A systematic literature review of cloud computing in eHealth

Cloud computing in eHealth is an emerging area for only few years. There needs to identify the state of the art and pinpoint challenges and possible directions for researchers and applications developers. Based on this need, we have conducted a systematic review of cloud computing in eHealth. We searched ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Inspec, ISI Web of Science and Springer as well as relevant open-access journals for relevant articles. A total of 237 studies were first searched, of which 44 papers met the Include Criteria. The studies identified three types of studied areas about cloud computing in eHealth, namely (1) cloud-based eHealth framework design (n=13); (2) applications of cloud computing (n=17); and (3) security or privacy control mechanisms of healthcare data in the cloud (n=14). Most of the studies in the review were about designs and concept-proof. Only very few studies have evaluated their research in the real world, which may indicate that the application of cloud computing in eHealth is still very immature. However, our presented review could pinpoint that a hybrid cloud platform with mixed access control and security protection mechanisms will be a main research area for developing citizen centred home-based healthcare applications

A Hybrid Wireless Image Transmission Scheme with Diffusion

We propose a hybrid joint source-channel coding (JSCC) scheme, in which the conventional digital communication scheme is complemented with a generative refinement component to improve the perceptual quality of the reconstruction. The input image is decomposed into two components: the first is a coarse compressed version, and is transmitted following the conventional separation based approach. An additional component is obtained through the diffusion process by adding independent Gaussian noise to the input image, and is transmitted using DeepJSCC. The decoder combines the two signals to produce a high quality reconstruction of the source. Experimental results show that the hybrid design provides bandwidth savings and enables graceful performance improvement as the channel quality improves

Correcting and complementing freeway traffic accident data using Mahalanobis distance based outlier detection

Arhivirana je ogromna količina podataka o prometu koji bi se mogli koristiti za dobivanje specifičnih podataka. Međutim, oni se u potpunosti ne koriste zbog nepostojanja točnih podataka o prometu (oznaka). U ovom radu poboljšavamo algoritam zasnovan na Mahalanobis udaljenosti za procjenu promjena toka prometa i otkrivanje nesreća i primjenjujemo ga kod ispravljanja i dopunjavanja informacija o nesreći. Algoritam za otkrivanje outliera (netipičnih vrijednosti) pruža točne podatke o vremenu događanja nesreće, trajanju i smjeru. Razvijamo i sustav s interaktivnim sučeljem korisnika u svrhu ostvarenja ovog postupka. Predlažu se tri načina za manipulaciju podacima. Najprije, za otkrivanje outliera u prometu predlažemo uporabu multi-metričkih podataka o prometu umjesto jedno metričkih. Nadalje, predlažemo praktičnu metodu za organizaciju prometnih podataka i evaluaciju organizacije Mahalanobis udaljenosti. Kao treće, dajemo opis opće metode za modifikaciju algoritama Mahalanobis udaljenosti kako bi se mogli ažurirati.A huge amount of traffic data is archived which can be used in data mining especially supervised learning. However, it is not being fully used due to lack of accurate accident information (labels). In this study, we improve a Mahalanobis distance based algorithm to be able to handle differential data to estimate flow fluctuations and detect accidents and use it to support correcting and complementing accident information. The outlier detection algorithm provides accurate suggestions for accident occurring time, duration and direction. We also develop a system with interactive user interface to realize this procedure. There are three contributions for data handling. Firstly, we propose to use multi-metric traffic data instead of single metric for traffic outlier detection. Secondly, we present a practical method to organise traffic data and to evaluate the organisation for Mahalanobis distance. Thirdly, we describe a general method to modify Mahalanobis distance algorithms to be updatable

Predicting Disease-Related Genes Using Integrated Biomedical Networks

Background: Identifying the genes associated to human diseases is crucial for disease diagnosis and drug design. Computational approaches, esp. the network-based approaches, have been recently developed to identify disease-related genes effectively from the existing biomedical networks. Meanwhile, the advance in biotechnology enables researchers to produce multi-omics data, enriching our understanding on human diseases, and revealing the complex relationships between genes and diseases. However, none of the existing computational approaches is able to integrate the huge amount of omics data into a weighted integrated network and utilize it to enhance disease related gene discovery. Results: We propose a new network-based disease gene prediction method called SLN-SRW (Simplified Laplacian Normalization-Supervised Random Walk) to generate and model the edge weights of a new biomedical network that integrates biomedical data from heterogeneous sources, thus far enhancing the disease related gene discovery. Conclusions: The experiment results show that SLN-SRW significantly improves the performance of disease gene prediction on both the real and the synthetic data sets

