard of care in conditions such as mechanical heart valves, thrombotic antiphospholipid syndrome, and atrial fibrillation associated with rheumatic heart disease. DOACs do not provide a net benefit in conditions such as embolic stroke of undetermined source. Their efficacy is uncertain for conditions such as left ventricular thrombus, catheter-associated deep vein thrombosis, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and for patients with atrial fibrillation or venous thrombosis who have end-stage renal disease. This paper provides an evidence-based review of randomized controlled trials on DOACs, detailing when they have demonstrated efficacy and safety, when DOACs should not be the standard of care, where their safety and efficacy are uncertain, and areas requiring further research.

BACKGROUND: Clinical gait analysis (CGA) is a systematic approach to comprehensively evaluate gait patterns, quantify impairments, plan targeted interventions, and evaluate the impact of interventions. However, international standards for CGA are currently lacking, resulting in various national initiatives. Standards are important to ensure safe and effective healthcare practices and to enable evidence-based clinical decision-making, facilitating interoperability, and reimbursement under national healthcare policies. Collaborative clinical and research work between European countries would benefit from common standards.RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to review the current laboratory practices for CGA in Europe.METHODS: A comprehensive survey was conducted by the European Society for Movement Analysis in Adults and Children (ESMAC), in close collaboration with the European national societies. The survey involved 97 gait laboratories across 16 countries. The survey assessed several aspects related to CGA, including equipment used, data collection, processing, and reporting methods.RESULTS: There was a consensus between laboratories concerning the data collected during CGA. The Conventional Gait Model (CGM) was the most used biomechanical model for calculating kinematics and kinetics. Respondents also reported the use of video recording, 3D motion capture systems, force plates, and surface electromyography. While there was a consensus on the reporting of CGA data, variations were reported in training, documentation, data preprocessing and equipment maintenance practices.SIGNIFICANCE: The findings of this study will serve as a foundation for the development of standardized guidelines for CGA in Europe.

The accumulation of huge amounts of rubble and the worn-out tires that resulted from the severe damage to Syrian facilities because of the current war in Syria poses a serious environmental problem. In this research, therefore, asphalt mixtures containing recycled concrete aggregates and an asphalt binder modified with tire rubber crumbs were designed. It also determines the loading cycles until failure on fatigue and rutting of these mixtures by following numerical modeling and using the 3D-Move Analysis program. The results showed an increase in the optimal asphalt ratio, the proportion of air voids and flow with the increase in the proportion of recycled concrete aggregates in the asphalt mixture. Contrastingly, it showed a decrease in both volumetric density and stability with the increase in the proportion of these aggregates in the mixture. With modifying these mixtures with tire rubber crumbs, both of the percentage of air voids and stability increase, while the volumetric density and flow decrease. The results also showed an increase in the fatigue strength of the asphalt mixture with an increase in the proportion of recycled concrete aggregates, while the rutting resistance increased when the mixture was modified with tire rubber crumbs.

Background: The HeartMate 3 (HM 3; Abbott) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) has improved hemocompatibility-related adverse outcomes. In sporadic cases, external compression of the outflow graft causing obstruction (eOGO) can result from substance accumulation between the outflow graft and its bend relief. We sought to evaluate the prevalence, course, and clinical implications of eOGO in an international study. Methods: A multicenter retrospective analysis of HM 3 LVADs implanted between November 2014 and April 2021 (n = 2108) was conducted across 17 cardiac centers in 8 countries. We defined eOGO as obstruction >25% in the cross-sectional area in imaging (percutaneous angiography, computed tomography, or intravascular ultrasound). The prevalence and annual incidence were calculated. Serious adverse events and outcomes (death, transplantation, or device exchange) were analyzed for eOGO cases. Results: Of 2108 patients, 62 were diagnosed with eOGO at a median LVAD support duration of 953 (interquartile range, 600-1267) days. The prevalence of eOGO was 3.0% and the incidence at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of support was 0.6%, 2.8%, 4.0%, 5.2%, and 9.1%, respectively. Of 62 patients, 9 were observed, 27 underwent surgical revision, 15 underwent percutaneous stent implantation, 8 received a heart transplant, and 2 died before intervention. One patient underwent surgical revision and later stent implantation. The mortality with therapeutic intervention was 9/53 (17.0%). Conclusions: Although uncommon, HM 3 LVAD-supported patients might develop eOGO with an increasing incidence after 1 year of support. Although engineering efforts to reduce this complication are under way, clinicians must maintain a focus on early detection and remain vigilant.

Quantum networks (QNs) relying on free-space optical (FSO) quantum channels can support quantum applications in environments wherein establishing an optical fiber infrastructure is challenging and costly. However, FSO-based QNs require a clear line-of-sight (LoS) between users, which is challenging due to blockages and natural obstacles. In this paper, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted FSO-based QN is proposed as a cost-efficient framework providing a virtual LoS between users for entanglement distribution. A novel modeling of the quantum noise and losses experienced by quantum states over FSO channels defined by atmospheric losses, turbulence, and pointing errors is derived. Then, the joint optimization of entanglement distribution and RIS placement problem is formulated, under heterogeneous entanglement rate and fidelity constraints. This problem is solved using a simulated annealing metaheuristic algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed framework effectively meets the minimum fidelity requirements of all users' quantum applications. This is in stark contrast to baseline algorithms that lead to a drop of at least 83% in users' end-to-end fidelities. The proposed framework also achieves a 64% enhancement in the fairness level between users compared to baseline rate maximizing frameworks. Finally, the weather conditions, e.g., rain, are observed to have a more significant effect than pointing errors and turbulence., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) making advancements in medical decision-making, there is a growing need to ensure doctors develop appropriate reliance on AI to avoid adverse outcomes. However, existing methods in enabling appropriate AI reliance might encounter challenges while being applied in the medical domain. With this regard, this work employs and provides the validation of an alternative approach -- majority voting -- to facilitate appropriate reliance on AI in medical decision-making. This is achieved by a multi-institutional user study involving 32 medical professionals with various backgrounds, focusing on the pathology task of visually detecting a pattern, mitoses, in tumor images. Here, the majority voting process was conducted by synthesizing decisions under AI assistance from a group of pathology doctors (pathologists). Two metrics were used to evaluate the appropriateness of AI reliance: Relative AI Reliance (RAIR) and Relative Self-Reliance (RSR). Results showed that even with groups of three pathologists, majority-voted decisions significantly increased both RAIR and RSR -- by approximately 9% and 31%, respectively -- compared to decisions made by one pathologist collaborating with AI. This increased appropriateness resulted in better precision and recall in the detection of mitoses. While our study is centered on pathology, we believe these insights can be extended to general high-stakes decision-making processes involving similar visual tasks., Comment: 44 pages, 11 figures

Deep Learning (DL) frameworks play a critical role in advancing artificial intelligence, and their rapid growth underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding of software quality and maintainability. DL frameworks, like other systems, are prone to code clones. Code clones refer to identical or highly similar source code fragments within the same project or even across different projects. Code cloning can have positive and negative implications for software development, influencing maintenance, readability, and bug propagation. In this paper, we aim to address the knowledge gap concerning the evolutionary dimension of code clones in DL frameworks and the extent of code reuse across these frameworks. We empirically analyze code clones in nine popular DL frameworks, i.e., TensorFlow, Paddle, PyTorch, Aesara, Ray, MXNet, Keras, Jax and BentoML, to investigate (1) the characteristics of the long-term code cloning evolution over releases in each framework, (2) the short-term, i.e., within-release, code cloning patterns and their influence on the long-term trends, and (3) the file-level code clones within the DL frameworks. Our findings reveal that DL frameworks adopt four distinct cloning trends and that these trends present some common and distinct characteristics. For instance, bug-fixing activities persistently happen in clones irrespective of the clone evolutionary trend but occur more in the "Serpentine" trend. Moreover, the within release level investigation demonstrates that short-term code cloning practices impact long-term cloning trends. The cross-framework code clone investigation reveals the presence of functional and architectural adaptation file-level cross-framework code clones across the nine studied frameworks. We provide insights that foster robust clone practices and collaborative maintenance in the development of DL frameworks., Comment: 37 pages

BackgroundExcess weight gain in young adulthood is associated with future weight gain and increased risk of chronic disease. Although multimodal, technology-based weight-loss interventions have the potential to promote weight loss among young adults, many interventions have limited personalization, and few have been deployed and evaluated for longer than a year. We aim to assess the effects of a highly personalized, 2-year intervention that uses popular mobile and social technologies to promote weight loss among young adults.MethodsThe Social Mobile Approaches to Reducing Weight (SMART) 2.0 Study is a 24-month parallel-group randomized controlled trial that will include 642 overweight or obese participants, aged 18-35 years, from universities and community colleges in San Diego, CA. All participants receive a wearable activity tracker, connected scale, and corresponding app. Participants randomized to one intervention group receive evidence-based information about weight loss and behavior change techniques via personalized daily text messaging (i.e., SMS/MMS), posts on social media platforms, and online groups. Participants in a second intervention group receive the aforementioned elements in addition to brief, technology-mediated health coaching. Participants in the control group receive a wearable activity tracker, connected scale, and corresponding app alone. The primary outcome is objectively measured weight in kilograms over 24 months. Secondary outcomes include anthropometric measurements; physiological measures; physical activity, diet, sleep, and psychosocial measures; and engagement with intervention modalities. Outcomes are assessed at baseline and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Differences between the randomized groups will be analyzed using a mixed model of repeated measures and will be based on the intent-to-treat principle.DiscussionWe hypothesize that both SMART 2.0 intervention groups will significantly improve weight loss compared to the control group, a

