Review: update on performance assessment and monitoring systems for ophthalmologists

Performance assessment and monitoring systems are the process by which ophthalmologists demonstrate they are fit to continue practicing.Revalidation is the process by which licensed doctors are legally required to demonstrate to medical regulators that they are up to date and fit to practice in order to maintain their medical license,and began in the United Kingdom(UK)in 2012 following well-publicized events.Recertification is a different process which began in North America and demonstrates doctors have maintained competence,without involvement of external stakeholders.Arguments for and against the concept of performance assessment are reviewed.Stakeholders in performance assessment,whether part of the process or not,are doctors themselves,peers and other health care providers,patients,hospitals and health systems,medical regulators,and health policy makers.Early models of performance assessment included portfolios,credit accumulation,and closed-book examinations.Models are in evolution with the value of formative rather than summative assessments,and the need for methods of assessing procedural competency increasingly recognized.Emerging methods of performance assessment of practicing ophthalmologists include use of performance indicators,simulation,and workplace-based assessments.Alternate methods of assuring the public by improved detection of outliers are discussed.Despite weak evidence supporting performance assessments in demonstrating continuing competency to practice,the process is gradually being accepted worldwide.Further research into optimum methods of performance assessment and monitoring processes is required,along with cost-benefit analysis.

Design strategy and comprehensive performance assessment towards Zn anode for alkaline rechargeable batteries

Alkaline Zn-based primary batteries have been commercialized in the past decades.However,their success has not been extended to secondary batteries due to the poor cycle reversibility of Zn anodes.Although some research has been conducted on alkaline Zn anodes,their performance is still far from commercial requirements.A variety of degradation mechanisms,including passivation,dendrites,morphological changes,and hydrogen precipitation,are claimed responsible for the failure of alkaline Zn metal anodes.What’s worse,these constraints always interact with each other,which leads to a single strategy being unable to suppress all the issues.Therefore,a comprehensive evaluation of the positive and negative effects of various strategies on performance is important to promote the commercialization of alkaline Zn batteries.Herein,the recent progress and performance of improvement strategies for Zn anode in alkaline conditions are reviewed systematically.First,the principles and challenges of alkaline Zn anodes are briefly analyzed.Then,various design strategies for alkaline Zn anodes from the perspectives of ion and electron regulation are highlighted.Last,through a comprehensive summary of various performance parameters,the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies are compared and evaluated.On the basis of this assessment,we aim to provide more insights into the anode design of high-performance alkaline rechargeable Zn batteries.

Research on the Performance Assessment Mechanism of Accurate Poverty Alleviation in Vocational Education

Vocational education is an effective way to achieve accurate poverty alleviation and get rid of intergenerational poverty.Vocational education is mainly to train skilled talents,not only to provide academic education for the children of poor families,but also to use a skill to achieve employment.It is of great necessity to implement accurate poverty alleviation in vocational education,and performance assessment is a very important part of the accurate poverty alleviation work of vocational education.This paper mainly analyzes the predicament of accurate poverty alleviation in vocational education and the problems in the construction of performance assessment system for accurate poverty alleviation in vocational education,and puts forward measures to improve the accurate poverty alleviation assessment system for vocational education and strengthen the accurate of vocational education.

Intelligent Student Mental Health Assessment Model on Learning Management System

A learning management system(LMS)is a software or web based application,commonly utilized for planning,designing,and assessing a particular learning procedure.Generally,the LMS offers a method of creating and delivering content to the instructor,monitoring students’involvement,and validating their outcomes.Since mental health issues become common among studies in higher education globally,it is needed to properly determine it to improve mental stabi-lity.This article develops a new seven spot lady bird feature selection with opti-mal sparse autoencoder(SSLBFS-OSAE)model to assess students’mental health on LMS.The major aim of the SSLBFS-OSAE model is to determine the proper health status of the students with respect to depression,anxiety,and stress(DAS).The SSLBFS-OSAE model involves a new SSLBFS model to elect a useful set of features.In addition,OSAE model is applied for the classification of mental health conditions and the performance can be improved by the use of cuckoo search optimization(CSO)based parameter tuning process.The design of CSO algorithm for optimally tuning the SAE parameters results in enhanced classifica-tion outcomes.For examining the improved classifier results of the SSLBFS-OSAE model,a comprehensive results analysis is done and the obtained values highlighted the supremacy of the SSLBFS model over its recent methods interms of different measures.

Green Development for Supporting Sustainability of Northeast China:Performance Quantification,Spatio-temporal Dynamics and Implications

Green development is the cognition of geography to human-nature nexus under the background of the new era.As China is facing various eco-environment problems,green development has become a key approach towards ecological progress,and it is ultimately an explicit means to respond to support sustainable development in China.Quantifying green development performance is essential to track efforts towards sustainability and guide policymakers.However,applying the balanced property of’Economy-Ecology-Society’of green development to its performance assessment is rarely discussed.Here we elaborated the connotation of green development and developed a quantification model with coupling coordination degree to assess green development performance of the largest old industrial base of China,Northeast China.We found that the green development performance has been improved from a score of 0.443 in 2003 to 0.530 in 2019 but the disparities of green development performance were enlarging over time,especially for the cities in Heilongjiang.A positive spatial autocorrelation phenomenon of green development performance was confirmed,and Low-Low clusters in the northeastern Heilongjiang and High-High clusters in the central-eastern Liaoning were discovered.This study suggests the need to track the spatio-temporal dynamics of green development performance to provide references for achieving sustainable development goals in northeast China and other regions.

Seismic assessment of nature-inspired hexagrid lateral load-resisting system

This paper provides a general perspective of the seismic performance of a nature-inspired,honey-comb grid structural system,known as a hexagrid,under near-field ground motions.Seismic performance of this skeleton is then compared to that of a bundled-tube,as a conventional and efficient load-resisting system in order to provide a better perception of the seismic behavior of a hexagrid skeleton.Two 20-story buildings with bundled-tube and hexagrid skeleton were studied.Nonlinear behavior of the structures was investigated through 3-D finite element computer models and nonlinear time history analyses by subjecting the models to seven three-component records of scaled near-field ground motions.Distribution of peak inter story drift and corner beam-column joint rotations were calculated and compared.Results indicated that by replacing the exterior columns of the bundled-tube system with inclined beam-column elements of nature-inspired hexagons,lateral stiffness of the building increased and it would tolerate less deformations before global dynamic instability is reached.The presence of inclined columns in the hexagrid skeleton helped to concentrate local nonlinearities in ring beams rather than exterior columns.

A Comparative Technique for Performance Evaluation of Hammer Mill and Disk Mill in Yam Flour Processing

Grinding (Particle size reduction) of biomass is an age-long operation that is performed during the preparation process of certain food products. Among the grinding mill machines mostly used for this operation are hammer mill and disk mill. Being that the nature of biomass affects the performance and choice of grinding-mill machine to be adopted, it is imperative to compare and select appropriate grinding mill machine that is efficient and effective. In this paper, a comparative technique to evaluate and select appropriate grinding mill machine for particle size reduction of dried white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is proposed. Hammer mill and disk mill machines were selected for consideration. Two white yam species (Benue and Delta Yam) were prepared into dried chips and ground using the selected mills. Among the attribute (performance parameters) considered are crushing time, particle size distribution and energy consumed. A measure of performance (Index I) based on the comparative technique was formulated and used in evaluating the performance of the two mills. In the hammer mill, index I recorded 2721.2 and 3719.82 par/kWh for Benue Yam chips at screen size 4 and 6 mm, respectively, while 2647.89 and 3472.01 par/kWh was recorded for Delta yam chips at screen size 4 and 6 mm, respectively. Index I values for the Disk mill were 2536.25 and 2433.42 par/kWh at 1.2 mm clearance distance for Benue Yam chips and Delta Yam chips, respectively. The results indicated that hammer mill performed better overall than the disk mill. The comparative technique was found suitable in the evaluation of the performance of the mills. It is recommended that hammer mill be adopted.

Towards a global One Health index: a potential assessment tool for One Health performance

Background:A One Health approach has been increasingly mainstreamed by the international community, as it provides for holistic thinking in recognizing the close links and inter-dependence of the health of humans, animals and the environment. However, the dearth of real-world evidence has hampered application of a One Health approach in shaping policies and practice. This study proposes the development of a potential evaluation tool for One Health performance, in order to contribute to the scientific measurement of One Health approach and the identification of gaps where One Health capacity building is most urgently needed.Methods:We describe five steps towards a global One Health index (GOHI), including (i) framework formulation;(ii) indicator selection;(iii) database building;(iv) weight determination;and (v) GOHI scores calculation. A cell-like framework for GOHI is proposed, which comprises an external drivers index (EDI), an intrinsic drivers index (IDI) and a core drivers index (CDI). We construct the indicator scheme for GOHI based on this framework after multiple rounds of panel discussions with our expert advisory committee. A fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is adopted to determine the weights for each of the indicators.Results:The weighted indicator scheme of GOHI comprises three first-level indicators, 13 second-level indicators, and 57 third-level indicators. According to the pilot analysis based on the data from more than 200 countries/territories the GOHI scores overall are far from ideal (the highest score of 65.0 out of a maximum score of 100), and we found considerable variations among different countries/territories (31.8–65.0). The results from the pilot analysis are consistent with the results from a literature review, which suggests that a GOHI as a potential tool for the assessment of One Health performance might be feasible.Conclusions:GOHI—subject to rigorous validation—would represent the world’s first evaluation tool that constructs the conceptual framework from a holistic perspective of One Health. Future application of GOHI might promote a common understanding of a strong One Health approach and provide reference for promoting effective measures to strengthen One Health capacity building. With further adaptations under various scenarios, GOHI, along with its technical protocols and databases, will be updated regularly to address current technical limitations, and capture new knowledge.

User-centered development and performance assessment of a modular full-body exoskeleton (AXO-SUIT)

This paper presents the design and preliminary performance assessment of a full-body assistive exoskeleton(AXO-SUIT)for older adults.AXO-SUIT is a system that consists of separate lower-body and upper-body modular exoskeletons,which can be combined to form a full-body system to provide flexible physical assistance as needed.The full-body exoskeleton comprises 27 degrees of freedom(dof),of which 17 are passive and 10 active.It can assist people in walking,standing,carrying and handling tasks.A user-centered design approach was adopted throughout the development of the exoskeleton.This paper describes the design process of AXOSUIT,involving a review of user needs,a kinematic and kinetic motion study,and innovative system design.Tests with the developed systems were conducted on selected end-user subjects,covering both performance evaluations at different levels and useability testing.End-user testing results show the effectiveness of the exoskeleton in providing flexible physical assistance.

Reliability and Incentive of Performance Assessment for Decentralized Clouds

Decentralized cloud platforms have emerged as a promising paradigm to exploit the idle computing resources across the Internet to catch up with the ever-increasing cloud computing demands.As any user or enterprise can be the cloud provider in the decentralized cloud,the performance assessment of the heterogeneous computing resources is of vital significance.However,with the consideration of the untrustworthiness of the participants and the lack of unified performance assessment metric,the performance monitoring reliability and the incentive for cloud providers to offer real and stable performance together constitute the computational performance assessment problem in the decentralized cloud.In this paper,we present a robust performance assessment solution RODE to solve this problem.RODE mainly consists of a performance monitoring mechanism and an assessment of the claimed performance(AoCP)mechanism.The performance monitoring mechanism first generates reliable and verifiable performance monitoring results for the workloads executed by untrusted cloud providers.Based on the performance monitoring results,the AoCP mechanism forms a unified performance assessment metric to incentivize cloud providers to offer performance as claimed.Via extensive experiments,we show RODE can accurately monitor the performance of cloud providers on the premise of reliability,and incentivize cloud providers to honestly present the performance information and maintain the performance stability.

Multi-Sensor Image Fusion: A Survey of the State of the Art

Image fusion has been developing into an important area of research. In remote sensing, the use of the same image sensor in different working modes, or different image sensors, can provide reinforcing or complementary information. Therefore, it is highly valuable to fuse outputs from multiple sensors (or the same sensor in different working modes) to improve the overall performance of the remote images, which are very useful for human visual perception and image processing task. Accordingly, in this paper, we first provide a comprehensive survey of the state of the art of multi-sensor image fusion methods in terms of three aspects: pixel-level fusion, feature-level fusion and decision-level fusion. An overview of existing fusion strategies is then introduced, after which the existing fusion quality measures are summarized. Finally, this review analyzes the development trends in fusion algorithms that may attract researchers to further explore the research in this field.

Performance Comparison of Computational Methods for the Prediction of the Function and Pathogenicity of Non-coding Variants

Non-coding variants in the human genome significantly influence human traits and complex diseases via their regulation and modification effects.Hence,an increasing number of computational methods are developed to predict the effects of variants in human non-coding sequences.However,it is difficult for inexperienced users to select appropriate computational methods from dozens of available methods.To solve this issue,we assessed 12 performance metrics of 24 methods on four independent non-coding variant benchmark datasets:(1)rare germline variants from clinical relevant sequence variants(ClinVar),(2)rare somatic variants from Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer(COSMIC),(3)common regulatory variants from curated expression quantitative trait locus(eQTL)data,and(4)disease-associated common variants from curated genomewide association studies(GWAS).All 24 tested methods performed differently under various conditions,indicating varying strengths and weaknesses under different scenarios.Importantly,the performance of existing methods was acceptable for rare germline variants from ClinVar with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUROC)of 0.4481–0.8033 and poor for rare somatic variants from COSMIC(AUROC=0.4984–0.7131),common regulatory variants from curated eQTL data(AUROC=0.4837–0.6472),and disease-associated common variants from curated GWAS(AUROC=0.4766–0.5188).We also compared the prediction performance of 24 methods for non-coding de novo mutations in autism spectrum disorder,and found that the combined annotation-dependent depletion(CADD)and context-dependent tolerance score(CDTS)methods showed better performance.Summarily,we assessed the performance of 24 computational methods under diverse scenarios,providing preliminary advice for proper tool selection and guiding the development of new techniques in interpreting non-coding variants.

