Respective Categories Research Articles

Assessing the performance of non-specialised private hospitals in Malaysia - an upper-middle-income medical tourism destination country using the Pabón-Lasso model.

The government has rapidly promoted the privatisation of healthcare to improve systemic performance, based on the theory that markets improve efficiency. This study aims to measure the efficiency of private hospitals following their expansion and venture into the medical tourism industry through extensive governmental support. Inpatient utilisation of 101 private, non-specialised hospitals in Malaysia in 2014 and 2018 from the Health Informatics Centre, Ministry of Health Malaysia database was studied using paired samples t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Pabón-Lasso model. Better quantitative performance was found among larger hospitals, those with hospital accreditation, and those participating in medical tourism activities. There is a scale effect of efficiency between smaller and larger hospitals. However, when compared within respective size categories, Category 1 (small hospitals with less than 100 beds) has the highest percentage of efficient hospitals (39.3 per cent in 2014 and 35.7 per cent in 2018 in Sector 3 of the Pabón Lasso graphs). This study has found that a higher bed occupancy rate (BOR) and longer average length of stay (ALoS) are associated with larger private hospitals, hospital accreditation, and participation in medical tourism activities in Malaysia. There is a need to expedite strategic hospitals partnership for resource optimisation and capacity pooling towards producing better performance.

Beyond accreditation: unraveling the narrative of public health through a critical race praxis lens

IntroductionRecognizing and addressing health inequities among minority populations are pivotal to public health. Further, public health strives to understand the complexities between race and health without limiting discussions around race as a trivial variable. This commitment toward equity demonstrates considerable similarities to Critical Race Theory (CRT) which led to the creation of the Public Health Critical Race (PHCR) Praxis to instill CRT within public health. However, the literature on how public health education incorporates critical race studies remains limited. The goal of this study was to examine how public health curriculum currently aligns with the PHCR praxis and meets public health's goal of health equity.MethodsThis qualitative study employed document analysis to evaluate academic syllabi from CEPH-accredited MPH programs. Stratified random sampling was applied across two sampling pools, Schools of Public Health (SPH), and Public Health Programs (PHP). Course overviews, course objectives, course curricular information, and course policies were identified and extracted from each syllabus for analysis. A total of 53 syllabi were obtained from a final sample of nine public universities and one private.ResultsThrough inductive and directed content analysis, a priori themes of Structural Determinism, Voice, Critical Approaches, Ordinariness of Racism, Social Construction of Knowledge, Intersectionality, Disciplinary Self-Critique, Primacy of Racialization, Race as a Social Construct, Race Consciousness, and their respective categories arose as salient. Two new themes, Antiracism Practices and Culture of Inclusivity, were also present.DiscussionThis study is the first to explore public health education's current curricular practices concerning CRT and antiracist praxes. The results confirm the interwoven nature of public health education with critical race studies, as all principles of PHCR praxis were present. However, the prevalence of these principles varied, suggesting gaps in the alignment of public health curricula and CRT. It is essential that public health educators ensure that the foundational competencies students are expected to display align with public health's goal of health equity. This work can equip MPH programs and public health educators with the ability to revise or bolster their current curricular and instructional efforts to support the pursuit of health, racial equity, and social justice.

Prevalence of and factors associated with overweight and obesity in patients with severe mental disorders in Shenzhen: results from the urban Chinese population.

To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with severe mental disorders (SMD) and the factors associated with their socio-demographic and disease characteristics in a cross-sectional population-based study. This analysis examined the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 14 868 managed SMD patients in an urban area of Shenzhen city based on data from the health information monitoring system in 2021. Multivariate logistic regression were used to identify the factors associated with the prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with SMD. China. 14 868 patients with SMD. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with SMD in this study was 32·6 % and 16·1 %, respectively. In multivariate analysis, married status, Shenzhen household registration, management durations of 5-10 years and >10 years, participation in family physician services, taking clozapine or aripiprazole, FPG > 6·1 mmol/l, hypertension, TC ≥ 5·2 mmol/l, TG ≥ 1·7 mmol/l, and more frequent follow-ups in the past year were associated with higher odds of overweight and obesity. Compared to their respective reference categories, living with parents, spouse and children, taking risperidone, aripiprazole, amisulpride and perphenazine, FPG > 6·1 mmol/l, hypertension, TC ≥ 5·2 mmol/l, TG ≥ 1·7 mmol/l, and more frequent follow-ups in the past year were associated with higher odds of obesity. We observed a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with SMD in this study. The findings highlight the need for integrated management of overweight and obesity risk factors among patients with SMD.

