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Understanding Scholarly Neural Network System Diagrams Through Application of VisDNA
No full textWe utilise VisDNA as a tool for understanding neural network system architecture diagrams. Through examples from scholarly proceedings, we find that the application of the framework to this ecological and complex domain is effective for reflecting on these diagrams. We argue for additional vocabulary to describe semiotic variability and internal inconsistency or misuse of visual encoding principles in diagrams. Further, for application to system diagrams, we propose the addition of \Grouping by Object" as a new visual encoding principle, and \Emphasising" as a new visual encoding type
Pathogenic non-coding variants in the Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis predisposition genes
No full textNeurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), type 2 (NF2) and schwannomatosis are a group of autosomal dominant disorders that predispose to the development of nerve sheath tumours. Pathogenic variants (PVs) that cause NF1 and NF2 are located in the NF1 and NF2 loci, respectively. To date, most variants associated with schwannomatosis have been identified in the SMARCB1 and LZTR1 genes, and a missense variant in the DGCR8 gene was recently reported to predispose to schwannomas. In spite of the high detection rate for PVs in NF1 and NF2 (over 90% of non-mosaic germline variants can be identified by routine genetic screening) underlying PVs for a proportion of clinical cases remain undetected. A higher proportion of non-NF2 schwannomatosis cases have no detected PV, with PVs currently only identified in around 70 - 86% of familial cases and 30 - 40% of non-NF2 sporadic schwannomatosis cases. A number of variants of uncertain significance (VUS) have been observed for each disorder, many of them located in non-coding, regulatory or intergenic regions. Here we summarise non-coding variants in this group of genes and discuss their established or potential role in the pathogenesis of NF1, NF2 and schwannomatosis
Wayfinder: Towards Automatically Deriving Optimal OS Configurations
No full textTuning operating systems configuration in order to obtain the maximum application performance is a hard problem. This is due to the extremely large size of the configuration space offered by modern OSes, and to the fact that it is generally explored manually. To address that issue, we propose to bring automation to the OS configuration space exploration process, in order to derive effortlessly and as quickly as possible optimal OS configurations for a given use case. We present Wayfinder, a generic OS performance evaluation platform. Wayfinder is fully automated and ensures both the accuracy and reproducibility of results, all the while speeding up how fast tests are run on a system. Wayfinder is easily extensible and offers convenient APIs to (1) implement custom configuration space exploration techniques, (2) add new benchmarks and (3) support additional OS projects. We demonstrate Wayfinder’s capacity to automatically and efficiently explore a LibOS’ networking configuration space; as well as its ability to efficiently isolate parallel experiments to avoid noisy neighbours
Utilisation and Outcomes of Sexually Transmitted Infection Services Following Child Sexual Abuse: insights from Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre
No full text• BackgroundChild sexual abuse (CSA) is a major determinant of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While the absence of an STI does not mean absence of assault, data on the prevalence, timing and outcomes of STI screening in CSA are lacking.• ObjectiveTo explore the utilisation of STI services for children at Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) and investigate characteristics that are associated with timing of STI screening.• Participants and setting: 843 (719 females) children (age, 0-17 years) were included, who attended Saint Mary’s SARC in Manchester, UK between 2012-2015.• MethodsWe grouped children into those where the STI screen was performed during the forensic medical examination (FME) and those where the STI screen was performed subsequently. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios for the STI screen during FME. • Results65% of participants had an STI screen at time of FME, while the remaining 35% were advised to attend their local Genitourinary Medicine (GUM). 1.5% of the sample tested positive for an STI. Participants with learning disabilities, who had been affected by domestic violence, who were previously consensually sexually active or if alcohol was related to the incident, had significantly lower odds of STI screen during FME. Participants on the child protection/in-need plan had significantly increased odds of STI screen during FME• ConclusionsMost participants referred to the GUM service were previously consensually sexually active adolescents. This study suggests several characteristics might be associated with the likelihood of children reporting CSA within the forensic window. These are in addition to previously known determinants such as age
Additive Omnichannel Atmospheric Cues:The Mediating Effects of Cognitive and Affective Responses on Purchase Intention
No full textIn today’s channel-centric retail ecosystem the right mix and orchestration of online and offline stimulus is paramount towards providing an optimal store atmosphere and shopping experience. Applying the S-O-R framework, this research explores additive omnichannel atmospheric cues stimuli, in order to discover their impact on affective (i.e., pleasure, arousal and dominance) and cognitive (i.e., store environmental quality perception) states and their consequential effect on consumer responses in the form of purchase intention. Employing a four-condition repeated measures experimental design in a physical store, utilizing mobile, IoT and social media channels (Study 1), as well as a between-subjects online lab experiment (Study 2), this research sheds light into the affective and cognition-mediated causal mechanisms that influence shopping outcomes. This work reveals that combining stimulus from all retail channels within the physical store (i.e., omnichannel atmospheric cues) increases consumers’ pleasure, arousal and the quality of the environment as a whole, which in turn positively influences purchase intention. However, the impact of dominance is only prominent at the more controlled, laboratory setting, in which purchase intention increases while dominance attenuates
Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) scores associate with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease pathology at death
No full textBackground: Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) provides an opportunity for early intervention. Cognitive testing has proven to be a reliable way to identify individuals who may be at risk of AD. The Telephone Assessment for Cognitive Screening (TICS) is proficient in screening for cognitive impairment. However, its ability to identify those at risk of developing AD pathology is unknown. Objective: We aim to investigate associations between TICS scores, collected over a period of 13 years, and the cognitive status of participants at death. We also examine relationships between TICS scores and neuropathological indices of AD (CERAD score, Thal phase and Braak stage).Methods: Between 2004 and 2017, participants from The University of Manchester Longitudinal Study of Cognition in Normal Healthy Old Age underwent cognitive assessment using TICS. Scores from four time points were available for analysis. Cognitive impairment and AD pathology at death was evaluated in 101 participants.Results: TICS scores at time points 2, 3 and 4 were significantly lower in those cognitively impaired at death compared to those considered cognitively normal. There were significant negative correlations between TICS scores and CERAD score and Braak stage at time points 2 and 4. No correlations between Thal phase and TICS were found.Conclusion: Findings indicate that TICS could be used, not only to screen for cognitive impairment, but also to identify individuals at risk of developing AD pathology, many years before any overt symptoms occur. Once identified, ‘at risk’ individuals could be targeted for early interventions which could attenuate the progression of the disease
In vivo investigation of 3D printed polycaprolactone/graphene electro-active bone scaffolds
No full textAdditive manufactured scaffolds are widely used as 3D support structures for tissue engineering. This paper investigates the mechanisms behind bone regeneration due to the combined use of 3D printed poly(ɛ-caprolactone)/graphene (PCL/G) electro-active scaffolds and electrical stimulation. A comprehensive in vivo study was conducted to assess the proposed approach, using a rat model. Results show that the combined use of electro-active scaffolds and electrical stimulation therapy accelerates the bone regeneration process and the formation of more organised new bone, through fast angiogenesis, and a rapid transition to the mineralisation and bone remodelling phase. The mechanism is investigated and explained
Development of an energy-efficient single mixed refrigerant cycle for small scale LNG production
No full textEnergy-intensive single mixed refrigerant (SMR) cycles are employed to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) at small scale. The energy required for refrigerant compression (shaft work) dominates the overall operating costs of the LNG plant. While current methods to minimize shaft work demand (e.g. exergy analysis) focus on the PRICO cycle, this paper shows that structurally modifying the configuration of SMR cycles can yield significant savings in shaft work demand with low added complexity. The novel SMR cycle developed in this work is based on the CryoMan SMR cycle; its benefits, in terms of energy savings, are demonstrated through a case study for natural gas liquefaction at small scale. The shaft work demand of the PRICO, CryoMan and the novel SMR cycles are minimized using a genetic algorithm and nonlinear optimization. The structural modifications applied tailor the refrigerant composition and exploit complex trade-offs between the operating variables to enhance the energy-efficiency of the SMR cycles. The results from the case study demonstrate that the novel SMR cycle achieves 10% savings in shaft work demand in comparison with the PRICO SMR cycle
A prospective longitudinal study of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis in pulmonary tuberculosis in Indonesia (APICAL)
No full textObjectives: Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) can complicate recovery from pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). CPA may also be misdiagnosed as bacteriologically-negative TB. This study aimed to determine the incidence of CPA in patients treated for TB in Indonesia; a country with a high incidence of TB. Methods: In this prospective, longitudinal cohort study in patients treated for pulmonary TB, clinical, radiological and laboratory findings were analysed. Sputum was collected for fungal culture and TB PCR. Patients were assessed at baseline (0-8 weeks) and at the end (5-6 months) of TB therapy. CPA diagnosis was based on symptoms (>3 months), characteristic radiological features and positive Aspergillus serology, and categorized as proven, probable and possible. Results: Of the 216 patients recruited, 128 (59%) were followed up until end of TB therapy. At baseline, 91 (42%) had microbiological evidence for TB. Aspergillus-specific IgG was positive in 64 (30%) patients and went from negative to positive in 16 (13%) patients during TB therapy. The incidence of proven and probable CPA at baseline was 6% (n=12) and 2% (n=5) and end of TB therapy 8% (n=10) and 5% (n=7), respectively. Six patients (2 with confirmed TB) developed an aspergilloma. Diabetes mellitus was a significant risk factor for CPA (p=0.040). Persistent cough (n=5, 50%; p=0.005) and fatigue (n=6, 60%; p=0.001) were the most common symptoms in CPA. Conclusion: CPA should be considered a relatively frequent differential diagnosis in patients with possible or proven TB in Indonesia. Lack of awareness and limited access to Aspergillus-specific IgG tests and CT imaging are obstacles in establishing a CPA diagnosis
Power Allocation for D2D NOMA in Cache-Aided Networks
No full textNon-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is effective in enhancing the spectral efficiency and sum rate of a system as compared to an orthogonal scheme. In addition to this, as mobile users consume more rich content, the role of device-todevice communications (D2D) and wireless caching will become more prominent in further optimizing the usage of resources. In this paper, we propose a system in which users are able to exchange useful cached content with each other via a D2D link which underlays a downlink NOMA transmission.We formulated a sum rate maximization problem that is subject to minimum rate constraints and derived a sub-optimal power allocation solution based on a low self-interference assumption. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of D2D communications in comparison with optimum conventional NOMA downlink, as well as highlighting the similarity in performance between the suboptimal power allocation and the optimum power allocation