En-route: on enabling resource usage testing for autonomous driving frameworks

Software resource usage testing, including execution time bounds and memory, is a mandatory validation step during the integration of safety-related real-time systems. However, the inherent complexity of Autonomous Driving (AD) systems challenges current practice for resource usage testing. This paper exposes the difficulties to perform resource usage testing for AD frameworks by analyzing a complex and critical module of an AD framework, and provides some guidelines and practical evidence on how resource usage testing can be effectively performed, thus enabling end users to validate their safety-related real-time AD frameworks.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grant TIN2015-65316-P, the UP2DATE European Union’s Horizon 2020 (H2020) research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871465, and the HiPEAC Network of Excellence. MINECO partially supported Jaume Abella under Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC-2013-14717) and Leonidas Kosmidis under Juan de la Cierva-Formación postdoctoral fellowship (FJCI-2017-34095)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Hookworm infection in Amassoma Community in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Studies on hookworm infection was conducted in Amassoma community, in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Of the 4990 faecal samples examined by standard parasitological technique, 1740 (34.9%) samples were found to contain eggs of hookworm. Nine hundred and seventy five infected samples (33.6%) were males and 865(36.7%) infected samples were females. Incidence or new cases of hookworm infection occurred every month. Highest incidence (12.2%) occurred in September and the lowest (1.8%) was in February. The high soil moisture and temperature of the study area were probably responsible for the rapid larval development and infectivity all round theyear. Percentage new infection was highest (1.5%) in the 4-9 years old. Peak prevalence of hookworm infection (38.5%) and peak intensity (3000 e pg) occurred in 4-9 years age group. Both prevalence and intensity declined gradually with increase in age. The study demonstrated that the best time for intervention of hookworm transmission is February when incidence is lowest. Also the age group for targeted mass chemotherapy is the 4-9 years old, whichhad the highest prevalence, incidence and intensity of hookworm infection. This study provides baseline data on the epidemiology of hookworm infection in the Niger Delta

Effect of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) mycelia on petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated substrate

A study on the mycoremediation effect of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) mycelia on petroleum-hydrocarbon-contaminated substrate was carried out in the mushroom unit of the Faculty of Agriculture Demonstration Farm, located in the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The study aimed at determining the degree of reduction or breakdown of chains of hydrocarbon in a petroleum-hydrocarbon-contaminated substrate over time. Mushroom substrate comprised sawdust enriched with nutrients to allow for microbial proliferation was obtained from the demonstration farm, while crude oil obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was used as contaminant. 230g of fully ramified mushroom substrate was weighed out in triplicates and subjected to three treatment regimes (A, B and C). Treatments A, B and C were contaminated with 20ml, 40ml and 60ml of crude oil respectively, while their corresponding controls similarly contaminated with crude oil had no mushroom mycelia and were further sterilized to eliminate any microbial life. The experiment was monitored for four weeks within which total hydrocarbon concentrations in treatments A, B and C were reduced by 90%, 87% and 85% respectively over time while no change occurred in their corresponding control groups. It is recommended that the application of mushroom mycelium is a new and effective tool in the rapid remediation of sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons over a short period of time as opposed to the usual conventional, time-consuming, and inefficient methods of waste management in the environment.Keywords: Mycoremediation, Mycelia, Contaminated Soil, Oyster Mushroo

The self-stimulated capillary jet

Inspired by a Savart’s pioneering work, we study the self-stimulated dynamics of a capillary jet. The feedback loop is realised by extracting surface perturbations from a section of the jet itself via a laser–photodiode pair, whose amplified signal drives an electromechanical actuator which, in turn, produces pressure perturbations at the exit chamber. Under specific conditions, this loop establishes phase-locked stimulation regimes that overcome the otherwise random natural breakup. For each laser position along the jet, the gain of the amplifier acts as a selector across a discrete set of observable frequencies. The main observed features are explained by a linear theory which combines the transfer function of each stage in the loop. Our findings are relevant to continuous inkjet technologies for the production of equally sized droplets

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017 : a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings: Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1-4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0-8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421-723) to 853 million (642-1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6-9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4-7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782-3252] per 100 000 in males vs 1400 [1279-1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082-3583] vs 2336 [2154-2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943-3630] vs 5643 [5057-6302]). Interpretation: Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury

Implications of Training in Incremental Theories of Intelligence for Undergraduate Statistics Students

This chapter documents the effects of training in incremental theories of intelligence on students in introductory statistics courses at a liberal arts university in the US. Incremental theories of intelligence examine the beliefs individuals hold of knowledge and how it is attained. An individual with an incremental theory of intelligence believes that intelligence can be developed. The research examined differences by gender in mastery of statistics and attitudes toward statistics for students who received growth mind-set training. A pre-test, post-test design utilised the Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics© instrument and the Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in a first Statistics course. An ANCOVA revealed that females gained more than males on their value of statistics (F(1, 63) 9.40, MSE 3.79, p .003, η2 P 0.134) and decreased less for effort expended to learn statistics (F(1, 63) 4.41, MSE 4.07, p .040, η2 P 0.067). Females also gained mastery of statistical concepts at a greater rate (F(1, 63) 5.30, MSE 0.06, p .025, η2 P 0.080) indicating a possible path to alleviate the under-representation of females in STEM

The impact of a social prescribing service on patients in primary care: a mixed methods evaluation

Social prescribing is targeted at isolated and lonely patients. Practitioners and patients jointly develop bespoke well-being plans to promote social integration and or social reactivation. Our aim was to investigate: whether a social prescribing service could be implemented in a general practice (GP) setting and to evaluate its effect on well-being and primary care resource use. Methods We used a mixed method evaluation approach using patient surveys with matched control groups and a qualitative interview study. The study was conducted in a mixed socio-economic, multi-ethnic, inner city London borough with socially isolated patients who frequently visited their GP. The intervention was implemented by ‘social prescribing coordinators’. Outcomes of interest were psychological and social well-being and health care resource use. Results At 8 months follow-up there were no differences between patients referred to social prescribing and the controls for general health, depression, anxiety and ‘positive and active engagement in life’. Social prescribing patients had high GP consultation rates, which fell in the year following referral. The qualitative study indicated that most patients had a positive experience with social prescribing but the service was not utilised to its full extent. Conclusion Changes in general health and well-being following referral were very limited and comprehensive implementation was difficult to optimise. Although GP consultation rates fell, these may have reflected regression to the mean rather than changes related to the intervention. Whether social prescribing can contribute to the health of a nation for social and psychological wellbeing is still to be determined