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International Journal of Environmental... Mar 2023fish can be an affordable and accessible animal-source food in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC).
INTRODUCTION
fish can be an affordable and accessible animal-source food in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC).
BACKGROUND
Traditional fish processing methods pose a risk of exposing fish to various contaminants that may reduce their nutritional benefit. In addition, a lack of literacy may increase women fish processors' vulnerability to malnutrition and foodborne diseases.
OBJECTIVE
The overall aim of the project was to educate women and youth fish processors in Delta State, Nigeria about the benefit of fish in the human diet and to develop low literacy tools to help them better market their products. The objective of this study was to describe the development and validation of a low-literacy flipbook designed to teach women fish processors about nutrition and food safety.
METHOD
developing and validating instructional material requires understanding the population, high-quality and relevant graphics, and the involvement of relevant experts to conduct the content validation using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the index value translated with the Modified Kappa Index ().
RESULT
The Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI) value of all domains evaluated at the initial stage was 0.83 and the Scale-level Content Validity Index (S-CVI) was 0.90. At the final stage, the material was validated with CVI 0.983 by four experts and satisfied the expected minimum CVI value for this study (CVI ≥ 0.83, -value = 0.05). The overall evaluation of the newly developed and validated flipbook was "excellent".
CONCLUSIONS
the developed material was found to be appropriate for training fish processors in Nigeria in nutrition and food safety and could be modified for a population of fish processors in other LMICs.
Topics: Humans; Female; Adolescent; Surveys and Questionnaires; Nigeria; Nutritional Status; Diet; Food Safety; Reproducibility of Results
PubMed: 36981799
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20064891 -
Nature Computational Science Oct 2023Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) has the potential to solve complex graph problems, such as clique finding, which is relevant to drug discovery tasks. However, realizing...
Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) has the potential to solve complex graph problems, such as clique finding, which is relevant to drug discovery tasks. However, realizing the full benefits of quantum enhancements requires large-scale quantum hardware with universal programmability. Here we have developed a time-bin-encoded GBS photonic quantum processor that is universal, programmable and software-scalable. Our processor features freely adjustable squeezing parameters and can implement arbitrary unitary operations with a programmable interferometer. Leveraging our processor, we successfully executed clique finding on a 32-node graph, achieving approximately twice the success probability compared to classical sampling. As proof of concept, we implemented a versatile quantum drug discovery platform using this GBS processor, enabling molecular docking and RNA-folding prediction tasks. Our work achieves GBS circuitry with its universal and programmable architecture, advancing GBS toward use in real-world applications.
Topics: Humans; Molecular Docking Simulation; Accidental Injuries; Drug Discovery; Normal Distribution; Photons
PubMed: 38177757
DOI: 10.1038/s43588-023-00526-y -
Scientific Reports Oct 2023Recent advances in logic schemes and fabrication processes have renewed interest in using superconductor electronics for energy-efficient computing and quantum control...
Recent advances in logic schemes and fabrication processes have renewed interest in using superconductor electronics for energy-efficient computing and quantum control processors. However, scalable superconducting memory still poses a challenge. To address this issue, we present an alternative to approaches that solely emphasize storage cell miniaturization by exploiting the minimal attenuation and dispersion properties of superconducting passive transmission lines to develop a delay-line memory system. This fully superconducting design operates at speeds between 20 and 100 GHz, with ± 24% and ± 13% bias margins, respectively, and demonstrates data densities in the 10s of Mbit/cm with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory SC2 fabrication process. Additionally, the circulating nature of this design allows for minimal control circuitry, eliminates the need for data splitting and merging, and enables inexpensive implementations of sequential access and content-addressable memories. Further advances in fabrication processes suggest data densities of 100s of Mbit/cm and beyond.
