The structure of the semigroup of proper holomorphic mappings of a planar domain to the unit disc

Given a bounded n-connected domain in the plane bounded by non-intersecting Jordan curves, and given one point on each boundary curve, L. Bieberbach proved that there exists a proper holomorphic mapping of the domain onto the unit disc that is an n-to-one branched covering with the properties that it extends continuously to the boundary and maps each boundary curve one-to-one onto the unit circle, and it maps each given point on the boundary to the point 1 in the unit circle. We modify a proof by H. Grunsky of Bieberbach's result to show that there is a rational function of 2n+2 complex variables that generates all of these maps. We also show how to generate all the proper holomorphic mappings to the unit disc via the rational function.Comment: 17 page

Performance evaluation of reduced complexity deep neural networks

Deep Neural Networks (DNN) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in medical image classification and are increasingly being used for disease diagnosis. However, these models are quite complex and that necessitates the need to reduce the model complexity for their use in low-power edge applications that are becoming common. The model complexity reduction techniques in most cases comprise of time-consuming operations and are often associated with a loss of model performance in proportion to the model size reduction. In this paper, we propose a simplified model complexity reduction technique based on reducing the number of channels for any DNN and demonstrate the complexity reduction approaches for the ResNet-50 model integration in low-power devices. The model performance of the proposed models was evaluated for multiclass classification of CXR images, as normal, pneumonia, and COVID-19 classes. We demonstrate successive size reductions down to 75%, 87%, and 93% reduction with an acceptable classification performance reduction of 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.8% respectively. We also provide the results for the model generalization, and visualization with Grad-CAM at an acceptable performance and interpretable level. In addition, a theoretical VLSI architecture for the best performing architecture has been presented

Weather-based interruption prediction in the smart grid utilizing chronological data

This unique study will demonstrate a combined effect of weather parameters on the total number of power distribution interruptions in a region. Based on common weather conditions, a theoretical model can predict interruptions and risk assessment with immediate weather conditions. Using daily and hourly weather data, the created models will predict the number of daily or by-shift interruptions. The weather and environmental conditions to be addressed will include rain, wind, temperature, lightning density, humidity, barometric pressure, snow and ice. Models will be developed to allow broad applications. Statistical and deterministic simulations of the models using the data collected will be conducted by employing existing software, and the results will be used to refine the models. Models developed in this study will be used to predict power interruptions in areas that can be readily monitored, thus validating the models. The application has resulted in defining the predicted number of interruptions in a region with a specific confidence level. Reliability is major concern for every utility. Prediction and timely action to minimize the outage duration improves reliability. Use of this predictor model with existing smart grid self-healing technology is proposed

Screening of marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cultivars for drought stress based on vegetative and physiological characteristics

Drought tolerance is an important genotypic character to be exploited for the plant cultivar selection under water deficit conditions. In the recent study, we examined the response of two marigold cultivars (Inca and Bonanza) under different regimes of drought stress. The aim was to determine the best performing cultivar under water/drought stress. Three irrigation treatments include; 4 days (T1), 6 days (T2) and 8 days (T3) in comparison to control 1 day (T0) interval were imposed. Response characters under study were morphological, physiological and anatomical. Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications in two factorial arrangements was followed for experiment layout. The results revealed that increasing water stress adversely affect plant height, in both cultivars. Both cultivars showed a decreasing trend to the number of flowers under water stress. Total chlorophyll contents including a, b were also showed reduction under prolonged drought treatment in both cultivars from (2.7 mg g-1 FW) to (1 mg g-1 FW). Overall, the performance of cultivar (cv.) Inca was satisfactory under water stress regimes. These results are helpful for selecting drought tolerant marigold cultivars in water scarce areas.  Â

Comparative Efficiency of Polyethylene Glycol, Ammonium Sulphate, Methanol Precipitation, and Ultrafiltration Techniques for the Down Streaming of Viral Antigen