Performance analysis of frequency‑mixed PPP‑RTK using low‑cost GNSS chipset with different antenna configurations

Low-cost Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)devices offer a cost-effective alternative to traditional GNSS systems,making GNSS technology accessible to a wider range of applications.Nevertheless,low-cost GNSS devices often face the challenges in effectively capturing and tracking satellite signals,which leads to losing the observations at certain frequencies.Moreover,the observation peculiarities of low-cost devices are in contradistinction to those of traditional geodetic GNSS receivers.In this contribution,a low-cost PPP-RTK model that considers the unique characteristics of different types of measurements is developed and its performance is fully evaluated with u-blox F9P receivers equipped with three distinctive antenna configurations:vertical dipole,microstrip patch,and helix antennas.Several static and kinematic experiments in different scenarios are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.The results indicate that the mixed-frequency PPP-RTK model outperforms the traditional dual-frequency one with higher positioning accuracy and fixing percentage.Among the three low-cost antennas tested,the vertical dipole antenna demonstrates the best performance under static conditions and shows a comparable performance as geodetic antennas with a positioning accuracy of 0.02 m,0.01 m and 0.07 m in the east,north,and up components,respectively.Under low-speed kinematic scenarios,the helix antenna outperforms the other two with a positioning accuracy of(0.07 m,0.07 m,0.34 m).Furthermore,the helix antenna is also proved to be the best choice for vehicle navigation with an ambiguity fixing rate of over 95%and a positioning accuracy of(0.13 m,0.14 m,0.36 m).

Influence of materials’hygric properties on the hygrothermal performance of internal thermal insulation composite systems

Internal thermal insulation composite system(ITICS)can be an important measure for the energy-saving retrofitting of buildings.However,ITICS may cause harmful effects on the hygrothermal performance of building envelopes.This work investigated the influence of the materials’hygric properties on the hygrothermal perfor-mance of a typical ITICS in different climate conditions in China.Two base wall materials,the traditional concrete and a new type aerated concrete,were tested and compared for their hygric properties firstly.The influence of the hygroscopicity of exterior plasters,the permeability of insulation materials and the climate conditions were then analyzed with WUFI simulations.The hygrothermal performance was evaluated with consideration of the total water content(TWC)of the walls and the moisture flux strength,the relative humidity(RH)and the mould growth risk at the interface between the base wall and the insulation layer(B-I interface).The numerical analysis implies that the TWC of internal insulated walls depends mainly on the hygroscopicity of exterior plaster and the wind-driven rain intensity.The upper limits for the water absorption coefficient of exterior plasters used in Bei-jing,Shanghai and Fuzhou are 1e-9,1e-10,1e-10 m^(2)/s respectively.When such limits are guaranteed,a vapour tight system created by using insulation materials with a large vapour resistance factor or adding a vapour barrier can improve the hygrothermal performance of ITICS,especially for concrete walls in cold climate.

Analysis of the Application Value of Virtual Reality Combined with Flipped Classroom Teaching Mode in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Teaching

Objective:To analyze the value of using virtual reality combined with the flipped classroom teaching model in teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR).Methods:Two classes of our nursing program were randomly selected for the study from September 2022 to September 2023,Class A(52 students,conventional teaching method)and Class B(52 students,virtual reality combined with flipped classroom teaching mode).The assessment scores and independent learning ability scores of the students in the two classes were compared.Results:CPR theory and operation scores,passing rate,and independent learning ability scores of Class B were higher than those of Class A(P<0.05).Conclusion:the use of virtual reality combined with the flipped classroom teaching mode in CPR teaching is conducive to the improvement of students’assessment scores and independent learning ability.

Development of a static test apparatus for evaluating the performance of three PM2.5 separators commonly used in China

PM2.5 separator directly affects the accuracy of PM2.5 sampling.The specification testing and evaluation for PM2.5 separator is particularly important,especially under China’s wide variation of terrain and climate.In this study,first a static test apparatus based on polydisperse aerosol was established and calibrated to evaluate the performance of the PM2.5 separators.A uniform mixing chamber was developed to make particles mix completely.The aerosol concentration relative standard deviations of three test points at the same horizontal chamber position were less than 0.57%,and the particle size distribution obeyed logarithmic normal distribution with an R2 of 0.996.The flow rate deviation between the measurement and the set point flow rate agreed to within±1.0%in the range of-40 to 50℃.Secondly,the separation,flow and loading characteristics of three cyclone separators(VSCC-A,SCC-A and SCC112)were evaluated using this system.The results showed that the 50%cutoff sizes(D50)of the three cyclones were 2.48,2.47 and 2.44μm when worked at the manufacturer’s recommended flow rates,respectively.The geometric standard deviation(GSD)of the capture efficiency of VSCCA was 1.23,showed a slightly sharper than SCC-A(GSD=1.27),while the SCC112 did not meet the relevant indicator(GSD=1.2±0.1)with a GSD=1.44.The flow rate and loading test had a great effect on D50,while the GSD remained almost the same as before.In addition,the maintenance frequency under different air pollution conditions of the cyclones was summarized according to the loading test.

Performance of small-scale aero-derivative industrial gas turbines derived from helicopter engines

This paper considers comparative assessment of simple and advanced cycle small-scale aero-derivative industrial gas turbines derived from helicopter engines.More particularly,investigation was made of technical performance of the small-scale aero-derivative engine cycles based on existing and projected cycles for applications in industrial power generation,combined heat and power concept,rotating equipment driving,and/or allied processes.The investigation was done by carrying out preliminary design and performance simulation of a simple cycle(baseline)two-spool small-scale aero-derivative turboshaft engine model,and some advanced counterpart aero-derivative configurations.The advanced configurations consist of recuperated and intercooled/recuperated engine cycles of same nominal power rating of 1.567 MW.The baseline model was derived from the conversion of an existing helicopter engine model.In doing so,design point and off-design point performances of the engine models were established.In comparing their performances,it was observed that to a large extent,the advanced engine cycles showed superior performance in terms of thermal efficiency,and specific fuel consumption.In numerical terms,thermal efficiencies of recuperated engine cycle,and intercooled/recuperated engine cycles,over the simple cycle at DP increased by 13.5%,and 14.5%respectively,whereas specific fuel consumption of these cycles over simple cycle at DP decreased by 12.5%,and 13%respectively.This research relied on open access public literature for data.

Review on Sustainable Cities:Assessing the Performance and Practice of Urban Environments

Sustainable Cities:Assessing the Performance and Practice of Urban Environments Authors:Pierre Laconte,Chris Gossop Year:2016 Publisher:I.B.Tauris & Co.Ltd ISBN:9781784532321(288 pages,in English) How to build sustainable cities has always been a common concern to the world for a long period of time.Sustainable development usually includes three dimensions:economy,society。

Knowledge and data jointly driven aeroengine gas path performance assessment method

Aeroengines,as the sole power source for aircraft,play a vital role in ensuring flight safety.The gas path,which represents the fundamental pathway for airflow within an aeroengine,directly impacts the aeroengine's performance,fuel efficiency,and safety.Therefore,timely and accurate evaluation of gas path performance is of paramount importance.This paper proposes a knowledge and data jointly driven aeroengine gas path performance assessment method,combining Fingerprint and gas path parameter deviation values.Firstly,Fingerprint is used to correct gas path parameter deviation values,eliminating parameter shifts caused by non-component performance degradation.Secondly,coarse errors are removed using the Romanovsky criterion for short-term data divided by an equal-length overlapping sliding window.Thirdly,an Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition and Non-Local Means(EEMD-NLM)filtering method is designed to“clean”data noise,completing the preprocessing for gas path parameter deviation values.Afterward,based on the characteristics of gas path parameter deviation values,a Dynamic Temporary Blended Network(DTBN)model is built to extract its temporal features,cascaded with Multi-Layer Perceptron(MLP),and combined with Fingerprint to construct a Dynamic Temporary Blended AutoEncoder(DTB-AutoEncoder).Eventually,by training this improved autoencoder,the aeroengine gas path multi-component performance assessment model is formed,which can sufficiently decouple the nonlinear mapping relationship between aeroengine gas path multi-component performance degradation and gas path parameter deviation values,thereby achieving the performance assessment of engine gas path components.Through practical application cases,the effectiveness of this model in assessing the aeroengine gas path multi-component performance is verified.