3,986 research outputs found
An FPGA smart camera implementation of segmentation models for drone wildfire imagery
Wildfires represent one of the most relevant natural disasters worldwide, due
to their impact on various societal and environmental levels. Thus, a
significant amount of research has been carried out to investigate and apply
computer vision techniques to address this problem. One of the most promising
approaches for wildfire fighting is the use of drones equipped with visible and
infrared cameras for the detection, monitoring, and fire spread assessment in a
remote manner but in close proximity to the affected areas. However,
implementing effective computer vision algorithms on board is often prohibitive
since deploying full-precision deep learning models running on GPU is not a
viable option, due to their high power consumption and the limited payload a
drone can handle. Thus, in this work, we posit that smart cameras, based on
low-power consumption field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), in tandem with
binarized neural networks (BNNs), represent a cost-effective alternative for
implementing onboard computing on the edge. Herein we present the
implementation of a segmentation model applied to the Corsican Fire Database.
We optimized an existing U-Net model for such a task and ported the model to an
edge device (a Xilinx Ultra96-v2 FPGA). By pruning and quantizing the original
model, we reduce the number of parameters by 90%. Furthermore, additional
optimizations enabled us to increase the throughput of the original model from
8 frames per second (FPS) to 33.63 FPS without loss in the segmentation
performance: our model obtained 0.912 in Matthews correlation coefficient
(MCC),0.915 in F1 score and 0.870 in Hafiane quality index (HAF), and
comparable qualitative segmentation results when contrasted to the original
full-precision model. The final model was integrated into a low-cost FPGA,
which was used to implement a neural network accelerator.Comment: This paper has been accepted at the 22nd Mexican International
Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI 2023
An increase in erythromycin resistance in methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus from blood correlates with the use of macrolide/lincosamide/streptogramin antibiotics. EARS-Net Spain (2004â2020)
Objectives: To describe and analyse erythromycin resistance trends in blood isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (EARS-Net Spain, 2004â2020) and the association of these trends with the consumption of macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B (MLSB) antibiotics. To assess molecular changes that could be involved in erythromycin resistance trends by whole genome analysis of representative isolates. Materials and methods: We collected antibiotic susceptibility data for all firstblood S. aureus isolates in patients from 47 Spanish hospitals according to EARS-Net criteria. MLSB antibiotic consumption was obtained from the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices (2008â2020). We sequenced 137 representative isolates for core genome multilocus sequence typing, resistome and virulome analysis. Results: For the 36,612 invasive S. aureus isolates, methicillin resistance decreased from 26.4% in 2004 to 22.4% in 2020. Erythromycin resistance in methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) increased from 13.6% in 2004 to 28.9% in 2020 (p < 0.001); however, it decreased from 68.7 to 61.8% (p < 0.0001) in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Total consumption of MLSB antibiotics increased from 2.72 defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day (DID) in 2014 to 3.24 DID in 2016. By WGS, the macrolide resistance genes detected were erm (59.8%), msrA (46%), and mphC (45.2%). The erm genes were more prevalent in MSSA (44/57, 77.2%) than in MRSA (38/80, 47.5%). Most of the erm genes identified in MSSA after 2013 differed from the predominant ermC gene (17/22, 77.3%), largely because ermT was significantly associated with MSSA after 2013 (11/29, 37.9%). All 13 ermT isolates in this study, except one, belonged to ST398 and came from 10 hospitals and six Spanish provinces. Conclusion: The significant increase in erythromycin resistance in blood MSSA correlated with the consumption of the MLSB antibiotics in Spain. These preliminary data seem support the hypothesis that the human ST398 MSSA clade with ermT-mediated resistance to erythromycin may be involved in this trend.This research was supported by CIBERâConsorcio Centro de InvestigaciĂłn BiomĂŠdica en Red (CB21/13/00095, CB21/13/00006, CB21/13/00054, CB21/13/00068, CB21/13/00084, CB21/13/00099 groups of CIBERINFEC; CB06/06/0058 group of CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn and UniĂłn Europea-NextGenerationEU. This research was also supported by Personalized and precision medicine grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (MePRAM Project, PMP22/00092), and by the Antibiotic Resistance and Staphylococcus aureus Surveillance Programs of the National Center for Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III.S
