Viewport Prediction, Bitrate Selection, and Beamforming Design for THz-Enabled 360-Degree Video Streaming

360-degree videos require significant bandwidth to provide an immersive viewing experience. Wireless systems using terahertz (THz) frequency band can meet this high data rate demand. However, self-blockage is a challenge in such systems. To ensure reliable transmission, this paper explores THz-enabled 360-degree video streaming through multiple multi-antenna access points (APs). Guaranteeing users' quality of experience (QoE) requires accurate viewport prediction to determine which video tiles to send, followed by asynchronous bitrate selection for those tiles and beamforming design at the APs. To address users' privacy and data heterogeneity, we propose a content-based viewport prediction framework, wherein users' head movement prediction models are trained using a personalized federated learning algorithm. To address asynchronous decision-making for tile bitrates and dynamic THz link connections, we formulate the optimization of bitrate selection and beamforming as a macro-action decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (MacDec-POMDP) problem. To efficiently tackle this problem for multiple users, we develop two deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms based on multi-agent actor-critic methods and propose a hierarchical learning framework to train the actor and critic networks. Experimental results show that our proposed approach provides a higher QoE when compared with three benchmark algorithms.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. This paper has been submitted to an IEEE journal for possible publicatio

A Dynamic Collusion Analysis Framework Considering Generation and Transmission Systems Maintenance Constraints

Capacity withholding of generation companies is an important issue in market monitoring procedures. The capacity withholding can be intensified in the transmission and generation constrained system. The strategic maintenance of market participants can impose multiple constraints on the system and changes the wholesale electricity market prices. The strategic maintenance of transmission and generation facilities is known as dynamic capacity withholding (DCW) and all of the market-monitoring units need algorithms to detect and reduce DCW. In this paper, a new dynamic capacity withholding index is presented. The method is analyzed on the IEEE 30, 57-bus test system. The numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed index.©2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Demand Response Program Integrated With Electrical Energy Storage Systems for Residential Consumers

This article presents a distributed resilient demand response program integrated with electrical energy storage systems for residential consumers to maximize their comfort level. A dynamic real-time pricing method is proposed to determine the hourly electricity prices and schedule the electricity consumption of smart home appliances and energy storage systems commitment. The algorithm is employed in normal and emergency operating conditions, taking into account the comfort level of consumers. In emergency conditions, the power outage of consumers is modeled for different hours and outage patterns. To evaluate the applicability of the proposed model, real samples of Southern California households are considered to model the smart homes and their appliances. Further, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the impacts of the number of households and number of persons per household on the output results. The results showed that the proposed model reduced the costs of utility in normal and emergency conditions by about 33.77% and 30.92%, respectively. The values of total payments of consumers in normal and emergency conditions were decreased by about 34.26% and 31.31%, respectively. Further, the consumers comfort level for normal and emergency conditions increased by about 146.78% and 110.2%, respectively. Finally, the social welfare for normal and emergency conditions increased by about 46% and 49.06%, respectively.© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Longitudinal MRI evidence for decreased survival among periventricular glioblastoma

While the prognosis of patients with glioblastoma (GBM) remains poor despite recent therapeutic advances, variable survival times suggest wide variation in tumor biology and an opportunity for stratified intervention. We used volumetric analysis and morphometrics to measure the spatial relationship between subventricular zone (SVZ) proximity and survival in a cohort of 39 newly diagnosed GBM patients. We collected T2-weighted and gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) at pre-operative, post-operative, pre-radiation therapy, and post-radiation therapy time points, measured tumor volumes and distances to the SVZ, and collected clinical data. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression showed that tumors involving the SVZ and tumor growth rate during radiation therapy were independent predictors of shorter progression-free and overall survival. These results suggest that GBMs in close proximity to the ependymal surface of the ventricles convey a worse prognosis-an observation that may be useful for stratifying treatment

Optimal expansion planning of active distribution system considering coordinated bidding of downward active microgrids and demand response providers

This paper addresses an integrated framework for expansion planning of an Active Distribution Network (ADS) that supplies its downward Active MicroGrids (AMGs) and it participates in the upward wholesale market to sell its surplus electricity. The proposed novel model considers the impact of coordinated and uncoordinated bidding of AMGs and Demand Response Providers (DRPs) on the optimal expansion planning. The problem has six sources of uncertainty: upward electricity market prices, AMGs location and time of installation, AMGs power generation/consumption, ADS intermittent power generations, DRP biddings, and the ADS system contingencies. The model uses the Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) criterion in order to handle the trading risks of ADS with the wholesale market. The proposed formulation integrates the most important deterministic and stochastic parameters of the risk-based expansion planning of ADS that is rare in the literature on this field. The introduced method uses a four-stage optimization algorithm that uses genetic algorithm, CPLEX and DICOPT solvers. The proposed method is applied to the 18-bus and 33-bus test systems to assess the proposed algorithm. The proposed method reduces the aggregated expansion planning costs for the 18-bus and 33-bus system about 44.04%, and 11.82% with respect to the uncoordinated bidding of AMGs/DRPs costs, respectively.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Ambipolar charge transport in organic field-effect transistors

Published versio

Exciton bimolecular annihilation dynamics in supramolecular nanostructures of conjugated oligomers

