Power-Efficient and Highly Scalable Parallel Graph Sampling using FPGAs

Energy efficiency is a crucial problem in data centers where big data is generally represented by directed or undirected graphs. Analysis of this big data graph is challenging due to volume and velocity of the data as well as irregular memory access patterns. Graph sampling is one of the most effective ways to reduce the size of graph while maintaining crucial characteristics. In this paper we present design and implementation of an FPGA based graph sampling method which is both time- and energy-efficient. This is in contrast to existing parallel approaches which include memory-distributed clusters, multicore and GPUs. Our strategy utilizes a novel graph data structure, that we call COPRA that allows time- and memory-efficient representation of graphs suitable for reconfigurable hardware such as FPGAs. Our experiments show that our proposed techniques are 2x faster and 3x more energy efficient as compared to serial CPU version of the algorithm. We further show that our proposed techniques give comparable speedups to GPU and multi-threaded CPU architecture while energy consumption is 10x less than GPU and 2x less than CPU

Morphological and Pathogenic Variability among Macrophomina phaseolina

Macrophomina phaseolina is a serious pathogen of many crops. In the present studies, 65 isolates of Macrophomina phaseolina from different agroecological regions of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan were analyzed for morphological and pathogenic variability. Regardless of their geographic origins, significant differences were detected among 65 isolates in their radial growth, sclerotial size, and weight as well as in pathogenicity. Sixteen isolates were rated as fast growing, 11 as slow growing, and the rest of the isolates as medium growing. Nine isolates were classified as large sized, 26 as small sized, and the remaining 30 isolates as medium sized. Thirty five isolates were ranked as heavy weight, 12 as low weight, and the rest of isolates were grouped as medium weight. Ten fungal isolates appeared to be least virulent, whereas eight isolates of diverse origin proved to be highly virulent against mungbean cultivars. The remaining isolates were regarded as moderately virulent. No relationship was found among the morphological characters and pathogenicity of the isolates. These morphological and pathogenic variations in various isolates of M. phaseolina may be considered important in disease management systems and will be useful in breeding programmes of mungbean cultivars resistant to charcoal rot

Treatment and outcomes of soft tissue sarcoma of groin, hip and thigh: A retrospective review from a tertiary care hospital

Objective: To study the frequency of the thigh, hip and groin soft tissue sarcomas and retrospectively analyse the management, treatment results, and outcomes of these uncommon malignant tumours, in a tertiary care hospital of the city of Karachi.Methodology: Data of soft tissue tumours registered from 2017-2018 was retrieved during January 2019 to March 2019 from Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi bone and soft tissue tumour registry. A retrospective review was performed and all soft tissue tumour cases treated with surgical intervention (with adjuvant /neoadjuvant therapy) or palliative intention were included.Results: Total 119 cases of soft tissue tumours (STS) were identified out of which 85 were malignant cases (sarcomas) while 30 were benign. On presentation 84 (70.6%) were primary cases. On topographical distribution, there were 25 patients who had hip, groin and thigh sarcoma. Of these, 15 were males and 10 were females. As treatment, neo-adjuvant radiation was done in 4 (16%) patients and adjuvant chemo/radio therapy was given to 13 (52%) patients. Wide margin excision was performed in 19 (76%) patients and 4 (16%) had amputation. Reconstruction was offered to 3 (12%) patients. In post-surgical complications, 1 (4%) patient had wound infection. On final surgical histopathology, majority of the sarcomas were liposarcomas, myxofibrosarcoma, synovial sarcoma and Leiomyosarcoma. Post-surgery recurrence occurred in 7 (28%) patients. Overall survival was 76%.Conclusions: In treatment of soft tissue sarcoma, limb salvage is an achievable option and survival results are also good

Towards A Generic, Service-Oriented Framework for Distributed Real-Time Systems

REACTION 2012. 1st International workshop on Real-time and distributed computing in emerging applications. December 4th, 2012, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Continuously increasing complexity and scale of distributed real-time systems have exposed the limitations of their existing development methodologies. This fact is evident by the unsustainable rate of increase in the development and maintenance costs of such systems. In this paper, we present a generic, service-oriented framework for distributed real-time systems. The proposed framework can potentially serve as the basis for a widely applicable, cross-domain toolset, thus, decreasing the development and maintenance costs for distributed real-time systems. The proposed framework consists of a generic, service-oriented deployment platform that abstracts away the details of implementation platform and an associated development methodology. The proposed framework makes extensive use of the existing service-oriented technologies such as Web Services. However, it also extends these technologies for application to distributed real-time systems by introducing QoS-aware service deployment and service monitoring phases. This paper presents the details of the proposed framework as well as a case-study of the application of the proposed framework to the domain of smart gri

