Application of Relevance Theory to Discourse Teaching

This thesis sets out to examine one of the most important aspects of discourse—discourse coherence and try to research discourse coherence on the basis of a cognitive theory—Relevance Theory. It aims to apply theory to discourse teaching in college English and improve students’ ability in discourse reading and understanding

Existence Results for a p

We consider the existence and multiplicity of solutions for the px-Kirchhoff-type equations without Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz condition. Using the Mountain Pass Lemma, the Fountain Theorem, and its dual, the existence of solutions and infinitely many solutions were obtained, respectively

Infinitely many solutions of a second-order pp-Laplacian problem with impulsive condition

summary:Using the critical point theory and the method of lower and upper solutions, we present a new approach to obtain the existence of solutions to a $p$-Laplacian impulsive problem. As applications, we get unbounded sequences of solutions and sequences of arbitrarily small positive solutions of the $p$-Laplacian impulsive problem

Lotus: Serverless In-Transit Data Processing for Edge-based Pub/Sub

Publish-subscribe systems are a popular approach for edge-based IoT use cases: Heterogeneous, constrained edge devices can be integrated easily, with message routing logic offloaded to edge message brokers. Message processing, however, is still done on constrained edge devices. Complex content-based filtering, the transformation between data representations, or message extraction place a considerable load on these systems, and resulting superfluous message transfers strain the network. In this paper, we propose Lotus, adding in-transit data processing to an edge publish-subscribe middleware in order to offload basic message processing from edge devices to brokers. Specifically, we leverage the Function-as-a-Service paradigm, which offers support for efficient multi-tenancy, scale-to-zero, and real-time processing. With a proof-of-concept prototype of Lotus, we validate its feasibility and demonstrate how it can be used to offload sensor data transformation to the publish-subscribe messaging middleware

Supporting UAVs with Edge Computing: A Review of Opportunities and Challenges

Over the last years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have seen significant advancements in sensor capabilities and computational abilities, allowing for efficient autonomous navigation and visual tracking applications. However, the demand for computationally complex tasks has increased faster than advances in battery technology. This opens up possibilities for improvements using edge computing. In edge computing, edge servers can achieve lower latency responses compared to traditional cloud servers through strategic geographic deployments. Furthermore, these servers can maintain superior computational performance compared to UAVs, as they are not limited by battery constraints. Combining these technologies by aiding UAVs with edge servers, research finds measurable improvements in task completion speed, energy efficiency, and reliability across multiple applications and industries. This systematic literature review aims to analyze the current state of research and collect, select, and extract the key areas where UAV activities can be supported and improved through edge computing

Existence and Monotone Iteration of Positive Pseudosymmetric Solutions for a Third-Order Four-Point BVP

We study the existence and monotone iteration of solutions for a third-order four-point boundary value problem. An existence result of positive, concave, and pseudosymmetric solutions and its monotone iterative scheme are established by using the monotone iterative technique. Meanwhile, as an application of our results, an example is given

Existence and Monotone Iteration of Positive Pseudosymmetric Solutions for a Third-Order Four-Point BVP with -Laplacian

We study the existence and monotone iteration of solutions for a third-order four-point boundary value problem with -Laplacian. An existence result of positive, concave, and pseudosymmetric solutions and its monotone iterative scheme are established by using the monotone iterative technique. Meanwhile, as an application of our result, an example is given

Association Between Three-Dimensional Transrectal Ultrasound Findings and Tumor Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: An Observational Study

BackgroundThere is a significant demand for the development of non-surgical methods for the evaluation of complete response to tumor therapy. Predicting ability and image quality of routine imaging has not been satisfactory. To avoid the deficiencies, we assessed the capability of three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound in predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer patients.MethodsThe inclusion criteria were patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma, receiving capecitabine-based neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anal verge (≤6 cm), clinical stage T3-4 and/or N+ without evidence of distant metastasis, and restaging ycT0-3a (T3a <5 mm) after the end of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound was performed 7 weeks after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy to discern the patients with complete response from the others. Eight main parameters were obtained from three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound: thickness of muscularis on the residual side, thickness of contralateral muscularis, angle of residual arc, regularity of the shape, integrity of the mucosal layer, blurring of the margin, internal echo, and posterior echo. The association between tumor response and three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound parameters was analyzed, and a model was developed by logistic regression.ResultsBetween 2014 and 2019, 101 patients were recruited; 72 cases received total mesorectal excision, and 29 cases underwent watch-and-wait. Among the three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound parameters, the adjusted-thickness of the muscularis (P<0.01), angle of the residual arc (P<0.01), and regularity of the residual shape (P<0.01) were strongly associated with tumor response. In the dataset with total mesorectal excision cases (TME dataset), the residual adjusted-thickness (odds ratio [OR]=4.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.44–16.6, P=0.01) and regularity of the residual shape (OR=5.00, 95% CI=1.13–22.2, P=0.03) were kept in the final logistic model. The area under the curve of the logistic model was 0.84. Among these parameters, residual adjusted-thickness correlated significantly with tumor response. Additionally, we observed similar results in the whole population of 101 cases (whole dataset) and in the cross-validation.ConclusionThree-dimensional transrectal ultrasound model is a valuable method for predicting tumor response in rectal cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, which should be included as a factor for evaluating clinical complete response.Trial RegistrationThis trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02605265. Registered 9 November 2015 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT0260526