On the Sum Secrecy Rate of Multi-User Holographic MIMO Networks

The emerging concept of extremely-large holographic multiple-input multiple-output (HMIMO), beneficial from compactly and densely packed cost-efficient radiating meta-atoms, has been demonstrated for enhanced degrees of freedom even in pure line-of-sight conditions, enabling tremendous multiplexing gain for the next-generation communication systems. Most of the reported works focus on energy and spectrum efficiency, path loss analyses, and channel modeling. The extension to secure communications remains unexplored. In this paper, we theoretically characterize the secrecy capacity of the HMIMO network with multiple legitimate users and one eavesdropper while taking into consideration artificial noise and max-min fairness. We formulate the power allocation (PA) problem and address it by following successive convex approximation and Taylor expansion. We further study the effect of fixed PA coefficients, imperfect channel state information, inter-element spacing, and the number of Eve's antennas on the sum secrecy rate. Simulation results show that significant performance gain with more than 100\% increment in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime for the two-user case is obtained by exploiting adaptive/flexible PA compared to the case with fixed PA coefficients.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to IEEE ICC 202

RSMA for Dual-Polarized Massive MIMO Networks: A SIC-Free Approach

Aiming at overcoming practical issues of successive interference cancellation (SIC), this paper proposes a dual-polarized rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) technique for a downlink massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network. By modeling the effects of polarization interference, an in-depth theoretical analysis is carried out, in which we derive tight closed-form approximations for the outage probabilities and ergodic sum-rates. Simulation results validate the accuracy of the theoretical analysis and confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach. For instance, under low to moderate cross-polar interference, our results show that the proposed dual-polarized MIMO-RSMA strategy outperforms the single-polarized MIMO-RSMA counterpart for all considered levels of residual SIC error.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2211.0085

Semantic-Functional Communications in Cyber-Physical Systems

This paper explores the use of semantic knowledge inherent in the cyber-physical system (CPS) under study in order to minimize the use of explicit communication, which refers to the use of physical radio resources to transmit potentially informative data. It is assumed that the acquired data have a function in the system, usually related to its state estimation, which may trigger control actions. We propose that a semantic-functional approach can leverage the semantic-enabled implicit communication while guaranteeing that the system maintains functionality under the required performance. We illustrate the potential of this proposal through simulations of a swarm of drones jointly performing remote sensing in a given area. Our numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method offers the best design option regarding the ability to accomplish a previously established task -- remote sensing in the addressed case -- while minimising the use of radio resources by controlling the trade-offs that jointly determine the CPS performance and its effectiveness in the use of resources. In this sense, we establish a fundamental relationship between energy, communication, and functionality considering a given end application

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery