Spearman Rank Order Correlation Research Articles

Technological Change and Organizational Performance of Commercial Banks in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between technological change and organizational performance of commercial banks in Bayelsa State. The research adopted survey design method which comprises of 100 respondents drawn from 15 commercial banks in Bayelsa State sampled with questionnaire. The study used Spearman Rank-Order Correlation Coefficient (rs) to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The study found out that technological adoption has a significant and weak positive relationship with operational performance and financial performance in commercial banks in Bayelsa State. The study concludes that technological adoption contributes significantly to the modeled outcomes of operational performance and financial performance. The study recommended that the commercial banks should be ready to adapt to new technology and modern ways of production that can help facilitate improvement in sales and to maximize profit.

Right heart echocardiography findings in hypoxic pneumonia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in a South African population.

The right ventricle is affected by Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) via multiple mechanisms, which can result in right ventricular dysfunction (RVD). This study aimed to provide an assessment of right heart function using conventional echocardiography and advanced strain imaging, in patients with hypoxic pneumonia during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was an observational, prospective, single-centre study, including adults with hypoxic pneumonia, in two groups: COVID-19 pneumonia; and non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Bedside echocardiography was performed according to a pre-specified protocol and all right heart measurements were done as per standard guidelines. Right ventricular free wall strain (RVFWS) was measured using Philips® QLAB 11.0 speckle tracking software. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to analyse data. Spearman Rank Order Correlations were used to determine the correlation between right ventricular (RV) parameters and clinical parameters. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to characterize the predictors of in-hospital mortality. We enrolled 48 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and 24 with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. COVID-19 patients were significantly older with a higher frequency of hypertension and diabetes and a trend towards a lower severity of illness score. Mean RVFWS yielded the highest estimates for the prevalence of RVD (81%), with no difference between the two pneumonia groups. Median Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion (TAPSE) and right ventricular systolic excursion velocity (RVS') were not significantly different between COVID-19 (TAPSE 17.2 and RVS' 12), and non-COVID-19 pneumonia (TAPSE 17.8 and RVS' 12.1) with P values of 0.29 and 0.86, respectively. Non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients with moderate to severe hypoxaemia (PF < 150) were at greater risk of an elevated RV Systolic Pressure >30 mmHg respiratory rate = 3.25 (CI 1.35-7.82) on admission. Troponin levels discriminated between COVID-19 survivors (6 ng/L) and non-survivors (13 ng/L), P = 0.04. The mortality rate for COVID-19 was high (27%) compared to non-COVID-19 pneumonia (12%). Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia had a similar admission prevalence of RVD when compared to patients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Despite preserved traditional parameters of RV systolic function, RVFWS was diminished in both groups, and we propose that RVFWS serves as an important marker of the subclinical disease of RV.

Global, regional, and national incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease and trend analysis from 1990 to 2019: Results from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019.

