Contracted State Research Articles

Self-Powered, Flexible, Wireless and Intelligent Human Health Management System Based on Natural Recyclable Materials.

Combining wearable sensors with modern technologies such as internet of things and big data to monitor or intervene in obesity-induced chronic diseases, such as obstructive sleep apnea, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and Alzheimer's disease, is of great significance to the self-health management of human beings. This study designed a loofah-conducting graphite four friction layer enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator (LG-TENG) and developed a health management system for human motion recognition and early warning of sleep breathing abnormalities. By uniformly spraying and depositing conductive graphite on the surface of the loofah and the elastic film cross-interlocking bending structure design, the signal strength of the LG-TENG has been improved by 390%. The stable output signal is still maintained after 1500 s of continuous operation at a frequency of 2 Hz. LG-TENG can realize accurate motion analysis by muscle contraction state. Combining different deep learning models resulted in 98.1% accuracy in recognizing seven categories of displacement speeds for an individual and 96.46% accuracy in recognizing seven categories of displacement speeds for three individuals. In addition, the sleep breathing monitoring early warning system was developed by integrating Bluetooth wireless transmission and upper computer analysis technology. This system aims to analyze and provide real-time warnings for sleep-breathing abnormalities. This research promotes an innovation of TENG technology based on the advantages of natural materials, recyclability and low cost. It offers new ideas for self-health management and scientific exercise for obese people, showing a broad application prospect.

Imagining Speeds up the Effect of Motor Imagery on Central Motor Conduction Time.

Although motor imagery (MI) has been reported to increase motor cortical excitability, its effect on central motor conduction time (CMCT), a widely used neurophysiological diagnostic method, has not been investigated. In this study, we sought to determine the effect of MI on CMCT. In this cross-sectional study, 21 healthy volunteers (11 females, 10 males) aged 24 to 67 years (mean age: 38.8 years) were recruited between April 2022 and June 2023.CMCT was calculated during MI from the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles. Measurements were also performed with conventional measurement methods, such as resting and voluntary contraction, to compare the effect of MI on CMCT. The ANOVAtest revealed that the CMCT session (rest, MI, and voluntary contraction) was a significant factor (p < 0.05). In both muscles, CMCT was shorter in the imagery state than in the resting state but longer than in the voluntary contraction state (p < 0.05). Similarly, motor-evoked potential (MEP) latencies obtained during imagery were shorter for both muscles than the resting state but longer for the voluntary contraction state. The study's findings suggest that MI is a mental activity that modulates CMCT measurement.MI shows a voluntary contraction-like effect on CMCT and MEP latency, although the effect is more uncertain.

A Foldaxane-Based Supramolecular Muscle-Like Switch.

[cn]daisy chain molecular muscle architectures are self-assemblies of hermaphrodite monomers, which usually contain a macrocycle unit linked to a molecular thread that contains sites of interactions - i. e. molecular stations - for the macrocycle. In these multiply threaded structures, altering with control the affinity between macrocycles and stations allows for contraction and extension of the molecule, which is reminiscent of the operation of a muscle. Besides, the field that consists of combining helix and template-containing rods to design foldaxane supramolecular assemblies is still underexplored. By using foldamer units as surrogates for macrocycles, Gan et al. reported the first supramolecular muscle-like foldamer-containing switch that can adopt, after chemical stimulus, either a contracted co-conformational state or a degenerate-like state for which a slow exchange occurred between the contracted and the stretched state.

Sensor‐Embedded Muscle for Closed‐Loop Controllable Actuation in Proprioceptive Biohybrid Robots

Biohybrid robots are soft robots that exploit unique characteristics of biological cells and tissues for motion generation. Skeletal muscle tissue‐based bioactuators respond to externally applied stimuli, such as electrical fields. However, current bioactuation systems rely on open‐loop control strategies that lack knowledge of the actuator's state. The regulation of output force and position of biohybrid robots requires self‐sensing control systems that combine bioactuators with sensors and control paradigms. Herein, a soft, fiber‐shaped mechanical sensor based on a piezoresistive composite is proposed that efficiently integrates with engineered skeletal muscle tissue and senses its contracting states in a cell culture environment in the presence of applied electrical fields. After testing the sensor's insulation and biocompatibility, its sensitivity for typical strains (&lt;1%) is characterized, and its ability is proven to detect motions from contractile skeletal muscle tissue constructs. Finally, it is shown that the sensor response can feed an autonomous control system, thus demonstrating the first proprioceptive biohybrid robot that senses and responds to its contraction state. In addition to inspiring implantable systems, biomedical models, and other bioelectronic devices, the proposed technology will confer biohybrids with decisional autonomy, thus driving the paradigm shift between bioactuators and intelligent biohybrid robots.

