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Fusionformer: A Novel Adversarial Transformer Utilizing Fusion Attention for Multivariate Anomaly Detection
Get PDFMultivariate time series forecasting (MTSF) is of significant importance in the enhancement and optimization of real-world applications. The task of MTSF poses substantial challenges due to the unpredictability of temporal patterns and the complexity in modeling the influence of all nonpredictive sequences on the target sequence at different time stages. Recent research has demonstrated the potential held by the Transformer algorithm to augment long-term forecasting capability. However, certain obstacles considerably obstruct the direct application of the Transformer to MTSF, such as an unsuitable embedding method, inadequate consideration of intervariable associations, and the intrinsic restriction of the point-wise objective function. To overcome these challenges, the Fusionformer, an effective Transformer-based forecasting model, is put forth in this article, which is characterized by three distinctive features: 1) the introduction of a segment-wise sequence embedding (SWSE) method allows for the conversion of the input sequence into multiple informative segments; 2) the implementation of a fusion attention mechanism (FAM), designed to capture predominant features across the time dimension and to model intricate intervariable dependencies; and 3) the development of an adversarial learning method, equipped with an auxiliary discriminator, facilitates the learning of data distribution, instead of progressively correcting the prediction error, thus substantially enhancing the MTSF’s accuracy. Furthermore, a Fusionformer-based risk assessment (FRA) method is structured for open-pit mine slope failure early warning issue (SFEW), which aims to prevent potential disasters by accurately predicting future slope movement trends and assessing the probabilities of landslide occurrences. Experimental outcomes validate that Fusionformer outperforms existing forecasting methods, while the FRA framework provides valuable insights and practical guidance for real-world applications.European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (DIG_IT) (Grant Number: 869529);
10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 62403119 and U21A2019);
Hainan Province Science and Technology Special Fund of China (Grant Number: ZDYF2022SHFZ105);
Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (CPSF) (Grant Number: GZB20240136);
10.13039/501100002858-China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Number: 2024MD753911);
10.13039/501100000266-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council;
Royal Society;
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
The Holy Grail of cardiology?
Get PDFI had been training for the last few months, getting up not long after 05.00 h to travel to my local gym to be in the pool for a 1 h swim training session at 06.00 h, four times a week. A few months earlier, some friends and I had agreed we would swim across Lake Annecy in south-eastern France, south of Geneva. Every August the official swimming event runs, with an option of two races. La Grande Traversée is the one we were opting for; a swim of 2.4 km (Traversée du Lac d'Annecy: https://www.openwaterswimming.com/world-top-100/traversee-du-lac-dannecy/). Training had gone well, and although there were times when I felt rough in the mornings, maybe even a little breathless, I dismissed it, and after each swim I felt fine.None
The Efficiency of Secondary-level Hospitals in Hard-to-reach and non-hard-to-reach Areas in Bangladesh: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach
Get PDFA Powerpoint version (IHEA congress Flash Oral 14502 Sayem v1 14-07-2025.pptx, 9 slides) of this oral presentation given on Wednesday, 23 July, 2025, is available at the 16th IHEA World Congress on Health Economics website at https://healtheconomics.org/congress/ .Background: Efficiency in healthcare delivery is crucial for maximizing resource utilization and achieving broader health system objectives, particularly in resource-constrained settings like hard-to-reach (HTR) areas in Bangladesh. Despite people in these areas facing barriers in accessing health services, health facilities have not undergone comparative efficiency evaluations with facilities in non-hard-to-reach (non-HTR) areas. Objectives: The study's aim was to assess the association between HTR area characteristics and the technical efficiency of secondary-level hospitals. **Methods:** Data envelopment analysis was performed with output orientation to calculate the efficiency scores of 62 secondary-level hospitals using both constant and variable returns to scale assumptions. We used the number of physicians, nurses and beds available in the hospitals as the inputs for service production. The number of different types of services provided by the hospitals, namely, antenatal care, normal deliveries, postnatal care, outdoor department visits, and hospital admission, were included as the output variables. These input and output data for each hospital were extracted from the Local Health Bulletin-2022 of the Directorate General of Health Services in Bangladesh. Using the Water and Sanitation Program report published by the World Bank in 2012, geographic locations with specific characteristics, such as beel/wetland, coastal, offshore island, saline, and hilly areas, were categorized as HTR areas. We conducted descriptive analysis and performed a Mann-Whitney two-sample statistic test to test the mean difference of efficiency scores between the HTR and non-HTR areas. Finally, multiple Tobit regression models were employed to determine the association between HTR area characteristics and hospital efficiency while adjusting for bed occupancy ratio, average length of stay and administrative division. Results: The findings revealed that, on average, hospitals were 73% and 80% efficient using constant and variable returns to scale assumptions, respectively. Hospitals located in HTR areas were relatively less technically efficient (efficiency score = 0.76) than those in non-HTR areas (efficiency score = 0.84), and the differences were statistically significant (p-value = 0.08) when the variable returns to scale assumption were used. Similar significant differences in efficiency scores (p-value = 0.06) were observed between these two groups of hospitals when constant returns to scale assumptions were used. The regression analysis results showed that hospitals in HTR areas experience lower efficiency scores (coefficient = 0.258; p-value < 0.05) than hospitals in non-HTR regions. Additionally, the bed occupancy ratio and average length of stay were significantly associated with the efficiency scores of secondary-level hospitals. Conclusion: Hospitals in HTR regions are found to be less technically efficient than non-HTR regions in Bangladesh. Policymakers should address the underlying causes of inefficiencies and implement targeted interventions such as improving healthcare access for vulnerable HTR area populations, optimizing bed occupancy rates and length of stay with proper referral systems and discharge planning in these particular areas. This indicates that further research on health systems in climate-vulnerable areas in Bangladesh should be prioritized to address these challenges effectively
System-level techno-economic comparison of residential low-carbon heating and cooling solutions
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Data will be made available on request.An earlier version of this paper was presented during the 36th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimisation, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems (ECOS 2023) held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 25–30 June 2023.This paper studies portfolios of electricity- and hydrogen-driven heat pumps, electricity- and hydrogen-driven boilers and thermal energy storage technologies from an energy system perspective. Thermodynamic and component-costing models of heating and cooling technologies are integrated into a whole-energy system cost optimisation model to determine configurations of heating and cooling systems that minimise the overall system cost. Case studies focus on two archetypal systems (North and South) that differ in terms of heating and cooling demand and availability profiles of solar and wind generation. Modelling results suggest that optimal capacities for heating and cooling technologies vary significantly depending on system properties. Between 83 % and 100 % of low-carbon heat is supplied by electric heat pump technologies, with the rest contributed by electric or hydrogen boilers, supplemented by heat storage. Air-to-air electric heat pumps emerge as a significant contributor to both heating and cooling, although their contribution may be constrained by the compatibility with existing heating systems and the inability to provide hot water. Nevertheless, they are found to be a useful supplementary source of space heating that can displace between 20 and 33 GWth of other heating technologies compared to the case where they do not contribute to space heating.The research presented in this paper has been supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [grant number EP/R045518/1] (IDLES Programme)
Clinical Characteristics of Virologically Confirmed Respiratory Syncytial Virus in English Primary Care: Protocol for an Observational Study of Acute Respiratory Infection
Get PDFData Availability:
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and with permission of RCGP RSC [37. Primary care hosted research data sets independent scientific committee (PrimDISC). Nuffield Department of Primary Care
Health Sciences, University of Oxford URL: https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/intranet/
better-workplace-groups-committees-open-meetings/primdisc-committee-1/primdisc-committee [accessed 2024-11-07]].Conflicts of Interest:
SdL is the director of the Oxford RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre. Through his university he has received funding for vaccine-related research from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Seqirus, and Takeda; he has been a member of advisory boards for AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and Seqirus. UH has undertaken continuing professional development podcasts funded by Seqirus and has been a member of advisory boards for Jansen. JR, ABA, CAP, OB, MD, AE, TL, and DM are employees and/or potential owners of Moderna stock.Background:
There are gaps in our understanding of the clinical characteristics and disease burden of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among community-dwelling adults. This is in part due to a lack of routine testing at the point of care. More data would enhance our assessment of the need for an RSV vaccination program for adults in the United Kingdom.
Objective:
This study aimed to implement point-of-care-testing (POCT) in primary care to describe the incidence, clinical presentation, risk factors, and economic burden of RSV among adults presenting with acute respiratory infection.
Methods:
We are recruiting up to 3600 patients from at least 21 practices across England to participate in the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre. Practices are selected if they undertake reference virology sampling for the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Surveillance Centre and had previous experience with respiratory illness studies. Any adult, ≥40 years old, presenting with acute respiratory infection with onset ≤10 days, but without RSV within the past 28 days, will be eligible to participate. We will estimate the incidence proportion of RSV, describe the clinical features, and risk factors of patients with RSV infection, and measure the economic burden of RSV infection.
Results:
A total of 25 practices across different English health administrative regions expressed interest and were recruited to participate. We have created and tested an educational program to deploy POCT for RSV in primary care. In addition to using the POCT device, we provide suggestions about how to integrate POCT into primary care workflow and templates for high-quality data recording of diagnosis, symptoms, and signs. In the 2023-2024 winter RSV detection in the sentinel network grew between October and late November. According to data from the UK Health Security Agency, the peak RSV swab positivity was in International Standards Organization week 48, 2023. Data collection remains ongoing, and results from the subset of practices participating in this study are not yet available.
Conclusions:
This study will provide data on the RSV incidence in the community as well as rapid information to inform sentinel surveillance and vaccination programs. This information could potentially improve clinical decision-making.