In the context of the population growing and aging worldwide, the incidence of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease increased rapidly. This study aimed to describe the burden of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease, providing an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis on the global and regional levels and time trends from 1900 to 2019. The Global Burden of Disease 2019 was used to obtain data for this analysis. Non-rheumatic valvular heart disease in the Global Burden of Disease study includes both non-rheumatic calcific aortic valve disease and non-rheumatic degenerative mitral valve disease. The incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life year in 204 countries from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed by location, year, sex, age, and socio-demographic index. Estimated annual percentage change was calculated to represent the temporal trends from 1990 to 2019. Spearman's rank order correlation was used to determine the correlation between socio-demographic index and the incidence and burden of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease. Globally, there were 1.65 million (95% uncertainty interval, 1.56-1.76 million) incident cases, 0.16 million (95% uncertainty interval, 0.14-0.18 million) death cases, and 2.79 million (95% uncertainty interval, 2.52-3.31 million) disability-adjusted life years of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease. Compared with 1990, the number of incident cases, death cases, and disability-adjusted life years in 2019 increased by 104.58%, 210.60%, and 167.62%, respectively, the age-standardized incidence rate (estimated annual percentage change, 0.39; 95% confidence interval, 0.29 to 0.49) increased due to population growth, and the age-standardized death rates (estimated annual percentage change, -0.32; 95% confidence interval, -0.39 to -0.25) and age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rate (estimated annual percentage change, -0.81; 95% confidence interval, -0.87 to -0.74) decreased during this period. Regarding the socio-demographic index, the highest age-standardized incidence, death, and disability-adjusted life year rates of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease were found in high-socio-demographic index countries in 2019. Meantime, the age-standardized incidence rate remained increased from 1990 to 2019, while significant decreases were found in the age-standardized death rate and age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rate. Females have higher age-standardized incidence rate, while higher age-standardized death rate and age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rate belong to males globally during the period of 1990-2019. Increasing trends were observed for both incidence, death, and disability-adjusted life year rates with age. High systolic blood pressure was the leading cause for non-rheumatic valvular heart disease across all ages. From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized incidence rate of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease remained increased, while age-standardized death rate and age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rate decreased, resulting from the growing population worldwide and improving medical resources. The aged, who has high systolic blood pressure and diet high in sodium, should pay more attention to, especially in high-socio-demographic index regions. With the population aging, the number of patients who require heart valve replacement is estimated to increase significantly in the future. Effective measures are warranted to control and treat the incidence and burden of non-rheumatic valvular heart disease.

FLAME-VQA: A Fuzzy Logic-Based Model for High Frame Rate Video Quality Assessment

In the quest to optimize user experience, network, and service, providers continually seek to deliver high-quality content tailored to individual preferences. However, predicting user perception of quality remains a challenging task, given the subjective nature of human perception and the plethora of technical attributes that contribute to the overall viewing experience. Thus, we introduce a Fuzzy Logic-bAsed ModEl for Video Quality Assessment (FLAME-VQA), leveraging the LIVE-YT-HFR database containing 480 video sequences and subjective ratings of their quality from 85 test subjects. The proposed model addresses the challenges of assessing user perception by capturing the intricacies of individual preferences and video attributes using fuzzy logic. It operates with four input parameters: video frame rate, compression rate, and spatio-temporal information. The Spearman Rank–Order Correlation Coefficient (SROCC) and Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) show a high correlation between the output and the ground truth. For the training, test, and complete dataset, SROCC equals 0.8977, 0.8455, and 0.8961, respectively, while PCC equals 0.9096, 0.8632, and 0.9086, respectively. The model outperforms comparative models tested on the same dataset.

A quantitative study of confidence among paramedics in assessment of the cardiovascular system.

Patients presenting to the ambulance services with cardiovascular complaints are common, and as such, represent a notable proportion of paramedic clinical practice. Numerous texts refer to a system-based approach to cardiovascular assessment, however the application by paramedics is scarcely researched. As such, this article aims to quantify paramedic confidence levels regarding an examination of a patient with a cardiovascular complaint. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted, recruiting paramedics from one ambulance trust within the United Kingdom and analysing their confidence levels of assessing a patient with a cardiovascular complaint. Paramedics were recruited using purposive sampling and asked to complete an online questionnaire exploring their confidence levels among cardiovascular assessments, which were subsequently quantified to summarise confidence levels expressed by these respondents. A total of 331 responses across one ambulance service were received in April 2021. Of these, 90.3% (299/331) reported a high level of confidence with the general cardiovascular assessment. Throughout all individual elements of assessment, over 50% of respondents indicated they feel confident with the examination, except when assessing heaves and thrills where 56.2% (185/329) and 55.1% (182/330) of respondents disagreed with feeling confident, respectively. A strong correlation was seen throughout the results between confidence levels and the reported occurrence of each type of assessment, which was demonstrated using Spearman's rank-order correlation. High confidence levels for a cardiovascular examination were reported among the respondents of this survey. Paramedics have shown good confidence among all areas of a cardiovascular assessment, except with palpating the chest for heaves and thrills. There is an evident link between reported confidence levels and how often these assessments are completed, however there is still room for additional training and research within this area.