Barriers and perceptions regarding code status discussion with families of critically ill patients in a tertiary care hospital of a developing country: A cross-sectional study

Background: In Asian societies including Pakistan, a complex background of illiteracy, different familial dynamics, lack of patient’s autonomy, religious beliefs, and financial constraints give new dimensions to code status discussion. Barriers faced by physicians during code status discussion in these societies are largely unknown.Aim: To determine the barriers and perceptions in discussion of code status by physicians.Design: Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study.Setting and participants: This study was conducted in the Department of Medicine of The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 134 physicians who had discussed at least five code statuses in their lifetime were included.Results: A total of 77 (57.4%) physicians responded. Family-related barriers were found to be the most common barriers. They include family denial (74.0%), level of education of family (66.2%), and conflict between individual family members (66.2%). Regarding personal barriers, lack of knowledge regarding prognosis (44.1%), personal discomfort in discussing death (29.8%), and fear of legal consequences (28.5%) were the top most barriers. In hospital-related barriers, time constraint (57.1%), lack of hospital administration support (48.0%), and suboptimal nursing care after do not resuscitate (48.0%) were the most frequent. There were significant differences among opinions of trainees when compared to those of attending physicians.Conclusion: Family-related barriers are the most frequent roadblocks in the end-of-life care discussions for physicians in Pakistan. Strengthening communication skills of physicians and family education are the potential strategies to improve end-of-life care. Large multi-center studies are needed to better understand the barriers of code status discussion in developing countries

Awareness of sleep hygiene in medical students of Kara-chi: A cross sectional study.

Introduction: Sleep, a neurobiological phenomenon, is very essential component for the behaviours of human beings. Sleep Hygiene is essentially a term which is used to understand lifestyle and environmental factors that influence sleep. A stu-dent when get admission in a university, it’s a turning point in his/her life as previ-ous routine is dramatically altered. This is more so if a student enters a medical college or university. While studying medicine the syllabus, timetables, duties, shifts are all manifold and hence it changes the complete environment and lifestyle of nearly all students. This in turn leads to drastic change in the pattern of sleep hygiene.Objective: This study was conducted to assess the awareness of sleep hygiene among medical students.Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from March –August 2019. The approval of study sought from Ethical Review committee of Isra University. A self- administered questionnaire used to collect data after student’s verbal consent and ensuring their anonymity. Using convenient sampling technique 467 medical students were studied including those from 1st year to 5th year students. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0.Results: Showed that 59.5% of the students have not heard about sleep hygiene, 31.5% have heard it and 9% of them were not sure about it.77% of participants use social media, 72% takes shower and 63% of the students wash their face before going to the bed.Conclusion: We concluded that majority of the medical students are unaware of Sleep Hygiene and a large portion of them uses social media before going to bed.Key Words: Sleep Hygiene, medical students, awareness

The learners\u27 perspective on internal medicine ward rounds: a cross-sectional study

Background: Ward rounds form an integral part of Internal Medicine teaching. This study aimed to determine the trainees\u27 opinions regarding various aspects of their ward rounds, including how well they cover their learning needs, how they would like the rounds to be conducted, and differences of opinion between medical students and postgraduates. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 134 trainees in Internal Medicine, comprising medical students, interns, residents and fellows, who were asked to fill in a structured, self-designed questionnaire. Most of the responses required a rating on a scale of 1-5 (1 being highly unsatisfactory and 5 being highly satisfactory). Results: Teaching of clinical skills and bedside teaching received the lowest overall mean score (Mean +/- SD 2.48 +/- 1.02 and 2.49 +/- 1.12 respectively). They were rated much lower by postgraduates as compared to students (p \u3c 0.001). All respondents felt that management of Patients was the aspect best covered by the current ward rounds (Mean +/- SD 3.71 +/- 0.72). For their desired ward rounds, management of Patients received the highest score (Mean +/- SD 4.64 +/- 0.55), followed by bedside examinations (Mean +/- SD 4.60 +/- 0.61) and clinical skills teaching (Mean +/- SD 4.50 +/- 0.68). The postgraduates desired a lot more focus on communication skills, counselling and medical ethics as compared to students, whose primary focus was teaching of bedside examination and management. A majority of the respondents (87%) preferred bedside rounds over conference room rounds. Even though the duration of rounds was found to be adequate, a majority of the trainees (68%) felt there was a lack of individual attention during ward rounds. Conclusions: This study highlights important areas where ward rounds need improvement in order to maximize their benefit to the learners. There is a need to modify the current state of ward rounds in order to address the needs and expectations of trainees

