Predicting Students Performance Based on Their Reading Behaviors

E-learning systems can support students in the on-line classroom environment by providing different learning materials. However, recent studies find that students may misuse such systems with a variety of strategies. One particular misused strategy, gaming the system, has repeatedly been found to negatively affect the students’ learning results. Unfortunately, methods to quantitatively capture such behavior are poorly developed, making it difficult to predict students learning outcomes. In this work, we tackle this problem based on a study of the 567,193 records of the 71 students’ reading behaviors from two classes in the academic year 2016. We first quantify the extent to which students misused the system and then predict their class performance based on the quantified results. Our results demonstrated that such misbehavior in the E-learning system can be quantified as a probability and then further used as a significant factor to predict students class learning outcomes with high accuracy

Half-duplex energy harvesting relay network over different fading environment: System performance with effect of hardware impairment

In this paper, we introduce a half-duplex (HD) energy harvesting (EH) relay network over the different fading environment with the effect of hardware impairment (HI). The model system was investigated with the amplify-and-forward (AF) and the power splitting (PS) protocols. The system performance analysis in term of the outage probability (OP), achievable throughput (AT), and bit error rate (BER) were demonstrated with the closed-form expressions. In addition, the power splitting (PS) factor was investigated. We verified the analytical analysis by Monte Carlo simulation with all primary parameters. From the results, we can state that the analytical and simulation results match well with each other.Web of Science911art. no. Unsp 228

FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF POROUS NANOPLATES USING NURBS FORMULATIONS

This paper presents free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) porous nanoplates based on isogeometric approach. Material properties of the nanoplates are given by using a modified power-law function. The Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity is used to capture the size effects. Based on a combination of the Hamilton’s principle and the higher order shear deformation theory, the governing equations of the porous nanoplates are derived. The obtained results demonstrate the significance of nonlocal parameter, porosity volume fraction, porosity distributions and volume fraction exponent on free vibration analysis of the nanoplates with porosities

Strongyloidiasis in a nonagenarian who previously worked in conservancy services

published_or_final_versio

Clinical utility of combined T2-weighted imaging and T2-mapping in the detection of prostate cancer: a multi-observer study

Background: To evaluate the clinical utility of combined T2-weighted imaging and T2-mapping for the detection of prostate cancer. Methods: Forty patients underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and T2-mapping of the prostate. Three readers each reviewed two sets of images: T2-weighted fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence (standard T2), and standard T2 in combination with T2-mapping. Each reader assigned probability scores for malignancy to each zone [peripheral zone (PZ) or transition zone (TZ)]. Inter-observer variability for standard T2 and combined standard T2 with T2-mapping were assessed. Diagnostic accuracy was compared between standard T2 and combined standard T2 with T2-mapping. Results: There was fair agreement between all three readers for standard T2 [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) =0.56] and combined standard T2 with T2-mapping (ICC =0.58). There was no significant difference in the area under the receiver operator characteristics curve for standard T2 compared to combined standard T2 with T2-mapping (0.89 vs. 0.82, P=0.31). Sensitivity (Sn) for combined standard T2 with T2-mapping was significantly higher compared to standard T2 alone (73.0% vs. 49.2%, P=0.006). Specificity (Sp) for combined standard T2 with T2-mapping was borderline significantly lower compared to standard T2 alone (89.3% vs. 94.9%, P=0.05). There was no significant differences between the negative predictive values (NPVs) and positive predictive values (PPVs) (P=0.07, P=0.45). Conclusions: Combination of T2-weighted imaging and T2-mapping could potentially increase Sn for prostate malignancy compared to T2-weighted imaging alone

High expression FUT1 and B3GALT5 is an independent predictor of postoperative recurrence and survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Cancer may arise from dedifferentiation of mature cells or maturation-arrested stem cells. Previously we reported that definitive endoderm from which liver was derived, expressed Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4. In this study, we examined the expression of their biosynthetic enzymes, FUT1, FUT2, B3GALT5 and ST3GAL2, in 135 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by qRT-PCR. High expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 was significantly associated with advanced stages and poor outcome. Kaplan Meier survival analysis showed significantly shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) for those with high expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 (P = 0.024 and 0.001, respectively) and shorter overall survival (OS) for those with high expression of B3GALT5 (P = 0.017). Combination of FUT1 and B3GALT5 revealed that high expression of both genes had poorer RFS and OS than the others (P < 0.001). Moreover, multivariable Cox regression analysis identified the combination of B3GALT5 and FUT1 as an independent predictor for RFS (HR: 2.370, 95% CI: 1.505-3.731, P < 0.001) and OS (HR: 2.153, 95% CI: 1.188-3.902, P = 0.012) in HCC. In addition, the presence of Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4 in some HCC tissues and their absence in normal liver was established by immunohistochemistry staining and mass spectrometric analysis

