506 research outputs found
Intra- and Interobserver Reliability of Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Doppler for Assessing Placental Microvasculature
No full textObjective: Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Doppler is a novel technique. We aim to evaluate intra- and interobserver reliability of
SMI Doppler for the assessment of normal placental microvasculature. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was
conducted including 11 pregnant patients. Ultrasonography placental assessment was performed on 28-weeks pregnant patients, by two
expert examiners using SMI Doppler in one single visit. To evaluate interobserver reliability, the first examiner took measurements using
SMI Doppler, followed then by the second examiner. Afterwards, the first examiner performed a second evaluation, in order to assess
intraobserver reliability. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Cohen’s Kappa coefficient, and their 95% confidence intervals,
were estimated for quantitative and qualitative parameters, respectively. Results: Intraobserver reliability was found to be excellent for
all quantitative parameters, with all ICC values above 0.97. For qualitative variables, excellent reliability was obtained for the number
of secondary villi, while the number of tertiary villi had an adequate reliability with a Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of 0.792 (95% CI
0.38–1.17; p = 0.007). Interobserver ICCs ranged from 0.92 to 1.00 for all quantitative parameters, thus finding excellent interobserver
reliability for all of them. An excellent reliability was also obtained for the number of secondary villi, while the reliability for the number
of tertiary villi was found to be adequate. Conclusions: Our findings show that placental microvasculature measurements obtained by
a single or two different examiners are reliable and reproducible. The good intra- and interobserver reliability results of SMI Doppler
showed in our study stress the value of this technique in the evaluation of placental microvasculature, and thus research in this field is
the step forward for the assessment of placental insufficiency
Local scour and flow characteristics around pipeline subjected to vortex-induced vibrations
No full textAlthough local scour around submarine pipelines has been extensively studied in the last few decades, understanding of the mechanism of local scour around pipelines is still in its infancy stage due to the complex nature of flow-pipeline-seabed interactions, especially when the pipeline is subjected to vibrations. This experimental study aims to obtain an improved perception of the scour mechanism around a pipeline subjected to vortex-induced vibrations. The experiments were conducted in a flow recirculation flume in clear-water scour conditions in which a circular cylinder with diameter (D) of 35 mm was used as the pipeline model. The initial gap (G0) between the underside of the pipeline and undisturbed flat-bed level was 0.45D. The time evolution of the pipeline motion and scour profile around the pipeline was measured using a high-speed camera and laser sources. The flow fields around the vibrating pipeline were obtained using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique and phase-average analysis. Based on the characteristics of the development of the scour hole and pipeline motions, three scour stages are identified. The downward motion of the vibrating pipeline and interactions between the counterclockwise vortex (downstream of the pipeline) that sheds from the lower shear layer of the pipeline and sediment bed are found to be the primary mechanisms that cause the formation of the scour holes beneath the pipeline. The interactive coupling effects among the vibrating pipeline, flow field, and scour process also are discussed in this study.Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI)The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) and EMAS AMC, under the SMI Deepwater Technology R&D Programme (Research Grant No. SMI-2014-OF-12). The first author also acknowledges support provided by the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51709082) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2018B13014)
Telehealth and the Community SMI Population
No full textThe novel coronavirus pandemic and the resulting expanded use of telemedicine have temporarily transformed community-based care for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), challenging traditional treatment paradigms. We review the rapid regulatory and practice shifts that facilitated broad use of telemedicine, the literature on the use of telehealth and telemedicine for individuals with SMI supporting the feasibility/acceptability of mobile interventions, and the more limited evidence-based telemedicine practices for this population. We provide anecdotal reflections on the opportunities and challenges for telemedicine drawn from our daily experiences providing services and overseeing systems for this population during the pandemic. We conclude by proposing that a continued, more prominent role for telemedicine in the care of individuals with SMI be sustained in the post-coronavirus landscape, offering future directions for policy, technical assistance, training, and research to bring about this change