Background: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is ubiquitous  worldwide but endemic in many countries of Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Many reasons contribute to the incidence of viral diseases even in vaccinated animals. These reasons include low antigenic payload, low PD50, improper formulation, unstable vaccine containing antigen, and genetically different from field strain. Among these, the most important one is the low antigenic load per dose of the vaccine. Vaccine failure is mainly due to the direct use of  virus suspension in the vaccine without the concentration of viral antigen. Another reason to concentrate the antigen is small volume storage in the vaccine bank. These issues are mostly concerned with developing countries like Pakistan which lack antigen concentration technology. The concentration of the virus is a major milestone to be achieved for the production of an effective vaccine as well as for the diagnostic tool.Methods: Different techniques including precipitation with polyethylene glycol, ammonium sulfate, methanol, and filtration through an ultra-filter membrane were used for the concentration of viral suspension. Antigen quantification in terms of µg/ml was determined through size exclusion chromatography by using Sephacryl S-300 as a stationary phase.Results: Percentage recovery of FMDV calculated through analysis of chromatograms found 77.80%, 59.75%, 32.50%, and 13.83% for polyethylene glycol, ammonium sulfate, ultra-filtration, and methanol treated samples respectively.Conclusion: Classical polyethylene glycol precipitation showed a maximum percentage recovery of foot and mouth disease virus as compared to other concentration methods.Keywords: Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV); Concentration Methods; Polyethylene Glycol (PEG); Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC); Sephacryl S-300 

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering to realize the phonon processes in Ag nanoparticles-decorated CdS thin film

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique can achieve an ultra-high sensitivity (i.e., down to the single-molecule level) via coinage-metal nanostructures such as silver, gold, copper, etc. In this work, a geometry is proposed that consists of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated on cadmium chloride (CdCl2) annealed cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin film on a glass substrate. A strong SERS enhancement in AgNPs on CdCl2 annealed CdS thin films is achieved, which is twelve times larger than the scattering from the bare CdCl2 annealed CdS thin film. The improved SERS signal allows us to observe fundamental phonon processes in CdCl2 annealed CdS thin film. Moreover, a finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is used to understand the underlying SERS physics. By using the FDTD method, robust electromagnetic field localization in the nanogap between AgNPs and at the contact point of Ag NPs and CdS thin film is studied.The authors from King Khalid University extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia, for funding this work through the Research Groups Program under grant number R.G.P-2/259 /44.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).Peer reviewe

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

The structure of proper holomorphic mappings of a planar domain onto a simply connected domain

It can be easily shown that all the proper one to one holomorphic functions from a bounded simply conncected domain onto the right half plane, such that a chosen point on the boundary gets mapped to infinity, are rational functions of the Riemann map on the domain and are also rational functions of the image of the boundary point under the Riemann map if the boundary point is allowed to vary. In this work, we have derived analogous results in case of a multiply connected planar domain and have shown that all the proper n to 1 holomorphic functions from an n-connected domain onto the right half plane, such that one point on each boundary component gets mapped to infinity, are rational functions of 2 Ahlfors maps and are also rational functions of the images of the chosen boundary points under the 2 Ahlfors maps if the boundary points are allowed to vary

VHITS: Vertical handoff initiation and target selection in a heterogeneous wireless network

Global connectivity, for anyone, at anyplace, at anytime, to provide high-speed, high-quality, and reliable communication channels for mobile devices, is now becoming a reality. The credit mainly goes to the recent technological advances in wireless communications comprised of a wide range of technologies, services, and applications to fulfill the particular needs of end-users in different deployment scenarios (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 3G/4G cellular systems). In such a heterogeneous wireless environment, one of the key ingredients to provide efficient ubiquitous computing with guaranteed quality and continuity of service is the design of intelligent handoff algorithms. Traditional single-metric handoff decision algorithms, such as Received Signal Strength (RSS) based, are not efficient and intelligent enough to minimize the number of unnecessary handoffs, decision delays, and call-dropping and/or blocking probabilities. This research presented a novel approach for the design and implementation of a multi-criteria vertical handoff algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks. Several parallel Fuzzy Logic Controllers were utilized in combination with different types of ranking algorithms and metric weighting schemes to implement two major modules: the first module estimated the necessity of handoff, and the other module was developed to select the best network as the target of handoff. Simulations based on different traffic classes, utilizing various types of wireless networks were carried out by implementing a wireless test-bed inspired by the concept of Rudimentary Network Emulator (RUNE). Simulation results indicated that the proposed scheme provided better performance in terms of minimizing the unnecessary handoffs, call dropping, and call blocking and handoff blocking probabilities. When subjected to Conversational traffic and compared against the RSS-based reference algorithm, the proposed scheme, utilizing the FTOPSIS ranking algorithm, was able to reduce the average outage probability of MSs moving with high speeds by 17%, new call blocking probability by 22%, the handoff blocking probability by 16%, and the average handoff rate by 40%. The significant reduction in the resulted handoff rate provides MS with efficient power consumption, and more available battery life. These percentages indicated a higher probability of guaranteed session continuity and quality of the currently utilized service, resulting in higher user satisfaction levels