Accurate Implementation Research Articles

Ensuring treatment fidelity in intervention studies: Developing a checklist and scoring system within a behaviour change paradigm.

Treatment fidelity refers to the degree to which an intervention is implemented as intended. Promoting treatment fidelity is important to achieve a valid comparison in intervention research. However, it is often underreported: few studies detail the use and development of fidelity measures. This study aims to promote the treatment fidelity of a modified version of the Derbyshire Language Scheme (M-DLS), a manualised intervention for children with language difficulties, by exploring participants' opinions on training and intervention delivery. Results inform development of a checklist and scoring system to monitor and promote treatment fidelity in a comparison trial. Ten student speech and language therapists (SLTs) and two research assistants (RAs) participated in the study. All received training on the M-DLS, and 10 were video-recorded completing role-plays of an M-DLS session in small groups. Feedback was gathered after training and role-plays in focus groups and interviews. Feedback was interpreted using the constructs of the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). A treatment fidelity checklist was then developed using the feedback. The first author and two RAs rated role-play videos using the checklist to trial it to inform amendments and to promote interrater reliability. Interrater agreement was calculated using Spearman's test of correlation. Participants discussed the importance of having clear materials and time to practise sessions. They suggested amendments to the materials and training to promote treatment fidelity. The checklist and scoring system accounted for participants' suggestions, with amendments detailed in a log. Spearman's correlation results suggested agreement between the raters was strong. Results emphasise the importance of training quality, practice and reflective opportunities and clear materials to promote treatment fidelity. The construction of the checklist and scoring system was described in detail, informing the development of future checklists. After further trialling, the checklist can be used to ensure the M-DLS is delivered with high treatment fidelity in the comparison trial. What is already known on this subject Treatment fidelity is an essential component of intervention effectiveness and efficacy studies, ensuring the intervention is delivered as intended. It is also an essential component of evidence-based clinical practice. However, few research studies report the treatment fidelity process or publish the checklists used, depriving clinicians of useful information for implementation. What this study adds This study describes in detail the iterative process of treatment fidelity checklist development, engaging those implementing the intervention in development. This ensured clarity and interrater reliability of the checklist. Furthermore, a novel scoring system was developed so that accuracy of implementation can be easily compared across users and across practice attempts. What are the clinical implications of this work? The importance of treatment fidelity when implementing effective and efficacious interventions cannot be overstated. The treatment fidelity checklist developed for research can be easily adopted to support accurate implementation in clinical practice through an audit process.

Effect of Action Units, Viewpoint and Immersion on Emotion Recognition Using Dynamic Virtual Faces.

Facial affect recognition is a critical skill in human interactions that is often impaired in psychiatric disorders. To address this challenge, tests have been developed to measure and train this skill. Recently, virtual human (VH) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have emerged as novel tools for this purpose. This study investigates the unique contributions of different factors in the communication and perception of emotions conveyed by VHs. Specifically, it examines the effects of the use of action units (AUs) in virtual faces, the positioning of the VH (frontal or mid-profile), and the level of immersion in the VR environment (desktop screen versus immersive VR). Thirty-six healthy subjects participated in each condition. Dynamic virtual faces (DVFs), VHs with facial animations, were used to represent the six basic emotions and the neutral expression. The results highlight the important role of the accurate implementation of AUs in virtual faces for emotion recognition. Furthermore, it is observed that frontal views outperform mid-profile views in both test conditions, while immersive VR shows a slight improvement in emotion recognition. This study provides novel insights into the influence of these factors on emotion perception and advances the understanding and application of these technologies for effective facial emotion recognition training.