The aftermath of war; mental health, substance use and their correlates with social support and resilience among adolescents in a post-conflict region of Sri Lanka

BackgroundArmed conflicts impact on the health and well-being of everyone, but its effect on adolescent mental health is a significant, yet under-explored area in global health. Mental health disorders which develop during adolescence often lead to behavioural problems, risky decision-making, under-age substance use and can adversely impact on educational attainment. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of common mental disorders, substance use and their correlates with social support and resilience among adolescents (age 12–19 years) in Vavuniya; a post-conflict region of Sri Lanka.MethodsA population-based cross-sectional study was conducted, with a modified cluster sampling method used for participant selection. Eight culturally adapted instruments were used for data collection. A total of 585 adolescents participated in the study. Analyses were performed using SPSS Version 23 statistical software package. All statistical tests were two-sided (p < 0.05) and p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Chi-square tests were used to explore associations between variables of interest. Spearman rank order correlation was used to examine correlations among depression, hopelessness, quality of life, social support, and resilience.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 15.02 (± 2.13) years. Ninety-one (15.6%) participants reported being exposed to one or more war-related events, and 85 (93.4%) participants in this group reported being internally displaced due to war. Fifty-two (8.9%) had dropped out of school and the prevalence of depression (3.9%) and substance use (7%) were low. Correlational analyses revealed that depression and hopelessness were significantly negatively correlated with social support, resilience, and quality of life (p < 0.01). Linear regression analysis suggested that 40% of the variance in resilience of the participants can be explained by perceived social support.ConclusionThe low prevalence of hopelessness and depression highlights the resilience of this group in the face of adversity. Furthermore, significant negative correlations between hopelessness and depression with perceived social support and resilience suggest that social support and resilience could be protective factors against mental health issues in these adolescents. However, the prevalence of school dropouts calls for a focus on academic attainment to promote better educational outcomes in the adolescents of this conflict-affected region.

Customer Care Considerations and Business Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Rivers State

This study examined the relationship between customer care considerations and business performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Rivers State. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design where data were collected from managers and marketers of ten (10) small and medium scale enterprises in the manufacturing sector. A sample of 233 respondents was used for the study. The sample size was determined using the Taro Yamane’s formula. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using percentage and frequency analysis, mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rho). The SPSS 22.0 version was used to correlate the data on the study variables. The findings revealed that there is significant relationship between customer enquiry consideration and customer satisfaction. The study also found a significant relationship between customer enquiry consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. A significant relationship was found between customer enquiry consideration and customer retention by SMEs. The study also reported a significant relationship between customer support consideration and customer satisfaction. The study equally discovered a significant relationship between customer support consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. A significant relationship was found between customer support consideration and customer retention by SMEs. The study also found a significant relationship between customer complaint consideration and customer satisfaction. A significant relationship was found between customer complaint consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. The study also reported a significant relationship between customer complaint consideration and customer retention by SMEs. Finally it was revealed that organizational size significantly moderates the relationship between customer care consideration

Literasi Media Dalam Menanggulangi Berita Hoax Di Media Sosial Mahasiswa Ilmu Perpustakaan

This study aims to determine the ability of Library Science students to analyze hoax news on social media, the ability of Library Science students to access hoax news on social media, the relationship between the media literacy skills of Library Science students in tackling hoax news on social media, and the ability of Library Science students to evaluate news. hoaxes on social media. This study uses quantitative research using a questionnaire as a means of collecting data obtained from respondents. The population of this study were all Library Science students of UIN North Sumatra from the 2019 stambuk, 2020 and 2021, namely 352 students with a total sample of 79 students determined by the slovin formula. The sampling technique used to determine the sample is Random Sampling/Probability Sampling. To measure the relationship between the media literacy abilities of Library Science students at UIN North Sumatra in tackling hoax news on social media and test hypotheses using the Spearman's Rho Rank-Order Correlations formula and Guilford's calculations. The results showed that media literacy ability had a positive relationship with a value of 0.358 which indicated a strong enough relationship in tackling hoax news.

Employee Evaluation and Organizational Efficiency in the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education

The paper examined the relationship between employee evaluation and organizational efficiency in Ministry of Education, Bayelsa State. Descriptive Survey Design was adopted Amongst300employees of Ministry of Education.291 workers were randomly sampled. A closed- ended questionnaire was used as primary data collection tool and was analyzed via inferential statistics; Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient with the aid of SPSS. The study adopted feedback and reward as the dimensions of employee evaluation. However, the study revealed that feedback and reward are statistically significant with quality service. It was recommended that the Ministry should put in place staff evaluation practices that is void of sentiment and favouritism but be fair, open and strategic.

Prediction of transportation energy demand in Türkiye using stacking ensemble models: Methodology and comparative analysis

The transportation sector accounts for 61.5% of global oil consumption and is responsible for 29% of the world’s total energy demand. Passenger transportation utilizes around 50%–60% of the energy used for transportation-related activities. Accurate prediction of future transportation energy consumption is essential for governments to make well-informed decisions regarding transportation infrastructure development and utilization, which supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advances the shift to a net-zero carbon economy. With the expected increase in population, vehicles, and economic growth, it is essential to predict the energy demand to ensure sustainable urban transportation. This is crucial not only for economic prosperity but also for promoting human health and mitigating carbon emissions. Therefore, transportation energy demand prediction plays a vital role in designing sustainable future urban transportation and making informed energy investment and policy decisions. This study proposes a novel methodology and investigates for the application of machine learning stacking ensemble method with hyperparameter tuning and multicollinearity removal to predict transportation energy demand in Turkey based on historic data from 1975–2019. The dataset includes GDP, year, vehicle miles traveled, population, oil price, passenger miles traveled, and ton-miles traveled as features. A performance evaluation and comparison of 19 machine learning algorithms is first carried out to find the best candidate for the stacking ensemble models, including eXtreme Gradient Boosting algorithm. This performance comparison uses all features and also only two of them during the training phase, and it takes into consideration a 4-fold cross-validation. A combination of permutation importance and hierarchical clustering algorithm on the Spearman rank-order correlations is used for dimensionality reduction of the dataset. Extra Tree Regressor and ADABoost Regressor, which are both placed in the second level of the suggested models, are two meta-regressors that are proposed for stacking ensembles because they perform better compared to single machine learning algorithm. In total, eight stacking ensemble models – four for each of the meta-regressors – were developed and investigated considering all features and only two of them separately. Six metrics – R-squared, MSE, MAE, RMSE, RMSLE, and MAPE – are used to assess all models. The Extra Trees Regressor can be used as a meta-regressor in the best proposed stacking ensemble model to predict the energy demand for transportation. This model achieves an R-squared value of approximately 0.99 when all the features are taken into consideration. When only two features from the dataset are considered the same stacking ensemble model can achieve an accuracy of 0.98. These findings have the potential to contribute to the development of more accurate models and results, which can, in turn, lead to improved strategies for managing future transportation energy demand. Additionally, this research can support the advancement of alternative technologies that promote sustainable urban development, ultimately helping to move towards a net-zero carbon economy.

Customer Care Considerations and Business Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Rivers State

This study examined the relationship between customer care considerations and business performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Rivers State. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design where data were collected from managers and marketers of ten (10) small and medium scale enterprises in the manufacturing sector. A sample of 233 respondents was used for the study. The sample size was determined using the Taro Yamane’s formula. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using percentage and frequency analysis, mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rho). The SPSS 22.0 version was used to correlate the data on the study variables. The findings revealed that there is significant relationship between customer enquiry consideration and customer satisfaction. The study also found a significant relationship between customer enquiry consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. A significant relationship was found between customer enquiry consideration and customer retention by SMEs. The study also reported a significant relationship between customer support consideration and customer satisfaction. The study equally discovered a significant relationship between customer support consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. A significant relationship was found between customer support consideration and customer retention by SMEs. The study also found a significant relationship between customer complaint consideration and customer satisfaction. A significant relationship was found between customer complaint consideration and customer patronage of SMEs. The study also reported a significant relationship between customer complaint consideration and customer retention by SMEs. Finally it was revealed that organizational size significantly moderates the relationship between customer care consideration

Service Differentiation and Customer Patronage of Deposit Money Banks in Port Harcourt

This study explored service differentiation and customer patronage of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. The study adopted the correlational survey research design. The population of the study consisted of twenty-two (22) licensed deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. A sample size of 159 respondents were drawn from the population of 264 top level managers of the 22 licensed deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. The sample size was determined using the Taro Yamene’s formula while the simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study. The main instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed statistically while the hypotheses were tested using Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rho). The analysis was done with the aid of the SPSS version 22.0. The findings revealed that service quality has a positive and significant relationship with customer patronage (customer preference and customer loyalty) of deposit money banks. The study also found a positive and significant relationship between strong network connection and customer patronage (customer preference and customer loyalty) of deposit money banks. This study equally revealed that a positive and significant relationship exists between value added service and (customer preference and customer loyalty) of deposit money banks. Based on these findings, it was concluded that service differentiation significantly enhance customer patronage of deposit money banks in Port Harcourt. Based on the findings and conclusion, it was recommended that deposit money banks in Port Harcourt especially those that are experiencing low customer patronage should adopt service differentiation strategies as it would increase their level of customer patronage.

Green Pricing and Customer Patronage of Restaurants in Port Harcourt

The study examined the relationship between green pricing and customer patronage of restaurants in Port Harcourt. In order to address the objectives of the study, two research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated. The study was anchored on Institutional Theory; the study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study consists of 39 fast food restaurants gotten from www.businesslist.com.ng. The population of the study was adopted as the sample of the study since it is not too large for a study. To generate data for the study, one hundred and ninety-five (195) copies of questionnaire was given to the 39 fast food restaurants in the frame of five (5) copies per firm. A total of one hundred and ninety-five (195) respondents were used as the study subjects. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Cronbach's alpha test instrument and it stood at 0.98 higher than the benchmark of 0.7. The data collected for this study were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The Spearman Rank-order correlation technique was employed to test the various hypothesis formulated. The result revealed a strong and significant relationship between green pricing and customer patronage of restaurants in Port Harcourt. The study concluded that; fast foods restaurant need to adopt green pricing techniques because environmental problems can be solved by going green. Based on the conclusion, the study recommends that: Fast food restaurants should adopt premium pricing as it would lead to customer patronage; they should start selling green products because green products would help preserve and sustain the environment which would in turn lead to repeat purchase from customers and also consumers should be willing and ready to pay the small premium that comes with green products as it would not only create market for sustainable products but would also ensure that the environment is protected against fu

The Association Between Corrective Surgery for Adult Spinal Deformity and Serum Levels of Hepatobiliary Enzymes.

Background and objective The surgery to correct adult spinal deformity (ASD) is associated with a rare, but life-threatening complication called acute celiac artery compression syndrome (ACACS). To our knowledge, there is currently no study in the literature regarding the abnormal elevation of serum levels of hepatobiliary enzymes after surgery to correct the deformity. In light of this, the purpose of this study was to investigate this potential association. Materials and methods We collected data on 74 patients with ASD who underwent correction surgery at our institution. A Spearman's rank-order correlation was used to assess the association between serum levels of hepatobiliary enzymes and spinal parameters. Factors showing a correlation coefficient of 0.2 or more were combined in a stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results The mean age of the patientswas 68.4 ± 7.7 years; the study comprisedsix men and 68 women. In our stepwise multiple regression analysis, there were two valid models that included spinal parameters as independent variables: changes in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) - changes in thoracolumbar kyphosis (TLK) (B -0.0025 ± 0.0007, p<0.01), and changes in LDH - preoperative T12-L1 kyphosis (B 0.0031 ± 0.001, p<0.01). Additionally, both valid models contained median arcuate ligament (MAL) overlap defined as MAL crossing the base of the celiac artery (CA) as a significant independent variable. Conclusions Greater sagittal correction of TLK, larger preoperative T12-L1 kyphosis, and MAL overlap were factors associated with an elevated serum level of LDH. Although few patients werereported to have clinically severe symptoms, "potential" ACACS due to a temporary blood flow disturbance can occur in this patient population.

