Comparing Computing Platforms for Deep Learning on a Humanoid Robot

The goal of this study is to test two different computing platforms with respect to their suitability for running deep networks as part of a humanoid robot software system. One of the platforms is the CPU-centered Intel NUC7i7BNH and the other is a NVIDIA Jetson TX2 system that puts more emphasis on GPU processing. The experiments addressed a number of benchmarking tasks including pedestrian detection using deep neural networks. Some of the results were unexpected but demonstrate that platforms exhibit both advantages and disadvantages when taking computational performance and electrical power requirements of such a system into account.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Issues in public service delivery : a case study of Addalaichenai divisional secretariat in the Eastern Sri Lanka

This study examines the major issues in public service delivery in the Addalaichenai divisional secretariat area of Eastern Sri Lanka. The government has the obligation to deliver the services to its citizens. Normally, the action of government which provides the services to the citizens is called as public service delivery. The objective of this study is to identify the empirical major issues in public service delivery in Addalaichenai divisional secretariat. This research is built on qualitative research methodology and it is explored by using both primary and secondary materials. In the primary source, the qualitative interviews and focus group discussion are used where necessary. In the secondary source such as books, magazines, internet articles are used. This paper finds out that two types of issues are in service delivery in Addalaichenai divisional secretariat faced by people and administrators such as unawareness of people, discrimination, delay, lack of modern facilities, political influence. These issues are the challenges to the day to day life of the people and they have to be solved to achieve the enhancement of the citizens

THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES AGAINST DIETHYL NITROSAMIN AND CARBON TETTRACHLORIDE-INDUCED HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA IN RATS

Objective: Hepatic cancer is known as primary liver cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Newly silver nanoparticles gained importance due to its advantages and multiple potential such as molecular imaging agent, antimicrobial, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity. The current study deals to assess therapeutic property silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against diethylnitrosamine (DENA), and carbon tetrachloride (CCL4) induced hepatic cancer. Methods: Thirty male albino rats (200-250g) were distributed into four groups and hepatic cancer was induced with a single intraperitoneal dose of 200 mg/kg body weight of DENA. Two weeks later, animals received subcutaneous injections of CCl4 once a week in a dose of 3 ml/kg body weight for 6weeks. Serum biomarkers, antioxidants enzymes, inflammatory markers were evaluated to find the anti-proliferative potential of silver nanoparticles. Histological evaluation and microscopic reports were also done to document the results of the current work. Results: AgNPs significantly recover the serum marker enzymes of hepatic parameter AST, ALT, ALP, and total bilirubin and also decreased the levels of NO, IL-6 and TNF-α. Histopathological features also exhibited recovery of a hepatic architecture in cancer-induced rats. Moreover, the immunohistochemical investigation demonstrated that the levels of PCNA, and Caspase-3, which are hepatocarcinogenic markers, were significantly improved by AgNPs. Conclusion: These results concluded that AgNPs showed promising curing effects on hepatocellular ailments

Classification of COVID-19 from CT chest images using Convolutional Wavelet Neural Network

Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convolutional neural network that uses other activation functions (exponential linear unit (ELU), rectified linear unit (ReLU), Swish, Leaky ReLU, Sigmoid), and the result is that utilizing CWNN gave better results for all performance metrics (accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1-score). The results obtained show that the prediction accuracies of CWNN were 99.97%, 99.9%, 99.97%, and 99.04% when using wavelet filters (rational function with quadratic poles (RASP1), (RASP2), and polynomials windowed (POLYWOG1), superposed logistic function (SLOG1)) as activation function, respectively. Using this algorithm can reduce the time required for the radiologist to detect whether a patient has COVID or not with very high accuracy

Association of serum hormone profile and semen quality of infertile males in and around Chennai

Background: The infertility rate in India has also increased gradually along with population growth. Based on the geographic, the prevalence of male infertility varies. It is noticed that around the world 60–80 million couples with infertility problem every year. The aim of the study was to assess the correlation between the serum hormones and semen quality in infertile males.Methods: This research study was conducted in 60 infertile males aged from 20–50 years who reported at the Department of Andrology, Kanmani Fertility Centre (Pvt. Ltd.), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The semen and hormone analysis was done in all study participants and its correlation was studied using SPSS (statistical product and service solutions) software.Results: The results demonstrate that among the study participants, 15.0% of them were normozoospermia, asthenozoospermia (26.6%), asthenoteratozoospermia (21.6%), oligoasthenozoospermia (16.6%) and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (20.0) respectively. The results of Pearson correlation revealed that TSH, FSH, LH and PRL show a negative correlation but TST level shows a positive correlation with semen parameters.Conclusions: This study concludes that the serum hormones concentration was observed abnormal in infertile males which show negative correlation with semen parameters of the study participants

A Rare Case Report of a Testicular Germ-Cell Tumor (GCT) Metastasis Mimicking Pancreatic Malignancy

Introduction: Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT), evenly divided into two histologic types, seminomas and nonseminomas, are the most common malignancy among males between ages 15 to 44 years [1, 2]. The incidence of TGCT in the U.S. has increased over the past 20 years, being attributed to chronic exposure environmental risk factors (i.e. pesticides and plastic component polyvinyl chloride) in addition to genetic predisposition [1, 3-6]. Description: We report of an unusual case of retroperitoneal metastatic GCT clinically simulating a pancreatic lymphoma. A 31-year-old male presented with a 2-month history of abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant, 40-pound weight loss, nausea, episodes of emesis and decreased appetite. Abdominal computed tomography scan showed a large heterogenous mass measuring 11 x 8 cm in close proximity to the head and body of the pancreas. This tumor encased portions of the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, splenic, superior mesenteric and portal veins. Additional solid masses measuring 8.2 cm and 10 x 8.8 cm were noted inferior to porta hepatis and medial to the left kidney, respectively. Given the tumor distribution, patient was suspected of having pancreatic lymphoma and underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided tissue sampling of the tumor. Microscopic examination of the biopsy revealed solid nests of infiltrative malignant epitheloid cells characterized by nuclear pleomorphisms and hyperchromatic nuclei with focal necrotic and apoptotic debris. Immunohistochemical stains revealed positive pancytokeratin and SALL4, a transcription factor specific for embryonic cell pluripotency and an immunohistochemical marker for TGCT [7]. Laboratory tests revealed elevated serum levels of alpha fetoprotein (AFP = 57.8 ng/ml; reference: 10-20 ng/ml), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH = 2919 units/L; reference:106-242 units/L) and beta human chronic gonadotrophin (β-hCG =1458 IU/L; reference: 0-3 IU/L). Both microscopic and laboratory findings are consistent with metastatic retroperitoneal GCT. Subsequent clinical history and physical exam of the patient revealed a right testicular solid mass measuring 13.3 x 7.8 x 10.7 cm. Patient was aware of this progressively enlarging right testicular mass for the past 5-years, but had not undergone previous evaluation. Patient’s family history is negative for TGCT and denied undergoing orchiopexy for cryptorchidism during his childhood. Patient has been working in a plastic manufacturing company with exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, a potential exogenous risk factor for his TGCT [5]. Conclusion: Final diagnosis was “Stage IIIA-Testicular GCT-Low-risk” based on the primary and metastatic sites involvement and serum tumor marker levels. The patient underwent radical orchiectomy of the right testicle followed by 4 cycles of chemotherapy with etoposide/cisplatin/bleomycin for the remaining retroperitoneal tumors. The five-year progression-free and overall survival rate for our patient are 89% and 92%, respectively [1]. This case highlights an unusual presentation of retroperitoneal GCT metastasis and the need to include the following differentials of lymphoma, sarcoma, and GCT for retroperitoneal masses with lymphadenopathy

Penerapan Preventive Maintenance Dengan Menggunakan Metode Reliability Centered Maintenance Dengan Mengaplikasikan Grey Fmea Pada PT. Wxy

PT. WXY adalah Perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang pembuatan fruit cages (lori). Kendala yang dihadapi PT.WXY adalah terganggunya proses produksi yang disebabkan oleh kerusakan pada komponen mesin yang beresiko tingginya angka downtime. Masalah ini diselesaikan dengan menggunakan metode Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) yang mengaplikasikan Grey FMEA dalam menentukan prioritas perbaikan sehingga diperoleh perencanaan perawatan yang lebih optimal. Diagram pareto digunakan untuk menentukan mesin yang paling kritis pada metode RCM. Hasil diagram pareto diperoleh mesin bor magnet merupakan sistem yang paling kritis. Komponen yang terdapat dalam mesin bor magnet adalah saklar magnet, spindle, spindle sleeve, drilling chuck, motor NFA03LG-011, radial ball bearing, v-belt, dan pulley. Selanjutnya hasil penerapan Reliability Centered Maintenance dengan mengaplikasikan Grey FMEA diperoleh komponen yang harus dirawat secara terjadwal (time directed) adalah spindle dengan jadwal perawatan 33 hari, motor NFA03LG-011 dengan jadwal perawatan 36 hari, radial ball bearing dengan jadwal perawatan 43 hari, dan v-belt dengan jadwal perawatan 42 hari. Perawatan komponen yang tidak terjadwal (condition directed) adalah saklar magnet, spindle sleeve, drilling chuck, dan pulley. Penerapan metode RCM dengan melakukan simulasi terhadap distribusi kerusakan diperoleh penurunan downtime sebesar 20.56%

Immunomodulatory of Cordia myxa (L.) Aqueous Extract Fruit in Immunized Mice with Hydatid Cyst Fluid

Human cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus is one of most important and widespread parasitic zoonoses in the world. The present study was aimed to identify the immunomodulatory activity of aqueous extract of Cordia  myxa fruit since this plant considers one of medically important plants, which is widely used for treatment of numerous diseases, that correlate with the effectiveness of  immunized by hydatid cyst fluid antigen HCFAg. Forty Balb/c mice were divided into equal groups, first group was immunized with HCFAg, the second group was treated with aqueous extract of C. muxa fruit, the third  group was immunized  and treated, the fourth  group was  as a control. Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), Mitotic index (MI) and histopathological change in spleen in all groups were studied. A higher increase of thickness was showed in immunized mice and treated after 10 days of treatment with aqueous extract of C.myxa fruit after 10 days(3rd group), that reached 1.23± after 3 hrs.The MI of bone marrow and spleen cells was significantly increased as a post immunized and treatment mice (88.57±1.40), (94.7±0.76) respectively in comparison with the other groups. Histopathological examination of spleen showed marked hyperplasia of lymphoid corpuscles, confused some times to form large follicle. The successive aqueous extract was found to stimulate cell mediated and immune responses in mice/ Keywords: HCF, C. myxa, DTH, M