Training Big Random Forests with Little Resources

Without access to large compute clusters, building random forests on large datasets is still a challenging problem. This is, in particular, the case if fully-grown trees are desired. We propose a simple yet effective framework that allows to efficiently construct ensembles of huge trees for hundreds of millions or even billions of training instances using a cheap desktop computer with commodity hardware. The basic idea is to consider a multi-level construction scheme, which builds top trees for small random subsets of the available data and which subsequently distributes all training instances to the top trees' leaves for further processing. While being conceptually simple, the overall efficiency crucially depends on the particular implementation of the different phases. The practical merits of our approach are demonstrated using dense datasets with hundreds of millions of training instances.Comment: 9 pages, 9 Figure

Radiative stability of neutrino-mass textures

Neutrino-mass textures proposed at high-scales are known to be unstable against radiative corrections especially for nearly degenerate eigen values. Within the renormalization group constraints we find a mechanism in a class of gauge theories which guarantees reproduction of any high-scale texture at low energies with radiative stability. We also show how the mechanism explains solar and atmospheric neutrino anomalies through the bimaximal texture at high scale.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, 1 Postscript fi

Enhanced production of cellulases by various fungal cultures in solid state fermentation of cassava waste

Cellulases are a group of hydrolytic enzymes capable of degrading cellulose to the smaller glucose units. These enzymes are produced by fungi and bacteria. The solid waste of sago industry using cassava tubers was fermented by Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus and Rhizopus stolonifer in solid state fermentation. The cassava waste contained dry wt of 13.4% cellulose and 2.9% protein by dry weight. The highest cellulase activity was observed on the 10th day in R. stolonifer mediated fermentation. R. stolonifer was more efficient in bioconverting cassava waste into fungal protein (9%) compared to A. niger and A. terreus

Achieving Efficient Strong Scaling with PETSc using Hybrid MPI/OpenMP Optimisation

The increasing number of processing elements and decreas- ing memory to core ratio in modern high-performance platforms makes efficient strong scaling a key requirement for numerical algorithms. In order to achieve efficient scalability on massively parallel systems scientific software must evolve across the entire stack to exploit the multiple levels of parallelism exposed in modern architectures. In this paper we demonstrate the use of hybrid MPI/OpenMP parallelisation to optimise parallel sparse matrix-vector multiplication in PETSc, a widely used scientific library for the scalable solution of partial differential equations. Using large matrices generated by Fluidity, an open source CFD application code which uses PETSc as its linear solver engine, we evaluate the effect of explicit communication overlap using task-based parallelism and show how to further improve performance by explicitly load balancing threads within MPI processes. We demonstrate a significant speedup over the pure-MPI mode and efficient strong scaling of sparse matrix-vector multiplication on Fujitsu PRIMEHPC FX10 and Cray XE6 systems

Unusual landings of deepwater bandfish along Chennai coast

Large volumes of Acanthocepola Bleeker, 1874 landing by mechanized single day trawlers and motorized fibre glass boats were observed at Chennai Fisheries Harbour and Kovalam Landing Centre in Chennai respectively during the month of August and September, 2019. In single day mechanised trawlers operated in 12km north off Chennai at a depth of 18m total landings between 6th and 13th August,2019 were an estimated 1200 kg. The size range was 270-470mm with dominant mode at 340-360mm. The individual fish weight ranged between 57-112g with a mean weight of 78g

AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF DRUG UTILISATION PATTERN AND PHARMACOVIGILANCE OF ANTIPSYCHOTICS

Objective: Drug Utilization Research (DUR) was defined by the WHO in 1977 as The marketing, distribution, prescription, and use of drugs in a society, with special emphasis on the resulting medical, social and economic implicationsâ€. The main aim of conducting drug utilisation research is to facilitate rational use of drugs I,e the prescription of a well documented drug together with correct information at an affordable cost. Psychiatric disorders form an important public health priority among which psychotic disorders are the chief contributors to disability adjusted life years [DALYs] and are associated with high levels of health service utilization and treatment cost. Without the knowledge of how drugs are being prescribed and used it is difficult to initiate a discussion on rational drug use or to suggest measures to improve prescribing patterns. To analyse the drug utilization pattern by using standard parameters.Methods: After getting approval from the institutional human ethics committee and consent from the patients willing to participate in this study, a total of 79 prescriptions containing atleast one antipsychotic drug was collected in one year period from patients attending psychiatric OPD. The patients were given a one month follow up and the adverse effects which arise out of therapy are noted and analysed.Results: Out of the 79 participants, 59.49% were males and 40.51% were females. Regarding the morbidity distribution, Schizophrenia contributes to 50.63% and bipolar disorder contributes to 29.11% of diagnosis. Based on the analysis by WHO/INRUD standard guidelines, the average number of drugs and antipsychotic drugs per prescription were 3.32 and 1.38 respectively. The utilsation of antipsychotic drugs assessed by PDD/DDD ratio is equal to one for haloperidol and aripiprazole while it is less than one for other antipsychotic drugs. The adverse effects commonly encountered while treating psychotic cases are sedation, extra pyramidal symptoms, weight gain and anticholinergic side effects like constipation and urinary retention.Conclusion: The age and morbidity distribution of the participants are similar to the outcomes of many studies. The antipsychotic drugs haloperidol and aripiprazole are utilised appropriately while there is under utilisation of other antipsychotics. The volume of use of haloperidol, olanzapine benzodiazepines should be judicious considering their adverse effects

In vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of bark extracts of Bauhinia purpurea

Bark extracts of Bauhinia purpurea were phytochemically analyzed and evaluated for antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The phytochemical analysis of the bark extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, triterpenes and carbohydrates. While most of them were present in methanolic and aqueous extracts, one or a few of them were present in other solvent extracts. Among different solvent extracts, aqueous extract exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity. It showed strong antibacterial activity against Gram positive bacterial strains like Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Gram negative strains like Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia and antifungal activity against Candida albicans. While methanolic extract showed moderate to strong antibacterial activity against B. subtilis, E. coli and K. pneumonia, the extracts of hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate did not show any anti bacterial or antifungal activity against the tested fungal and bacterial strains. Antioxidant activity of the bark extracts were evaluated in terms of inhibition of free radicals by 2, 2’-diphenly-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Aqueous extract followed by methanolic extract exhibited strong to moderate antioxidant activity. The antioxidant property and antimicrobial activity of the extracts of B. purpurea against the tested microbial strains therefore, supports that there is scientific basis for their utilization in traditional medicine for wound healing and also in treatment of some infectious diseases.Key words: Bauhinia purpurea, phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant property

Mortality of olive ridley turtles during nesting season along Chennai coast

Sporadic nesting activities of olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) are often reported along the Chennai coast in northern Tamil Nadu. These turtles approach the beaches for nesting in the Tamil month of Panguni and have thus derived the local name “Panguni aamai”. As in every year, with the onset of annual nesting season in early 2017, mortality of turtles along the Chennai coast was recorded. From 02.01.2017 to 07.01.2017, a total of seven adult turtle carcasses were observed in 20km stretch of beach between Marina beach and Kanathur Reddykuppam

Effectiveness of non-invasive ventilation in patients with type 2 respiratory failure

Background: Assess the use of non-invasive ventilation as an alternative way for ventilation in acute respiratory failure, determine factors that can predict the successful use of NIV, evaluate factors hindering success of NIV.Methods: Thirty hospitalised patients fulfilling inclusion criteria, diagnosed with Type II Respiratory Failure on ABG were recruited after obtaining an informed written consent. Complete history and detailed physical examination were followed by routine investigations.Results: Comparison of the pH on admission with the pH after 1st hour of NIV, the latter showed statistically significant improvement. Drop in PaCo2 and rise in PaO2 on ABG from admission and after stopping NIV was statistically significant. Patients with lower MMRC grade and severe cough showed significant improvement in pH, however patient with higher emergency visits and past hospitalisation showed less improvement in pH, after 1 hour of NIV therapy. A total 4 patients were intubated, with mean pH of 7.22, 3 out of them had higher emergency visits, 2 out of them had ICU admission.Conclusions: NIV treatment for COPD with type II respiratory failure avoids intubation, reduces complications and should be considered as first line therapy instead of ET intubation. Lower mMRC grade, lesser hospitalizations, lesser emergency visits, higher BMI, symptoms like cough, can have a positive predictive value for the outcome of NIV