2,126 research outputs found
Electromyography (EMG) based Classification of Neuromuscular Disorders using Multi-Layer Perceptron
Electromyography (EMG) signals are the measure of activity in the muscles. The aim of this study is to identify the neuromuscular disease based on EMG signals by means of classification. The neuromuscular diseases that have been identified are myopathy and neuropathy. The classification was carried out using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). There are five feature extraction techniques that were used to extract the signals such as Autoregressive (AR), Root Mean Square (RMS), Zero Crossing (ZC), Waveform length (WL) and Mean Absolute Value (MAV). A comparative analysis of these different techniques were carried out based on the results. The Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) was used for carrying out the classification
Fournier gangrene presenting in a patient with undiagnosed rectal adenocarcinoma: a case report
The environmental security debate and its significance for climate change
Policymakers, military strategists and academics all increasingly hail climate change as a security issue. This article revisits the (comparatively) long-standing “environmental security debate” and asks what lessons that earlier debate holds for the push towards making climate change a security issue. Two important claims are made. First, the emerging climate security debate is in many ways a re-run of the earlier dispute. It features many of the same proponents and many of the same disagreements. These disagreements concern, amongst other things, the nature of the threat, the referent object of security and the appropriate policy responses. Second, given its many different interpretations, from an environmentalist perspective, securitisation of the climate is not necessarily a positive development
Anomalous coupling effects in exclusive radiative B-meson decays
The top-quark FCNC processes will be searched for at the CERN LHC, which are
correlated with the B-meson decays. In this paper, we study the effects of
top-quark anomalous interactions in the exclusive radiative and decays. With the current experimental data of
the branching ratios, the direct CP and the isospin asymmetries, bounds on the
coupling from and
from decays are derived,
respectively. The bound on from is generally compatible with that from . However, the isospin asymmetry further
restrict the phase of , and the combined bound results
in the upper limit, , which is lower than the
CDF result. For real , the upper bound on is about of the same order as the discovery
potential of ATLAS with an integrated luminosity of . For
decays, the NP contribution is enhanced by a large CKM factor
, and the constraint on coupling is rather
restrictive, . With refined
measurements to be available at the LHCb and the future super-B factories, we
can get close correlations between and the rare
decays, which will be studied directly at the LHC ATLAS and CMS.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, pdflate
Numerical investigation of transient heat and mass transfer in a parallel-flow liquid-desiccant absorber
Effects of quantum gravity on the inflationary parameters and thermodynamics of the early universe
The effects of generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) on the inflationary
dynamics and the thermodynamics of the early universe are studied. Using the
GUP approach, the tensorial and scalar density fluctuations in the inflation
era are evaluated and compared with the standard case. We find a good agreement
with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data. Assuming that a quantum gas
of scalar particles is confined within a thin layer near the apparent horizon
of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe which satisfies the
boundary condition, the number and entropy densities and the free energy
arising form the quantum states are calculated using the GUP approach. A
qualitative estimation for effects of the quantum gravity on all these
thermodynamic quantities is introduced.Comment: 15 graghes, 7 figures with 17 eps graph
Quantum corrections and black hole spectroscopy
In the work \cite{BRM,RBE}, black hole spectroscopy has been successfully
reproduced in the tunneling picture. As a result, the derived entropy spectrum
of black hole in different gravity (including Einstein's gravity,
Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity and Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz gravity) are all evenly
spaced, sharing the same forms as , where physical process is only
confined in the semiclassical framework. However, the real physical picture
should go beyond the semiclassical approximation. In this case, the physical
quantities would undergo higher-order quantum corrections, whose effect on
different gravity shares in different forms. Motivated by these facts, in this
paper we aim to observe how quantum corrections affect black hole spectroscopy
in different gravity. The result shows that, in the presence of higher-order
quantum corrections, black hole spectroscopy in different gravity still shares
the same form as , further confirming the entropy quantum is universal
in the sense that it is not only independent of black hole parameters, but also
independent of higher-order quantum corrections. This is a desiring result for
the forthcoming quantum gravity theory.Comment: 14 pages, no figure, use JHEP3.cls. to be published in JHE
A critical analysis of building sustainability assessment methods for healthcare buildings
