Statistically Motivated Second Order Pooling

Second-order pooling, a.k.a.~bilinear pooling, has proven effective for deep learning based visual recognition. However, the resulting second-order networks yield a final representation that is orders of magnitude larger than that of standard, first-order ones, making them memory-intensive and cumbersome to deploy. Here, we introduce a general, parametric compression strategy that can produce more compact representations than existing compression techniques, yet outperform both compressed and uncompressed second-order models. Our approach is motivated by a statistical analysis of the network's activations, relying on operations that lead to a Gaussian-distributed final representation, as inherently used by first-order deep networks. As evidenced by our experiments, this lets us outperform the state-of-the-art first-order and second-order models on several benchmark recognition datasets.Comment: Accepted to ECCV 2018. Camera ready version. 14 page, 5 figures, 3 table

Nondestructive selective probing of phononic excitations in a cold Bose gas using impurities

We introduce a detector that selectively probes the phononic excitations of a cold Bose gas. The detector is composed of a single impurity atom confined by a double-well potential, where the two lowest eigenstates of the impurity form an effective probe qubit that is coupled to the phonons via density-density interactions with the bosons. The system is analogous to a two-level atom coupled to photons of the radiation field. We demonstrate that tracking the evolution of the qubit populations allows probing both thermal and coherent excitations in targeted phonon modes. The targeted modes are selected in both energy and momentum by adjusting the impurity's potential. We show how to use the detector to observe coherent density waves and to measure temperatures of the Bose gas down to the nano-Kelvin regime. We analyze how our scheme could be realized experimentally, including the possibility of using an array of multiple impurities to achieve greater precision from a single experimental run.Comment: 11+4 pages, 7 figure

Controls on the formation of lunar multiring basins

Multiring basins dominate the crustal structure, tectonics, and stratigraphy of the Moon. Understanding how these basins form is crucial for understanding the evolution of ancient planetary crusts. To understand how preimpact thermal structure and crustal thickness affect the formation of multiring basins, we simulate the formation of lunar basins and their rings under a range of target and impactor conditions. We find that ring locations, spacing, and offsets are sensitive to lunar thermal gradient (strength of the lithosphere), temperature of the deep lunar mantle (strength of the asthenosphere), and preimpact crustal thickness. We also explore the effect of impactor size on the formation of basin rings and reproduce the observed transition from peak‐ring basins to multiring basins and reproduced many observed aspects of ring spacing and location. Our results are in broad agreement with the ring tectonic theory for the formation of basin rings and also suggest that ring tectonic theory applies to the rim scarp of smaller peak‐ring basins

Diagnosis of pancreaticobiliary malignancy by detection of minichromosome maintenance protein 5 in biliary brush cytology

Background: Biliary brush cytology is the standard method of evaluating biliary strictures, but is insensitive at detecting malignancy. In pancreaticobiliary cancer minichromosome maintenance replication proteins (MCM 2–7) are dysregulated in the biliary epithelium and MCM5 levels are elevated in bile samples. This study aimed to validate an immunocolorimetric ELISA assay for MCM5 as a pancreaticobiliary cancer biomarker in biliary brush samples. methods: Biliary brush specimens were collected prospectively at ERCP from patients with a biliary stricture. Collected samples were frozen at −80 °C. The supernatant was washed and lysed cells incubated with HRP-labelled anti-MCM5 mouse monoclonal antibody. Test positivity was determined by optical density absorbance. Patients underwent biliary brush cytology or additional investigations as per clinical routine. results: Ninety-seven patients were included in the study; 50 had malignant strictures. Median age was 65 years (range 21–94) and 51 were male. Compared with final diagnosis the MCM5 assay had a sensitivity for malignancy of 65.4% compared with 25.0% for cytology. In the 72 patients with paired MCM5 assay and biliary brush cytology, MCM5 demonstrated an improved sensitivity (55.6% vs 25.0%; P=0.0002) for the detection of malignancy. conclusions: Minichromosome maintenance replication protein5 is a more sensitive indicator of pancreaticobiliary malignancy than standard biliary brush cytology

Balancing the interests of patient data protection and medication safety monitoring in a public-private partnership.

