Higher Priority Research Articles

Determinants of Non-Performing Assets of Commercial Banks in India

Banks' credit growth continues to decelerate in India due to huge non-performing assets (NPAs) overhangs in banks. Using the panel data methodology, this study empirically analyzed the determinants of NPAs of scheduled commercial banks in India during 2009- 2020. Results indicated that the excessive credit growth in the past increased the surge in the current NPAS. The economic slowdown also aggravated loan delinquencies in Indian commercial banks. While higher priority sector lending created higher loan delinquencies, higher banks size and higher profitability reduced it. This study suggested that counter capital buffer, dynamic provisioning and a sound credit appraisal NPA improved the financial stability and monetary policy effectiveness. These findings will be useful for policymakers, bankers and other stakeholders to make appropriate strategies to resolve the NPA issue in India.

Which Micropollutants in Water Environments Deserve More Attention Globally?

Increasing chemical pollution of aquatic environments is a growing concern with global relevance. A large number of organic chemicals are termed as "micropollutants" due to their low concentrations, and long-term exposure to micropollutants may pose considerable risks to aquatic organisms and human health. In recent decades, numerous treatment methods and technologies have been proposed to remove micropollutants in water, and typically several micropollutants were chosen as target pollutants to evaluate removal efficiencies. However, it is often unclear whether their toxicity and occurrence levels and frequencies enable them to contribute significantly to the overall chemical pollution in global aquatic environments. This review intends to answer an important lingering question: Which micropollutants or class of micropollutants deserve more attention globally and should be removed with higher priority? Different risk-based prioritization approaches were used to address this question. The risk quotient (RQ) method was found to be a feasible approach to prioritize micropollutants in a large scale due to its relatively simple assessment procedure and extensive use. A total of 83 prioritization case studies using the RQ method in the past decade were compiled, and 473 compounds that were selected by screening 3466 compounds of three broad classes (pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides, and industrial chemicals) were found to have risks (RQ > 0.01). To determine the micropollutants of global importance, we propose an overall risk surrogate, that is, the weighted average risk quotient (WARQ). The WARQ integrates the risk intensity and frequency of micropollutants in global aquatic environments to achieve a more comprehensive priority determination. Through metadata analysis, we recommend a ranked list of 53 micropollutants, including 36 PPCPs (e.g., sulfamethoxazole and ibuprofen), seven pesticides (e.g., heptachlor and diazinon), and 10 industrial chemicals (e.g., perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and 4-nonylphenol) for risk management and remediation efforts. One caveat is that the ranked list of global importance does not consider transformation products of micropollutants (including disinfection byproducts) and new forms of pollutants (including antibiotic resistance genes and microplastics), and this list of global importance may not be directly applicable to a specific region or country. Also, it needs mentioning that there might be no best answer toward this question, and hopefully this review can act as a small step toward a better answer.

The role of employer/educator collaboration in improving the wellbeing of lawyers

ABSTRACT Well before Covid struck, wellbeing was already being taken seriously by organisations involved in both the education and employment of lawyers. Both groups were looking for ways to help lawyers keep themselves well, build their personal resilience and help them thrive in the profession. The crisis has added further impetus to those endeavours, and made wellbeing an even higher priority. This paper considers whether the chances of achieving those objectives would be increased if the two stakeholder groups collaborated more effectively, and what that collaboration might look like. Its focus is on the UK profession. It is written from the employer perspective, in particular that of large law firms based in the City of London. And it is primarily based on the first-hand experience of the author. It also considers the approach of other employers and the broader stakeholder community (including in the third sector), based on personal communications and published literature. It explains why those employers are taking lawyer wellbeing more seriously, what steps they have taken and which they believe are having a positive impact, and how the training of their future employees might be changed in order to help maintain their health. Its objective is to promote debate between educators and employees about what better collaboration might look like.

An Evaluation Model for Foreign Direct Investment Performance of Free Trade Port Zones

With the tendency of internationalisation and globalisation, signing regional economic agreements among multiple countries has become a trend. Under such an integration environment, some free economic zones with port transportation functions have become crucial for FDI (foreign direct investment) investors in selecting investment locations. The free trade port zone (FTPZ) is argued to be one of the most well-known. This paper aims to assess the FDI performance of FTPZs. On the basis of the FTPZ's features and relevant literature, assessment criteria (ACs) are initially identified. An evaluation model based on the fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) approach is then introduced to evaluate the FTPZs' FDI performance from foreign investors' viewpoints. Finally, the FTPZ of the Kaohsiung port in Taiwan was empirically investigated to verify the assessment model. Results point out that for the FTPZ of Kaohsiung port, ACs with higher priorities needing improvement are raw material acquired, local government efficiency, and political stability and social security. Theoretical and practical recommendations for the FTPZ managers are discussed based on the results.

In Silico Feasibility Study of Carbon Ion Radiotherapy With Simultaneous Integrated Boost for Head and Neck Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.

PurposeIn carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT), a simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) approach has not been fully exploited so far. The feasibility of a CIRT-SIB strategy for head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) patients was investigated in order to improve treatment planning dose distributions.Methods and MaterialsCIRT plans of 10 ACC patients treated at the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO, Pavia, Italy) with sequential boost (SEQ) irradiation and prescription doses of 41.0 Gy [relative biological effectiveness (RBE)]/10 fractions to low-risk (LR) clinical target volume (CTV) plus 24.6 Gy(RBE)/6 fractions to the high-risk (HR) CTV were re-planned with two SIB dose levels to the LR-CTV, namely, 48.0 Gy(RBE) and 54.4 Gy(RBE). While planning with SIB, the HR-CTV coverage had higher priority, with fixed organ-at-risk dose constraints among the SIB and SEQ plans. The homogeneity and conformity indexes were selected for CTV coverage comparison. The biologically effective dose (BED) was calculated to compare the different fractionation schemes.ResultsComparable HR-CTV coverage was achieved with the treatment approaches, while superior conformality and homogeneity were obtained with the SIB technique in both CTVs. With the SEQ, SIB48.0, and SIB54.4, the LR-CTV median doses were respectively 50.3%, 11.9%, and 6.0% higher than the prescriptions. Significant reductions of the median and near-maximum BEDs were achieved with both SIB dose levels in the LR-CTV.ConclusionsThe SIB approach resulted in highly conformal dose distributions with the reduction of the unintended dose to the LR-CTV. A prescription dose range for the LR-CTV will be clinically defined to offer tailored personalized treatments, according to the clinical and imaging characteristics of the patients.

Does self-perceived income priority matter? The association between income inequality and allostatic load in China

There is a scarcity of evidence about the association between income inequality and allostatic load (AL) across diverse population, which is critical to identify the downstream biological pathway of the inequality-health linkage. This study aimed to determine the association of income inequality with AL, and assess whether there are differences in such association between people with different perception of income priority. We utilized data from the 2006 and 2009 wave of China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). Multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between AL score and community Gini coefficient. Additionally, to investigate whether the association of income inequality and AL score would vary among individuals with different perception of income priority, a cross-level interaction term for Gini coefficient and self-perceived income priority was applied. Both the cross-sectional analysis in 2009 (coefficient = 0.081, p = .016) and the time-lagged analysis (0.106, 0.008) suggested that community-level Gini coefficient was positively associated with AL. Similar result was only found among individuals from low median income communities in subsample analysis. Additionally, the cross-level interaction between Gini coefficient and self-perceived income priority was significantly associated with AL among respondents from low-median income communities. There is a positive association between income inequality and AL among Chinese adults, with individual who perceived income as a higher priority in their life suffering more from income inequality. This study contributes to the increasing efforts and new perspective to understand the inner mechanism of both the detrimental effect of income inequality and the accumulation of AL.

Identification and prioritization of connected vehicle technologies for sustainable development in Iran

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new generation of technologies that not only improves efficiency and productivity but also fosters development across various industries. Given rapid population growth and its negative effects on society and the environment, the application of IoT technologies may be regarded as an opportunity to mitigate those negative impacts and increase sustainability. Among various innovations in wireless communication technologies, connected vehicle technologies (CVT) have received increased attention in recent years. However, there is a dearth of studies on CVT and their influences on the sustainability of transportation systems. Therefore, the identification of the most important applications of CVT in the context of sustainable development can provide useful insights for managers and policy-makers to improve the efficiency of transportation systems. To this end, 18 sustainability indicators in transportation systems are identified based on the literature review. The fuzzy DEMATEL-based analytical network process DANP is used to assess interrelationships among sustainability indicators and to determine the importance of each indicator. Then, fuzzy VIKOR is used to rank the CVT applications that would improve sustainability in transportation systems. The findings show that loss reduction, decision support systems, welfare applications, tourism, and entertainment have higher priorities than other applications of CVT in transportation. Finally, we discuss future research directions and managerial implementations of CVT for moving toward sustainable cities.

125. Antimicrobial Stewardship Hospital Activities to Promote Antibiotic Awareness Week 2019, Chicago, IL

BackgroundU.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) is an annual campaign to increase knowledge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threats and the importance of appropriate antibiotic use. USAAW will be observed November 18-24, 2021 in cadence with World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. MethodsIn October 2019, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) surveyed 25 Chicago acute care hospital (ACH) antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) via REDCap, an electronic data capture system, to assess their planned activities for USAAW in November 2019. Survey results from 14 (56%) respondent ACHs were collated and disseminated to all 25 ACHs prior to USAAW. ResultsACH ASP survey responses were categorized by ACH size: smaller hospitals (SH) < 350 beds (n=7) and larger hospitals (LH) > 350 beds (n=7) and displayed in the Table. Nine respondents were Infectious Disease (ID) Pharmacists, 3 were ID Physicians, 1 was an Administrator and 1 was an Infection Prevention Nurse. Among SHs, the ASP was funded for an ID Pharmacist salaried position (FTE) < 0.5 at 4 ACHs, 0.5 in 2, and 1 FTE at 1 ACH. LHs reported ID Pharmacist funding ranging from < 0.5 – 2.5 FTE, with the majority with 1 FTE at 3 LHs. All ACHs reported 0.5 FTE or less ID Physician support for their ASPs. Eleven (79%) of respondent ACHs did not report an annual budget for ASP activities. Ten (71%) ACHs disagreed or strongly disagreed that funding was adequate in the outpatient setting compared to inpatient both for adult and pediatric ASP services. Types of planned activities for USAAW included social media posts, provider education, digital displays, and/or go-live with a new antimicrobial policy. Top three barriers to ASP advancements were financial considerations (n=9), competing responsibilities for ASP leads (n=7), and tied for third was personnel shortages (n=6) and other clinical initiatives with higher priority (n=6). ConclusionPublic Health Departments can facilitate assessment of ACH ASPs within their jurisdiction to identify ways to advance the ASP agenda and combat AMR. A variety of strategies were used by Chicago ACHs to promote ASP initiatives during USAAW. Challenges continue with inadequate funding, especially in outpatient settings.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Delay-Aware Priority Access Classification for Massive Machine-Type Communication

Massive Machine-type Communications (mMTC) is one of the principal features of the 5th Generation and beyond (5G+) mobile network services. Due to sparse but synchronous MTC nature, a large number of devices tend to access a base station simultaneously for transmitting data, leading to congestion. To accommodate a large number of simultaneous arrivals in mMTC, efficient congestion control techniques like access class barring (ACB) are incorporated in LTE-A random access. ACB introduces access delay which may not be acceptable in delay-constrained scenarios, such as, eHealth, self-driven vehicles, and smart grid applications. In such scenarios, MTC devices may be forced to drop packets that exceed their delay budget, leading to a decreased system throughput. To this end, in this paper a novel delay-aware priority access classification (DPAC) based ACB is proposed, where the MTC devices having packets with lesser leftover delay budget are given higher priority in ACB. A reinforcement learning (RL) aided framework, called DPAC-RL, is also proposed for online learning of DPAC model parameters. Simulation studies show that the proposed scheme increases successful preamble transmissions by up to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$75 \%$</tex-math></inline-formula> while ensuring that the access delay is well within the delay budget.

Equitable global COVID-19 vaccine allocation and distribution: Obstacles, contrasting moral perspectives, ethical framework and current standpoints

Abstract Accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development represents an important accomplishment and a milestone in the history of vaccine evolution. However, the vaccine’s scarcity made its equitable global allocation and distribution ambiguous. Despite the initial pledges from wealthy countries for fairness and inclusivity towards the poorer ones, the policies followed diverged significantly. Wealthy countries have vastly superior access to vaccines in a reality likened to an ethical disaster. This paper calls for the need for fair global vaccine allocation and distribution and examines the barriers that were met along the way, originating from different points, such as the nationalistic approach on the matter that most wealthy countries have adopted or the inability of poor countries to purchase or manufacture vaccines. Further, a suggestion regarding the ethical principles and values that ought to guide global vaccine allocation and distribution is provided with a higher priority given to helping the worst-off, saving the most lives, protecting people in high risk, such as frontline healthcare professionals, and minimising social gaps, along with an ethical theoretical background for each prioritisation. It is not too late for wealthy countries to realise that vaccine inequity prolongs pandemics, so that they change their policies in favour of the global common good that will not only provide immediate universal benefits but will also serve as a guide for future pandemic crises.

Engaging citizens in the development of a health system performance assessment framework: a case study in Ireland

BackgroundThe launch in 2017 of the Irish 10-year reform programme Sláintecare represents a key commitment in the future of the health system. An important component of the programme was the development of a health system performance assessment (HSPA) framework. In 2019, the Department of Health of Ireland (DoH) and Health Service Executive (HSE) commissioned the technical support of researchers to develop an outcome-oriented HSPA framework which should reflect the shared priorities of multiple stakeholders, including citizens. This study describes the method applied in the Irish context and reflects on the added value of using a citizen panel in the development of an HSPA framework.MethodsA panel of 15 citizens was convened, recruited by a third-party company using a sampling strategy to achieve a balanced mix representing the Irish society. Panellists received lay-language preparatory materials before the meeting. Panellists used a three-colour scheme to signal the importance of performance measures. An exit questionnaire was administered to understand how participants experienced being part of the panel. The citizen panel was the first in a series of three panels towards the development of the HSPA framework, followed by panels including representatives of the DoH and HSE, and representatives from professional associations and special interest groups.ResultsThe citizen panel generated 249 health performance measures ranging across 13 domains. Top-ranking domains to the citizen panel (people-centredness, coordination of care, and coverage) were less prioritized by the other panels; domains less prioritized by the citizen panel, such as accessibility, responsiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness, were of higher priority in the other panels. Citizen panellists shared a similar understanding of what a citizen panel involves and described their experience at the panel as enjoyable, interesting, and informative.ConclusionsThe priorities of the citizen panel were accounted for during all phases of developing the HSPA framework. This was possible by adopting an inclusive development process and by engaging citizens early on. Citizen engagement in HSPA development is essential for realizing citizen-driven healthcare system performance and generating trust and ownership in performance intelligence. Future research could expand the use of citizen panels to assess, monitor, and report on the performance of healthcare systems.

Spectrum Sensing Implemented with Improved Fluctuation-Based Dispersion Entropy and Machine Learning.

Spectrum sensing is an important function in radio frequency spectrum management and cognitive radio networks. Spectrum sensing is used by one wireless system (e.g., a secondary user) to detect the presence of a wireless service with higher priority (e.g., a primary user) with which it has to coexist in the radio frequency spectrum. If the wireless signal is detected, the second user system releases the given frequency to maintain the principle of not interfering. This paper proposes a machine learning implementation of spectrum sensing using the entropy measure as a feature vector. In the training phase, the information about the activity of the wireless service with higher priority is gathered, and the model is formed. In the classification phase, the wireless system compares the current sensing report to the created model to calculate the posterior probability and classify the sensing report into either the presence or absence of wireless service with higher priority. This paper proposes the novel application of the Fluctuation Dispersion Entropy (FDE) measure recently introduced in the research community as a feature vector to build the model and implement the classification. An improved implementation of the FDE (IFDE) is used to enhance the robustness to noise. IFDE is further enhanced with an adaptive method (AIFDE) to automatically select the hyper-parameter introduced in IFDE. Then, this paper combines the machine learning approach with the entropy measure approach, which are both recent developments in spectrum sensing research. The approach is compared to similar approaches in literature and the classical energy detection method using a generated radar signal data set with different conditions of SNR(dB) and fading conditions. The results show that the proposed approach is able to outperform the approaches from literature based on other entropy measures or the Energy Detector (ED) in a consistent way across different levels of SNR and fading conditions.

Towards a sustainable road transportation system in urban areas: A case study of Owerri, Nigeria

