Improvements In Technology Research Articles

Communication and Adoption of Mobile Banking Services in Sri Lanka

The Rapid improvement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has significantly influenced the banking sector. Although Mobile Banking Service (MBS) was introduced to Sri Lanka 20 years ago, only a few customers use it for transactions. Banks use various communication tools to promote mobile banking services, but the number of users still needs to grow. The problem is whether banks communicate with customers about MBS adequately and whether the communication reaches the target customers as expected. This research comparatively analysed the responses of 91 customers from two selected Sri Lankan banks to address this issue. The study reveals that the respondents were aware of MBS from interpersonal communication channels such as bank officers and family and friends. In contrast, banks often use social media and television advertising to promote MBS. Only a few respondents used television and Facebook advertisements to increase awareness about MBS. The study also found a significant difference between the respondents’ awareness and the usage of MBS. Most respondents had at least a basic knowledge of MBS, but only a few customers used it. The findings show that making customers aware of a banking facility is not enough to convince them to adopt that facility. The study shows that building up trustworthiness is essential to convince customers, and the best communication method is interpersonal communication channels.

Enlargement of the hepatic artery is present in dogs with a congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt and is independent of shunt insertion into the systemic circulation.

The accurate diagnosis of portovascular anomalies has been facilitated by improvements in diagnostic imaging technology. In humans, hepatic arterial blood flow changes in response to the reduction in portal blood flow. The hepatic arterial buffer response characterizes an intrinsic regulatory mechanism in response to reduced portal venous blood flow, which results in hepatic arterial enlargement. At the authors' institution, enlargement of the hepatic artery has been anecdotally observed in a population of dogs with extrahepatic portosystemic shunting, consistent with previous literature that documents variability in hepatic arterial size. In this retrospective, blinded, analytical study, a hepatic artery:aorta (Ha:Ao) ratio was assessed on CT studies from 112 dogs, with (n=43) and without (n=69) an extrahepatic congenital portosystemic shunt in order to compare the hepatic artery size independent of body weight between the two populations. A significant increase in the Ha:Ao ratio was documented in dogs with an extrahepatic portosystemic shunt (EHPSS) compared with those dogs with no EHPSS independent of the location of shunt insertion into the systemic circulation (P<.001). Three cases had repeat CT after surgery, and all had Ha:Ao ratio reductions following treatment. The authors propose that this may be an additional imaging feature observed in dogs with an EHPSS.

Autonomy Acquisition and Performance within Higher Education in Vietnam—A Road to a Sustainable Future?

The Vietnamese Government prioritizes education as a developmental investment within its socioeconomic development programs. Subsequently, Vietnam’s higher education system (HE) is experiencing substantial transformation, emphasizing autonomy, because institutions endowed with self-governance capabilities may allocate societal resources more efficiently for developmental purposes. In this paper, we measured Vietnamese universities’ total factor productivity change (TFPCH) in the autonomy context, using it as a proxy for the sustainable performance of HE institutions. We decomposed TFPCH into Technical Efficiency Change (EFFCH) and Technology Change (TECHCH) and regressed these indices with independent variables to derive their determining factors. Notably, we employed the derived intercept as a proxy for the autonomy context of Vietnam. The DEA found significant advancements in productivity and technology, indicating a positive paradigm shift within Vietnam’s higher education system. The intercepts obtained from these regressions are positive and significant, implying that the autonomous environment supports the sustainable advancement of Vietnam’s higher education system in both components of TFPCH: the catch-up ability (EFFCH) and technological improvement (TECHCH). In addition, we found that investment in vital resources (number of laboratories, research funding, or quality accreditation) improves productivity (TFPCH) via technological improvement. We also observed that private universities experienced higher performance progress than public ones. However, we did not find any significant relationships between the university scale or the location of the main campus and their performance. To further the growth of Vietnam’s higher education system, we propose that the autonomy of institutions continues to be granted.