Ultrasound assessment of the pelvic sidewall: methodological consensus opinion.

A standardized methodology for the ultrasound evaluation of the pelvic sidewall has not been proposed to date. Herein, a collaborative group of gynecologists and gynecological oncologists with extensive ultrasound experience presents a systematic methodology for the ultrasonographic evaluation of structures within the pelvic sidewall. Five categories of anatomical structures are described (muscles, vessels, lymph nodes, nerves and ureters). A step-by-step transvaginal ultrasound (or, when this is not feasible, transrectal ultrasound) approach is outlined for the evaluation of each anatomical landmark within these categories. Accurate assessment of the pelvic sidewall using a standardized approach improves the detection and diagnosis of non-gynecological pathologies that may mimic gynecological tumors, reducing the risk of unnecessary and even harmful intervention. Furthermore, it plays an important role in completing the staging of malignant gynecological conditions. Transvaginal or transrectal ultrasound therefore represents a viable alternative to magnetic resonance imaging in the preoperative evaluation of lesions affecting the pelvic sidewall, if performed by an expert sonographer. A series of videoclips showing normal and abnormal findings within each respective category illustrates how establishing a universally applicable approach for evaluating this crucial region will be helpful for assessing both benign and malignant conditions affecting the pelvic sidewall. © 2024 The Author(s). Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Using a Yolov8-Based Object Detection Model for an Automatic Garbage Sorting System

This study presents the development of an automatic garbage sorting system based on computer vision techniques and the You Only Look Once version 8 (YOLOv8) algorithm. RGB images of garbage, including cans and plastic bottles, were collected by a camera. The YOLOv8 model, trained on a dataset of both RGB images of cans and plastic bottles, acts as the core for detection and classification. During real-time sorting, the classification results and picking points from the YOLOv8 model are used by a gantry robot. The gantry robot is developed and controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to place each type of garbage into its respective categories. A conveyor tracking algorithm was implemented to pick up garbage moving on the conveyor. The system's performance is evaluated using 20 garbage samples for the can and the plastic bottle category. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score were 92.5%, 90.5%, 95%, and 92.7%, respectively. The system proposed in this study can be modified to sort other garbage types.

Trends and patterns in pulmonary arterial hypertension-associated hospital admissions among methamphetamine users: a decade-long study.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare, chronic, progressive form of pulmonary hypertension in which increased arterial pressure causes remodeling of the arterial system and is associated with heart failure. Methamphetamine is a stimulant that has recently become a focus in PAH research, but the recent trends and demographics of this cohort of patients are not known. The study aimed to analyze the overall trends and demographics of PAH patients with and without concurrent methamphetamine usage. The study used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) from 2008 to 2020 to calculate nationally weighted estimates for both conditions by ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis codes. We used several statistical measures, including descriptive statistics with design-based chi-square and t-tests, trend analysis with Cochran-Armitage test, generalized linear models, and other data preprocessing measures. A significant increase was evident in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and concurrent methamphetamine use (9.2-fold). Most of the hospitalized patients were males (59.16%), aged 41-64 (45.77%), White (68.64%), from the West (53.09%), with Medicaid (50.48%), and with median income <$25,000. The rate of increase over the period was higher for males (11.8-fold), race (not sure which race; please check and modify), aged 41-64 (11.3-fold), and in the South (15.1-fold). An overall adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) for PAH hospitalizations among concurrent methamphetamine users was 32.19 (CI = 31.19-33.22) compared to non-users. With respective reference categories, the significantly higher PR was evident for males, patients aged 41-64, White, with Medicare, median income <$25,000, all regions compared to Northeast, length of hospital stays, and conditions, including chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and peripheral vascular disorders. This study reveals a national overall and demographic-specific trend of increasing PAH with concurrent methamphetamine usage and associated factors. The findings may help to understand the current patterns and identify the vulnerable sociodemographic cohorts for further research and to take appropriate policy measures.