New theoretical solution for soft soil consolidation under vacuum pressure via horizontal drainage enhanced geotextile sheets
No full textLand reclamation is a major construction activity in Singapore and other Asian countries. When granular fills become scarce, soft materials have to be used for land reclamation. A new land reclamation and soil improvement method using vacuum preloading and horizontal drainage enhanced non-woven geotextile (HDeG) sheets for soft soil consolidation has been proposed to reduce consolidation time and save costs. This paper presents a new theoretical solution for analysing the consolidation process of soil under vacuum pressure via horizontal drainage enhanced geotextile sheets as such a solution is not available yet. To verify the proposed theoretical solution, model tests and finite element analyses (FEA) have also been conducted. The proposed analytical solution agrees well with the results from FEA and the model tests in settlement, average effective stress and degree of consolidation. Thus, this solution could be used for design and analysis for land reclamation with soft materials consolidated using vacuum preloading together with HDeG sheets or other horizontal drainage materials with an adequately high transmissivity. The prediction of the consolidation performance relies on the proper selection of the coefficient of consolidation based on the effective stress history of soil.Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore Maritime Institute (SMI)The authors would like to acknowledge gratefully the study presented in this paper is financial support provided through Grant No. SMI-2022-MTP-02 by Singapore Maritime Institute. The support from Centre for Urban Solutions, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, is also gratefully acknowledged. The first author is also grateful to the scholarship provided by NTU for his PhD
PRICE REGISTRATION AT EVENTS PT. PACTOCONVEXNIAGATAMA CASE STUDY DASABAKTI SMI 2019 &GROUP MEETING EGMONT 2019
No full textThis Study discusses a case study of the participants registration from two events managed by PT. Pactoconvex Niagatama, There are Dasabakti PT. SMI 2019 event that used the manual registration system, and the Egmont Group Meetings 2019 Event that used online registration system. The results of this case study are that the online registration system has better and safer in handling participants data and more efficient than the manual registration system. In addition, the author also wrote about the function of registration in an event and which registration methods are commonly used at an event
Poverty, Human Development and Financial Services
No full texthuman development, poverty, empowerment
“Well-Track” healthy lifestyle (physical activity, sleep hygiene, diet, wearable activity tracker) coaching in Severe Mental Illness (SMI)
No full textCopyright © 2024 by author(s) and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: People who experience Severe Mental Illness (SMI) often have low levels of physical activity, high levels of sedentary behaviour, poor diet, and sleep problems. These factors are linked to worse mental health symptoms, lower wellbeing, greater hopelessness, lower quality-of-life, and physical health-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, osteoarthritis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, and diabetes, contributing to 15 - 20 years reduced life expectancy. Purpose/Aim: This study investigates the impact of Well-Track healthy lifestyle intervention in SMI, it addresses the question: “What is the effect of Well-Track on mental wellbeing and sleep quality/insomnia for SMI patients?”. Methods: An open-label patient cohort design with no control group. Pre-intervention, 4-week and 8-week intervention assessments using participant self-report measures: Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) and Sleep Conditioning Index (SCI). Participants were seventy-six Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) participants, 35 males and 41 females, with an age range of 20 - 65, and average age of 41 years. An eight-week intervention: a free-to-keep wearable tracker (instructions, set up, and access to apps), exercise, diet and sleep hygiene advice, a motivational interview and goal-setting session and two follow-up support sessions with a health coach. Results: WEMWBS scores significantly improved, from 37.52 (SD 10.18) to 42.35 (SD 7.14) at 4 weeks and to 44.06 (SD 6.03) at 8 weeks, with large effect sizes. SCI scores significantly improved, from 12.03 (SD 7.29) to 15.45 (SD 8.00) at 4 weeks and to 17.26 (SD 8.12) at 8 weeks, with large effect sizes. Conclusion: Well-Track was integrated into a SMI physical health check service and was found to be beneficial in terms of improving wellbeing and sleep quality and reducing incidence of insomnia. Well-Track could be delivered through all CMHT and SMI physical health check services to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours.https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=13489
Combining sudomotor nerve impulse estimation with fMRI to investigate the central sympathetic response to nausea
No full textThe skin conductance (SC) signal is one of the most
important non-invasive indirect measures of autonomic outflow.
