Coin.AI: A Proof-of-Useful-Work Scheme for Blockchain-based Distributed Deep Learning

One decade ago, Bitcoin was introduced, becoming the first cryptocurrency and establishing the concept of "blockchain" as a distributed ledger. As of today, there are many different implementations of cryptocurrencies working over a blockchain, with different approaches and philosophies. However, many of them share one common feature: they require proof-of-work to support the generation of blocks (mining) and, eventually, the generation of money. This proof-of-work scheme often consists in the resolution of a cryptography problem, most commonly breaking a hash value, which can only be achieved through brute-force. The main drawback of proof-of-work is that it requires ridiculously large amounts of energy which do not have any useful outcome beyond supporting the currency. In this paper, we present a theoretical proposal that introduces a proof-of-useful-work scheme to support a cryptocurrency running over a blockchain, which we named Coin.AI. In this system, the mining scheme requires training deep learning models, and a block is only mined when the performance of such model exceeds a threshold. The distributed system allows for nodes to verify the models delivered by miners in an easy way (certainly much more efficiently than the mining process itself), determining when a block is to be generated. Additionally, this paper presents a proof-of-storage scheme for rewarding users that provide storage for the deep learning models, as well as a theoretical dissertation on how the mechanics of the system could be articulated with the ultimate goal of democratizing access to artificial intelligence.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Conocimientos, actitudes, prácticas y estados de salud oral de gestantes del sector urbano, que pertenecen al CESFAM de San Javier, durante los meses de octubre y noviembre de 2010

98 p.Dentro de las más prevalentes. Problemas que cuando afectan a embarazadas causan riesgo de parto prematuro y bajo peso al nacer. Por lo que el ministerio de a partir del año 2010 incorpora a la gestante como grupo de pacientes cubiertas por las Garantías Explícitas en Salud. Objetivos: Determinar cuales son los conocimientos, actitudes, prácticas y estado de salud oral de las gestantes del sector urbano, controladas en el CESFAM de San Javier, durante Octubre y Noviembre de 2010. Sujetos y métodos: este es un estudio descriptivo, cuya población correspondió al universo de embarazadas residentes del sector urbano de San Javier, pertenecientes al CESFAM de San Javier, durante los meses de Octubre y Noviembre de 2010. Se cuantifico a las gestantes según edad, semanas de gestación, nivel socio económico. Se les realizó una encuesta en relación a conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas en salud oral. Se tomaron datos como Índice de piezas cariadas, obturadas y perdidas por caries, prevalencia de caries, índice de restauraciones, índice de significancia de caries, índice de higiene oral, necesidad de tratamiento periodontal, y número de gestantes en control odontológico. Discusión: En el presente estudio se examinó al 25.66% de las gestantes del sector urbano que recibieron control prenatal durante Octubre y Noviembre de 2010 en el CESFAM de la comuna de San Javier. A diferencia de la investigación realizada en el consultorio Julio Contardo, de la ciudad de Talca, por Cáceres (2004), el cual tuvo una respuesta del 76,66% de la población citada o la investigación de Valenzuela (2004), el cual tuvo una respuesta del 77.5% realizado en Consultorio Carlos Trupp de Talca. Dentro de los conocimientos sobre enfermedad periodontal, un 36% las preferencias dijo que existía relación entre enfermedad periodontal y parto prematuro. Para la relación de enfermedad periodontal y parto prematuro existen estudios que sugieren que la infección periodontal juega un rol en la patogénesis del parto prematuro, se ha propuesto que la infección es capaz de causar directamente prematurez o indirectamente, a través de la producción de mediadores inflamatorios. Conclusiones: Para esta investigación hubo una baja tasa de respuesta por parte de las gestantes al momento de ser invitadas a participar de la investigación. Las gestantes poseen los conocimientos para mantener una buena salud oral, pero según la información obtenida, se estima que no la están poniendo en práctica. Las patologías orales más prevalentes en la población chilena, caries y enfermedad periodontal, también son altamente frecuentes en la población estudiada, teniendo valores de 79 y 100% respectivamente. Palabras claves: Gestantes, salud oral./ABSTRACT: Background: In oral diseases and periodontal disease are considered among the most prevalent. Problems as they affect pregnant cause risk of premature birth and low birth weight. So the ministry from the year 2010 incorporates the pregnant woman as a group of patients covered by the Explicit Health Guarantees. Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitudes, practices and oral health status of pregnant women from urban areas, controlled in the San Javier CESFAM during October and November 2010. Subjects and methods: This is a descriptive study, which corresponded to the world population of pregnant urban residents of San Javier, belonging to CESFAM of San Javier, during the months of October and November 2010. We quantified the pregnant women according to age, weeks of gestation, socioeconomic level. They conducted a survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices in oral health. Index Data like decayed parts, sealed and lost by caries, prevalence of caries, restorations index, index of significance of caries, oral hygiene index, need for periodontal treatment, and control number of pregnant women in dentistry. Discussion: This study examined the 25.66% of pregnant women from urban areas who received prenatal care during October and November 2010 in the CESFAM of the municipality of San Javier. Unlike research in the office in July Contardo, the city of Talca, by Cáceres (2004), which had a response of 76.66% of the stock referred to the investigation of Valenzuela (2004), which had a 77.5% response Clinic Carlos Trupp made in Talca. Within the knowledge of periodontal disease, 36% said it was preference relationship between periodontal disease and preterm birth. For the relation of periodontal disease and preterm birth are studies suggesting that periodontal infection plays a role in the pathogenesis of preterm birth has been proposed that infection can directly cause premature or indirectly through the production of inflammatory mediators . Conclusions: In this research there was a low response rate by pregnant women when being invited to participate in the study. Pregnant women have the knowledge to maintain good oral health, but according to information obtained, it is estimated that not being implemented. The most prevalent oral diseases in the Chilean population, caries and periodontal disease are also highly prevalent in the population studied, with values of 79 and 100% respectively. Keywords: Pregnant, oral health

DataCare: Big Data Analytics Solution for Intelligent Healthcare Management

This paper presents DataCare, a solution for intelligent healthcare management. This product is able not only to retrieve and aggregate data from different key performance indicators in healthcare centers, but also to estimate future values for these key performance indicators and, as a result, fire early alerts when undesirable values are about to occur or provide recommendations to improve the quality of service. DataCare’s core processes are built over a free and open-source cross-platform document-oriented database (MongoDB), and Apache Spark, an open-source cluster-computing framework. This architecture ensures high scalability capable of processing very high data volumes coming at fast speed from a large set of sources. This article describes the architecture designed for this project and the results obtained after conducting a pilot in a healthcare center. Useful conclusions have been drawn regarding how key performance indicators change based on different situations, and how they affect patients’ satisfaction

Real-Time Prediction of Gamers Behavior Using Variable Order Markov and Big Data Technology: A Case of Study

This paper presents the results and conclusions found when predicting the behavior of gamers in commercial videogames datasets. In particular, it uses Variable-Order Markov (VOM) to build a probabilistic model that is able to use the historic behavior of gamers and to infer what will be their next actions. Being able to predict with accuracy the next user’s actions can be of special interest to learn from the behavior of gamers, to make them more engaged and to reduce churn rate. In order to support a big volume and velocity of data, the system is built on top of the Hadoop ecosystem, using HBase for real-time processing; and the prediction tool is provided as a service (SaaS) and accessible through a RESTful API. The prediction system is evaluated using a case of study with two commercial videogames, attaining promising results with high prediction accuracies

Longitudinal Segmented Analysis of Internet Usage and Well-Being Among Older Adults

The connection between digital literacy and the three core dimensions of psychological well-being is not yet well understood, and the evidence is controversial. We analyzed a sample of 2,314 individuals, aged 50 years and older, that participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. Participants were clustered according to drivers of psychological well-being using Self-Organizing Maps. The resulting groups were subsequently studied separately using generalized estimating equations fitted on 2-year lagged repeated measures using three scales to capture the dimensions of well-being and Markov models. The clustering analysis suggested the existence of four different groups of participants. Statistical models found differences in the connection between internet use and psychological well-being depending on the group. The Markov models showed a clear association between internet use and the potential for transition among groups of the population characterized, among other things, by higher levels of psychological well-being

Assessing the burdens of urban heat : a description of functional, economic and public health impacts of increasing heat in cities

Urban Heat Islands (UHI), together with increasingly frequent heatwaves due to climate change, impose functional, economic and public health burdens for cities, urban dwellers and local administrations. This paper aims to examine how excess heat disturbs urban functioning and hence, contribute to the discussion on the urgent need to strengthen climate change adaptation and foster climate governance. It first describes two different but synergistic sources of heat: urban heat islands and heatwaves. It then outlines the human mechanism of temperature regulation and presents public health impacts in terms of heat-related morbidity and mortality. The paper continues by mentioning the economic burdens as well as infrastructure malfunction associated with this threat. It concludes with a call-to-action for decision-makers on the urgent need to address urban heat

Lung tumorspheres as a drug screening platform against cancer stem cells

Treatment resistance and metastasis are linked to cancer stem cells (CSCs). This population represents a promising target, but remains unexplored in lung cancer. The main objective of this study was to characterize lung CSCs and discover new therapeutic strategies

Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Contributes to Paclitaxel Resistance in Bladder Cancer Cells with Cancer Stem Cell-Like Properties

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays an important role in tumor progression and chemother apy resistance and seems to be essential for the maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSC) in several tumor types. However, the interplay of these factors has not been fully addressed in bladder cancer. Here, our goal was to analyze the role of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in paclitaxel resistance and to study the therapeutic efficacy of its inhibition in bladder cancer cells, as well as to determine its influence in the maintenance of the CSC-like phenotype in bladder cancer. Our results show that paclitaxel-resistant HT1197 cells have hyperactivation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and increased CSC-like properties compared with paclitaxel-sensitive 5637 cells. Paclitaxel sensitivity diminishes in 5637 cells after β-catenin overexpression or when they are grown as tumorspheres, enriched for the CSC-like phenotype. Additionally, downregulation of β-catenin or inhibition with XAV939 sensitizes HT1197 cells to paclitaxel. Moreover, a subset of muscle-invasive bladder carcinomas shows aberrant expression of β-catenin that associates with positive expression of the CSC marker ALDH1A1. In conclusion, we demonstrate that Wnt/β-catenin signaling contributes to paclitaxel resistance in bladder cancer cells with CSC-like properties.Instituto de Salud Carlos III FIS-PI17/1240Instituto de Salud Carlos III FIS-PI20/1641Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness SAF2017-87358-C2-1-R and -2-RMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-118774RB-C21 and -C22Consejería de Salud y Familias PI-0213-2020Consejería de Salud y Familias OH-0017-201