Left ventricular ejection fraction and clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Abstract Background Reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ≤50%) has been associated with poor prognosis in patients with severe aortic stenosis treated medically or with aortic valve replacement. However, less is known regarding the impact of different degrees of LVEF including moderately to severely reduced LVEF after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Purpose To examine the association between baseline LVEF and clinical outcomes after TAVR. Methods Patients undergoing TAVR between 2008-2021 from the Swedish Transcatheter Cardiac Intervention Registry (SWENTRY) were included. LVEF was estimated from echocardiography before TAVR and categorized as ≥50%, 40-49%, 30-39% and &amp;lt;30%. SWENTRY was linked to the National Patient Registry and Cause of Death Registry for outcome variables. Patients were followed for a median of 3.2 years for the primary outcome heart failure hospitalizations and the secondary outcome all-cause mortality. Cox regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, BMI, atrial fibrillation, eGFR class, diabetes, hypertension, frailty, chronic pulmonary disease and coronary artery disease were performed for the association between LVEF groups and outcome. Results In total, 8686 patients were included (mean age 81 years, 47% female) of whom 5904 (68%) patients had LVEF ≥50%, 1342 (15%) had LVEF 40-49%, 906 (10%) had LVEF 30-39% and 534 (6%) had LVEF &amp;lt;30%. Significant differences were observed across the LVEF groups in the cumulative incidence rates of heart failure hospitalizations (19, 30, 37 and 43%; p&amp;lt;0.001) and all-cause mortality (41, 54, 55, 57%; p&amp;lt;0.001) at five years. In adjusted analyses there was a stepwise increase in the risks of heart failure hospitalizations (Figure 1A) and all-cause mortality (Figure 1B) for each respective LVEF category. Conclusion Reduced LVEF, especially LVEF &amp;lt;30%, was associated with a dramatically increased long-term risk of heart failure hospitalizations and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing TAVR. LVEF should be considered in risk stratification and patient selection for TAVR.

Participation in organised sports and longitudinal development of physical activity in Swiss youth: the population-based SOPHYA cohort

BACKGROUND: Maintaining physical activity throughout life is crucial for overall health and wellbeing. Yet the age-related decline in average physical activity, a natural phenomenon also observed in animals, poses a challenge. This study aimed to investigate whether participation in organised sports supported by the Swiss Youth+Sports (Y+S) programme is associated with sustaining or enhancing physical activity among children and adolescents during 5 years of follow-up. METHODS: The longitudinal study was nested in the population-based SOPHYA (Swiss children’s Objectively measured PHYsical Activity) cohort. Participants aged 6–16 years at SOPHYA1 (2014) with complete accelerometer data from baseline and follow-up assessment (SOPHYA2, 2019) were included. The primary exposure was participation in organised sport during the follow-up period, calculated by linkage with the Y+S database as the number of days with at least one activity in Y+S-offered programmes for ages 5 to 20 years. The primary outcome was the categorisation of participants into physical activity “improvers” or “worseners”. Improvers in the respective physical activity categories – total activity counts per minute (CPM), minutes in moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA), minutes in light activity (LPA) and minutes in sedentary behaviour (SB) – increased or maintained their active physical activity during the 5 follow-up years. Information on confounders and effect modifiers (sex, age, body mass index (BMI), language region, household income, education) was obtained by self-report at baseline. Logistic regressions examined the relationship between organised sport participation and the probability of being a physical activity improver in each physical activity intensity category separately. Covariates for the final models were selected through a stepwise procedure based on the Bayesian information criterion from a maximal model containing all covariates as well as all two-way interactions with organised sport and between them. All models were a priori adjusted for technical variables (season of measurement; wear time; duration of follow-up). RESULTS: The analysis included 432 participants. There was a strong CPM, MVPA and LPA decline from 2014 to 2019, but an increase in SB. Nevertheless, the prevalence of improvers was 22.5% for CPM, 9.5% for MVPA, 26.9% for LPA and 9.7% for SB. Engagement in organised sport between 2014 and 2019 was positively associated with CPM, MVPA and SB, but not with LPA improver status. For 30 additional days of participation in organised sport over the five years of the study, the odds of being an improver vs being a worsener increased by 4.0% for CPM (95% CI: 0.13–7.69), 6.2% for MVPA (95% CI: 0.82–11.54) and 6.0% for SB (95% CI:−1.49–13.97). CONCLUSION: The results provide supporting evidence that organised sport in the context of the Swiss Y+S programme may empower the young to maintain an active lifestyle and even offset the age-related decline in physical activity.

