Underwater Acoustic Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing Communication Using Deep Neural Network-Based Receiver: River Trial Results.

In this article, a deep neural network (DNN)-based underwater acoustic (UA) communication receiver is proposed. Conventional orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) receivers perform channel estimation using linear interpolation. However, due to the significant delay spread in multipath UA channels, the frequency response often exhibits strong non-linearity between pilot subcarriers.

Fuzzy Clustering-Based Deep Learning for Short-Term Load Forecasting in Power Grid Systems Using Time-Varying and Time-Invariant Features.

Accurate short-term load forecasting (STLF) is essential for power grid systems to ensure reliability, security and cost efficiency. Thanks to advanced smart sensor technologies, time-series data related to power load can be captured for STLF. Recent research shows that deep neural networks (DNNs) are capable of achieving accurate STLP since they are effective in predicting nonlinear and complicated time-series data.

Setting research priorities for global pandemic preparedness: An international consensus and comparison with ChatGPT's output.

Background: In this priority-setting exercise, we sought to identify leading research priorities needed for strengthening future pandemic preparedness and response across countries.

Methods: The International Society of Global Health (ISoGH) used the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) method to identify research priorities for future pandemic preparedness. Eighty experts in global health, translational and clinical research identified 163 research ideas, of which 42 experts then scored based on five pre-defined criteria.

Improving Text-Independent Forced Alignment to Support Speech-Language Pathologists with Phonetic Transcription.

: Phonetic transcription is crucial in diagnosing speech sound disorders (SSDs) but is susceptible to transcriber experience and perceptual bias. Current forced alignment (FA) tools, which annotate audio files to determine spoken content and its placement, often require manual transcription, limiting their effectiveness. : We introduce a novel, text-independent forced alignment model that autonomously recognises individual phonemes and their boundaries, addressing these limitations.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of hypertension interventions in faith-based organisation settings.

Background: Hypertension is the global, leading cause of mortality and is the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Community-based partnerships can provide cost-saving ways of delivering effective blood pressure (BP) interventions to people in resource-poor settings. Faith-based organisations (FBOs) prove important potential health partners, given their reach and community standing.

Intracranial nasofrontal dermoid cyst and a hair in the nose tip without a sinus tract identified with single-staged combined approach excision done.

This is the first reported case of intracranial nasofrontal dermoid without sinus tract, with complete excision done in single-staged combined approach frontal craniotomy and open rhinoplasty, and satisfactory nasal reconstruction.

Developing Nonlinear Customer Preferences Models for Product Design Using Opining Mining and Multiobjective PSO-Based ANFIS Approach.

Online customer reviews can clearly show the customer experience, and the improvement suggestions based on the experience, which are helpful to product optimization and design. However, the research on establishing a customer preference model based on online customer reviews is not ideal, and the following research problems are found in previous studies. Firstly, the product attribute is not involved in the modelling if the corresponding setting cannot be found in the product description.

Systematic Review Estimating the Burden of Dementia in the Latin America and Caribbean Region: A Bayesian Approach.

The global burden of dementia has increasingly shifted to low- and middle-income regions that lack essential data for monitoring epidemiological progression, and policy and planning support. Drawing upon data that have emerged since the last known estimates published in 2015, this study aims to update dementia estimates in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region for the years 2020, 2030, and 2050 through the application of a recently validated Bayesian approach for disease estimates useful when data sources are scarce. A comprehensive parallel systematic review of PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Global Health, and LILACS was conducted to identify prospective population-based epidemiological studies on dementia published in English from 2013 to 2018 in LAC.

Using evidence, expert opinion and epidemiological model to understand pathways to survival and mortality: The Pathways to Survival (PATHS) Tool.

Background: The reasons why episodes of illness can lead to fatal outcomes in affected persons in low resource settings are numerous and complex. A tool that allows policy makers to better understand those complexities could be useful to improve success of programmes that are implemented globally to reduce mortality.

Methods: We developed a "Pathways to Survival" (PATHS) tool: an epidemiological model using decision trees, available evidence and expert opinion.

Strategies to engage people with dementia and their informal caregivers in dyadic intervention: A scoping review.

Dyadic interventions simultaneously engage both people with dementia (PWD) and their informal caregivers (ICGs). This scoping review study identified the strategies for engaging dyads, described the perceptions of the dyads on these strategies, and reported the attrition rates of the dyadic interventions reported in the literature. Articles published up to July 2020, reporting a PWD-ICG-dyads intervention were searched in PubMed (Medline), PsycInfo, CINAHL, and the SSCI.

Systematic review estimating the burden of dementia in the WHO Southeast Asia Region using Bayesian and frequentist approaches.

Background: Rapid increase in life expectancy in low- and middle-income countries including the World Health Organization's Southeast Asia Region (SEAR) has resulted in an increase in the global burden of dementia, which is expected to become a leading cause of morbidity. Accurate burden estimates are key for informing policy and planning. Given the paucity of data, estimates were developed using both a Bayesian methodology and as well as a traditional frequentist approach to gain better insights into methodological approaches for disease burden estimates.

Construction of an area-deprivation index for 2869 counties in China: a census-based approach.

Background: A paucity of data has made it challenging to construct a deprivation index at the lowest administrative, or county, level in China. An index is required to guide health equity monitoring and resource allocation to regions of greatest need. This study used China's 2010 census data to construct a county-level area-deprivation index (CADI).

The disease burden of childhood asthma in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: In China, childhood asthma prevalence showed a remarkable increase in the past decades. An updated epidemiological assessment of childhood asthma in China with a focus on prevalence and time trends is required.

Methods: We systematically searched three main Chinese databases and one English database to identify epidemiological studies of the prevalence of childhood asthma in China.

Beijing's diagnosis-related group payment reform pilot: Impact on quality of acute myocardial infarction care.

In 2012, China's first diagnosis-related group (DRG) payment system was piloted in Beijing. This study explored whether this payment pilot improved quality and reduced costs of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care in hospitals implementing DRG payment as compared to control hospitals. A difference-in-difference study design was used with regression and considered several quality indicators including aspirin at arrival, aspirin at discharge, β-blocker at arrival, β-blocker at discharge, statin at discharge, in-hospital mortality, and 30-day readmission rates.

Prevalence of dementia in Nigeria: a systematic review of the evidence.

Background: The burden of dementia is poorly understood in Nigeria. We sought to gather available epidemiologic evidence on dementia in Nigeria to provide country-wide estimates of its prevalence and associated risks.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Africa Journals Online (AJOL) and Google Scholar for epidemiologic studies on dementia in Nigeria from 1990 to 2018.

Long-term outcomes of ruptured cerebral arteriovenous malformations in the paediatric population: A retrospective review in a regional hospital in Hong Kong.

The objective of the study is to evaluate the management outcomes of ruptured cerebral arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) in the paediatric population in a regional hospital in Hong Kong. We performed a retrospective review between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2017 for ruptured bAVM in a regional neurosurgical centre in Hong Kong. All other vascular pathologies and unruptured cases were excluded.

Setting weights for fifteen CHNRI criteria at the global and regional level using public stakeholders: an Amazon Mechanical Turk study.

Introduction: Stakeholder involvement has been described as an indispensable part of health research priority setting. Yet, more than 75% of the exercises using the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology have omitted the step involving stakeholders in priority setting. Those that have used stakeholders have rarely used the public, possibly due to the difficulty of assembling and/or accessing a public stakeholder group.

Effect of Foreign Accent on Immediate Serial Recall.

This study disentangled factors contributing to impaired memory for foreign-accented words - misperception and disruption of encoding. When native English and Cantonese-accented words were presented auditorily for serial recall (Experiment 1), intrusion errors for accented words were higher across all serial positions (SPs). Participants made more intrusion errors during auditory presentation than visual and auditory presentation, and more errors for accented words than native words.