Differences in pharmaceutical consumption and expenses between immigrant and Spanish-born populations in Lleida, (Spain): A 6-months prospective observational study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are few studies comparing pharmaceutical costs and the use of medications between immigrants and the autochthonous population in Spain. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether there are differences in pharmaceutical consumption and expenses between immigrant and Spanish-born populations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prospective observational study in 1,630 immigrants and 4,154 Spanish-born individuals visited by fifteen primary care physicians at five public Primary Care Clinics (PCC) during 2005 in the city of Lleida, Catalonia (Spain). Data on pharmaceutical consumption and expenses was obtained from a comprehensive computerized data-collection system. Multinomial regression models were used to estimate relative risks and confidence intervals of pharmaceutical expenditure, adjusting for age and sex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The percentage of individuals that purchased medications during a six-month period was 53.7% in the immigrant group and 79.2% in the autochthonous group. Pharmaceutical expenses and consumption were lower in immigrants than in autochthonous patients in all age groups and both genders. The relative risks of being in the highest quartile of expenditure, for Spanish-born versus immigrants, were 6.9, 95% CI = (4.2, 11.5) in men and 5.3, 95% CI = (3.5, 8.0) in women, with the reference category being not having any pharmaceutical expenditure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Pharmaceutical expenses are much lower for immigrants with respect to autochthonous patients, both in the percentage of prescriptions filled at pharmacies and the number of containers of medication obtained, as well as the prices of the medications used. Future studies should explore which factors explain the observed differences in pharmaceutical expenses and if these disparities produce health inequalities.</p
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
Acupuncture and rehabilitation of the painful shoulder: study protocol of an ongoing multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial [ISRCTN28687220]
BACKGROUND: Although the painful shoulder is one of the most common dysfunctions of the locomotor apparatus, and is frequently treated both at primary healthcare centres and by specialists, little evidence has been reported to support or refute the effectiveness of the treatments most commonly applied. According to the bibliography reviewed, physiotherapy, which is the most common action taken to alleviate this problem, has not yet been proven to be effective, because of the small size of sample groups and the lack of methodological rigor in the papers published on the subject. No reviews have been made to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating this complaint, but in recent years controlled randomised studies have been made and these demonstrate an increasing use of acupuncture to treat pathologies of the soft tissues of the shoulder. In this study, we seek to evaluate the effectiveness of physiotherapy applied jointly with acupuncture, compared with physiotherapy applied with a TENS-placebo, in the treatment of painful shoulder caused by subacromial syndrome (rotator cuff tendinitis and subacromial bursitis). METHODS/DESIGN: Randomised controlled multicentre study with blind evaluation by an independent observer and blind, independent analysis. A study will be made of 465 patients referred to the rehabilitation services at participating healthcare centres, belonging to the regional public health systems of Andalusia and Murcia, these patients presenting symptoms of painful shoulder and a diagnosis of subacromial syndrome (rotator cuff tendinitis and subacromial bursitis). The patients will be randomised into two groups: 1) experimental (acupuncture + physiotherapy); 2) control (TENS-placebo + physiotherapy); the administration of rescue medication will also be allowed. The treatment period will have a duration of three weeks. The main result variable will be the change produced on Constant's Shoulder Function Assessment (SFA) Scale; as secondary variables, we will record the changes in diurnal pain intensity on a visual analogue scale (VAS), nocturnal pain intensity on the VAS, doses of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) taken during the study period, credibility scale for the treatment, degree of improvement perceived by the patient and degree of improvement perceived by the evaluator. A follow up examination will be made at 3, 6 and 12 months after the study period has ended. Two types of population will be considered for analysis: per protocol and per intention to treat. DISCUSSION: The discussion will take into account the limitations of the study, together with considerations such as the choice of a simple, safe method to treat this shoulder complaint, the choice of the control group, and the blinding of the patients, evaluators and those responsible for carrying out the final analysis
Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy
A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated
leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The
analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of
7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of
140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The
observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence
for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on
possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To
facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics
scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and
efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV
The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied
using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy
of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for
Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross
section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the
invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level
with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and
the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.)
+(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also
studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph
event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by
PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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