Understanding Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybridization: A Critical Review

A holistic literature review of 399 articles is presented on hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems and taxonomized through a unique classification methodology that considers primary energy sources, component configurations, system outputs and relevant analysis. In the reviewed research articles, primarily four different types of technologies are used to complement the energy production of the fuel cell stack. As a result, four respective categories were established in terms of the coupling components, inclusive of (1) wind turbines (WTs), (2) solar systems (SS), (3) thermal power plant turbines (TPPTs) and (4) piston engines (PEs). Additional classification was needed to further subdivide the evaluated system configurations, due to the wide spectrum of system outputs encountered in the reviewed literature. That involved (a) electrical power generation (PG), (b) four types of cogeneration (CG), (c) four types of trigeneration (TG) and (d) two types of multigeneration (MG). Depending on the type of assessment in respective research, literature was further categorized as computational, experimental, or both computational and experimental. The most prevalent hybrid system amongst the 102 designs, as adapted from the reviewed literature, is the SOFC/gas turbine (GT) application, with the overwhelming majority producing exclusively electrical power output. The particular system is physically demonstrated in an existing 220-kW experimental facility established by the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC). The identified systems were predominantly computationally examined and research focused on operating conditions around specific design load ratings. Energy, exergy, economic, and environmental assessments were typically followed by sensitivity studies in the reviewed literature. The primary decision variables in most cases revolved around SOFC operating conditions, such as temperatures over 1000 °C as well as elevated pressures. Those resulted in the deterioration of the electrochemical cell and failed to be addressed by the majority of encountered studies. Improvements in the conversion efficiency of PG applications were enabled by natural gas (NG)-fed pressurized SOFCs, directly coupled to GTs. The most efficient power configuration in terms of thermodynamic performance was achieved by coupling PEs to SOFCs and a metal hydride reactor (MHR) to unlock a maximum net system efficiency of 79.54%. CG systems integrating solar cells (SCs) and photovoltaic panels (PVs) to SOFC subsystems can result in a combined efficiency of approximately 90% and sustain this over a broad energy demand range. TG systems incorporating gasifiers to SOFC/GT subsystems achieved a combined efficiency of 93%, whereas the optimal combined efficiency in MG configurations was identified at 79.5% by coupling SCs to the SOFC/GT/organic Rankine cycle turbine (ORCT) subsystems. In terms of cost-effectiveness, configurations that relied on increasing levels of renewable energy (RE) technologies resulted in high overall levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). This cost was increased further when power storage units were deployed to address wind and solar intermittency challenges. Configurations classified under TPPTs operating on low carbon-content fuels were preferred in terms of providing lower LCOE, while applications operating on gasified biomass and coal blends should deploy additional CO2 capture and storage units to mitigate respective emissions.

Thoracoscopic Lobectomy for Congenital Lung Malformation in Children: Evolving Management Strategies and Their Impact in Outcomes

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to determine the incidence of complications after thoracoscopic lobectomy in children according to a verified classification. Secondary aim was to evaluate the modifications made in our management protocol in order to decrease the rate of complications. MethodsRetrospective study of pediatric patients in whom a lobectomy was performed for congenital lung malformation (CLM) in our institution between 2003 and 2021. The following data were collected: demographics, preoperative clinical symptoms, surgical technical details, and postoperative complications following the Clavien-Dindo (CD) classification. Main outcome measure was the presence of complications in the first month after lung lobectomy. Results90 lobectomies were performed in 89 patients. There were 46 girls (51.6%) and 43 boys with a median age of 12.4 months. Most patients (86.6%) remained asymptomatic until the surgical procedure. Postsurgical complications were detected in 26 cases (28.8%) and distributed into their respective category according to CD classification. In our experience, closure of the bronchial stump with interrupted suture or placement of an endoloop showed a statistically significant association with complications (p = 0.022 and p = 0.006 respectively). Moreover, patients in which a device combining sealing and section was used showed significantly fewer complications (p = 0.006). ConclusionsThoracoscopic lobectomy continues to be a challenging procedure. The CD grading system for postoperative complications has proved to be useful in this setting. Evolving surgical strategies and new miniaturized endosurgical devices have enabled a safer and quicker procedure with a positive impact in the development of complications. Level of EvidenceIII.

Molecular characterization of Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) in sheep and goats and risk factors associated with it in selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan.

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is an economically significant transboundary viral disease of sheep and goats caused by the PPRV virus, affecting annual losses of 1.45-2.10 billion US dollars globally. We designed the current study to evaluate the positive cases, molecular characterization, phylogenetic analysis, and risk factors correlated with the disease in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, with the aim of contributing to these strategies. A total of 384 samples from three selected districts, i.e., Peshawar, Charsadda and Chitral (n = 128 each), were collected, and the virus was investigated by using the sandwich ELISA, while the N gene of the virus was used as a target for molecular detection via RT-PCR. The confirmed samples were then sequenced, and phylogenetic analysis was performed. According to our findings, the highest positive cases was found in district Peshawar (50.87%), followed by Charsadda and Chitral (24.56%), respectively, while risk factor analysis showed that certain categories, such as species, sex, and age less than two years, have higher risk (P < 0.05) in contrast to their respective categories. Furthermore, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of representative samples showed that the PPRV strains in the current study clustered in lineage IV, which is circulating in the small ruminant population of Asia, the Middle East, and African countries. Comparative residue analysis highlighted the mutation by representing 242 variable sites out of 371 locations. PPRV has foremost importance in Pakistan because the virus was detected in a considerable number of samples, and most of which were sourced from subsidiary areas where veterinary services are not prioritized.

Google Search Trends About Systemic Psoriasis Treatment: What Do People Want to Know About Biologics and Janus Kinase Inhibitors?

This study investigates the most frequently asked questions regarding systemic treatments for psoriasis vulgaris using Google Trends and People Also Asked (PAA) tools, focusing on traditional DMARDs, biologics, and small-molecule inhibitors. Analyzing data from January 31, 2019, to January 31, 2024, Adalimumab was found to have the highest search volume, followed by Apremilast and Methotrexate in their respective categories. Based on Rothwell's Question Classification Criteria, questions about Adalimumab predominantly centered around their technical, factual details and cost of the medication. The study highlights significant public interest in these factors over their safety profile and it is likely influenced by Adalimumab's high direct-to-consumer marketing. Moreover, evaluation of 782 websites showed that potential patients were seeking commercial and government-based websites to learn more about systemic psoriasis treatment. According to the JAMA benchmark criteria, these source types also scored the highest in terms of information quality, while medical practice websites scored the lowest. The findings suggest the need for dermatologists to address factual details such as medication administration scheduling, dietary restrictions, and cost during patient consultations, and to guide patients towards high-quality online resources. Limitations include potential comprehensiveness of questions and evolving medication concerns.

