Database for storing and analyzing tweets posted during disasters

Master of ScienceDepartment of Computer ScienceDoina CarageaIn the last few decades, we have witnessed many natural disasters that have shaken the nations across the world. Millions of people have lost their lives, cities have been destroyed, people have gone homeless, injured and their lives have been affected. Sometimes hours or even days after a disaster, people are still stuck in the disaster sites, powerless, homeless and without food, as the rescue teams do not always get information about people in need in a timely manner. Whenever there is a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake, people start tweeting about it. Most of the tweets are posted by users who are in the disaster sites, and may contain information about victims of the disaster: where they are and what the problem is, in what areas the rescue teams should work or focus on, or if someone needs special help. Such information can be very useful for the response teams, which can leverage this information in the recovery or rescue process. However, rescue team are faced with an information overload problem, due to the large number of tweets they need to sift through. To help with this issue, computational approaches can be used to analyze and prioritize information that may be useful to the rescue teams. In this project, we have crawled tweets related to natural disasters, and extracted useful information in CSV files. Then, we have designed and developed a database to store the tweets. The design of the database is such that it will help us to query and gain information about a natural disaster. We have also performed some statistical analysis, such as deriving word clouds of the tweets posted during natural disasters. The analysis shows the areas where the users who post tweet about disaster are highly concerned. The word cloud analysis can help in comparing multiple natural disasters to understand patterns that are common or specific to disasters in terms of how Twitter users talk about them

A clinicopathologic study of mediastinal lesions with special emphasis on thymomas

Background: Mediastinal masses are relatively uncommon lesions that sometimes pose an interesting diagnostic and therapeutic problem for the clinician. Thymomas are one of the common mediastinal neoplasms and exhibit a wide spectrum of morphologic features and an unrivalled frequency of other autoimmune diseases. The great morphologic variability and heterogeneity in thymomas has rendered their histological classification difficult and highly controversial.Methods: This retrospective and descriptive study on  thymoma was done in the department of pathology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore (Manipal University), India over a period of five years from January 2006 to June 2011. Histopathology sections taken were stained with routine Hematoxylin and Eosin stains in every case. Additional stains and immunohistochemistry were done as required.Results: Total number of mediastinal lesions studied was 66, with thymomas making up 15 cases. The age range of patients with thymomas was 22 to 65 years with a mean of 48 years. The most common histologic sub-type of thymoma was B2. Type AB thymoma was associated with bad prognosis. Five cases of thymomas were associated with Myasthenia Gravis. All thymomas showed cytokeratin positivity. Reticulin fibers were seen around individual tumor cells in Type A thymoma while Type B2 showed around tumor nests.Conclusion: Thymomas are rare & interesting neoplasm located in the mediastinum. A histomorphological analysis aided by immunohistochemistry and radiology permits an exact diagnosis and also allows for differentiation between benign and malignant neoplasms.

Witnessing measurement incompatibility via communication tasks

Quantum theory offers measurement incompatibility, that is, the existence of quantum measurements that cannot be carried out simultaneously on single systems. Measurement incompatibility is essential for probing many aspects of quantum correlations and quantum information processing. However, its fundamental and generic link with nonclassical correlations observed in the simplest prepare-and-measure scenario is still untold. In the prepare-and-measure scenario, we uncover that d-dimensional classical systems assisted with shared randomness reproduce all the input-output statistics obtained from any set of d-dimensional compatible quantum measurements. Thus, any quantum advantage in one-way communication tasks with d-dimensional systems witnesses incompatibility of the measurements on the receiver's end in a semi-device-independent way. To witness incompatibility of an arbitrary number of quantum measurements acting on an arbitrary dimension, wherein different measurements have different outcomes, we introduce a class of communication tasks - a general version of random access codes. We provide generic upper bounds on the success metric of these tasks for compatible measurements. These bounds are tight whenever the dimension on which the measurements act is not larger than the number of outcomes of any of the measurements

Measurement incompatibility and quantum advantage in communication

Measurement incompatibility stipulates the existence of quantum measurements that cannot be carried out simultaneously on single systems. We show that the set of input-output probabilities obtained from d -dimensional classical systems assisted with shared randomness is the same as the set obtained from d -dimensional quantum strategies restricted to compatible measurements with shared randomness in any communication scenario. Thus, measurement incompatibility is necessary for quantum advantage in communication, and any quantum advantage (with or without shared randomness) in communication acts as a witness to the incompatibility of the measurements at the receiver's end in a semi-device-independent way. We introduce a class of communication tasks—a general version of random access codes—to witness incompatibility of an arbitrary number of quantum measurements with arbitrary outcomes acting on d -dimensional systems and provide generic upper bounds on the success metric of these tasks for compatible measurements. We identify all sets of three incompatible rank-one projective qubit measurements that random access codes can witness. Finally, we present the generic relationship between different sets of probability distributions—classical, quantum with or without shared randomness, and quantum restricted to compatible measurements with or without shared randomness—produced in communication scenarios

Measurement incompatibility and quantum advantage in communication

Measurement incompatibility stipulates the existence of quantum measurements that cannot be carried out simultaneously on single systems. We show that the set of input-output probabilities obtained from d-dimensional classical systems assisted with shared randomness is the same as the set obtained from d-dimensional quantum strategies restricted to compatible measurements with shared randomness in any communication scenario. Thus, measurement incompatibility is necessary for quantum advantage in communication, and any quantum advantage (with or without shared randomness) in communication acts as a witness of incompatibility of the measurements at the receiver's end in a semi-device-independent way. We introduce a class of communication tasks - a general version of random access codes - to witness incompatibility of an arbitrary number of quantum measurements with arbitrary outcomes acting on d-dimensional systems, and provide generic upper bounds on the success metric of these tasks for compatible measurements. We identify all sets of three incompatible rank-one projective qubit measurements that random access codes can witness. Finally, we present the generic relationship between different sets of probability distributions - classical, quantum with or without shared randomness, and quantum restricted to compatible measurements with or without shared randomness - produced in communication scenarios.Comment: 17 pages; new results are adde

Xanthogranulomatous Endometritis with calculus formation in setting of prolapsed uterus

Xanthogranulomatous inflammation is a rare benign inflammatory lesion characterized by sheets of lipid-laden foamy histiocytes. It has been reported in various organs, mainly the kidney and gall bladder. Xanthogranulomatous endometritis (XGE) is sporadic, with only a few cases reported in the English medical literature. Herein, we report a case of xanthogranulomatous endometritis with the formation of stones in a 50-year-old female patient with a prolapsed uterus. Grossly the endometrium was irregular, and the uterine cavity was filled with a yellow friable material, a polypoid growth, and yellowish stones. The microscopy showed sheets of histiocytes with few preserved endometrial glands. In this case, the xanthogranulomatous inflammation may mimic a clear cell carcinoma involving the endometrium and myometrium. One of the important differential diagnoses is malakoplakia. Immunohistochemistry and special stains are helpful in diagnosis

Space charge analysis of epoxy boron nanocomposites and the importance of dispersion techniques

The present research work analyzes the space charge (S.C.) behavior and correlated dynamics in epoxy based nano- composites (NC) with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nano- particles. The importance of adopting an effective particle dispersion technique for producing such nano-composites is also experimentally validated. Three different dispersion techniques are contrasted in terms of the corresponding space charge behavior exhibited, and the interplay between increasing filler content and dispersion techniques is investigated and reported. It is observed that an effective particle dispersion technique results in a homogeneous distribution of nano- particles in the polymeric matrix, which in turn gives rise to evenly distributed trap sites and affects the local mobility of charge carriers, effectively restraining them. More significantly, since most of the developed trap-sites are located close to/in the interfacial zone between the injecting electrode and nano-composite specimen, an initial, reasonably homogeneous distribution of nano-particles at relatively lower loading (vol. %) is just as efficient in restricting bulk space charge accumulation as higher loaded nano-composite specimens – proving the importance of adopting an effective particle dispersion technique. Achieving lower levels of bulk space charge accumulation (as demonstrated in this work) results in smaller internal electric field distortion and stress in insulation material, thus having the beneficial effect of prolonging operational life-time and increased reliability

Space charge analysis of epoxy boron nanocomposites and the importance of dispersion techniques

The present research work analyzes the space charge\u3cbr/\u3e(S.C.) behavior and correlated dynamics in epoxy based nano-\u3cbr/\u3ecomposites (NC) with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nano- particles.\u3cbr/\u3eThe importance of adopting an effective particle dispersion technique\u3cbr/\u3efor producing such nano-composites is also experimentally validated.\u3cbr/\u3eThree different dispersion techniques are contrasted in terms of the\u3cbr/\u3ecorresponding space charge behavior exhibited, and the interplay\u3cbr/\u3ebetween increasing filler content and dispersion techniques is\u3cbr/\u3einvestigated and reported. It is observed that an effective particle\u3cbr/\u3edispersion technique results in a homogeneous distribution of nano-\u3cbr/\u3eparticles in the polymeric matrix, which in turn gives rise to evenly\u3cbr/\u3edistributed trap sites and affects the local mobility of charge carriers,\u3cbr/\u3eeffectively restraining them. More significantly, since most of the\u3cbr/\u3edeveloped trap-sites are located close to/in the interfacial zone\u3cbr/\u3ebetween the injecting electrode and nano-composite specimen, an\u3cbr/\u3einitial, reasonably homogeneous distribution of nano-particles at\u3cbr/\u3erelatively lower loading (vol. %) is just as efficient in restricting bulk\u3cbr/\u3espace charge accumulation as higher loaded nano-composite\u3cbr/\u3especimens – proving the importance of adopting an effective particle\u3cbr/\u3edispersion technique. Achieving lower levels of bulk space charge\u3cbr/\u3eaccumulation (as demonstrated in this work) results in smaller\u3cbr/\u3einternal electric field distortion and stress in insulation material, thus\u3cbr/\u3ehaving the beneficial effect of prolonging operational life-time and\u3cbr/\u3eincreased reliability

A study of the hematological profile of human immunodeficiency virus positive patients in coastal South Indian region

Introduction: In India, approximately 6 million populations are affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Anemia and leukopenia, especially thrombocytopenia is seen commonly in HIV infections. Low CD4+ count and increased viral load are some of the factors associated with increased risk of thrombocytopenia. We analyzed the hematological profile in a group of 150 HIV infected patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective and prospective study of medical records of 150 HIV positive patients at Clinical Pathology laboratory at our institution was done between August 1 st and October 15 th, 2011 using nonrandom sampling. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit, red cell indices, total leukocyte and differential count, CD4+ and platelet count were noted. Results: Of the 150 patients, 40 (26.67%) were below age 10 and 98 (65.33%) in 21-50 years age group. Eighty-six (57.33%) were females. Hundred patients had anemia (Hb <12 g/dl) of which 58% were microcytic hypochromic (MCHC). Eighteen patients had leukopenia along with anemia. Total number of patients with low CD4 count (<200/μL) was 32 (21.33%) and all had hematological abnormalities, mostly anemias with few leukopenia and thrombocytopenias. All patients with pancytopenia had low CD4+ counts. Total number of patients with thrombocytopenia (<1.5 lacs/dl) was 20 (13.33%). Four patients (2.67%) had pancytopenia. Conclusions: MCHC anemia is the most common morphological variant of anemia. Leukopenia was found to be consistently associated with anemia. Thus, anemia and to a greater extent leukopenia are bad prognostic indicators of disease. Pancytopenia may herald a low CD4+ count