One memristor–one electrolyte-gated transistor-based high energy-efficient dropout neuronal units

Artificial neural networks(ANN) have been extensively researched due to their significant energy-saving benefits.Hardware implementations of ANN with dropout function would be able to avoid the overfitting problem. This letter reports a dropout neuronal unit(1R1T-DNU) based on one memristor–one electrolyte-gated transistor with an ultralow energy consumption of 25 p J/spike. A dropout neural network is constructed based on such a device and has been verified by MNIST dataset, demonstrating high recognition accuracies(> 90%) within a large range of dropout probabilities up to40%. The running time can be reduced by increasing dropout probability without a significant loss in accuracy. Our results indicate the great potential of introducing such 1R1T-DNUs in full-hardware neural networks to enhance energy efficiency and to solve the overfitting problem.

Hounsfield units in assessing bone mineral density in ankylosing spondylitis patients with cervical fracture-dislocation

BACKGROUND Cervical spine fracture-dislocations in patients with ankylosing spondylitis(AS)are mostly unstable and require surgery.However,osteoporosis,one of the comorbidities for AS,could lead to detrimental prognoses.There are few accurate assessments of bone mineral density in AS patients.AIM To analyze Hounsfield units(HUs)for assessing bone mineral density in AS patients with cervical fracture-dislocation.METHODS The HUs from C2 to C7 of 51 patients obtained from computed tomography(CT)scans and three-dimensional reconstruction of the cervical spine were independently assessed by two trained spinal surgeons and statistically analyzed.Inter-reader reliability and agreement were assessed by interclass correlation coefficient.RESULTS The HUs decreased gradually from C2 to C7.The mean values of the left and right levels were significantly higher than those in the middle.Among the 51 patients,25 patients(49.02%)may be diagnosed with osteoporosis,and 16 patients(31.37%)may be diagnosed with osteopenia.CONCLUSION The HUs obtained by cervical spine CT are feasible for assessing bone mineral density with excellent agreement in AS patients with cervical fracture-dislocation.

Review and Analysis: Fate of Arsenic Applied to Canal Shipping Lane Vegetation and United States Military Base Grounds in the Panama Canal Zone

The opening of the Panama Canal in 1913 increased the availability of internationally traded goods and transformed ocean-shipping by shortening travel time between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The canal sparked the growth of port authorities and increased ship tonnage on both coasts of Panama. Since the construction of the Panama Canal, in the 1910s, pesticides, herbicides and chemicals, including arsenic, have been essential for controlling wetland vegetation, including hyacinth, which blocked rivers, lakes, and the canal as well as managing mosquitoes. Pesticides and chemicals flowed into Lake Gatun (reservoir) either attached to sediment or in solution during the monsoon season. Lake Gatun was the drinking water source for most of the people living in the Panama Canal Zone. The United States military base commanders had the ability to order and use cacodylic acid (arsenic based) from the Naval Depot Supply Federal and Stock Catalog and the later Federal Supply Catalog on the military base grounds in the Panama Canal Zone. Cacodylic acid was shipped to Panama Canal Zone ports, including Balboa and Cristobal, and distributed to the military bases by rail or truck. The objective of this study is to determine the fate of arsenic: 1) applied between 1914 and 1935 to Panama Canal shipping lane hyacinth and other wetland vegetation and 2) cacodylic acid (arsenic) sprayed from 1948 to 1999 on the US military base grounds in the Panama Canal Zone.

Effects of Chlorine and Chlorine Monoxide on Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

This paper presents a system approach of mass balance calculations of ozone and other species under diffusion-convection-reaction processes to study the impacts of major ozone-depleting chemicals, chlorine (Cl) and chlorine monoxide (ClO), and the effect of photolysis on ozone concentrations, ozone depletion, total ozone abundance, and ozone layer along the altitude in the stratosphere. The calculated ozone concentrations and profile of the layer followed a similar trend and were generally in good agreement with the measurements above the tropical area. The calculated peak of the layer was at the same mid-stratosphere at Z = 30 km with a peak concentration and total ozone abundance about 20% higher than the measured peak concentration of 8.0 ppm and total abundance of 399 DU. In the presence of Cl and ClO, the calculated ozone concentrations and total abundance were substantially reduced. Cl generally depleted more uniformly of ozone across the altitude, while ClO reduced substantially the ozone in the upper stratosphere and thus shifted the peak of the layer to a much lower elevation at Z = 14 km. Although both ClO and Cl are active ozone-depleting chemicals, ClO was found to have a more pronounced impact on ozone depletion and distribution than Cl. The possible explanations of these interesting phenomena were discussed and elaborated. The approach and calculations in this paper were shown to be useful in providing an initial insight into the structure and behavior of the complex ozone layer.

GENERALIZED FORELLI-RUDIN TYPE OPERATORS BETWEEN SEVERAL FUNCTION SPACES ON THE UNIT BALL OF C^(N)

In this paper,we investigate sufficient and necessary conditions such that generalized Forelli-Rudin type operators T_(λ,τ,k),S_(λ,τ,k),Q_(λ,τ,k)and R_(λ,τ,k)are bounded between Lebesgue type spaces.In order to prove the main results,we first give some bidirectional estimates for several typical integrals.

Risk Factors for Mortality in Acute Kidney Injury in Intensive Care Units in Togo

Context: Acute kidney injury (AKI) in intensive care unit (ICU) is common and associated with very high mortality. In Togo, a tropical country with limited resources and only one nephrology department in the north, acute kidney injury seems to be a real tragedy with high mortality. Aims: to determine risk factors for mortality in acute kidney injury in the intensive care units. Methods and Material: We made a multicentric cross sectional study during 6 months in the four referral centers in northern Togo. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with mortality. Data were analyzed using RStudio 2023.04.1. Results: A total of 12.6% of patients admitted to intensive care had presented with AKI. The mean age was 49.6 ± 17.9. The sex ratio (M/F) was 2.1. Community-acquired AKI was in the majority (67.7%). Oligo anuria was the most frequent functional sign (38.4%). In our series, 81.6% of patients were in KDIGO stages 2 to 3. AKI was organic in 56.2% of cases. Mortality was 44.3%. In multivariate analysis, the main factors predictive of death were: respiratory distress (OR = 2.36;p Conclusions: Acute kidney injury in intensive care is common in northern Togo, and mortality is high. Identification of associated factors should help anticipate prognosis.

The Enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Requirements in Public and Private Sectors in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates

Research Problem: In Abu Dhabi, limited implementation of OSH Regulations contributes to the general unawareness among employees and workers about occupational hazards and safety measures, resulting in slow responsiveness toward enforcement measures and a lack of self-regulatory approaches within companies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation methods practised in Abu Dhabi with those in developed countries with established OSH regulatory bodies. Methodology: Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to gather primary research data. Workers from various industries in Abu Dhabi were sampled on purpose and asked to respond to questionnaires and interviews on OSH protocol awareness and implementation, and circumstances of workplace incidence. Results: The findings of this study showed that the enforcement of OSH requirements in UAE positively correlated to a reduction in the rate of work-related injury and improved business performance. The quantitative research data showed that the energy sector had the highest score (15) while the tourism sector had the lowest score (5.3) in occupational health systems and improvements in business efficiency and productivity. Implications: The outcomes of this study shed light on the importance of implementing OSH Guidelines for companies to empower their safety managers to fully enforce OSH requirements in their organisations. In conclusion, effective OSH enforcement requires cooperation between general workers and OSH managers and facilitation from business owners.