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID):
DERR1-10.2196/60669Moderna funded and sponsored this study, and reviewed and proposed edits to the study protocol and study documents before submission for ethics approval and peer review publication
EEG Microstate Syntax Analysis: A Review of Methodological Challenges and Advances
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No data was used for the research described in the article.Electroencephalography (EEG) microstates are “quasi-stable” periods of electrical potential distribution in multichannel EEG derived from peaks in Global Field Power. Transitions between microstates form a temporal sequence that may reflect underlying neural dynamics. Mounting evidence indicates that EEG microstate sequences have long-range, non-Markovian dependencies, suggesting a complex underlying process that drives EEG microstate syntax (i.e., the transitional dynamics between microstates). Despite growing interest in EEG microstate syntax, the field remains fragmented, with inconsistent terminologies used between studies and a lack of defined methodological categories. To advance the understanding of functional significance of microstates and to facilitate methodological comparability and finding replicability across studies, we: i) derive categories of syntax analysis methods, reviewing how each may be utilised most readily; ii) define three “time-modes” for EEG microstate sequence construction; and iii) outline general issues concerning current microstate syntax analysis methods, suggesting that the microstate models derived using these methods are cross-referenced against models of continuous EEG. We advocate for these continuous approaches as they do not assume a winner-takes-all model inherent in the microstate derivation methods and contextualise the relationship between microstate models and EEG data. They may also allow for the development of more robust associative models between microstates and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging data.US Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded to CN (PI), EA (joint-PI), SK (joint-PI), and RL (co-I) (Award N: FA9550-19-1-7034) and the PhD studentship from the School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK awarded to SK, CN and EA. This work was also supported in part by the research grant from the National Institutes of Health (Award N: RO1DC017734-05)
Performance Parameters Consideration for Cellular System Upgrades in Developing Countries
Get PDFThis paper focuses on the 5G backhaul network and the impacts of backhaul technologies on the Quality of Service (QoS) and user experiences, in particular, end to end delay (E2E) and capacity planning requirements. In particular, the aim is to facilitate the work of providers, developers, and investors when planning to introduce 5G technology to developing countries. This work looks into employing a simulation-based approach to consider bandwidth aspects when designing/ upgrading current/ future cellular systems in developing countries. It presents a scheme to maximize the use of bandwidth considering both capacity and delay aspects and helps to identify major parameters that influence system design for different 5G use cases and scenarios. Simulation proves that the method to determine the required link capacity is by observing the traffic delay and users access statistics as well as by increasing the capacity incrementally by changing the factor for each link in the network, until optimal capacity is achieved. The results indicate that within the "broadband in the crowd" scenario for 5G services and applications, the necessary bandwidth for last-mile network connections can vary depending on the service type. Specifically, bandwidth requirements can be lessened for ultra-low latency services and applications, with even greater reductions possible for those that do not require such low latency. These adjustments are observed when the backbone link is operating at its full capacity. For developing countries, a hybrid topology based on the existing networks is utilized, where financial considerations will play an important role in determining the backhaul network topology with optimization for the specific requirements.10.13039/501100007914-Brunel University Londo
Social sadism and the migrant safari
Get PDFThis paper considers the social sadism that informs the mediated discourse on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the UK media and public sphere. It will ask whether psychoanalysis has any additional insights to offer in relation to the xenophobic structure of feeling pervasive in media discussions of migration. Through a consideration of examples taken from UK broadcast news, it considers instances of splitting and projective identification in representations of the figure of the migrant, offered as a type of spectacle. In addition, the paper reviews relations of complicity between media, politicians and audiences as an example of perversion, in psychoanalytic terms.The author has received no funding towards the research or publication of this paper
Flower in the Mirror, Moon on the Water: Bridging Perspectives on Alternative Text and Recommendations for Practice
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, FS, upon reasonable request.Alternative text (alt text) is one of the most prevalent Web accessibility barriers affecting a wide range of media. Despite manifold efforts addressing its absence, recent work highlighted that unsuitable alt text is equally problematic and is underpinned by a lack of understanding and guidelines on what constitutes suitable alt text. In this work, we present an empirical exploratory study that investigates perceptions of Web content creators and visually impaired users on suitable alt text to bridge the functional gap between experiences and best available practice. Following a qualitative approach, 11 Web content creators and 11 visually impaired users were interviewed, and findings are reported on Web accessibility via screen readers and reasons for its deprioritization, WCAG conformance, and perceptions on alt text authorship, and suitability. The first much-needed trainability and suitability recommendations for alt text suitability are further proposed, and avenues for future work are discussed.AbilityNet;
National Federation of the Blind (Greece)
Odważna ewolucja zamiast rewolucji? Kilka słów o nowym regulaminie
Get PDF1 stycznia 2025 r. wszedł w życie nowy Regulamin Sądu Arbitrażowego przy Krajowej Izbie Gospodarczej w Warszawie („Nowy Regulamin”)2. Zmiana nastąpiła po 10 latach stosowania regulaminu z 2015 r. („Poprzedni Regulamin”), kilkukrotnie zmienianego na przestrzeni lat3
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