A Note on the Cosmological Dynamics in Finite-Range Gravity

In this note we consider the homogeneous and isotropic cosmology in the finite-range gravity theory recently proposed by Babak and Grishchuk. In this scenario the universe undergoes late time accelerated expansion if both the massive gravitons present in the model are tachyons. We carry out the phase space analysis of the system and show that the late-time acceleration is an attractor of the model.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, two figures, New references added, To appear in IJMP

Escaping the complexity-bitrate-quality barriers of video encoders via deep perceptual optimization

We extend the concept of learnable video precoding (rate-aware neural-network processing prior to encoding) to deep perceptual optimization (DPO). Our framework comprises a pixel-to-pixel convolutional neural network that is trained based on the virtualization of core encoding blocks (block transform, quantization, block-based prediction) and multiple loss functions representing rate, distortion and visual quality of the virtual encoder. We evaluate our proposal with AVC/H.264 and AV1 under per-clip rate-quality optimization. The results show that DPO offers, on average, 14.2% bitrate reduction over AVC/H.264 and 12.5% bitrate reduction over AV1. Our framework is shown to improve both distortion- and perception-oriented metrics in a consistent manner, exhibiting only 3% outliers, which correspond to content with peculiar characteristics. Thus, DPO is shown to offer complexity-bitrate-quality tradeoffs that go beyond what conventional video encoders can offe

ENERGY SAVING AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT: SALES IN THE SVERDLOVSK REGION

The role of N. I. Danilov in the creation of a scientific and methodological school “Energy conservation and energy efficiency” in the Ural region and the further development of this direction in the development of the economy of the region and the country. The main directions and results of the work of the Institute for the Development of Housing and Utilities and Energy Saving named after N. I. Danilov on expert, analytical support of industry decisions made in the Sverdlovsk region and aimed at the implementation of the comprehensive plan of measures to improve the energy efficiency of the Russian economy and the state program of the Sverdlovsk region “Development of housing and utilities economy and energy efficiency improvement in the Sverdlovsk region until 2024”.Показана роль Н. И. Данилова в создании научно-методической школы «Энергосбережение и повышение энергетической эффективности» в Уральском регионе и дальнейшем развитии этого направления в развитии экономики региона и страны. Представлены основные направления и результаты работы Института развития жилищно-коммунального хозяйства и энергосбережения имени Н. И. Данилова по экспертной, аналитической поддержке отраслевых решений, принимаемых в Свердловской области и направленных на выполнение комплексного плана мероприятий по повышению энергетической эффективности экономики Российской Федерации и государственной программы Свердловской области «Развитие жилищно-коммунального хозяйства и повышение энергетической эффективности в Свердловской области до 2024 года»

Prediabetes: challenges and opportunities

In the world, the number of patients with carbohydrate metabolism disorders is steadily growing. Over the past 10 years, the number of patients with diabetes mellitus in the world has more than doubled. Moreover, there is not only an increase in the number of patients with diabetes mellitus, predominantly type 2 diabetes, but also with prediabetes. The term «prediabetes» means impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glycemia. To date, it is obvious that the development of prediabetes lead not only to the higher risk of diabetes mellitus in the future, but also of cardiovascular diseases. Factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with prediabetes includeare the following: insulin resistance, accompanied by arterial hypertension and dyslipidemia, and postprandial hyperglycemia. Therefore, it is very important to timely identify patients from the risk group, diagnose and treat carbohydrate metabolism disorders already at the stage of prediabetes. Also it is very important to identify the patients from the risk group, diagnose and treat carbohydrate metabolism disorders at the stage of prediabetes. Treatment of patients with prediabetes implies, first of all, lifestyle modification (moderate hypocaloric nutrition with predominant restriction of fats and simple carbohydrates and regular physical activity of moderate intensity) in order to reduce weight. If lifestyle changes are ineffective, drug therapy may be prescribed. The article discusses the studies conducted to assess the effectiveness of lifestyle modification, as well as various options for antihyperglycemic therapy (metformin, glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, orlistat) for the treatment of patients with prediabetes. It also provides data on long-term follow-up of patients with prediabetes who received different treatment options

assessment of blood capillaries and structural proteins localization

The papillary dermis of human skin is responsible for its biomechanical properties and for supply of epidermis with chemicals. Dermis is mainly composed of structural protein molecules, including collagen and elastin, and contains blood capillaries. Connective tissue diseases, as well as cardiovascular complications have manifestations on the molecular level in the papillary dermis (e.g. alteration of collagen I and III content) and in the capillary structure. In this paper we assessed the molecular structure of internal and external regions of skin capillaries using two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) of endogenous compounds. It was shown that the capillaries are characterized by a fast fluorescence decay, which is originated from red blood cells and blood plasma. Using the second harmonic generation signal, FLIM segmentation was performed, which provided for spatial localization and fluorescence decay parameters distribution of collagen I and elastin in the dermal papillae. It was demonstrated that the lifetime distribution was different for the inner area of dermal papillae around the capillary loop that was suggested to be due to collagen III. Hence, we propose a generalized approach to two-photon imaging of the papillary dermis components, which extends the capabilities of this technique in skin diagnosis

Asymptotic Infrared Fractal Structure of the Propagator for a Charged Fermion

It is well known that the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction makes the definition of asymptotic ``in'' and ``out'' states of charged particles problematic in quantum field theory. In particular, the notion of a simple particle pole in the vacuum charged particle propagator is untenable and should be replaced by a more complicated branch cut structure describing an electron interacting with a possibly infinite number of soft photons. Previous work suggests a Dirac propagator raised to a fractional power dependent upon the fine structure constant, however the exponent has not been calculated in a unique gauge invariant manner. It has even been suggested that the fractal ``anomalous dimension'' can be removed by a gauge transformation. Here, a gauge invariant non-perturbative calculation will be discussed yielding an unambiguous fractional exponent. The closely analogous case of soft graviton exponents is also briefly explored.Comment: Updated with a corrected sign error, longer discussion of fractal dimension, and more reference

Correlation effects during liquid infiltration into hydrophobic nanoporous mediums

Correlation effects arising during liquid infiltration into hydrophobic porous medium are considered. On the basis of these effects a mechanism of energy absorption at filling porous medium by nonwetting liquid is suggested. In accordance with this mechanism, the absorption of mechanical energy is a result expenditure of energy for the formation of menisci in the pores on the shell of the infinite cluster and expenditure of energy for the formation of liquid-porous medium interface in the pores belonging to the infinite cluster of filled pores. It was found that in dependences on the porosity and, consequently, in dependences on the number of filled pores neighbors, the thermal effect of filling can be either positive or negative and the cycle of infiltration-defiltration can be closed with full outflow of liquid. It can occur under certain relation between percolation properties of porous medium and the energy characteristics of the liquid-porous medium interface and the liquid-gas interface. It is shown that a consecutive account of these correlation effects and percolation properties of the pores space during infiltration allow to describe all experimental data under discussion

Music Tune Restoration Based on a Mother Wavelet Construction

It is offered to use the mother wavelet function obtained from the local part of an analyzed music signal. Requirements for the constructed function are proposed and the implementation technique and its properties are described. The suggested approach allows construction of mother wavelet families with specified identifying properties. Consequently, this makes possible to identify the basic signal variations of complex music signals including local time-frequency characteristics of the basic one