The healthcare building project contains different aspects from the most common projects. Designing a healthcare environment is based on a number of criteria related to the satisfaction and well-being of the professional working teams, patients and administrators. Mostly due to various design requirements, these buildings are rarely designed and operated in a sustainable way. Therefore, the sustainable development is a concept whose importance has grown significantly in the last decade in this sector. The worldwide economic crisis reinforces the growing environmental concerns as well as raising awareness among people to a necessary and inevitable shift in the values of their society. To support sustainable building design, several building sustainability assessment (BSA) methods are being developed worldwide. Since healthcare buildings are rather complex systems than other buildings, so specific methods were developed for them. These methods are aimed to support decision-making towards the introduction of the best sustainability practices during the design and operation phases of a healthcare environment. However, the comparison between the results of different methods is difficult, if not impossible, since they address different environmental, societal and economic criteria, and they emphasize different phases of the life cycle. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify the differences between the main BSA methods for healthcare buildings by analysing and categorizing them. Furthermore, the benefits of these methods in promoting a more sustainable environment will be analysed, and the current situation of them within the context of standardization of the concept sustainable construction will be discussed.The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and POPH/FSE for the financial support for this study under the Reference SFRH/BD/77959/2011
Critical research gaps and translational priorities for the successful prevention and treatment of breast cancer
INTRODUCTION
Breast cancer remains a significant scientific, clinical and societal challenge. This gap analysis has reviewed and critically assessed enduring issues and new challenges emerging from recent research, and proposes strategies for translating solutions into practice.
METHODS
More than 100 internationally recognised specialist breast cancer scientists, clinicians and healthcare professionals collaborated to address nine thematic areas: genetics, epigenetics and epidemiology; molecular pathology and cell biology; hormonal influences and endocrine therapy; imaging, detection and screening; current/novel therapies and biomarkers; drug resistance; metastasis, angiogenesis, circulating tumour cells, cancer 'stem' cells; risk and prevention; living with and managing breast cancer and its treatment. The groups developed summary papers through an iterative process which, following further appraisal from experts and patients, were melded into this summary account.
RESULTS
The 10 major gaps identified were: (1) understanding the functions and contextual interactions of genetic and epigenetic changes in normal breast development and during malignant transformation; (2) how to implement sustainable lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and weight) and chemopreventive strategies; (3) the need for tailored screening approaches including clinically actionable tests; (4) enhancing knowledge of molecular drivers behind breast cancer subtypes, progression and metastasis; (5) understanding the molecular mechanisms of tumour heterogeneity, dormancy, de novo or acquired resistance and how to target key nodes in these dynamic processes; (6) developing validated markers for chemosensitivity and radiosensitivity; (7) understanding the optimal duration, sequencing and rational combinations of treatment for improved personalised therapy; (8) validating multimodality imaging biomarkers for minimally invasive diagnosis and monitoring of responses in primary and metastatic disease; (9) developing interventions and support to improve the survivorship experience; (10) a continuing need for clinical material for translational research derived from normal breast, blood, primary, relapsed, metastatic and drug-resistant cancers with expert bioinformatics support to maximise its utility. The proposed infrastructural enablers include enhanced resources to support clinically relevant in vitro and in vivo tumour models; improved access to appropriate, fully annotated clinical samples; extended biomarker discovery, validation and standardisation; and facilitated cross-discipline working.
CONCLUSIONS
With resources to conduct further high-quality targeted research focusing on the gaps identified, increased knowledge translating into improved clinical care should be achievable within five years
Bayesian Fit of Exclusive Decays: The Standard Model Operator Basis
We perform a model-independent fit of the short-distance couplings
within the Standard Model set of and operators. Our analysis of , and decays is the first to harness the full
power of the Bayesian approach: all major sources of theory uncertainty
explicitly enter as nuisance parameters. Exploiting the latest measurements,
the fit reveals a flipped-sign solution in addition to a Standard-Model-like
solution for the couplings . Each solution contains about half of the
posterior probability, and both have nearly equal goodness of fit. The Standard
Model prediction is close to the best-fit point. No New Physics contributions
are necessary to describe the current data. Benefitting from the improved
posterior knowledge of the nuisance parameters, we predict ranges for currently
unmeasured, optimized observables in the angular distributions of .Comment: 42 pages, 8 figures; v2: Using new lattice input for f_Bs,
considering Bs-mixing effects in BR[B_s->ll]. Main results and conclusion
unchanged, matches journal versio
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