청소년의 스마트폰 사용 목적에 따른 이용 행태 및 변화 유형 분석

This study aimed to classify latent profiles of smartphone usage among adolescents based on usage purposes and explore their transitions from the second year of middle school to the second year of high school. Using data from the 2nd and 5th waves of the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS), the sample included 1,963 students who provided data on smartphone usage frequency. The analysis involved descriptive statistics, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), Latent Transition Analysis (LTA), and one-way ANOVA. Five distinct smartphone usage profiles were identified at both time points: low engaged, communication-focused, average usage, entertainment-focused, and high engaged. The majority of participants in the average, entertainment-focused, and high-engaged profiles remained in their respective categories over time. However, those in the low-engaged profile were most likely to transition to the average usage profile, while participants in the communication-focused profile were likely to transition to the high-engaged profile. These findings suggest that while many adolescents maintain consistent usage patterns, some experience significant changes, particularly toward higher engagement. This study contributes to understanding how adolescents' smartphone usage types evolve over time and provides valuable insights for developing tailored interventions aimed at managing smartphone dependency based on specific usage patterns.

Defects and phase transitions to geometric phases of abelian GLSMs

We consider gauged linear sigma models with gauge group U(1) that exhibit a geometric as well as a Landau–Ginzburg phase. We construct defects that implement the transport of D-branes from the Landau–Ginzburg phase to the geometric phase. Through their fusion with boundary conditions these defects in particular provide functors between the respective D-brane categories. The latter map (equivariant) matrix factorizations to coherent sheaves and can be formulated explicitly in terms of complexes of matrix factorizations.

Consistent social odor representation across 7 languages: the Social Odor Scale translation and validation.

The Social Odor Scale (SOS) is a 12-item questionnaire initially developed and validated in Italian and German to investigate self-reported awareness of social odors, which are odors emanating from the human body that convey diverse information and evoke various emotional responses. The scale includes a total score and 3 subscales representing social odors in the respective categories: romantic partner, familiar, and strangers. Here, we aimed to (i) replicate the validation of the Italian and German versions of the SOS, (ii) translate and validate the SOS into multiple additional languages (French, English, Dutch, Swedish, Chinese), and (iii) explore whether the factor structure of each translated version aligns with the original versions. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supported the scale's structure, yielding a good fit across all languages. Notable differences in SOS mean scores were observed among the different languages: Swedish participants exhibited lower social odor awareness compared to the other groups, whereas Chinese participants reported higher social odor awareness compared to Dutch and Swedish participants. Furthermore, SOS scores correlated with respondents' geographical location, with higher (i.e. northern) latitudes linked to lower social odor awareness. These results corroborate the SOS as a valid and reliable instrument, especially for the SOS total score and the Familiar and Partner factors, emphasizing the influence of individual and geographic factors on social odor awareness.

Novel efficient reservoir computing methodologies for regular and irregular time series classification

AbstractTime series is a data structure prevalent in a wide range of fields such as healthcare, finance and meteorology. It goes without saying that analyzing time series data holds the key to gaining insight into our day-to-day observations. Among the vast spectrum of time series analysis, time series classification offers the unique opportunity to classify the sequences into their respective categories for the sake of automated detection. To this end, two types of mainstream approaches, recurrent neural networks and distance-based methods, have been commonly employed to address this specific problem. Despite their enormous success, methods like Long Short-Term Memory networks typically require high computational resources. It is largely as a consequence of the nature of backpropagation, driving the search for some backpropagation-free alternatives. Reservoir computing is an instance of recurrent neural networks that is known for its efficiency in processing time series sequences. Therefore, in this article, we will develop two reservoir computing based methods that can effectively deal with regular and irregular time series with minimal computational cost, both while achieving a desirable level of classification accuracy.

Free-listing and Semantic Knowledge: A Tool for Detecting Alzheimer Disease?

Impairment in semantic knowledge contributes to Alzheimer disease (AD)-related decline. However, the particulars of the impact AD has on specific domains of knowledge remain debatable. To investigate the impact of AD on specific semantic categories that are integral to daily functions-living things and man-made objects. We administered a free-listing task (written version) to 19 individuals with AD and 15 cognitively normal older adults and assessed the task's relationship with other cognitive and functional tests in clinical use. We compared the contents of the lists of salient concepts generated by the AD and control groups. Group membership (AD or control), after controlling for age, sex, formal education, and an estimate of premorbid intellectual ability, predicted the groups' performance on the free-listing task across two categories. Functional status was inversely related to performance on the free-listing task, holding demographic variables constant. Based on a comparison of the contents of the free lists that were generated by the two groups, it was possible to conclude that, in individuals with AD, conceptual knowledge central to the respective categories was well preserved, whereas the peripheral conceptual material showed evidence of degradation. The free-listing task, which is an easy-to-administer and cost-effective tool, could aid in the preliminary detection of semantic knowledge dysfunction, revealing concepts that are better preserved and, possibly, the characterization of AD. Cognitive assessment tools that can be applied across cultures are needed, and the free-listing task has the potential to address this gap.

One-Shot Learning from Prototype Stock Keeping Unit Images

This paper highlights the importance of one-shot learning from prototype Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) images for efficient product recognition in retail and inventory management. Traditional methods require large supervised datasets to train deep neural networks, which can be costly and impractical. One-shot learning techniques mitigate this issue by enabling classification from a single prototype image per product class, thus reducing data annotation efforts. We introduce the Variational Prototyping Encoder (VPE), a novel deep neural network for one-shot classification. Utilizing a support set of prototype SKU images, VPE learns to classify query images by capturing image similarity and prototypical concepts. Unlike metric learning-based approaches, VPE pre-learns image translation from real-world object images to prototype images as a meta-task, facilitating efficient one-shot classification with minimal supervision. Our research demonstrates that VPE effectively reduces the need for extensive datasets by utilizing a single image per class while accurately classifying query images into their respective categories, thus providing a practical solution for product classification tasks.

Performance During a Task That Simulates Passive Sonar Operator Duties Under Conditions of Varying Workloads.

It is critical to develop and implement lab-based computer experiments that simulate real-world tasks in order to characterize operational requirements and challenges or identify potential solutions. Achieving a high degree of laboratory control, operational generalizability, and ease-of-use for a task is challenging, often leading to the development of tasks that can satisfy some facets but not all. This can result in insufficient solutions that leave real-world stakeholders with unsolved problems. This issue is addressed using a customized passive sonar simulator application that provides extensive researcher control over the design and manipulation of a sonar task; a visual appearance and cognitive demand similar to a true submarine-based sonar task; and a convenient and short training routine for sonar novices. The task requires participants to watch for multiple signal sources of varying appearance and salience and subsequently classify these signals into their respective categories. The current study investigated the effects of stimulus signal strength and signal density on sonar task performance-including metrics of classification accuracy, classification confidence, and response times-finding an interaction between signal density and signal strength that resulted in greater performance errors with high signal density at the weakest signal strength. The lab-based sonar application provides new possibilities for research, not limited to signal intensity and signal density but also through the manipulation of parameters such as the number of unique targets, target appearance, and task duration. This application may illuminate the operational demands that each of these factors may have on operator behavior within the dynamic tasks.

Design and optimization of space nuclear power system with sCO2 Brayton cycle on Mars

As human exploration of outer space deepens, the demand for space power increases. This requires not only higher thermoelectric conversion efficiency but also a more compact system. Space nuclear power based on the sCO2 Brayton cycle is better suited for the surface of Mars due to its high efficiency and low ratio of mass to electric power. This paper designs a 6 MWt sCO2 Brayton cycle power generation system, and the following system configurations are mainly studied including Simple Heat Recovery Cycle (SRC), Re-Compress Heat Recovery Cycle (RC), Reheating Heat Recovery Cycle (RRC), and Reheating Re-Compress Cycle (RHRC). A thermodynamic calculation model of the system was developed based on the aforementioned cycle configurations. Additionally, a quality assessment model was developed separately for each component within the system, according to its respective category. The effects of parameters such as temperature, compressor pressure ratio, and bypass ratio on the system efficiency and total system mass are also examined for each of the four-cycle configurations. The study conducted a global multiparameter optimization using a genetic algorithm to optimize system efficiency and the ratio of mass to electric power. The RHRC configuration achieved the highest cycle efficiency at 39.47%, while the SRC cycle had the lowest system efficiency at 35.46%. The RRC configuration had the minimum ratio of mass to electric power at 7.419 kg/kWe with an efficiency of 33.13%.