Development of an intracoronary Raman spectroscopy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-177).Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of death in the United States, with 1 in 5 deaths (500,000 annually) attributable to coronary artery disease alone. While the disease processes are not completely understood, it is believed that patient risk depends on a variety of factors including lesion structure, biomechanical behavior, and morphological and chemical composition. Raman spectroscopy, based on spectral analysis of inelastically scattered photons, is a nondestructive technique that yields detailed information about the chemical composition of the sample being interrogated. Intracoronary Raman spectroscopy can be performed via the use of a flexible, small diameter (< 2 mm) optical fiber probe to guide light to and from the arterial wall in situ. The fact that Raman scattering has inherently low signal intensity, combined with the need for a small diameter probe, makes it difficult to develop a probe with sufficient signal-to-noise for robust plaque diagnosis. This thesis addresses two approaches for increasing SNR: increasing Raman signal intensity and optimizing probe design. While most biological applications of Raman spectroscopy have been performed in the "fingerprint" region (Raman shifts between 400 and 1800 cm-1), the high wavenumber region (2700 - 3100 cm-1) offers distinct technical advantages, including increased Raman signal relative to the fluorescent background and potentially less fiber background. However, the high wavenumber region may yield different molecular information and thus have different diagnostic capability. In this thesis, we develop a benchtop Raman system capable of acquiring Raman spectra in both wavenumber regions.(cont.) In contrast to previous work, which focused on plaque characterization based on the Raman spectrum from a single site within the plaque, our system utilizes a line imaging paradigm, in which we acquire Raman spectra at fixed intervals across the full cross-section of the plaque, creating a Raman line image. We use this benchtop system to acquire a database of Raman line images and corresponding histology for over sixty plaque specimens. Using this database, we compare the diagnostic capability of fingerprint and high wavenumber Raman spectroscopy for plaque characterization. Because of the small size requirement for an intracoronary probe, it is important to optimize the optical probe design to maximize collection efficiency and thus increase SNR. We develop and experimentally validate a simulation technique for modeling Raman probe performance (collection efficiency and sampling volume), as an aid to optimizing probe design. We also fabricate a 1.5 mm diameter probe and demonstrate it in vivo, using a human-swine xenograft model, in which diseased human coronary arteries are grafted onto a living swine heart. The results of this thesis provide insight on two approaches toward achieving a clinically viable intracoronary Raman spectroscopy system.by Alexandra H. Chau.Ph.D

CURRENT CULTURAL LIFESTYLE OF THE HMONG PEOPLE IN THE BORDER AREA OF CAO BANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

The culture of ethnic minorities in general and the Hmong people in particular are an essential part of Vietnam's advanced culture, rich in ethnic characteristics. In the current process of international integration, the exchange and adaptation of cultural values from the outside world are both an objective necessity and a challenge. This process provides opportunities while, at the same time, posing challenges for preserving and promoting traditional cultural values. Additionally, the Hmong culture is also influenced by religious beliefs, specifically Protestantism, which accentuates cultural transformation. This has an impact on the stability and development of the cultural and social aspects, as well as the local and national security. Therefore, this article focuses on analyzing the current cultural lifestyle of the Hmong people in the border region of Cao Bang province. It aims to identify the issues that arise and propose solutions to preserve and promote the cultural values of this ethnic group under the influence of Protestantism. Simultaneously, it seeks to limit the emergence of negative factors contributing to the sustainable development of the border region of Cao Bang province

Recent Progress in Transformer-based Medical Image Analysis

The transformer is primarily used in the field of natural language processing. Recently, it has been adopted and shows promise in the computer vision (CV) field. Medical image analysis (MIA), as a critical branch of CV, also greatly benefits from this state-of-the-art technique. In this review, we first recap the core component of the transformer, the attention mechanism, and the detailed structures of the transformer. After that, we depict the recent progress of the transformer in the field of MIA. We organize the applications in a sequence of different tasks, including classification, segmentation, captioning, registration, detection, enhancement, localization, and synthesis. The mainstream classification and segmentation tasks are further divided into eleven medical image modalities. A large number of experiments studied in this review illustrate that the transformer-based method outperforms existing methods through comparisons with multiple evaluation metrics. Finally, we discuss the open challenges and future opportunities in this field. This task-modality review with the latest contents, detailed information, and comprehensive comparison may greatly benefit the broad MIA community.Comment: Computers in Biology and Medicine Accepte

Baryonic D Decay Ds+→pnˉD_s^+\to p\bar n and Its Implication

The channel $D_s^+\to p\bar n$ is the only kinematically allowed baryonic D decay. It proceeds solely through the W-annihilation topology. Hence, a recent observation of this mode by CLEO will shed light on the dynamics of W-annihilation. At the short-distance level, its branching ratio is very small, of order $10^{-6}$, owing to chiral suppression. It receives long-distance contributions through final-state scattering of the leading tree and color-suppressed amplitudes. Assuming that the long-distance enhancement of W-annihilation in the baryonic D decay is similar to that in the mesonic $D_s^+$ decay, where the latter can be obtained from the analysis of the diagrammatic approach, we find that $D_s^+\to p\bar n$ becomes visible. The observation of this baryonic D decay implies the dynamical enhancement of the W-annihilation topology in the $D_s^+$ decay.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, one reference added, to appear in PL