Exploring the relationship between trunk muscles and lower limb injuries in Australian badminton players

Due to its dynamic nature, lower limb injuries are common in badminton. Overuse injuries of the knee, including tendon related conditions, are the most common. During jumping and landing, force transference and dissipation through the trunk is required, with the trunk muscles playing a vital role. However, the relationship between knee pain and the ability to voluntarily contract the trunk muscles has not yet been explored in badminton players. A cross-sectional study of Australian badminton players was therefore conducted. Players performed a single leg decline squat to identify those with knee pain. Ultrasound imaging was used to image and measure the size of the multifidus and quadratus lumborum, and the ability to contract the abdominal and multifidus muscles. Voluntary contraction of the trunk muscles was conducted with the subjects lying down. Independent samples T-Tests were performed to test for between group differences. Badminton players with knee pain had larger quadratus lumborum muscles and demonstrated a greater change in muscle thickness from the rested to contracted state. While we cannot comment on causation or direction, over co-contraction of trunk muscles has been shown in other studies to be associated with increased ground reaction forces on landing. Motor control training has been successfully used in other conditions to modify trunk muscle recruitment patterns and may therefore potentially represent a useful approach for badminton players.

FMCF: A fusing multiple code features approach based on Transformer for Solidity smart contracts source code summarization

A smart contract is a software program executed on a blockchain, designed to facilitate functionalities such as contract execution, asset administration, and identity validation within a secure and decentralized ecosystem. Summarizing the code of Solidity smart contracts aids developers in promptly grasping essential functionalities, thereby enhancing the security posture of Ethereum-based projects. Existing smart contract code summarization works mainly use traditional information retrieval and single code features, resulting in suboptimal performance. In this study, we propose a fusing multiple code features (FMCF) approach based on Transformer for Solidity summarization. First, FMCF created contract integrity modeling and state immutability modeling in the data preprocessing stage to process and filter data that meets security conditions. At the same time, FMCF retains the self-attention mechanism to construct the Graph Attention Network (GAT) encoder and CodeBERT encoder, which respectively extract multiple feature vectors of the code to ensure the integrity of the source code information. Furthermore, the FMCF uses a weighted summation method to input these two types of feature vectors into the feature fusion module for fusion and inputs the fused feature vectors into the Transformer decoder to obtain the final smart contract code summarization. The experimental results show that FMCF outperforms the standard baseline methods by 12.45% in the BLEU score and maximally preserves the semantic information and syntax structures of the source code. The results demonstrate that the FMCF can provide a good direction for future research on smart contract code summarization, thereby helping developers enhance the security of development projects.

A Study on the Legal Status of Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts

A Study on the Legal Status of Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts

A lumen-tunable triangular DNA nanopore for molecular sensing and cross-membrane transport

Synthetic membrane nanopores made of DNA are promising systems to sense and control molecular transport in biosensing, sequencing, and synthetic cells. Lumen-tunable nanopore like the natural ion channels and systematically increasing the lumen size have become long-standing desires in developing nanopores. Here, we design a triangular DNA nanopore with a large tunable lumen. It allows in-situ transition from expanded state to contracted state without changing its stable triangular shape, and vice versa, in which specific DNA bindings as stimuli mechanically pinch and release the three corners of the triangular frame. Transmission electron microscopy images and molecular dynamics simulations illustrate the stable architectures and the high shape retention. Single-channel current recordings and fluorescence influx studies demonstrate the low-noise repeatable readouts and the controllable cross-membrane macromolecular transport. We envision that the proposed DNA nanopores could offer powerful tools in molecular sensing, drug delivery, and the creation of synthetic cells.

