KF-Loc: A Kalman Filter and Machine Learning Integrated Localization System Using Consumer-Grade Millimeter-wave Hardware

With the ever-increasing demands of e-commerce, the need for smarter warehousing is increasing exponentially. Such warehouses requires industry automation beyond Industry 4.0. In this work, we use consumer-grade millimeter-wave (mmWave) equipment to enable fast, and low-cost implementation of our localization system. However, the consumer-grade mmWave routers suffer from coarse-grained channel state information due to cost-effective antenna array design limiting the accuracy of localization systems. To address these challenges, we present a Machine Learning (ML) and Kalman Filter (KF) integrated localization system (KF-Loc). The ML model learns the complex wireless features for predicting the static position of the robot. When in dynamic motion, the static ML estimates suffer from position mispredictions, resulting in loss of accuracy. To overcome the loss in accuracy, we design and integrate a KF that learns the dynamics of the robot motion to provide highly accurate tracking. Our system achieves centimeter-level accuracy for the two aisles with RMSE of 0.35m and 0.37m, respectively. Further, compared with ML only localization systems, we achieve a significant reduction in RMSE by 28.5% and 54.3% within the two aisles

Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Understanding the health consequences associated with exposure to risk factors is necessary to inform public health policy and practice. To systematically quantify the contributions of risk factor exposures to specific health outcomes, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 aims to provide comprehensive estimates of exposure levels, relative health risks, and attributable burden of disease for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Methods: The GBD 2021 risk factor analysis used data from 54 561 total distinct sources to produce epidemiological estimates for 88 risk factors and their associated health outcomes for a total of 631 risk–outcome pairs. Pairs were included on the basis of data-driven determination of a risk–outcome association. Age-sex-location-year-specific estimates were generated at global, regional, and national levels. Our approach followed the comparative risk assessment framework predicated on a causal web of hierarchically organised, potentially combinative, modifiable risks. Relative risks (RRs) of a given outcome occurring as a function of risk factor exposure were estimated separately for each risk–outcome pair, and summary exposure values (SEVs), representing risk-weighted exposure prevalence, and theoretical minimum risk exposure levels (TMRELs) were estimated for each risk factor. These estimates were used to calculate the population attributable fraction (PAF; ie, the proportional change in health risk that would occur if exposure to a risk factor were reduced to the TMREL). The product of PAFs and disease burden associated with a given outcome, measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), yielded measures of attributable burden (ie, the proportion of total disease burden attributable to a particular risk factor or combination of risk factors). Adjustments for mediation were applied to account for relationships involving risk factors that act indirectly on outcomes via intermediate risks. Attributable burden estimates were stratified by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile and presented as counts, age-standardised rates, and rankings. To complement estimates of RR and attributable burden, newly developed burden of proof risk function (BPRF) methods were applied to yield supplementary, conservative interpretations of risk–outcome associations based on the consistency of underlying evidence, accounting for unexplained heterogeneity between input data from different studies. Estimates reported represent the mean value across 500 draws from the estimate's distribution, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) calculated as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile values across the draws. Findings: Among the specific risk factors analysed for this study, particulate matter air pollution was the leading contributor to the global disease burden in 2021, contributing 8·0% (95% UI 6·7–9·4) of total DALYs, followed by high systolic blood pressure (SBP; 7·8% [6·4–9·2]), smoking (5·7% [4·7–6·8]), low birthweight and short gestation (5·6% [4·8–6·3]), and high fasting plasma glucose (FPG; 5·4% [4·8–6·0]). For younger demographics (ie, those aged 0–4 years and 5–14 years), risks such as low birthweight and short gestation and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing (WaSH) were among the leading risk factors, while for older age groups, metabolic risks such as high SBP, high body-mass index (BMI), high FPG, and high LDL cholesterol had a greater impact. From 2000 to 2021, there was an observable shift in global health challenges, marked by a decline in the number of all-age DALYs broadly attributable to behavioural risks (decrease of 20·7% [13·9–27·7]) and environmental and occupational risks (decrease of 22·0% [15·5–28·8]), coupled with a 49·4% (42·3–56·9) increase in DALYs attributable to metabolic risks, all reflecting ageing populations and changing lifestyles on a global scale. Age-standardised global DALY rates attributable to high BMI and high FPG rose considerably (15·7% [9·9–21·7] for high BMI and 7·9% [3·3–12·9] for high FPG) over this period, with exposure to these risks increasing annually at rates of 1·8% (1·6–1·9) for high BMI and 1·3% (1·1–1·5) for high FPG. By contrast, the global risk-attributable burden and exposure to many other risk factors declined, notably for risks such as child growth failure and unsafe water source, with age-standardised attributable DALYs decreasing by 71·5% (64·4–78·8) for child growth failure and 66·3% (60·2–72·0) for unsafe water source. We separated risk factors into three groups according to trajectory over time: those with a decreasing attributable burden, due largely to declining risk exposure (eg, diet high in trans-fat and household air pollution) but also to proportionally smaller child and youth populations (eg, child and maternal malnutrition); those for which the burden increased moderately in spite of declining risk exposure, due largely to population ageing (eg, smoking); and those for which the burden increased considerably due to both increasing risk exposure and population ageing (eg, ambient particulate matter air pollution, high BMI, high FPG, and high SBP). Interpretation: Substantial progress has been made in reducing the global disease burden attributable to a range of risk factors, particularly those related to maternal and child health, WaSH, and household air pollution. Maintaining efforts to minimise the impact of these risk factors, especially in low SDI locations, is necessary to sustain progress. Successes in moderating the smoking-related burden by reducing risk exposure highlight the need to advance policies that reduce exposure to other leading risk factors such as ambient particulate matter air pollution and high SBP. Troubling increases in high FPG, high BMI, and other risk factors related to obesity and metabolic syndrome indicate an urgent need to identify and implement interventions

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant replication and immune evasion

Abstract: The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha)1. In vitro, B.1.617.2 is sixfold less sensitive to serum neutralizing antibodies from recovered individuals, and eightfold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies, compared with wild-type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralizing titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx1 vaccinees than in BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies to the receptor-binding domain and the amino-terminal domain. B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency than B.1.1.7 in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems, associated with B.1.617.2 spike being in a predominantly cleaved state compared with B.1.1.7 spike. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralizing antibody, compared with that of wild-type spike. We also observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike-mediated entry than B.1.617.1, potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of more than 130 SARS-CoV-2-infected health care workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune-evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era

Cyber-physical management for heterogeneously integrated 3D thousand-core on-chip microprocessor

Though 3D TSV/TSI technology provides the promising platform for heterogeneous system integration with design drivers ranged from thousand-core microprocessor to millimeter-cubic sensor, the fundamental challenge is lack of light to deal with significantly increased design complexity. From device level, new state of variables from different physical domains such as MEMS, microfluidic and NVM devices have to be identified and described together with conventional states from CMOS VLSI; and from system level, cyber management of states of voltage-level and temperature has to be maintained under a real-time demand response fashion. Moreover, a cyber-physical link is required to compress and virtualize device level state details during system level state control. This paper shows device-level 3D integration by example of MEMS and CMOS VLSI. In addition, a cyber-physical thermal management for 3D integrated many-core microprocessors is discussed.Accepted versio

Peak power reduction and workload balancing by space-time multiplexing based demand-supply matching for 3D thousand-core microprocessor

Space-time multiplexing is utilized for demand-supply matching between many-core microprocessors and power converters. Adaptive clustering is developed to classify cores by similar power level in space and similar power behavior in time. In each power management cycle, minimum number of power converters are allocated for space-time multiplexed matching, which is physically enabled by 3D through-silicon-vias. Moreover, demand-response based task adjustment is applied to reduce peak power and to balance workload. The proposed power management system is verified by system models with physical design parameters and benched power traces, which show 38.10% peak power reduction and 2.60x balanced workload.Accepted versio

Evaluation of arjunolic acid against Brucella melitenis and in vitro cytotoxic study of lung adenocarcinomic cell line (A549)

510-513Brucellosis, a neglected tropical disease of zoonotic nature, is caused by the genus Brucella, specifically by Brucella abortus and B. melitensis in cattle and humans, respectively. Arjunolic acid (AA) is a triterpenoid, isolated from Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) Wight & Arn., a medicinally important plant, used to treat various diseases in the Indian system of medicine. Here, we tried to evaluate AA for its antibacterial activity against Brucella and the in vitro cytotoxicity assay on human lung adenocarcinomic alveolar basal epithelial cell line (A549). Also, we assessed the synergistic effect of arjunolic acid and aquatic extract of Tarenna asiatica (L.) Kuntze ex K.Schum. (syn. Chomelia asiatica) leaves against B. melitensis. AA displayed a considerable antibacterial activity [zone of inhibition (9 mm) with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 30 μg/mL] against B. melitensis. The rate of cell death for the cancer cells was 82% at 100 μg/mL concentration of AA which indicates significant membrane disruption by AA in cancer cells. The estimated IC50 of AA against the A549 cell line was 139.90 μg/mL. The highest synergistic activity was exhibited by combination of arjunolic acid and AqE of T. asiatica at the concentration of 1:1, respectively forming a zone of inhibition measuring 10 mm

An energy-efficient 2.5D through-silicon interposer I/O with self-adaptive adjustment of output-voltage swing

A self-adaptive output swing adjustment is introduced for the design of energy-efficient 2.5D through-silicon interposer (TSI) I/Os. Instead of transmitting signal with large voltage swing, Q-learning based self-adaptive adjustment is deployed to adjust I/O output-voltage swing under constraints of both power budget and bit error rate (BER). Experimental results show that the adaptive 2.5D TSI I/Os designed in 65nm CMOS can achieve an average of 13mW I/O power, 4GHz bandwidth and 3.25pJ/bit energy efficiency for one channel under 10−6 BER, which has 21.42%reduction of power and 14.47% energy efficiency improvement.Accepted versio