Urban Areas in almost all cases develop outwards from the centre. Public facilities (schools, offices, markets) are usually located at about the centre while residential abodes radiate outwards. Such development pattern necessitates road transportation movement to the centre. This paper examines strategies that can be adopted to achieve the necessary movement in a sustainable manner for these urban areas, with Owerri Nigeria as a case study. A field study was conducted to ascertain the total passenger requirement, number and mix of passenger vehicles as well as measure three main road transport-induced air pollutants. The result of the field work showed existing commuter vehicles mix of 56.2:63.7: 19.6:1.6:1 for salons, wagons, mini-buses, coaster buses and big buses respectively, of a total of 85,950 vehicles. The survey also revealed ambient air pollutants level higher than the recommended standards. A new model was developed to achieve a vehicles remix of 10:33:53: 14:1 of same vehicle types and reduction in traffic volume and target air pollutants. The analyses showed that mini-buses and coaster buses have advantage over salon cars, wagon vehicles and big buses in terms of traffic congestions and pollutants release into the environment. The two bus types have least pollutants release per passenger carried. An optimal vehicle remix, which gives higher priority to these buses has been shown to reduce congestion by 40%, Carbon monoxide by 40%, Nitrogen Dioxide by 50% and Methane by 50%. Based on the findings, it is recommended that vehicular remix of 10:33:53:14:1, for salon: wagon: mini-buses: coaster buses: big buses be adopted for Owerri commuters’ transportation need. Some policy measures were put forward to help achieve this. The measures include an outright ban on use of low-passenger-carrying vehicles for commercial purposes.

Management of road transport-induced air pollution in urban areas: A case study of Owerri, Nigeria

Environmental concerns have continued to be on the increase as human activities soar. One such environmental concern is air pollution. A major contributor to air pollution is the road transportation activities. This paper sets out to provide a management strategy for air pollution owing to road transportation in urban areas, with Owerri Nigeria as a case study. A field study was conducted in Owerri to ascertain the total passenger requirement, number and mix of passenger vehicles as well as measure three main road transport-induced air pollutants at five locations in the city. The result of the field work showed existing commuter vehicles mix of 56.2:63.7: 19.6:1.6:1 of salons, wagons, mini-buses, coaster buses and big buses respectively, of a total of 85,950 vehicles and air ambient pollutants level higher than the recommended standards. A new model was developed to achieve a remix of 10:33:53: 14:1 of same vehicle types and reduction in traffic volume and target air pollutants. The analyses show that mini-buses and coaster buses have advantage over salon cars, wagon vehicles and big buses in terms of traffic congestions and pollutants release into the environment. The two bus types could be said to have least pollutants release per passenger carried. An optimal vehicle remix, which gives higher priority to these buses have been shown to reduce congestion by 40%, Carbon monoxide by 40%, Nitrogen Dioxide by 50% and Methane by 50%. It therefore recommends that vehicular remix of 10:33:53: 14:1, for salon: wagon: mini-buses: coaster buses: big buses be adopted for Owerri commuters’ transportation need. It concludes that governments should adopt economic instruments embedded in a “push and pull” strategy, leveraging on disincentive and incentive measures to skew road transportation to the use of mini and coaster buses as a deliberate means of reducing air pollution in cities.

Conceptual design and error analysis of a cable-driven parallel robot

AbstractThis paper develops the conceptual design and error analysis of a cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR). The earlier error analysis of CDPRs generally regarded the cable around the pulley as a center point and neglected the radius of the pulleys. In this paper, the conceptual design of a CDPR with pulleys on its base platform is performed, and an error mapping model considering the influence of radius of the pulleys for the CDPR is established through kinematics analysis and a full matrix complete differential method. Monte Carlo simulation is adopted to deal with the sensitivity analysis, which can directly describe the contribution of each error component to the total orientation error of the CDPR by virtue of the error modeling. The results show that the sensitivity coefficients of pulleys’ geometric errors and geometric errors of the cables are relatively larger, which confirms that the cable length errors and pulleys’ geometric errors should be given higher priority in design and processing.

Perspective of German medical faculties on digitization in the healthcare sector and its influence on the curriculum.

Background: The German healthcare sector is in the process of being disrupted by digitization. Universities are asked to reflect on the consequences and develop strategies to prepare their medical students for a digitalized health care sector. The current state of research does not systematically record the associated activities of individual medical faculties in Germany. Objective: This study was designed to survey the status-quo of how German medical faculties view the digitization progress and to what extend digital capability building is already integrated into the curricula.Methods: A questionnaire with three focus areas was developed: Firstly, the general view of the medical faculties on digitization; secondly, concrete measures to prepare students for digital change and thirdly, the overarching organizational and regulatory conditions. The data was collected through short, questionnaire-based telephone interviews among those responsible for the curriculum at their faculty. The datasets collected were anonymized and statistically evaluated. Results: 30 interviews were conducted. The majority of faculty representatives agreed that digitization will change the role of physicians (87% agreement). Changes caused by individual digitization trends were however viewed to be less likely, e.g., whether medical expertise will become less important due to digital assistance systems (20% agreement), whether physician positions will be replaced by robots and algorithms (7% agreement), or whether hierarchies in hospitals will flatten (13% agreement). Digitization was seen to be of major importance for medical studies (93% agreement). Associated content should be given a higher priority in the curriculum (87% agreement). Two-thirds of faculty representatives believed that overarching institutions such as politics and medical associations ought to have more concrete plans for implementing the digital transformation and that innovations should be implemented in practice faster.Conclusion: While most faculty representatives attach great importance to the digitization of the health care system for university education, various questions about structural teaching measures to prepare students for the digital change show that there is no uniform education of medical students for a digitized health care system. We were also able to show that most faculty representatives are dissatisfied with the regulatory and organizational conditions of digitization in the medical sector.