SPICE Modeling in Verilog-A for Photo-Response in UTC-Photodiodes Targeting Beyond-5G Circuit Design

This paper reports the first accurate and physicsbased Verilog-A implementation of the fully analytic form of photocurrent in SPICE compact models for uni-traveling carrier (UTC) photodiodes (PD). To overcome the limitations of single pole network implementations for modeling frequency dependence of the photo-response, especially at frequencies beyond 100 GHz, we explored different solutions for the complete analytic equation of the dynamic photocurrent. A new implementation has been proposed which requires three additional nodes in the UTC-PD electrical equivalent circuit and offers the best trade-off between accuracy and computational efficiency. Model validation has been performed against on-wafer measurements from two UTC-PD technologies depicting very good accuracy over the entire frequency range.

Closed-form analytic expressions for shadow estimation with brickwork circuits

Properties of quantum systems can be estimated using classical shadows, which implement measurements based on random ensembles of unitaries. Originally derived for global Clifford unitaries and products of single-qubit Clifford gates, practical implementations are limited to the latter scheme for moderate numbers of qubits. Beyond local gates, the accurate implementation of very short random circuits with two-local gates is still experimentally feasible and, therefore, interesting for implementing measurements in near-term applications. In this work, we derive closed-form analytical expressions for shadow estimation using brickwork circuits with two layers of parallel two-local Haar-random (or Clifford) unitaries. Besides the construction of the classical shadow, our results give rise to sample-complexity guarantees for estimating Pauli observables.We then compare the performance of shadow estimation with brickwork circuits to the established approach using local Clifford unitaries and find improved sample complexity in the estimation of observables supported on sufficiently many qubits.

Monitoring the ecological restoration effect of land reclamation in open-pit coal mining areas: An exploration of a fusion method based on ZhuHai-1 and Landsat 8 data

Land reclamation is a long-term, dynamic process; postreclamation monitoring and management are particularly important, and the use of remote sensing technology is a good way to conduct ecological quality monitoring and evaluations. In this study, we fused ZhuHai-1 and Landsat 8 data; selected the best band combinations to calculate ecological quality indicators such as the inverted red-edge chlorophyll index, modified soil moisture monitoring index, normalized difference built-up and soil index and land surface temperature; and constructed the fusion remote sensing ecological index to monitor the ecological restoration effect of the reclaimed area in Pingshuo, China. The results showed that the inverted red-edge chlorophyll index and modified soil moisture monitoring index had positive contributions, the normalized difference built-up and soil index had a low impact on the ecological quality of the study area, and the land surface temperature had a negative effect on ecological quality. The environment of the reclaimed area was better than that of the surrounding areas where these areas were affected by mining. The mean value of the fusion remote sensing ecological index showed a trend of “rising first, then falling” with increasing reclamation time. The ecological quality of the reclaimed area was best in areas with 20–22 years of reclamation time. The ecological condition of the area has been declining for 25 years or more of reclamation, so it is suitable to apply artificial intervention to ensure good ecological quality. The use of remote sensing technology for monitoring the effects of ecological restoration can provide a reference basis for the targeted and accurate implementation of land reclamation management measures.

A Converse for Fault-tolerant Quantum Computation

As techniques for fault-tolerant quantum computation keep improving, it is natural to ask: what is the fundamental lower bound on space overhead? In this paper, we obtain a lower bound on the space overhead required for ϵ-accurate implementation of a large class of operations that includes unitary operators. For the practically relevant case of sub-exponential depth and sub-linear gate size, our bound on space overhead is tighter than the known lower bounds. We obtain this bound by connecting fault-tolerant computation with a set of finite blocklength quantum communication problems whose accuracy requirements satisfy a joint constraint. The lower bound on space overhead obtained here leads to a strictly smaller upper bound on the noise threshold for noise that are not degradable. Our bound directly extends to the case where noise at the outputs of a gate are non-i.i.d. but noise across gates are i.i.d.

ANALISIS PENGIMPLEMENTASIAN AKUNTANSI ASET TETAP BERDASARKAN PSAK NO. 16 DI PT CAHAYA BINTANG MEDAN

Fixed assets are crucial elements in financial statements that require careful monitoring and accurate accounting implementation in accordance with PSAK No. 16 regarding recognition, acquisition, depreciation, disposal, and presentation. This research aims to identify the implementation of fixed accounting and its compliance with PSAK No. 16 at PT. Cahaya Bintang Medan. The study employs a qualitative descriptive method with the subject of research being the financial statements of PT. Cahaya Bintang Medan for the past three years, namely 2019-2021, and data is collected through secondary sources using documentation method. The research findings reveal that the implementation of fixed asset accounting at PT. Cahaya Bintang Medan is in line with PSAK No. 16 until stage of fixed asset depreciation. However, there is a discrepancy in the disposal or termination of fixed assets, as the assets that have been disposed of are not removed from the fixed asset register

Fruit Classification Based on Improved YOLOv7 Algorithm

With the rapid development of technology and advancements, unmanned vending machines have emerged as the primary contactless retail method. The efficient and accurate implementation of automated identification technology for agricultural products in their distribution and sales has become an urgent problem that needs to be addressed. This article presents an improved YOLOv7 (You Only Look Once) algorithm for fruit detection in complex environments. By replacing the 3×3 convolutions in the backbone of YOLOv7 with Deformable ConvNet v2(DCNv2), the recognition accuracy and efficiency of fruit classification in YOLOv7 are significantly enhanced. The results indicate that the overall recognition accuracy of this system for ten types of fruits is 98.3%, showcasing its high precision and stability.

Accuracy of on-site teleoperated milling with haptic assistance

PurposeIn bone surgery specialties, like orthopedics, neurosurgery, and oral and maxillofacial surgery patient safety and treatment success depends on the accurate implementation of computer-based surgical plans. Unintentional plan deviations can result in long-term functional damage to the patient. With on-site teleoperation, the surgeon operates a slave robot with a physically-decoupled master device, while being directly present at the operation site. This allows the surgeon to perform surgical tasks with robotic accuracy, while always remaining in the control loop.MethodsIn this study the master- and slave-side accuracy of an on-site teleoperated miniature cooperative robot (minaroHD) is evaluated. Master-side accuracy is investigated in a user study regarding scale factor, target feed rate, movement direction and haptic guidance stiffness. Scale factors are chosen to correspond to primarily finger, hand, and arm movements. Slave-side accuracy is investigated in autonomous milling trials regarding stepover, feed rate, movement direction, and material density.ResultsMaster-side user input errors increase with increasing target feed rate and scale factor, and decrease with increasing haptic guidance stiffness. Resulting slave-side errors decrease with increasing scale factor and are < 0.07 mm for optimal guidance parameters. Slave-side robot position errors correlate with the feed rate but show little correlation with stepover distance. For optimal milling parameters, the 95th percentile of tracked slave-side position error is 0.086 mm with a maximal error of 0.16 mm.ConclusionFor optimal guidance and milling parameters, the combined error of 0.23 mm is in the range of the dura mater thickness (< 0.27 mm) or mandibular canal wall (~ 0.85 mm). This corresponds to safety margins in high-demand surgical procedures like craniotomies, laminectomies, or decortication of the jaw. However, for further clinical translation, the performance and usability of on-site teleoperated milling must be further evaluated for real-life clinical application examples with consideration of all error sources in a computer-assisted surgery workflow.

An improved continuum surface tension model in SPH for simulating free-surface flows and heat transfer problems

The continuum surface force (CSF) model in conjunction with the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is commonly used in the simulation of multi-phase flows with surface tension effect. However, it cannot be directly applied for modeling free-surface flows since the normalization requirement, which states that the integral of the surface delta function through the interface should be equal to one, is violated due to the particle deficiency issue. In this work, we propose an improved CSF model based on the SPH method with the aim of recovering the normalization requirement. The particle deficiency issue at the free surface is tackled by introducing the jump in color function into the calculation of the surface delta function. As a result, the accuracy of the surface tension measurement is significantly improved without using the virtual particles. Besides, this improved CSF model also allows an accurate and efficient implementation of the Robin boundary condition which is frequently encountered in heat transfer problems. Several benchmark problems are investigated to validate the performance of the proposed method. The numerical results verify that the improved CSF model in SPH method is well capable of simulating free-surface flows and heat transfer problems.

Food Allergies and Parasites in Children.

The dynamically growing incidence of food allergies forces the scientific community to develop new methods for their diagnosis, differentiation, and effective treatment. Parasitoses appear much less frequently in the scientific literature, as well as among the presumed causes of numerous conditions. The similarity of inflammatory mechanisms in allergies and parasitosis necessitates a revision of current diagnostic standards. A lack of specificity and the coincidence of symptoms at an early stage of disease can lead to misdiagnosis. In this paper, we attempted to perform a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in symptoms for these two types of diseases. We described the molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways of food allergy and parasitosis. We presented the available research methods and directions of ongoing studies aimed at implementing precise medical techniques for differential diagnosis. We discussed the allergenic properties of certain parasite proteins, using the example of myofibrillar tropomyosins from the nematode Anisakis simplex. The literature in the fields of allergology and parasitology leads to the conclusion that it is reasonable to run parallel allergological and parasitological diagnostics in patients with non-specific symptoms. This approach will facilitate accurate and early diagnosis and implementation of effective therapy.

A new method for remaining useful life prediction by implementing joint learning of sensor dynamic graph and spatio-temporal features

Accurate implementation of remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of equipment is essential for health management and maintenance decisions. Advances in sensing and big data technologies have provided the possibility for research on data-driven life prediction methods. However, the current RUL prediction methods still need to improve in utilizing multi-source information. The present techniques consider more the relationship between the temporal information and RUL prediction among the multi-source information and rarely target the research and exploitation of the potential connection between sensor networks and RUL. Therefore, this paper proposes a spatio-temporal feature extraction network based on the sensor dynamic graph: DST-GT model. The method extracts the unidirectional relationship between sensors from monitoring data to construct a dynamic spatio-temporal graph reflecting the sensor relationship. The DST-GT model uses graph convolution based on message selection (MSGCN) to model the spatial dependencies of sensors, and uses multi-scale gated temporal convolution module (MGTCN) to model the temporal dependencies in sensor state monitoring data. In this paper, graph learning, graph convolution and temporal convolution modules are jointly learned in an end-to-end framework. The results on two widely used datasets and comparisons with other methods demonstrate the accuracy and advancement of DST-GT networks for RUL prediction.

Simplification and Accurate Implementation of State Evolution Recursion for Conjugate Gradient

Simplification and Accurate Implementation of State Evolution Recursion for Conjugate Gradient

Updates on the Status of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales in Lebanon.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) pathogens have been increasingly isolated and reported in Lebanon. Several studies have been published over the last two decades about the CRE situation in the country. However, compared to the worldwide data, those studies are scarce and mostly restricted to single center studies. In this review, we aim to present a comprehensive and reliable report illustrating the current situation regarding CRE in Lebanon. Variable studies have shown an increasing pattern of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacterales since the first reports of CRE isolates in 2007 and 2008. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most detected ones. The OXA-48 class D carbapenemases were the most prevalent carbapenemases among CRE isolates. Moreover, the emergence of other carbapenemases like the NDM class B carbapenemase has been noticed. Strict infection control measures in hospitals, including the identification of CRE carriers, are needed in Lebanese hospitals since carriage is a potential risk for the spread of CRE in healthcare settings. The dissemination of CRE in the community is noticed and attributed to multiple causes, such as the refugee crisis, water contamination, and antimicrobial misuse. In conclusion, strict infection control measures in healthcare settings, in addition to accurate antimicrobial stewardship program implementation, are urgently needed.

