Accelerating convergence of a Separable Augmented Lagrangian Algorithm

We analyze the numerical behaviour of a separable Augmented Lagrangian algorithm with multiple scaling parameters, different parameters associated with each dualized coupling constraint as well as with each subproblem. We show that an optimal superlinear rate of convergence can be theoretically attained in the twice differentiable case and propose an adaptive scaling strategy with the same ideal convergence properties. Numerical tests performed on quadratic programs confirm that Adaptive Global Scaling subsumes former scaling strategies with one or many parameters

Upper capacity bounds of MIMO wireless systems through fading channels

This paper investigates the upper capacity bounds of MIMO systems with correlation and antenna selection techniques in general fading environments. With Antenna Selection techniques, the increased hardware complexity due to multiple antennas and large number of RF chains can be reduced to a substantial amount, retaining the diversity benefits of MIMO systems. The channel Correlation also affects the capacity of MIMO fading channels. Hence, to evaluate the upper bounds of capacity through fading channels, performance of MIMO systems is exemplified under Nakagami-m and Rayleigh fading channels while considering that the channel characteristics are known at a transmitter. The obtained results give an assessment to the better understanding to the effect of antenna selection and correlation on the capacity of MIMO channels, and how they can be used in different fading environments

Improving EEG Signal Classification Accuracy Using Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Networks

Electroencephalography (EEG) plays a vital role in recording brain activities and is integral to the development of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies. However, the limited availability and high variability of EEG signals present substantial challenges in creating reliable BCIs. To address this issue, we propose a practical solution drawing on the latest developments in deep learning and Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network (WGAN). The WGAN was trained on the BCI2000 dataset, consisting of around 1500 EEG recordings and 64 channels from 45 individuals. The generated EEG signals were evaluated via three classifiers yielding improved average accuracies. The quality of generated signals measured using Frechet Inception Distance (FID) yielded scores of 1.345 and 11.565 for eyes-open and closed respectively. Even without a spectral or spatial loss term, our WGAN model was able to emulate the spectral and spatial properties of the EEG training data. The WGAN-generated data mirrored the dominant alpha activity during closed-eye resting and high delta waves in the training data in its topographic map and power spectral density (PSD) plot. Our research testifies to the potential of WGANs in addressing the limited EEG data issue for BCI development by enhancing a small dataset to improve classifier generalizability.Comment: 11 pages, 2 tables, 3 figure

Growing an international Cultural Heritage Labs community

‘Cultural Heritage Labs’ in galleries, libraries, archives and museums around the world help researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators and innovators to work on, experiment, incubate and develop their ideas of working with digital content through competitions, awards, projects, exhibitions and other engagement activities. They do this by providing services and infrastructure to enable, facilitate and give access to their data both openly online and onsite for research, inspiration and enjoyment. In September 2018, the British Library Labs team organised a ‘Building Library Labs’' international workshop. The event provided the opportunity for colleagues that are planning or already have digital experimental ‘Labs’ to share knowledge, experiences and lessons learned. The workshop, which attracted over 40 institutions from North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa, demonstrated a clear need and enthusiasm for establishing an international support network. Within 6 months, a second international workshop was organised at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen in March 2019. In total we have brought together some 120 participants and an even wider community of around 250 people online. Some have been sharing their experiences in setting, using and running innovation labs, but there was a sizeable group of attendees who are planning to set up such labs and need advice and support in how to do this. The aim of this short paper is to present the journey and development of the International Labs community and outline our future activities

Flow-Induced Vibrations of foreign objects inside steam generator’s tube bundle.

Flow-induced vibrations of foreign objects were studied experimentally at University of Waterloo’s water flume facility. The main objective of this study was to understand the three-dimensional dynamic response of foreign objects inside normal triangle tube bundle and estimate semi-empirically the amount of time taken by these objects to cause critical wear damage to the tube bundle tubes. Based on the information obtained from previous Foreign Objects Search and Retrieval (FOSAR) activities , the dynamic response of wire and plate samples each with non-dimensional length L/D = 2.8, 3.4, 4.0 and 4.6 were studied at ReD = 36,257 and 42,682, and Tu = 2.0% and 7.5%, respectively. They were placed inside tube bundle in the shape of a hook, which allowed pitching motion, yawing motion and Z-direction translation motion. Using Archard’s semi-empirical wear equation and available wear coefficients, wear was estimated for tubes made from I600 and I690 material, due to vibration of foreign objects made from S409, S403 and S304 material. Experimentally recorded three-dimensional dynamic response of the foreign objects showed that these objects are undergoing stationary random vibration. The Z amplitude response is significantly higher than the response in X and Y direction. For all the foreign objects with measurable vibration response, the contribution of yaw component to the overall motion is negligible, meaning that foreign objects are exhibiting planar response. As a result, the dynamic interaction between foreign object and tube bundle tube surface will only be of sliding type. Additionally, it was observed that the planar response has a significant contribution from both pitching and Z translation motion component. The parametric study showed that the geometry of the foreign object affects its RMS amplitude, with wire samples having larger RMS amplitude than plate samples. The non-dimensional length (L/D) affects the response of the foreign object depending on its geometry. The RMS amplitude of wire samples did not show any significant change with the change in L/D, whereas only plate samples of L/D = 3.4 and 4.0 showed measurable vibration response. Moreover, both wire and plate samples are more likely to vibrate in high Reynolds number flow environment, and the amplitude of vibration decrease with increase in turbulence intensity for all foreign objects samples studied. Comparing current results with the results from previous studies showed that even small changes in the foreign object’s geometry could result in significant variation in RMS amplitude. Wear analysis showed that both wire and plate samples had a potential to do critical wear damage (i.e. wear out 40% of tube wall thickness) within four year period as the flow velocity is increased. Influence of material combination on foreign object related wear is more significant in low flow velocity environment. Geometry of the foreign object also affects the critical wear time with wear due to plate samples being more aggressive than wire samples. Additionally, it was shown that foreign objects vibrating in high turbulence intensity environment had higher critical wear time. Similar to material combination, effect of geometry and turbulence intensity becomes progressively more significant as the velocity decreases. Based on the results obtained in this study, during FOSAR activities, priority should be given to foreign objects found in high flow velocity and low turbulence intensity environment, since these objects are more likely to vibrate and cause critical wear damage within four year time period

Fast Optimal Transport through Sliced Wasserstein Generalized Geodesics

Wasserstein distance (WD) and the associated optimal transport plan have been proven useful in many applications where probability measures are at stake. In this paper, we propose a new proxy of the squared WD, coined min-SWGG, that is based on the transport map induced by an optimal one-dimensional projection of the two input distributions. We draw connections between min-SWGG and Wasserstein generalized geodesics in which the pivot measure is supported on a line. We notably provide a new closed form for the exact Wasserstein distance in the particular case of one of the distributions supported on a line allowing us to derive a fast computational scheme that is amenable to gradient descent optimization. We show that min-SWGG is an upper bound of WD and that it has a complexity similar to as Sliced-Wasserstein, with the additional feature of providing an associated transport plan. We also investigate some theoretical properties such as metricity, weak convergence, computational and topological properties. Empirical evidences support the benefits of min-SWGG in various contexts, from gradient flows, shape matching and image colorization, among others.Comment: Main: 10 pages,4 Figures Tables Supplementary: 19 pages, 13 Figures ,1 Table. Sumbitted to Neurips 202

Urbanization and Economic Growth in Punjab (India): An Empirical Analysis

In recent decades, urbanization in Punjab is occurring rapidly by reducing the share of agricultural activity and increasing rural to urban migration. In this perspective, the present paper using Census data describes the recent past trends and patterns of Punjab’s urbanization from 1961 to 2011. It investigates the relevant determinants of urbanization in Punjab. Finally, it measures the impact of urbanization on urban economic growth in Punjab. The empirical results show that the growth rate of urban population is higher than that of the total population in Punjab. Urban agglomerations and urban areas of in Punjab also are increasing rapidly. Most importantly, it has been seen that urban population in Punjab is concentrated in an around Class I cities than other class of cities/towns. The OLS regression results show that road distance to sub division (or nearest city population of 1 lakh and more) has a negative effect on urbanization in Punjab measured by size of city population. On the other hand, city-wise total road length has a positive impact on urbanization in Punjab. In addition to that, city-wise total number of schools, colleges and electricity connections has a positive impact on urbanization in Punjab measured by city population density. The paper also finds the positive link between urbanization measured by size of district urban population and urban economic growth measured by district domestic product in Punjab. Finally, the paper suggests several policy options for planned urbanization in Punjab for not only to improve economic growth in Punjab but also in India as well

Comparison of obstetric outcomes of pregnancies after donor oocyte IVF: Three-arm age-matched retrospective cohort study

Background: Oocyte donation has become widely used as a treatment option for infertile couples. The few available studies report conflicting evidence about the risk of hypertensive disorders in donor oocyte pregnancies after adjusting for maternal age and it is unclear whether pregnancy complications and obstetric risks are due to oocyte donation or to confounding factors such as maternal age. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare obstetric complications between women who conceived after oocyte donation and age-matched control women with spontaneous conception and self oocyte IVF conception.Methods : The present study comprised of women aged 20-45 years conceived from oocyte donation (n=104) between 1/12/2010 to 15/10/2017. Two age-matched control groups—Self oocyte IVF (n=150) and the other containing women who conceived spontaneously (n=312) were used for comparison of obstetric and perinatal outcomes.Results: Mean maternal age was statistically significantly higher in the Donor oocyte IVF group as compared to  self oocyte ivf and spontaneous conception group. Miscarriage, first trimester bleeding, pregnancy induced hypertension and gestational diabetes mellitus was significantly higher in Donor oocyte IVF group as compared to self-oocyte and spontaneous conception group (p=0.001). Using multiple logistic regression analysis age class adjusted PIH and GDM  incidence was significantly higher in donor oocyte group as compared to spontaneous conception (P=0.010).There was significant variation in perinatal outcomes between the three groups.Conclusion: Oocyte donation should be treated as an independent risk factor for miscarriage, first trimester bleeding, hypertensive disorder and gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnancy

Predictors of oocyte yield in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation IVF/ICSI cycles: a retrospective analysis in a tertiary care centre

Background: The most important predictor of oocyte yield in ART cycles is female age, but other biochemical and ultrasonographic markers done before controlled ovarian stimulation may predict the oocyte yield in women undergoing COS in IVF cycles.Methods: The main aim of the study was to evaluate ovarian reserve markers before COS which can help to individualise treatment protocols to achieve optimal response and minimise risk of complications. It is retrospective observational study, 1924 women undergoing COS in IVF/ICSI cycles in tertiary care centre in India, from January 2010 to June 2017 were included. Results: Univariate analysis showed that age, D2FSH, AMH, D2AFC and E2 on the day of trigger were significant predictors of oocyte yield (p7.82 IU/ml was predictor of poor response (sensitivity 78.13%, specificity 79.53%).Conclusions: A combination of predictors demonstrated superior ability of predicting oocyte yield after controlled ovarian stimulation than compared with any single endocrine marker. D2 FSH though thought to be obsolete, but we found significant predictive ability in terms of oocyte yield in the Indian population