Concurrent Validity of Dual-Task Walking Speed With CERAD-NP Assessment Battery in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

ObjectiveTo explore the concurrent validity of the dual-task walking speed assessments in older adults using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuro-Psychological (CERAD-NP) Assessment Battery. DesignCross-sectional design. SettingWelfare care centers, Senior complex centers, and Dementia prevention care centers. ParticipantsA total of 163 community-dwelling older adults (N=163) were recruited using consecutive sampling. Participants were composed of 65 older adults with cognitive decline and 98 without cognitive decline. InterventionsNot applicable. Main Outcome MeasuresThis study assessed the concurrent validity between dual-task walking speed assessments and the Total II score of CERAD-NP using Spearman's rank order correlations. The effect of the dual-task walking speed assessments on the Total II score was further investigated through multiple linear regression analysis. ResultsThere was a moderate and statically significant association between the Total II score and all 8 dual-task walking speed assessments (P<.05). The Total II score was strongly associated with the dual tasks of walking on a straight path while counting backward and crossing over an obstacle (r=0.698, r=0.697, respectively; P<.05). According to multiple linear regression, only the dual task of walking while counting backward was significantly associated with the Total II score (P<.05). ConclusionThe dual-task walking speed assessments, which involved walking and performing a secondary task such as counting backward or crossing an obstacle on a straight path, were highly indicative of cognitive decline. The combination of results from both tasks may provide a more comprehensive evaluation of cognitive decline compared with relying solely on a single-task assessment.

Applicability Evaluation of Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment Methods for Computed Tomography Images

Image quality assessments (IQA) are an important task for providing appropriate medical care. Full-reference IQA (FR-IQA) methods, such as peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM), are often used to evaluate imaging conditions, reconstruction conditions, and image processing algorithms, including noise reduction and super-resolution technology. However, these IQA methods may be inapplicable for medical images because they were designed for natural images. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between objective assessment by some FR-IQA methods and human subjective assessment for computed tomography (CT) images. For evaluation, 210 distorted images were created from six original images using two types of degradation: noise and blur. We employed nine widely used FR-IQA methods for natural images: PSNR, SSIM, feature similarity (FSIM), information fidelity criterion (IFC), visual information fidelity (VIF), noise quality measure (NQM), visual signal-to-noise ratio (VSNR), multi-scale SSIM (MSSSIM), and information content-weighted SSIM (IWSSIM). Six observers performed subjective assessments using the double stimulus continuous quality scale (DSCQS) method. The performance of IQA methods was quantified using Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (PLCC), Spearman rank order correlation coefficient (SROCC), and root-mean-square error (RMSE). Nine FR-IQA methods developed for natural images were all strongly correlated with the subjective assessment (PLCC and SROCC > 0.8), indicating that these methods can apply to CT images. Particularly, VIF had the best values for all three items, PLCC, SROCC, and RMSE. These results suggest that VIF provides the most accurate alternative measure to subjective assessments for CT images.

Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index and the Acoustic Breathiness Index in the Persian Language

This study aimed to validate the acoustic voice quality index version 03.01 (AVQIv3) and the acoustic breathiness index (ABI) in the Persian language. Six judges assessed the severity degree of the abnormal overall voice quality (hoarseness) and breathiness from continuous speech (cs) and sustained vowel (sv) in 136 voices samples of dysphonic and 45 vocally healthy participants. Firstly, the time length of cs and sv was balanced out for a higher level of ecological validity. Secondly, the concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy were statistically analyzed with the Spearman rank-order correlation, and the receiver operating characteristics, likelihood ratio, and Youden index. There was substantial inter-rater reliability between judges regarding hoarseness and breathiness. Twenty syllables were identified as the standardized number of syllables for the cs part. Sufficient correlations were found between AVQI and hoarseness (rs =0.74), and between ABI and breathiness (rs =0.74), respectively. The thresholds of 1.63 (sensitivity of 73.2% and specificity of 91%) and 2.97 (sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 87%) yielded the highest level of diagnostic findings for AVQI and ABI, respectively. The AVQIv3 and ABI are reliable indices to quantify the abnormal overall voice quality and breathiness in the Persian language.

