Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Practical Approach to Lossy Joint Source-Channel Coding

This work is devoted to practical joint source channel coding. Although the proposed approach has more general scope, for the sake of clarity we focus on a specific application example, namely, the transmission of digital images over noisy binary-input output-symmetric channels. The basic building blocks of most state-of the art source coders are: 1) a linear transformation; 2) scalar quantization of the transform coefficients; 3) probability modeling of the sequence of quantization indices; 4) an entropy coding stage. We identify the weakness of the conventional separated source-channel coding approach in the catastrophic behavior of the entropy coding stage. Hence, we replace this stage with linear coding, that maps directly the sequence of redundant quantizer output symbols into a channel codeword. We show that this approach does not entail any loss of optimality in the asymptotic regime of large block length. However, in the practical regime of finite block length and low decoding complexity our approach yields very significant improvements. Furthermore, our scheme allows to retain the transform, quantization and probability modeling of current state-of the art source coders, that are carefully matched to the features of specific classes of sources. In our working example, we make use of ``bit-planes'' and ``contexts'' model defined by the JPEG2000 standard and we re-interpret the underlying probability model as a sequence of conditionally Markov sources. The Markov structure allows to derive a simple successive coding and decoding scheme, where the latter is based on iterative Belief Propagation. We provide a construction example of the proposed scheme based on punctured Turbo Codes and we demonstrate the gain over a conventional separated scheme by running extensive numerical experiments on test images.
Minimally invasive surgery for intracerebral haemorrhage

Purpose of reviewSpontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) imposes a significant health and economic burden on society. Despite this, ICH remains the only stroke subtype without a definitive treatment. Without a clearly identified and effective treatment for spontaneous ICH, clinical practice varies greatly from aggressive surgery to supportive care alone. This review will discuss the current modalities of treatments for ICH including preliminary experience and investigative efforts to advance the care of these patients. Recent findingsOpen surgery (craniotomy), prothrombotic agents and other therapeutic interventions have failed to significantly improve the outcome of these stroke victims. Recently, the Surgical Trial in Intracerebral Haemorrhage (STICH) II assessed the surgical management of patients with superficial intraparenchymal haematomas with negative results. MISTIE II and other trials of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) have shown promise for improving patient outcomes and a phase III trial started in late 2013. SummaryICH lacks a definitive primary treatment as well as a therapy targeting surrounding perihematomal oedema and associated secondary damage. An ongoing phase III trial using MIS techniques shows promise for providing treatment for these patients.
Out-of-order commit processors

Modern out-of-order processors tolerate long latency memory operations by supporting a large number of in-flight instructions. This is particularly useful in numerical applications where branch speculation is normally not a problem and where the cache hierarchy is not capable of delivering the data soon enough. In order to support more in-flight instructions, several resources have to be up-sized, such as the reorder buffer (ROB), the general purpose instructions queues, the load/store queue and the number of physical registers in the processor. However, scaling-up the number of entries in these resources is impractical because of area, cycle time, and power consumption constraints. We propose to increase the capacity of future processors by augmenting the number of in-flight instructions. Instead of simply up-sizing resources, we push for new and novel microarchitectural structures that achieve the same performance benefits but with a much lower need for resources. Our main contribution is a new checkpointing mechanism that is capable of keeping thousands of in-flight instructions at a practically constant cost. We also propose a queuing mechanism that takes advantage of the differences in waiting time of the instructions in the flow. Using these two mechanisms our processor has a performance degradation of only 10% for SPEC2000fp over a conventional processor requiring more than an order of magnitude additional entries in the ROB and instruction queues, and about a 200% improvement over a current processor with a similar number of entries.
In toto live imaging of mouse morphogenesis and new insights into neural tube closure

In the field of developmental biology, live imaging is a powerful tool for studying, in real time, the dynamic behaviors of tissues and cells during organ formation. Mammals, which develop in utero, have presented a challenge for live imaging. Here, we offer a novel, prolonged and robust live imaging system for visualizing the development of a variety of embryonic tissues in the midgestation mouse embryo. We demonstrate the advantages of this imaging system by following the dynamics of neural tube closure during mouse embryogenesis and reveal extensive movements of the cranial neural tissue that are independent of neural fold zipping.
Comparison of 99mTc-N-DBODC5 and 99mTc-MIBI of Myocardial Perfusion Imaging for Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease

Despite recent advances in therapeutic and diagnostic approaches, coronary artery disease (CAD) and its related cardiac disorders represent the most common cause of death in the United States. Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) technologies play a pivotal role in the diagnosis and treatment design for CAD. Recently, in order to develop improved MPI agents for diagnosis of CAD, 99mTc-[bis(dimethoxypropylphosphinoethyl)-ethoxyethyl-amine(PNP5)]-[bis(N-ethoxyethyl)dithiocarbamato(DBODC)]nitride(N-DBODC5)(99mTc-N-DBODC5) with a faster liver clearance than conventional single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging agents (technetium 99m sestamibi (99mTc-MIBI) or technetium 99m tetrofosmin) has been introduced. In preclinical and phase I studies, 99mTc-N-DBODC5 has shown characteristics of an essentially ideal MPI tracer. Importantly, however, there is no data to support the use of 99mTc-N-DBODC5 to evaluate myocardial ischemia in patients with suspected CAD. The present study was designed to assess the clinical value of this agent; the findings of stress and rest MPI after the administration of this agent were compared to those of stress and rest 99mTc-MIBI, as well as those of coronary angiography, with respect to the detection of CAD. Our findings indicated the usefulness of 99mTc-N-DBODC5 as a promising MPI agent.
High power GaN-based LEDs with nano-structured Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) transparent conductive layer (TCL)

High power GaN-based LEDs with nano-structured Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) transparent conductive layer (TCL) were fabricated by using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. Compared with the conventional LED with Ni/Au or ITO process, the saturation current in the LEDs with GZO TCL approximately increased up to more than 14 % and 13 %, and the light output intensity up to 57.5 % and 30.1 %, respectively. This improvement was attributed to the high carrier concentration of GZO TCL and the planar structure at the TCL bottom, which improved the electrical conductivity, and therefore promoted current spreading. The refractive index of GZO is similar to GaN (n ≈ 2) and thereby results in the reduction of the reflection loss between GaN and TCL interface. In addition, the nano-structure of GZO TCL increased the light output critical angle and enhanced surface light emitting while reducing the lateral light loss and consequently improved light extraction efficiency of LEDs.
Current challenges and future perspectives of radiotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer

Purpose of reviewTo discuss current issues in the field of radiation oncology for locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Recent findingsLarge randomized studies involving nodal irradiation have recently been completed. The incremental benefit of treating the internal mammary nodes (IMNs) remains controversial. A randomized study specifically evaluating internal mammary node radiation (IMNR) failed to demonstrate significant benefit. A high impact, population-based study detected a proportional increase in major coronary events with increasing radiation dose. Advanced treatment techniques should be employed to reduce cardiac exposure.In patients with stage IV breast cancer (BCa), there is increasing evidence to suggest that locoregional treatments may improve overall survival (OS). Radiotherapy alone, without surgery, may provide equivalent local control and OS in patients with distant metastasis. High-dose stereotactic radiation regimens can be used to treat breast tumors with good local control rates in as few as three visits.BCa biomarkers are predictive of locoregional recurrence risk and should be used to guide radiotherapy in conjunction with standard staging. Clinically validated genetic profiling can measure tumor radiosensitivity and also help to predict normal tissue toxicity. SummaryWe are entering an era of personalized radiotherapy for LABC. Radiation treatments must be tailored to each individual patient's risk and intrinsic tumor biology.
Access Control Model for Cooperative Healthcare Environments: Modeling and Verification

Integrated use of electronic health records (EHRs) seem both promising and necessary in improving the quality and delivery of health services. This allows healthcare providers access to information they require to provide rapid patient care. Of course, when sensitive information is shared among a group of people within or across organizations, enforceable security and privacy control over the information flow is a key aspect. In this study, an access control model for cooperative healthcare environments is presented. A work-based access control (WBAC) model is proposed by introducing the concept of team role and modifying the user-role assignment model from previous work. Verification indicates that WBAC is flexible, easy to manage and secure. It is therefore well suited to support cooperative work performed by dynamic teams in healthcare environments.
Scalable Compact Test Pattern Generation for Path Delay Faults Based on Functions

A recent decision diagram-based algorithm [12] was able to generate test patterns for each sensitizable path delay fault. Although scalable this approach results to prohibitively long test sets. This paper presents a novel technique to intelligently select paths for compaction. It guarantees optimal compaction subject to the order of processing faults. The compaction rate is superior to any published method, even for the small benchmarks where enumerative compaction methods have been proposed. Experimental results on the publicly available benchmarks demostrate the scalability of the proposed method.
Dexmedetomidine as an intrathecal adjuvant for postoperative analgesia

Background: Spinal anaesthesia is the most common approach which is used for lower limb surgery. Dexmedetomidine is the recent drug which acts on α2-adrenergic receptors in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord to produce analgesic effects. Aim: Efficacy and safety of intrathecal dexmedetomidine added to ropivacaine. Setting and Design: Randomised double blind trial. Methods: Sixty patients were randomly allocated to receive intrathecally either 3 ml of 0.75% isobaric ropivacaine + 0.5 ml normal saline (Group R) or 3 ml of 0.75% isobaric ropivacaine + 5 μg dexmedetomidine in 0.5 ml of normal saline (Group D). Results: The mean time of sensory regression to S2 was 468.3±36.78 minutes in group D and 239.33±16.8 minutes in group R. Duration of analgesia (time to requirement of first rescue analgesic) was significantly prolonged in group D (478.4±20.9 minutes) as compared to group R (241.67±21.67 minutes). The maximum visual analogue scale score for pain was less in group D (4.4±1.4) as compared to group R (6.8±2.2). Conclusion: The addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine intrathecally produces a prolongation in the duration of the motor and sensory block.
Evaluation of Standard- and High-Dose Daptomycin versus Linezolid against Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus Isolates in an In Vitro Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Model with Simulated Endocardial Vegetations

ABSTRACT Daptomycin MICs for enterococci are typically 1- to 2-fold higher than those for Staphylococcus aureus, and there is an imminent need to establish the optimal dose for appropriate treatment of enterococcal infections. We investigated the bactericidal activity of daptomycin at various dose exposures compared to that of linezolid against vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) in an in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model utilizing simulated endocardial vegetations over 96 h. Daptomycin at doses of 6, 8, 10, and 12 mg/kg of body weight/day and linezolid at a dose of 600 mg every 12 h were evaluated against two clinical vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains (EFm11499 and 09-184D1051), one of which was linezolid resistant (09-184D1051), and one clinical vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis strain (EFs11496). Daptomycin MICs were 4, 2, and 0.5 μg/ml for EFm11499, 09-184D1051, and EFs11496, respectively. Bactericidal activity, defined as a ≥3 log10 CFU/g reduction from the initial colony count, was demonstrated against all three isolates with all doses of daptomycin; however, bactericidal activity was not sustained with the daptomycin 6- and 8-mg/kg/day regimens. Linezolid was bacteriostatic against EFm11499 and displayed no appreciable activity against 09-184D1051 or EFs11496. Concentration-dependent killing was displayed with more sustained reduction in colony count (3.58 to 6.46 and 5.89 to 6.56 log10 CFU/g) at 96 h for the simulated regimen of daptomycin at doses of 10 and 12 mg/kg/day, respectively (P ≤ 0.012). No E. faecium mutants with reduced susceptibility were recovered at any dosage regimen; however, the E. faecalis strain developed reduced daptomycin susceptibility with daptomycin at 6, 8, and 10 but not at 12 mg/kg/day. Daptomycin displayed a dose-dependent response against three VRE isolates, with high-dose daptomycin producing sustained bactericidal activity. Further research is warranted.
On the parallel complexity of hierarchical clustering and CC-complete problems

Complex data sets are often unmanageable unless they can be subdivided and simplified in an intelligent manner. Clustering is a technique that is used in data mining and scientific analysis for partitioning a data set into groups of similar or nearby items. Hierarchical clustering is an important and well-studied clustering method involving both top-down and bottom-up subdivisions of data. In this article we address the parallel complexity of hierarchical clustering. We describe known sequential algorithms for top-down and bottom-up hierarchical clustering. The top-down algorithm can be parallelized, and when there are n points to be clustered, we provide an O(log n)-time, n2-processor CREW PRAM algorithm that computes the same output as its corresponding sequential algorithm. We define a natural decision problem based on bottom-up hierarchical clustering, and add this HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING PROBLEM (HCP) to the slowly growing list of CC-complete problems, thereby showing that HCP is one of the computationally most difficult problems in the COMPARATOR CIRCUIT VALUE PROBLEM class. This class contains a variety of interesting problems, and now for the first time a problem from data mining as well. By proving that HCP is CC-complete, we have demonstrated that HCP is very unlikely to have an NC algorithm. This result is in sharp contrast to the NC algorithm which we give for the top-down sequential approach, and the result surprisingly shows that the parallel complexities of the top-down and bottom-up approaches are different, unless CC equals NC. In addition, we provide a compendium of all known CC-complete problems. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 14: 18–28, 2008
Classification of Substrates and Inhibitors of P-Glycoprotein Using Unsupervised Machine Learning Approach

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a drug efflux pump, affects the bioavailability of therapeutic drugs and plays a potentially important role in clinical drug-drug interactions. Classification of candidate drugs as substrates or inhibitors of the carrier protein is of crucial importance in drug development. Accurate classification is difficult to achieve due to two major factors: i. The extreme diversity of substrates and the presence of multiple binding sites complicate the understanding of the mechanisms behind and hinder the development of a true, conclusive quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) for P-gp substrates. ii. Both inhibitors and substrates interact with the same binding site of P-gp, as a result, it is not surprising that both share many common structural features. In this work, an unsupervised machine learning approach based on the Kohonen self-organizing maps (SOM) was explored, which incorporated a predefined set of physicochemical descriptors encoding the key molecular properties capable of discerning a substrate from an inhibitor. The SOM model can discriminate between substrates and inhibitors with an average accuracy of 82.3%. The current results show that the SOM-based method provides a potential in silico model for virtual screening.
Content Based Image Retrieval using Color Boosted Salient Points and Shape features of an image

Salient points are locations in an image where there is a significant variation with respect to a chosen image feature. Since the set of salient points in an image capture important local characteristics of that image, they can form the basis of a good image representation for content-based image retrieval (CBIR). Salient features are generally determined from the local differential structure of images. They focus on the shape saliency of the local neighborhood. Most of these detectors are luminance based which have the disadvantage that the distinctiveness of the local color information is completely ignored in determining salient image features. To fully exploit the possibilities of salient point detection in color images, color distinctiveness should be taken into account in addition to shape distinctiveness. This paper presents a method for salient points determination based on color saliency. The color and texture information around these points of interest serve as the local descriptors of the image. In addition, the shape information is captured in terms of edge images computed using Gradient Vector Flow fields. Invariant moments are then used to record the shape features. The combination of the local color, texture and the global shape features provides a robust feature set for image retrieval. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the method.
A Randomised Controlled Trial to Test the Effectiveness of Planning Strategies to Improve Medication Adherence in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease.

BACKGROUND Low levels of adherence to medication prescribed to treat and manage chronic disease may lead to maladaptive health outcomes. Theory-based, easy-to-administer interventions that promote patients' effective self-regulation of their medication-taking behaviour are needed if adherence is to be maximised. We tested the effectiveness of an intervention adopting planning techniques to promote medication adherence. METHODS Outpatients with cardiovascular disease (N = 71) were allocated to either an experimental condition, in which participants were asked to form implementation intentions and coping plans related to their treatment, or to a no-planning control condition, in which participants received no treatment. Patients also completed self-report measures of medication adherence, self-efficacy, and beliefs in medication necessity and concerns. Measures were administered at baseline and at 6-week follow-up. RESULTS Results revealed no overall main effect for the intervention on medication adherence. Post-hoc moderator analyses revealed that the intervention was effective in patients with lower necessity beliefs compared to those with higher necessity beliefs. CONCLUSION While current findings have promise in demonstrating the conditional effects of planning interventions, there is a need to replicate these findings by manipulating planning and beliefs independently and testing their direct and interactive effects on medication adherence.
A Survey on the Internet of Things Security

The security issues of the Internet of Things (IoT) are directly related to the wide application of its system. Beginning with introducing the architecture and features of IoT security, this paper expounds several security issues of IoT that exist in the three-layer system structure, and comes up with solutions to the issues above coupled with key technologies involved. Among these safety measures concerned, the ones about perception layer are particularly elaborated, including key management and algorithm, security routing protocol, data fusion technology, as well as authentication and access control, etc.
Two-Phase Methods for Deblurring Images Corrupted by Impulse Plus Gaussian Noise ∗

Image deblurring [4] from noisy data is a fundamental problem in image processing. Let the true image x belong to a proper function space S(Ω) on Ω = [0, 1], and the observed digital image y be a vector in Rm×m indexed by A = {1, 2, · · · , m} × {1, 2, · · · ,m}. The image degradation can be modeled as y = N(Hx), where H : S(Ω) → Rm×m is a linear operator representing blurring, and N : Rm×m → Rm×m models the noise. Usually, y = Hx + σn where σn ∈ Rm×m is an additive zero-mean Gaussian noise with standard deviation σ ≥ 0. In addition, practical systems suffer from few or more pixels, called outliers, which are much noisier than others. Such perturbations are typically caused by malfunctioning pixels in camera sensors, faulty memory locations in hardware, or transmission in a noisy channel. The contamination with outliers is modeled as impulse noise. For an overview, see [4]. Then a realist model for our data is { ỹ = Hx + σg, y = N(ỹ), (1)
Autonomous learning and reproduction of complexsequences: a multimodal architecture forbootstraping imitation games

This paper introduces a control architecture for the learning of complex sequence of gestures applied to autonomous robots. The architecture is designed to exploit the robot internal sensory-motor dynamics generated by visual, proprioceptive, and predictive informations in order to provide intuitive behaviors in the purpose of natural interactions with humans.