Objective and efficient terahertz signal denoising by transfer function reconstruction

As an essential processing step in many disciplines, signal denoising efficiently improves data quality without extra cost. However, it is relatively under-utilized for terahertz spectroscopy. The major technique reported uses wavelet denoising in the time-domain, which has a fuzzy physical meaning and limited performance in low-frequency and water-vapor regions. Here, we work from a new perspective by reconstructing the transfer function to remove noise-induced oscillations. The method is fully objective without a need for defining a threshold. Both reflection imaging and transmission imaging were conducted. The experimental results show that both low- and high-frequency noise and the water-vapor influence were efficiently removed. The spectrum accuracy was also improved, and the image contrast was significantly enhanced. The signal-to-noise ratio of the leaf image was increased up to 10 dB, with the 6 dB bandwidth being extended by over 0.5 THz

Dynamic Wireless QoS Analysis for Real-Time Control in URLLC

One of the major goals of ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) is to enable real-time wireless control systems. However, it is challenging to use URLLC throughout the control process since a huge amount of wireless resource is needed to maintain the rigorous quality-of-service (QoS) in URLLC, i.e, ultra reliability and low latency. In this paper, our goal is to discuss that whether the extreme high QoS in URLLC leads to better control performance than low QoS during the control process. This is expected to provide a guideline on the usage of the URLLC throughout the control process dynamically. Specifically, we first investigate the relationship between the URLLC QoS and control performance. Then, we discuss the effect of different communication QoS on the control performance. Our results show that the rigorous QoS in URLLC and a low QoS can be used dynamically throughout the control process with high system performance

Re-envisioning Paradise Map

This poster is a large-scale version of the map showing the main features of the students\u27 plans for Paradise: the new downtowns (East and West Villages); the neighborhood centers dispersed throughout the town, new road connections out of the town, and locations of the building proposals

Incorporating Knowledge into Document Summarisation: an Application of Prefix-Tuning on GPT-2

Despite the great development of document summarisation techniques nowadays, factual inconsistencies between the generated summaries and the original texts still occur from time to time. This study explores the possibility of adopting prompts to incorporate factual knowledge into generated summaries. We specifically study prefix-tuning that uses a set of trainable continuous prefix prompts together with discrete natural language prompts to aid summary generation. Experimental results demonstrate that the trainable prefixes can help the summarisation model extract information from discrete prompts precisely, thus generating knowledge-preserving summaries that are factually consistent with the discrete prompts. The ROUGE improvements of the generated summaries indicate that explicitly adding factual knowledge into the summarisation process could boost the overall performance, showing great potential for applying it to other natural language processing tasks

AMPK Regulation of Mouse Oocyte Meiotic Resumption in Vitro

We have previously shown that the adenosine analog 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-d-ribofuranoside (AICAR), an activator of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), stimulates an increase in AMPK activity and induces meiotic resumption in mouse oocytes [Downs, S.M., Hudson, E.R., Hardie, D.G., 2002. A potential role for AMP-activated protein kinase in meiotic induction in mouse oocytes. Dev. Biol, 245, 200–212]. The present study was carried out to better define a causative role for AMPK in oocyte meiotic maturation. When microinjected with a constitutively active AMPK, about 20% of mouse oocytes maintained in meiotic arrest with dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP) were stimulated to undergo germinal vesicle breakdown (GVB), while there was no effect of catalytically dead kinase. Western blot analysis revealed that germinal vesicle (GV)-stage oocytes cultured in dbcAMP-containing medium plus AICAR possessed elevated levels of active AMPK, and this was confirmed by AMPK assays using a peptide substrate of AMPK to directly measure AMPK activity. AICAR-induced meiotic resumption and AMPK activation were blocked by compound C or adenine 9-beta-d-arabinofuranoside (araA, a precursor of araATP), both inhibitors of AMPK. Compound C failed to suppress adenosine uptake and phosphorylation, indicating that it did not block AICAR action by preventing its metabolism to the AMP analog, ZMP. 2′-Deoxycoformycin (DCF), a potent adenosine deaminase inhibitor, reversed the inhibitory effect of adenosine on oocyte maturation by modulating intracellular AMP levels and activating AMPK. Rosiglitazone, an anti-diabetic agent, stimulated AMPK activation in oocytes and triggered meiotic resumption. In spontaneously maturing oocytes, GVB was preceded by AMPK activation and blocked by compound C. Collectively, these results support the proposition that active AMPK within mouse oocytes provides a potent meiosis-inducing signal in vitro