Primary prevention for risk factors of ischemic stroke with Baduanjin exercise intervention in the community elder population: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the world, and the prevalence of stroke tends to increase with age. Despite advances in acute care and secondary preventive strategies, primary prevention should play the most significant role in the reduction of the burden of stroke. As an important component of traditional Chinese Qigong, Baduanjin exercise is a simple, safe exercise, especially suitable for older adults. However, current evidence is insufficient to inform the use of Baduanjin exercise in the prevention of stroke. The aim of this trail is to systematically evaluate the prevention effect of Baduanjin exercise on ischemic stroke in the community elder population with high risk factors. METHODS: A total of 170 eligible participants from the community elder population will be randomly allocated into the Baduanjin exercise group and usual physical activity control group in a 1:1 ratio. Besides usual physical activity, participants in the Baduanjin exercise group will accept a 12-week Baduanjin exercise training with a frequency of five days a week and 40 minutes a day. Primary and secondary outcomes will be measured at baseline, 13 weeks (at end of intervention) and 25 weeks (after additional 12-week follow-up period). DISCUSSION: This study will be the randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Baduanjin exercise for primary prevention of stroke in community elder population with high risk factors of stroke. The results of this trial will help to establish the optimal approach for primary prevention of stroke. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-TRC-13003588. Registration date: 24 July, 2013

Different responses of soil fungal and bacterial communities to nitrogen addition in a forest grassland ecotone

IntroductionContinuous nitrogen deposition increases the nitrogen content of terrestrial ecosystem and affects the geochemical cycle of soil nitrogen. Forest-grassland ecotone is the interface area of forest and grassland and is sensitive to global climate change. However, the structure composition and diversity of soil microbial communities and their relationship with soil environmental factors at increasing nitrogen deposition have not been sufficiently studied in forest-grassland ecotone.MethodsIn this study, experiments were carried out with four nitrogen addition treatments (0 kgN·hm−2·a−1, 10 kgN·hm−2·a−1, 20 kgN·hm−2·a−1 and 40 kgN·hm−2·a−1) to simulate nitrogen deposition in a forest-grassland ecotone in northwest Liaoning Province, China. High-throughput sequencing and qPCR technologies were used to analyze the composition, structure, and diversity characteristics of the soil microbial communities under different levels of nitrogen addition.Results and discussionThe results showed that soil pH decreased significantly at increasing nitrogen concentrations, and the total nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen contents first increased and then decreased, which were significantly higher in the N10 treatment than in other treatments (N:0.32 ~ 0.48 g/kg; NH4+-N: 11.54 ~ 13 mg/kg). With the increase in nitrogen concentration, the net nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and ammoniation rates decreased. The addition of nitrogen had no significant effect on the diversity and structure of the fungal community, while the diversity of the bacterial community decreased significantly at increasing nitrogen concentrations. Ascomycetes and Actinomycetes were the dominant fungal and bacterial phyla, respectively. The relative abundance of Ascomycetes was negatively correlated with total nitrogen content, while that of Actinomycetes was positively correlated with soil pH. The fungal community diversity was significantly negatively correlated with nitrate nitrogen, while the diversity of the bacterial community was significantly positively correlated with soil pH. No significant differences in the abundance of functional genes related to soil nitrogen transformations under the different treatments were observed. Overall, the distribution pattern and driving factors were different in soil microbial communities in a forest-grassland ecotone in northwest Liaoning. Our study enriches research content related to factors that affect the forest-grassland ecotone

Wavelength and pulse duration tunable ultrafast fiber laser mode-locked with carbon nanotubes.

Ultrafast lasers with tunable parameters in wavelength and time domains are the choice of light source for various applications such as spectroscopy and communication. Here, we report a wavelength and pulse-duration tunable mode-locked Erbium doped fiber laser with single wall carbon nanotube-based saturable absorber. An intra-cavity tunable filter is employed to continuously tune the output wavelength for 34 nm (from 1525 nm to 1559 nm) and pulse duration from 545 fs to 6.1 ps, respectively. Our results provide a novel light source for various applications requiring variable wavelength or pulse duration

Monographie der untergattung Calamosternus motschulsky (Scarabeiclae-Aphodiinae): I. Beitrag

7 láminas. Número abril-diciembre.Peer reviewe