Hydrodynamic Assessment of A New Nature-Based Armour Unit on Rubble Mound Breakwater for Coastal Protection

This research proposes a novel nature-based design of a new concrete armour unit for the cover layer of a rubblemoundbreakwater. Armour units are versatile with respect to shape, orientation, surface condition details, and porosity.Therefore, a detailed analysis is required to investigate the exact state of their hydraulic interactions and structuralresponses. In this regard, the performance results of several traditional armour units, including the Antifer cube,Tetrapod, X-block and natural stone, are considered for the first step of this study. Then, the related observed resultsare compared with those obtained for a newly designed (artificial coral) armour unit. The research methodology utilizesthe common wave flume test procedure. Furthermore, several verified numerical models in OpenFOAM code areused to gain the extra required data. The proposed armour is configured to provide an effective shore protection as anenvironmental-friendly coastal structure. Thus it is designed with a main trunk including deep grooves to imitate thetypical geometry of a coral type configuration, so as to attain desirable performance. The observed results and ananalytic hierarchy process (AHP) concept are used to compare the hydraulic performance of the studied traditionaland newly proposed (artificial coral) armour units. The results indicate that the artificial coral armour unit demonstratesacceptable performance. The widely used traditional armour units might be replaced by newer designs for betterwave energy dissipation, and more importantly, for fewer adverse effects on the marine environment.

Bionic lightweight design of limb leg units for hydraulic quadruped robots by additive manufacturing and topology optimization

Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadruped robots show great potential in unstructured environments due to their discrete landing positions and large payloads.As the most critical movement unit of a quadruped robot,the limb leg unit(LLU)directly affects movement speed and reliability,and requires a compact and lightweight design.Inspired by the dexterous skeleton–muscle systems of cheetahs and humans,this paper proposes a highly integrated bionic actuator system for a better dynamic performance of an LLU.We propose that a cylinder barrel with multiple element interfaces and internal smooth channels is realized using metal additive manufacturing,and hybrid lattice structures are introduced into the lightweight design of the piston rod.In addition,additive manufacturing and topology optimization are incorporated to reduce the redundant material of the structural parts of the LLU.The mechanical properties of the actuator system are verified by numerical simulation and experiments,and the power density of the actuators is far greater than that of cheetah muscle.The mass of the optimized LLU is reduced by 24.5%,and the optimized LLU shows better response time performance when given a step signal,and presents a good trajectory tracking ability with the increase in motion frequency.

Risk factors for intensive-care-unit-acquired weakness

Wang et al reported 1063 cases from the initial 14 d of intensive care unit(ICU)stay,and analyzed relevant data such as age,comorbidities,recent dosages,vapor pressure dosages,duration of mechanical ventilation,length of ICU stay,and rehabilitation therapy,which are closely related to ICU-acquired weakness(ICUAW).It is suggested that the length of ICU stay and the duration of mechanical ventilation are the main factors.ICU-AW is the most common neuromuscular injury in the ICU,which affects clinical progression and outcomes of patients.This manuscript helps to improve the early recognition of ICU-AW,thereby reducing mortality and improving prognosis.

Development and validation of a nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality of intensive care unit patients with liver cirrhosis

BACKGROUND Liver cirrhosis patients admitted to intensive care unit(ICU)have a high mortality rate.AIM To establish and validate a nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality of ICU patients with liver cirrhosis.METHODS We extracted demographic,etiological,vital sign,laboratory test,comorbidity,complication,treatment,and severity score data of liver cirrhosis patients from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV(MIMIC-IV)and electronic ICU(eICU)collaborative research database(eICU-CRD).Predictor selection and model building were based on the MIMIC-IV dataset.The variables selected through least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis were further screened through multivariate regression analysis to obtain final predictors.The final predictors were included in the multivariate logistic regression model,which was used to construct a nomogram.Finally,we conducted external validation using the eICU-CRD.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC),decision curve,and calibration curve were used to assess the efficacy of the models.RESULTS Risk factors,including the mean respiratory rate,mean systolic blood pressure,mean heart rate,white blood cells,international normalized ratio,total bilirubin,age,invasive ventilation,vasopressor use,maximum stage of acute kidney injury,and sequential organ failure assessment score,were included in the multivariate logistic regression.The model achieved AUCs of 0.864 and 0.808 in the MIMIC-IV and eICU-CRD databases,respectively.The calibration curve also confirmed the predictive ability of the model,while the decision curve confirmed its clinical value.CONCLUSION The nomogram has high accuracy in predicting in-hospital mortality.Improving the included predictors may help improve the prognosis of patients.

