Examining Granular Computing from a Modeling Perspective

In this paper, we use a set of unified components to conduct granular modeling for problem solving paradigms in several fields of computing. Each identified component may represent a potential research direction in the field of granular computing. A granular computing model for information analysis is proposed. The model may suggest that granular computing is an instrument for implementing perception based computing based on numeric computing. In addition, a novel granular language modeling technique is proposed for information extraction from web pages. This paper also suggests that the study of data mining in the framework of granular computing may address the issues of interpretability and usage of discovered patterns

Biomedical Relationship Extraction from Literature Based on Bio-Semantic Token Subsequences

Relationship Extraction (RE) from biomedical literature is an important and challenging problem in both text mining and bioinformatics. Although various approaches have been proposed to extract protein?protein interaction types, their accuracy rates leave a large room for further exploring. In this paper, two supervised learning algorithms based on newly defined bio-semantic token subsequence are proposed for multi-class biomedical relationship classification. The first approach calculates a bio-semantic token subsequence kernel , whereas the second one explicitly extracts weighted features from bio-semantic token subsequences. The two proposed approaches outperform several alternatives reported in literature on multi-class protein?protein interaction classification

Hypotheses Generation as Supervised Link Discovery with Automated Class Labeling on Large-scale Biomedical Concept Networks

Computational approaches to generate hypotheses from biomedical literature have been studied intensively in recent years. Nevertheless, it still remains a challenge to automatically discover novel, cross-silo biomedical hypotheses from large-scale literature repositories. In order to address this challenge, we first model a biomedical literature repository as a comprehensive network of biomedical concepts and formulate hypotheses generation as a process of link discovery on the concept network. We extract the relevant information from the biomedical literature corpus and generate a concept network and concept-author map on a cluster using Map-Reduce framework. We extract a set of heterogeneous features such as random walk based features, neighborhood features and common author features. The potential number of links to consider for the possibility of link discovery is large in our concept network and to address the scalability problem, the features from a concept network are extracted using a cluster with Map-Reduce framework. We further model link discovery as a classification problem carried out on a training data set automatically extracted from two network snapshots taken in two consecutive time duration. A set of heterogeneous features, which cover both topological and semantic features derived from the concept network, have been studied with respect to their impacts on the accuracy of the proposed supervised link discovery process. A case study of hypotheses generation based on the proposed method has been presented in the paper

Heat Transfer Studies in Tube Banks with Integral Wake Splitters

This paper reports the findings from heat transfer studies with the presence of extended surfaces from tube banks which are termed as integral wake splitter plates. Employing this type of fins, investigations on heat transfer characteristics on a single circular tube as well as tube banks were carried out in cross flow of air in a rectangular duct. Experiments were carried out in the Reynolds number range 5 x 103 to 105 on a single cylinder of various splitter length-to-tube diameter ratios, L/D = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. Further, tube banks consisting of 12 rows and 3 tubes per row in equilateral triangle arrangements with transverse pitch to diameter ratio, a = 2, were also investigated, the banks being made up of plain tubes or tubes with splitters. Heat transfer characteristics were studied for tubes with L/D = 0, 0.5 and 1.0 under constant heat flux conditions. Tube banks with L/D = 1.0 yielded the highest heat transfer rates. Findings from this work may be adopted to be utilized in various industrial applications such as economizer of a steam boiler, air-conditioning coils or waste heat recovery systems

On the adverse influence of higher statistical moments of flow maldistribution on the performance of a heat exchanger

a b s t r a c t The work presented in this paper investigates the degradation effect of flow maldistribution on the thermal and hydraulic performance of a heat exchanger. A new mathematical model is derived based on Taylor series expansion to describe the contribution of each of the four statistical moments of distribution on the degradation problem. It is found that the first two moments, i.e. mean and standard deviation, have the highest effect on the performance degradation. Subsequent higher moments will give declining degradation effects until the fourth moment, kurtosis, which has no significant effect. Maldistribution with low standard deviation and high positive skew will give low thermal deteriorations, though a distribution with negative skew is preferred for low hydraulic performance losses. The design of the heat exchanger could be modified to give these favourable moments which would minimize the degradation effects of the maldistribution. Consequently, any effort to modify the flow distribution profile should be focused on optimizing the first three moments

Heat transfer in a bank of tubes with integral wake splitters

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.The paper deals with the investigations on heat transfer characteristics of a circular tube as well as tube banks with integral downstream splitter plates in cross flow of air in a rectangular duct. The experiments were carried out in the Reynolds number range 5 x 103 to 105 on single plain cylinder and single cylinder of various splitter length-to-tube diameter ratios, L/D = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. Further, tube banks consisting of 12 rows and 3 tubes per row in equilateral triangle arrangement with transverse pitch to diameter ratio, a = 2, were also investigated, the banks being made up of plain tubes or tubes with splitters. Heat transfer characteristics were studied for tubes with L/D = 0, 0.5 and 1.0 under constant heat flux conditions. Tube banks with L/D = 1.0 yielded the highest heat transfer rates. They were also superior to single tubes with L/D = 1.0.cs201

Flow characteristics of 3-D turning diffuser using particle image velocimetry

It is often necessary in fluid flow systems to simultaneously decelerate and turn the flow. This can be achieved by employing turning diffusers in the fluid flow systems. The flow through a turning diffuser is complex, apparently due to the expansion and inflexion introduced along the direction of flow. The flow characteristics of 3-D turning diffuser by means of varying inflow Reynolds number are presently investigated. The flow characteristics within the outlet cross-section and longitudinal section were examined respectively by the 3-D stereoscopic PIV and 2-D PIV. The flow uniformity is affected with the increase of inflow Reynolds number due to the dispersion of the core flow throughout the outlet cross-section. It becomes even worse with the presence of secondary flow, 22% to 27% of the mean outlet velocity. The flow separation takes place within the inner wall region at the point very close to the outlet edge and the secondary flow vortex occurs dominantly within half part of the outlet cross-section

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries