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Reducing Bandwidth Demand for Video Streaming to Kbps
Get PDFThis demonstration reports the design of a Real-Time Communication (RTC) system, Cactus, which achieves ultra-low bandwidth demand for high-definition video streaming with good video quality. When abstracting the data transmission paradigms, this demonstration validates exchanging computing resources for communication resources.This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects (No.62202473, No.62441230) and the Tencent Basic Platform Technology Rhino-Bird Focused Research Program. Tong Li is the corre-sponding author ([email protected])
Cutaneous Cryosurgery in Dermatology: Evolving Principles and Clinical Applications for Benign, Premalignant, and Malignant Lesions
Get PDFFigures & data - https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/39/2/577/tab-figures-dataSkin and subcutaneous diseases represent a significant public health burden, profoundly impacting quality of life, social interactions, mental health, and daily activities–raising concerns worldwide. In modern cryogenics, cryosurgery is among the therapeutic approaches employed by healthcare professionals to address this broad and complex range of diseases. Over the past four decades, cryosurgery has evolved into a valuable treatment option, used alone or as an adjunct therapy, and is adaptable to the needs of various special populations. This approach offers distinct advantages over established treatments due to its safety, efficiency, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness. However, a comprehensive, up-to-date review of cryosurgery’s applications is lacking, which limits research dissemination and recognition among dermatologists. This review aims to provide an overview of cryosurgery principles and its current clinical practice in dermatology, covering a broad range of benign, premalignant, and malignant cutaneous conditions, and highlighting its potential as an essential approach in global healthcare.Air Products PLC under grant agreement: 216-206-P-F. Grant Holder: Professor Hussam Jouhara
Investigation into the formation of large igneous provinces from the perspective of Earth's breakup and induced decompression melting
Get PDFPresented at EGU General Assembly 2025, Session EMRP1.6, Monday 28 April 2025.After fifty years of mantle plume theory, the cause and effect remain subjects of intense debate. The scientific community is divided between those who believe that mantle plumes are fueled by a deep mantle source and those who argue for a shallow process related to plate tectonics. Although both the plume and plate hypotheses relate to the effect of thermal anomaly, few studies have attempted to explain the formation of initial thermal instability or the maintenance of magma sources for volcanism and large igneous provinces (LIPs). In this study, by considering the putative link between mantle dynamics, lithospheric breakup and flood basalts, we employ a three-dimensional spherical shell model to simulate the Earth's rifting process under thermal expansion. Based on the physical principles for the phase change of materials, we invoke a qualitative model of decompression-melting generation in rifting-induced abnormally-hot asthenosphere to explain that extra volume growth during the material phase change from solid to liquid can promote the coupling effect between pressure and temperature. Our fracture modeling shows that the shallow-based lithospheric process favors a no-root mantle plume as the source for volcanism. Continental rifting and breakup may be caused by the heat accumulation within the asthenosphere underneath the lithosphere, without the need for the existence of deep mantle plumes. Inversely, the fractures, particularly around triangle conjunctions, may release the stresses around their tips and accelerate the decompression melting, which in turn results in the thermal anomaly underneath the lithosphere inside which fractures develop. Our results reveal that pressure drops caused by uplift-induced rifting can accelerate decompression melting and provide the magma source for potential eruptions. Additionally, the significant increase in magma pressure, resulting from the abrupt volume expansion during the solid-to-liquid phase change, may act as the driving force of magma production. This process can become unstable if the coupling between melting pressure and temperature operates as a positive feedback loop. Such instability may lead to mantle dynamics emerging in a top-down pattern, offering insights into the rapid and voluminous magma eruptions characteristic of LIPs. Namely, the accumulated heat may result in expansion in the mantle which may promote uplifting, weakening and eventual breakup of the lithosphere, with huge outpouring of flood basalts, leading to the great events of LIPs. Furthermore, the associated cooling of the lithosphere occurs due to heat absorption during melting and heat loss during eruptions. This process provides a clear understanding of the short-lived yet massive nature of LIPs
Simulating the Failure Mechanism of High-Slope Angles Under Rainfall-Mining Coupling Using MatDEM
No full textData Availability Statement:
Most of the data generated during this study are included in the article. For other datasets, please contact the corresponding author with reasonable requests.The safety production of gold, silver, copper, and other important metals is seriously threatened in the process of mining from open-pit to underground due to various factors such as infiltration caused by rainfall and unloading during mining. Furthermore, the current situation of open-pit mining in an increasing number of mines presents a high and steep terrain, which poses significant security risks. Accordingly, it is of great practical significance to investigate the failure mechanism of high-slope angles to ensure the long-term safe mining of mines, considering factors such as rainfall infiltration and excavation unloading. In this study, the slope failure of high-slope angles (45°, 55°, and 65°) under rainfall-mining coupling was analyzed using the discrete element MatDEM numerical simulation software. Herein, the stress distribution, failure characteristics, and energy conversion of the model were simulated under different slope angles to analyze the failure mechanism at each stage. The simulation results show that the damage scale is smallest at 55° and largest at 65°. This indicates that setting the slope angle to 55° can reduce the risk of slope instability. Moreover, the reduction of elastic potential energy during the mine room mining stage is similar to that of mechanical energy. During the pillar mining stage, stress is concentrated in each goaf, resulting in a greater reduction in mechanical energy compared to elastic potential energy. Finally, after the completion of the continuous pillar mining stage, stress becomes concentrated in the failure area, and the effect of the slope angle on mechanical energy reduction becomes evident after the complete collapse of the model.The research work was funded by the Research Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 42477142, No. 42277154), the Science and technology projects of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 202407AC110019), the project of Slope safety control and disaster prevention technology innovation team of “Youth Innovation Talent Introduction and Education Plan” of Shandong colleges and universities (Grant No. Lu Jiao Ke Han [2021] No. 51), the project of National Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. ZR2022ME188), the project of Jinan “New University 20” research leader studio (Grant No. 20228108), and the high-level Talent Introduction Project of Changzhou University (Grant No. ZMF24020037)
A Novel Hierarchical Generative Model for Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation of Biomedical Images
Get PDFIn biomedical vision research, a significant challenge is the limited availability of pixel-wise labeled data. Data augmentation has been identified as a solution to this issue through generating labeled dummy data. While enhancing model efficacy, semi-supervised learning methodologies have emerged as a promising alternative that allows models to train on a mix of limited labeled and larger unlabeled data sets, potentially marking a significant advancement in biomedical vision research. Drawing from the semi-supervised learning strategy, in this paper, a novel medical image segmentation model is presented that features a hierarchical architecture with an attention mechanism. This model disentangles the synthesis process of biomedical images by employing a tail two-branch generator for semantic mask synthesis, thereby excelling in handling medical images with imbalanced class characteristics. During inference, the k-means clustering algorithm processes feature maps from the generator by using the clustering outcome as the segmentation mask. Experimental results show that this approach preserves biomedical image details more accurately than synthesized semantic masks. Experiments on various datasets, including those for vestibular schwannoma, kidney, and skin cancer, demonstrate the proposed method's superiority over other generative-adversarial-network-based and semi-supervised segmentation methods in both distribution fitting and semantic segmentation performance.National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Number: 2022YFB4501704);
10.13039/501100012226-Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities;
Royal Society of the U.K.;
Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
Children's Caregiving and Growth in Northwestern Tanzania: Limited Evidence That Support From Specific Caregivers Is Associated With Better Growth
Get PDFData Availability Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Supporting information is available online at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.70029#support-information-section .Receiving care from individuals other than one's mother (i.e., allomothering) is a universal aspect of raising children, but whether and how such care impacts children's health remains subject to debate. Existing studies in low-income societies largely use broad proxies for caregiving behaviors rather than measuring childcare activities, which may mask variation in allomothering and, thus, its impact on children's health. Using data collected to address these limitations we measure, for 808 children under 5 years in Northwestern Tanzania: (a) Maternal residence, (b) receipt of two childcare types from seven caregivers; and (c) children's growth (height-for-age and weight-for-height). We predict that (1) allomothering will be beneficial for children's growth and (2) benefits of allomothering will be most evident within mother nonresident households. We demonstrate that children receive care from a range of allomothers, even when mothers co-reside; and there are associations between care from different relatives. Receiving care from relatives of the same lineage tends to be positively associated, whereas care from fathers is negatively associated with care from maternal relatives. Maternal residence is not associated with child growth. We find little support for our predictions, with few and inconsistent associations between allomothering and child growth. Our findings suggest that our measures of care, while more nuanced than previous proxies, do not fully capture the complexity of caregiving. Pathways between allomothering and child growth may be further elucidated through more comprehensive care indicators, which specifically measure maternal need for help, and whether allomothering is in addition to, or substitutive of, maternal care.This work was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) UBEL Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Studentship, an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Overseas Fieldwork Funding Grant, a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Research Degree Travelling Scholarship, a European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA) Student Research Grant, a Biosocial Society Small Research Grant, a Parkes Foundation Small Grant, the Royal Anthropological Institute Ruggles-Gates Fund for Biological Anthropology, the University of California (Santa Barbara), the John Templeton Foundation (grant numbers 61426 and 62773) and the Templeton Religion Trust (grant number TRT-2022-30378). The Kisesa observational HIV cohort was funded by The Global Fund (grants TNZ-405-G04-H and TNZ-911-G14-S) and the TANESA Project
AI-assisted Co-creation: The State of the Arts
Get PDFThe Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) series has been running since 2002, hosting the multifaceted dialogue on design for inclusion. It involves a wide range of disciplines including design, computer science, engineering, architecture, ergonomics, policy and gerontology. CWUAAT has been running every 2 years since 2002, with a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report arises from the 12th CWUAAT workshop, held at St Catharine's College, Cam-bridge on 2-4 April 2025. It contains the papers selected by an international panel of currently active researchers for poster presentation at the conference. The conference theme was New Frontiers for Inclusion, including the possibilities and challenges for inclusive design offered by AI and other emerging technologies. The poster papers were divided into the following groups: Design approaches; Designing for an ageing population; Designing for particular needs; Interaction techniques and modalities; and AI and inclusive design. We would like to thank all the authors and researchers who have contributed to CWUAAT2025.This study conducts an in-depth exploration of the integration of artificial intelli-gence (AI) within co-creation processes. Employing a literature research method that encom-passes a systematic review of relevant academic databases, industry reports, and online plat-forms, along with case studies, it identifies the current methodologies and applications of AI in co-creation. The research focuses on three key aspects: enhancing accessibility in diverse fields, achieving personalisation and customisation for users, and facilitating global collabo-ration through translation. The findings indicate that AI holds the potential to create more inclusive designs, analyse user data to generate personalised experiences, and promote seam-less global collaboration by improving translation accuracy and ensuring cultural adaptation. The study concludes that AI-assisted co-creation holds great promise for more innovative and inclusive co-creation processes, highlighting the need for further research and develop-ment in this area
Inclusive Design Strategies for HMI Trust Calibration inRisky Contexts
Get PDFThe Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) series has been running since 2002, hosting the multifaceted dialogue on design for inclusion. It involves a wide range of disciplines including design, computer science, engineering, architecture, ergonomics, policy and gerontology. CWUAAT has been running every 2 years since 2002, with a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report arises from the 12th CWUAAT workshop, held at St Catharine's College, Cam-bridge on 2-4 April 2025. It contains the papers selected by an international panel of currently active researchers for poster presentation at the conference. The conference theme was New Frontiers for Inclusion, including the possibilities and challenges for inclusive design offered by AI and other emerging technologies. The poster papers were divided into the following groups: Design approaches; Designing for an ageing population; Designing for particular needs; Interaction techniques and modalities; and AI and inclusive design. We would like to thank all the authors and researchers who have contributed to CWUAAT2025.In human-vehicle collaborative environments, drivers’ appropriate level of trust in automated systems is crucial for smooth takeover in risky situations. However, due to the wide variations among drivers—such as gender, cultural background, personality traits, and driving styles—it is challenging to design a Human Machine Interface (HMI) trust baseline that works for everyone, particularly in high-risk takeover