Indonesia's China Policy in the Context of Major-Country Rivalry

In recent years, with the intensification of major-country rivalry and the profound changes in the global geopolitical landscape, Southeast Asia has become a focal point for the world's major countries vying for influence. Since the inauguration of the Biden administration, which inherited its predecessor's “Indo–Pacific” strategy, the United States has spared no effort to woo Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, pressuring them to take sides. Against such a backdrop, Indonesia has strengthened cooperation with the United States while enhancing relations with China. Based on its traditional “free and active” foreign policy, Indonesia insists on deepening ties with China in spite of pressure from the United States. Given the victory of Prabowo Subianto, currently Indonesian Defense Minister, in the 2024 presidential election, China and Indonesia are expected to maintain the momentum of their friendly cooperation, which will however face strong headwinds such as American interference, tensions in the South China Sea, and changes in Indonesian politics.

Improvement of the nutritional support management system for patients in intensive care units

BACKGROUND Nutritional support for patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit(ICU)is an important part of clinical treatment and care,but there are significant implementation difficulties.AIM To introduce a modified nutritional support management system for ICU patients based on closed-loop information management and psychological counseling.METHODS The division of functions,personnel training,system construction,development of an intelligent decision-making software system,quality control,and improvement of the whole process were carried out to systematically manage nutritional support for ICU patients.RESULTS Following the implementation of the whole process management system,the scores of ICU medical staff’s knowledge,attitudes/beliefs,and practices regarding nutritional support were comprehensively enhanced.The proportion of hospital bed-days of total enteral nutrition(EN)in ICU patients increased from 5.58%to 11.46%,and the proportion of EN plus parenteral nutrition increased from 42.71%to 47.07%.The rate of EN initiation within 48 h of ICU admission increased from 37.50%to 48.28%,and the EN compliance rate within 72 h elevated from 20.59%to 31.72%.After the implementation of the project,the Self-rating Anxiety Scale score decreased from 61.07±9.91 points to 52.03±9.02 points,the Self-rating Depression Scale score reduced from 62.47±10.50 points to 56.34±9.83 points,and the ICU stay decreased from 5.76±2.77 d to 5.10±2.12 d.CONCLUSION The nutritional support management system based on closed-loop information management and psychological counseling achieved remarkable results in clinical applications in ICU patients.

An Interpretable Light Attention-Convolution-Gate Recurrent Unit Architecture for the Highly Accurate Modeling of Actual Chemical Dynamic Processes

To equip data-driven dynamic chemical process models with strong interpretability,we develop a light attention–convolution–gate recurrent unit(LACG)architecture with three sub-modules—a basic module,a brand-new light attention module,and a residue module—that are specially designed to learn the general dynamic behavior,transient disturbances,and other input factors of chemical processes,respectively.Combined with a hyperparameter optimization framework,Optuna,the effectiveness of the proposed LACG is tested by distributed control system data-driven modeling experiments on the discharge flowrate of an actual deethanization process.The LACG model provides significant advantages in prediction accuracy and model generalization compared with other models,including the feedforward neural network,convolution neural network,long short-term memory(LSTM),and attention-LSTM.Moreover,compared with the simulation results of a deethanization model built using Aspen Plus Dynamics V12.1,the LACG parameters are demonstrated to be interpretable,and more details on the variable interactions can be observed from the model parameters in comparison with the traditional interpretable model attention-LSTM.This contribution enriches interpretable machine learning knowledge and provides a reliable method with high accuracy for actual chemical process modeling,paving a route to intelligent manufacturing.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of preventive nursing measures for pressure injuries in patients in the neurology intensive care unit

BACKGROUND Patients in neurology intensive care units(ICU)are prone to pressure injuries(PU)due to factors such as severe illness,long-term bed rest,and physiological dysfunction.PU not only causes pain and complications to patients,but also increases medical burden,prolongs hospitalization time,and affects the recovery process.AIM To evaluate and optimize the effectiveness of pressure injury prevention nursing measures in neurology ICU patients.METHODS A retrospective study was conducted,and 60 patients who were admitted to the ICU of the Department of Neurology were selected and divided into an observation group and a control group according to the order of admission,with 30 people in each group.The observation group implemented pressure injury prevention and nursing measures,while the control group adopted routine care.RESULTS Comparison between observation and control groups following pressure injury prevention nursing intervention revealed significantly lower incidence rates in the observation group compared to the control group at 48 h(8.3%vs 26.7%),7 d(16.7%vs 43.3%),and 14 d(20.0%vs 50.0%).This suggests a substantial reduction in pressure injury incidence in the observation group,with the gap widening over time.Additionally,patients in the observation group exhibited quicker recovery,with a shorter average time to get out of bed(48 h vs 72 h)and a shorter average length of stay(12 d vs 15 d)compared to the control group.Furthermore,post-intervention,patients in the observation group reported significantly improved quality of life scores,including higher scores in body satisfaction,feeling and function,and comfort(both psychological and physiological),indicating enhanced overall well-being and comfort following the implementation of pressure injury prevention nursing measures.CONCLUSION Implementing pressure injury preventive care measures for neurology ICU patients will have better results.

Analysis on unit maximum capacity of orthogonal multiple watermarking for multimedia signals in B5G wireless communications

Beyond-5G(B5G)aims to meet the growing demands of mobile traffic and expand the communication space.Considering that intelligent applications to B5G wireless communications will involve security issues regarding user data and operational data,this paper analyzes the maximum capacity of the multi-watermarking method for multimedia signal hiding as a means of alleviating the information security problem of B5G.The multiwatermarking process employs spread transform dither modulation.During the watermarking procedure,Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization is used to obtain the multiple spreading vectors.Consequently,multiple watermarks can be simultaneously embedded into the same position of a multimedia signal.Moreover,the multiple watermarks can be extracted without affecting one another during the extraction process.We analyze the effect of the size of the spreading vector on the unit maximum capacity,and consequently derive the theoretical relationship between the size of the spreading vector and the unit maximum capacity.A number of experiments are conducted to determine the optimal parameter values for maximum robustness on the premise of high capacity and good imperceptibility.

Application of psychological intervention in intensive care unit nursing for patients with severe acute pancreatitis

BACKGROUND Severe acute pancreatitis(SAP)is a familiar critical disease in the intensive care unit(ICU)patients.Nursing staff are important spiritual pillars during the treatment of patients,and in addition to routine nursing,more attention needs be paid to the patient’s psychological changes.AIM To investigate the effects of psychological intervention in ICU patients with SAP.METHODS One hundred ICU patients with SAP were hospitalized in the authors’hospital between 2020 and 2023 were selected,and divided into observation and control groups per the hospitalization order.The control and observation groups received routine nursing and psychological interventions,respectively.Two groups are being compared,using the Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Self-Determination Scale(SDS),Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation(APACHE)Ⅱ,and 36-item Short Form Health Survey(SF-36)scores;nursing satisfaction of patients;ICU care duration;length of stay;hospitalization expenses;and the incidence of complications.RESULTS After nursing,the SDS,SAS,and APACHEⅡ scores in the experimental group were significantly lower than in the control group(P<0.05).The SF-36 scores in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P<0.05).The nursing satisfaction of patients in the experimental group was 94.5%,considerably higher than that of 75.6% in the control group(P<0.05).The ICU care duration,length of stay,and hospitalization expenses in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group,and the incidence of complications was lower(P<0.05).CONCLUSION For patients with SAP,the implementation of standardized psychological intervention measures can effectively alleviate adverse psychological conditions.

Research on fault time prediction method for high speed rail BTM unit based on multi method interactive validation

The Balise Transmission Module(BTM)unit of the on-board train control system is a crucial component.Due to its unique installation position and complex environment,this unit has a higher fault rate within the on-board train control system.To conduct fault prediction for the BTM unit based on actual fault data,this study proposes a prediction method combining reliability statistics and machine learning,and achieves the fusion of prediction results from different dimensions through multi-method interactive validation.Firstly,a method for predicting equipment fault time targeting batch equipment is introduced.This method utilizes reliability statistics to construct a model of the remaining faultless operating time distribution considering uncertainty,thereby predicting the remaining faultless operating probability of the BTM unit.Secondly,considering the complexity of the BTM unit’s fault mechanism,the small sample size of fault cases,and the potential presence of multiple fault features in fault text records,an individual-oriented fault prediction method based on Bayesian-optimized Gradient Boosting Regression Tree(Bayes-GBRT)is proposed.This method achieves better prediction results compared to linear regression algorithms and random forest regression algorithms,with an average absolute error of only 0.224 years for predicting the fault time of this type of equipment.Finally,a multi-method interactive validation approach is proposed,enabling the fusion and validation of multi-dimensional results.The results indicate that the predicted fault time and the actual fault time conform to a log-normal distribution,and the parameter estimation results are basically consistent,verifying the accuracy and effectiveness of the prediction results.The above research findings can provide technical support for the maintenance and modification of BTM units,effectively reducing maintenance costs and ensuring the safe operation of high-speed railway,thus having practical engineering value for preventive maintenance.

A HybridManufacturing ProcessMonitoringMethod Using Stacked Gated Recurrent Unit and Random Forest

This study proposed a new real-time manufacturing process monitoring method to monitor and detect process shifts in manufacturing operations.Since real-time production process monitoring is critical in today’s smart manufacturing.The more robust the monitoring model,the more reliable a process is to be under control.In the past,many researchers have developed real-time monitoring methods to detect process shifts early.However,thesemethods have limitations in detecting process shifts as quickly as possible and handling various data volumes and varieties.In this paper,a robust monitoring model combining Gated Recurrent Unit(GRU)and Random Forest(RF)with Real-Time Contrast(RTC)called GRU-RF-RTC was proposed to detect process shifts rapidly.The effectiveness of the proposed GRU-RF-RTC model is first evaluated using multivariate normal and nonnormal distribution datasets.Then,to prove the applicability of the proposed model in a realmanufacturing setting,the model was evaluated using real-world normal and non-normal problems.The results demonstrate that the proposed GRU-RF-RTC outperforms other methods in detecting process shifts quickly with the lowest average out-of-control run length(ARL1)in all synthesis and real-world problems under normal and non-normal cases.The experiment results on real-world problems highlight the significance of the proposed GRU-RF-RTC model in modern manufacturing process monitoring applications.The result reveals that the proposed method improves the shift detection capability by 42.14%in normal and 43.64%in gamma distribution problems.

Development and Evaluation of The Implementation of a Preceptorship Program for The Novice ICU Nurse Intensive Care Unit -A Secondary Publication

This study focused on the development and evaluation of the implementation of a preceptorship program adapted to ICU practice in the Ab.-T.region to provide preceptors with tools to support novice nurses.This action research was made possible with the involvement of the centers,preceptors,and novice nurses throughout the development and implementation of the program.This approach enabled participants to take ownership of the training content and fully utilize various tools.The program was implemented throughout the CISSS,where this study was subsequently carried out.Several novices mentioned that the program reinforced their sense of security and made them feel more equipped to handle complex care situations.The preceptors said they were better equipped to offer clinical support and novices were better prepared to work in the ICU.It is important to evaluate the development of the novice nurses’skills following their participation in this program and the long-term impact of this preceptorship.