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This paper deals with a problem of tactical planning of production activities. It considers the case of the world's largest phosphate production site, with several mines, several washing plants, and a drying plant, with transport of merchantable phosphate ores (MOs) by rail or pipeline. The tightening of product quality requirements by customers prevents from continuing to plan its production with the current rules. Currently, the plants are managed quite independently, source ores (SOs) are pre-assigned to the MOs for blending, and the MO production routings in the washing plants are predetermined. We propose a model that ensures flexibility in the production of MOs through the choice of dynamic blends and routings. Our approach goes beyond any pre-allocation of resources and aims at synchronising the flows of the washing plants. This specific problem of blending production and planning has not been addressed in the literature. Still, it is widely encountered in many mining industries and offers perspectives for the application of the approach proposed. Numerous tests show that this model ensures the quality constraints related to the composition of several chemical components, with a generalised use of the most economical routings while ensuring horizontal and vertical alignment of decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review the currently available systematic reviews and meta-analyses comparing kinematic alignment (KA) and mechanical alignment (MA). METHODS: A literature search was performed to obtain all systematic review and meta-analyses comparing KA to MA that included one or more randomised controlled trials. A total of 18 studies were obtained, three of which were systematic reviews without meta-analysis. Studies were evaluated based on their meta-analysis methodology, appropriate inclusion criteria, the use of correct definitions of each alignment technique, and risk of bias. RESULTS: These 18 studies included between 3 and 14 RCTs in each study. From the perspective of study design, the majority of papers had low risk of bias. In contrast, most of these reviews had technical issues pertaining to study inclusion in their meta-analyses that would potentially compromise their conclusions. These included mixing time points in the analysis, duplicate inclusion of patients in a meta-analysis, inclusion of studies with incorrect definitions of KA, inclusion of studies performed with restricted kinematic alignment with the KA group, and inappropriate combination of studies with bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with studies with unilateral TKA. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature is inadequate to determine if there is any advantage to KA compared to MA in TKA. Claims made in systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the subject must be carefully scrutinised based not only on risk of bias but also on the included study populations, the surgical methodology of each underlying study, and the authors understanding of the definitions of each alignment technique. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 1 based on this study being a systematic review with the inclusion of only systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials.

Machine learning (ML) applications in medical artificial intelligence (AI) systems have shifted from traditional and statistical methods to increasing application of deep learning models. This survey navigates the current landscape of multimodal ML, focusing on its profound impact on medical image analysis and clinical decision support systems. Emphasizing challenges and innovations in addressing multimodal representation, fusion, translation, alignment, and co-learning, the paper explores the transformative potential of multimodal models for clinical predictions. It also highlights the need for principled assessments and practical implementation of such models, bringing attention to the dynamics between decision support systems and healthcare providers and personnel. Despite advancements, challenges such as data biases and the scarcity of big data in many biomedical domains persist. We conclude with a discussion on principled innovation and collaborative efforts to further the mission of seamless integration of multimodal ML models into biomedical practice.

Liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), as applied to untargeted metabolomics, enables the simultaneous detection of thousands of small molecules, generating complex datasets. Alignment is a crucial step in data processing pipelines, whereby LC-MS features derived from common ions are assembled into a unified matrix amenable to further analysis. Variability in the analytical factors that influence liquid chromatography separations complicates data alignment. This is prominent when aligning data acquired in different laboratories, generated using non-identical instruments, or between batches from large-scale studies. Previously, we developed metabCombiner for aligning disparately acquired LC-MS metabolomics datasets. Here, we report significant upgrades to metabCombiner that enable the stepwise alignment of multiple untargeted LC-MS metabolomics datasets, facilitating inter-laboratory reproducibility studies. To accomplish this, a "primary" feature list is used as a template for matching compounds in "target" feature lists. We demonstrate this workflow by aligning four lipidomics datasets from core laboratories generated using each institution's in-house LC-MS instrumentation and methods. We also introduce batchCombine, an application of the metabCombiner framework for aligning experiments composed of multiple batches. metabCombiner is available as an R package on Github and Bioconductor, along with a new online version implemented as an R Shiny App.

In this study, a rapid and accurate optical axis alignment technique of a reflective beam expander composed of convex and concave off-axis parabolic mirrors was established by using (a) five parallel lasers and (b) shear interferometry. The five parallel lasers are placed on the top, bottom, left, and right sides, and center of the disc fixture, forming a circular symmetrical distribution and parallel to each other. Since the convex and concave off-axis parabolic mirrors are both confocal systems, the central laser of the five parallel laser beams is incident along the optical axis of the reflective beam expander, and the surrounding four beams diverge outward after the first reflection of the convex off-axis parabolic mirror, and these diverging laser beams converge inward after the second reflection of the concave off-axis parabolic mirror, so that the four output beams are parallel to each other, maintaining a circular distribution and a large diameter, but the divergence angle is relatively small relative to the incidence. The optical plate with excellent parallelism is placed in front of the collimated beam at an angle of 45°. The reflected beams on both sides of the optical plate are expected to interfere. In this study, this shear interferometry method was used to measure the collimation of a parallel beam after passing through a reflective beam expander. In this experiment, a HeNe laser was used as the light source, and its wavelength and beam diameter were 0.6328 μm and 3 mm, respectively. The test sample is a beam expander with a magnification of 2× and an incident beam diameter of 3 mm. After 30 repeated tests, the experimental results showed that the beam diameter increased to 5.78 mm and that the magnification accuracy was 96.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study aims to examine the effect of alignment on the listening and speaking continuation task (LSCT). A total of 47 Chinese L2 English learners were recruited as participants for the study. They were divided into two groups and were instructed to complete two separate continuation tasks with different input languages (English and Chinese). The scripts of oral continuation performed by the participants were analyzed from four aspects: word frequency, accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The results indicated that the effect of alignment exists in LSCT, especially in terms of lexicon and accuracy. When conducting English LSCT, participants tended to use more frequently the words that appeared in the audio story and paid more attention to the morphological characteristics of words, and participants achieved higher accuracy when the input language was English. However, there was no significant difference in terms of fluency and complexity between English and Chinese LSCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the traditional teaching paradigm is reversed in Flipped Classroom Model (FCM), it has the potential to empower the teacher to allocate more valuable face-to-face classroom time for productive language tasks. Digital flipped course contents encourage the students and the teacher to take advantage of becoming a member in an online learning community and engage in a social-constructive learning approach. Such a profound shift from the traditional teaching and learning paradigm may influence the identity progression of L2 teachers. This longitudinal study aims to explore the ramifications of flipped grammar teaching on four L2 teachers' identity progression over the course of two academic years within the three fundamental modes of belonging for identity formation, namely engagement, alignment, and imagination, identified by Wenger (1999) at tertiary level. Methodological triangulation was adopted to boost the transferability and reliability of the findings. Semi-structured interviews provided in-depth insights into the four L2 teachers' relational thinking about flipped grammar teaching and their professional identity progression. The data also included four hours of classroom observations to witness the real-life implications of teachers' accounts. The twofold data was analyzed using deductive content analysis. The results indicated that English teachers need to make long lasting and conscious efforts towards a reconciliation between their existing identities and FCM. The teachers not only need to find accommodation strategies to ensure better integration of reluctant students into FCM but also overcome their own accuracy-based exam anxiety as they redefine their grammar identities incorporating FCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Femorotibial angle (FTA) is a convenient measure of coronal knee alignment that can be extracted from a short knee radiograph, avoiding the additional radiation exposure and specialist equipment required for full‐leg radiographs. While intra‐ and inter‐reader reproducibility from the same image has been reported, the full scan–rescan reproducibility across images, as calculated in this study, has not. Methods: In this study, 4589 FTA measurement pairs from 2586 subjects acquired a year apart were used to estimate FTA scan–rescan reproducibility using data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Subjects with radiographic progression of osteoarthritis or other conditions that may cause a change in coronal knee alignment were excluded. Measurement pairs were analysed using paired‐samples t tests to detect differences and compared to symptomatic changes in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index scores for joint pain, stiffness and physical function to detect correlations. Results: The 95% limit of agreement and the paired‐samples correlation were calculated with high precision to be [−1.76°, +1.78°] and 0.938, considerably worse than the corresponding figures for intra‐ and inter‐reader reproducibility, without relation to symptomatic or radiographic changes in knee condition. This error will weakly attenuate R2 and r values from their true values in correlative studies involving FTA. The realistic maximum value for R2 is 87% and for Pearson's r is 93%. Conclusion: The scan–rescan reproducibility in FTA is almost double the intra‐ and inter‐reader reliability from a single scan. At almost ±2° accuracy, FTA is inappropriate for surgical use, but it is sufficiently reproducible to produce good correlations in studies predicting disease incidence and progression. Level of Evidence: Level II, retrospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Whether the longevity of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) differs between postoperative phenotypes has not been investigated. This study aims to examine which phenotype has a worse long‐term survival rate than the reference phenotype (neutral alignment‐parallel joint line), and whether joint‐line obliquity (JLO) affects the survivorship of TKA. Methods: A total of 945 knees that underwent primary TKAs for primary osteoarthritis from January 2000 to January 2009 were included. These were classified into nine postoperative phenotypes based on the combined assessment of the hip–knee–ankle (HKA) angle and JLO, measured on standing radiographs. The 5‐, 10‐ and 15‐year survival rates were analysed using Kaplan–Meier methods and log‐rank tests. The long‐term survival rates of each phenotype were compared with the reference phenotype. Results: There were 55 aseptic mechanical failures within a period of 10.4 ± 5.0 years. The most frequently observed phenotypes were the reference phenotype (n = 527), neutral alignment‐lateral joint‐line inclination (n = 162), varus alignment‐lateral joint‐line inclination (n = 104) and varus alignment‐parallel joint line (n = 101). The overall failure rate for each phenotype was 3.6%, 3.7%, 18.3% and 7.9%, respectively. Only the 10‐ and 15‐year survival rates of the varus alignment‐lateral joint‐line inclination phenotype were significantly different from those of the reference phenotype (97%–93% vs. 90%–69%; p = 0.017, <0.001). Conclusion: The lateral joint‐line inclination phenotype had an inferior long‐term survival rate after varus‐aligned TKA. This suggested that alignment and JLO affected the long‐term survival rate of patients who underwent TKA. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective cohort study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persian polar questions are characterized by a rise-fall followed by a low F0 plateau and a final rise. A production experiment was designed which systematically manipulated question length and the position of stress in the nuclear accented word in the question. Results revealed that distances between tones can strongly affect their scaling and alignment in predictable manner. With respect to scaling, our data show that the postnuclear low F0 target is realized considerably higher in short questions in which tonal crowding is more acute. This scaling adjustment of the L affects the following H tone, such that the final H is realized higher in tonal space, relative to the other crowding contexts. The results for duration show that in short questions, syllable duration is significantly lengthened so that there is room for tonal targets to be realized. In addition, the alignment data in this study suggest that crowding contexts incrementally affect the temporal adjustment of tonal targets. In some circumstances, tonal crowding results in anticipatory retraction of tones, while in others it results in carry-over tonal displacement depending on the direction of the prosodic pressure. These results can best be explained in an auto-segmental approach to intonational phonology in which intonation contours are treated as strings of distinct high and low tones associated with specific elements in the segmental string. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design. A multicentric retrospective study. Objective. The study of center of mass (COM) locations (ie, barycentremetry) can help us understand postural alignment. The goal of this study was to determine relationships between COM locations and global postural alignment x-ray parameters in healthy subjects. The second objective was to determine the impact on the spinopelvic alignment of increased distance between the anterior body envelope and spine at the lumbar apex level. Summary of Background Data. Unexplored relationship between COM location and spinopelvic parameters. Methods. This study included healthy volunteers with full-body biplanar radiographs, including body envelope reconstruction, allowing the estimation of COM location. The following parameters were analyzed: lumbar lordosis (LL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), cervical lordosis (CL), pelvic tilt (PT), sacro-femoral angle (SFA), knee flexion angle (KFA), and sagittal odontoid-hip axis angle (ODHA). The following COM in the sagittal plane were located: whole body, at a thoracolumbar inflection point, and body segment above TK apex. The body envelope reconstruction also provided the distance between the anterior skin and the LL apex vertebral body center ("SV-L distance"). Results. This study included 124 volunteers, with a mean age of 44 ±19.3. Multivariate analysis confirmed the posterior translation of COM above TK apex with increasing LL (P=0.002) through its proximal component and posterior shift of COM at the inflection point with increasing TK (P=0.008). Increased SV-L distance was associated with greater ODHA (r= 0.4) and more anterior body COM (r=0.5), caused by increased TK (r=0.2) and decreased proximal and distal LL (both r= 0.3), resulting in an augmentation in SFA (r=0.3) (all P< 0.01). Conclusions. Barycentremetry showed that greater LL was associated with a posterior shift of COM above the thoracic apex, while greater TK was correlated with more posterior COM at inflection point. Whole-body COM was strongly correlated with ODHA. This study also exhibited significant alignment disruption associated with increased abdominal volume, with compensatory hip extension. Level of Evidence. Level-II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American political elites have increasingly polarized over the past decades, which has inspired much research into mass polarization. We study whether there is a generational component to mass polarization by disentangling period, age, and cohort differences while distinguishing two forms of mass polarization: partisan sorting and ideological divergence. Drawing from General Social Survey and American National Election Studies data, we find that partisan sorting has increased across long-standing and emerging issues, while ideological divergence has not. Contrary to expectations, over-time increases in sorting are clearly driven by changes within generations rather than by generational replacement. On several issues, newer generations turn out to be less sorted than those they replace. This tentatively suggests that, partially as a consequence of demographic changes, generational replacement will gradually lead to less polarization in American public opinion as it converges toward more liberal positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The threat from possible future superintelligent AI has given rise to discussion of the so-called “value alignment problem”. This is the problem of how to ensure artificially intelligent systems align with human values, and thus (hopefully) mitigate risks associated with them. Naturally, AI value alignment is often discussed in relation to morally relevant values, such as the value of human lives or human wellbeing. However, solutions to the value alignment problem target all human values, not only morally relevant ones. Is there a value alignment problem in other domains? In this paper, I explore whether the AI value alignment problem extends beyond morally relevant values to include aesthetic values. I demonstrate that the value alignment problem as typically framed includes aesthetic values, and, using examples from computer vision, put forward that AI may be misaligned with human values in the artistic realm. Whilst misalignment may be cause for concern when considering AI creativity, I argue that aesthetic value is a case in which we do not want AI to be fully aligned with human values. In doing so, I offer support to Peterson’s moderate value alignment thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The India–US relationship has often been described as a defining partnership. But the nature of the friendship in actuality is yet to assume depth. Despite convergences at multiple levels, it falls short of a true strategic partnership or deep friendship. The India–US relationship is neither a trusted nor an assured economic or security partnership. It is often tested by the vagaries of real-time issues, especially involving other great powers. That is why, despite signing the civilian nuclear deal, foundational agreements, being members of the Quad and Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, and with the common objective of containing the rise of China, they are unable to work closely together on myriad bilateral, international and regional issues. There are differences over matters of primary interests and the type of partnership that each wants to establish. The United States was insensitive to Indian concerns in its abrupt drawdown from Afghanistan in 2021, sub-continental security threats emanating from the China–Pakistan axis and its continued military support to Pakistan. India's neutral stand (read in the United States as being pro-Russian) in the Ukraine crisis marked by its abstention from voting against Russia in the UN and purchase of Russian oil despite strong objections from the US-led Western camp are cases in point. We argue that India's US policy is a case of limited balancing dictated by compulsions and lacks depth. For rising India, a continued desire for strategic autonomy and multi-alignment—the post-non-alignment foreign policy principles—guides its foreign policy orientation. For Washington, a deeper relationship would imply India abandoning its visions of strategic autonomy and joining more formally in Washington's orbit. These core national objectives of the two countries limit the level of partnership they can forge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Assess the comparative accuracy and reliability of postoperative toric intraocular lens (TIOL) alignment measurement methods: Casia2 and Adobe Photoshop with digital slit lamp images (PS method). Methods: In a study of 41 subjects with 58 eyes postimplantation of TIOL, we independently measured TIOL alignment with Casia2 and PS methods. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC1,1) was employed to assess the repeatability of the Casia2 method. While ICC2,1 for absolute agreement and Bland–Altman analysis were utilized to determine the interdevice agreement between the two methods, the regression analysis was conducted to identify any proportional bias. Results: Casia2 demonstrated excellent intradevice repeatability with an ICC1,1 of 0.998. The absolute agreement between Casia2 and PS was very high with an ICC2,1 of 0.999. The average discrepancy between the two measurement methods was −0.828°, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) ranging from −1.623° to −0.032°. The 95% limits of agreement (LoA) were between −6.761° and 5.105°, indicating a strong concordance in TIOL alignment measurements. Casia2 was capable of accurately measuring the TIOL axis alignment under conditions of pupil diameters (PDs) of 4 mm or greater. Conclusion: Casia2 and PS demonstrated significant concordance in measuring postoperative TIOL alignment, with Casia2 offering a more straightforward and accessible alternative, particularly beneficial for patients with suboptimal pupil dilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In unforeseen situations, such as nuclear power plant's or civilian radiation accidents, there is a need for effective and computationally inexpensive methods to determine the expression level of a selected gene panel, allowing for rough dose estimates in thousands of donors. The new generation in-situ mapper, fast and of low energy consumption, working at the level of single nanopore output, is in demand. We aim to create a sequence identification tool that utilizes natural language processing techniques and ensures a high level of negative predictive value (NPV) compared to the classical approach. Results: The training dataset consisted of RNA sequencing data from 6 samples. Multiple natural language processing models were examined, differing in the type of dictionary components (word length, step, context) as well as the encoding length and number of sequences required for algorithm training. The best configuration analyses the entire sequence and uses a word length of 3 base pairs with one-word neighbor on each side. For the considered FDXR gene, the achieved mean balanced accuracy (BACC) was 98.29% and NPV was 99.25%, compared to minimap2's performance in a cross-validation scenario. The next stage focused on exploring the dictionary components and attempting to optimize it, employing statistical techniques as well as those relying on the explainability of the decisions made. Reducing the dictionary from 1024 to 145 changed BACC to 96.49% and the NPV to 98.15%. Obtained model, validated on an external independent genome sequencing dataset, gave NPV of 99.64% for complete and 95.87% for reduced dictionary. The salmon-estimated read counts differed from the classical approach on average by 3.48% for the complete dictionary and by 5.82% for the reduced one. Conclusions: We conclude that for long Oxford nanopore reads, a natural language processing-based approach can reliably replace classical mapping when there is a need for fast, reliable and energy and computationally efficient targeted mapping of a pre-defined subset of transcripts. The developed model can be easily retrained to identify selected transcripts and/or work with various long-read sequencing techniques. Our results of the study clearly demonstrate the potential of applying techniques known from classical text processing to nucleotide sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta4CBC is proposed as an innovative metamodel for competency-based curriculum design in higher education, addressing the critical need to adapt curricula to contemporary challenges driven by globalization, technological advancement, and climate change. Inspired by the Business Motivation Model and Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules metamodels, Meta4CBC seeks to overcome the limitations of current CBCD models by providing a coherent structure that integrates curriculum components at supra, macro, meso, micro, and nano levels and establishes a common language that facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration. The proposal promotes curriculum alignment and coherence while supporting the development of software tools to assist in curriculum design, automate repetitive tasks, and provide data analysis for informed decision-making. The validation of Meta4CBC was conducted through a multi-step methodology involving proof of concept, expert judgment, and practical application. After defining the components through a systematic literature review, the metamodel was tested in the Computer Engineering program at the University of La Frontera. This testing verified its adaptability and alignment across curriculum levels. Experts from various Chilean universities reviewed the model, providing feedback for refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent shifts in nursing education towards generic proficiencies pose challenges to the unique demands of mental health nursing education. Student mental health nurses at the authors' higher education institution (HEI) have provided service feedback that has expressed the difficulties they have encountered. This article examines the issues faced by students, assessors and educators in interpreting and applying the proficiency standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Addressing the complexities of mental health nursing education, as well as the barriers to learning and attainment, requires a collaborative effort and innovative solutions if HEIs are to successfully prepare future mental health nurses to meet the evolving demands of their role. The proposed solution is a 'Proficiency Directory', which provides structured resources for mental health nursing students to align learning experiences with assessment criteria, facilitating a more comprehensive and meaningful learning journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogel electrolytes have been widely explored in aqueous zinc‐iodine batteries (AZIBs), in light of their intrinsic strong water‐retention capability and superior flexibility of hydrogel network. However, hydrogel‐based AZIBs are still facing challenges due to the inferior ionic conductivity, dendrite formation, and corresponding fatigue‐induced damage. Herein, a hydrogel electrolyte is designed and engineered with preferentially aligned porous structures, where Zn2+ can promptly transport along the pores. AZIBs fabricated from the hydrogel electrolyte exhibited distinct cycling stability over 1,000 h (500 cycles) at 0.5 mA cm−2. Moreover, in light of the substantially improved mechanical robustness, the hydrogel electrolyte network remained intact over a 27,000‐cycle charging/discharging test at 5 A g−1, with a slight change in capacity, surpassing most previously reported AZIBs. Such kind of hydrogel electrolyte‐based AZIBs can be further explored as the flexible power system for wearable devices, enabling significantly accelerated wound healing through electrical stimulation over the epidermal wounds. This work sheds light on hydrogel electrolytes design for long‐life aqueous zinc‐based batteries, with great potential as power systems for wearable and implantable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being ubiquitously used, the concept of alignment remains inchoate. Existing literature offers more than 30 interpretations of the term and very few attempts to develop an objective indicators-based metric of alignment. This state of the field makes assessments of the degree to which states are aligned problematic. This article systematises the theoretical knowledge about alliances, alignments, strategic partnerships, and other forms of cooperation and draws on some empirical observations to develop a 'stadial model of alignment formation' (SMAF). The model conceptualises, operationalises, measures, and explains interstate alignment with greater precision and consistency. It also includes the explanatory factors in the form of the three balances – the balance of power, the balance of threat, and the balance of interest – and connections between them located along the stages of alignment formation. As such, the SMAF framework gauges the relative scale and depth of strategic alignments and can