Perception of medical students regarding breast feeding at Al Tibri Medical College and Hospital: a comparative study

Background: Breast milk is an ideal feed for infants, and it is effective in ensuring child health and survival. The study was done to assess the perception regarding breastfeeding among medical students of basic and clinical sciences and to compare knowledge regarding feeding among basic sciences with clinical sciences students.Methods: This cross-sectional survey was done at Al-Tibri Medical College and Hospital over a period of 6 months from February 2019 till July 2109. A self-generated Questionnaire was used to assess the perception of 367 medical students regarding breast feeding from basic and clinical sciences of medical students. Result was statistically analyzed using SPSS version 22. Chi-square test was used to compare qualitative data, p-value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: A total of 367 students participated in the study with 159(43.3%) from basic medical sciences and 208(56.7%) from clinical sciences. Out of respondents, 54.5% were females. Internet was the main source of knowledge (47.3%) as shown in the graph, 74.1% were native. Generally, the majority of students from clinical group had a better perception regarding breastfeeding initiation and continuation along with infant and maternal benefit. Clinical science group had an edge on the basic science group with reference to their perception of breastfeeding in special circumstances.Conclusions: Medical universities are the main platform for future physicians, so knowledge regarding breast feeding promotion and practices should be given from this stage

Study of Debris Flow Impact on Bridge Pier

The destructive nature of debris has ability to transport large boulders and wooden material along with the flow whose impact can pose serious safety risks to a bridge. In this study an effort has been made to study the impact of varying debris densities on a bridge pier.&nbsp; The experimentation was carried out in Hydraulics Laboratory, Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila. Hexagonal wooden pier model was used. Wooden sticks of uniform size and mass were used to act as debris in flow. Respective discharges were determined against different flow velocities. Dial gauge was installed carefully beside the bridge pier in a way that deflections were easily measurable. This debris of masses 189, 253, 316, 379 and 442 grams was floated on water for five trials at discharges of 10.3, 12.8, 16, 23.8 and 28.9 liters per second. Debris hit the pier and caused a deflection in it. These deflections were measured by a dial gauge. The results show that with increasing debris mass and intensity of flow velocity, the impact on the pier bridge in term of deflection increased. A hydraulic structure's health can be monitored using the findings of the current study

Patient satisfaction after cataract surgery using visual functioning questionnaire

Background: NEI VFQ-25 questionnaire is widely used to determine different health benefits to patient’s daily activities, social and mental health. The objective of this study was to determine satisfaction of patients undergoing cataract surgery.Methods: After ethical approval, a cross-sectional study using non-probability convenient sampling technique was done. Post-operative cataract patients between 18-75 years of both gender were included and patients reluctant to participate, <18 years of age or above 75 were excluded. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Scoring of NEI VFQ-25 questionnaire was done. Chi-square test was applied between groups of patients with or without glasses using distant and near visual acuities keeping p-value of ≤0.05 as significant.Results: Mean age of 100 patients was 58.56±9.63 years, 78 patients were female housewives. Significant improvements in visual acuities was reported with distant or near vision with or without glasses after cataract surgery (p-value <0.01). Patient’s difficulties in worrying with eye sight, reading newspapers, reading stuff well up close, reading street signs, having issue in visiting others, going out to movies/plays, feeling of accomplishing less, having limited endurance and need for help from others in order to perform visual tasks were associated independently with reduced visual acuity and visual impairment.Conclusions: Cataract surgery significantly improved patients’ visual acuities, daily activities, mental and social health issues. Most patients were satisfied with cataract surgery and had fulfilling improvements to post-operative quality of life