Obtaining data without the intervention of a health care provider represents an opportunity to expand understanding of the safety of medications used in difficult-to-study situations, like the first trimester of pregnancy when women may not present for medical care. While it is widely agreed that personal data, and in particular medical data, needs to be protected from unauthorized use, data protection requirements for population-based studies vary substantially by country. For public-private partnerships, the complexities are enhanced. The objective of this viewpoint paper is to illustrate the challenges related to data protection based on our experiences when performing relatively straightforward direct-to-patient noninterventional research via the Internet or telephone in four European countries. Pregnant women were invited to participate via the Internet or using an automated telephone response system in Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Information was sought on medications, other factors that may cause birth defects, and pregnancy outcome. Issues relating to legal controllership of data were most problematic; assuring compliance with data protection requirements took about two years. There were also inconsistencies in the willingness to accept nonwritten informed consent. Nonetheless, enrollment and data collection have been completed, and analysis is in progress. Using direct reporting from consumers to study the safety of medicinal products allows researchers to address a myriad of research questions relating to everyday clinical practice, including treatment heterogeneity in population subgroups not traditionally included in clinical trials, like pregnant women, children, and the elderly. Nonetheless, there are a variety of administrative barriers relating to data protection and informed consent, particularly within the structure of a public-private partnership

The effect of transmucosal 0.2mg/kg Midazolam premedication on dental anxiety, anaesthetic induction and psychological morbidity in children undergoing general anaesthesia for tooth extraction

<b>Background:</b> The project aims were to evaluate the benefit of transmucosal Midazolam 0.2mg/kg pre-medication on anxiety, induction behaviour and psychological morbidity in children undergoing general anaesthesia (GA) extractions. <b>Method:</b> 179 children aged 5-10 years (mean 6.53 years) participated in this randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Ninety children had Midazolam placed in the buccal pouch. Dental anxiety was recorded pre operatively and 48 hours later using a child reported MCDAS-FIS scale. Behaviour at anaesthetic induction was recorded and psychological morbidity was scored by the parent using the Rutter Scale pre-operatively and again one-week later. Subsequent dental attendance was recorded at one, three and six months after GA. <b>Results:</b> Whilst levels of mental anxiety did not reduce overall, the most anxious patients demonstrated a reduction in anxiety after receiving midazolam premedicationmay (p=0.01). Neither induction behaviour nor psychological morbidity improved. Irrespective of group, parents reported less hyperactive (p= 0.002) and more prosocial behaviour (p=0.002) after the procedure:;, older children improved most (p=0.048), Post GA Dental attendance was poor and unrelated to after the procedure and unaffected by premedication. <b>Conclusion:</b> 0.2mg/kg buccal Midazolam provided some evidence for reducing anxiety in the most dentally anxious patients. However, induction behaviour, psychological morbidity and subsequent dental attendance were not found to alter between the premedication groups

Providing Self-Aware Systems with Reflexivity

We propose a new type of self-aware systems inspired by ideas from higher-order theories of consciousness. First, we discussed the crucial distinction between introspection and reflexion. Then, we focus on computational reflexion as a mechanism by which a computer program can inspect its own code at every stage of the computation. Finally, we provide a formal definition and a proof-of-concept implementation of computational reflexion, viewed as an enriched form of program interpretation and a way to dynamically "augment" a computational process.Comment: 12 pages plus bibliography, appendices with code description, code of the proof-of-concept implementation, and examples of executio

Shoulder pain due to cervical radiculopathy: an underestimated long-term complication of herpes zoster virus reactivation?

Purpose To evaluate if herpes zoster virus (HZV) reactivation may be considered in the aetiology of cervical radiculopathy. Methods The study group was composed of 110 patients (52 M-58F;mean age ± SD:46.5 ± 6.12; range:40-73) with a clinical diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy. Patients with signs of chronic damage on neurophysiological studies were submitted to an X-ray and to an MRI of the cervical spine in order to clarify the cause of the cervical radiculopathy and were investigated for a possible reactivation of HZV; HZV reactivation was considered as “recent” or “antique” if it occurs within or after 24 months from the onset of symptoms, respectively. Data were submitted to statistics. Results Thirty-eight patients (34,5%,16 M-22F) had a history of HZV reactivation: four (2 M-2F) were “recent” and 34 (14 M-20F) were “antique”. In 68 of 110 participants (61,8%,30 M-38F), pathological signs on X-ray and/or MRI of the cervical spine appeared; in the remaining 42 (38,2%,22 M-20F) X-ray and MRI resulted as negative. Among patients with HZV reactivation, seven (18,4%) had a “positive” X-ray-MRI while in 31 (81,6%) the instrumental exams were considered as negative. The prevalence of “antique” HZV reactivations was statistically greater in the group of patients with no pathological signs on X-ray/MRI of the cervical spine with respect to the group with a pathological instrumental exam (p < 0.01). Conclusions It may be useful to investigate the presence of a positive history of HZV reactivation and to consider it as a long-term complication of a cervical root inflammation especially in patients in which X-ray and MRI of the cervical spine did not show pathological findings