Thermogravimetric Study of Biomass Pyrolysis Kinetics. A Distributed Activation Energy Model with Prediction Tests

The pyrolysis of four biomasses (corn stalk, rice husk, sorghum straw, and wheat straw) was studied at different temperature-time functions in an inert gas flow by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Linear and stepwise heating programs were employed. A distributed activation energy model (DAEM) with three pools of reactants (three pseudocomponents) was used because of the complexity of the biomass samples of agricultural origin. Compensation effects were observed between the kinetic parameters as in the works of other investigators. The compensation effects result in ambiguous parameter values; hence, they were eliminated with a decrease in the number of unknown parameters. For this purpose, some of the kinetic parameters were assumed to be the same for the four biomasses. This approach also helps to express the similarities of the samples in the model. The 16 experiments were evaluated simultaneously by the method of least squares, yielding dependable kinetic parameters. The resulting models describe well the experimental data and are suitable for predicting experiments at higher heating rates. The checks on the prediction capabilities were considered to be an essential part of the model verification

Factors Affecting Air Traffic Controller’s Weather Dissemination to Pilots

As the number of flights in the United States continues to rise steadily, an equally amplified need for reliability and safety has come to the forefront of aviation research. One of the most alarming trends is the number of general aviation (GA) accidents during severe weather events that occur yearly, with fatalities occurring in more than half of these cases. This study focuses on identifying factors influencing weather dissemination of Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) to GA pilots. Ten factors affecting controllers’ performance during severe weather events were identified through an in-depth literature review including controller mental workload, situation awareness, weather information format and accuracy, weather information needs, weather tool limitations, inaccurate assumption and bias, controller training and expereince, regulatory factor, supervisory factors, and pilot-controller relationship. Recommendation can be developed to address each factors so that aviation safety could be enhanced in severe weather situations

Running a successful network to support methodologists and guideline developers: sharing experiences from UK evidence synthesis networks

Running a successful network to support methodologists and guideline developers: sharing experiences from UK evidence synthesis networks Facilitators: Judith Thornton (NICE); Ruaraidh Hill (University of Liverpool), Emma McFarlane (NICE), Li Chia Chen (University of Manchester) BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION We established the ‘North West Evidence Synthesis Network’ (NWESN) to bring together guideline developers, health researchers and policy makers from across our region in order to share knowledge and expertise and raise awareness of methodological developments. Several other UK networks have been initiated including the ‘Liverpool Evidence Synthesis Network’ (LivEN). Feedback from members has been positive with both personal and institutional benefits. Other networks include: • Health Research Methodology and Implementation (HeRMI) • Bangor Evidence Synthesis Hub (BESH) • Peninsula Systematic Review discussion group (PenSR) OBJECTIVES • To advocate the role of networks • To discuss the practicalities to establishing/running networks • To explore what guideline developers needs from networks DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKSHOP Short presentations to compare and contrast the remit, structure and function of different networks. Group discussions to explore: • What guideline developers want from networks • Challenges to establishing/running networks and strategies to overcome these. • Future directions for networking • How networks can be better connected Group feedback and conclusions TARGET GROUPS All staff involved in evidence synthesis and guideline development. IMPLICATIONS FOR GUIDELINE DEVELOPERS Our presentation at the Global Evidence Summit 2017 demonstrated the benefits of membership of the NWESN. Implications for guideline developers included general education and updating on new methods; a key benefit is the opportunity to share skills, information and support across researchers and institutions. CONCLUSIONS The workshop intends to raise awareness of the benefits of networks and what they can offer methodologists and guideline developers. We hope to encourage more people to connect with and establish methodological networks