A Local Diagnosis Algorithm for Hypercube-like Networks under the BGM Diagnosis Model

System diagnosis is process of identifying faulty nodes in a system. An efficient diagnosis is crucial for a multiprocessor system. The BGM diagnosis model is a modification of the PMC diagnosis model, which is a test-based diagnosis. In this paper, we present a specific structure and propose an algorithm for diagnosing a node in a system under the BGM model. We also give a polynomial-time algorithm that a node in a hypercube-like network can be diagnosed correctly in three test rounds under the BGM diagnosis model

Characteristics, survival, and related factors of newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients refusing cancer treatments under a universal health insurance program

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Few studies have addressed the causes and risks of treatment refusal in a universal health insurance setting. METHODS: We examined the characteristics and survival associated with treatment refusal in patients with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer in Taiwan during 2004–2008. Treatment refusal was defined as not undergoing any cancer treatment within 4 months of confirmed cancer diagnosis. Patient data were extracted from four national databases. Factors associated with treatment refusal were identified through logistic regression using the generalized estimating equation method, and survival analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Of the 41,340 new colorectal cancer cases diagnosed, 3,612 patients (8.74%) refused treatment. Treatment refusal rate was higher in patients with less urbanized areas of residence, lower incomes, preexisting catastrophic illnesses, cancer stages of 0 and IV, and diagnoses at regional and district hospitals. Logistic regression analysis revealed that patients aged >75 years were the most likely to refuse treatment (OR, 1.87); patients with catastrophic illnesses (OR, 1.66) and stage IV cancer (OR, 1.43) had significantly higher refusal rates. The treatment refusers had 2.66 times the risk of death of those who received treatment. Factors associated with an increased risk of death in refusers included age ≥75 years, insured monthly salary ≥22,801 NTD, low-income household or aboriginal status, and advanced cancer stage (especially stage IV; HR, 11.33). CONCLUSION: Our results show a lower 5-year survival for colorectal patients who refused treatment than for those who underwent treatment within 4 months. An age of 75 years or older, low-income household status, advanced stages of cancer, especially stage IV, were associated with higher risks of death for those who refused treatment

The two-disjoint-cycle-cover pancyclicity of locally twisted cubes

[[abstract]]In this paper, a graph G is two-disjoint-cyclecover r-pancyclic if for any integer l satisfying r ? l ? |V (G)|?r, there exist two vertex-disjoint cycles C1 and C2 in G such that the lengths of C1 and C2 are l and |V (G)|?l, respectively, where |V (G)| denotes the total number of vertices in G. Moreover, we define that a graph G is twodisjoint-cycle-cover edge r-pancyclic if for any two vertexdisjoint edges (u, v) and (x, y) of G, there exist two vertexdisjoint cycles C1 and C2 in G such that (i) C1 contains (u, v) with length l for any integer l satisfying r ? l ? |V (G)|?r, and (ii) C2 contains (x, y) with length |V (G)|?l. Then, we prove that the n-dimensional locally twisted cubes LTQn can be two-disjoint-cycle-cover 4-pancyclic for n ? 3 and two-disjoint-cycle-cover edge 2n-pancyclic for n ? 4

Fault diameter of hypercubes with hybrid node and link faults

[[abstract]]In this paper we study the fault diameter of the n-dimensional hypercube (or n-cube for short), Qn, for n ≥ 3. Let F be a set of hybrid node-faults and/or link-faults in Qn such that every node of Qn is still connected to at least one fault-free node by a fault-free link. Then we compute the exact diameter of Qn - F for/F/&le 2n - 3. As an immediate consequence, our result improves upon those presented by S. Latifi (1993), in which only node-faults were addressed. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company

Restricted-Faults Identification in Folded Hypercubes Under the PMC Diagnostic Model

[[abstract]]System-level fault identification is a key subject for maintaining the reliability of multiprocessor interconnected systems. This task requires fast and accurate inferences based on huge data volumes, and the problem of fault identification in an unstructured graph has been proved to be NP-hard. In this paper, we adopt the PMC diagnostic model as the foundation of pointto-point probing technology, and a system contains only restricted-faults if every of its fault-free units has at least one fault-free neighbor. Under this condition we propose a robust method of identifying restricted-faults in the folded hypercube, which is a promising alternative to the popular hypercube topology

Binarization of document images using Hadamard multiresolution analysis

In this article, we propose a new method that combines the use of a global threshold and a window-based scheme for computing local thresholds. The latter scheme compares the contrast of gray values within a neighborhood whose size varies with the scale of the objects being examined. To compute the scale quantity, a new wavelet model entitled Hadamard multiresolution analysis is also proposed. When the window-based scheme is applied to the areas where global threshold is likely to fail, we obtain uniformly better binary results than using a global threshold only. Significant improvements to OCR performance can also be achieved by our binary results