PubMed: 37789030
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43205-8 -
Micromachines Jul 2022Along with deep scaling transistors and complex electronics information exchange networks, very-large-scale-integrated (VLSI) circuits require high performance and... (Review)
Review
Along with deep scaling transistors and complex electronics information exchange networks, very-large-scale-integrated (VLSI) circuits require high performance and ultra-low power consumption. In order to meet the demand of data-abundant workloads and their energy efficiency, improving only the transistor performance would not be sufficient. Super high-speed microprocessors are useless if the capacity of the data lines is not increased accordingly. Meanwhile, traditional on-chip copper interconnects reach their physical limitation of resistivity and reliability and may no longer be able to keep pace with a processor's data throughput. As one of the potential alternatives, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted important attention to become the future emerging on-chip interconnects with possible explorations of new development directions. In this paper, we focus on the electrical, thermal, and process compatibility issues of current on-chip interconnects. We review the advantages, recent developments, and dilemmas of CNT-based interconnects from the perspective of different interconnect lengths and through-silicon-via (TSV) applications.
PubMed: 35888965
DOI: 10.3390/mi13071148 -
IScience Jan 2022Ultra-high chip power densities that are expected to surpass 1-2kW/cm in future high-performance systems cannot be easily handled by conventional cooling methods....
Ultra-high chip power densities that are expected to surpass 1-2kW/cm in future high-performance systems cannot be easily handled by conventional cooling methods. Various emerging cooling methods, such as liquid cooling via microchannels, thermoelectric coolers (TECs), two-phase vapor chambers, and hybrid cooling options have been designed to efficiently remove heat from high-performance processors. However, selecting the optimal cooling solution for a given chip and determining the optimal cooling parameters for that solution to achieve high efficiency are open problems. These problems are, in fact, computationally expensive because of the massive space of possible solutions. To address this design challenge, this article introduces a deep learning-based cooling design optimization flow that rapidly and accurately converges to the optimal cooling solution as well as the optimal cooling parameters for a given chip floorplan and its power profile.
PubMed: 35005532
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103582 -
Journal of Biomedical Optics Oct 2022Flexible endoscopes are essential for medical internal examinations. Digital endoscopes are connected to a video processor that can apply various operations to enhance...
SIGNIFICANCE
Flexible endoscopes are essential for medical internal examinations. Digital endoscopes are connected to a video processor that can apply various operations to enhance the image. One of those operations is edge enhancement, which has a major impact on the perceived image quality by medical professionals. However, the specific methods and parameters of this operation are undisclosed and the arbitrary units to express the level of edge enhancement differ per video processor.
AIM
Objectively quantify the level of edge enhancement from the recorded images alone, and measure the effect on sharpness and noise
APPROACH
Edge enhancement was studied in four types of flexible digital ear nose and throat endoscopes. Measurements were performed using slanted edges and gray patches. The level of edge enhancement was determined by subtracting the step response of an image without edge enhancement from images with selected settings of edge enhancement and measuring the resulting peak-to-peak differences. These values were then normalized by the step size. Sharpness was characterized by observing the normalized modulation transfer function (MTF) and computing the spatial frequency at 50% MTF. The noise was measured on the gray patches and computed as a weighted sum of variances from the luminance and two chrominance channels of the pixel values.
RESULTS
The measured levels were consistent with the level set via the user interface on the video processor and varied typically from 0 to 1.3. Both sharpness and noise increase with larger levels of edge enhancement with factors of 3 and 4 respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
The presented method overcomes the issue of vendors expressing the level of edge enhancement each differently in arbitrary units. This allows us to compare the effects, and we can start exploring the relationship with the subjectively perceived image quality by medical professionals to find substantiated optimal settings.
Topics: Endoscopy; Radiographic Image Enhancement
PubMed: 36203241
DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.27.10.106001 -
ACS Nano Dec 2021A key goal of bottom-up synthetic biology is to construct cell- and tissue-like structures. Underpinning cellular life is the ability to process several external...
A key goal of bottom-up synthetic biology is to construct cell- and tissue-like structures. Underpinning cellular life is the ability to process several external chemical signals, often in parallel. Until now, cell- and tissue-like structures have been constructed with no more than one signaling pathway. Many pathways rely on signal transport across membranes using protein nanopores. However, such systems currently suffer from the slow transport of molecules. We have optimized the application of these nanopores to permit fast molecular transport, which has allowed us to construct a processor for parallel chemical signals from the bottom up in a modular fashion. The processor comprises three aqueous droplet compartments connected by lipid bilayers and operates in an aqueous environment. It can receive two chemical signals from the external environment, process them orthogonally, and then produce a distinct output for each signal. It is suitable for both sensing and enzymatic processing of environmental signals, with fluorescence and molecular outputs. In the future, such processors could serve as smart drug delivery vehicles or as modules within synthetic tissues to control their behavior in response to external chemical signals.
Topics: Lipid Bilayers; Lipid Droplets; Nanopores; Proteins; Water
PubMed: 34788543
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c08217 -
Optics Express Aug 2022In this paper, a broadband photonic beam processor is presented for the all-optical multifunction integrated receiver. By implementing echo signals with optical beam...
In this paper, a broadband photonic beam processor is presented for the all-optical multifunction integrated receiver. By implementing echo signals with optical beam multi-domain processing based on space-to-time mapping and time-to-frequency mapping, the non-mechanical control of expected beam pointing is enabled while the target within the beam can be imaged simultaneously. A proof-of-concept experiment with a 4-element phased array is performed in Ka band. The beam pointing is set to be 0° and 12.5°, where two-dimensional images of moving targets inside the beam region are obtained, respectively. The suppression ratio to the beam region outside is measured to be 26.8 dB. And the range and cross-range imaging resolution is 0.042 m × 0.051 m. A comparison with a cascade mode of single-function microwave photonic modules shows that the multifunction integrated photonic beam processor has reduced the system loss by 32.4 dB. The proposed beam processor enables multi-element broadband phased arrays with less complexity and power consumption.
PubMed: 36242128
DOI: 10.1364/OE.464769 -
Annual International Conference of the... Jul 2022Wide-field fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is a promising technique for biomedical and clinic applications. Integrating with CMOS single-photon avalanche diode...
Wide-field fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is a promising technique for biomedical and clinic applications. Integrating with CMOS single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor arrays can lead to cheaper and portable real-time FLIM systems. However, the FLIM data obtained by such sensor systems often have sophisticated noise features. There is still a lack of fast tools to recover lifetime parameters from highly noise-corrupted fluorescence signals efficiently. This paper proposes a smart wide-field FLIM system containing a 192×128 COMS SPAD sensor and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) embedded deep learning (DL) FLIM processor. The processor adopts a hardware-friendly and light-weighted neural network for fluorescence lifetime analysis, showing the advantages of high accuracy against noise, fast speed, and low power consumption. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed system's superior and robust performances, promising for many FLIM applications such as FLIM-guided clinical surgeries, cancer diagnosis, and biomedical imaging.
Topics: Computer Systems; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Optical Imaging; Photons
PubMed: 36086288
DOI: 10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9870996 -
Nanoscale Advances Nov 2022Biomimetic properties allow soft robots to complexly interact with the environment. As the bridge between the robot and the operating object, the gripping hand is an...
Biomimetic properties allow soft robots to complexly interact with the environment. As the bridge between the robot and the operating object, the gripping hand is an important organ for its connection with the outside world, which requires the ability to provide feedback from the grasped object, similar to the human sensory and nervous system. In this work, to cope with the difficulty of integrating complex sensing and communication systems into flexible soft grippers, we propose a GO/PI composite bilayer film-based gripper with two types of tactile sensors and a LC passive wireless transmission module to obtain the grip information and transmit it to the processor. The bilayer film structure demonstrates good photothermal driving performance. Pressure and material sensors are located at the tips of the gripper's fingers to acquire tactile information which is wirelessly transmitted to the processor for analysis the LC circuit. The grasping and feedback of the gripper are presented through an intelligent display system, realizing the wireless interconnection between the robot terminal and processing system, exhibiting broad application potential.
PubMed: 36381512
DOI: 10.1039/d2na00208f