Several mathematical models have been proposed in the
literature to characterize specific SC features. In this work, we
present a method for the estimation of central control of
sudomotor nerve impulse (SMI) function using SC. The method
is based on a differential formulation decomposed into two first
order differential equations. We validate our estimation
framework by applying it on an experimental protocol where
eleven motion sickness-prone subjects were exposed to a
nauseogenic visual stimulus while SC and fMRI signals were
recorded. Our results show an expected significant increase in
the mean amplitude of SMI peaks during the highest reported
nausea, as well as a decreasing trend during recovery, which was
not evident for skin conductance level. Importantly, SMI/fMRI
analysis found a negative association between SMI and fMRI
signal in orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and posterior
insula cortices, consistent with previous studies correlating brain
fMRI and microneurographic signals
Cardiovascular risk assessment in patients with a severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground Cardiovascular risk (CVR) has been observed to be higher in patients with severe mental illness (SMI) than in the general population. However, some studies suggest that CVR is not equally increased in different subgroups of SMI. The purposes of this review are to summarise CVR scores of SMI patients and to determine the differences in CVR between patients with different SMIs and between SMI patients and the control-population. Methods MEDLINE (via PubMed) was searched for literature published through August 28, 2014, followed by a snowball search in the Web of Science. Observational and experimental studies that reported CVR assessments in SMI patients using validated tools were included. The risk of bias was reported using STROBE and CONSORT criteria. Pooled continuous data were expressed as standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Two reviewers independently selected studies, extracted data and assessed methodological quality. Results A total of 3,608 articles were identified, of which 67 full text papers were assessed for eligibility and 35 were finally included in our review, in which 12,179 psychiatric patients and 225,951 comparative patients had been assessed. The most frequent diagnoses were schizophrenia and related diagnoses (45.7%), depressive disorders (14.7%), SMI (11.4%) and bipolar disorders (8.6%). The most frequent CVR assessment tool used was the Framingham risk score. Subgroups analysis showed a higher CVR in schizophrenia than in depressive disorder or in studies that included patients with multiple psychiatric diagnoses (SMD: 0.63, 0.03, and 0.02, respectively) Six studies were included in the meta-analysis. Total overall CVR did not differ between SMI patients and controls (SMD: 0.35 [95% CI: -0.02 to 0.71], p=0.06); high heterogeneity was observed (I2=93%; p<0.001). Conclusions The summary of results from studies that assessed CVR using validated tools in SMI patients did not find sufficient data (except for limited evidence associated with schizophrenia) to permit any clear conclusions about increased CVR in this group of patients compared to the general population. The systematic review is registered in PROSPERO (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/): CRD42013003898
Physical Layer Defense against Eavesdropping Attacks on Low-Resolution Phased Arrays
No full textEavesdropping attacks are a severe threat to millimeter-wave (mmWave) networks that use low-resolution phased arrays. Although directional beamforming in mmWave phased arrays provides natural defense against eavesdropping, the use of low-resolution phase shifters induces energy leakage into unintended directions. This energy leakage can be exploited by the adversaries. In this paper, we propose a directional modulation (DM)-based defense against eavesdropping attacks on low-resolution phased arrays. Our defense technique applies random circulant shifts to the beamformer for every symbol transmission. By appropriately adjusting the phase of the transmitted symbol, the transmitter (TX) can maintain a high-quality link with the receiver while corrupting the symbols transmitted along unintended directions. We theoretically analyze the secrecy mutual information (SMI) achieved by the proposed defense mechanism and show that our defense induces artificial phase noise (APN) along unintended directions, which increases the SMI of the system. Finally, we numerically show the superiority of the proposed defense technique over the state-of-the-art defense techniques.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Team Nitin Myer
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