Verification Rate Research Articles

Construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability of the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI)

Objective We investigated the construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability of the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI) to determine its usefulness in measuring the functional level of gait. Patients and Methods This was a prospective observational study following the checklist of the Consensus-Based Standards for Selecting Health Measurement Instruments. The SCI-FAI consists of three items: Gait Parameter, Assistive Devices, and Temporal. We recruited 55 patients diagnosed with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in the subacute or chronic phase from Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences Hospital. Construct validity was clarified by hypothesis testing and the rate of hypothesis verification. We divided responsiveness into subacute and chronic groups and determined the correlation between the changes in the two timepoints of the SCI-FAI and 6-minute walk test. Interpretability involved the calculation of cutoff values for indoor and outdoor walking. Results Construct validity was confirmed for 12 of the 15 hypotheses, indicating high construct validity. In the subacute group, Gait Parameter and Assistive Devices showed moderate responsiveness. Interpretability showed that the Gait Parameter was perfect in 19 of the 20 subjects who did not need a walking aid when walking. The cutoff value for Gait Parameter for indoor walking was 17.5 points (AUC 0.91) and that for Assistive Devices was 9.5 points (AUC 0.88). The cutoff values for outdoor walking were Gait Parameter 18.5 points (AUC 0.96) and Assistive Devices 10.5 points (AUC 0.94). Conclusion Our results demonstrated that the SCI-FAI has adequate construct validity, moderate responsiveness in SCI patients in the subacute phase, and interpretability in the gait assessment of individuals with SCIs. Gait Parameter is likely to show a ceiling effect for people with SCIs who can walk without using an upper-limb walking aid.

Cattle identification based on multiple feature decision layer fusion

In farming scenarios, cattle identification has become a key issue for the development of precision farming. In precision livestock farming, single-feature recognition methods are prone to misjudgment in complex scenarios involving multiple cattle obscuring each other during drinking and feeding. This paper proposes a decision-level identification method based on the multi-feature fusion of cattle faces, muzzle patterns, and ear tags. The method utilizes the SOLO algorithm to segment images and employs the FaceNet and PP-OCRv4 networks to extract features for the cattle’s faces, muzzle patterns, and ear tags. These features are compared with the Ground truth, from which the Top 3 features are extracted. The corresponding cattle IDs of these features are then processed using One-Hot encoding to serve as the final input for the decision layer, and various ensemble strategies are used to optimize the model. The results show that using the multimodal decision fusion method makes the recognition accuracy reach 95.74%, 1.4% higher than the traditional optimal unimodal recognition accuracy. The verification rate reaches 94.72%, 10.65% higher than the traditional optimal unimodal recognition verification rate. The research results demonstrate that the multi-feature fusion recognition method has significant advantages in drinking and feeding farm environments, providing an efficient and reliable solution for precise identification and management of cattle in farms and significantly improving recognition accuracy and stability.

Regional analysis and stage-specific incidence of breast cancer in Kazakhstan: A comprehensive study

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most prevalent oncological pathology in Kazakhstan, ranking among the top three causes of cancer-related deaths in women. The objective of this study is to analyze the incidence of breast cancer, considering factors such as stage, age, sex, and morphological verification in the regional context in Kazakhstan. MethodsThe retrospective study employed descriptive and analytical oncoepidemiological methods. Breast cancer incidence data (2005–2019) were obtained from the Unified Nationwide Electronic Health System (ICD-10 code C50). Demographic data came from the Bureau of National Statistics. Statistical analyses included age-standardized, crude, and age-specific incidence rates, with trend analyses performed using linear regression and the Joinpoint Regression Program to assess average percentage change over time. ResultsThe analysis of breast cancer incidence in Kazakhstan shows significant regional variations and an overall upward trend. Nationally, the age-standardized incidence rate is 40.9 per 100,000, with an annual increase of +1.96 %. Early-stage (I-II) breast cancer incidence is rising, particularly in Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, and Almaty City. In contrast, advanced-stage (III-IV) incidence has generally declined, except in regions like Kostanay, North Kazakhstan, and Atyrau, where late-stage cases are increasing. High morphological verification rates across all regions ensure reliable and accurate diagnostic data. ConclusionThe study reveals a significant increase in early-stage breast cancer diagnoses in Kazakhstan, highlighting the effectiveness of the national screening program. However, regional disparities in late-stage cancer incidence suggest a need for targeted interventions and improved regional healthcare.