History of the development of machine translation systems (from the early stages to the beginning of the 21st century)

The article examines certain periods of machine translation development and the methods used to create various machine translation systems. To ensure correct historical periodization, the author defines the criteria for classifying the development of machine translation. Special attention is paid to the development of individual machine translation systems, as well as the events that had a significant impact on both the development and the hindrance of progress in the field of machine translation. Additionally, the author considers the ALPAC report and its subsequent “quiet period” of machine translation development, analyses the key specialists who have been involved in the development and improvement of machine translation systems and machine translation technologies, categorizing them into four large groups. The article reviews the dominant basis of machine translation research until the late 1980s, rooted in various linguistic rules such as parsing rules, lexical rules, lexical transfer rules, syntactic generation rules, morphology rules, etc.The author traces the emergence of the corpus-based method in machine translation, as well as its further expansion through experiments in computational modelling of cognition and perception, including the study of parallel computing, neural networks and connectionism, which offered the prospect of making the systems “learn” from past successes and failures. Besides, the author also examines the emergence of the interlingualapproach for multilingual translation of technical manuals and the history of the “pivot language”, along with the use of SLLP (specialized languages for linguistic programming).

A research of the impact of ChatGPT on education

The integration of AI language models, particularly ChatGPT, into higher education has sparked concerns about academic integrity and its impact on student learning experiences. This research aims to explore the applications, benefits, challenges, and future implications of ChatGPT in education, striving to achieve a balanced and beneficial integration of AI in higher education. The study reviews related works on ChatGPT, investigating its development, capabilities, and potential applications in education. Firstly, the paper emphasizes that ChatGPT changes teaching methods, enabling teachers to adopt more flexible and interactive approaches to education. Secondly, the paper highlights that ChatGPT can provide personalized learning experiences for students by generating customized teaching content based on their needs and offering real-time assistance and guidance, thereby enhancing learning effectiveness. However, the paper also acknowledges some potential challenges and issues, including concerns regarding plagiarism and privacy, as well as the possibility of biases and the generation of erroneous information. Addressing these issues requires technological improvements and the development of sound usage policies. The paper concludes by summarizing the findings and prospects of the research.

Path planning method for unmanned aerial vehicles

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, have seen tremendous growth and wide-spread use in the last ten years, largely because of unheard-of technological improvements. It is currently one of the most significant study subjects since it involves many different areas of robotics and control systems. This study aims to thoroughly assess the most popular approaches for unmanned aerial vehicle path planning, while also outlining their benefits, drawbacks, potential uses, and overall effectiveness. The objective is to present the academic community with a summary of the existing environment and the development direction of future unmanned aerial vehicle path planning algorithms to encourage more research for quickly evolving planning of intelligent systems.

Evaluating AI in medicine: a comparative analysis of expert and ChatGPT responses to colorectal cancer questions

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a global health challenge, and patient education plays a crucial role in its early detection and treatment. Despite progress in AI technology, as exemplified by transformer-like models such as ChatGPT, there remains a lack of in-depth understanding of their efficacy for medical purposes. We aimed to assess the proficiency of ChatGPT in the field of popular science, specifically in answering questions related to CRC diagnosis and treatment, using the book “Colorectal Cancer: Your Questions Answered” as a reference. In general, 131 valid questions from the book were manually input into ChatGPT. Responses were evaluated by clinical physicians in the relevant fields based on comprehensiveness and accuracy of information, and scores were standardized for comparison. Not surprisingly, ChatGPT showed high reproducibility in its responses, with high uniformity in comprehensiveness, accuracy, and final scores. However, the mean scores of ChatGPT’s responses were significantly lower than the benchmarks, indicating it has not reached an expert level of competence in CRC. While it could provide accurate information, it lacked in comprehensiveness. Notably, ChatGPT performed well in domains of radiation therapy, interventional therapy, stoma care, venous care, and pain control, almost rivaling the benchmarks, but fell short in basic information, surgery, and internal medicine domains. While ChatGPT demonstrated promise in specific domains, its general efficiency in providing CRC information falls short of expert standards, indicating the need for further advancements and improvements in AI technology for patient education in healthcare.

Toward a US Framework for Continuity of Satellite Observations of Earth's Climate and for Supporting Societal Resilience