Perspectives of Cell Sensitivity/Resistance Assay in Soft Tissue Sarcomas Chemotherapy.

Treatment of highly malignant soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) requires multicomponent therapy including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Despite the advancements in targeted cancer therapies, cytostatic drug combinations remain the gold standard for STS chemotherapy. The lack of algorithms for personalized selection of STS chemotherapy leads to unhelpful treatment of chemoresistant tumors, causing severe side effects in patients. The goal of our study is to assess the applicability of in vitro chemosensitivity/resistance assays (CSRAs) in predicting STS chemoresistance. Primary cell cultures were obtained from 148 surgery samples using enzymatic and mechanical disaggregation. CSRA was performed using resazurin-based metabolic activity measurement in cells cultured with doxorubicin, ifosfamide, their combination and docetaxel, gemcitabine, and also their combination for 7 days. Both the clinical data of patients and the CSRA results demonstrated a higher resistance of some cancer histotypes to specific drugs and their combinations. The correlation between the CSRA results for doxorubicin and ifosfamide and clinical responses to the combination chemotherapy with these drugs was demonstrated via Spearman rank order correlation. Statistically significant differences in recurrence-free survival were also shown for the groups of patients formed, according to the CSRA results. Thus, CSRAs may help both practicing physicians to avoid harmful and useless treatment, and researchers to study new resistance markers and to develop new STS drugs.

Building cooling load forecasting of IES considering spatiotemporal coupling based on hybrid deep learning model

Accurate short-term forecasting of building cooling load (CLF) in an integrated energy system (IES) is essential for effective building energy management. However, the existing CLF models for IES often treat each building as an independent entity and neglect the spatiotemporal correlation among buildings. To address this research gap and achieve accurate CLF, this paper proposes a new hybrid deep learning model that considers spatiotemporal coupling. First, the coupled spatial–temporal features among different buildings were analyzed, and the meteorological factors were screened based on the Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient (SROCC). Second, synchrosqueezing wavelet denoising (SWT) was adopted to denoise the historical cooling load (CL) data, remove high-frequency noise, and improve data quality. Third, the TTGAT-GTC model was constructed for the CLF of an IES. A temporal trend-aware graph attention network (TTGAT) captured the spatial correlation of CL between buildings. A gated temporal convolution layer (GTC) was constructed to extract the trend in the dynamic temporal variation in historical load. Residual and skip connections were applied to avoid gradient disappearance and increase the computational efficiency of the model. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed SWT-TTGAT-GTC model, this paper compared the proposed model with four benchmark models using MAPE, RMSE, MAE, and R2. The experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed CL forecasting model is superior and that the proposed model appropriately introduces the spatio-temporal coupling information between buildings.

Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment Based on Multi-Channel Visual Information Fusion

This study focuses on improving the objective alignment of image quality assessment (IQA) algorithms with human visual perception. Existing methodologies, predominantly those based on the Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) filter, often neglect the impact of color channels on human visual perception. Consequently, we propose a full-reference IQA method that integrates multi-channel visual information in color images. The methodology begins with converting red, green, blue (RGB) images into the luminance (L), red–green opponent color channel (M), blue–yellow opponent color channel (N) or LMN color space. Subsequently, the LoG filter is separately applied to the L, M, and N channels. The convoluted components are then fused to generate a contrast similarity map using the root-mean-square method, while the chromaticity similarity map is derived from the color channels. Finally, multi-channel LoG filtering, contrast, and chromaticity image features are connected. The standard deviation method is then used for sum pooling to create a full-reference IQA computational method. To validate the proposed method, distorted images from four widely used image databases were tested. The evaluation, based on four criteria, focused on the method’s prediction accuracy, computational complexity, and generalizability. The Pearson linear correlation coefficient (PLCC) values, recorded from the databases, ranged from 0.8822 (TID2013) to 0.9754 (LIVE). Similarly, the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (SROCC) values spanned from 0.8606 (TID2013) to 0.9798 (LIVE). In comparison to existing methods, the proposed IQA method exhibited superior visual correlation prediction accuracy, indicating its promising potential in the field of image quality assessment.