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Fast CU Size Decisions for HEVC Inter-Prediction Using Support Vector Machines
No full textThe brute force rate-distortion optimisation based approach used in the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) encoders to determine the best block partitioning structure fora given content demands an excessive amount of computational resources. In this context, this paper proposes a novel algorithm to reduce the computational complexity of HEVC inter-prediction using Support Vector Machines. The proposed algorithm predicts the Coding Unit (CU) split decision of a particular block enabling the encoder to directly encode the selected block, avoiding the unnecessary evaluation of the remaining CU size combinations.Experimental results demonstrate encoding time reductions of~58% and ~50% with 2.27%, and 1.89% Bjøntegaard DeltaBit Rate (BDBR) losses for Random Access and Low-Delay B configurations, respectively
Integrating ideas from design disciplines into the STEM curricula
Get PDFThe ‘Future of Jobs’ report from the World Economic Forum (2016) highlights that the three most important skills needed by the workforce from 2020 onwards are complex problem solving skills, critical thinking and creativity. To try and address the needs of the workforce, the report also recommends that higher educational institutions need to break away from “the dichotomy between Humanities and Sciences and applied and pure training” and to “work closely with governments, education providers and others to imagine what a true 21st century curriculum might look like.”
One way of imagining what a 21st century STEM curriculum could look like is by taking inspiration from how design disciplines such as product design are taught and practiced
Sled-Pull Load-Velocity Profiling and Implications for Sprint Training Prescription in Young Male Athletes
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of individual load–velocity profiles and the between-athlete variation using the decrement in maximal velocity (Vdec) approach to prescribe training loads in resisted sled pulling in young athletes. Seventy high school, team sport, male athletes (age 16.7 ± 0.8 years) were recruited for the study. All participants performed one un-resisted and four resisted sled-pull sprints with incremental resistance of 20% BM. Maximal velocity was measured with a radar gun during each sprint and the load–velocity relationship established for each participant. A subset of 15 participants was used to examine the reliability of sled pulling on three separate occasions. For all individual participants, the load–velocity relationship was highly linear (r > 0.95). The slope of the load–velocity relationship was found to be reliable (coefficient of variation (CV) = 3.1%), with the loads that caused a decrement in velocity of 10, 25, 50, and 75% also found to be reliable (CVs = <5%). However, there was a large between-participant variation (95% confidence intervals (CIs)) in the load that caused a given Vdec, with loads of 14–21% body mass (% BM) causing a Vdec of 10%, 36–53% BM causing a Vdec of 25%, 71–107% BM causing a Vdec of 50%, and 107–160% BM causing a Vdec of 75%. The Vdec method can be reliably used to prescribe sled-pulling loads in young athletes, but practitioners should be aware that the load required to cause a given Vdec is highly individualized
May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension
Get PDFAims
Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries.
Methods and results
Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension.
Conclusion
May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk
Transnational Networks at Holland House: Staël, Foscolo, and Byron
Get PDFThis essay examines the international Romantic sociability that was cultivated around Holland House, with a specific focus on Staël’s and Foscolo’s London experience. It also investigates Byron’s engagement with Holland House and re-reads his two poems English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1807-8; published 1809) and The Bride of Abydos: A Turkish Tale (1813) as featuring a more cosmopolitan outlook than has been previously acknowledged, particularly because they both shed light on Lord Holland, his entourage, and discourses around the Ionian and the Spanish Questions which were at the heart of Holland House’s discussions. It is the cosmopolitan dimension rotating around Holland House, and the influence of both Staël and Foscolo, that account for Byron’s attentive concern with European social and political debates
A double dissociative study into the effectiveness of computational thinking
Get PDFWe propose the first steps towards a rigorous analysis of the effectiveness of an emerging pedagogy, Computational Thinking. We found that two aspects of the pedagogy have a positive effect with regards to enhancing two cognitive processes, namely sequential thinking and in abstract thinking. Our data was gathered experimentally with a cohort of mixed-ability undergraduate students enrolled on three distinct courses. The study employed a mixed 2 x 2 factorial design with type of classroom intervention, measurements were taken at baseline and following delivery of computational thinking methodologies designed to focus on specific components of the pedagogy. The dependent variable was percentage improvement from baseline, and the analyses were conducted using 2 x 2 mixed ANOVA, an alpha criterion of p<.05 was adopted for all analyses. The specific components investigated were algorithmic thinking and abstraction, and we found a positive correlation between enhancements of sequentiality and abstract thinking
Expert opinion on the barriers to communicating excellent research in commercially driven design projects
No full textEffective university-industry collaboration has become a major focus for governments in recent years. Universities are increasingly expected to play a greater role in the innovation system and evidence their contribution to economic development. At the same time, the growth in research quality assessment exercises makes it imperative that the excellence of research conducted in commercially driven activities can be appropriately evaluated. This paper explores the challenges of reconciling commercially focused activity and research quality assessment in design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen experts including representatives from the design discipline, other applied academic disciplines, research quality assessment leaders and commercial designers. The interviews identified a number of barriers to demonstrating research excellence in commercially driven projects. These were classified as barriers resulting from: the nature of industry-academic relationships; the nature of the project; and the nature of the research quality assessment. It is concluded that there is a need to build a simple, easily usable framework for assessing the research potential of commercially driven design projects from the outset to ensure that the appropriate processes are put in place to communicate research conducted within them
Multiscale three-dimensional surface reconstruction and surface roughness of porcine left anterior descending coronary arteries
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the multiscale surface roughness characteristics of coronary arteries, to aid in the development of novel biomaterials and bioinspired medical devices. Porcine left anterior descending coronary arteries were dissected ex vivo, and specimens were chemically fixed and dehydrated for testing. Surface roughness was calculated from three-dimensional reconstructed surface images obtained by optical, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy, ranging in magnification from 10× to 5500×. Circumferential surface roughness decreased with magnification, and microscopy type was found to influence surface roughness values. Longitudinal surface roughness was not affected by magnification or microscopy types within the parameters of this study. This study found that coronary arteries exhibit multiscale characteristics. It also highlights the importance of ensuring consistent microscopy parameters to provide comparable surface roughness values
Acute intermittent hypercapnic hypoxia and sympathetic neurovascular transduction in men
Get PDFAcute intermittent hypercapnic hypoxia (IH) induces long‐lasting elevations in sympathetic vasomotor outflow and blood pressure in healthy humans. It is unknown whether IH alters sympathetic neurovascular transduction (sNVT), measured as the relationship between sympathetic vasomotor outflow and either forearm vascular conductance (FVC; regional sNVT) or diastolic blood pressure (systemic sNVT). We tested the hypothesis that IH augments sNVT by exposing healthy males to 40 consecutive 1 min breathing cycles, each comprising 40 s of hypercapnic hypoxia (urn:x-wiley:00223751:media:tjp13923:tjp13923-math-0001: +4 ± 3 mmHg above baseline; urn:x-wiley:00223751:media:tjp13923:tjp13923-math-0002: 48 ± 3 mmHg) and 20 s of normoxia (n = 9), or a 40 min air‐breathing control (n = 7). Before and after the intervention, lower body negative pressure (LBNP; 3 min at –15, –30 and –45 mmHg) was applied to elicit reflex increases in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, fibular microneurography) when clamping end‐tidal gases at baseline levels. Ventilation, arterial pressure [systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP)], brachial artery blood flow (urn:x-wiley:00223751:media:tjp13923:tjp13923-math-0003BA), FVC (urn:x-wiley:00223751:media:tjp13923:tjp13923-math-0004BA/MAP) and MSNA burst frequency were measured continuously. Following IH, but not control, ventilation [5 L min–1; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1–9] and MAP (5 mmHg; 95% CI = 1–9) were increased, whereas FVC (–0.2 mL min–1 mmHg–1; 95% CI = –0.0 to –0.4) and mean shear rate (–21.9 s–1; 95% CI = –5.8 to –38.0; all P < 0.05) were reduced. Systemic sNVT was increased following IH (0.25 mmHg burst–1 min–1; 95% CI = 0.01–0.49; P < 0.05), whereas changes in regional forearm sNVT were similar between IH and sham. Reductions in vessel wall shear stress and, consequently, nitric oxide production may contribute to heightened systemic sNVT and provide a potential neurovascular mechanism for elevated blood pressure in obstructive sleep apnoea