Fast Stochastic Hierarchical Bayesian MAP for Tomographic Imaging

Any image recovery algorithm attempts to achieve the highest quality reconstruction in a timely manner. The former can be achieved in several ways, among which are by incorporating Bayesian priors that exploit natural image tendencies to cue in on relevant phenomena. The Hierarchical Bayesian MAP (HB-MAP) is one such approach which is known to produce compelling results albeit at a substantial computational cost. We look to provide further analysis and insights into what makes the HB-MAP work. While retaining the proficient nature of HB-MAP's Type-I estimation, we propose a stochastic approximation-based approach to Type-II estimation. The resulting algorithm, fast stochastic HB-MAP (fsHBMAP), takes dramatically fewer operations while retaining high reconstruction quality. We employ our fsHBMAP scheme towards the problem of tomographic imaging and demonstrate that fsHBMAP furnishes promising results when compared to many competing methods.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figures, Conference (Accepted to Asilomar 2017

A production function study of manufacturing establishments of France, India, Israel Japan and Yugoslavia

This thesis is an empirical inquiry into the nature of production functions of manufacturing establishments of France, India, Israel Japan and Yugoslavia. It uses the difference between the nature of economic and technical variables to review several forms of production functions in the literature. Fifteen production relations are selected for a cross section analysis of the data of each country. Various criteria of grouping the establishment data are examined. It is found that meaningful results can be obtained from mixed establishment data which can represent the manufacturing sector of a country. It is found that in international comparisons based on production function analysis, nations are more relevant than industries or groups of manufacturing establishments. The intrinsic features of the data are best revealed when the production relation contains at least one suitable economic and one suitable technical variable on the explanatory side. By grouping the data according to various criteria and applying statistical tests, it is shown that there is homogeneity between groups of establishments within each country and that this homogeneity is revealed in almost all cases when the grouping of the data is based on a variable which is not a dependent variable in the production relation used in the analysis

"Det var jag som var den där vuxna och han var ett barn" : En kvalitativ studie om hur det är att vara ett vuxet barn till en alkoholist

Syftet med vårt lärdomsprov är att undersöka hur uppväxten i en alkoholistfamilj har påverkat det vuxna barnet. Vi undersöker även vilka konsekvenser det vuxna barnet fått av uppväxten, vilket förhållningssätt det vuxna barnet har till alkohol och hur relationen mellan det vuxna barnet och den missbrukande föräldern ser ut. I teoridelen definieras alkoholismen; vad är alkoholism, vem kan bli alkoholist och vad är skillnaden mellan en alkoholist och en storkonsument. Vidare fastställs missbrukets effekt på familjen, samt barnens roller i en alkoholistfamilj. Även typiska karaktärsdrag och konsekvenser i vuxenlivet tas upp. I undersökningen har vi använt oss av kvalitativ undersökning. Vi har intervjuat fyra personer som har en pappa som är alkoholist. I resultatet framkommer både likheter och olikheter mellan vuxna barn till alkoholister, men den gemensamma nämnaren är konsekvenser i vuxenlivet för alla barn som levt med en alkoholiserad förälder.The aim of our thesis is to investigate how growing up with an alcoholic parent has affected the adult child. We also examine the impact on the adult child as a result of growing up in a family where one parent is or was an alcoholic, what kind of attitude the adult child has to alcohol and how the relationship between the adult child and the alcoholic parent has been affected. In our theoretical part, we define alcoholism; what is alcoholism, who can become an alcoholic and what is the difference between an alcoholic and a big consumer. Further down we establish the impact on the family and the children's roles in the family. We also cover the typical characteristics and consequences in adult life. In the survey, we used a qualitative research. We have interviewed four people who have a father who is an alcoholic. The result shows both similarities and differences between adult children of alcoholics, but the common denominator is that all children of alcoholics are affected in adulthood

ParIC : A Family of Parallel Incomplete Cholesky Preconditioners

A class of parallel incomplete factorization preconditionings for the solution of large linear systems is investigated. The approach may be regarded as a generalized domain decomposition method. Adjacent subdomains have to communicate during the setting up of the precon­ ditioner, and during the application of the preconditioner. Overlap is not necessary to achieve high performance. Fill­in levels are considered in a global way. If necessary, the technique may be implemented as a global re­ordering of the unknowns. Experimental results are reported for two­dimensional problems

Role of cardiac energetics in aortic stenosis disease progression: identifying the high-risk metabolic phenotype

Background: Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is associated with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and cardiac metabolic alterations with evidence of steatosis and impaired myocardial energetics. Despite this common phenotype, there is an unexplained and wide individual heterogeneity in the degree of hypertrophy and progression to myocardial fibrosis and heart failure. We sought to determine whether the cardiac metabolic state may underpin this variability. Methods: We recruited 74 asymptomatic participants with AS and 13 healthy volunteers. Cardiac energetics were measured using phosphorus spectroscopy to define the myocardial phosphocreatine to adenosine triphosphate ratio. Myocardial lipid content was determined using proton spectroscopy. Cardiac function was assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance cine imaging. Results: Phosphocreatine/adenosine triphosphate was reduced early and significantly across the LV wall thickness quartiles (Q2, 1.50 [1.21–1.71] versus Q1, 1.64 [1.53–1.94]) with a progressive decline with increasing disease severity (Q4, 1.48 [1.18–1.70]; P=0.02). Myocardial triglyceride content levels were overall higher in all the quartiles with a significant increase seen across the AV pressure gradient quartiles (Q2, 1.36 [0.86–1.98] versus Q1, 1.03 [0.81–1.56]; P=0.034). While all AS groups had evidence of subclinical LV dysfunction with impaired strain parameters, impaired systolic longitudinal strain was related to the degree of energetic impairment (r=0.219; P=0.03). Phosphocreatine/adenosine triphosphate was not only an independent predictor of LV wall thickness (r=−0.20; P=0.04) but also strongly associated with myocardial fibrosis (r=−0.24; P=0.03), suggesting that metabolic changes play a role in disease progression. The metabolic and functional parameters showed comparable results when graded by clinical severity of AS. Conclusions: A gradient of myocardial energetic deficit and steatosis exists across the spectrum of hypertrophied AS hearts, and these metabolic changes precede irreversible LV remodeling and subclinical dysfunction. As such, cardiac metabolism may play an important and potentially causal role in disease progression

Tribbles 2 pseudokinase confers enzalutamide resistance in prostate cancer by promoting lineage plasticity

Enzalutamide, a second-generation antiandrogen, is commonly prescribed for the therapy of advanced prostate cancer, but enzalutamide-resistant, lethal, or incurable disease invariably develops. To understand the molecular mechanism(s) behind enzalutamide resistance, here, we comprehensively analyzed a range of prostate tumors and clinically relevant models by gene expression array, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot, which revealed that enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer cells and tumors overexpress the pseudokinase, Tribbles 2 (TRIB2). Inhibition of TRIB2 decreases the viability of enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer cells, suggesting a critical role of TRIB2 in these cells. Moreover, the overexpression of TRIB2 confers resistance in prostate cancer cells to clinically relevant doses of enzalutamide, and this resistance is lost upon inhibition of TRIB2. Interestingly, we found that TRIB2 downregulates the luminal markers androgen receptor and cytokeratin 8 in prostate cancer cells but upregulates the neuronal transcription factor BRN2 (Brain-2) and the stemness factor SOX2 (SRY-box 2) to induce neuroendocrine characteristics. Finally, we show that inhibition of either TRIB2 or its downstream targets, BRN2 or SOX2, resensitizes resistant prostate cancer cells to enzalutamide. Thus, TRIB2 emerges as a potential new regulator of transdifferentiation that confers enzalutamide resistance in prostate cancer cells via a mechanism involving increased cellular plasticity and lineage switching