facilitate comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current one-stage object detection methods use dense prediction to generate classification and regression results at the same point on the feature map. Due to the different task attributes, classification and regression are typically trained using separate detection heads, which may result in different feature areas being focused on. However, they ultimately act on the same object, especially in the post-processing stage, where we hope they have the same performance. This inherent contradiction can seriously affect the performance of the detector. To solve this problem, we propose a flexible and effective decouple and align classification and regression one-stage object detector (DAOD), based on different aspects to decouple and align the two subtasks. Specifically, we first propose a regression subtask spatial decouple module to solve the regression spatial sensitivity problem by efficiently sampling the information of the regression result map to strengthen localization. Then, we propose a dynamic aligned label assignment strategy for sample selection, guiding the network to focus on more aligned features during training. Finally, we introduce harmonic supervision to align results while ensuring the independence of the respective task. With the negligible additional overhead, extensive experiments on the COCO dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our DAOD. Notably, DAOD with ResNeXt-101-64 × 4d-DCN backbone achieves 50.0 AP at single-model single-scale testing on MS-COCO test-dev. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the diachrony of Latin P-labile verbs (verbs that can be used transitively and intransitively with the preservation of the Patient and without a formal change), availing itself from evidence in medical and veterinary texts from the first to seventh century AD. The first part of the analysis discusses the influence of verbal semantics on the domain of lability in these texts and how lability developed as a diathetic strategy for the anticausative, the causative and the passive in Latin. Special attention is paid to the increase of P-lability as an anticausative strategy and its relation to the mediopassive and reflexive anticausative strategies in Late Latin. The second part of the analysis proposes a new explanation for the increase of P-lability in Latin and discusses the consequences of the development of a semantic-based alignment in Late Latin (the extended accusative) on the syntax and development of P-labile verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid chitosan-based nanocomposite was fabricated by chitin nanowhiskers coupled with silanized Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a polyelectrolyte membrane for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The morphological evaluations articulated that the magnetite nanoparticles were uniformly attached to the chitin nanowhiskers. After characterization of the synthesized nanowhiskers, they were incorporated into the chitosan, as a polycationic electrolyte, to investigate the performance of nanocomposite for DMFC applications. An external magnetic field was applied to the magnetic chitin nanowhiskers to induce alignment, and the effects of aligned nanowhiskers, as well as random ones, were also studied. The magnetic chitin nanowhiskers positively influenced the water uptake and proton conductivity due to the formation of hydrogen bonds between the surface functional groups of nanowhiskers and free water molecules. On the other hand, methanol permeation of the chitosan nanocomposites was reduced regarding the tortuous pathways and narrower transportation channels by the presence of nanowhiskers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phonological assimilation phenomena are often restricted by morphological boundaries. This paper presents data from Mgira in order to argue that both root boundaries and affix boundaries serve to block assimilation processes such as nasal place assimilation and postnasal voicing. The result is that assimilation may obtain, but only within morphemes, not across them. This is analysed as confirmation of the power of the CrispEdge constraints proposed by Itô and Mester (1999) to take precedence over general markedness constraints, blocking feature spreading across morphological boundaries. The analysis is claimed to yield the same effect as a Morpheme Structure Constraint, limiting the force of a constraint to within the boundaries of morphemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Resolution of crowding remains a chief concern for patients seeking orthodontic treatment. The choice of the initial aligning archwire is crucial for achieving treatment success. Nickel-titanium (NiTi) archwires have been the first choice since their introduction. Multi-force archwires are a recent development that claims to deliver optimal orthodontic force tailored to specific teeth. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficiency of SmartArch® archwires with conventional and thermoelastic NiTi. METHODOLOGY: Thirty-nine patients were randomly allocated into three groups (group 1: NiTi, group 2: Cu-NiTi, and group 3: SmartArch®). Only patients with Little's irregularity index of >4 mm were included. Study models were fabricated at each time interval of four weeks (T0, T1, T2, and until decrowding). The reduction in the irregularity score was calculated and analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Kaplan-Meier method to create a survival curve, and Mantel-Cox log-rank test to compare survival times. RESULTS: The Little's irregularity index reduced with treatment in all patients, irrespective of the groups, with no significant difference (P = 0.467) in the reduction among the groups evaluated. On average, it took 10.77 ± 2.52 weeks for group 1, 11 ± 4.22 weeks for group 2, and 9.54 ± 2.6 weeks for group 3. Patients with rotated canines took a longer duration to achieve decrowding, irrespective of the archwires used. CONCLUSION: This study found no clinically significant difference in the efficiency of decrowding among the archwires. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Institutional Ethical Committee (IGIDSIEC2021NRP13PGTHODO) and registered under the Clinical Trial Registry (CTRI/2021/09/036859) of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bodywork applied to vocal technique is an increasingly used tool in teaching practice. However, there is little research that can provide evidence of its effectiveness. This research is an exploratory and descriptive case study that investigates the self-perception of 14 voice major students after receiving a bodywork program. The main objective is to analyze if a bodywork program designed for singers affects the emission and vocal quality and, therefore, may be a good pedagogical tool in voice education. The body-mind method applied is the Méthode de Libération de Cuirasse © (MLC). To conduct the intervention, the participants performed different vocal tasks and answered a questionnaire to reveal their perceptions in relation to vocal emission, body balance, frame of mind, and degree of well-being before and after each of the sessions of bodywork. Two months after the last session, a second questionnaire was administered and a free narrative of the lived experience of participants was collected for subsequent analysis and interpretation. Results showed more comfort when singing, greater harmonic richness, greater facility in the high register, and better breath control as well as an improvement in general well-being and state of the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For magnetic field orientation of nonstructures to become a viable method to create high performance multifunctional nanocomposites, it is of paramount importance to develop a method that is easy to implement and that can induce long‐range uniform nanostructural alignment. To overcome this challenge, inspired by low field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology, a highly uniform, high field strength, and compact magnetic‐field nanostructure orientation methodology is presented for polymeric nanocomposites using a Halbach array, for the first time. Potential new advances are showcased for applications of graphene polymer composites by considering their electro‐thermal and antibacterial properties in highly oriented orthogonal morphologies. The high level of anisotropy induced in the graphene nanocomposites studied stands out through: 1) up to four decades higher electrical conductivities recorded in comparison to their randomly oriented counterparts, at concentrations where the latter show minimal improvements compared to the unfilled polymer; 2) over 1200% improvement in thermal conductivity, 3) antibacterial surfaces at field benchmark levels with lower filler content and with the added versatility of arbitrary orientation of the nanofillers. Overall, the new method and variations thereof can open up new horizons for tailoring nanostructure and performance for virtually all major nanocomposite applications based on graphene and other types of fillers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces a novel architecture for value, preference, and boundary alignment in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI systems, accompanied by an experimental implementation. It addresses the limitations in AI model trustworthiness stemming from insufficient comprehension of personal context, preferences, and cultural diversity, which can lead to biases and safety risks. Using an inductive, qualitative research approach, we propose a framework for personalizing AI models to improve model alignment through additional context and boundaries set by users. Our framework incorporates user-friendly tools for identification, annotation, and simulation across diverse contexts, utilizing prompt-driven semantic segmentation and automatic labeling. It aims to streamline scenario generation and personalization processes while providing accessible annotation tools. The study examines various components of this framework, including user interfaces, underlying tools, and system mechanics. We present a pilot study that demonstrates the framework's ability to reduce the complexity of value elicitation and personalization in LLMs. Our experimental setup involves a prototype implementation of key framework modules, including a value elicitation interface and a fine-tuning mechanism for language models. The primary goal is to create a token-based system that allows users to easily impart their values and preferences to AI systems, enhancing model personalization and alignment. This research contributes to the democratization of AI model fine-tuning and dataset generation, advancing efforts in AI value alignment. By focusing on practical implementation and user interaction, our study bridges the gap between theoretical alignment approaches and real-world applications in AI systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid crystal films play a key role in advancing next-generation optical and photonic devices that require a precise in-plane modulation of optical anisotropy. This study employs multiphoton direct laser writing, a high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) printing method, to fabricate pseudoperiodic patterns of lines and grooves on glass surfaces for the in-plane alignment of liquid crystal films. Single layers of lines with submicron thickness and line spacing were fabricated in less than half an hour and forced the in-plane alignment of a liquid crystal film with a thickness of about 10 μm. We validate the method on patterns with singular topologies designed to induce the nucleation of disclination defects with a predetermined spatial arrangement, orientation, and topological strength. Compared to other surface patterning methods, high-resolution 3D printing provides the unique advantage of direct surface fabrication, enabling the creation of nonflat geometries such as terraces and lenses and expanding the design and functionalities of liquid crystal devices. We anticipate that this method will be used to create thin-film devices such as polarization gratings, beam steerers, and q-plates for manipulating polarized and structured light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of strand (S‐) and final (F‐) electromagnetic stirring (EMS) on solidification structure characteristic of a φ690 mm continuously cast round bloom has been investigated industrially and theoretically. The newly designed S1‐EMS equipped just below the foot zone takes great effect on both equiaxed ratio and distribution alignment, as well as central porosity. Larger current S1‐EMS leads to higher equiaxed ratio, more symmetrical equiaxed zone, and smaller diameter of central porosity, and the effect is much more obvious than conventional S2‐EMS and F‐EMS. It is also noticed that there should be a saturation effect of S1‐EMS on the promotion of equiaxed dendrite nucleation. The S2‐EMS is beneficial for the expanding of equiaxed zone and improving of central porosity. When S1‐EMS is weak, strong S2‐EMS results in more asymmetrical equiaxed zone. However, when S‐EMS is strong, strong S2‐EMS results in more symmetrical distribution of equiaxed zone. The F‐EMS takes a little impact on the expanding of equiaxed zone in the large‐sized round bloom, and almost no effect on the alignment. The central porosity, however, is improved by F‐EMS with the help of decrease in temperature gradient and compensation of solidification contraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative Filtering (CF) plays a crucial role in modern recommender systems, leveraging historical user-item interactions to provide personalized suggestions. However, CF-based methods often encounter biases due to imbalances in training data. This phenomenon makes CF-based methods tend to prioritize recommending popular items and performing unsatisfactorily on inactive users. Existing works address this issue by rebalancing training samples, reranking recommendation results, or making the modeling process robust to the bias. Despite their effectiveness, these approaches can compromise accuracy or be sensitive to weighting strategies, making them challenging to train. Therefore, exploring how to mitigate these biases remains in urgent demand. In this article, we deeply analyze the causes and effects of the biases and propose a framework to alleviate biases in recommendation from the perspective of representation distribution, namely Group-Alignment and Global-Uniformity Enhanced Representation Learning for Debiasing Recommendation (AURL). Specifically, we identify two significant problems in the representation distribution of users and items, namely group-discrepancy and global-collapse. These two problems directly lead to biases in the recommendation results. To this end, we propose two simple but effective regularizers in the representation space, respectively named group-alignment and global-uniformity. The goal of group-alignment is to bring the representation distribution of long-tail entities closer to that of popular entities, while global-uniformity aims to preserve the information of entities as much as possible by evenly distributing representations. Our method directly optimizes both the group-alignment and global-uniformity regularization terms to mitigate recommendation biases. Please note that AURL applies to arbitrary CF-based recommendation backbones. Extensive experiments on three real datasets and various recommendation backbones verify the superiority of our proposed framework. The results show that AURL not only outperforms existing debiasing models in mitigating biases but also improves recommendation performance to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that synovial inflammation plays a pivotal role in knee osteoarthritis. Although biomechanical findings have shown that medial open-wedge proximal tibial osteotomy (OWPTO) decreases medial compartment loading by correcting knee alignment, the relationship between knee alignment and synovial inflammation in the biological microenvironment has not yet been elucidated. Purposes: To investigate the relationship between preoperative and postoperative knee alignment and synovial gene expression and to determine the cutoff point of postoperative knee alignment at which gene expression of synovial inflammation improves. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 36 patients with osteoarthritis who underwent OWPTO between June 2018 and May 2020 were enrolled. Synovial tissue was collected from affected knees during initial OWPTO and plate removal surgeries, and gene expression associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis in the synovial tissue was investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The correlation between weightbearing line ratio (WBLR) and synovial gene expression was determined. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the cutoff values of WBLR for improving gene expression. The participants were divided into 2 groups, according to the cutoff values of their WBLR, and compared according to Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and synovial gene expression. Results: Postoperative WBLR was correlated with gene expression of interleukin 1β (IL1B) (ρ = −0.43; P =.008) and of interleukin 6 (IL6) (ρ = −0.41; P =.01). The cutoff value to predict improvement of IL6 was postoperative WBLR of 52%, with an area under the curve of 0.74 (P =.03). Patients with WBLR of <52% showed higher postoperative inflammatory gene (IL1B [ P =.04] and IL6 [ P =.03]) and inferior postoperative KOOS values compared with those with WBLR of >52%. Conclusion: The novel cutoff alignment for biological improvement after OWPTO in patients with medial compartment osteoarthritis was determined to be WBLR of 52%, and WBLR of <52% was associated with higher residual intra-articular inflammation and poor clinical outcomes. After accounting for surgical errors, the surgeon should set the target surgical alignment so that the postoperative WBLR does not fall below 52%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In addition to the integrity of the meniscal hoop function, both the anterior and posterior meniscus roots as well as the meniscotibial and meniscofemoral ligaments are crucial in restraining meniscal extrusion. However, the interaction and load sharing between the roots and these peripheral attachments (PAs) are not known. Purposes: To investigate the influence of an insufficiency of the PAs on the forces acting on a posterior medial meniscus root repair (PMMRR) in both neutral and varus alignment and to explore whether meniscal centralization reduces these forces. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: In 8 fresh-frozen human cadaveric knees, an arthroscopic transosseous root repair (step 1) was performed after sectioning the posterior root of the medial meniscus. The pull-out suture was connected to a load cell to allow measurement of the forces acting on the root repair. A medial closing-wedge distal femoral osteotomy was performed to change the mechanical axis from neutral to 5° of varus alignment. The meniscus was completely released from its PAs (step 2), followed by transosseous arthroscopic centralization (step 3). Each step was tested in both neutral and varus alignment. The specimens were subjected to nondestructive dynamic varus loading under axial compression of 300 N in 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, and 60° flexion. The changes in force acting on the PMMRR were statistically analyzed using a mixed linear model. Results: Axial loading in neutral alignment led to an increase of the force of root repair of 3.1 ± 3.1 N (in 0° flexion) to 6.3 ± 4.4 N (in 60° flexion). In varus alignment, forces increased significantly from 30° (3.5 N; 95% CI, 1.1-5.8 N; P =.01) to 60° (7.1 N; 95% CI, 2.7-11.5 N; P =.007) flexion, in comparison with neutral alignment. Cutting of the PAs in neutral alignment led to a significant increase of root repair forces in all flexion angles, from 7.0 N (95% CI, 1.0-13.0 N; P =.02) to 9.1 N (95% CI, 4.1-14.1 N; P =.003), in comparison with the intact state. Varus alignment significantly increased the forces in the cut states from 4.8 N (95% CI, 1.0-8.5 N; P =.02) to 11.1 N (95% CI, 4.2-18.0 N; P =.006) from 30° to 60° flexion, in comparison with the neutral alignment. Arthroscopic centralization led to restoration of the native forces in both neutral and varus alignment, with no significant differences between the centralized and intact states. Conclusion: An insufficiency of the PAs of the medial meniscus, as well as varus alignment, led to increased forces acting on a PMMRR. These forces were reduced via an arthroscopic meniscal centralization. Clinical Relevance: Performing arthroscopic meniscal centralization concomitantly with PMMRR may reduce failure of the repair by reducing the load of the root. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While existing adult spinal deformity (ASD) alignment schemas acknowledge the dynamic relationship between the pelvis and spine, consideration of vertebral pelvic angles (VPA) thresholds for PJK may provide further insight into the relationship of each individual vertebra to the pelvis, which may allow for greater individualization of operative targets. Herein, we examine VPA's utility in preventing mechanical complications and its possible unification with prevalent scoring systems. Methods: In a retrospective cohort study of a prospectively collected database, operative ASD patients ≥ 18 years with complete baseline (BL) and two-year (Y) operative, radiographic, and health-related quality of life data were included. Descriptive analyses, means comparison, and logistic regression tests were applied to explore demographic and surgical differences, as well as the impact of alignment goals on outcomes. Cohorts were grouped as patients who met VPA non-PJK thresholds, as defined by Duvvuri et al. 2023 alone versus traditional GAP/SAAS alignment matching versus combined VPA + SAAS + GAP. The Non-PJK VPA validated mean for L1PA was 10.4 ± 7.0 and T9PA 8.9 ± 7.5. Results: 398 patients met inclusion criteria (mean age 61 ± 14 years, 78% female, BL BMI 27 ± 6, BL CCI 2 ± 2). At baseline, mean vertebral pelvic angles were as follows: T1PA: 24 ± 14; T4PA 20 ± 13, T9PA 15 ± 12, L1PA 11 ± 10, L4PA 11 ± 6. Mean vertebral pelvic angles at 6 W postoperatively: T1PA 16 ± 10, T4PA 12 ± 10, T9PA 8 ± 9, L1PA 9 ± 8, L4PA 11 ± 5. 240 (60%) patients attained optimal L1PA, while 104 patients (26.1%) reached non-PJK mean for T9PA. 89 patients (22%) were optimal by both VPA standards. VPA-Optimal group demonstrated significantly lower rates of 1Y PJK (17% v 83%, p = 0.042) and PJF by 2Y (7% v. 93%, p = 0.038). When patients attained VPA goals in addition to GAP/SAAS goals at 6 W, they demonstrated significantly lower rates of Y1 PJK (p = 0.026) and Y1 and Y2 PJF. Those with optimal VPA registered greater SRS-22 scores across multiple domains (p < 0.02) as well as a greater rate of normal neurological examination at 6 W (p = 0.048). Conclusions: Vertebral pelvic angles are a reliable measure of global alignment, and respecting certain targets may help prevent development of PJK/PJF. The value of VPA can be augmented through integration with GAP/SAAS frameworks to prevent complications and improve quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial social stratification research conceptualizes education as a series of standard transitions from one stage to the next, such as from high school to college. Yet less research examines mandatory transitions within each educational stage, which we call "intermediate educational transitions." In this article, we examine a crucial intermediate transition in U.S. higher education, shifting from an undeclared to a declared major by major declaration deadlines, to provide a novel perspective on educational transitions. Bridging theoretical approaches from symbolic interactionism, social stratification, structural functionalism, and neo-institutionalism, we argue that successful major declaration transitions depend on students' individual-level alignment between socially structured actions and culturally informed goals and organization-level alignment between organizational intentions and organizational actions. We use longitudinal interview data paired with 4.5 years of administrative records to assess this argument, finding that both individual- and organization-level alignment contribute to whether students experience seamless, stalled and restarted, or persistently stalled major declaration transitions. We further find that access to compensatory college organizational support determines whether stalled students can restart their major declaration trajectories. These findings indicate that colleges and universities can help to mitigate inequality in intermediate transitions by providing timely, high-quality support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between postoperative alignment and clinical outcomes after double-level osteotomy (DLO) has not been clarified. Purpose: To examine the radiological and clinical outcomes after DLO and specifically evaluate the influence of the joint-line convergence angle (JLCA) on the accuracy of alignment correction and surgical outcomes. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Included were 74 knees in 51 patients (mean age, 61.0 years) who underwent DLO for varus osteoarthritic knees and who had a minimum of 2 years of follow-up. The target hip-knee-ankle angle (HKAA) for the intended limb alignment was set to 1° valgus. The lateral distal femoral angle, medial proximal tibial angle, JLCA, and HKAA were measured on preoperative and postoperative radiographs. Outliers in alignment correction were defined as a deviation of ≥3° from the originally intended HKAA. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). In the data analysis, the influence of the radiological parameters on the postoperative outcomes was statistically assessed. Results: Radiological and clinical evaluation at 2-year follow-up showed significant improvement from preoperative values (P <.001). The HKAA was corrected from 13.4°± 3.0° varus preoperatively to 0.5°± 2.8° varus at 2 years, indicating a slight undercorrection. Regarding clinical outcomes, significant pre- to postoperative improvement was found on the KOOS (from 185.0 ± 71.2 to 387.9 ± 70.5; P <.001). Overall, 22 of the 74 knees (29.7%) were deemed to be outliers at the 2-year follow-up (19 knees [25.7%] in undercorrection, 3 knees [4.1%] in overcorrection). Postoperative KOOS values were significantly worse in the outliers than in the nonoutliers (344.4 ± 77.7 vs 405.8 ± 59.3; P <.001), and both pre- and postoperative JLCA was significantly larger in the outlier group. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated a preoperative cutoff JLCA of 6.0° for predicting postoperative alignment outliers. Conclusion: A preoperative JLCA of ≥6° was found to be a significant prognostic factor affecting the radiological and clinical outcomes after DLO for varus osteoarthritic knees by compromising the accuracy of deformity correction, resulting in suboptimal postoperative alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract As the traditional teaching paradigm is reversed in Flipped Classroom Model (FCM), it has the potential to empower the teacher to allocate more valuable face-to-face classroom time for productive language tasks. Digital flipped course contents encourage the students and the teacher to take advantage of becoming a member in an online learning community and engage in a social-constructive learning approach. Such a profound shift from the traditional teaching and learning paradigm may influence the identity progression of L2 teachers. This longitudinal study aims to explore the ramifications of flipped grammar teaching on four L2 teachers’ identity progression over the course of two academic years within the three fundamental modes of belonging for identity formation, namely engagement, alignment, and imagination, identified by Wenger (1999) at tertiary level. Methodological triangulation was adopted to boost the transferability and reliability of the findings. Semi-structured interviews provided in-depth insights into the four L2 teachers’ relational thinking about flipped grammar teaching and their professional identity progression. The data also included four hours of classroom observations to witness the real-life implications of teachers’ accounts. The twofold data was analyzed using deductive content analysis. The results indicated that English teachers need to make long lasting and conscious efforts towards a reconciliation between their existing identities and FCM. The teachers not only need to find accommodation strategies to ensure better integration of reluctant students into FCM but also overcome their own accuracy-based exam anxiety as they redefine their grammar identities incorporating FCM.

As next-generation sequencing technologies advance rapidly and the cost of metagenomic sequencing continues to decrease, researchers now face an unprecedented volume of microbiome data. This surge has stimulated the development of scalable microbiome data analysis methods and necessitated the incorporation of phylogenetic information into microbiome analysis for improved accuracy. Tools for constructing phylogenetic trees from 16S rRNA sequencing data are well-established, as the highly conserved regions of the 16S gene are limited, simplifying the identification of marker genes. In contrast, metagenomic and whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing involve sequencing from random fragments of the entire gene, making identification of consistent marker genes challenging owing to the vast diversity of genomic regions, resulting in a scarcity of robust tools for constructing phylogenetic trees. Although bacterial sequence tree construction tools exist for upstream bioinformatics, many downstream researchers—those integrating these trees into statistical models or machine learning—are either unaware of these tools or find them difficult to use due to the steep learning curve of processing raw sequences. This is compounded by the fact that public datasets often lack phylogenetic trees, providing only abundance tables and taxonomic classifications. To address this, we present a comprehensive review of phylogenetic tree construction techniques for microbiome data (16S rRNA or whole-genome shotgun sequencing). We outline the strengths and limitations of current methods, offering expert insights and step-by-step guidance to make these tools more accessible and widely applicable in quantitative microbiome data analysis.

Abstract Background In unforeseen situations, such as nuclear power plant’s or civilian radiation accidents, there is a need for effective and computationally inexpensive methods to determine the expression level of a selected gene panel, allowing for rough dose estimates in thousands of donors. The new generation in-situ mapper, fast and of low energy consumption, working at the level of single nanopore output, is in demand. We aim to create a sequence identification tool that utilizes natural language processing techniques and ensures a high level of negative predictive value (NPV) compared to the classical approach. Results The training dataset consisted of RNA sequencing data from 6 samples. Multiple natural language processing models were examined, differing in the type of dictionary components (word length, step, context) as well as the encoding length and number of sequences required for algorithm training. The best configuration analyses the entire sequence and uses a word length of 3 base pairs with one-word neighbor on each side. For the considered FDXR gene, the achieved mean balanced accuracy (BACC) was 98.29% and NPV was 99.25%, compared to minimap2’s performance in a cross-validation scenario. The next stage focused on exploring the dictionary components and attempting to optimize it, employing statistical techniques as well as those relying on the explainability of the decisions made. Reducing the dictionary from 1024 to 145 changed BACC to 96.49% and the NPV to 98.15%. Obtained model, validated on an external independent genome sequencing dataset, gave NPV of 99.64% for complete and 95.87% for reduced dictionary. The salmon-estimated read counts differed from the classical approach on average by 3.48% for the complete dictionary and by 5.82% for the reduced one. Conclusions We conclude that for long Oxford nanopore reads, a natural language processing-based approach can reliably replace classical mapping when there is a need for fast, reliable and energy and computationally efficient targeted mapping of a pre-defined subset of transcripts. The developed model can be easily retrained to identify selected transcripts and/or work with various long-read sequencing techniques. Our results of the study clearly demonstrate the potential of applying techniques known from classical text processing to nucleotide sequences.

Aims: This study aims to describe a new method that may be used as a supplement to evaluate humeral rotational alignment during intramedullary nail (IMN) insertion using the profile of the perpendicular peak of the greater tuberosity and its relation to the transepicondylar axis. We called this angle the greater tuberosity version angle (GTVA). Methods: This study analyzed 506 cadaveric humeri of adult patients. All humeri were CT scanned using 0.625 × 0.625 × 0.625 mm cubic voxels. The images acquired were used to generate 3D surface models of the humerus. Next, 3D landmarks were automatically calculated on each 3D bone using custom-written C++ software. The anatomical landmarks analyzed were the transepicondylar axis, the humerus anatomical axis, and the peak of the perpendicular axis of the greater tuberosity. Lastly, the angle between the transepicondylar axis and the greater tuberosity axis was calculated and defined as the GTVA. Results: The value of GTVA was 20.9° (SD 4.7°) (95% CI 20.47° to 21.3°). Results of analysis of variance revealed that females had a statistically significant larger angle of 21.95° (SD 4.49°) compared to males, which were found to be 20.49° (SD 4.8°) (p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study identified a consistent relationship between palpable anatomical landmarks, enhancing IMN accuracy by utilizing 3D CT scans and replicating a 20.9° angle from the greater tuberosity to the transepicondylar axis. Using this angle as a secondary reference may help mitigate the complications associated with malrotation of the humerus following IMN. However, future trials are needed for clinical validation. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2024;5(10):929–936.

AbstractBackground and purpose: In the globalized world, the development and gain of power and wealth is always the main concern of governments that are formed based on people's votes. In the literature, when it comes to the relationship between national development and foreign policy, the role of foreign policy in realizing the development goals of a country is often examined from the perspective of developed countries; However, the context of countries does not allow the use of a single approach, especially from the perspective of developing countries. Therefore, this research seeks to examine the theoretical basis of the alignment of foreign policy and national development from the perspective of development administration and provide a framework for decision-making at the policy-making level.Methodology: This research is of a qualitative type, with a method of meta-sythesis. The sources of information used in the research are articles published in internal databases including; the comprehensive database of Iranian human sciences, Magsiran and Noormags, and international data base of EBSCOConclusion: Iran's national development requires a holistic approach and not just an economic one, and accordingly, special policies and strategies in foreign policy. This framework can be a basis for policymakers' planning in order to create comprehensive development plan from the perspective of development administration theories and its link with foreign policy in the country.Introduction In the globalized world, the national development and increase of national power and wealth has always been the main concern of governments that are established based on public votes. Reviewing the literature, the relationship between national development and foreign policy has been mainly studied from developed countries’ perspective mainly focusing on the role of foreign policy in supporting the development in developing countries; however, it is crystal clear that the unique domestic features of each country’s environment does let the whole world taking the same approach in the process of modernization and realizing national development, particularly when it comes to developing countries. Therefore, this research seeks to examine the theoretical origin and background of the alignment between foreign policy and national development based on not only theories of foreign policy but also theories coming from development administration from developingMaterials and Methods The method of the research is meta-synthesis which brings together qualitative data to create a new interpretation and analysis of the theoretical background of the research fields. The main sources of information used in the research are articles published in two domestic databases including the comprehensive Database of Iranian countries’ perspective and subsequently provide a framework for decision-making and decision-taking at the policy-making level using meta- synthesis approach. Sciences, Magiran and noormags and international databases of EBSCO. After collecting the published articles from main sources, based on research protocols defined by the researchers, the related studies were selected for being reviewed.Discussion and results After reviewing the results of the selected studies, the relevant theories appropriate to the situation of developing countries were categorized and combined. These theories include world syntropic system, critical globalism and the Copenhagen school. Directly influenced by syntropic theory, the interconnection between foreign policy (politics) and national development (policy-making) can be directed toward development administration and development-oriented foreign policy in different layers of diplomacy, economics, society, security and peace keeping, governance, state-market as well as environment management while mutually affecting each other.Conclusion Iran's national development requires an inclusive approach and not just focusing on economic development and subsequently, it requires defining special policies and strategies in the field of foreign policy, which then can be positively or negatively affect the development. In the present study, this time, the relationship between development and foreign policy has been examined from the lens of development administration under public administration and how it interacts with the global environment in the context of foreign policy was examined. One of the innovations of this study is creating a coherent theoretical background for the nexus of development administration and political science in the field of foreign policy. The obtained framework takes a more comprehensive perspective toward development in different dimensions and not only economic and growth. In addition to creating a theoretical basis in the link between the two fields of development and foreign policy, another feature of the above framework is that it has examined the link between these two fields from the perspective of developing and South countries; An issue that has not been addressed to this date, because whenever there is talk of development and foreign policy in the literature, it has been referred to the use of foreign policy tools for development assistance to developing countries from the perspective of developed countries. The proposed framework can be a basis for evaluating the performance of country in convergence of the two fields of development administration and foreign policy toward realization of national development goals and a basis for policymakers' planning in order to realize the inclusive development based on the theories of development administration and its interconnection with foreign policy.

Abstract Background In total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the practical use of patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) has been reported previously with both advantage and disadvantage. The application of artificial intelligent (AI) forces overwhelmingly development of medical industries, while the impact of AI on PSI efficiency remains unknown. Thus, this study aimed to assess the efficiency of Intelligent-PSI (i-PSI) in TKA, compared with the conventional instrumentation-TKA (CI). Methods 102 late-stage OA patients who met inclusive criteria were recruited in this prospective randomized controlled trial and separated into two groups (i-PSI vs. CI). In both groups, an AI preoperative planning engine was applied for surgery decision making. In CI group, conventional instrumentation was applied for bony resection, while resection of i-PSI group was completed with i-PSI. A convolutional neural network was applied to automatically process computer tomography images and thus produced i-PSI. With the help of three-dimension printing, the workflow of production was largely simplified. AI-driven preoperative planning guided resection and alignment decisions. Resection measurement, perioperative radiography and perioperative clinical outcomes were analyzed to verify efficiency of i-PSI. Results In resection outcomes, smaller deviation of lateral and medial distal femoral resection were found in i-PSI group than CI group (P = 0.032 and 0.035), while no difference was found in other resection planes. In radiography outcomes, postoperative coronal alignments of i-PSI group, including postoperative Hip–knee–ankle axis (HKA) (P = 0.025), postoperative HKA outliners (P = 0.042), Femoral coronal alignment (FCA) (P = 0.019) and Joint line convergence angle (JLCA) (P = 0.043) showed closer to neutral position than CI group. Moreover, Femoral sagittal alignment (FSA) of i-PSI group showed closer to neutral position than CI group(P = 0.005). No difference was found in other alignments. In clinical outcomes, i-PSI group seemed to cost more surgical time than CI group (P = 0.027), while others showed no differences between the two groups. Conclusion Intelligent Patient-specific Instrumentation in TKA achieved simplified production flow than conventional PSI, while also showed more accurate resection, improved synthesis position and limb alignment than conventional instrumentation. Above all, this study proved that i-PSI being an applicable and promising tool in TKA.