Design and feasibility of an Alzheimer's disease blood test study in a diverse community-based population.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) blood tests are likely to become increasingly important in clinical practice, but they need to be evaluated in diverse groups before use in the general population. This study enrolled a community-based sample of older adults in the St. Louis, Missouri, USA area. Participants completed a blood draw, Eight-Item Informant Interview to Differentiate Aging and Dementia (AD8® ), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and survey about their perceptions of the blood test. A subset of participants completed additional blood collection, amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR® ). Of the 859 participants enrolled in this ongoing study, 20.6% self-identified as Black or African American. The AD8 and MoCA correlated moderately with the CDR. The blood test was well accepted by the cohort, but it was perceived more positively by White and highly educated individuals. Studying an AD blood test in a diverse population is feasible and may accelerate accurate diagnosis and implementation of effective treatments. A diverse group of older adults was recruited to evaluate a blood amyloid test. The enrollment rate was high and the blood test was well accepted by participants. Cognitive impairment screens have moderate performance in a diverse population. Alzheimer's disease blood tests are likely to be feasible for use in real-world settings.

A Large-Scale Exome-Wide Association Study Identifies Novel Germline Mutations in Lung Cancer.

Rationale: Genome-wide association studies have identified common variants of lung cancer. However, the contribution of rare exome-wide variants, especially protein-coding variants, to cancers remains largely unexplored. Objectives: To evaluate the role of human exomes in genetic predisposition to lung cancer. Methods: We performed exome-wide association studies to detect the association of exomes with lung cancer in 30,312 patients and 652,902 control subjects. A scalable and accurate implementation of a generalized mixed model was used to detect the association signals for loss-of-function, missense, and synonymous variants and gene-level sets. Furthermore, we performed association and Bayesian colocalization analyses to evaluate their relationships with intermediate exposures. Measurements and Main Results: We systematically analyzed 216,739 single-nucleotide variants in the human exome. The loss-of-function variants exhibited the most notable effects on lung cancer risk. We identified four novel variants, including two missense variants (rs202197044TET3 [Pmeta (P values of meta-analysis) = 3.60 × 10-8] and rs202187871POT1 [Pmeta = 2.21 × 10-8]) and two synonymous variants (rs7447927TMEM173 [Pmeta = 1.32 × 10-9] and rs140624366ATRN [Pmeta = 2.97 × 10-9]). rs202197044TET3 was significantly associated with emphysema (odds ratio, 3.55; Pfdr = 0.015), whereas rs7447927POT1 was strongly associated with telomere length (β = 1.08; Pfdr (FDR corrected P value) = 3.76 × 10-53). Functional evidence of expression of quantitative trait loci, splicing quantitative trait loci, and isoform expression was found for the four novel genes. Gene-level association tests identified several novel genes, including POT1 (protection of telomeres 1), RTEL1, BSG, and ZNF232. Conclusions: Our findings provide insights into the genetic architecture of human exomes and their role in lung cancer predisposition.

Effectiveness of individualized 3D titanium-printed Orthognathic osteotomy guides and custom plates

BackgroundComputer-aided design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology was developed to improve surgical accuracy and minimize errors in surgical planning and orthognathic surgery. However, its accurate implementation during surgery remains a challenge. Hence, we compared the accuracy and stability of conventional orthognathic surgery and the novel modalities, such as virtual simulation and three-dimensional (3D) titanium-printed customized surgical osteotomy guides and plates.MethodsThis prospective study included 12 patients who were willing to undergo orthognathic surgery. The study group consisted of patients who underwent orthognathic two-jaw surgery using 3D-printed patient-specific plates processed by selective laser melting and an osteotomy guide; orthognathic surgery was also performed by the surgeon directly bending the ready-made plate in the control group. Based on the preoperative computed tomography images and intraoral 3D scan data, a 3D virtual surgery plan was implemented in the virtual simulation module, and the surgical guide and bone fixation plate were fabricated. The accuracy and stability were evaluated by comparing the results of the preoperative virtual simulation (T0) to those at 7 days (T1) and 6 months (T2) post-surgery.ResultThe accuracy (ΔT1‒T0) and stability (ΔT2‒T1) measurements, using 11 anatomical references, both demonstrated more accurate results in the study group. The mean difference of accuracy for the study group (0.485 ± 0.280 mm) was significantly lower than in the control group (1.213 ± 0.716 mm) (P < 0.01). The mean operation time (6.83 ± 0.72 h) in the control group was longer than in the study group (5.76 ± 0.43 h) (P < 0.05).ConclusionThis prospective clinical study demonstrated the accuracy, stability, and effectiveness of using virtual preoperative simulation and patient-customized osteotomy guides and plates for orthognathic surgery.

Role of Hypertension and Obesity as Risk Factors for IHD

Background: Hypertension and obesity are two major modifiable risk factors for CAD, most of the time there will be more than two risk factors in an IHD. Obesity itself cause insulin resistance to initiate type -2 DM. is the most common and significant RFs for IHD, and proper BP management is the cornerstone of both direct and indirect prevention. Overweight and obesity account for more than 80% of CHD patients. Obesity is sometimes viewed as a "minor" CHD RF; however, it is a widely effective risk-factor approach. A range of "major" risk factors have been proven to be significantly influenced by weight loss, including HTN, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance/T2DM. Aim: To assess arterial hypertension and obesity as risk factors of IHD. Methods: This cross-sectional study which was done retrospectively by collecting data from database of "Scientific Research Institute of Cardiology and Internal Diseases" Almaty city, Kazakhstan during 2020. IHD confirmed by history, physical exam, angiography and other lab findings. Result: The research involved a total of 649 participants. The mean age of study population was 64.2±9.24 (P = 0,000). Mean of SBP and DBP were 180.73±34.9; 99.48±14.28 mmHg respectively. Number of females with normal BMI 50(21.6%), overweight 93(40.10%), obesity class – 1, 59(25.4%), obesity class – 2, 23(9.90%) and obesity class – 3, 7(3%), (P = 0.486). Number of males with underweight BMI 1(0.20%), normal BMI 96(23%), overweight 190(45.6%), obesity class – 1, 89(21.3%), obesity class – 2, 29(7%) and obesity class – 3, 12(2.9%). (P = 0.486). The Mean BMI in both genders was (28.72±11.79). Conclusion: The burden of CVDs and their related risk factors are significant in Almaty, posing a major public health concern. For accurate management and implementation of preventive measures in this area, effective strategies in management, education, and healthcare centers are needed.

The Evaluation Method of Village Merger in Zhangjiakou

In order to optimize the layout of rural space, improve the living environment of rural areas, accurate implementation of village merging tasks is of great significance. In this study, with the help of statistical analysis methods such as fuzzy evaluation, the evaluation indexes were extracted and the weight values were calculated from two aspects: the development trend of the town outside the village and the basic development capacity inside the village, and an efficient village merger evaluation method was identified. Taking Zhangjiakou as an example, combining with its regional development policies and the related norms and standards, the author employed the village merger evaluation method to evaluate the merger conditions of the villages in Zhangjiakou, and established an evaluation index system of village merger to guide the formulation of village merger plans in Zhangjiakou. The empirical study has demonstrated that the village merger evaluation method can improve the efficiency and accuracy of town and village system planning, land use planning, as well as the development strategies of urban and rural areas.

PID-FUZZY Control System for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV): Highly Accurate FPGA Implementation

Because of the linear and nonlinear variations in the operating environment, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are one of the most difficult applications. The complexity of the control algorithm should be less for real-time implementation in a field programable gate array logic (FPGA) device. In this work, a highly accurate FPGA implementation of PID-Fuzzy control strategy is proposed for an AUV operation that is extremely precise. Parameters such as weight, water density, and depth are used to perform highly efficient and accurate control for the proposed system. A type II fuzzy logic controller and accompanying proportional-integral- derivative controller are used to confine pitch and depth boundaries. The proposed design is modeled using SIMULINK software, and Verilog code is generated using hardware description language coder from MATLAB. Xilinx software is used to synthesize the Verilog code for spartan FPGA. The proposed technique improves the accuracy and reduces the response time when compared to the conventional control strategy.