Trends in Stage-Specific Kidney Cancer Incidence in Kazakhstan, 2005-2019.

The aim is to analyze the incidence of kidney cancer over a 15-year period, considering factors such as stage, age, sex, and morphological verification in the regional context in Kazakhstan. The retrospective study was done using descriptive and analytical methods of oncoepidemiology. The extensive, crude and age-specific incidence rates are determined according to the generally accepted methodology used in sanitary statistics. The data were used to calculate the average percentage change (APС) using the Joinpoint regression analysis to determine the trend over the study period. Among the meticulously documented 15,277 cases, a conspicuous male predominance was noted, comprising 53.7% of cases compared to 46.3% in females, with peak incidences observed within the 50-69 age cohorts. The average age at diagnosis exhibited a progressive rise over the study period, with discernible variations observed in age-specific incidence rates, particularly pronounced within the 60-84 age brackets. Noteworthy temporal trends indicated a consistent uptick in crude incidence rates, with distinct regional disparities manifesting higher rates in northern regions relative to their southern and western counterparts. Stratification by cancer stage unveiled a significant surge in stages I-II cases alongside a concomitant decrement in stage III incidences, complemented by reductions in stage IV occurrences and instances of unspecified disease stages. Morphological verification rates displayed regional variations, with an overarching ascending trajectory across most regions, albeit exceptions noted, notably in the Kyzylorda region. Our study identified a rise in kidney cancer incidence in Kazakhstan, likely reflecting global trends driven by increased risk factor exposure and incidental imaging findings. Regional disparities and varied stage distributions highlight the complexity of kidney cancer epidemiology. Despite advancements in early detection, delayed diagnosis persists, necessitating improved surveillance and diagnostic practices.

Using EpiCore to Enable Rapid Verification of Potential Health Threats: Illustrated Use Cases and Summary Statistics.

The proliferation of digital disease-detection systems has led to an increase in earlier warning signals, which subsequently have resulted in swifter responses to emerging threats. Such highly sensitive systems can also produce weak signals needing additional information for action. The delays in the response to a genuine health threat are often due to the time it takes to verify a health event. It was the delay in outbreak verification that was the main impetus for creating EpiCore. This paper describes the potential of crowdsourcing information through EpiCore, a network of voluntary human, animal, and environmental health professionals supporting the verification of early warning signals of potential outbreaks and informing risk assessments by monitoring ongoing threats. This paper uses summary statistics to assess whether EpiCore is meeting its goal to accelerate the time to verification of identified potential health events for epidemic and pandemic intelligence purposes from around the world. Data from the EpiCore platform from January 2018 to December 2022 were analyzed to capture request for information response rates and verification rates. Illustrated use cases are provided to describe how EpiCore members provide information to facilitate the verification of early warning signals of potential outbreaks and for the monitoring and risk assessment of ongoing threats through EpiCore and its utilities. Since its launch in 2016, EpiCore network membership grew to over 3300 individuals during the first 2 years, consisting of professionals in human, animal, and environmental health, spanning 161 countries. The overall EpiCore response rate to requests for information increased by year between 2018 and 2022 from 65.4% to 68.8% with an initial response typically received within 24 hours (in 2022, 94% of responded requests received a first contribution within 24 h). Five illustrated use cases highlight the various uses of EpiCore. As the global demand for data to facilitate disease prevention and control continues to grow, it will be crucial for traditional and nontraditional methods of disease surveillance to work together to ensure health threats are captured earlier. EpiCore is an innovative approach that can support health authorities in decision-making when used complementarily with official early detection and verification systems. EpiCore can shorten the time to verification by confirming early detection signals, informing risk-assessment activities, and monitoring ongoing events.

