On the Noisy Feedback Capacity of Gaussian Broadcast Channels

It is well known that, in general, feedback may enlarge the capacity region of Gaussian broadcast channels. This has been demonstrated even when the feedback is noisy (or partial-but-perfect) and only from one of the receivers. The only case known where feedback has been shown not to enlarge the capacity region is when the channel is physically degraded (El Gamal 1978, 1981). In this paper, we show that for a class of two-user Gaussian broadcast channels (not necessarily physically degraded), passively feeding back the stronger user's signal over a link corrupted by Gaussian noise does not enlarge the capacity region if the variance of feedback noise is above a certain threshold.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in IEEE Information Theory Workshop 2015, Jerusale

Question Processing and Clustering in INDOC: A Biomedical Question Answering System

The exponential growth in the volume of publications in the biomedical domain has made it impossible for an individual to keep pace with the advances. Even though evidence-based medicine has gained wide acceptance, the physicians are unable to access the relevant information in the required time, leaving most of the questions unanswered. This accentuates the need for fast and accurate biomedical question answering systems. In this paper we introduce INDOC—a biomedical question answering system based on novel ideas of indexing and extracting the answer to the questions posed. INDOC displays the results in clusters to help the user arrive the most relevant set of documents quickly. Evaluation was done against the standard OHSUMED test collection. Our system achieves high accuracy and minimizes user effort

Role of Ultrasound-Guided Hemidiaphragm Sparing Brachial Plexus Block in the Morbidly Obese Patient

Patients with Grade III obesity pose unique challenges to the treating anesthesiologists. The challenges range from difficulty in intravenous cannulation to airway management. Regional anesthesia is advantageous over general anesthesia as it avoids airway manipulation, prevents reduction in functional residual capacity, and provides good postoperative analgesia. Regional anesthesia has its pitfalls like identifying the landmarks accurately and hemi diaphragmatic palsy following brachial plexus block. Hemi diaphragmatic palsy is poorly tolerated in grade III obese patients leading to increased peri-operative morbidity which undermines the advantages of regional over general anesthesia. Ultrasound-guided costoclavicular brachial plexus block(CCBPB) has the benefit of reduced hemi diaphragmatic palsy, avoiding pleural injury, and wider distribution of sensory blockade. Costoclavicular block has been administered to obese patients in the past with great success. We are reporting a successful case of ultrasound-guided costoclavicular brachial plexus block performed in an obese patient with a BMI of 51.56Kg/m2

Wettability Gradients on Soft Surfaces

Properties, behaviors, and applications of soft materials depend decisively on the characteristics of their surfaces. Physical features and chemical functionality of the soft surfaces control their interactions with the surroundings thereby deciding their responses to various physical and chemical phenomena. A gradient of such surface features i.e, a gradual change in a chemical or physical characteristic across a surface will result in a gradual change in the response of the surface to its surroundings in the same direction. Chemical as well as physical (morphological) gradients on soft surface enable useful properties pertinent to a variety of fields such as microfluidics, surface coatings, sensing, optics, and biology. Numerous methods have been used for the preparation of chemical as well as morphological gradients. Practical applications of soft surface gradients require stable large-scale surfaces with precisely controlled directionality and resolution of the gradients. Wettability gradients are one of the prominent classes of gradients created on soft surfaces. These gradients are constituted by gradual increase or decrease of hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity across a surface. One-dimensional (1D) as well as two-dimensional (2D) wettability gradients are fabricated with different patterns. This short review will summarize the advancements in the preparation, properties, and applications of wettability gradients on soft surfaces. Qualitative description of the fabrication processes, properties, and practical applications of the gradients are included along with our comments about the future prospects of these systems.&nbsp

Analysis of factors determining thermal changes at osteotomy site in dental implant placement - An in-vitro study

Heat generation during osteotomy site preparation is a crucial factor that determines the success of dental implant placement. Among the factors that affect the heat generation, drilling speed, hand pressure and coolant temperature are independent variab

Randomized Phase III Trial Comparing Epirubicin/ Doxorubicin Plus Docetaxel and Epirubicin/ Doxorubicin Plus Paclitaxel as First Line Treatment in Women with Advanced Breast Cancer

This study aimed to examine the efficacy of docetaxel plus epirubicin against docetaxel plus capecitabine as first-line therapy for women with advanced breast cancer (ABC). Patients with ABC who had not been treated in the past were split into two groups: those who received docetaxel and epirubicin (DE) on day 1 and those who received docetaxel and capecitabine (DC) on day 1 and twice daily on days 1-14 of each 21-day cycle. Prior neoadjuvant treatment with anthracyclines was permitted if it had been finished more than a year prior to enrolment. The study\u27s major aim was to evaluate the difference in time to disease progression (TTP). Median TTP for DE was 10.6 months and for DC it was 11.0 months (P = 0.7), with each arm treating 170 women. Using the RECIST criterion, we found that the rates of complete responses were higher in DC (61%) than in DE (11%), and that the rates of partial responses were lower in DC (40%) than in DE (45%) (P = 0.8). Grade 3-4 neutropenia was more common with DE than DC (57% vs. 46%, P = 0.07), as were febrile neutropenia (11% vs. 8%, P = 0.4), hand-foot syndrome (0% vs. 4%, P = 0.02), grade 2-3 anemia (20% vs. 7%, P = 0.001), and asthenia (12% vs. 6%, P = 0.09)

Fecundity, histomorphology of the ovary and size at first maturity of Neolissochilus hexagonolepis (McClelland) in Tamor River, Nepal

Neolissochilus hexagonolepis (McClelland, 1839) is one among the notable species in snow-fed torrential rivers of Nepal. The present study attempts to investigate some reproductive traits of N. hexagonolepis, including the length at first maturity, fecundity and its relationships with biometric variables like lengths (TL, SL, and FL) and weights (TW and OW) of the fish in the mid-reaches of Tamor River, Nepal. A total of 109 fish samples were collected from the river. For each individual, total length (TL), standard length (SL) and fork length (FL) were measured in a fully stretched condition to the nearest 1mm using a measuring tape and graduated ruler, while total weight (TW) and ovary weight (OW) was measured using a digital balance with the precision of 0.01 g. The mean absolute fecundity (F) was 8356.44 ± 4612.59 and ranged from 2398.6 to 20160. SL was more significantly correlated with absolute fecundity (R2=0.59; p<0.001) than other body metrics. The results showed that female individuals of N. hexagonolepis attained the first sexual maturity at TL 32.9 cm. N. hexagonolepis exhibited a protracted breeding period with its ovaries passing through six different stages of maturation. The finding of the present study may serve as a protocol for fishery biologists and managers to promulgate adequate regulations for continual fishery management in the River Tamor, Nepal