We present femtosecond transient absorption measurements on $\pi$-conjugated supramolecular assemblies in a high pump fluence regime. Oligo(\emph{p}-phenylenevinylene) monofunctionalized with ureido-\emph{s}-triazine (MOPV) self-assembles into chiral stacks in dodecane solution below 75$^{\circ}$C at a concentration of $4\times 10^{-4}$ M. We observe exciton bimolecular annihilation in MOPV stacks at high excitation fluence, indicated by the fluence-dependent decay of $1^1$B$_{u}$-exciton spectral signatures, and by the sub-linear fluence dependence of time- and wavelength-integrated photoluminescence (PL) intensity. These two characteristics are much less pronounced in MOPV solution where the phase equilibrium is shifted significantly away from supramolecular assembly, slightly below the transition temperature. A mesoscopic rate-equation model is applied to extract the bimolecular annihilation rate constant from the excitation fluence dependence of transient absorption and PL signals. The results demonstrate that the bimolecular annihilation rate is very high with a square-root dependence in time. The exciton annihilation results from a combination of fast exciton diffusion and resonance energy transfer. The supramolecular nanostructures studied here have electronic properties that are intermediate between molecular aggregates and polymeric semiconductors

Characterization of the serum levels of Meteorin-like in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and its association with inflammatory cytokines

Background: Meteorin-like (Metrnl) is an adipokine with insulin sensitizing and anti-inflammatory properties that has been discovered recently. The relation among Metrnl, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and obesity has been unexplored yet. Methods: The present study was conducted on 54 healthy control, 42 Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and 43 Crohn�s disease (CD) patients who were diagnosed by pathological examination. In all participants, serum levels of adiponectin, Metrnl, interleukin (IL)-6, and Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) were measured using ELISA kits. Results: Metrnl concentration was considerably lower in both UC (85.25 ± 36.55 pg/mL) and CD (76.93 ± 27.92 pg/mL) patients in comparison to control (107.52 ± 35.33 pg/mL). In addition, it was seen that both patient groups have a decreased level of adiponectin compared to the controls. Besides that, the level of IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly greater in the patient groups. Moreover, the result showed that the level of Metrnl is inversely correlated with body mass index (BMI) in the controls and the patients. Metrnl levels are also inversely associated with IL-6, and TNF-α in both of the patient groups. Conclusions: The current study is the first one reporting the decreased levels of Metrnl in serum among patients with IBD, which is inversely related with BMI, TNF-α, and IL-6. These results suggested a possible relation of Metrnl with the pathogenesis of IBD, particularly through inflammatory process, although further studies are warranted to dissect the possible mechanism. © 2020, The Author(s)

Health sector spending and spending on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and development assistance for health: progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 aims to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. While a substantial effort has been made to quantify progress towards SDG3, less research has focused on tracking spending towards this goal. We used spending estimates to measure progress in financing the priority areas of SDG3, examine the association between outcomes and financing, and identify where resource gains are most needed to achieve the SDG3 indicators for which data are available

Health sector spending and spending on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and development assistance for health: progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3

Background: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 aims to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. While a substantial effort has been made to quantify progress towards SDG3, less research has focused on tracking spending towards this goal. We used spending estimates to measure progress in financing the priority areas of SDG3, examine the association between outcomes and financing, and identify where resource gains are most needed to achieve the SDG3 indicators for which data are available. Methods: We estimated domestic health spending, disaggregated by source (government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private) from 1995 to 2017 for 195 countries and territories. For disease-specific health spending, we estimated spending for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis for 135 low-income and middle-income countries, and malaria in 106 malaria-endemic countries, from 2000 to 2017. We also estimated development assistance for health (DAH) from 1990 to 2019, by source, disbursing development agency, recipient, and health focus area, including DAH for pandemic preparedness. Finally, we estimated future health spending for 195 countries and territories from 2018 until 2030. We report all spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2019 US$, unless otherwise stated. Findings: Since the development and implementation of the SDGs in 2015, global health spending has increased, reaching$7·9 trillion (95% uncertainty interval 7·8–8·0) in 2017 and is expected to increase to $11·0 trillion (10·7–11·2) by 2030. In 2017, in low-income and middle-income countries spending on HIV/AIDS was$20·2 billion (17·0–25·0) and on tuberculosis it was $10·9 billion (10·3–11·8), and in malaria-endemic countries spending on malaria was$5·1 billion (4·9–5·4). Development assistance for health was $40·6 billion in 2019 and HIV/AIDS has been the health focus area to receive the highest contribution since 2004. In 2019,$374 million of DAH was provided for pandemic preparedness, less than 1% of DAH. Although spending has increased across HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria since 2015, spending has not increased in all countries, and outcomes in terms of prevalence, incidence, and per-capita spending have been mixed. The proportion of health spending from pooled sources is expected to increase from 81·6% (81·6–81·7) in 2015 to 83·1% (82·8–83·3) in 2030. Interpretation: Health spending on SDG3 priority areas has increased, but not in all countries, and progress towards meeting the SDG3 targets has been mixed and has varied by country and by target. The evidence on the scale-up of spending and improvements in health outcomes suggest a nuanced relationship, such that increases in spending do not always results in improvements in outcomes. Although countries will probably need more resources to achieve SDG3, other constraints in the broader health system such as inefficient allocation of resources across interventions and populations, weak governance systems, human resource shortages, and drug shortages, will also need to be addressed. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio