A Horadam-based pseudo-random number generator

Uniformly distributed pseudo-random number generators are commonly used in certain numerical algorithms and simulations. In this article a random number generation algorithm based on the geometric properties of complex Horadam sequences was investigated. For certain parameters, the sequence exhibited uniformity in the distribution of arguments. This feature was exploited to design a pseudo-random number generator which was evaluated using Monte Carlo π estimations, and found to perform comparatively with commonly used generators like Multiplicative Lagged Fibonacci and the 'twister' Mersenne

A constituent-based preprocessing approach for characterising cartilage using NIR absorbance measurements

Near-infrared spectroscopy is a widely adopted technique for characterising biological tissues. The high dimensionality of spectral data, however, presents a major challenge for analysis. Here, we present a second-derivative Beer's law-based technique aimed at projecting spectral data onto a lower dimension feature space characterised by the constituents of the target tissue type. This is intended as a preprocessing step to provide a physically-based, low dimensionality input to predictive models. Testing the proposed technique on an experimental set of 145 bovine cartilage samples before and after enzymatic degradation, produced a clear visual separation between the normal and degraded groups. Reduced proteoglycan and collagen concentrations, and increased water concentrations were predicted by simple linear fitting following degradation (all $p\ll 0.05$). Classification accuracy using the Mahalanobis distance was $\gt 98\%$ between these groups.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Arthritis Research UK (grant 20299 and Oxford EOTC), and the Oxford NIHR BRU in musculoskeletal disease

A cloud-based path-finding framework: Improving the performance of real-time navigation in games

This paper reviews current research in Cloud utilisation within games and finds that there is little beyond Cloud gaming and Cloud MMOs. To this end, a proof-of-concept Cloud-based Path-finding framework is introduced. This was developed to determine the practicality of relocating the computation for navigation problems from consumer-grade clients to powerful business-grade servers, with the aim of improving performance. The results gathered suggest that the solution might be impractical. However, because of the poor quality of the data, the results are largely inconclusive. Thus recommendations and questions for future research are posed.N/

Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Automatic Design and Correction of Ceramic Colors

This paper is focused on two major problems within the ceramics industry. The reproduction of a desired color from pigments (which is time-intensive), and the correction of colors on the production line (which is costly) are processes which still rely heavily on numerous experiments carried out by human operators. This study presents the key aspects of these two processes and suggests some mathematical and computer sciences tools, aimed at automatizing the current procedures. Data was provided by an industrial partner, where the proposed models and solutions will be tested and validated

Heterogeneous System-on-Chip based Lattice-Boltzmann Visual Simulation System

Cerebral aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder caused by a weakness in the wall of an artery or vein, that causes a localised dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. It is life-threatening, hence an early and accurate diagnosis would be a great aid to medical professionals in making the correct choice of treatment. HemeLB is a massively parallel lattice-Boltzmann simulation software which is designed to provide the radiologist with estimates of flow rates, pressures and shear stresses throughout the relevant vascular structures, intended to eventually permit greater precision in the choice of therapeutic intervention. However, in order to allow surgeries and doctors to view and visualise the results in real-time at medical environments, a cost-efficient, practical platform is needed. In this paper, we have developed and evaluated a version of HemeLB on various heterogeneous system-on-chip platforms, allowing users to run HemeLB on a low cost embedded platform and to visualise the simulation results in real-time. A comprehensive evaluation of implementation on the Zynq SoC and Jetson TX1 embedded graphic processing unit platforms are reported. The achieved results show that the proposed Jetson TX1 implementation outperforms the Zynq implementation by a factor of 19 in terms of site updates per second

HEMELB Acceleration and Visualization for Cerebral Aneurysms

A weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery causing a dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel is known as a cerebral aneurysm. Optimal treatment requires fast and accurate diagnosis of the aneurysm. HemeLB is a fluid dynamics solver for complex geometries developed to provide neurosurgeons with information related to the flow of blood in and around aneurysms. On a cost efficient platform, HemeLB could be employed in hospitals to provide surgeons with the simulation results in real-time. In this work, we developed an improved version of HemeLB for GPU implementation and result visualization. A visualization platform for smooth interaction with end users is also presented. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation of this implementation is reported. The results demonstrate that the proposed implementation achieves a maximum performance of 15,168,964 site updates per second, and is capable of speeding up HemeLB for deployment in hospitals and clinical investigations

Lattice-Boltzmann interactive blood flow simulation pipeline.

PURPOSE:Cerebral aneurysms are one of the prevalent cerebrovascular disorders in adults worldwide and caused by a weakness in the brain artery. The most impressive treatment for a brain aneurysm is interventional radiology treatment, which is extremely dependent on the skill level of the radiologist. Hence, accurate detection and effective therapy for cerebral aneurysms still remain important clinical challenges. In this work, we have introduced a pipeline for cerebral blood flow simulation and real-time visualization incorporating all aspects from medical image acquisition to real-time visualization and steering. METHODS:We have developed and employed an improved version of HemeLB as the main computational core of the pipeline. HemeLB is a massive parallel lattice-Boltzmann fluid solver optimized for sparse and complex geometries. The visualization component of this pipeline is based on the ray marching method implemented on CUDA capable GPU cores. RESULTS:The proposed visualization engine is evaluated comprehensively and the reported results demonstrate that it achieves significantly higher scalability and sites updates per second, indicating higher update rate of geometry sites' values, in comparison with the original HemeLB. This proposed engine is more than two times faster and capable of 3D visualization of the results by processing more than 30 frames per second. CONCLUSION:A reliable modeling and visualizing environment for measuring and displaying blood flow patterns in vivo, which can provide insight into the hemodynamic characteristics of cerebral aneurysms, is presented in this work. This pipeline increases the speed of visualization and maximizes the performance of the processing units to do the tasks by breaking them into smaller tasks and working with GPU to render the images. Hence, the proposed pipeline can be applied as part of clinical routines to provide the clinicians with the real-time cerebral blood flow-related information

Effect of crosslinking in cartilage-like collagen microstructures

The mechanical performance of biological tissues is underpinned by a complex and finely balanced structure. Central to this is collagen, the most abundant protein in our bodies, which plays a dominant role in the functioning of tissues, and also in disease. Based on the collagen meshwork of articular cartilage, we have developed a bottom-up spring-node model of collagen and examined the effect of fibril connectivity, implemented by crosslinking, on mechanical behaviour. Although changing individual crosslink stiffness within an order of magnitude had no significant effect on modelling predictions, the density of crosslinks in a meshwork had a substantial impact on its behaviour. Highly crosslinked meshworks maintained a ‘normal’ configuration under loading, with stronger resistance to deformation and improved recovery relative to sparsely crosslinked meshwork. Stress on individual fibrils, however, was higher in highly crosslinked meshworks. Meshworks with low numbers of crosslinks reconfigured to disease-like states upon deformation and recovery. The importance of collagen interconnectivity may provide insight into the role of ultrastructure and its mechanics in the initiation, and early stages, of diseases such as osteoarthritis