Phenotype-based and Self-learning Inter-individual Sleep Apnea Screening with a Level IV Monitoring System

Purpose: We propose a phenotype-based artificial intelligence system that can self-learn and is accurate for screening purposes, and test it on a Level IV monitoring system. Methods: Based on the physiological knowledge, we hypothesize that the phenotype information will allow us to find subjects from a well-annotated database that share similar sleep apnea patterns. Therefore, for a new-arriving subject, we can establish a prediction model from the existing database that is adaptive to the subject. We test the proposed algorithm on a database consisting of 62 subjects with the signals recorded from a Level IV wearable device measuring the thoracic and abdominal movements and the SpO2. Results: With the leave-one cross validation, the accuracy of the proposed algorithm to screen subjects with an apnea-hypopnea index greater or equal to 15 is 93.6%, the positive likelihood ratio is 6.8, and the negative likelihood ratio is 0.03. Conclusion: The results confirm the hypothesis and show that the proposed algorithm has great potential to screen patients with SAS

Do Degradation of Urban Greenery and Increasing Land Prices Often Come along with Urbanization?

In the wake of urbanization, driven by a variety of individual and socio-economic merits, human’s basic residential needs and standard of living may be compromised in the urban areas, as the population agglomerates. However, the knowledge of the associations of urbanization with urban greenery and residential land prices is still in the pursuing process. This empirical research aims to contribute whether the degradation of essential living conditions is a trade-off for the pursued urban life. Hence, Taiwan is selected as the case to analyze the associated relations primarily between 1976 and 2016. The research methods involve descriptive statistics, the panel data analysis, and the cluster analysis. The panel data analysis demonstrates that degraded urban greenery and increasing residential land prices came along with the urbanization in Taiwan between 2001 and 2016. Policy implications include rethinking of the building coverage rate for renewed buildings for more plant-friendly ground, the adoption of building setback policy for more accessible mid-air mini-parks, and avoiding residential units as an investment commodity

THE REGULATION OF LEG STIFFNESS AND EMG ACTIVITIES ON PERSON WITH VISUAL IMPAIRED DURING STEP-DOWN WALKING

The purpose of present study was to evaluate leg muscular regulation and neuromuscular activation by investigating the stiffness and EMG amplitude of normal vision students and visually impaired students. 10 normal vision (age: 24.3±20 years; height: 171.5±4.6cm; mass: 65.9±8.0kg) and 10 visually impaired students (age: 23.2±2.4 years; height: 163.4±9.6cm; mass: 62.8±15.0kg) were served as subjects. AMTI force platform (1200 Hz), Peak Performance motion analysis system (60Hz) and Biovision EMG system were used synchronously to record the ground reaction force, the kinematic parameters and EMG signals of lower extremity during the subjects stepped down from height 20, 30 and 40cm. The results revealed that the regulation of neuromuscular system of the impaired is less efficient compared to the normal one because of lower muscle stiffness and EMG activity

From insulator to quantum Hall liquid at low magnetic fields

We have performed low-temperature transport measurements on a GaAs two-dimensional electron system at low magnetic fields. Multiple temperature-independent points and accompanying oscillations are observed in the longitudinal resistivity between the low-field insulator and the quantum Hall (QH) liquid. Our results support the existence of an intermediate regime, where the amplitudes of magneto-oscillations can be well described by conventional Shubnikov-de Haas theory, between the low-field insulator and QH liquid.Comment: Magneto-oscillations governed by Shubnikov-de Haas theory are observed between the low-field insulator and quantum Hall liqui

Associations among systemic blood pressure, microalbuminuria and albuminuria in dogs affected with pituitary- and adrenal-dependent hyperadrenocorticism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hypertension and proteinuria are medical complications associated with the multisystemic effects of long-term hypercortisolism in dogs with hyperadrenocorticism (HAC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study investigated the relationships among adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-stimulation test results, systemic blood pressure, and microalbuminuria in clinically-healthy dogs (n = 100), in dogs affected with naturally occurring pituitary-dependent (PDH; n = 40), or adrenal-dependent hyperadrenocorticism (ADH; n = 30).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean systemic blood pressure was similar between clinically healthy dogs and dogs with HAC (<it>p </it>= 0.803). However the incidence of hypertension was highest in dogs with ADH (<it>p = 0.017</it>), followed by dogs with PDH, with the lowest levels in clinically healthy dogs (<it>p = 0.019</it>). Presence of microalbuminuria and albuminuria in clinically healthy dogs and dogs affected with HAC was significantly different (<it>p </it>< 0.001); incidences of albuminuria followed the same pattern of hypertension; highest incidence in dogs with ADH, and lowest level in clinically healthy dogs; but microalbuminuria showed a different pattern: clinically healthy dogs had highest incidences and dogs with ADH had lowest incidence. The presence of albuminuria was not associated with blood pressure values, regardless of whether dogs were clinically healthy or affected with ADH or PDH (<it>p </it>= 0.306).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Higher incidence of hypertension and albuminuria, not microalbuminuria was seen in dogs affected with HAC compared to clinically healthy dogs; incidence of hypertension and albuminuria was significantly higher in dogs affected with ADH compared to PDH. However, presence of albuminuria was not correlated with systemic blood pressure.</p

An Extended Analytic Solution of Combined Refraction and Diffraction of Long Waves Propagating over Circular Island

An analytic solution of long waves scattering by a cylindrical island mounted on a permeable circular shoal was obtained by solving the linear long wave equation (LWE). The solution is in terms of the Bessel function expressed by complex variables. The present solution is suitable for arbitrary bottom configurations described by a power function with two independent parameters. For the case of the paraboloidal shoal, there exists a singular point (α=2) which can be removed using Frobenius series, where α is a real constant. The present solution is reduced to Yu and Zhang’s (2003) solution for impermeable circular shoal. The numerical results show some special features of the combined effect of wave refraction and diffraction caused by a porous circular island. The effect of key parameters of the island dimension, the shoal slope, and permeability on wave scattering was discussed based on the analytic solution