Tiled Sparse Coding in Eigenspaces for Image Classification

The automation in the diagnosis of medical images is currently a challenging task. The use of Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems can be a powerful tool for clinicians, especially in situations when hospitals are overflowed. These tools are usually based on artificial intelligence (AI), a field that has been recently revolutionized by deep learning approaches. blackThese alternatives usually obtain a large performance based on complex solutions, leading to a high computational cost and the need of having large databases. In this work, we propose a classification framework based on sparse coding. Images are blackfirst partitioned into different tiles, and a dictionary is built after applying PCA to these tiles. The original signals are then transformed as a linear combination of the elements of the dictionary. blackThen, they are reconstructed by iteratively deactivating the elements associated with each component. Classification is finally performed employing as features the subsequent reconstruction errors. Performance is evaluated in a real context where distinguishing between four different pathologies: control versus bacterial pneumonia versus viral pneumonia versus COVID-19. blackOur system differentiates between pneumonia patients and controls with an accuracy of 97.74%, whereas in the 4-class context the accuracy is 86.73%. The excellent results and the pioneering use of sparse coding in this scenario evidence that our proposal can assist clinicians when their workload is high.

БЛОКЧЕЙН В ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОМ ОБРАЗОВАНИИ: КРИПТОКОЛОНИАЛИЗМ, ТЕНЕВАЯ ПРИВАТИЗАЦИЯ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ УЛУЧШЕНИЯ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

The article is devoted to topical issues of complex solutions and implementation of modern technologies in the field of education. According to the author, blockchain, as one of the main elements of digitalization, can become a kind of impetus for the educational sphere, a breakthrough technology, which are extremely necessary in the modern world, the coronavirus pandemic. The author agrees with the researchers who believe that it is the blockchain that makes it possible to create a more secure, open and efficient educational system that is trustworthy all over the world. The article analyzes the pros and cons of blockchain, assesses modern education policy, provides examples of the practice of using blockchain in different countries.

Laboratory Measurements of Zeta Potential in Fractured Lewisian Gneiss: Implications for the Characterization of Flow in Fractured Crystalline Bedrock

Despite the broad range of interest and possible applications, the controls on the electric surface charge and the zeta potential of gneiss at conditions relevant to naturally fractured systems remain unreported. There are no published zeta potential measurements conducted in such systems at equilibrium, hence, the effects of composition, concentration and pressure remain unknown. This study reports zeta potential values for the first time measured in a fractured Lewisian gneiss sample saturated with NaCl solutions of various concentrations, artificial seawater and artificial groundwater solutions under equilibrium conditions at confining pressures of 4 MPa and 7 MPa. The constituent minerals of the sample were identified using X-ray diffraction and linked to the concentration and composition dependence of the zeta potential. The results reported in this study demonstrate that the zeta potential remained negative for all tested solutions and concentrations. However, the values of the zeta potential of our Lewisian gneiss sample were found to be unique and dissimilar to pure minerals such as quartz, calcite, mica or feldspar. Moreover, the measured zeta potentials were smaller in magnitude in the experiments with artificial complex solutions compared with those measured with NaCl, thus suggesting that divalent ions (Ca2+, Mg2+ and SO42−) acted as potential determining ions. The zeta potential was also found to be independent of salinity in the NaCl experiments, which is unusual for most reported data. We also investigated the impact of fracture aperture on the electrokinetic response and found that surface electrical conductivity remained negligibly small across the range of the tested confining pressures. Our novel results are an essential first step for interpreting field self-potential (SP) signals and facilitate a way forward for characterization of water flow through fractured basement aquifers.

ECMO-Supported Ablation and Percutaneous Repair of Severe Valvulopathy: A Winning Combination in a Complex Clinical Case

In this case report, we describe a complex case of a 67-year-old patient who was suffering from acute heart failure with electrical storm. Clinical case management was based on an integrated approach comprising two different procedures that were complementary and synergistic, and that allowed the patient to reach acute stabilization and to demonstrate mid-term clinical improvement. Complex clinical settings, such as electrical and hemodynamic instability, require complex solutions. The use of an integrated approach that allows physiopathological mechanisms to work together may be beneficial for these patients.

Engineering Resilience to Water Stress in the Late Prehispanic North-Central Andean Highlands (~600–1200 BP)

The Andes are defined by human struggles to provide for, and control, water. Nowhere is this challenge more apparent than in the unglaciated western mountain range Cordillera Negra of the Andes where rain runoff provides the only natural source of water for herding and farming economies. Based on over 20 years of systematic field surveys and taking a political ecology and resilience theory focus, this article evaluates how the Prehispanic North-Central highlands Huaylas ethnic group transformed the landscape of the Andes through the largescale construction of complex hydraulic engineering works in the Cordillera Negra of the Ancash Province, North-Central Peru. It is likely that construction of these engineered landscapes commenced during the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000), reaching their apogee under the Late Intermediate Period (Huaylas group, AD 1000–1450) and Inca (AD 1450–1532) period, before falling into disuse during the early Spanish colony (AD 1532–1615) through a combination of disease, depopulation, and disruption. Persistent water stress in the western Pacific-facing Andean cordillera was ameliorated through the construction of interlinked dams and reservoirs controlling the water, soil, and wetlands. The modern study of these systems provides useful case-studies for infrastructure rehabilitation potentially providing low-cost, though technologically complex, solutions to modern water security.

Fluorescence Characteristics of Highly-Pure Nanoparticles Embedded in Dye Complexes for Random Laser Design

In this work, highly-pure titanium dioxide nanoparticles produced by dc magnetron sputtering technique were embedded in organometallic complex solutions such as Baq2 or Znq2 to form random gain media. The structural characteristics of the TiO2 nanoparticles were determined to confirm their high structural purity. The spectroscopic characteristics, mainly photoluminescence and fluorescence, of the complex solutions containing the nanoparticles were determined and studied. These media were compared to two of the most common laser dyes (Rhodamine b and Rhodamine 6G) to determine the feasibility to use them to produce random laser.

The method of simple iterations with correction of convergence and the minimal discrepancy method for plasmonic problems

The problem of searching for complex roots of the dispersion equations of plasmon-polaritons along the boundaries of the layered structure-vacuum interface is considered. Such problems arise when determining proper waves along the interface of structures supporting surface and leakage waves, including plasmons and polaritons along metal, dielectric and other surfaces. For the numerical solution of the problem, we consider a modification of the method of simple iterations with a variable iteration parameter leading to a zero derivative of the right side of the equation at each step, i.e. convergent iterations, as well as a modification of the minimum residuals method. It is shown that the method of minimal residuals with linearization coincides with the method of simple iterations with the specified correction. Convergent methods of higher orders are considered. The results are demonstrated by examples, including complex solutions of dispersion equations for plasmon-polaritons. The advantage of the method over other methods of searching for complex roots in electrodynamics problems is the possibility of ordering the roots and constructing dispersion branches without discontinuities. This allows you to classify modes.

Calculation of the Gibbs–Donnan factors for multi-ion solutions with non-permeating charge on both sides of a permselective membrane

Separation of two ionic solutions with a permselective membrane that is impermeable to some of the ions leads to an uneven distribution of permeating ions on the two sides of the membrane described by the Gibbs–Donnan (G–D) equilibrium with the G–D factors relating ion concentrations in the two solutions. Here, we present a method of calculating the G–D factors for ideal electroneutral multi-ion solutions with different total charge of non-permeating species on each side of a permselective membrane separating two compartments. We discuss some special cases of G–D equilibrium for which an analytical solution may be found, and we prove the transitivity of G–D factors for multi-ion solutions in several compartments interconnected by permselective membranes. We show a few examples of calculation of the G–D factors for both simple and complex solutions, including the case of human blood plasma and interstitial fluid separated by capillary walls. The article is accompanied by an online tool that enables the calculation of the G–D factors and the equilibrium concentrations for multi-ion solutions with various composition in terms of permeating ions and non-permeating charge, according to the presented method.

Are we facing complex problems or complex solutions? A reflection on urban slum planning through the lens of complexity: A case of Indonesia

This study aims to reflect on urban slums planning and management through the lens of complexity theory by utilizing Indonesia as a case. This study employs a literature review to explore several problems and provide solutions as implemented in the Indonesian urban slums. The two key reflections were underlined. First, the given spatial solutions generate more complexity by its various type of programs and managements. Second, the root cause of the slums is poverty, despite unachieved by the given non-spatial solutions. This study suggests to refashion the planning approach in dealing with the slums problem to achieve SDGs particularly point 1 and 11, while adjusted to adapt with the COVID-19 situation.