AbstractThere is growing urgency for improved public and commercial services to support a resilient, secure, and thriving United States (US) in the face of mounting decision‐support needs for environmental stewardship and hazard response, as well as for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Sustained space‐based Earth observations are critical infrastructure to support the delivery of science and decision‐support information with local, national, and global utility. This is reflected in part through the United States' sustained support of a suite of weather and land‐imaging satellites. However, outside of these two areas, the US lacks an overarching, systematic plan or framework to identify, prioritize, fund, and implement sustained space‐based Earth observations to meet the Nation's full range of needs for science, government policy, and societal support. To aid and accelerate the discussion on our nation's needs, challenges and opportunities associated with sustained critical space‐based Earth observations, the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) sponsored a multi‐week think‐tank study to offer ways forward. Based on this study, the KISS study team suggests the establishment of a robust coordination framework to help address US needs for sustained Earth observations. This coordination framework could account for: (a) approaches to identify and prioritize satellite observations needed to meet US needs for science and services, (b) the rapidly evolving landscape of space‐based Earth viewing architecture options and technology improvements with increasing opportunities and lower cost access to space, and (c) the technical and programmatic underpinnings required for proper and comprehensive data stewardship to support a wide range of research and public services.

Microsurgical Resection of a Thalamic Tumor Using an Endoscopic Contralateral Supracerebellar Infratentorial Keyhole Approach: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.

The surgical treatment of the thalamic lesions is one of the most technically challenging interventions because of their deep-seated location and the proximity of the surrounding vital neurovascular structures: thalamic nuclei, limbic system components, visual and oculomotricity pathways, deep cerebral veins, and posterior cerebral artery branches.1 Traditional microsurgical approaches for these lesions usually require large open craniotomies and further retraction or resection of neural tissue to facilitate better visualization, associating significant postoperative morbidity or even mortality. The recent improvements in high-resolution fiber optics technology have allowed neurosurgeons to expand their surgical armamentarium for tackling these difficult-to-reach lesions. The patient consented to the procedure, and in this surgical video, we try to emphasize the advantages of an endoscopic supracerebellar infratentorial approach over the classic microsurgical approach, along with the keyhole craniotomy and the sitting positioning of the patient. The endoscope provides better visualization-dynamic in-depth view of the anatomic and pathological structures, angled-optics help the surgeon to see "around-the-corner," and the entire procedure is a more comfortable experience for the surgeon and also for the patient, using the minimally invasive techniques. Moreover, we underline the need for a strong collaboration with an experienced endoscopic surgeon (for eg, ear, nose and throat surgeon), as for other endoscopic skull base approaches. The participants and any identifiable individuals consented to publication of his/her image.

Adenine base editor-based correction of the cardiac pathogenic Lmna c.1621C > T mutation in murine hearts.

Base editors are emerging as powerful tools to correct single-nucleotide variants and treat genetic diseases. In particular, the adenine base editors (ABEs) exhibit robust and accurate adenine-to-guanidine editing capacity and have entered the clinical stage for cardiovascular therapy. Despite the tremendous progress using ABEs to treat heart diseases, a standard technical route toward successful ABE-based therapy remains to be fully established. In this study, we harnessed adeno-associated virus (AAV) and a mouse model carrying the cardiomyopathy-causing Lmna c.1621C > T mutation to demonstrate key steps and concerns in designing a cardiac ABE experiment invivo. We found DeepABE as a reliable deep-learning-based model to predict ABE editing outcomes in the heart. Screening of sgRNAs for a Cas9 mutant with relieved protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) allowed the reduction of bystander editing. The ABE editing efficiency can be significantly enhanced by modifying the TadA and Cas9 variants, which are core components of ABEs. The ABE systems can be delivered into the heart via either dual AAV or all-in-one AAV vectors. Together, this study showcased crucial technical considerations in designing an ABE system for the heart and pointed out major challenges in further improvement of this new technology for gene therapy.

Retrospective study on the toxicity induced by stereotactic body radiotherapy: overview of the reunion experience on prostate cancer in elderly patients.

Prostate cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer among men worldwide. Various tools are used to manage disease such as conventional radiotherapy. However, it has been demonstrated that large prostate volumes were often associated with higher rates of genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicities. Currently, the improvements in radiotherapy technology have led to the development of stereotactic body radiotherapy, which delivers higher and much more accurate radiation doses. In order to complete literature data about short-term outcome and short-term toxic effects of stereotactic body radiotherapy, we aimed to share our experience about gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities associated with stereotactic body radiotherapy in prostate cancer in patients over 70 years old. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of elderly patients with prostate cancer treated between 2021 and 2022. The elderly patients were treated with a non-coplanar robotic stereotactic body radiotherapy platform using real-time tracking of implanted fiducials. The prostate, with or without part of the seminal vesicles, was treated with a total dose of 36.25 Gy delivered in five fractions, each fraction being administered every other day. We analyzed a total of 80 elderly patients, comprising 38 low-, 37 intermediate- and 5 high-risk patients. The median follow-up duration was 12 months. We did not observe biochemical/clinical recurrence, distant metastasis, or death. Grade 2 acute genitourinary toxicity was observed in 9 patients (11.25%) and Grade 2 acute gastrointestinal toxicity in 4 patients (5.0%). We did not observe any grade 3 or more acute or late toxicities. Over the follow-up period, we noted a low frequency of gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities induced by stereotactic body radiotherapy in the context of prostate cancer in elderly patients. Therefore, stereotactic body radiotherapy seems to represent a promising treatment option for elderly patients, with acceptable acute toxicity.

