NeRN -- Learning Neural Representations for Neural Networks

Neural Representations have recently been shown to effectively reconstruct a wide range of signals from 3D meshes and shapes to images and videos. We show that, when adapted correctly, neural representations can be used to directly represent the weights of a pre-trained convolutional neural network, resulting in a Neural Representation for Neural Networks (NeRN). Inspired by coordinate inputs of previous neural representation methods, we assign a coordinate to each convolutional kernel in our network based on its position in the architecture, and optimize a predictor network to map coordinates to their corresponding weights. Similarly to the spatial smoothness of visual scenes, we show that incorporating a smoothness constraint over the original network's weights aids NeRN towards a better reconstruction. In addition, since slight perturbations in pre-trained model weights can result in a considerable accuracy loss, we employ techniques from the field of knowledge distillation to stabilize the learning process. We demonstrate the effectiveness of NeRN in reconstructing widely used architectures on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and ImageNet. Finally, we present two applications using NeRN, demonstrating the capabilities of the learned representations

The influence of an accredited pediatric emergency medicine program on the management of pediatric pain and anxiety

Abstract Background The emergency department (ED) setting is an environment where children may experience intense physical pain and emotional stress. This study sought to determine the availability of pain and anxiety management practices in all Israeli emergency departments which accept children, specifically looking for differences between accredited pediatric emergency medicine departments and others. Methods A cross-sectional survey of all Israeli emergency departments that accept children was performed. One person at each institution was approached to complete the survey. Data were collected between May and June 2016 using an electronic survey tool. Results Responses were collected from 21 of 22 hospitals (95% response rate). Commonly available in all types of emergency departments were nurse ordered analgesia, medical clowns (in 95% of the hospitals), topical analgesia and oral sucrose solution. The accredited pediatric emergency medicine departments showed a tendency for more frequent use of all pharmacologic methods for pain and anxiety relief, specifically oxycodone and ketamine. Conclusions Overall, Israeli emergency departments have similar access to pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic pain and anxiety management strategies in children, but gaps still exist, especially where not all attending physicians are pediatric emergency medicine trained. We suggest that certified pediatric emergency medicine physicians should advise all emergency departments that accept children to promote the use of the various methods of pain and anxiety reduction

Enhanced Optical Confinement Enriching the Power Conversion Efficiency of Integrated 3D Grating Organic Solar Cell

In this paper, we examine the impact of three-dimensional grating layers embedded at selected locations in an organic solar cell structure to obtain enhanced efficiency. The design, simulations, and optimizations were carried out using an in-house tool based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method developed on the MATLAB R2019a platform. An optimal organic solar cell structure design with a top grating layer exhibited an increase of 7.47% in the short-circuit current density compared to an organic solar cell structure with a smooth top layer. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) increase was mainly due to increased light confinement in the thin absorbing layer. Adding an embedded grating layer in the absorption layer resulted in a significant increase in the absorptance spectral bandwidth, where the short-circuit current density increased by 10.88%. In addition, the grating cells yielded a substantial improvement in the cell’s conical absorptance since the existence of a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) in the back metal gratings increases the confinement properties. Further, the effect of a pyramid-shaped embedded grating array was a slight improvement in the PCE compared to the rectangular-shaped grating arrays. We showed that a pyramid-grating can act as a nano black-body layer, increasing the absorption for a wide range of azimuthal and polar incident angles