Implementation of CUDA Accelerated Bayesian Network Learning

Bayesian networks can be used to analyze and find relationships among genetic profiles. Unfortunately, Bayesian network learning is an NP­-hard algorithm and thus takes a significant amount of time to generate an output. There has been research in this area in attempts to make this algorithm quicker, such as utilizing consensus networks. Consensus networks are aggregations of many “cheaper” Bayesian networks that are used to formulate a bigger picture. These “cheaper” networks have their search­ spaces restricted, and thus more are required to extract the relationships among the data points. To accomplish this, I implemented Bayesian network learning in C++, using reference libraries which are programmed in C and MATLAB. The network learning was implemented and structured in such a fashion that CUDA may be used to accelerate matrix operations, since the datasets are typically large enough to warrant such measures (GPGPU acceleration). However, after extensive testing, it was found that CUDA acceleration for Bayesian network learning does not significantly improve performance. In some cases, using the CUDA card is detrimental. This is mostly attributed to the fact that all the matrix operations performed are of linear nature (O(n)), and no matrix multiplication is performed (a O(n^3) operation). The cost incurred by copying the memory to and from the GPU simply outweighs the speed gained by using the GPU instead of the CPU. It is unfortunate introducing matrix acceleration couldn’t speed the learning process up by an order of magnitude, but this implementation may still be reused in the future for applications which are highly reliant on matrix multiplication. I learned a significant amount from this research experience, and will be able to apply the knowledge gained to my future work

Wastewater-derived Ammonia for a Green Transportation Fuel

The energy-water nexus (i.e., availability of potable water and clean energy) is among the most important problems currently facing society. Ammonia is a carbon-free fuel that has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint in combustion related vehicles. However, ammonia production processes typically have their own carbon footprint and do not necessarily come from sustainable sources. This research examines wastewater filtration processes to harvest ammonia for transportation processes. The research team studied mock wastewater solutions and was able to achieve ammonia concentrations above 80%(nanofiltration) and 90% (reverse osmosis). The research team also investigated the influence of transmembrane pressure and flow rates. No degradation to the membrane integrity was observed during the process. This research used constant pressure combustion simulations to calculate the ignition delay times for NH3-air flames with expected impurities from the wastewater treatment processes. The influence of impurities, such as H2O, CO, CO2, and HCl, were studied under a range of thermodynamic conditions expected in compression ignition engines. The team observed carbon monoxide and water vapor to slightly decrease (at most 5%) ignition delay time, whereas HCl, in general, increased the ignition delay. The changes to the combustion chemistry and its influence of the reaction mechanism on the results are discussed. The experimental wastewater treatment study determined that reverse osmosis produced higher purity ammonia. The findings of the combustion work suggest that ignition delays will be similar to pure ammonia if HCl is filtered from the final product

Modifying the Orientation of Hydraulically Fractured Wells in Tight Reservoirs : The Effect of in-situ Stresses and Natural Fracture Toughness

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for financial support and providing the required facilities to complete the study. Support from the Computer Modelling Group and Schlumberger for the use of their software packages is greatly acknowledged. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewe

Managing acutely aggressive or agitated people in a psychiatric setting: a survey in Lebanon

Background: Violent patients constitute 10% of all psychiatric admissions. Treatment options and clinical practice interventions vary across the globe and no survey of practice in a Middle Eastern setting exists. Surveying treatments in Lebanon will show treatment interventions used in this part of the world and, most importantly, provide the treatment options that could potentially be used for clinical trials pertaining to emergency psychiatry. Methods: A survey of clinicians’ opinions and practice was conducted between July and August 2017 at the largest psychiatric hospital in Lebanon. Results: Five of seven experienced psychiatrists provided opinions when interviewed of their preferred intervention when dealing with an emergency psychiatric episode. Whilst this varied in detail, there was a consistent view that there should first be verbal control, then use of medications, and finally physical restrain of the patient. A total of 39 emergency episodes (28 people) occurred in the one month (64% men in their 30s). Bipolar disorder was the most frequent single diagnosis behind the aggression (n=16, 41%; 12 people 43%) but the combined schizophrenia-like illnesses underlay 18 of the 39 episodes (46%; 13/28 people 46%). In clinical life, we found evidence of high family involvement, but little attempts made at initial verbal control in the hospital. All 39 episodes involved administration of pharmacological interventions. Medications were used in 29 of cases (74%) and non-medication interventions used in the remaining 10/39 (26%). Conclusion: This survey provides some evidence that clinicians’ preferences may not fully reflect clinical practice but also that experienced clinicians are using several clearly effective techniques to manage these very difficult situations. However, as for other parts of the world, treatment in Lebanon has limited or no underpinning by evidence from well-designed, conducted and reported evaluative studies

A review of the national adverse drug reaction (ADR) & medication errors reporting system of Malta

The overall objectives of Pharmacovigilance include early identification of potential safety hazards, evaluation, monitoring and where appropriate, implementation of regulatory action to maximise benefits and minimise risks associated with medicinal products. Reporting of an ADR associated with use of a medicinal product as well as medication errors is an essential source of necessary information that is required to achieve these objectives. Safety concerns that arise from spontaneous reporting contribute to assessment of the risk benefit balance and hence lead to a regulatory action which could be suspension or revocation of marketing authorization of the product or change in the product information. Furthermore these safety concerns can be communicated to healthcare professionals through Direct Healthcare Professional Communications (DHPCs) and safety circulars and they form the basis of designing Risk Minimisation Measures (RMMs). The establishment of a functional ADR reporting system by law since 2004, not only facilitates participation in the national and EU regulatory process, but also enables Malta to participate in the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring, both by contributing to and obtaining data from this extensive information resource.peer-reviewe

An investigation of viscous oil displacement in a fractured porous medium using polymer-enhanced surfactant alternating foam flooding

Acknowledgment The authors acknowledge the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for providing the required facilities to complete this research. This work was supported by the financial support from The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland [grant number RIG70732]; and The Royal Society [grant number RG160650]. The author would like to extend their acknowledgment for the support from the Computer Modelling Group for the use of their STARS package. Also, Ahmed Bashir would like to thank the Faculty of Engineering University of Khartoum, Sudan, for the financial support of his studies at the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

USING COORDIN'ATlON MEASURES FOR MOVEMENT ANALYSIS

Traditionally, in biomechanics we have investigated the actions of single joints or segments without taking into account the interactions of these structures. A dynamical systems approach has been increasingly used in biomechanics to give a different perspective on the interaction of specific structures in human movement. That is, the study of coordination has become more prominent in the biomechanics literature based on the work of Bernstein (1967). Coordination is defined as overcoming excessive degrees of freedom thereby turning individual movement elements into a controllable system. In this paper, we will' describe a theoretical framework for analyzing coordination, present examples in the literature and discuss future developments for this type of analysis

Hot Solvent Assisted Gravity Drainage in Naturally Fractured Heavy Oil Reservoirs : A New Model and Approach to Determine Optimal Solvent Injection Temperature

The authors acknowledge the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for providing the required facilities to complete this research. We are also grateful for technical comments from Mehrdad Taghizadeh Manzari (School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen). In addition to this, we appreciate the access to the Maxwell High Performance Computing Cluster of the University of Aberdeen IT Service (www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/research/hpc.php), provided by Dell Inc. and supported by Alces Software. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPostprin

A fracture upscaling method (FUM) for hydraulically fractured reservoirs : From discrete fracture modelling to finite difference simulations

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for financial support and providing the required facilities to complete the study. Support from Computer Modelling Group and Schlumberger for the use of their software packages is greatly acknowledged. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPostprin

OVERUSE INJURIES IN RUNNING: DO COMPLEX ANALYSES HELP OUR UNDERSTANDING?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the change in focus in biomechanics from relatively simple analysis techniques to more complex techniques. Overuse injuries, linked to rearfoot motion, will be used as an example. In the early development of biomechanical techniques, the angle magnitudes were presented to suggest the mechanisms of overuse injuries. Later, coupling rearfoot motion with actions of the knee became commonplace. In these analyses, the timing and ratios of the angular movements were expressed. However, none of these measures provided a sufficient explanation for injury mechanisms. New techniques, derived from dynamical systems theory, have provided a more salient explanation of the overuse injury mechanism through assessing the role of variability in movement coordination