scholarly journals Robust Characterization of the Uterine Myoelectrical Activity in Different Obstetric Scenarios

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 743
Author(s):  
Javier Mas-Cabo ◽  
Yiyao Ye-Lin ◽  
Javier Garcia-Casado ◽  
Alba Díaz-Martinez ◽  
Alfredo Perales-Marin ◽  
...  

Electrohysterography (EHG) has been shown to provide relevant information on uterine activity and could be used for predicting preterm labor and identifying other maternal fetal risks. The extraction of high-quality robust features is a key factor in achieving satisfactory prediction systems from EHG. Temporal, spectral, and non-linear EHG parameters have been computed to characterize EHG signals, sometimes obtaining controversial results, especially for non-linear parameters. The goal of this work was to assess the performance of EHG parameters in identifying those robust enough for uterine electrophysiological characterization. EHG signals were picked up in different obstetric scenarios: antepartum, including women who delivered on term, labor, and post-partum. The results revealed that the 10th and 90th percentiles, for parameters with falling and rising trends as labor approaches, respectively, differentiate between these obstetric scenarios better than median analysis window values. Root-mean-square amplitude, spectral decile 3, and spectral moment ratio showed consistent tendencies for the different obstetric scenarios as well as non-linear parameters: Lempel–Ziv, sample entropy, spectral entropy, and SD1/SD2 when computed in the fast wave high bandwidth. These findings would make it possible to extract high quality and robust EHG features to improve computer-aided assessment tools for pregnancy, labor, and postpartum progress and identify maternal fetal risks.

Author(s):  
Muklas Rivai

Optimal design is a design which required in determining the points of variable factors that would be attempted to optimize the relevant information so that fulfilled the desired criteria. The optimal fulfillment criteria based on the information matrix of the selected model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunkon Kim ◽  
Eui-Nam Huh

This paper explores data caching as a key factor of edge computing. State-of-the-art research of data caching on edge nodes mainly considers reactive and proactive caching, and machine learning based caching, which could be a heavy task for edge nodes. However, edge nodes usually have relatively lower computing resources than cloud datacenters as those are geo-distributed from the administrator. Therefore, a caching algorithm should be lightweight for saving computing resources on edge nodes. In addition, the data caching should be agile because it has to support high-quality services on edge nodes. Accordingly, this paper proposes a lightweight, agile caching algorithm, EDCrammer (Efficient Data Crammer), which performs agile operations to control caching rate for streaming data by using the enhanced PID (Proportional-Integral-Differential) controller. Experimental results using this lightweight, agile caching algorithm show its significant value in each scenario. In four common scenarios, the desired cache utilization was reached in 1.1 s on average and then maintained within a 4–7% deviation. The cache hit ratio is about 96%, and the optimal cache capacity is around 1.5 MB. Thus, EDCrammer can help distribute the streaming data traffic to the edge nodes, mitigate the uplink load on the central cloud, and ultimately provide users with high-quality video services. We also hope that EDCrammer can improve overall service quality in 5G environment, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), Internet of Things (IoT), etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja Rani ◽  
Sebastiano Panichella ◽  
Manuel Leuenberger ◽  
Mohammad Ghafari ◽  
Oscar Nierstrasz

Abstract Context Previous studies have characterized code comments in various programming languages, showing how high quality of code comments is crucial to support program comprehension activities, and to improve the effectiveness of maintenance tasks. However, very few studies have focused on understanding developer practices to write comments. None of them has compared such developer practices to the standard comment guidelines to study the extent to which developers follow the guidelines. Objective Therefore, our goal is to investigate developer commenting practices and compare them to the comment guidelines. Method This paper reports the first empirical study investigating commenting practices in Pharo Smalltalk. First, we analyze class comment evolution over seven Pharo versions. Then, we quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the information types embedded in class comments. Finally, we study the adherence of developer commenting practices to the official class comment template over Pharo versions. Results Our results show that there is a rapid increase in class comments in the initial three Pharo versions, while in subsequent versions developers added comments to both new and old classes, thus maintaining a similar code to comment ratio. We furthermore found three times as many information types in class comments as those suggested by the template. However, the information types suggested by the template tend to be present more often than other types of information. Additionally, we find that a substantial proportion of comments follow the writing style of the template in writing these information types, but they are written and formatted in a non-uniform way. Conclusion The results suggest the need to standardize the commenting guidelines for formatting the text, and to provide headers for the different information types to ensure a consistent style and to identify the information easily. Given the importance of high-quality code comments, we draw numerous implications for developers and researchers to improve the support for comment quality assessment tools.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Polevaya ◽  
Igor' Belogrud ◽  
Irina Ivanova ◽  
Elena Kamneva ◽  
Valentina Maslova ◽  
...  

In the modern economy, high-quality personnel is a key factor for the success of an organization. The success of the organization directly depends on the degree of qualification of the staff. The textbook presents technologies, methods and types of personnel training and development; legal and organizational aspects of professional training; socio-psychological features of personnel training and development; the basics of forming and managing the personnel reserve in the organization, as well as methods for evaluating the effectiveness of personnel training and development in the organization. It is intended for students studying in the direction of training "Personnel Management", students of institutes and advanced training courses, employees of personnel management services, managers of enterprises and organizations.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3322
Author(s):  
Emanuele Mocciaro ◽  
Valeria Runfola ◽  
Paola Ghezzi ◽  
Maria Pannese ◽  
Davide Gabellini

In the last decade, the sequence-specific transcription factor double homeobox 4 (DUX4) has gone from being an obscure entity to being a key factor in important physiological and pathological processes. We now know that expression of DUX4 is highly regulated and restricted to the early steps of embryonic development, where DUX4 is involved in transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome. While DUX4 is epigenetically silenced in most somatic tissues of healthy humans, its aberrant reactivation is associated with several diseases, including cancer, viral infection and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). DUX4 is also translocated, giving rise to chimeric oncogenic proteins at the basis of sarcoma and leukemia forms. Hence, understanding how DUX4 is regulated and performs its activity could provide relevant information, not only to further our knowledge of human embryonic development regulation, but also to develop therapeutic approaches for the diseases associated with DUX4. Here, we summarize current knowledge on the cellular and molecular processes regulated by DUX4 with a special emphasis on FSHD muscular dystrophy.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agni Orfanoudaki ◽  
Amre M Nouh ◽  
Emma Chesley ◽  
Christian Cadisch ◽  
Barry Stein ◽  
...  

Background: Current stroke risk assessment tools presume the impact of risk factors is linear and cumulative. However, both novel risk factors and their interplay influencing stroke incidence are difficult to reveal using traditional linear models. Objective: To improve upon the Revised-Framingham Stroke Risk Score and design an interactive non-linear Stroke Risk Score (NSRS). Our work aimed at increasing the accuracy of event prediction and uncovering new relationships in an interpretable user-friendly fashion. Methods: A two phase approach was used to develop our stroke risk score predictor. First, clinical examinations of the Framingham offspring cohort were utilized as the training dataset for the predictive model consisting of 14,196 samples where each clinical examination was considered an independent observation. Optimal Classification Trees (OCT) were used to train a model to predict 10-year stroke risk. Second, this model was validated with 17,527 observations from the Boston Medical Center. The NSRS was developed into an online user friendly application in the form of a questionnaire (http://www.mit.edu/~agniorf/files/questionnaire_Cohort2.html). Results: The algorithm suggests a key dichotomy between patients with or without history of cardiovascular disease. While the model agrees with known findings, it also identified 23 unique stroke risk profiles and introduced new non-linear relationships; such as the role of T-wave abnormality on electrocardiography and hematocrit levels in a patient’s risk profile. Our results in both the training and validation populations suggested that the non-linear approach significantly improves upon the existing revised Framingham stroke risk calculator in the c-statistic (training 87.43% (CI 0.85-0.90) vs. 73.74% (CI 0.70-0.76); validation 75.29% (CI 0.74-0.76) vs 65.93% (CI 0.64-0.67), even in multi-ethnicity populations. Conclusions: We constructed a highly predictive, interpretable and user-friendly stroke risk calculator using novel machine-learning uncovering new risk factors, interactions and unique profiles. The clinical implications include prioritization of risk factor modification and personalized care improving targeted intervention for stroke prevention.


Author(s):  
Kleopatra Alamantariotou

Recent statistics show that the World Wide Web has now grown to over 100 million sites: a phenomenal expansion in only 15 years (Mulligan 2007). It has been estimated that there are 100,000 sites offering health related information (Wilson 2002). As the amount of health information increases, the public find it increasingly difficult to decide what to accept and what to reject (Burgess 2007). Searching for information on the internet is both deceptively easy and the same time frustratingly difficult (Kiley 2002). The challenge for consumers is to find high quality, relevant information as quickly as possible. There has been ongoing debate about the quality of information aimed at patients and the general public and opinions differ on how it can be improved (Stepperd 1999). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the different perspectives on information quality and to review the main criteria for assessing the quality of health information on the internet. Pointers are provided to enable both clinicians and patients find high quality information sources. An understanding of these issues should help health professionals and patients to make effective use of the internet.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Conder ◽  
Albert Furrer ◽  
Ekaterina Pomjakushina

The availability of high-quality and well characterized materials is a key factor for condensed-matter research [...]


2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Graßmann ◽  
Franziska Schölmerich ◽  
Carsten C Schermuly

A growing number of studies emphasize the working alliance between the client and the coach to be a key factor in coaching. Synthesizing 27 samples ( N = 3563 coaching processes), this meta-analysis sheds light on the relationship between working alliance and a broad range of coaching outcomes for clients. The meta-analytic results indicate a moderate and consistent overall relationship between a high-quality working alliance and coaching outcomes for clients ( r = .41, 95% CI [.34, .48], p < .001). Working alliance was positively related to all desirable coaching outcomes (range: r = .32 to .64), with the strongest relationship to affective and cognitive coaching outcomes. Moreover, working alliance was negatively related to unintended negative effects of coaching ( r = –.29). Results revealed no differences regarding the type of clients, coaches’ expertise, number of coaching sessions, and clients’ or coaches’ perspectives. Similar to other helping relationships like psychotherapy or mentoring, the results support the importance of a high-quality working alliance in coaching.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Ágnes Bálint ◽  
Judit Magyari

Assessing and addressing spiritual needs is a key factor in the quality of life and overall wellbeing of cancer patients. However, the evolution and diversification of assessment tools has not automatically been followed by their successful implementation; thus, addressing unmet needs continues to be a concern. In this paper, we examine the place of bibliotherapy (also called reading therapy or poetry therapy) as a group intervention in the oncological setting in revealing spiritual needs. We show that it represents not only a useful intervention but may also provide instant relief and reduce spiritual suffering. Bibliotherapy understood and practiced as a subtle balance of texts and group processes alleviates cognitive and emotional symptoms of a spiritual concern and facilitates finding meaning in life in general and illness in particular. As an intervention, it is effective, affordable and attractive; moreover, it equips patients receiving treatment and rehabilitation with the lifelong skill of reflective reading. Bibliotherapy is easily tailored to almost any needs and promotes self-expression, which provides spiritual fulfillment in itself.


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