Tiivistelmä. Tässä tutkielmassa kartoitamme luokanopettajan keinoja huomioida opettajan työssä yhteiskunnalliset kriisit, joita lapset ja nuoret kohtaavat sosiaalisessa mediassa. Yleinen mediailmiö on, että yhteiskunnallisen kriisin puhjetessa sosiaalisen median alustat täyttyvät kriisiin liittyvästä materiaalista. Yhteiskunnallisen kriisin kohtaa siis jossain määrin ensimmäisenä sosiaalisen median käyttäjäkunta, johon kuuluu myös paljon lapsia ja nuoria. Sosiaalisessa mediassa liikkuva materiaali voi olla lapsille ja nuorille epäsopivaa eikä heillä välttämättä ole valmiuksia käsitellä näkemäänsä. Näin ollen opettaja kasvattajana on vastattava tähän kasvatuksen haasteeseen. Opettajan tulee olla kiinnostunut ja perillä lasten ja nuorten mediamaailmasta, jotta hän voi tarjota oikeanlaista mediakasvatusta. Suurin osa mediakasvatustaidoista, joita opettaja voi tarjota, on ennaltaehkäisevää. Ennaltaehkäisevään mediakasvatukseen kuuluu muun muassa oikeanlaiseen somekäyttäytymiseen opastaminen, turvallisten tietolähteiden tarjoaminen sekä median sisältöjen tuominen luokan arkeen ja keskusteluun. Sosiaalisen median ilmiöt ja yhteiskunnalliset asiat ovat niin laajoja, ettei opettajakaan voi varautua kaikkeen etukäteen. Näin ollen opettajalta vaaditaan yhteiskunnallisten kriisien puhjetessa ja puhututtaessa myös tunnekasvatusta. Opettaja toimii turvallisena aikuisena oppilaiden elämässä ja opettajan kanssa tulisi olla mahdollisuus keskustella myös vaikeista ja erilaisia tunteita herättävistä aiheista turvallisesti ja avoimesti. Opettajan ei kuitenkaan tarvitse olla edellä mainittujen asioiden kanssa yksin, vaan hänellä on käytettävissä media- ja tunnekasvatuksen osalta paljon ammattilaisia ja heidän luomiaan materiaaleja opetuksen tueksi. Avainasemassa on yhteistyö sekä huoltajien kanssa, että moniammatillisesti muiden asiantuntijoiden ja koulun henkilökunnan kanssa.

The geometry of field space governs on-shell scattering amplitudes. We formulate a geometric description of effective field theories which extends previous results for scalars and gauge fields to fermions. The field-space geometry reorganizes and simplifies the computation of quantum loop corrections. Using this geometric framework, we calculate the fermion loop contributions to the renormalization group equations for bosonic operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory up to mass dimension eight., Comment: 28 pages

We present an algorithm for massive parton evolution which is based on the differentially accurate simulation of soft-gluon radiation by means of a non-trivial azimuthal angle dependence of the splitting functions. The kinematics mapping is chosen such as to to reflect the symmetry of the final state in soft-gluon radiation and collinear splitting processes. We compute the counterterms needed for a fully differential NLO matching and discuss the analytic structure of the parton shower in the NLL limit. We implement the new algorithm in the numerical code Alaric and present a first comparison to experimental data., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

We provide a formulation of potential non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics (pNRQCD) suitable for calculating binding energies and matrix elements of generic hadron and multi-hadron states made of heavy quarks in $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory using quantum Monte Carlo techniques. We compute masses of quarkonium and triply-heavy baryons in order to study the perturbative convergence of pNRQCD and validate our numerical methods. Further, we study $SU(N_c)$ models of composite dark matter and provide simple power series fits to our pNRQCD results that can be used to relate dark meson and baryon masses to the fundamental parameters of these models. For many systems comprised entirely of heavy quarks, the quantum Monte Carlo methods employed here are less computationally demanding than lattice field theory methods, although they introduce additional perturbative approximations. The formalism presented here may therefore be particularly useful for predicting composite dark matter properties for a wide range of $N_c$ and heavy fermion masses., Comment: 38 pages, 24 figures

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with excess risk of cardiovascular and thrombotic events in the early post-infection period and during convalescence. Despite the progress in our understanding of cardiovascular complications, uncertainty persists with respect to more recent event rates, temporal trends, association between vaccination status and outcomes, and findings within vulnerable subgroups such as older adults (aged 65 years or older), or those undergoing hemodialysis. Sex-informed findings, including results among pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as adjusted comparisons between male and female adults are similarly understudied. METHODS: Adult patients, aged ≥18 years, with polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 who received inpatient or outpatient care at the participating centers of the registry are eligible for inclusion. A total of 10,000 patients have been included in this multicenter study, with Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA) serving as the coordinating center. Other sites include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Anne Arundel Medical Center, University of Virginia Medical Center, University of Colorado Health System, and Thomas Jefferson University Health System. Data elements will be ascertained manually for accuracy. The two main outcomes are 1) a composite of venous or arterial thrombotic events, and 2) a composite of major cardiovascular events, defined as venous or arterial thrombosis, myocarditis or heart failure with inpatient treatment, new atrial fibrillation/flutter, or cardiovascular death. Clinical outcomes are adjudicated by independent physicians. Vaccination status and time of inclusion in the study will be ascertained for subgroup-specific analyses. Outcomes are pre-specified to be reported separately for hospitalized patients versus those who were initially receiving outpatient care. Outcomes will be reported at 30-day and 90-day follow-up. Data cleaning at the sites and the dat

Introducción y objetivos. La fibrilación auricular (FA) es la arritmia cardíaca más común, y es, por tanto, un importante problema de salud pública. Dada su gran prevalencia en la población general, es una importante causa de morbilidad, mortalidad y consumo de recursos sanitarios. Una complicación importante de la FA es el ictus. Para estimar el riego de ictus y decidir si iniciar tratamiento con anticoagulantes orales seemplea la escala CHA2DS2-VASc. Dada la no existencia de ensayos clínicos aleatorizados que hayan investigado específicamente la necesidad de tratar con ACO a pacientes con puntuación CHA2DS2-VASc 1-2, el objetivo del presente trabajo es determinar qué ocurre con el tratamiento anticoagulante de los pacientes con una puntuación en la escala CHA2DS2-VASc 0 (hombres) o 1 (mujeres) cuando cumplen 65 años y aumentan en 1 punto su riesgo embólico. Además, se pretende analizar el riesgo de eventos tromboembólicos y el impacto de la terapia anticoagulante en estos pacientes. Material y métodos. Se realiza un estudio observacional retrospectivo, cuya población a estudio es la cohorte de pacientes incluidos en el registro CardioCHUVI-AF. Se seleccionaron 389 pacientes para el estudio, debido a que su CHA2DS2-VASc pasó de 0 a 1 (o de 1 a 2 en el caso de mujeres) durante el seguimiento debido a la edad (> 65 años). Se registran eventos de ictus y sangrado mayor antes y después de los 65 años. Resultados. Después de cumplir los 65 años se produce un incremento del 19.0% de la tasa de anticoagulación. En menores de 65 años no se encontró una relación estadísticamente significativa entre el tratamiento anticoagulante y la ocurrencia de ictus. En mayores de 65 años se encontró una relación estadísticamente significativa y favorable entre el tratamiento anticoagulante y la ocurrencia de ictus, pudiendo afirmar que en nuestra cohorte de pacientes el tratamiento con anticoagulantes en mayores de 65 años redujo el riesgo de ictus de forma significativa. En cuanto al s

This research study aims to analyze the interdisciplinary collaboration in the Water, Energy, Food (WEF) Nexus for developing solutions for complex challenges. It acknowledges the need to transition from a siloed approach to a holistic approach by focusing on the interdependencies between the water, energy, and food sectors and the different disciplines that encompasses them. The study identifies challenges in implementing interdisciplinary collaboration within the WEF Nexus, including the coordination between disciplines. It emphasizes the significance of knowledge exchange and communication platforms to facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation. The research aims to evaluate the extent of interdisciplinary collaboration in three WEF Nexus projects: Sim4Nexus, NEXOGENESIS, and WEF Tools through answering the research questions (1) What practices are being used to develop an interdisciplinary collaboration across different disciplines in the selected WEF Nexus projects? (2) What are the key challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities for effective collaboration across disciplines in the identified projects? The research analyzed best practices in interdisciplinary collaboration, examining key factors, challenges, and lessons influencing interdisciplinarity in identified projects. Moreover, it provided recommendations to explore pathways to practice interdisciplinarity across disciplines in a structured manner. The literature review discusses the conceptualization of the WEF Nexus, emphasizing the holistic approach and interdependencies among water, energy, and food resources. However, it identifies limitations in the current Nexus collaboration and the lack of interdisciplinary approaches. The review highlights the need for incorporating additional disciplines and dimensions to enhance effective collaboration. A self-assessment survey on interdisciplinary collaboration as well as interviews with the concerned professionals involved in the three projects was the ap

Tetraquarks, bound states composed of two quarks and two antiquarks, have been the subject of intense study but have yet to be understood from first principles. Previous studies of fully-heavy tetraquarks in nonrelativistic effective field theories of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) suggest different conclusions for their existence. We apply variational and Green's function Monte Carlo methods to compute tetraquarks' ground- and excited-state energies in potential nonrelativistic QCD. We robustly demonstrate that fully-heavy tetraquarks are bound in QCD for sufficiently heavy quark masses. We also predict the masses of tetraquark bound states comprised of $b$ and $c$ quarks, which are experimentally accessible, and suggest possible resolutions for previous theoretical discrepancies., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

El envejecimiento progresivo de la población está condicionando un aumento en la prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas como la fibrilación auricular (FA). En la práctica clínica, establecer el balance embólico-hemorrágico del paciente anciano con FA supone un gran reto que dificulta la toma de decisiones, especialmente en lo que respecta al inicio o continuación del tratamiento anticoagulante. El objetivo de la presente tesis es analizar el riesgo embólico, hemorrágico y la mortalidad de una cohorte nacional de pacientes ancianos con FA . Por otro lado, prentendemos evaluar el impacto de la edad extrema, del estado nutricional o del deterioro cognitivo en el balance embólico-hemorrágico. En nuestro trabajo observamos que, en pacientes ancianos con FA, la anticoagulación oral (ACO) se asocia de forma significativa con una menor mortalidad y un menor número de eventos embólicos, así como con un aumento del riesgo de sangrado. Hemos observado un beneficio de la ACO en pacientes nonagerios, especialmente en aquellos tratados con un anticoagulante de acción directa (ACOD) Sin embargo, el balance embólico-hemorrágico resultó neutro o negativo (predominio de eventos hemorrágicos mayores) en pacientes ancianos con algún grado de malnutrición o con demencia de grado al menos moderado. Por todo ello, concluimos que se debería realizar una aproximación individualizada al balance embólico-hemorrágico en todo paciente anciano con FA mediante una valoración geriátrica integral que incluya el estado nutricional y el grado de demencia.

Alexandre Assi,1 Ahmad M Mansour,2 Abdul Razzak Charbaji,3 Maurizio Battaglia Parodi4 1Beirut Eye Clinic and VitreoRetinal Department, Beirut Eye Specialist Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon; 2Department of Ophthalmology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; 3Department of Statistics and Research Methodology, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon; 4Department of Ophthalmology and IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, University Vita-Salute, Milan, ItalyCorrespondence: Ahmad M Mansour, Department of Ophthalmology, American University of Beirut, POB 113-6044, Beirut, Lebanon, Tel +9613377633, Email ammansourmd@gmail.comPurpose: To study the anatomic outcome of leaving vitreous cortex remnants (VCR) during pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).Methods: The study comprised patients with RRD who had PPV by a single surgeon between January 2019 and December 2020 and followed for 6 months. After intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide, the topographic pattern of VCR at the periphery (p) and macula (m) was divided into 2 types by extent: complete or 4 quadrants (pVCR4Q), and between 2 and 4 quadrants ≥ 2 quadrants (pVCR> 2Q), or by location > 1 inferior retinal quadrant (pVCR> 1InfQ), and at the macula (mVCR). Anatomical failure or retinal re-detachment within 6 months after surgery was the primary outcome measures. The occurrence of grade C proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and epiretinal membrane (ERM) were used as secondary outcome indicators.Results: A 6-month prospective follow-up was performed on 103 patients. pVCR4Q was detected in 31 eyes, pVCR> 2Q in 40 eyes, pVCR> 1InfQ in 40 eyes and mVCR in 54 eyes. Recurrent RRD developed in 9 (8.7%) eyes, PVR grade C in 6 (5.8%) eyes and ERM in 11 (10.7%) eyes. According to multivariate regression analysis, the existence of any type of VCR did not correlate with anatomical failure, PVR or ERM.Conclusion: The initial success rate of PPV and the growth

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI), also referred to as optoacoustic imaging, has shown promise in early-stage clinical trials in a range of applications from inflammatory diseases to cancer. While the first PAI systems have recently received regulatory approvals, successful adoption of PAI technology into healthcare systems for clinical decision making must still overcome a range of barriers, from education and training to data acquisition and interpretation. The International Photoacoustic Standardisation Consortium (IPASC) undertook an community exercise in 2022 to identify and understand these barriers, then develop a roadmap of strategic plans to address them. Here, we outline the nature and scope of the barriers that were identified, along with short-, medium- and longterm community efforts required to overcome them, both within and beyond the IPASC group.

Faced with the threat of climate change, the world is rapidly adopting Electric Vehicles (EVs). The EV ecosystem, however, is vulnerable to cyber-attacks putting it and the power grid at risk. In this article, we present a security-oriented real-time Co-simulation Testbed for the EV ecosystem and the power grid., Comment: "\c{opyright} 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works."

In this paper, we investigate an edge-based approach for the detection and localization of coordinated oscillatory load attacks initiated by exploited EV charging stations against the power grid. We rely on the behavioral characteristics of the power grid in the presence of interconnected EVCS while combining cyber and physical layer features to implement deep learning algorithms for the effective detection of oscillatory load attacks at the EVCS. We evaluate the proposed detection approach by building a real-time test bed to synthesize benign and malicious data, which was generated by analyzing real-life EV charging data collected during recent years. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented approach with the Convolutional Long-Short Term Memory model producing optimal classification accuracy (99.4\%). Moreover, our analysis results shed light on the impact of such detection mechanisms towards building resiliency into different levels of the EV charging ecosystem while allowing power grid operators to localize attacks and take further mitigation measures. Specifically, we managed to decentralize the detection mechanism of oscillatory load attacks and create an effective alternative for operator-centric mechanisms to mitigate multi-operator and MitM oscillatory load attacks against the power grid. Finally, we leverage the created test bed to evaluate a distributed mitigation technique, which can be deployed on public/private charging stations to average out the impact of oscillatory load attacks while allowing the power system to recover smoothly within 1 second with minimal overhead.

Smartphones enable understanding human behavior with activity recognition to support people's daily lives. Prior studies focused on using inertial sensors to detect simple activities (sitting, walking, running, etc.) and were mostly conducted in homogeneous populations within a country. However, people are more sedentary in the post-pandemic world with the prevalence of remote/hybrid work/study settings, making detecting simple activities less meaningful for context-aware applications. Hence, the understanding of (i) how multimodal smartphone sensors and machine learning models could be used to detect complex daily activities that can better inform about people's daily lives and (ii) how models generalize to unseen countries, is limited. We analyzed in-the-wild smartphone data and over 216K self-reports from 637 college students in five countries (Italy, Mongolia, UK, Denmark, Paraguay). Then, we defined a 12-class complex daily activity recognition task and evaluated the performance with different approaches. We found that even though the generic multi-country approach provided an AUROC of 0.70, the country-specific approach performed better with AUROC scores in [0.79-0.89]. We believe that research along the lines of diversity awareness is fundamental for advancing human behavior understanding through smartphones and machine learning, for more real-world utility across countries., Comment: ACM CHI 2023

Millimeter wave (mmWave) full-duplex (FD) is a promising technique for improving capacity by maximizing the utilization of both time and the rich mmWave frequency resources. Still, it has restrictions due to FD self-interference (SI) and mmWave's limited coverage. Therefore, this study dives into FD mmWave MIMO with the assistance of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) for capacity improvement. First, we demonstrate the angular-domain reciprocity of FD antenna arrays under the far-field planar wavefront assumption. Accordingly, a strategy for joint downlink-uplink (DL-UL) channel estimation is presented. For estimating the SI channel, the direct channel, and the cascaded channel, the Khatri-Rao product-based compressive sensing (KR-CS), distributed CS (D-CS), and two-stage multiple measurement vector-based D-CS (M-D-CS) frameworks are proposed, respectively. Additionally, we propose a passive beamforming optimization solution based on the angular-domain cascaded channel. With hybrid beamforming architectures, a novel hybrid weighted minimum mean squared error method for SI cancellation (H-WMMSE-SIC) is proposed. Simulations have revealed that joint DL-UL processing significantly improves estimation performance in comparison to separate DL/UL channel estimation. Particularly, when the interference-to-noise ratio is less than 35 dB, our proposed H-WMMSE-SIC offers spectral efficiency performance comparable to fully-digital WMMSE-SIC. Finally, the computational complexity is analyzed for our proposed methods.

Cet article propose une étude importante sur la relation entre la volatilité des cours du bitcoin et son rendement sur les marchés des cryptomonnaies durant la période entre 2019 et 2023. Les résultats de cette étude sont significatifs, révélant une relation positive et significative entre la volatilité du Bitcoin et son rendement, ainsi qu'une relation négative et significative entre la volatilité du cours de certaines autres monnaies et le rendement du bitcoin. Enfin, cet article apporte une contribution significative à la compréhension de la dynamique du marché des cryptomonnaies.

Introduction The diagnosis of epilepsy frequently relies on the visual interpretation of the electroencephalogram (EEG) by a neurologist. The hallmark of epilepsy on EEG is the interictal epileptiform discharge (IED). This marker lacks sensitivity: it is only captured in a small percentage of 30 min routine EEGs in patients with epilepsy. In the past three decades, there has been growing interest in the use of computational methods to analyse the EEG without relying on the detection of IEDs, but none have made it to the clinical practice. We aim to review the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative methods applied to ambulatory EEG analysis to guide the diagnosis and management of epilepsy. Methods and analysis The protocol complies with the recommendations for systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy by Cochrane. We will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, EBM reviews, IEEE Explore along with grey literature for articles, conference papers and conference abstracts published after 1961. We will include observational studies that present a computational method to analyse the EEG for the diagnosis of epilepsy in adults or children without relying on the identification of IEDs or seizures. The reference standard is the diagnosis of epilepsy by a physician. We will report the estimated pooled sensitivity and specificity, and receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC) for each marker. If possible, we will perform a meta-analysis of the sensitivity and specificity and ROC AUC for each individual marker. We will assess the risk of bias using an adapted QUADAS-2 tool. We will also describe the algorithms used for signal processing, feature extraction and predictive modelling, and comment on the reproducibility of the different studies. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was not required. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and presented at conferences related to this field.

This work presents an investigation and assessment framework, which, supported by realistic data, aims at provisioning operators with in-depth insights into the consumer-perceived Quality-of-Experience (QoE) at public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructures. Motivated by the unprecedented EV market growth, it is suspected that the existing charging infrastructure will soon be no longer capable of sustaining the rapidly growing charging demands; let alone that the currently adopted ad hoc infrastructure expansion strategies seem to be far from contributing any quality service sustainability solutions that tangibly reduce (ultimately mitigate) the severity of this problem. Without suitable QoE metrics, operators, today, face remarkable difficulty in assessing the performance of EV Charging Stations (EVCSs) in this regard. This paper aims at filling this gap through the formulation of novel and original critical QoE performance metrics that provide operators with visibility into the per-EVCS operational dynamics and allow for the optimization of these stations' respective utilization. Such metrics shall then be used as inputs to a Machine Learning model finely tailored and trained using recent real-world data sets for the purpose of forecasting future long-term EVCS loads. This will, in turn, allow for making informed optimal EV charging infrastructure expansions that will be capable of reliably coping with the rising EV charging demands and maintaining acceptable QoE levels. The model's accuracy has been tested and extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the achieved performance in terms of the above listed metrics and show the suitability of the recommended infrastructure expansions., Comment: Accepted for Publication in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems

Due to growing environmental concerns, the world's governments have been encouraging the shift of the transportation sector towards the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs). As a result, EV numbers have been growing exponentially and are expected to continue growing further which will add a large EV charging load to the power grid. To this end, this paper presents an EV-based defense mechanism against Load-Altering (LA) attacks targeting the grid. The developed mechanism utilizes H-infinity controllers and Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) to mitigate LA attacks. After the controller synthesis and presentation of the attack scenarios, we demonstrate the effectiveness and success of our defense mechanism against the three known types of LA attacks. The scenarios include three 800 MW LA attacks against the New England 39-bus grid. The results demonstrate how our EV-based mitigation scheme eliminates the attack impacts and maintains the grid's stability in face of an unknown persisting attack., Comment: Accepted in the 2023 8th IEEE International Conference on Recent Advances and Innovations in Engineering (ICRAIE)-ICRAIE 2023. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2308.07526

Due to the growing threat of climate change, the worlds governments have been encouraging the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs). As a result, EV numbers have been growing exponentially which will introduce a large EV charging load into the power grid. On this basis, we present a scheme to utilize EVs as a defense mechanism to mitigate Load-Altering (LA) attacks against the grid. The developed scheme relies on robust control theory and Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). Our EV-based defense mechanism is formulated as a feedback controller synthesized using H-2 and H-infinity control techniques to eliminate the impact of unknown LA attacks. The controller synthesis considers the grid topology and the uncertainties of the EV connection to the grid. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mitigation scheme, it is tested against three types of LA attacks on the New England 39-bus grid. We test our mitigation scheme against 800 MW static, switching, and dynamic attacks in the presence of multiple sources of uncertainty that can affect the EV load during deployment. The results demonstrate how the grid remains stable under the LA attacks that would otherwise lead to serious instabilities., Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Energy

Background: To identify indicators of guideline-concordant care in lung cancer, to implement such indicators with cancer registry data linked to health databases, and to pilot them in a cohort of patients from the cancer registry of the Milan Province. Methods: Thirty-four indicators were selected by revision of main guidelines by cancer epidemiologists, and then evaluated by a multidisciplinary panel of clinicians involved in lung cancer care and working on the pathway of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment in the Lombardy region, Italy. With a modified Delphi method, they assessed for each indicator the content validity as a quality measure of the care pathway, the degree of modifiability from the health professional, and the relevance to the health professional. Feasibility was assessed using the cancer registry and the routine health records of the Lombardy region. Feasible indicators were then calculated in the cohort of lung cancer patients diagnosed in 2007–2012 derived from the cancer registry of the Milan Province. Criterion validity was assessed reviewing clinical records of a random sample of 114 patients (threshold for acceptable discordance ≤20%). Finally, reliability was evaluated at the provider level. Results: Initially, 34 indicators were proposed for evaluation in the first Delphi round. Of the finally 22 selected indicators, 3 were not feasible because the required information was actually not available. The remaining 19 were calculated on the pilot cohort. After assessment of criterion validity (3 eliminated), 16 indicators were retained in the final set and evaluated for reliability. Conclusion: The developed and piloted set of indicators is now available to implement and monitor, over time, quality initiatives for lung cancer care in the studied health system.

In this new study the Authors demonstrated that the IGFBP3/TMEM219 pathway is a physiological regulator of pancreatic beta cell homeostasis and it is dysregulated in diabetes. IGFBP3/TMEM219 targeting may therefore serve as a therapeutic option in diabetes. Loss of pancreatic beta cells is a central feature of type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes, but a therapeutic strategy to preserve beta cell mass remains to be established. Here we show that the death receptor TMEM219 is expressed on pancreatic beta cells and that signaling through its ligand insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) leads to beta cell loss and dysfunction. Increased peripheral IGFBP3 was observed in established and at-risk T1D/T2D patients and was confirmed in T1D/T2D preclinical models, suggesting that dysfunctional IGFBP3/TMEM219 signaling is associated with abnormalities in beta cells homeostasis. In vitro and in vivo short-term IGFBP3/TMEM219 inhibition and TMEM219 genetic ablation preserved beta cells and prevented/delayed diabetes onset, while long-term IGFBP3/TMEM219 blockade allowed for beta cell expansion. Interestingly, in several patients cohorts restoration of appropriate IGFBP3 levels was associated with improved beta cell function. The IGFBP3/TMEM219 pathway is thus shown to be a physiological regulator of beta cell homeostasis and is also demonstrated to be disrupted in T1D/T2D. IGFBP3/TMEM219 targeting may therefore serve as a therapeutic option in diabetes., Funding Agencies|SID Lombardia Grant; EFSD/JDRF/Lilly Programme on Type 1 Diabetes Research; Italian Ministry of HealthMinistry of Health, Italy [RF-2016-02362512]; Universita di Milano; NIHUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [DK104155]; Juvenile Diabetes Research FoundationJuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; Enthera S.r.l.

Adolescents living with HIV are subject to multiple co-morbidities, including growth retardation and immunodeficiency. We describe growth and CD4 evolution during adolescence using data from the Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) global project. Data were collected between 1994 and 2015 from 11 CIPHER networks worldwide. Adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV infection (APH) who initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) before age 10 years, with at least one height or CD4 count measurement while aged 10-17 years, were included. Growth was measured using height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ, stunting if <-2 SD, WHO growth charts). Linear mixed-effects models were used to study the evolution of each outcome between ages 10 and 17. For growth, sex-specific models with fractional polynomials were used to model non-linear relationships for age at ART initiation, HAZ at age 10 and time, defined as current age from 10 to 17 years of age. A total of 20,939 and 19,557 APH were included for the growth and CD4 analyses, respectively. Half were females, two-thirds lived in East and Southern Africa, and median age at ART initiation ranged from <3 years in North America and Europe to >7 years in sub-Saharan African regions. At age 10, stunting ranged from 6% in North America and Europe to 39% in the Asia-Pacific; 19% overall had CD4 counts <500 cells/mm 3. Across adolescence, higher HAZ was observed in females and among those in high-income countries. APH with stunting at age 10 and those with late ART initiation (after age 5) had the largest HAZ gains during adolescence, but these gains were insufficient to catch-up with non-stunted, early ART-treated adolescents. From age 10 to 16 years, mean CD4 counts declined from 768 to 607 cells/mm 3. This decline was observed across all regions, in males and females. Growth patterns during adolescence differed substantially by sex and region, while CD4 patterns were similar, with an observed CD4 decline th

Cocoa pod-opening delay and bean fermentation promote the organoleptic quality of chocolate. The present research investigated the changes in the volatile fingerprint of cocoa harvested at a traditional plantation. Cocoa beans extracted from 2-days pod-opening delay were simultaneously fermented for 5 days using container and then sun-dried to 7–8% moisture content at five different locations: Akoupé, San Pedro, Soubré, Djekanou and Daloa. The aromatic analysis were done on cocoa using the HS-SPME-GC/MS technique. Professional panelists evaluated the sensory perceptions of the chocolate. The results shows that cocoa fermented in both Daloa and Soubré regions were differentiated by 2,3-butanediol while those processed in other regions presented highest acetoin content. However, fermented cocoa from Soubré region exhibited most amount of 2,3-butanediol, diacetate A whereas 2,3,5,6-tetramethylpyrazine differentiated those from Daloa region. Sensory properties of chocolate were not linked to the aromatic compound precursors profile of beans. The fermentation performed in San Pédro region promote both the generation of more desirable aromatic compounds of cocoa and sensory attributes of the finished chocolate. The fermentation location generates a greater differentiation of the volatile fingerprint of cocoa and the sensory perceptions of the finished chocolate.

Against the background of a conservative push against LGBTI+ and women’s rights, in which courts have already become battlefields, it is important to look at how the European Court of Human Rights, a leading human rights adjudicator both in Europe and globally, would respond to arguments made in the name of human rights but whose real purpose is to limit the rights and freedoms of women and LGBTI+ people. One such argument that has so far been successfully used is the protection of the “traditional family” or “traditional marriage”. In this thesis, I will assess the Court’s standard of review in cases concerning Articles 8 and 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, protecting private and family life and the right to marry and where such an argument is presented, and its implications to women’s and LGBTI+ rights. “Traditional marriage” and “traditional family” are often used as a hailed or at least neutral concept, but studies show that they have deeply oppressive roots and their promotion is harmful. I have identified three main groups of cases divided by topic: transgender persons and the right to marry, the protection of same-sex relationships, and cases concerning gender equality and other issues. I assess how consistently the Court uses its established methodologies and principles, as well as applying criticisms drawing from feminist and queer legal theory. It transpires that the Court’s standard of review varies depending on the type of case it is assessing. Cases in which the heterosexuality of marriage is directly challenged are scrutinized leniently, while in cases that don’t challenge it, and especially in cases that concern gender equality, the Court applies a much stricter scrutiny. This implies that its standard of review especially on the issue of same-sex marriage is toothless against conservative attempts to halt the progress in this field, unless the Court changes its approach. It already has the tools of strict review, but it appears remarka

KRAS mutants are common in many cancers and wild-type KRAS is essential in development as its absence causes embryonic lethality. Despite this critical role in development and disease, the normal expression pattern of KRAS protein is still largely unknown at the tissue level due to the lack of valid antibodies. To address this issue, we used the mouse model in which the Citrine-KRAS (Cit-K) fusion protein functions as a validated surrogate of endogenous KRAS protein that can be detected on tissue sections by immunolabeling with a GFP antibody. In the embryo, we found expression of KRAS protein in a wide range of organs and tissues. This expression tends to decrease near birth, mainly in mesenchymal cells. During transition to the adult stage, the dynamics of KRAS protein expression vary among organs and detection of KRAS becomes restricted to specific cell types. Furthermore, we found that steady state KRAS protein expression is detectable at the cell membrane and in the cytoplasm and that this subcellular partitioning differed among cell types. Our results reveal hitherto unanticipated dynamics in developmental, tissular, cell-specific and subcellular expression of KRAS protein. They provide insight into the reason why specific cell-types are sensitive to KRAS mutations during cancer initiation.