The accuracy and feasibility study of freehand pedicle screw insertion for subaxial cervical spine assisted with safe core-referred technique

Objectives: To construct the "safe core" of the pedicle screw trajectory using CT imaging data of the subaxial cervical spine in adults, and to assess the accuracy and feasibility of the pedicle screw insertion assisted with the "safe core-referred technique" for subaxial cervical spine with a cadaver specimen study. Methods: This is an experimental study. From January 2015 to March 2020,60 adults' CT images data of the cervical spine were collected from the database of the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University,and were imported into Mimics 20.0 software. Virtual cervical pedicle trajectory and safe core were constructed according to the self-designed "virtual construction method of pedicle in the subaxial cervical spine". The success rate of the construction and the spatial position data of the virtual safe core of was recorded,including the distance between the safe core and the tangent line of the upper and lower outer edge of Luschka's joint on coronal plane,and the distance between the safe core and the posterior edge of the vertebral body on sagittal plane.The 3.5 mm column was used to simulate the pedicle screw placement,using the safe core as the only hub in pedicle screw trajectory.The length of the anterior pedicle screw trajectory,the interval of the abductive angle of the pedicle screw in axial plane, and the projection area of the entry area on periapical radiograph was calculated.In addition,8 adult cervical cadaver specimens were collected for the pedicle screw insertion experiment.The left side group used the "safe core-referred technique" for pedicle screw insertion,while the right side group used the Abumi method for pedicle screw insertion.The accuracy of pedicle screw placement was verified by CT scan.The difference between the accuracy of subjective judgment based on X-ray monitoring of operator and the actual accuracy of pedicle screw insertion verified by CT scan was compared between the two groups.The chi-square test was used to compare the intergroup data. Results: The total success rate of the virtual construction method for the safe core of the subaxial cervical spine was 97.0% (291/300); The distance between the safe core and the tangent line of the upper and lower outer edge of Luschka's joint on coronal plane was (M(IQR)) 0.91 (0.98) mm (range: 0 to 1.85 mm);The distance between the safe core and the posterior wall on the sagittal plane of the vertebral body was (2.01±0.86) mm (range: 0.67 to 3.53 mm). The distance (anterior pedicle screw trajectory) from the posterior cortex to the central point of the safe core was (11.58±1.00)mm (range: 8.27 to 14.93 mm).The projection area of the entry point on the coronal plane was (36.18±11.67) mm2 (range: 13.38 to 83.11 mm2). Pedicle screw insertion experiment in cervical cadaver specimen showed the rate of intraoperative correction of the pedicle screw trajectory was 7.5% (3/40) in the experimental group and 12.5% (5/40) in the control group (χ2=0.139,P=0.709). The operator 's correct rate of subjective judgment on CT in the stage of pedicle screw trajectory preparation was 100% (40/40) in the experimental group and 82.5% (33/40) in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.638,P=0.018). The actual correct rate of CT verification in the stage of pedicle screw insertion was 100% (40/40) in the experimental group and 90.0% (36/40) in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (χ2=2.368,P=0.124); The operator 's correct rate of subjective judgment in the stage of pedicle screw insertion completion was 100% (83/83) in the experimental group and 92.9% (79/85) in the control group (χ2=4.199,P=0.040). Conclusions: The virtual safe-core of subaxial cervical spine can be use as a reliable anatomical fluoroscopy landmark for freehand pedicle screw insertion."Safe core-referred technique" can improve the accuracy rate of the operator's subjective judgment on the intraoperative fluoroscopy monitoring,and hence improve the accuracy of freehand pedicle screw insertion technology for subaxial cervical spine. And it still needs to be further verified in clinical practice.

A message verification scheme based on physical layer-enabled data hiding for flying ad hoc network

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for military as well as civilian applications such as search and rescue operations, disaster management, parcel delivery and agriculture, is becoming increasingly popular, mainly due to their versatile nature and relatively inexpensive operating costs. However, one of the most significant barriers in the widespread adoption of UAVs for the aforementioned applications is the increasing concern for wireless communication security within the network. Unfortunately, the nodes that comprise these networks are extremely constrained in terms of storage space, processing power and battery life, which require light-weight security protocols that align with these limitations. The current standards for message authentication and verification predominantly rely on lightweight cryptographic techniques. However, there is continual scope for improvement, particularly in the realm of computational efficiency, to better align with the constraints inherent to UAVs. This paper explores data hiding in a multi-UAV environment, to form a light-weight message verification scheme to confirm the identity of the transmitting node. First, five venues having the potential to hide data are analyzed. Based on the analysis of bit error rate obtained from the simulated multi-UAV environment, both cyclic prefix and padding bits are selected. Next, a codeword is generated for each transmission and it is embedded along with the unique ID key, κ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\kappa $$\\end{document} of the transmitting node into each venue respectively, and the output is transmitted as Hello packets. Subsequently, the receiving node extracts and decodes the codeword in order to verify the authenticity of the transmitting node. An evaluation of the proposed scheme has been conducted by using a simulated UAV environment. In the best case scenario, the proposed authentication scheme can achieve a successful verification rate of at least 80% at a maximum hop-count of 10 hops. Through computational cost analysis, in comparison to the conventional methods, the proposed scheme was found to have a significantly lower total execution time of 1.7μs\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$1.7\\mu s$$\\end{document}. In addition, the security analysis shows that when the proposed scheme is paired with physical unclonable functions (PUFs), it is able to resist common security attacks, including man-in-the-middle, replay and cloning attacks.

Artificial intelligence-based perioperative safety verification system improved the performance of surgical safety verification execution.

To explore the application effect of the artificial intelligence-based (AI-based) perioperative safety verification system in the performance of safety verification execution in urological and general surgeries. The surgical checklists of 141 urological and general surgical patients from September to December 2019 in Hangzhou Children's Hospital were selected as the control group, and 71 surgical checklists for urological and general surgeries that the applied AI-based perioperative safety verification system from August to September 2022 were chosen as the experimental group. We compared the execution rate and standardization rate of safety verification as well as the satisfaction of surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists between the two groups. The execution rate and standardization rate of surgical safety verification in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (both P<0.05). In addition, the satisfaction of surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists was also higher in the experimental group (all P<0.05). The AI-based perioperative safety verification system can improve the execution and standardization rates of surgical verifications, and also enhance the satisfaction of surgical participants.

Research on the Surface Deformation, Fault Rupture, and Coseismic Geohazard of the 2022 Luding Mw 6.8 Earthquake.

An Mw 6.8 earthquake occurred in Luding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, on 5 September 2022. This seismic event triggered numerous coseismic geohazards in the seismic zone. In this study, the ascending- and descending-track synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images observed by the Sentinel-1A satellite are utilized to extract the coseismic surface deformation of the Luding earthquake. Subsequently, a faulting model is estimated based on the elastic dislocation theory, under the constraint of the InSAR observation. Additionally, the POT technique was employed to detect coseismic geohazards. High-spatial-resolution optical remote sensing images served to validate the reliability of the detection results. The coseismic interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) deformation field indicated a maximum deformation of ~190 mm and ~140 mm along the ascending and descending tracks, respectively. The estimated best-fitting faulting model suggests that the optimal seismogenic fault strike and dip angles are 169.3° and 70°, respectively. The fault slip predominantly exhibits left-lateral strike-slip characteristics and is concentrated at depths of 3-12 km. The estimated maximum fault slip was 2.67 m, occurring at a depth of 7 km. The pixel offset tracking (POT) result derived from the pre- and post-earthquake SAR images found a total of 245 medium- to large-scale coseismic geohazards, with a verification rate from optical images exceeding 64%. The distribution of these geohazards is notably dense within the significant fault rupture segment. Geohazards on the fault hanging wall are densely packed, whereas landslides along the Dadu River's fault footwall are also notably frequent.

An efficient and secure certificateless aggregate signature scheme

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been developing rapidly and popularizing the world. Smart home is one of its important applications, the devices and household appliances are connected together through the network to provide intelligent services. However, malicious attacks often occur during the transmission of data information, resulting in data leakage or data changes. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the integrity and availability of data. Based on this, we propose a new pairing-free certificateless aggregate signature (CLAS) scheme, which achieves efficient authentication of multiple messages and improves the verification rate. In addition, we demonstrate its security based on the hardness of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem in the random oracle model. Comparison with other CLAS schemes proves that our scheme has better security and higher efficiency through performance analysis.

Diagnostic Efficacy of Photostimulated Chemiluminescence Assay for Detecting Anti-HIV Antibodies: A Retrospective Study.

The transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through blood poses a slightly increased risk. As a result, patients requiring blood transfusions should be screened for HIV antibodies. This study examined the diagnostic effectiveness of the photostimulated chemiluminescence assay in detecting anti-HIV antibodies and determined the cut-off value for this method. The performance of the fully automated photostimulated chemiluminescence assay system was validated according to CNAS-GL038:2019 (2020) and CNAS-GL037:2019 (2019) guidelines. A retrospective study was conducted at the Department of Medical Laboratory, Nanjing Tongren Hospital, affiliated with Southeast University, from January 2020 to December 2022. A total of 77,386 cases were tested for anti-HIV antibodies using the photostimulated chemiluminescence assay, with 79 cases initially testing positive. The method's performance in detecting anti-HIV antibodies was evaluated using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and the average Coefficient of Variation (CV) value of 3-year in-house quality control. The precision, detection limit, coincidence rate, and critical value of the performance verification results met the requirements. Using Western blotting (WB) as the reference method, positive cases were initially screened using the light-induced chemiluminescence method to determine the cut-off index (COI) value and draw the ROC curve. The maximum area under the ROC curve using the chemiluminescence method was 0.997, with a cutoff value of < 28.56, sensitivity of 98%, specificity of 100%, Jordan index of 0.98, and an average CV value of 3.55%. In conclusion, the photostimulated chemiluminescence assay has good diagnostic efficacy in detecting anti-HIV antibodies and is suitable for rapid screening before blood transfusion and surgery.

Influence of minimum segment width on intensity-modulated radiotherapy plan for left-sided breast cancer after breast conserving surgery.

To research the influence of the minimum segment width (MSW) on intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan for left breast cancer after breast conserving surgery and provide a reference for plan optimization. Ten patients with left-sided early-stage breast cancer after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) were selected for postoperative radiotherapy. The Monaco 5.11 treatment planning system (TPS) was used, and the optimization parameters of the plan were fixed, while MSW were set to 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 cm, and four 5 field-IMRT plans were designed for every patient. The plan quality and execution efficiency of each plan were compared, including planning target volume (PTV) dose, organs at risk (OAR) dose, segments number (SN), monitor units (MU), delivery time (DT), and dose verification results. With the increase of the MSW, the dose indexes of the OAR were similar (P > .05). The D2%, D98%, and D50% of the PTV gradually deviated from the prescription dose, and the uniformity gradually deteriorated (P < .05). The gamma passing rates (GPR) of dose verification and the dose deviation of the PTV were similar (P > .05). The SN, MU, and DT gradually decreased (P < .05), but the amplitude change caused by each increase of 0.5 cm gradually decreased, the decrease of 0.5 to 1 cm was the largest, reaching 16.41%, 21.25%, and 0.35 minutes, respectively, while the 3 values of 1.5 and 2 cm were close. When using Monaco 5.11 TPS to design IMRT plan for left breast cancer after BCS, 1.5 cm MSW could ensure better dose coverage and uniformity of the PTV, as little as possible exposure dose to the OAR, and high dose verification accuracy. The SN, MU, and DT were significantly reduced, and the treatment efficiency was improved.

Категоризация в гибридном поиске: исследование с использованием регистрации движений глаз

&lt;p&gt;Categorization is the process by which objects are combined according to a certain principle, which provides more efficient and cost-effective information processing. One of the topical areas of research in this field is the study of the categorical effect in perceptual tasks, for example in the task visual search task. The present study investigated the effect of the role of category (basic or superordinate) on the time of guidance - the search for a target stimulus and verification - the time of identification of a target stimulus in a hybrid search task. Subjects had to find certain objects on the screen, which could be specified either as basic-level categories (e.g., cars) or superordinate-level categories (e.g., transport vehicles). An eye-tracking method was used to separate the entire hybrid search process into a guidance and a verification. A significant effect of category level was found on the rate of guidance, but not on the rate of verification.&lt;/p&gt;

SQCS: A sustainable quality control system for spatial crowdsourcing via three-party evolutionary game: Theory and practice

Quality control of sensing data poses a fundamental challenge in Spatial Crowdsourcing (SC) applications, and various incentive mechanisms have been proposed to effectively motivate workers. However, real-world SC systems involve multiple stakeholders, namely workers, platforms, and requesters, who exhibit bounded rationality. Moreover, prior research has often neglected the practical aspect of platforms needing to verify sensing data against ground truth information, which incurs a cost. Therefore, platforms face the constraint of verification cost and must judiciously select the verification rate. In this paper, a Sustainable Quality Control System (SQCS) is proposed, which employs a three-party evolutionary game to model the dynamic interaction among workers, platforms, and requesters in practical SC scenarios. Based on this dynamic model: (1) In theory, we derive the minimum verification rate required for effective worker monitoring and the maximum verification cost that platforms can sustainably bear via the analysis of evolutionary stable strategies. These findings serve as guidelines for achieving sustainable quality control within the SQCS framework; (2) In practice, we apply the SQCS framework to the SC scenario of urban air pollution monitoring. The optimal quality control strategy that maximizes overall social benefits is analyzed via numerical methods. Extensive experimental validation is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theory and practical approach. These findings provide valuable insights for the sustainable development of SC systems.

Reclassifying the Spring Maize Drought Index on the Loess Plateau under a Changing Climate

Drought is the main meteorological disaster that affects the yield and quality of spring maize on the Loess Plateau. This study used data of the spring maize growth period, relative soil humidity, and yield at 18 agricultural meteorological observation stations on the Loess Plateau from 1997 to 2013 to determine the drought category based on the yield reduction rate. Through the drought index according to the conformity rate of category standard and individual case verification, a refined suitability drought index of spring maize on the Loess Plateau was constructed, and the spatial distribution characteristics of drought in different growth stages of spring maize were analyzed. The results showed the following: (1) The number of days in the whole growth period of spring maize in all regions of the Loess Plateau has been extended. The average sowing date of spring maize in the northwest region of the Loess Plateau was 9 April, and that in the east and central regions was 26 April. In terms of spatial distribution, each growth period was gradually delayed from west to east. (2) The correlation between relative soil humidity and yield of spring maize at the jointing stage and heading stage was the best, followed by the milky stage and mature stage, and the relative soil humidity at the sowing stage and emergence stage had little effect on the yield. (3) According to the national drought category standard “Drought Category of Spring Maize in the North”, based on the data of yield reduction rate, the drought index of spring maize on the Loess Plateau was refined by region and growth stage. The drought category index values of spring maize in different growth stages and regions changed according to the revised drought category standard, with 71.4% of the sites in the sowing seedling stage and 85.7% of the sites in the seedling jointing stage, and the revised drought category was more severe than the national drought category standard, while at 57.1% of the sites in the jointing and tasseling stages and 71.4% in the tasseling and milking stages, the revised drought category was less severe than the national drought category standard. (4) Based on the revised refined drought index for spring maize on the Loess Plateau, the spatial distribution of drought occurrence frequency across different growth stages of spring maize on the Loess Plateau was analyzed. The frequency of drought occurrence during the seeding and emergence stages was 25–75%. With the change in growth stages, the high-value area of drought occurrence frequency gradually moved northward, and the overall frequency of drought occurrence decreased. For the milky mature stage, the frequency of drought occurrence in a few regions was around 42%, and the drought frequency in most regions was between 8% and 33%.

How do I remind you? The combined effect of purchase motivation and reminding message content on tourism consumers' verification behavior

Field verification of tourism live-streaming products is related to the ultimate conversion of tourism benefits. Therefore, improving the product verification rate is critical for tourism companies focusing on live-stream marketing. Considering the targeted nature of purchasing tourism live-streaming products, a mechanism model is constructed to form consumer verification behavior based on goal-directed behavior theory, analyzing it through two scenario experiments. When tourism consumers purchase tourism products for promotional purposes, a near-expired discount message can better stimulate their verification behavior; when tourism consumers purchase tourism products for emotional purposes, a limited-time activity message can better stimulate their verification behavior. "Fear of missing out" (FOMO) partially mediated the above interactive relationship, while mental simulation played a moderating role in the primary effect relationship. This study's results emphasize the mechanism of individual decision-making behavior after tourism live-streaming, providing a reference for the online marketing process for tourism companies.

D-BLAC: A dual blockchain-based decentralized architecture for authentication and communication in VANET

With all the advancements in the last decade in Intelligent Transportation systems (ITS), there has been an exponential increase in the number of applications provided to the Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). These applications provide unmatched security and safety services. As a result, there is a huge surge in the amount of data being generated and transmitted within the VANETs. In this paper, we have proposed a dual blockchain based decentralized architecture for authentication of the vehicles and secure & efficient communication within the network. The use of individual blockchains for authentication and message sharing makes the network more efficient and fast while also helping to increase the network security. Both the blockchains use a different consensus algorithm which adds another layer of security. The security and performance evaluation of the proposed architecture proves that it is resistant to a number of security attacks and has a lower computational cost, higher throughput, lower transmission delay and higher vehicle verification rate by a significant amount when compared to existing schemes.

Image Preprocessing for Illumination Invariant Face Verification

Performance of the face verification system depend on many conditions. One of the most problematic is varying illumination condition. In this paper 14 normalization algorithms based on histogram normalization, illumination properties and the human perception theory were compared using 3 verification methods. The results obtained from the experiments showed that the illumination preprocessing methods significantly improves the verification rate and it’s a very important step in face verification system.

Implementation of a Customized Safety Checklist in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the Importance of Team Time Out-A Dual-Center Pilot Study.

Background and Objectives: Checking and correctly preparing the patient for endoscopic procedures is a mandatory step for the safety and quality of the interventions. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance and necessity of a "team time out" as well as the implementation of a customized "checklist" before the actual procedure. Material and Methods: We developed and implemented a checklist for the safe conduct of endoscopies and for the entire team to thoroughly know about the patient's medical history. The subjects of this study were 15 physicians and 8 endoscopy nurses who performed overall 572 consecutive GI endoscopic procedures during the study period. Results: This is a prospective pilot study performed in the endoscopy unit of two tertiary referral medical centers. We customized a safety checklist that includes the steps to be followed before, during and after the examination. It brings together the whole team participating in the procedure in order to check the key points during the following three vital phases: before the patient falls asleep, before the endoscope is inserted and before the team leaves the examination room. The perception of team communication and teamwork was improved after the introduction of the checklist. The checklist completion rates, identity verification rates of patients by the endoscopist, adequate histological labeling management and explicit recording of follow-up recommendations are some of the parameters that improved post-intervention. Conclusions: Using a checklist and adapting it to local conditions is a high-level recommendation of the Romanian Ministry of Health. In a medical world where safety and quality are essential, a checklist could prevent medical errors, and team time out can ensure high-quality endoscopy, enhance teamwork and offer patients confidence in the medical team.

Process-based dynamic identification indicators of soybean chilling damage and analysis of the corresponding spatiotemporal characteristics in Northeast China.

Northeast China (NEC) is one of the main soybean-producing areas among the northern-latitude regions. Climate warming leads to frequent extreme disasters, and the threat of chilling damage to soybean production in NEC cannot be ignored. The study aimed to construct a dynamic disaster identification index based on the static evaluation of soybean after the disaster, taking into account the process of soybean chilling damage and using the historical disaster records to realize the dynamic prediction and analysis before the disaster. Taking soybean in NEC as the research object, chilling damage indicators of soybeans in NEC were constructed by dividing the mature regions, using daily temperature anomaly and negative temperature anomaly day data with the comprehensive consideration of the chilling damage intensity, duration, and temperature recovery. The results showed that the comprehensive indicators determined by the cumulative value of temperature anomaly-the cumulative days of negative temperature anomaly had better applicability in NEC than the single factor indicator. The indicator results were basically consistent with the historical disaster records, and the accuracy rate of the indicator verification reached 90.9%. Based on the analysis of the constructed indicators, the frequency of delayed chilling damage in NEC showed a fluctuating downward trend from 1961 to 2020. The station ratio of delayed chilling damage in NEC showed a fluctuating downward trend, with the most obvious downward trend occurring for severe damage, followed by moderate damage, and the least obvious trend observed for light damage. The scope of chilling damage gradually narrowed, with the frequency increasing from southeast to northwest. The high-risk areas of chilling damage were concentrated mainly in the northern part of Heilongjiang Province and the East Four Leagues. The risk of chilling damage in most areas of Jilin Province and Liaoning Province was relatively low. The study results provide basic support for the risk research of soybean chilling damage and for ensuring disaster monitoring and early warnings, and the risk assessment based on the chilling damage process has positive significance for adjusting agricultural structure and improving the distribution of soybean varieties.