Decentralized Clustering and Linking by Networked Agents

We consider the problem of decentralized clustering and estimation over multi-task networks, where agents infer and track different models of interest. The agents do not know beforehand which model is generating their own data. They also do not know which agents in their neighborhood belong to the same cluster. We propose a decentralized clustering algorithm aimed at identifying and forming clusters of agents of similar objectives, and at guiding cooperation to enhance the inference performance. One key feature of the proposed technique is the integration of the learning and clustering tasks into a single strategy. We analyze the performance of the procedure and show that the error probabilities of types I and II decay exponentially to zero with the step-size parameter. While links between agents following different objectives are ignored in the clustering process, we nevertheless show how to exploit these links to relay critical information across the network for enhanced performance. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed method in comparison to other useful techniques

Utilization of Cactus Dear Peels Mucilage as an Edible Coating of Chicken Meat to Prolong its Shelf Life

Edible coating or biodegradable packaging has been introduced in food processing to control food quality loss. This study was carried out to enhance the utilization of cactus peels to produce edible coating for chicken breast to prolong its shelf life. The effect of incorporating mango kernels as a natural and economic source of antioxidants and antimicrobial agent in the coating has been studied as well. Cactus peels coated- based samples produced the optimum decrease in pH, TBA, total viable bacterial count and enhanced the sensory attributes compared to untreated or mango kernels treated meat in dose dependent manner. Sample treated with 25% cactus peels and 0.8% mango kernel showed the lowest value of TBA of 0.421 mg malonaldehyde/Kg compared to 1.30 mg malonaldehyde/Kg in control after two weeks of storage. The same treatment was the most effective in reducing total viable bacterial count from 51×103 cfu.g-1 in control to 2.00×102 cfu.g-1. This study suggests that cactus peels and mango seeds, which considered as food processing waste showed a potential role in delaying chicken meat spoilage. Keywords: Edible coating, cactus peels, Mango kernel, Shelf life

Combination of valproate and paroxetine in mice exposed to picrotoxin

The frequent coexistence of depression in epileptic patients raises the issue of simultaneous use of antidepressants along with antiepileptic drugs in the management of such cases. However, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of these antiepileptic/antidepressant drug combinations. The present study investigates the effect of the antidepressant paroxetine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) administered alone or in combination with the antiepileptic drug sodium valproate on chemoconvulsions induced by picrotoxin (PTX). Seizure score was recorded in vivo, and the levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) were measured in the nucleus accumbens of the tested groups of mice. The results show enhancement of seizure severity with significant reduction in GABA levels upon PTX treatment that were reversed by its combination with sodium valproate. On the other hand, paroxetine administered in combination with sodium valproate provided significant protection against PTX-induced convulsions as well as a significant increase in GABA levels in selected brain areas. These results favor their application in management of epilepsy-depression comorbidities

Perception of Teachers and Students Regarding Educational Program in Technical Institutes of Nursing

Nursing education draws knowledge from disciplines. The science, humanities, and even the arts are considered important components of nursing curricula. Nursing education currently is witnessing an emphasis on the development of critical thinking, a call for greater creating and innovation in teaching. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the perception of teachers and students regarding educational program in Technical Institutes of Nursing. Descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in the Technical Institutes of Nursing affiliated to the Ministry of Health in Port said, Ismailia, and Suez governorates. Subjects and Methods: The subjects consisted of 50 nursing teachers and 402 nursing students in in five grades. A self-administered questionnaire for teachers and students, and an observation checklist for institution environment were used for data collection. Results: The study revealed that school vision and mission were not clear, with majority of students agreeing upon the recall and understanding levels of the objectives. For nursing subjects, the majority of students and all teachers agreed upon the recall, understanding, and application levels of the objectives. As for affective and psychomotor objectives, there was a majority students' agreement upon all objectives, but for teachers it was very low. Both students and teachers had low agreements upon the sufficiency of practical hours. Field visits were the lowest teaching methods in both groups. The majority of students and teachers perceived student evaluation methods as adequate. Opinions regarding institution environment and services were very low, and by observation, the most deficient facilities were microphones and sound systems, labs, library, and cafeteria. Conclusion: the cognitive objectives are mostly at the recall level, and teachers disagree upon affective and psychomotor objectives. Skills' training time and field visits are insufficient. The use of teaching media and methods are low, and institutions' environment and services are inadequate. It is recommended to forward these findings to nursing institutes and schools to review their curricula, teaching methods and media, as well as field visits and skills' training. The school environment needs serious changes to improve the teaching places and related resources.     Keywords: Nursing education, perception, curriculum, evaluation

Review of intrusion detection systems based on deep learning techniques: coherent taxonomy, challenges, motivations, recommendations, substantial analysis and future directions

This study reviews and analyses the research landscape for intrusion detection systems (IDSs) based on deep learning (DL) techniques into a coherent taxonomy and identifies the gap in this pivotal research area. The focus is on articles related to the keywords ‘deep learning’, ‘intrusion’ and ‘attack’ and their variations in four major databases, namely Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Scopus and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Xplore. These databases are sufficiently broad to cover the technical literature. The dataset comprises 68 articles. The largest proportion (72.06%; 49/68) relates to articles that develop an approach for evaluating or identifying intrusion detection techniques using the DL approach. The second largest proportion (22.06%; 15/68) relates to studying/applying articles to the DL area, IDSs or other related issues. The third largest proportion (5.88%; 4/68) discusses frameworks/models for running or adopting IDSs. The basic characteristics of this emerging field are identified from the aspects of motivations, open challenges that impede the technology’s utility, authors’ recommendations and substantial analysis. Then, a result analysis mapping for new directions is discussed. Three phases are designed to meet the demands of detecting distributed denial-of-service attacks with a high accuracy rate. This study provides an extensive resource background for researchers who are interested in IDSs based on DL

Does MRI help in the assessment of inflammatory breast disorders?

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of work is to evaluate the role of magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of different entities of inflammatory breast disorders.Materials and methodsEighty-one non-lactating patients with mastitis had been evaluated by post contrast MR imaging; their ages ranged from 22 to 70years (Average age: 41.6years). MRI data analysis was performed regarding qualitative criteria and parametric color maps for image post processing. Diagnosis was made up regarding resolution in follow up sessions for simple mastitis and biopsy were done for cases with suspicious imaging findings.ResultsMammary interstitial edema with no masses or abnormal enhancement was elicited in 28.4% (n=23/81). T2-weighed and post contrast series were the sequences of choice to rely upon in evaluation. T2 had demonstrated lesions in 64.2% (n=52/81) and contrast uptake was detected in 68% (n=55/81). Quantitative analysis was overlapping.MR imaging had displayed sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 87.5%, 72.3%, and 75.4% respectively in differentiating benign forms of mastitis from malignant ones.ConclusionIn inflammatory breast disorders, MR imaging can precisely delineate disease extent and monitor response to therapy. Immediate distinction between infectious/non-infectious and malignant mastitis is difficult to be obtained

Hepatitis B Virus_Surface Gene Mutations and Their Clinical Implications

Hepatitis B infection is a major public health problem caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV). Factors associated with host immunity such as (HBV specific T- and/or B-cell) production and antigen presentation failure and viral determinants such as the HBV genotypes and their evolving variants, have largely contributed to and justified variations that occur in the HBV surface gene. Hepatitis B surface gene mutations may influence the accuracy of the results obtained with currently used serological diagnostic tests and may represent a great risk for the community, since neither hepatitis B vaccines nor hepatitis B immunoglobulin will prevent the infection by HBV. Out of 96 published papers from (1988 till 2016) downloaded from Google scholar and PubMed and evaluated according to the relevance of scientific data for the surface gene mutations of hepatitis B virus then52 papers of them were selected and included in this study, then we reviewed and evaluated the current published papers about the surface gene mutations worldwide in which G145R represents the most common hepatitis B surface gene mutation reported in the literature. Furthermore, we reviewed their clinical implications and their impact on hepatitis B vaccination and treatment.

Comparison of Different Spike Sorting Subtechniques Based on Rat Brain Basolateral Amygdala Neuronal Activity

Developing electrophysiological recordings of brain neuronal activity and their analysis provide a basis for exploring the structure of brain function and nervous system investigation. The recorded signals are typically a combination of spikes and noise. High amounts of background noise and possibility of electric signaling recording from several neurons adjacent to the recording site have led scientists to develop neuronal signal processing tools such as spike sorting to facilitate brain data analysis. Spike sorting plays a pivotal role in understanding the electrophysiological activity of neuronal networks. This process prepares recorded data for interpretations of neurons interactions and understanding the overall structure of brain functions. Spike sorting consists of three steps: spike detection, feature extraction, and spike clustering. There are several methods to implement each of spike sorting steps. This paper provides a systematic comparison of various spike sorting sub-techniques applied to real extracellularly recorded data from a rat brain basolateral amygdala. An efficient sorted data resulted from careful choice of spike sorting sub-methods leads to better interpretation of the brain structures connectivity under different conditions, which is a very sensitive concept in diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. Here, spike detection is performed by appropriate choice of threshold level via three different approaches. Feature extraction is done through PCA and Kernel PCA methods, which Kernel PCA outperforms. We have applied four different algorithms for spike clustering including K-means, Fuzzy C-means, Bayesian and Fuzzy maximum likelihood estimation. As one requirement of most clustering algorithms, optimal number of clusters is achieved through validity indices for each method. Finally, the sorting results are evaluated using inter-spike interval histograms.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure

Residual breast cancer or post operative changes: Can Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging solve the case?

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the ability of Diffusion weighted MR imaging (DWI), as a non-invasive sequence to differentiate between accepted post operative sequel and residual malignancy in breast cancer patients following different surgical procedures.Patients and methodsDWI in addition to the routine post contrast MRI was performed for follow up of 170 post operative breasts (6–24months). DWI acquired using b values: 0, 850, 1000 and 1500. Analysis considered signal intensity (SI) at b 1000 and the ADC map and the mean ADC values.ResultsPost operative changes were: Edema (n=17, 10%), skin thickening (n=25, 15.9%), seroma (n=17, 10%), hematoma (n=5, 3%), fat necrosis (n=13, 7.6%), fibrosis (n=8, 4.7%), and combined (n=83, 48.8%). Residual malignancy found in 16.5% (n=28) of cases.No significant difference was noted between DWI SI at b 850 versus 1000 and b 1000 versus 1500 (P>0.05). Also no difference (P>0.05) was noted between the mean ADC values of residual malignant masses and post operative sequel of fibrosis and fat necrosis. ADC map showed low SI in 30% of cases. Statistical analysis yielded sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 92.8%, 75.6% and 78% for contrast MRI and 92.8%, 82.6% and 83.4% for DWI respectively.ConclusionDWI enhanced the diagnostic performance of MRI in differentiating residual malignancy from post operative changes