Abstract Objective This study aims to quantitatively assess the relationship between the patella alignment and morphology and knee osteoarthritis (KOA), as well as the kinematics and kinetics of the knee, using gait analysis. Methods Eighty age-matched patients with KOA and control subjects were evaluated. Incident radiographic osteoarthritis (iROA) was identified using a Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade of ≥ 2. The modified Insall-Salvati ratio (Mod-ISR), patellar tilt angle (PTA), and patella index (PI) were utilized to evaluate the sagittal and transverse alignment of the patella and its morphology, respectively. Regression analyses were conducted to explore associations between patellar measurements and KOA, iROA, kinematics, and kinetics. Results Significant differences were observed between the control and KOA groups in terms of KL grade, patella alta, abduction angle, and reaction force to the ground (P 0.05, respectively). Conclusion This study provides further evidence that proper alignment and morphology of the patella might be associated with maintaining normal biomechanical function. In addition, intervention measures targeting relevant patellar parameters, such as Mod-ISR, PTA, and PI, may positively impact KOA treatment outcomes.

Abstract Minimizing negative impacts of Artificial Intelligent (AI) systems on human societies without human supervision requires them to be able to align with human values. However, most current work only addresses this issue from a technical point of view, e.g., improving current methods relying on reinforcement learning from human feedback, neglecting what it means and is required for alignment to occur. Here, we propose to distinguish strong and weak value alignment. Strong alignment requires cognitive abilities (either human-like or different from humans) such as understanding and reasoning about agents’ intentions and their ability to causally produce desired effects. We argue that this is required for AI systems like large language models (LLMs) to be able to recognize situations presenting a risk that human values may be flouted. To illustrate this distinction, we present a series of prompts showing ChatGPT’s, Gemini’s and Copilot’s failures to recognize some of these situations. We moreover analyze word embeddings to show that the nearest neighbors of some human values in LLMs differ from humans’ semantic representations. We then propose a new thought experiment that we call “the Chinese room with a word transition dictionary”, in extension of John Searle’s famous proposal. We finally mention current promising research directions towards a weak alignment, which could produce statistically satisfying answers in a number of common situations, however so far without ensuring any truth value.

Abstract Background Spatial transcriptomics (ST) is advancing our understanding of complex tissues and organisms. However, building a robust clustering algorithm to define spatially coherent regions in a single tissue slice and aligning or integrating multiple tissue slices originating from diverse sources for essential downstream analyses remains challenging. Numerous clustering, alignment, and integration methods have been specifically designed for ST data by leveraging its spatial information. The absence of comprehensive benchmark studies complicates the selection of methods and future method development. Results In this study, we systematically benchmark a variety of state-of-the-art algorithms with a wide range of real and simulated datasets of varying sizes, technologies, species, and complexity. We analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each method using diverse quantitative and qualitative metrics and analyses, including eight metrics for spatial clustering accuracy and contiguity, uniform manifold approximation and projection visualization, layer-wise and spot-to-spot alignment accuracy, and 3D reconstruction, which are designed to assess method performance as well as data quality. The code used for evaluation is available on our GitHub. Additionally, we provide online notebook tutorials and documentation to facilitate the reproduction of all benchmarking results and to support the study of new methods and new datasets. Conclusions Our analyses lead to comprehensive recommendations that cover multiple aspects, helping users to select optimal tools for their specific needs and guide future method development.

The management and processing of synchrotron and neutron computed tomography data can be a complex, labor-intensive and unstructured process. Users devote substantial time to both manually processing their data (i.e. organizing data/metadata, applying image filters etc.) and waiting for the computation of iterative alignment and reconstruction algorithms to finish. In this work, we present a solution to these problems: TomoPyUI, a user interface for the well known tomography data processing package TomoPy. This highly visual Python software package guides the user through the tomography processing pipeline from data import, preprocessing, alignment and finally to 3D volume reconstruction. The TomoPyUI systematic intermediate data and metadata storage system improves organization, and the inspection and manipulation tools (built within the application) help to avoid interrupted workflows. Notably, TomoPyUI operates entirely within a Jupyter environment. Herein, we provide a summary of these key features of TomoPyUI, along with an overview of the tomography processing pipeline, a discussion of the landscape of existing tomography processing software and the purpose of TomoPyUI, and a demonstration of its capabilities for real tomography data collected at SSRL beamline 6-2c.

Background: In total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the practical use of patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) has been reported previously with both advantage and disadvantage. The application of artificial intelligent (AI) forces overwhelmingly development of medical industries, while the impact of AI on PSI efficiency remains unknown. Thus, this study aimed to assess the efficiency of Intelligent-PSI (i-PSI) in TKA, compared with the conventional instrumentation-TKA (CI). Methods: 102 late-stage OA patients who met inclusive criteria were recruited in this prospective randomized controlled trial and separated into two groups (i-PSI vs. CI). In both groups, an AI preoperative planning engine was applied for surgery decision making. In CI group, conventional instrumentation was applied for bony resection, while resection of i-PSI group was completed with i-PSI. A convolutional neural network was applied to automatically process computer tomography images and thus produced i-PSI. With the help of three-dimension printing, the workflow of production was largely simplified. AI-driven preoperative planning guided resection and alignment decisions. Resection measurement, perioperative radiography and perioperative clinical outcomes were analyzed to verify efficiency of i-PSI. Results: In resection outcomes, smaller deviation of lateral and medial distal femoral resection were found in i-PSI group than CI group (P = 0.032 and 0.035), while no difference was found in other resection planes. In radiography outcomes, postoperative coronal alignments of i-PSI group, including postoperative Hip–knee–ankle axis (HKA) (P = 0.025), postoperative HKA outliners (P = 0.042), Femoral coronal alignment (FCA) (P = 0.019) and Joint line convergence angle (JLCA) (P = 0.043) showed closer to neutral position than CI group. Moreover, Femoral sagittal alignment (FSA) of i-PSI group showed closer to neutral position than CI group(P = 0.005). No difference was found in other alignments. In clinical outcomes, i-PSI group seemed to cost more surgical time than CI group (P = 0.027), while others showed no differences between the two groups. Conclusion: Intelligent Patient-specific Instrumentation in TKA achieved simplified production flow than conventional PSI, while also showed more accurate resection, improved synthesis position and limb alignment than conventional instrumentation. Above all, this study proved that i-PSI being an applicable and promising tool in TKA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the pressing issue of ineffective traditional methods for monitoring wheel alignment in vehicles. The motivation stems from the limitations of manual inspection and the need for a more efficient and accurate solution. The aim is to develop a Smart Alignment Monitoring System that can provide real-time monitoring of alignment parameters. The objective is to enhance vehicle safety and performance by detecting misalignment issues early. The proposed solution involves the use of advanced sensor technologies integrated with vehicles' tire position. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Smart Alignment Monitoring System in reducing maintenance costs, improving fuel efficiency, and enhancing vehicle safety and performance. This study highlights the significance of adopting advanced technologies like Smart Alignment Monitoring Systems in the automotive industry to ensure safer and more efficient vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]