2,707 research outputs found

    Unsupervised Chunking Based on Graph Propagation from Bilingual Corpus

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    This paper presents a novel approach for unsupervised shallow parsing model trained on the unannotated Chinese text of parallel Chinese-English corpus. In this approach, no information of the Chinese side is applied. The exploitation of graph-based label propagation for bilingual knowledge transfer, along with an application of using the projected labels as features in unsupervised model, contributes to a better performance. The experimental comparisons with the state-of-the-art algorithms show that the proposed approach is able to achieve impressive higher accuracy in terms of F-score

    Cost-effectiveness of Dermabond versus sutures for lacerated wound closure: A randomised controlled trial

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    1. For management of simple lacerated wounds, tissue adhesive (Dermabond) achieved more positive outcomes but incurred higher cost, compared with standard sutures. 2. Dermabond may be more cost-effective than standard sutures from a societal viewpoint. 3. Use of sutures required more nursing time and additional costs from subsequent dressing, whereas use of Dermabond incurred higher equipment costs. 4. Dermabond achieved better appearance outcome and patient satisfaction, compared with sutures. 5. Pain levels were not significantly different in patients treated with Dermabond or sutures

    Hybrid Random Forest and Support Vector Machine Modeling for HVAC Fault Detection and Diagnosis

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    The malfunctioning of the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is considered to be one of the main challenges in modern buildings. Due to the complexity of the building management system (BMS) with operational data input from a large number of sensors used in HVAC system, the faults can be very difficult to detect in the early stage. While numerous fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) methods with the use of statistical modeling and machine learning have revealed prominent results in recent years, early detection remains a challenging task since many current approaches are unfeasible for diagnosing some HVAC faults and have accuracy performance issues. In view of this, this study presents a novel hybrid FDD approach by combining random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers for the application of FDD for the HVAC system. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed hybrid random forest–support vector machine (HRF–SVM) outperforms other methods with higher prediction accuracy (98%), despite that the fault symptoms were insignificant. Furthermore, the proposed framework can reduce the significant number of sensors required and work well with the small number of faulty training data samples available in real-world applications.</jats:p

    Antibacterial Effect of Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles using Cineraria maritima

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    Nanoparticles display entirely novel physicochemical characteristics for specific applications because of their exceptional size and shape. Owing to the present study, we reported biosynthesis, characterization and antibacterial properties of Cineraria maritima (Cm) assisted silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The surface plasmon vibration, crystalline structure, surface morphology, elemental composition, and possible functional molecules vibration of prepared Cm-Ag NPs were characterized by different instrumentation techniques. The spectrum of UV-Vis of Cm-Ag NPs showed maximum plasma intensity occurred around 425nm. XRD spectrum showed the face-centred cubic (FCC) nature of Cm-Ag NPs. The SEM image of the Cm-Ag NPs demonstrated a predominantly spherical shape with cluster formation of small particles to large particles with sizes ranging from 21.57 nm to 39.16 nm. EDS spectrum indicated the existence of Ag elements in Cm-Ag NPs. FTIR intense peaks of Cm-Ag NPs showed the different functional molecules such as phenol, alkene, aldehydes, and a carbonyl group. In addition, Cm-Ag NPs coated textile cotton fabric sample showed substantial anti-bacterial properties against a tested bacterial pathogen

    Using Latent Class Analyses to Examine Health Disparities among Young Children in Socially Disadvantaged Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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    Rising income inequality is strongly linked to health disparities, particularly in regions where uneven distribution of wealth and income has long been a concern. Despite emerging evidence of COVID-19-related health inequalities for adults, limited evidence is available for children and their parents. This study aimed to explore subtypes of families of preschoolers living in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Hong Kong based on patterns of family hardship and to compare their patterns of parenting behavior, lifestyle practices, and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 1338 preschoolers and their parents during March to June 2020. Latent class analysis was performed based on 11 socioeconomic and disease indicators. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine associations between identified classes and variables of interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four classes of family hardship were identified. Class 1 (45.7%) had the lowest disease and financial burden. Class 2 (14.0%) had the highest financial burden. Class 3 (5.9%) had the highest disease burden. Class 4 (34.5%) had low family income but did not receive government welfare assistance. Class 1 (low hardship) had lower risks of child maltreatment and adjustment problems than Class 2 (poverty) and Class 3 (poor health). However, children in Class 1 (low hardship) had higher odds of suffering psychological aggression and poorer physical wellbeing than those in Class 4 (low income), even after adjusting for child age and gender. The findings emphasize the need to adopt flexible intervention strategies in the time of large disease outbreak to address diverse problems and concerns among socially disadvantaged families

    Evidence of individual differences in the long-term social, psychological, and cognitive consequences of child maltreatment

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    Background: The prevalence and consequences of child maltreatment are alarming, but evidence from studies with long follow-up intervals are limited. This study examined the long-term consequences of child maltreatment in relation to age of onset and follow-up interval. / Methods: The exposed group comprised 63 individuals (aged 13–34 years) with a first-time diagnosis of child maltreatment between 2001 and 2010, whereas the unexposed group comprised 63 individuals who were matched upon gender, age of onset, follow-up period, and poverty status at the index hospital admission but had no medical records of maltreatment in Hong Kong. The participants completed a set of questionnaires on executive functions and mental health and provided blood samples for measurement of IL-6 and IL-10 levels during a health assessment session. / Results: Compared with the unexposed group, the exposed group reported poorer maternal care during childhood (β = −4.64, p < 0.001) and had lower family support (β = −2.97, p = 0.010) and higher inflammatory responses (IL-6: β = 0.15, p = 0.001; IL-10: β = 0.11, p = 0.011) at follow-up. Additionally, the associations of childhood maltreatment exposure with family support and maternal care differed by age of onset and the length of time since exposure. / Conclusions: This matched cohort study highlights childhood maltreatment as a risk factor for systemic inflammation and an indicator of suboptimal social environment, both of which could persist over a long period of time

    A 7-year review of clinical characteristics, predisposing factors and outcomes of post-keratoplasty infectious keratitis: the Nottingham infectious keratitis study

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    Background/objectives: Post-keratoplasty infectious keratitis (PKIK) is a unique sight-threatening clinical entity which often poses significant therapeutic challenges. This study aimed to examine the clinical presentation, risk factors, management, and clinical outcomes of PKIK. Methods: This was a retrospective study of all patients who presented to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, with PKIK between September 2015 and August 2022 (a 7-year period). Relevant data on types of keratoplasty, clinical presentations, causative microorganisms, management, and outcome were analyzed. Results: Forty-nine PKIK cases, including four cases of interface infectious keratitis, were identified during the study period. The most common graft indications for PKP, DALK and EK were failed grafts (9, 37.5%), keratoconus (6, 54.5%) and Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD; 8, 57.1%), respectively. Staphylococcus spp. were the most commonly identified organisms (15, 50.0%). Bullous keratopathy (18, 36.7%), ocular surface disease (18, 36.7%), and broken/loose sutures (15, 30.6%) were the most common risk factors. Concurrent use of topical steroids was identified in 25 (51.0%) cases. Of 31 functioning grafts at presentation, 12 (38.7%) grafts failed at final follow-up with 15 (48.4%) patients retaining a CDVA of ≥1.0 logMAR. The overall estimated 5-year survival rate post-PKIK was 55.9% (95% CI, 35.9%-75.9%), with DALK having the highest survival rate [63.6% (95% CI, 28.9%-98.3%)], followed by EK [57.1% (95% CI, 20.4%-93.8%)] and PKP [52.7% (95% CI, 25.1%-80.3%)], though no statistical difference was observed (p=0.48). Conclusions: PKIK represents an important cause of IK and graft failure. Bullous keratopathy, OSD and suture-related complications are the commonest risk factors, highlighting the potential benefit of prophylactic topical antibiotics (for unhealthy ocular surface) and early suture removal (where possible) in reducing the risk of PKIK. Graft survival may be higher in lamellar keratoplasty following PKIK but larger studies are required to elucidate this observation

    Incidence of Deep Vein Thrombosis in Hospitalized Chinese Medical Patients and the Impact of DVT Prophylaxis

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    Objective. To evaluate the incidence of deep vein thrombosis in hospitalized Chinese medical patients and the impact of DVT prophylaxis. Methods. All cases of confirmed proximal DVT from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2008 were reviewed retrospectively to determine the presence of risk factors and whether DVT developed: during hospitalization in medical wards or in case of readmission with a diagnosis of DVT within 14 days of discharge from a recent admission to medical wards. The impact of prophylaxis will be estimated by comparing the annual incidence of proximal DVT among medical patients hospitalized from 2005 to 2007 with that of 2008 (DVT prophylaxis commonly used). Results. From 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2008, 3938 Doppler ultrasound studies were performed for suspected DVT. Proximal DVT was diagnosed in 687 patients. The calculated incidence of proximal DVT among medical patients hospitalized for at least two days was 1.8%, 2%, and 1.7% for the year 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively. The incidence was 1.1% for 2008 (P < .001). Conclusion. Proximal DVT was substantial in Chinese medical patients, and DVT prophylaxis might reduce such risk

    Characterization of a Putative Antimicrobial Peptide from an Antarctic Bacterium

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    The search for new antibiotics is a continuous effort since its discovery. Nevertheless, the speed of discovering novels antibiotics cannot match the speed of bacteria acquiring antibiotics resistant. Hence, the search efforts have broadened to include all compounds with antimicrobial activities. The toxin-antitoxin (TA) gene products are the potential antimicrobial compounds worth analyzing. The TA system consists of a set gene found either in the chromosome or plasmid, or both. At the moment, the toxin, a peptide from this system is known to kill some hosts that either encountered stress or have lost the plasmid carrying the TA genes. In a previous study, it was found that an Antarctic bacterium, Cryobacterium sp. SO1 chromosome harbored a putative antimicrobial peptide-coding gene similar to a class II TA, pemK gene. However, it is not clear whether this antimicrobial peptide has cross-species antimicrobial activity. Therefore, this work aims to determine whether this PemK protein has antimicrobial properties or not. The pemKcryobacSo1 gene was ligated to an arabinose-inducible promoter of the Topo pBAD plasmid and used to transform the Escherichia coli TOP10. The cloning of pemK inhibited the growth of the host E. coli TOP10 as the cells failed to grow. This indicated that PemK probably has a cross-species activity inhibited the growth of E. coli apart from its original host Cryobacterium sp. SO1
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