Hardware Acceleration of Progressive Refinement Radiosity using Nvidia RTX

A vital component of photo-realistic image synthesis is the simulation of indirect diffuse reflections, which still remain a quintessential hurdle that modern rendering engines struggle to overcome. Real-time applications typically pre-generate diffuse lighting information offline using radiosity to avoid performing costly computations at run-time. In this thesis we present a variant of progressive refinement radiosity that utilizes Nvidia's novel RTX technology to accelerate the process of form-factor computation without compromising on visual fidelity. Through a modern implementation built on DirectX 12 we demonstrate that offloading radiosity's visibility component to RT cores significantly improves the lightmap generation process and potentially propels it into the domain of real-time.Comment: 114 page

The aetiology of social deficits within mental health disorders:The role of the immune system and endogenous opioids

The American National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) has put out a set of research goals that include a long-term plan to identify more reliable endogenous explanations for a wide variety of mental health disorders (Insel, 2013). In response to this, we have identified a major symptom that underlies multiple mental health disorders – social bonding dysfunction. We suggest that endogenous opioid abnormalities can lead to altered social bonding, which is a symptom of various mental health disorders, including depression, schizophrenia and ASD. This article first outlines how endogenous opioids play a role in social bonding. Then we show their association with the body’s inflammation immune function, and review recent literature linking inflammation to mental health ‘immunophenotypes’. We finish by explaining how these immunophenotypes may be caused by alterations in the endogenous opioid system. This is the first overview of the role of inflammation across multiple disorders where we provide a biochemical explanation for why immunophenotypes might exist across diagnoses. We propose a novel mechanism of how the immune system may be causing ‘sickness-type’ behaviours (fatigue, appetite change, social withdrawal and inhibited motivation) in those who have these immunophenotypes. We hope that this novel aetiology can be used as a basis for future research in mental health

Racial differences in systemic sclerosis disease presentation: a European Scleroderma Trials and Research group study

Objectives. Racial factors play a significant role in SSc. We evaluated differences in SSc presentations between white patients (WP), Asian patients (AP) and black patients (BP) and analysed the effects of geographical locations.Methods. SSc characteristics of patients from the EUSTAR cohort were cross-sectionally compared across racial groups using survival and multiple logistic regression analyses.Results. The study included 9162 WP, 341 AP and 181 BP. AP developed the first non-RP feature faster than WP but slower than BP. AP were less frequently anti-centromere (ACA; odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, P < 0.001) and more frequently anti-topoisomerase-I autoantibodies (ATA) positive (OR = 1.2, P = 0.068), while BP were less likely to be ACA and ATA positive than were WP [OR(ACA) = 0.3, P < 0.001; OR(ATA) = 0.5, P = 0.020]. AP had less often (OR = 0.7, P = 0.06) and BP more often (OR = 2.7, P < 0.001) diffuse skin involvement than had WP.AP and BP were more likely to have pulmonary hypertension [OR(AP) = 2.6, P < 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.7, P = 0.03 vs WP] and a reduced forced vital capacity [OR(AP) = 2.5, P < 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.4, P < 0.004] than were WP. AP more often had an impaired diffusing capacity of the lung than had BP and WP [OR(AP vs BP) = 1.9, P = 0.038; OR(AP vs WP) = 2.4, P < 0.001]. After RP onset, AP and BP had a higher hazard to die than had WP [hazard ratio (HR) (AP) = 1.6, P = 0.011; HR(BP) = 2.1, P < 0.001].Conclusion. Compared with WP, and mostly independent of geographical location, AP have a faster and earlier disease onset with high prevalences of ATA, pulmonary hypertension and forced vital capacity impairment and higher mortality. BP had the fastest disease onset, a high prevalence of diffuse skin involvement and nominally the highest mortality

Relationship between sedentary behavior and depression: a mediation analysis of influential factors across the lifespan among 42,469 people in low- and middle-income countries

Background: Sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and low mood. There is a paucity of multi-national research investigating SB and depression, particularly among low- and middle-income countries. This study investigated the association between SB and depression, and factors which influence this. Methods: Cross-sectional data were analyzed from the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health. Depression was based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. The association between depression and SB (self-report) was estimated by multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses. Mediation analysis was used to identify influential factors. Results: A total of 42,469 individuals (50.1% female, mean 43.8 years) were included. People with depression spent 25.6 (95%CI8.5-42.7) more daily minutes in SB than non-depressed participants. This discrepancy was most notable in adults aged ≥65 y (35.6 minutes in those with depression). Overall, adjusting for socio-demographics and country, depression was associated with a 1.94 (95%CI1.31-2.85) times higher odds for high SB (i.e., ≥8 h/day). The largest proportion of the SB-depression relationship was explained by mobility limitations (49.9%), followed by impairments in sleep/energy (43.4%), pain/discomfort (31.1%), anxiety (30.0%), disability (25.6%), cognition (16.1%), and problems with vision (11.0%). Other health behaviors (physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking), body mass index, and social cohesion did not influence the SB-depression relationship. Conclusion: People with depression are at increased risk of engaging in high levels of SB. This first multi-national study offers potentially valuable insight for a number of hypotheses which may influence this relationship, although testing with longitudinal studies is needed