On the strength of the piezoceramic transducer in the system of structural health monitoring

The aim of the presented paper is the more detailed investigation and improvement of pre-stressing technology for the piezoelectrical transducer (PET) protection from degradation at action of extreme overload and longtime variable load in operation. Earlier developed 1D model of embedded PET is verified by the finite element analysis. Using this model, the parametrical assessment of stress state and strength of conventional transducer is done. It is shown that there is specific class of PET for which satisfying solution cannot always be obtained by optimization of parameters of the conventional piezoelectrical transducer (CPET). Therefore, further analysis is focused on the stress state and strength of the pre-stressed piezoelectrical transducer (PPET) it comparison with CPET. The electromechanical impedance (EMI) and its integral indicis are used for assessment of PET operability. Numerical simulation of EMI response to possible damages of PET and the outcome of static and fatigue tests are shown the significantly higher resistance of PPET against operational degradation in comparison with CPET.

Mixing mechanism of power-law non-Newtonian fluids in resonant acoustic mixing

Resonant acoustic mixing (RAM) is a widely applied technology that utilizes low-frequency vertical harmonic vibration for fluid transfer and mixing. However, the current research on the mixing mechanism of RAM technology primarily focuses on the initial mixing stages, neglecting the subsequent turbulent transition. This lack of understanding hinders the further improvement of RAM technology. This paper aims to investigate the mixing mechanism of power-law non-Newtonian fluids (NNF) in RAM using the phase field model and the spectral analysis. The study focuses on understanding the facilitating effect of turbulent transition in mixing and explores the influence of the power-law index and the excitation parameter on the mixing characteristics. The results indicate that the flow field experiences Faraday instability due to the intense perturbation during transient mixing. This leads to the fluid mixing through the development of large-scale vortex to small-scale vortex. During this process, the frequency components of the flow field are distributed around the working frequency, demonstrating transient and broad frequency characteristics. The steady state then dissipates energy through the viscous dissipation of small-scale vortices and ultimately relies on the single-frequency components such as submultiples and multiples excited by the nonlinear effect to complete the mixing. The mixing effects of NNF and Newtonian fluids (NF) are essentially the same, but they consume energy in different ways. The mixing uniformity and mixing efficiency of NNF increase with increasing vibration acceleration and decrease with increasing vibration frequency. These findings provide new insights into the RAM mechanism of power-law NNF.

Endoscopic ear surgery -- Discipline establishment and technological innovation

The application of microscope is a milestone in the history of otosurgery, which makes otologists deal with middle ear lesions more clearly and finely, and helps otologists expand the scope of treatment to the lateral skull base area, which greatly promotes the development of otosurgery. In the past 20 years, with the continuous improvement of endoscopic equipment research and development and the gradual improvement of endoscopic technology, the application of endoscopic technology in China has shown an explosive development, and Chinese otolaryngologists have experienced from the initial attempts of endoscopic technology, to the widespread popularization of innovative and applicable technology, and then to the feasibility of exploring the future innovative concepts. Endoscopic technology is another revolutionary push for the development of otosurgery after the microscope.

Analysis of interlocking faults and reliability evaluation methods for communication networks of power information physical systems

The information physics system realizes the integration and interaction between them by the 3C technique. The application of scheduling automation, Substation Automation and Online Fault Recovery Technology Improves Emergency Response Capability, and Information Security issues are also embedded in the energy system. Power grid operation is facing more threats, and state space and failure scenarios are also more abundant, which poses new research needs and challenges for power system stability assessment. First, the physical interaction of information is analyzed. From the perspective of function, the CPPS hierarchy corresponds to the physical Electric power system, the information sub-station system and the main station system respectively. Then, taking the information node as the fault detection sample point, the chain fault model of the power information physical system is studied, and the abnormal response of the power information system is classified and identified, Finally, a failure response model and a failure recovery model are built. Finally, a simulation example is given for verification.

