Five generations of intraocular lens power calculation formulas: A review

Background: The effectiveness of cataract surgery depends on preoperative biometric data, including the axial length (AL), keratometric value (K), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and the accuracy of the intraocular lens power (IOLp) calculation. Five generations of IOLp calculation formulas have been developed. This review summarizes these formulas and focuses on the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of each. Moreover, it compares the results of several formulas used in patients with specific characteristics. Methods: The authors searched PubMed and Google Scholar, using keyword combinations including IOLp, formulas, AL, ACD, K, and diopters (D). Two hundred recent articles that referred to IOLp calculation formulas and their effectiveness when used preoperatively in cataract surgery were retrieved and analyzed. Results: Each generation has advantages and disadvantages for individual patients, and the selection of the most appropriate IOL differs due to patients’ different ALs. The shorter or longer the eye is, the less accurate some formulas become. Formulas such as SRK-T, Holladay, SRK-II, Hoffer, and Binkhorst II seem to have comparable efficacy. However, studies have indicated that Hoffer is superior for short eyes. In contrast, SRK/T appears to be slightly more superior for long eyes. The fifth-generation formulas also appear to be very promising. Conclusions: Based on the available literature, there is no gold standard as yet that can be used for all patients. Instead, each patient should be managed individually depending on their particular eye characteristics

A compact plug-in module for LHC-like trigger emulation

A compact trigger emulation module for evaluating electronic systems for LHC applications has been built using off-the-shelf components. The emulator, which is based on an FPGA, generates both programmable and true-random trigger patterns in compliance with the LHC triggering rules. For the true-random trigger part, the source of randomness is the avalanche effect on a transistor emitter-base diode. The system can be used either as a plug-in module for VME systems or as a standalone device controlled via a standard USB link by a PC running LabVIEW

BrainFrame: A node-level heterogeneous accelerator platform for neuron simulations

Objective: The advent of High-Performance Computing (HPC) in recent years has led to its increasing use in brain study through computational models. The scale and complexity of such models are constantly increasing, leading to challenging computational requirements. Even though modern HPC platforms can often deal with such challenges, the vast diversity of the modeling field does not permit for a single acceleration (or homogeneous) platform to effectively address the complete array of modeling requirements. Approach: In this paper we propose and build BrainFrame, a heterogeneous acceleration platform, incorporating three distinct acceleration technologies, a Dataflow Engine, a Xeon Phi and a GP-GPU. The PyNN framework is also integrated into the platform. As a challenging proof of concept, we analyze the performance of BrainFrame on different instances of a state-of-the-art neuron model, modeling the Inferior- Olivary Nucleus using a biophysically-meaningful, extended Hodgkin-Huxley representation. The model instances take into account not only the neuronal- network dimensions but also different network-connectivity circumstances that can drastically change application workload characteristics. Main results: The synthetic approach of three HPC technologies demonstrated that BrainFrame is better able to cope with the modeling diversity encountered. Our performance analysis shows clearly that the model directly affect performance and all three technologies are required to cope with all the model use cases.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, 5 table

Implementation of On-Line Data Reduction Algorithms in the CMS Endcap Preshower Data Concentrator Card

The CMS Endcap Preshower (ES) sub-detector comprises 4288 silicon sensors, each containing 32 strips. The data are transferred from the detector to the counting room via 1208 optical fibres running at 800Mbps. Each fibre carries data from 2, 3 or 4 sensors. For the readout of the Preshower, a VME-based system - the Endcap Preshower Data Concentrator Card (ES-DCC) is currently under development. The main objective of each readout board is to acquire on-detector data from up to 36 optical links, perform on-line data reduction (zero suppression) and pass the concentrated data to the CMS event builder. This document presents the conceptual design of the Reduction Algorithms as well as their implementation into the ES-DCC FPGAs. The algorithms implemented into the ES-DCC resulted in a reduction factor of ~20

Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Conflict Resolution: The Case of Secondary Education Teachers in Greece

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict resolution among secondary education teachers in Greece. The research sample consists of 130 high schools’ teachers in Greece. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, concerning teachers’ working environment, their behavior during workplace conflicts as well as their emotional intelligence and were analyzed using descriptive and inductive statistics. The statistical analyses have revealed that the main reason for workplace conflicts in secondary schools is the existence of informal groups. In addition, emotional intelligence seem to have a direct relationship with conflict resolution styles, while a negative relationship between emotional intelligence and the frequency of involvement in workplace conflicts is observed. Furthermore, it was found that holding a position of responsibility does not play a significant role in conflict resolution style adoption. The research results show that the solution-oriented method is the most popular amongst the other conflict resolution styles. Last, it was found that the average score of emotional intelligence among the respondents was high