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Development of a Machine Learning Model for Screening Sleep Apnea in Heart Failure Patients Using Sleep Sensor Data
Get PDFSleep apnea (SA) is a prevalent disorder among individuals with heart failure (HF), often leading to complications. Early identification is essential for timely interventions and better outcomes. This study explores the feasibility of developing a screening tool for SA in patients with HF using data from the Future Patient Telerehabilitation program. A random forest classifier was used to develop a predictive model, achieving a promising receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.85, suggesting that the random forest classifier has the potential as a SA screening tool for HF patients. However, the study lacked key variables, such as oxygen saturation, that are strong predictors for SA assessment according to current literature; this limits the model's generalizability. Despite this, the findings indicate that the ML model shows promise for screening SA in HF patients, highlighting the need for high-quality, standardized data from future clinical trials to enhance its accuracy and clinical utility.</p
Racialization in Danish HE spaces and students' professional development and aspirations
No full textPreviously, there were major political concerns about the low participation of ethnic minorities in Danish higher education (HE). However, recent data show a significant increase in ethnic minorities entering HE, now comprising 7.1% of students, categorized as "non-western" immigrant descendants in Danish statistics (Dam, 2021), and often referred to as racialized minority students in the scholarly literature (Vertelytė & Staunæs, 2021). Despite this progress, the lack of official data on the academic outcome—how well the students perform in their education, whether they complete it, or how they think about their prospects—remains a challenge to understanding their experience in higher education (Isopahkala-Bouret et al., 2018). This paper explores the experiences of racially minoritized students in HE spaces, focusing on the development of their professional identities and future aspirations. The paper examines how racially minoritized students shape and construct their sense of belonging and aspiration within HE spaces in Denmark. Research across various national contexts shows that racialization significantly influences students' belonging and future aspirations, including transnational HE. These studies highlight how race, intersecting with gender and class, shapes aspirations in higher education, including decisions (not) to pursue certain programs or careers or to leave academia. Racialization is understood as the process by which phenotypical, cultural, and linguistic differences become significant (Murji & Solomos, 2005). Despite extensive documentation in comprehensive education limited research exists on racialization in Danish HE spaces and its impact on students' professional development and aspirations. This paper draws on the sociology of knowledge, black feminist theory, and spatial education research and asks: 1) How do the racially minoritized students experience Danish higher educational spaces? 2) How do the processes of racialization shape the students' sense of belonging and professional aspirations? This paper explores how students' professional aspirations are shaped through the intersections of racialization, gender, and class in the educational spaces. These spaces are often labeled 'color-blind' (Bonilla-Silva, 2017) or 'post-racial' (Lentin, 2020), yet they serve as significant contributors to the formation of racial dynamics (Duran et al., 2022). This paper is based on oral history interviews combined with walks in HE spaces to capture students' diverse experiences and aspirations in Danish HE
Cost-Effective Quadratic Ultra-High Gain DC-DC Converter with High Power Density for DC Microgrid Applications
No full textThis paper presents an ultra-high voltage gain, quadratic-based DC-DC structure optimized for cost-effectiveness and high power density, specifically for DC microgrid applications. The proffered design integrates a coupled inductor (CI) with a quadratic step-up structure to accomplish a substantial step-up in voltage. The converter's voltage gain can be regulated through two key criteria: the duty cycle of the power switches and the turn ratio of a two-winding CI, providing enhanced flexibility in design. Key attributes of the proffered topology encompass its ultra-high voltage gain, reduced voltage stress on the switching components, continuous input current, a common ground among the input and output, high efficiency via soft switching on semiconductor devices, and synchronized switch operation. Comprehensive details are provided on the operational principles, steady-state behavior, design considerations, and efficiency evaluation, accompanied by dynamic modeling and control assessment. To highlight the advantages of this topology, it is compared with other related topologies. The potential of the suggested design is affirmed by testing a 600W experimental system utilizing a switching frequency of 50 kHz, with an input voltage of 20 V and an output voltage of 600 V.</p
Annular double-leaf Herschel-Quincke filter for flexural wave mitigation in elastic plates
Get PDFThis work presents an analysis of a 2D plate equipped with an Herschel-Quincke (HQ) filter, which is a noise reduction device traditionally applied to plane acoustic waves in tubes. The basic principle of the HQ filter involves creating a path length difference between two propagating waves, leading to destructive interference and, as a consequence, an attenuation at specific frequencies. In this study, an HQ filter is proposed, consisting in two superposed annular plates of different thickness, embedded in a solid plate of infinite extension. Propagation in the two parallel plates creates destructive interferences, leading to complete vibration isolation between the central and the external zones. The aim of this study is to develop a consistent formulation for determining the zero transmission frequencies resulting from the annular HQ filter. The analysis follows the Kirchhoff–Love assumptions of classical plate theory and involves solving both the zero transmission frequency problem and a forced vibration problem. Initial results demonstrate the attenuation of flexural wave vibrations in the HQ plate. Additionally, the analysis of energy flow and insertion loss reveals issues of wave amplitude amplification, a phenomenon that can be predicted and that applies to any constrained system under external excitation.</p
Patterns of adoption and learning: students’ relationships with Generative AIs
No full textGenerative AIs have become part of increasingly intimate relationships between humans and technologies, and have created both serious concerns and heightened pedagogical interest in higher education. However, though interest in generative Ais and their contribution to education is spreading, little is still known about how they are used by students in their everyday lives and how this affects education. In this paper we investigate how GAIs such as ChatGPT enter students’ lives and become part of their learning. The paper draws on observations and interviews with students in a Master Program where students partnered with ChatGPT to investigate concepts and philosophical aspects of technology. The aim of the study was to understand how ChatGPT could support students’ collaborative group work as part of problem-based learning practices. As our study involved investigations of students’ everyday uses of generative AIs as well as their learning we were able to make connections between students’ learning strategies and their emerging experiences with GAI technologies. In the paper we investigate these relationships focusing on how GAIs are enrolled and participate in students’ lives and in collaborative learning contexts where uses and understandings of GAI technologies are negotiated in group sessions. Our data suggest that some students enter education with extensive experiences with generative AIs and others commence their engagement after meeting these technologies through education. What characterizes these patterns of adoption - and what are their effects on learning? Theoretically, we draw on sociomaterial approaches to understand GAIs as material agents in students’ lives and in education building on the concepts of patterns of relations and distributed agency. These concepts emphasize the collaborative relationship of humans and GAI technologies, underlining both the specifics of GAIs as ‘human-like’ agents and the blurring of agencies and authorship involved in e.g. AI-generated writing. <br/
Reflections on Ethical Issues in Different Engineering Disciplines
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper submission to the 4th Tsinghua Higher Education Forum is to review and distil diverse inputs to a recently published engineering ethics education handbook. These diverse inputs are based on a Panel discussion at an international ethics symposium convened to disseminate the handbook.The Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education (Chance, Børsen, et al., 2025) had been published in January 2025. Once the Handbook was published, the editors sought opportunities to disseminate it, and to explain its value as an engineering education resource. One such dissemination event was an Ethics Spring Symposium held in March 2025. This event explored different aspects of the handbook, via keynote talks, workshops, and panel discussions.This paper is based on a panel discussion at the Ethics Spring Symposium, one that addressed Section 3 of the Handbook, Ethical issues in different engineering disciplines. The paper will attempt to provide a reflective and coherent perspective on the strengths of the chapters in Section 3 of the Handbook. The panel discussion was designed to draw out useful insights and comments from the panel members. his paper summarises the outcomes from that panel discussion, and is intended to provide a richer introduction to the material in Section 3 of the handbook
Understanding insulin dose deviations in people with type 2 diabetes receiving telemonitoring
Get PDFAIMS: Although telemonitoring has emerged as a strategy to overcome barriers related to poor adherence, insulin dose deviations remain common. Yet, the reason remains unclear. This study investigated the reasons for dose deviations in people with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes (T2D) receiving telemonitoring.METHODS: Data were provided from 331 participants with insulin-treated T2D (DiaMonT, NCT04981808). Participants were either telemonitored using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a connected insulin pen, and an activity watch or treated according to standard of care, using blinded devices. Reasons for dose deviations were categorized, and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the findings.RESULTS: A total of 24 distinct reasons for insulin dose deviations were reported. These were grouped into: (1) actual deviations (40.1 %; n = 148) (e.g., limited understanding of T2D and access to CGM data), (2) justified deviations (40.7 %; n = 150) (e.g., illness and use of a non-connected pen), and (3) device-related deviations (19.2 %; n = 71) (e.g., technical issues).CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need for a nuanced interpretation of adherence data and suggests that telemonitoring should engage patients in treatment discussions and support education in diabetes self-management. These insights are key to maximizing the benefits of telemonitoring while avoiding misinterpretation or over-intervention.</p
Monitoring of respiration and cardiorespiratory interactions from multichannel seismocardiography signals
No full textSeismocardiography (SCG) uses accelerometers to record cardiac-induced accelerations of the chest wall. Cardiorespiratory interactions cause changes in amplitude and morphology of the SCG signals. Accelerometers can also directly monitor respiration by tracking thoracic inclination. This study thoroughly investigated the influence of accelerometer placement on the monitoring accuracy of respiration and cardiorespiratory interactions from SCG signals. Simultaneous recordings acquired by 16 accelerometers and a respiration belt placed onto 9 subjects' chests were analyzed. Respiratory signals were estimated considering: (a) chest inclination, (b) amplitude modulation (AM) and (c) morphological changes of SCG signals for each sensor location. For the first time in literature, a continuous description of respiratory-induced changes in SCG morphology was obtained via a morphological similarity index (MSi). The performance of respiratory acts detection and inter-breath intervals (IBIs) estimation was evaluated against the concurrent reference respiration signal. High accuracy was achieved in all three kinds of respiratory signals, with average sensitivity and positive predictive value of 95.8% and 95.5% for chest inclination, 85.9% and 84.4% for AM, 94.3% and 95.7% for MSi. Moreover, IBIs measurements showed non-significant biases and limits of agreement of about ± 0.8 s for chest inclination and MSi, and ± 1 s for AM. Performance achieved by chest inclination and MSi appeared not much influenced by sensor location, while AM showed higher variations. Information on breathing and cardiorespiratory interactions can be accurately obtained via SCG on multiple sites on the chest.</p
Editorial:Closing the loop: enhancing biotechnological routes for a more circular economy transition
Get PDFenhancing biotechnological routes for a more circular economy transitio