Competitive Spectrum Management with Incomplete Information

This paper studies an interference interaction (game) between selfish and independent wireless communication systems in the same frequency band. Each system (player) has incomplete information about the other player's channel conditions. A trivial Nash equilibrium point in this game is where players mutually full spread (FS) their transmit spectrum and interfere with each other. This point may lead to poor spectrum utilization from a global network point of view and even for each user individually. In this paper, we provide a closed form expression for a non pure-FS epsilon-Nash equilibrium point; i.e., an equilibrium point where players choose FDM for some channel realizations and FS for the others. We show that operating in this non pure-FS epsilon-Nash equilibrium point increases each user's throughput and therefore improves the spectrum utilization, and demonstrate that this performance gain can be substantial. Finally, important insights are provided into the behaviour of selfish and rational wireless users as a function of the channel parameters such as fading probabilities, the interference-to-signal ratio

Faithful Explanations of Black-box NLP Models Using LLM-generated Counterfactuals

Causal explanations of the predictions of NLP systems are essential to ensure safety and establish trust. Yet, existing methods often fall short of explaining model predictions effectively or efficiently and are often model-specific. In this paper, we address model-agnostic explanations, proposing two approaches for counterfactual (CF) approximation. The first approach is CF generation, where a large language model (LLM) is prompted to change a specific text concept while keeping confounding concepts unchanged. While this approach is demonstrated to be very effective, applying LLM at inference-time is costly. We hence present a second approach based on matching, and propose a method that is guided by an LLM at training-time and learns a dedicated embedding space. This space is faithful to a given causal graph and effectively serves to identify matches that approximate CFs. After showing theoretically that approximating CFs is required in order to construct faithful explanations, we benchmark our approaches and explain several models, including LLMs with billions of parameters. Our empirical results demonstrate the excellent performance of CF generation models as model-agnostic explainers. Moreover, our matching approach, which requires far less test-time resources, also provides effective explanations, surpassing many baselines. We also find that Top-K techniques universally improve every tested method. Finally, we showcase the potential of LLMs in constructing new benchmarks for model explanation and subsequently validate our conclusions. Our work illuminates new pathways for efficient and accurate approaches to interpreting NLP systems

Clinical and radiological outcome of anterior-posterior fusion versus transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion for symptomatic disc degeneration: a retrospective comparative study of 133 patients

Abundant data are available for direct anterior/posterior spine fusion (APF) and some for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF), but only few studies from one institution compares the two techniques. One-hundred and thirty-three patients were retrospectively analyzed, 68 having APF and 65 having TLIF. All patients had symptomatic disc degeneration of the lumbar spine. Only those with one or two-level surgeries were included. Clinical chart and radiologic reviews were done, fusion solidity assessed, and functional outcomes determined by pre- and postoperative SF-36 and postoperative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and a satisfaction questionnaire. The minimum follow-up was 24 months. The mean operating room time and hospital length of stay were less in the TLIF group. The blood loss was slightly less in the TLIF group (409 vs. 480 cc.). Intra-operative complications were higher in the APF group, mostly due to vein lacerations in the anterior retroperitoneal approach. Postoperative complications were higher in the TLIF group due to graft material extruding against the nerve root or wound drainage. The pseudarthrosis rate was statistically equal (APF 17.6% and TLIF 23.1%) and was higher than most published reports. Significant improvements were noted in both groups for the SF-36 questionnaires. The mean ODI scores at follow-up were 33.5 for the APF and 39.5 for the TLIF group. The patient satisfaction rate was equal for the two group

Delayed Effect of Acupuncture Treatment in OA of the Knee: A Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial

To assess the efficacy in providing improved function and pain relief by administering 8 weeks of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy to standard care in elderly patients with OA of the knee. This randomized, controlled, blinded trial was conducted on 55 patients with OA of the knee. Forty-one patients completed the study (26 females, 15 males, mean age ± SD 71.7 ± 8.6 years). Patients were randomly divided into an intervention group that received biweekly acupuncture treatment (n = 28) and a control group that received sham acupuncture (n = 27), both in addition to standard therapy, for example, NSAIDS, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, acetaminophen, intra-articular hyaluronic acid and steroid injections. Primary outcomes measures were changes in the Knee Society Score (KSS) knee score and in KSS function and pain ratings at therapy onset, at 8 weeks (closure of study) and at 12 weeks (1 month after last treatment). Secondary outcomes were patient satisfaction and validity of sham acupuncture. There was significant improvement in all three scores in both groups after 8 and 12 weeks compared with baseline (P < .05). Significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the KSS knee score (P = .036) was apparent only after 12 weeks. Patient satisfaction was higher in the intervention group. Adjunctive acupuncture treatment seems to provide added improvement to standard care in elderly patients with OA of the knee. Future research should determine the optimal duration of acupuncture treatment in the context of OA

Intraoperative pain during caesarean delivery: Incidence, risk factors and physician perception

Background: Intraoperative pain is a possible complication of neuraxial anaesthesia for caesarean delivery. There is little information available about its incidence, risk factors and physician perception. Methods: Parturients undergoing spinal anaesthesia for elective caesarean delivery were enrolled. Before surgery, parturients were asked about preoperative anxiety on a verbal numerical scale (VNS), anticipated analgesic requirement, postoperative pain levels, Spielberger STATE-TRAIT inventory index, Pain Catastrophizing Scale. After surgery, parturients were asked to answer questions (intraoperative VNS pain). The anaesthesiologist and obstetrician were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking about perceived intraoperative pain. Influence of preoperative anxiety on intraoperative pain (yes/no) was assessed using logistic regression. Mc Fadden's R2 was calculated. The agreement in physician perception of intraoperative pain with reported pain by the parturient was examined by calculating Cohen's kappa and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). Results: We included 193 parturients in our analysis. Incidence of intraoperative pain was 11.9%. Median intraoperative VNS pain of parturients with pain was 4.0 (1st quartile 4.0; 3rd quartile 9.0). Preoperative anxiety was not a good predictor of intraoperative pain (p-value of β-coefficient = 0.43, Mc Fadden's R2 = 0.01). Including further preoperative variables did not result in a good prediction model. Cohen's kappa between reported pain by parturient and by the obstetrician was 0.21 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.41) and by the anaesthesiologist was 0.3 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.48). Conclusions: We found a substantial incidence (11.9%) of intraoperative pain during caesarean delivery. Preoperative anxiety did not predict intraoperative pain. Physicians did not accurately identify parturients' intraoperative pain. Significance: Intraoperative pain occurred in 11.9% and severe intraoperative pain occurred in 1.11% of parturients undergoing elective caesarean delivery under spinal anaesthesia. We did not find any preoperative variables that could reliably predict intraoperative pain. Obstetricians and anaesthesiologists underestimated the incidence of intraoperative pain in our cohort and thus, more attention must be put to parturients' pain

Brain and Mind Integration: Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors Experiencing Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment and Psychotherapy Concurrently

Due to evidence that traumatic experience impacts the brain, the body (concerning sensory sensitivity), and the mind, a recent study that attempted to answer the question of whether the effects of CSA can be reversed by using a multidisciplinary approach consisting of dual treatments: hyperbaric &amp; psychotherapy, was conducted. Its results showed that in addition to improvement of brain functionality, symptoms of distress were significantly reduced. The current paper aims to present the process as experienced by the 40 female childhood sexual abuse survivor participants. Data included participants' daily journals and drawings, and participants' summaries presented verbally and written, 6-months after the study ended. A phenomenological analysis was used. Results showed three phases, the initial phase—remembering the trauma from both physical and cognitive aspects, the second phase—physiological relaxation as well as positive memories emerge; and, the third phase—bouncing back to life. The results are discussed in light of the study theoretical model and Lev-Wiesel (2015) childhood sexual abuse conceptualization