Chinese Expert Consensus on Critical Care Ultrasound Applications at COVID-19 Pandemic

The spread of new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) follows a different pattern than previous respiratory viruses, posing a serious public health risk worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease as COVID-19 and declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 is characterized by highly contagious nature, rapid transmission, swift clinical course, profound worldwide impact, and high mortality among critically ill patients. Chest X-ray, computerized tomography (CT), and ultrasound are commonly used imaging modalities. Among them, ultrasound, due to its portability and non-invasiveness, can be easily moved to the bedside for examination at any time. In addition, with use of 4G or 5G networks, remote ultrasound consultation can also be performed, which allows ultrasound to be used in isolated medial areas. Besides, the contact surface of ultrasound probe with patients is small and easy to be disinfected. Therefore, ultrasound has gotten lots of positive feedbacks from the frontline healthcare workers, and it has played an indispensable role in the course of COVID-19 diagnosis and follow up

Observation of fractional quantum Hall effect in an InAs quantum well

The two-dimensional electron system in an InAs quantum well has emerged as a prime candidate for hosting exotic quasi-particles with non-Abelian statistics such as Majorana fermions and parafermions. To attain its full promise, however, the electron system has to be clean enough to exhibit electron-electron interaction phenomena. Here we report the observation of fractional quantum Hall effect in a very low disorder InAs quantum well with a well-width of 24 nm, containing a two-dimensional electron system with a density $n=7.8 \times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ and low-temperature mobility $1.8 \times 10^6$ cm$^2$/Vs. At a temperature of $\simeq35$ mK and $B\simeq24$ T, we observe a deep minimum in the longitudinal resistance, accompanied by a nearly quantized Hall plateau at Landau level filling factor $\nu=4/3$

Effects of Rivaroxaban on Biomarkers of Coagulation and Inflammation: A Post Hoc Analysis of the X-VeRT Trial.

Introduction  This X-VeRT (eXplore the efficacy and safety of once-daily oral riVaroxaban for the prevention of caRdiovascular events in patients with nonvalvular aTrial fibrillation scheduled for cardioversion) substudy evaluated the effects of treatment with rivaroxaban or a vitamin-K antagonist (VKA) on levels of biomarkers of coagulation (D-dimer, thrombin-antithrombin III complex [TAT] and prothrombin fragment [F1.2]) and inflammation (high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP] and high-sensitivity interleukin-6 [hs-IL-6]) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were scheduled for cardioversion and had not received adequate anticoagulation at baseline (defined as, in the 21 days before randomization: no oral anticoagulant; international normalized ratio <2.0 with VKA treatment; or <80% compliance with non-VKA oral anticoagulant treatment). Methods  Samples for biomarker analysis were taken at baseline ( n  = 958) and treatment completion (42 days after cardioversion; n  = 918). The influence of clinical characteristics on baseline biomarker levels and the effect of treatment on changes in biomarker levels were evaluated using linear and logistic models. Results  Baseline levels of some biomarkers were significantly associated with type of AF (D-dimer and hs-IL-6) and with history of congestive heart failure (hs-CRP, D-dimer, and hs-IL-6). Rivaroxaban and VKA treatments were associated with reductions from baseline in levels of D-dimer (-32.3 and -37.6%, respectively), TAT (-28.0 and -23.1%, respectively), hs-CRP (-12.5 and -17.9%, respectively), and hs-IL-6 (-9.2 and -9.8%, respectively). F1.2 levels were reduced from baseline in patients receiving a VKA (-53.0%) but not in those receiving rivaroxaban (2.7%). Conclusion  Anticoagulation with rivaroxaban reduced levels of key inflammation and coagulation biomarkers to a similar extent as VKAs, with the exception of F1.2. Further investigation to confirm the value of these biomarkers in patients with AF is merited

Self-managed learning of myVLE via CBT courseware

Open University Malaysia (OUM) is an open and distance learning institution which provides opportunities for lifelong learning. OUM continuously strives to improve and maintain quality programme delivery in the attempt to produce quality graduates. OUM has been using its own in-house developed learning management system called myVLE (my Virtual Learning Environment) to support lifelong learning undertakings. Since 2002, myVLE has gone through minor enhancements. In late 2013, a new platform was designed and developed with the aim for a more user-friendly learning environment besides providing an optimised online learning experience. The new version of the myVLE was released in January 2014, to be used only for six fully online courses. In September 2014, all courses offered by OUM were migrated to the new myVLE. With the migration and the introduction to the new functions of the new myVLE, it was necessary to make efforts to provide additional support to the learners and online facilitators for a smooth transition. To assist users in adapting to a new user-interface several incentives were taken which include: (a) the development of a learning courseware, (b) short online video clips, and (c) face-to-face training for online facilitators. This paper focuses on the development and use of the learning courseware which was instructionally designed based on ADDIE model. (Abstract by author

Card game as a pedagogical tool for numeracy skills development

Given the hypothesis that card games form a strong tool capable of shaping the aforementioned interest, this study has developed a card game called Math Zap as a pedagogical tool for numeracy skills development in the context of mental computation. It is geared towards investigating the efficacy of this Math Zap card game, in facilitating the development of numeracy skills amongst learners, and their attitude towards using it as a pedagogical tool. A mix method approach using an experimental and descriptive design was taken and tested amongst 34 primary school students aged 12 to 13. From the results of the study, it is found that the Math Zap card game is a highly effective learning tool in so far as the enhancement of students’ numeracy computation skills in the areas of fractions, percentages and decimals are concerned. This is evidenced by a statistical significant pre-post test score increment. Furthermore, students were rather positive and receptive towards the game, further substantiating the claim of it being a useful pedagogical tool

New challenges in online and distance learning: Making the jump from printed module to hyperlinked-integrated module

In recent years open and distance learning (ODL) has become widely accepted and implemented by many higher education institutions. ODL aims at delivering education to learners in a distributed learning environment. Ccontrary to general perception that ODL education signifies e-learning, learners in ODL institutions still appear to rely heavily on the use of printed modules. Current learning management systems in most ODL environment do not seem to have been very successful in promoting active constructivist learning. This paper seeks to analyze the needs of ODL learners as compared to conventional learners. Based on their differing needs, the authors identify the limitations of the conventional printed modules and propose elements that need to be included in the design of effective ODL learning systems. Following that, the authors suggest the development and use of hyperlinked-Integrated Modules (HIM) to replace the conventional printed modul. Some functionalities of HIM are discussed. (Authors' abstract

Case Studies for Computing Density of Reachable States for Safe Autonomous Motion Planning

Density of the reachable states can help understand the risk of safety-critical systems, especially in situations when worst-case reachability is too conservative. Recent work provides a data-driven approach to compute the density distribution of autonomous systems' forward reachable states online. In this paper, we study the use of such approach in combination with model predictive control for verifiable safe path planning under uncertainties. We first use the learned density distribution to compute the risk of collision online. If such risk exceeds the acceptable threshold, our method will plan for a new path around the previous trajectory, with the risk of collision below the threshold. Our method is well-suited to handle systems with uncertainties and complicated dynamics as our data-driven approach does not need an analytical form of the systems' dynamics and can estimate forward state density with an arbitrary initial distribution of uncertainties. We design two challenging scenarios (autonomous driving and hovercraft control) for safe motion planning in environments with obstacles under system uncertainties. We first show that our density estimation approach can reach a similar accuracy as the Monte-Carlo-based method while using only 0.01X training samples. By leveraging the estimated risk, our algorithm achieves the highest success rate in goal reaching when enforcing the safety rate above 0.99.Comment: NASA Formal Methods 202