Challenges and opportunities for health policy and systems research funding in the Western Pacific region.

Mixed methods. A desk review was conducted relating to HPSR funding, followed by in-depth interviews. Eight countries and areas were selected to represent characteristics of different health systems. Literature reviews included an analysis of available data relating to HPSR funding and national research and development (R&D) budgets, between 2010 and 2019 (inclusive). In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 stakeholders using an approved interview guide, to assess the attitudes of HPSR funding decision makers towards HPSR, determinants for HPSR and health research funding decisions, and proposals to strengthen HPSR funding and output. There are four main characteristics of HPSR funding in the WPRO: 1) a general absence of studies on HPSR funding and its determinants; 2) no universally accepted understanding of HPSR; 3) an absence of granular health research funding data in general and for HPSR in particular; and 4) HPSR funding is generally perceived to be minimal. In-depth interviews show that HPSR has different interpretations and emphases across WPRO countries, leading to a fragmented landscape where decision makers generally favour biomedical or clinical research. Participants indicate that political involvement increases overall research funding, especially if there is a clear connection between funders, producers and HPSR users. Suggestions from participants to strengthen HPSR include: appropriately using central agencies to generate demand and raise HPSR as a national priority; adopting interdisciplinary HPSR; and building HPSR capacity and organisational structures. HPSR in the Western Pacific region is generally not well funded, with biomedical and public health research often perceived as a higher priority. Although funding is a crucial component of the quality, quantity and relevance of HPSR outputs, HPSR practitioners and organisations must also generate demand for HPSR, build capacity for increasing the quantity and quality of HPSR outputs, and build pathways to translate HPSR outputs into real-world policies.

Short-training Algorithm for Online Brain-machine Interfaces Using One-photon Microendoscopic Calcium Imaging.

Calcium imaging has great potential to be applied to online brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). As opposed to two-photon imaging settings, a one-photon microendoscopic imaging device can be chronically implanted and is subject to little motion artifacts. Traditionally, one-photon microendoscopic calcium imaging data are processed using the constrained nonnegative matrix factorization (CNMFe) algorithm, but this batched processing algorithm cannot be applied in real-time. An online analysis of calcium imaging data algorithm (or OnACIDe) has been proposed, but OnACIDe updates the neural components by repeatedly performing neuron identification frame-by-frame, which may decelerate the update speed if applying to online BMIs. For BMI applications, the ability to track a stable population of neurons in real-time has a higher priority over accurately identifying all the neurons in the field of view. By leveraging the fact that 1) microendoscopic recordings are rather stable with little motion artifacts and 2) the number of neurons identified in a short training period is sufficient for potential online BMI tasks such as cursor movements, we proposed the short-training CNMFe algorithm (stCNMFe) that skips motion correction and neuron identification processes to enable a more efficient BMI training program in a one-photon microendoscopic setting.

How do National Health Service (NHS) organisations respond to patient concerns? A qualitative interview study of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

ObjectivesTo describe the current work of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and assess the service’s potential to resolve concerns and contribute to organisational learning.DesignA qualitative study using semistructured...

The Design and Development of the i-Jury Management System

Handling an event requires a repetitive and complex task; from initial preparation until its conclusion. One of the important elements in an innovation event is the jurying process. The jurying process usually involves tasks with higher priority and must be completed in limited duration, usually within 4 to 5 days. The inexistence of inexpensive jurying information systems leads to the development of the i-Jury management system (i-Jury). The i-jury management system was developed based on PHP programming language, MySQL database, and jQuery. The development of the information system follows the System Development Lifecycle methodology. The findings show that the development of the information system speeds up the process of managing jury, project management, as well as speeding up the disbursement of results, comparing to previous traditional evaluation methods