scenarios. Excessive trust or dis-trust can lead to takeover delays and potential abandonment of the automation technology. This paper proposes an inclusive design strategy for HMI trust calibration to address this issue. This strategy determines risk metrics through drivers’ subjective perceptions and ob-jective braking distances, mapping various HMI visual elements to individual subjective trust levels, then employs Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to train and generate datasets of interface design feature combinations. Based on personalised operator data, the strategy enables the inclusive layout of interfaces, aiming to enhance the adaptability of current trust interaction design methods in complex scenarios and personalised operational conditions, thereby ensuring safety in human-machine collaboration
Applying Digital Spatial Profiling of the Transcriptome to Elucidate Disease Mechanisms of Psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease
Get PDFBackground:
Psychosis occurs in 30-40% of individuals with AD. New insights into disease mechanisms may lead to novel pharmacological targets and treatments. Previous studies have focused on bulk tissue analysis with limited results. Digital spatial profiling (DSP) is a new technique for spatial analysis of RNA or proteins in fixed tissue. It allows quantitative profiling with spatial complexity to be collected from samples in a non-destructive manner. In this pilot study we used DSP to compare whole transcriptome data in amyloid beta and non-amyloid beta regions in participants with and without psychosis (AD+P; AD-P).
Method:
Six post-mortem brain samples from prefrontal cortex were provided by the Kings College London Brains for Dementia Research (BDR) brain bank. Frozen and formalin fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) sections were supplied in order to test the platform on each type. Psychosis positive and negative groups were selected based on Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) assessments. Samples were hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained as well as stained with fluorescent antibodies for AT8, NeuN, SYTO13 and Aβ. Regions of interest (ROIs) are selected based on morphology markers and tissue morphology (see Figure 1 for Amyloid ROI selection).
Result:
H&E staining revealed the frozen samples to be too badly degraded so the analysis was conducted on FFPE sections. AT8 staining showed widespread tau pathology to the extent that it was not possible to confidently select non-tau ROIs. Analysis of Aβ plaque containing and Aβ plaque free regions, comparing AD+P and AD-P groups, found 314 differentially expressed genes in plaque free regions, and 172 differentially expressed genes in plaque containing regions (Figure 2). Of these 172 genes, 28 were not differentially expressed in plaque free regions, forming a plaque-specific signature of genes differentially expressed in AD+P.
Conclusion:
This pilot study demonstrates the potential of the NanoString GeoMx™ DSP platform as an innovative spatial transcriptomics methodology for investigating AD+P with the potential to uncover differentially expressed genes that may be missed by bulk RNA sequencing studies. FFPE sections appear to be optimal. Analysing earlier stage disease and more sections per subject may help with better differentiation of tau and non-tau ROIs
Pedagogical AI conversational agents in higher education: a conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art
Get PDFThe ever-changing global educational landscape, coupled with the advancement of Web3, is seeing rapid changes in the ways pedagogical artificially intelligent conversational agents are being developed and used to advance teaching and learning in higher education. Given the rapidly evolving research landscape, there is a need to establish what the current state of the art is in terms of the pedagogical applications and technological functions of these conversational agents and to identify the key existing research gaps, and future research directions, in the field. A literature survey of the state of the art of pedagogical AI conversational agents in higher education was conducted. The resulting literature sample (n = 92) was analysed using thematic template analysis, the results of which were used to develop a conceptual framework of pedagogical conversational agents in higher education. Furthermore, a survey of the state of the art was then presented as a function of the framework. The conceptual framework proposes that pedagogical AI conversational agents can primarily be considered in terms of their pedagogical applications and their pedagogical purposes, which include pastoral, instructional and cognitive, and are further considered in terms of mode of study and intent. The technological functions of the agents are also considered in terms of embodiment (embodied/disembodied) and functional type and features. This research proposes that there are numerous opportunities for future research, such as, the use of conversational agents for enhancing assessment, reflective practice and to support more effective administration and management practice. In terms of technological functions, future research would benefit from focusing on enhancing the level of personalisation and media richness of interaction that can be achieved by AI conversational agents.No funds, grants, or other support was received
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