Distributed control of energy storages for multi-time-step peak load shaving in a microgrid

Distributed energy storages (ESs) will be widely used in the future smart microgrids due to their continuous technology improvement and cost reduction. Meanwhile, the distributed control method also gains increasing attention for controlling distributed devices to protect user privacy and reduce computation burden compared with the centralized scheme. In this paper, a distributed control method of ESs is proposed for multi-time-step peak load shaving in a microgrid. Considering the ES efficiency is related to its power, an optimization is constructed to minimize the power loss during ES operations when performing peak load shaving function. By analyzing the net load curve and the ES available capacity, the multi-time-step peak load shaving problem is transformed into single-time-step ES operations at each time step. The Combine-Then-Adapt diffusion strategy is united with the consensus + innovation strategy to realize the peak load shaving in a fully distributed way. Case studies verify the efficiency of the proposed method.

Portable Headband Electroencephalogram in the Detection of Absence Epilepsy.

The accuracy of headband electroencephalogram (EEG) was compared to traditional EEG in pediatric patients with absence epilepsy. This study enrolled 10 patients with previously diagnosed absence epilepsy and examined the concordance of headband EEG and traditional EEG in the follow-up EEG of treated absence epilepsy. The study found a concordant result in 80% of cases providing a signal that absence epilepsy is an effective target for headband EEG. The study showcases a need for further research in headband EEG technology and continued improvements in technology.

The development and validation of a novel, parameter-free, modelling strategy for electromembrane processes: Electrodialysis

As the global water crisis worsens and natural resources of strategic inorganic elements dwindle, the need for efficient and effective salt separation methods is becoming ever more important. Electromembrane processes, and in particular electrodialysis, are emerging as efficient and effective separation technologies that use an electric field to drive the transport of ions against a concentration gradient. Modelling electromembrane processes allows for process design and optimisation, as well as the identification of what technological improvements would have the greatest effect. However, the wide use of empirical fitting parameters in most existing models greatly limits their globality. The presence of complex and confounding phenomena within electromembrane processes greatly exacerbates this. In this work, a novel, circuit-based modelling strategy for electromembrane processes is presented, avoiding the use of any fitting parameters. Conventional electrodialysis is adopted as a case study. The implementation of a novel transport number model and membrane resistance model are crucial for model accuracy over a wide range of process conditions. The model was experimentally validated and showed excellent agreement with experimental data across a range of concentrations and voltages. Consequently, this model will prove to be an excellent tool for researchers and process designers.

Panoramic image stitching technology and its application in the field of autonomous driving

Image processing technology is an indispensable part of the development of many fields, in which panoramic image stitching technology is one of the most widely used technologies in image processing, which is not only applied in the frontier fields of technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles and machine vision detection, but is also closely related to people's lives, for example, the panoramic camera shooting function of the smart phone. The driverless car is also a widely concerned field, its development means the liberation of manpower, the realization and improvement of self-driving car technology can alleviate traffic congestion, the use of transportation for people without the ability to drive and many other social problems. This paper will firstly introduce the panoramic collage technology, including its principle, system architecture and application prospect. Secondly, it focuses on the application of panoramic collage technology in the field of self-driving cars, which is divided into two aspects: sensor hardware and collocation algorithm, and analyzes the applicability of different algorithmic techniques in this field based on the demand characteristics of self-driving cars. The research in this paper points out the optimization direction of panoramic collage technology required by self-driving cars, which will be of great value to the development and application of panoramic collage technology in the field of self-driving cars.

Epigenetic stress memory in gymnosperms.

Gymnosperms are long-lived, cone-bearing seed plants that include some of the most ancient extant plant species. These relict land plants have evolved to survive in habitats marked by chronic or episodic stress. Their ability to thrive in these environments is partly due to their phenotypic flexibility, and epigenetic regulation likely plays a crucial part in this plasticity. We review the current knowledge on abiotic and biotic stress memory in gymnosperms and the possible epigenetic mechanisms underlying long-term phenotypic adaptations. We also discuss recent technological improvements and new experimental possibilities that likely will advance our understanding of epigenetic regulation in these ancient and hard-to-study plants.