Investment Arbitration: A Model for Resolving Property Law Disputes on the Example of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia?

Property disputes between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia are a reality that burdens the entirety of international diplomatic relations between two neighboring countries of the same subregion. After the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), numerous issues arose, of which property rights are among the most important. The republics of the former SFRY, as well as natural and legal persons, had their property in the entire territory of Yugoslavia, so it was necessary to adequately protect the existing rights. In this regard, in 2001, the Successor States of the SFRY concluded the Agreement on Succession, in which they agreed on movable and immovable property through seven Annexes. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) started from the view that the comprehensive implementation of the Succession Agreement is the basis of permanent, stable, and friendly relations between the Contracting States and took all that was necessary to return the property claimed by the Successor States. However, the Republic of Croatia did not return the property in the way that Bosnia and Herzegovina did, and the first country started to violate the aforementioned multilateral international agreement. Given that the Agreement on Succession does not offer adequate solutions for the peaceful settlement of international disputes between the Contracting Parties, the paper analyzes the possibility of settlement of said disputes based on investment arbitration, which as a model for the settlement of international disputes is not an instrument used by individuals and legal entities from BiH into a sufficient extent. Equally, in this light, we explore the legal possibilities of the concluded Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia (bilateral investment treaty) and present the future of investment arbitration from the perspective of the European Union.

Energy transition dynamics amid policy uncertainty, environmental regulations, and Geopolitics: Evidence from China

The time-varying dynamics of the transition to renewable energy reflect the effectiveness and efficiency of energy policy. This paper investigates renewable energy transition behavior in China using Markov regime-switching models. Two distinct phases, expansion and contraction, are identified based on the growth rates of renewable energy consumption share. We find that since China started its new-energy national strategy in 2005, there has been an extended period in which it has been in the expansion state, although it occasionally reverts to a contraction state. Intriguingly, we uncover that the timing of transition state changes can be explained by the changes in policy-related, market-based instruments and risk-related indexes. These findings present implications for policymakers in developing more precise and effective policies, that drives investment choices to align with the goal of a sustainable energy system.

Akad Jual Beli dan Uang Ganti Rugi Rumah Dinas di Kota Langsa Perspektif Fikih Muamalah

Compensation money handed over by new residents to old residents of official residences in Langsa City as well as handover transactions for official residences have caused problems related to the status of the contract and ownership rights which occurred after payment of a sum of money which was also recognized as compensation money. Through a qualitative approach with descriptive methods, this research aims to determine the status of contracts, compensation money and ownership rights for official residences in Langsa City from a muamalat fiqh perspective. This research reveals that an official residence transaction that is recognized as a sale and purchase agreement is a false sale and purchase agreement because the old occupant as a seller is not the owner of the official residence as al-mabi' so the status of ownership of the official residence does not transfer to the buyer, but remains ownership. National Police. Furthermore, handing over compensation money is not appropriate because it is contrary to the concept of al-ta'widh, causing the transfer of assets from the party giving compensation money to be illegal to own and not permissible to use.

A Local-First Approach for Green Smart Contracts

Shared code in blockchains, known as smart contracts , stands to replace important parts of our digital governance and financial infrastructure. The permissionless execution of smart contracts is tightly coupled to cryptocurrencies and Proof-of-Work blockchains. As a result, smart contracts inherit the environmental impact of Proof-of-Work blockchains, such as its energy consumption, carbon footprint, and electronic waste. The four concepts of relaxed consistency, strong identities, probabilistic consensus, and the use of liabilities instead of assets may change the status quo. This work explores the integration of these concepts to decouple smart contracts from Proof-of-Work blockchains. By means of a local-first approach, which may expose users to inconsistent ephemeral contract states, the architecture of smart contracts can be transformed to become green. Because such contract states may be dropped, we base the interactions between users on liabilities. We propose a novel paradigm for smart contract architectures, named Green Smart Contracts, that is based on a local-first approach. Furthermore, we present and implement a prototype solution for this paradigm. We validate the need for a mechanism to resolve consistency violations by replaying the contract calls of a real smart contract. Our simulation shows that violations occur more often (13% of contract invocations) when using liabilities than when using a traditional blockchain (3% of contract invocations). However, we additionally validate that they can be avoided using a consensus mechanism, and our experiments show that a publish-subscribe messaging pattern uses the fewest messages to do so, though it may not be applicable for use cases that disallow the inherent imbalance in the messaging between peers. Our carbon emission estimation shows that a Green Smart Contract approach lowers carbon emissions by 52.31% when compared with the messaging behavior of a typical peer-to-peer blockchain with 1000 nodes.

Contraction assessment of abdominal muscles using automated segmentation designed for wearable ultrasound applications

PurposeWearable ultrasound devices can be used to continuously monitor muscle activity. One possible application is to provide real-time feedback during physiotherapy, to show a patient whether an exercise is performed correctly. Algorithms which automatically analyze the data can be of importance to overcome the need for manual assessment and annotations and speed up evaluations especially when considering real-time video sequences. They even could be used to present feedback in an understandable manner to patients in a home-use scenario. The following work investigates three deep learning based segmentation approaches for abdominal muscles in ultrasound videos during a segmental stabilizing exercise. The segmentations are used to automatically classify the contraction state of the muscles.MethodsThe first approach employs a simple 2D network, while the remaining two integrate the time information from the videos either via additional tracking or directly into the network architecture. The contraction state is determined by comparing measures such as muscle thickness and center of mass between rest and exercise. A retrospective analysis is conducted but also a real-time scenario is simulated, where classification is performed during exercise.ResultsUsing the proposed segmentation algorithms, 71% of the muscle states are classified correctly in the retrospective analysis in comparison to 90% accuracy with manual reference segmentation. For the real-time approach the majority of given feedback during exercise is correct when the retrospective analysis had come to the correct result, too.ConclusionBoth retrospective and real-time analysis prove to be feasible. While no substantial differences between the algorithms were observed regarding classification, the networks incorporating the time information showed temporally more consistent segmentations. Limitations of the approaches as well as reasons for failing cases in segmentation, classification and real-time assessment are discussed and requirements regarding image quality and hardware design are derived.

The law applicable to the right of priority from a European perspective

The right of priority established in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property allows a patent applicant to claim the filing date of a first application for any subsequent applications for the same invention filed within twelve months in another Paris Convention Contracting State. This right may be claimed by the person who has filed an application or their successor in title. If priority is not validly claimed, patent applications and patents relying on the right may be rejected, revoked or invalidated. National and regional rules governing who may claim priority, whether a priority right may be divided or shared, whether it may be transferred independently of the priority application and the rights to the invention, and the requirements for a valid transfer differ from country to country. The issue of whether priority has been validly claimed may therefore depend on which country’s law applies, which depends on the characterisation of the issues. The aim of this article is to provide a European perspective on the law applicable to the right of priority.

Design and hydrodynamic analysis of controllable soft-body extension-driven flippers inspired by swimming frog flippers

Flippers are key tissues through which frogs swim in water, and their spreading and contracting state directly affects their ability to move while driving their hind limbs. First, inspired by movement mechanism of frog flippers, a controllable soft-body extension-driven frog-like flipper mechanism was designed by combining the large elasticity and strong ductility of soft-body materials. This mechanism is driven by single motor via linkage gear, enabling it to simulate the changing state of flipper extension precisely controlled by the frog as it swims. Second, nonlinear mechanical calculations of flipper deformation membrane were carried out, and deformation optimization model based on Ogden's super soft-body material was established. Subsequently, integral analysis of the deformed area of flippers was used to obtain a fluid dynamics model of the paddling performance. Theoretical calculations and computational fluid dynamics simulations have shown that flippers can instantaneously control changes in the flipper area to inhibit fluid separation while swimming, effectively reducing the water drag of flippers in water and thus increasing the swimming propulsive force. Finally, when the spreading area of flippers was the same, and the swimming efficiency increased by 1, 1.6, and 1.9 times compared with that of fixed, passive folding, and passive spring flippers, respectively.

Ciliary muscles contraction leads to axial length extension--The possible initiating factor for myopia.

This study aimed to investigate the underlying factors driving the onset of myopia, specifically the role of the ciliary muscle's contraction in the elongation of the axial length of the eye. The retrospective study was conducted utilizing data from three ophthalmic centers in Shanghai and Beijing. Both Chinese and Caucasian children were involved. The axial length of the subjects' eyes was measured in both relaxed and contracted state of the ciliary muscle. A comprehensive mechanical model was also developed to observe the influence of ciliary muscle contraction on the axial length. This study included a sample of 198 right eyes of 198 myopic children. Of these, 97 were male and 101 were female, 126 were of Chinese ethnicity and 72 were Caucasian. The age of onset for myopia ranged from 5.9 to 16.9 years old. The axial length of the eye decreased 0.028 ± 0.007mm following dilation, indicating relaxation of the ciliary muscle (t paired student = 15.16, p = 6.72 x 10-35). In contrast, ciliary muscle contraction resulted in an increase in axial length. Considering proportionality, a significant 90.4% (179 eyes) exhibited a reduced axial length, while a minor 9.6% (19 eyes) demonstrated an increase post-mydriasis. Finite element modeling demonstrated that muscle contraction caused a tension force that transmits towards the posterior pole of the eye, causing it to extend posteriorly. The contraction of the ciliary muscle leads to an extension of the axial length. This could potentially be the initiating factor for myopia.

563 Team Science to Assess Effectiveness and Impact in Public Healthcare Delivery System Contracting

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Healthcare organizations and payers are moving from accountability to effectiveness frameworks. Static vendor contracts for full-scale implementation limit organizations' ability to evaluate impact before scale-up, or to iteratively improve. Our team science innovation employs science and learning methods as systems engage vendors. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Our team science innovation is a method to assess and model impact of interventions at scale in healthcare delivery systems. We are integrating expertise in learning processes of an academic medical center (UCLA CTSI) with the organizational knowledge and methodological expertise of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care plan (LA Care Health Plan), which has over 2 million members. The LA Care Advanced Analytics Lab has unique capability in machine learning, while enables deep learning of variation. Our innovative product is a template to quickly mobilize evaluation and learning for a diverse population in a varied and distributed delivery system. The template design enables rapid learning for the full-scale policy implementation often imposed by government, and in the short timeframes involved. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: LA Care and the UCLA CTSI partnered to provide subject matter expertise and design effective pilots for interventions such as transitional care services, complex care management, and physician home visit strategies, accounting for confounding factors affecting the intervention and outcome. So far, collaborative modeling and design has produced a successful pilot of a physician home visit program intended to reduce avoidable emergency department visits. This pilot quickly revealed several major changes that would need to be incorporated for the contracted vendor to produce results if operated at scale, further informed by machine learning, in sufficient time to inform the contracting process. There are multiple evolving applications, including housing/homelessness. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Integrating the large data and analytics of a large healthcare organization with learning methods from the CTSI -- including learning from variation and designs for studying impact during scale-up -- fosters academic-community team science that could significantly improve the value of our largest delivery systems, public and commercial.

Cervical impairments in subjects with migraine or tension type headache: an observational study.

The aim of this investigation was to compare the thickness of the deep local muscles in the neck region, as well as local and widespread sensitivity and functionality, between individuals with migraine, Tension-Type Headache (TTH), and healthy controls. To date, we know that the onset of migraine and TTH share similar pathophysiological pathways. Nevertheless, there may be some anatomical and functional differences which would explain why clinicians may obtain variable results when treating both pathological entities with similar or equal approaches. An observational study was conducted in accordance with STROBE guidelines. The flexor longus colli and multifidus, two neck-stabilizing muscles, were measured using B-mode ultrasound imaging. The upper trapezius, masseter, temporalis, tibialis anterior, and median nerve all underwent bilateral pressure-pain threshold (PPT) assessments. Ninety participants were enrolled in the study. All subjects were equally divided into TTH, migraine and control groups. The PPT values exhibited lower thresholds in patients with TTH than both migraine and healthy participants. Specifically, in the temporal muscle on both sides, patients with TTH exhibited a significantly lower threshold (p < 0.001)than both migraine and healthy participants. Patients with TTH displayed significantly lower thresholds in both upper trapezius muscles (right: p < 0.001; left: p = 0.001). Similar results were obtained for the tibialis anterior PPTs from both sides (p = 0.001 in both). However, both clinical groups exhibited lower thresholds than the healthy subjects (p < 0.001). In multifidus muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), no statistically significant differences were found between migraine patients and healthy subjects, both in relaxation and contraction (right; p > 0.05 and p > 0.05; left: p > 0.05 and p > 0.05). However, patients with TTH exhibited a smaller CSA than both migraine patients and healthy controls in multifidus relaxed and contracted state (right: p < 0.001 in both relaxed and contracted multifidus; left: p = 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Similar results were obtained for the left longus colli muscle in both relaxation and contraction for patients with TTH and migraine compared with healthy subjects (p = 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively, for muscle relaxation and p < 0.001 for muscle contraction). However, no significant differences were observed between patients with TTH and migraine (p < 0.05 in both relaxation and contraction). In the right longus colli, TTH and migraine patients had a significantly smaller CSA during contraction than healthy subjects (p < 0.001 in both comparisons). In the craniocervical flexion test, both groups of patients with TTH and migraine showed significantly lower values than healthy subjects (p < 0.001 in both comparisons). However, no significant differences were found between patients with TTH and migraineurs (p > 0.05). The findings provide a significant message for clinicians since anatomical and functional impairments were shown in patients with TTH and migraine. This study corroborates a lack of strength and smaller CSA in both clinical groups compared to controls. Therefore, strengthening programs may be addressed successfully for people with these pathological entities. To be more accurate, according to PPTs and CSA lower values in patients with TTH compared to migraine and controls, manual therapy approaches to desensitize craniocervical soft tissues and exercise therapy to increase endurance of deep cervical muscles may become meaningful especially in subjects with TTH. Nevertheless, in order to distinguish precisely between patients with TTH and migraine, different diagnostic strategies may be used in the future to describe these populations in further detail, which will assist health professionals in a more accurate treatment selection.

ANNProof: Building a verifiable and efficient outsourced approximate nearest neighbor search system on blockchain

Data-as-a-service is increasingly prevalent, with outsourced K-approximate nearest neighbors search (K-ANNS) gaining popularity in applications like similar image retrieval and anti-money laundering. However, malicious search service providers and dataset providers in current outsourced query systems cause incorrect user query results. To address this, we propose ANNProof, a novel framework supporting verifiable outsourced K-ANNS on the blockchain. ANNProof utilizes two innovative authenticated data structures (ADS), the Merkle HNSW node tree, and the Merkle vector identifier tree, for efficient K-ANNS query verification. Additionally, we employ the Merkle sharding tree as an ADS optimization technique, reducing the overhead of delivering verifiable queries. We implement the ADS construction protocol based on blockchain smart contracts to ensure tamper-evident datasets and enhance execution efficiency via a contract state consistency checking scheme. Extensive evaluations show that ANNProof reduces VO generation time, result verification time, and VO size by 160, 120, and 28×, respectively, compared to the state-of-the-art systems. Moreover, ADS construction using ANNProof takes at most 2% of the index construction time, resulting in a negligible overhead for implementing verifiable queries. Meanwhile, the sharding optimization accelerates ADS updates by 53×.

Taxation of Deemed Income in Treaty Law: A Comparative Analysis and Case Study

This article deals with the treatment of transfers of use without consideration in treaty law (double taxation convention/DTC), using the example of interest and royalties. Compared to an interest-bearing loan or licensing for consideration, the free transfer of use under the current DTC rules can lead to a distortion of the allocation of taxation rights between the Contracting States and potential tax losses in the source state. This article analyses this issue for the first time, including examples. To illustrate the analysis, a case study is included. The purpose of the study is to identify shortcomings of the current DTC rules concerning the taxation of deemed income from the free transfer of use in the state of residence of the borrower or licensee (referred to as the source state in this article) against the granting person. Another objective of the study is to derive solutions for the further development of DTC law to ensure adequate taxation of the free transfer of use in the source state. This study aims to improve the current DTC law.