302 research outputs found

    On-demand spectrum and space defragmentation in an elastic SDM/FDM/TDM network with mixed multi- and single-core fiber links

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    We show on-demand multi-wavelength spectrum and space defragmentation in an SDM and elastic network with four programmable nodes and two multi-core fiber links. The combined approach is shown to reduce blocking and hardware requirements in small nodes

    Speaker-independent emotion recognition exploiting a psychologically-inspired binary cascade classification schema

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    In this paper, a psychologically-inspired binary cascade classification schema is proposed for speech emotion recognition. Performance is enhanced because commonly confused pairs of emotions are distinguishable from one another. Extracted features are related to statistics of pitch, formants, and energy contours, as well as spectrum, cepstrum, perceptual and temporal features, autocorrelation, MPEG-7 descriptors, Fujisakis model parameters, voice quality, jitter, and shimmer. Selected features are fed as input to K nearest neighborhood classifier and to support vector machines. Two kernels are tested for the latter: Linear and Gaussian radial basis function. The recently proposed speaker-independent experimental protocol is tested on the Berlin emotional speech database for each gender separately. The best emotion recognition accuracy, achieved by support vector machines with linear kernel, equals 87.7%, outperforming state-of-the-art approaches. Statistical analysis is first carried out with respect to the classifiers error rates and then to evaluate the information expressed by the classifiers confusion matrices. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

    Subclavian thrombosis in a patient with advanced lung cancer: a case report

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Lung cancer is now considered the most common cause of death among cancer patients. Although target biological regimens have emerged in recent years for non-small cell lung carcinoma, the survival and quality of life of patients with this condition still remain low. The five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer is 17% or less.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We describe the case of a 53-year-old Caucasian woman who was diagnosed with advanced stage IIIa (T2aN<sub>2</sub>M<sub>0</sub>) non-small cell lung carcinoma (adenocarcinoma) and underwent a complete left upper lobectomy three years ago. After two and a half years of follow-up, she suddenly presented with facial edema and venous distension and was immediately treated for superior vena cava syndrome. Because of a diagnostic check, a major clot was detected in the right subclavian vein. Our patient was informed about treatment options, and she was taken to the catheterization laboratory for percutaneous stenting of the superior vena cava to restore superior vena cava patency.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Lung cancer has a vast number of complications. Superior vena cava syndrome and thrombosis should be considered upon the presentation of a patient with obstructive symptoms. In this case report, even though we expected the clot to be on the side of the former lesion, it was present on the opposite side. Treatment should also start immediately in these patients with clinical suspicion of thrombosis to avoid further complications, even in cases with a differential diagnosis problem. Finally, although patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma have a high incidence of thromboembolic events, anticoagulant treatment is given only as maintenance therapy after a first event occurs.</p

    MCF-SMF Hybrid Low-Latency Circuit-Switched Optical Network for Disaggregated Data Centers

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    This paper proposes and experimentally evaluates a fully developed novel architecture with purpose built low latency communication protocols for next generation disaggregated data centers (DDCs). In order to accommodate for capacity and latency needs of disaggregated IT elements (i.e. CPU, memory), this architecture makes use of a low latency and high capacity circuit switched optical network for interconnecting various endpoints, that are equipped with multi-channel Silicon photonic based integrated transceivers. In a move to further decrease the perceived latency between various disaggregated IT elements, this paper proposes a) a novel network topology, which cuts down the latency over the optical network by 34% while enhancing system scalability and b) channel bonding over multicore fiber (MCF) switched links to reduce head to tail latency and in turn increase sustained memory bandwidth for disaggregated remote memory. Furthermore, to reduce power consumption and enhance space efficiency, the integration of novel multi core fiber (MCF) based transceivers, fibers and optical switches are proposed and experimentally validated at the physical layer for this topology. It is shown that the integration of MCF based subsystems in this topology can bring about an improvement in energy efficiency of the optical switching layer which is above 60%. Finally, the performance of this proposed architecture and topology is evaluated experimentally at the application layer where the perceived memory throughput for accessing remote and local resources is measured and compared using electrical circuit and packet switching. The results also highlight a multi fold increase in application perceived memory throughput over the proposed DDC topology by utilization and bonding of multiple optical channels to interconnect disaggregated IT elements that can be carried over MCF links
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