Open Radio Access Network (RAN) is an important architecture design shift for 5G and next generation telecommunications networks. With open RAN, mobile network operators would be able to mix and ...match multi-vendor RAN solutions as long as the solutions comply with open standards. O-RAN Alliance is the global leader in standardizing the open RAN architecture, where RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is positioned centrally as the brain of a RAN to manage and optimize the RAN operations. Open-source projects play a key role in accelerating the adoption of open RAN architecture, especially the use of RIC. However, the fast pace of development and the lack of documentation in open-source projects create steep learning curve for beginners. In this paper, we first provide an overview of widely used open-source RIC projects and discuss their pros and cons. We then share our first-hand experience to use RIC in our campus 5G network that consists of commercial-grade RAN solutions. In particular, we developed a suite of three RAN control applications (i.e., energy efficiency, interference management, and predictive maintenance) on an open-source RIC, and we deploy and evaluate them on a commercial-grade 5G network in a university campus. For these RIC applications, we design and evaluate different ML models based on real-world data collected from our 5G network, which we publish together with this paper. Our experimental results show that AI-based RIC applications can achieve more than 90% of accuracy in inferring the situation of the RAN for each given task. Our energy-saving RIC application can reduce 65% of energy consumption of the RAN over a simulated period of one year. Our project also validates the feasibility to interfacing an open-source RIC with existing commercial-grade 5G solutions.
Support recovery of sparse signals from noisy measurements with orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) has been extensively studied. In this paper, we show that for any K-sparse signal x, if a sensing ...matrix A satisfies the restricted isometry property (RIP) with restricted isometry constant δ K+ 1 <; 1/√K + 1, then under some constraints on the minimum magnitude of nonzero elements of x, OMP exactly recovers the support of x from its measurements y = Ax + v in K iterations, where v is a noise vector that is ℓ 2 or ℓ ∞ bounded. This sufficient condition is sharp in terms of δ K+ 1 since for any given positive integer K and any 1/√K + 1 ≤ δ <; 1, there always exists a matrix A satisfying the RIP with δ K+ 1 = δ for which OMP fails to recover a K-sparse signal x in K iterations. Also, our constraints on the minimum magnitude of nonzero elements of x are weaker than existing ones. Moreover, we propose worst case necessary conditions for the exact support recovery of x, characterized by the minimum magnitude of the nonzero elements of x.
En los años noventa, Paul Ricur caracterizó su postura en torno a la cuestión metafísica de Dios como un agnosticismo filosófico. Consideró que esa característica era la marca de toda su obra. Sin ...embargo, en su memoria de juventud, escrita a los 20 años, Ricur desarrolló una filosofía que nombraba a Dios y lo convertía en cuestión de un esfuerzo metafísico. Esa memoria permaneció inédita hasta 2017. Frente al reconocimiento de su agnosticismo filosófico, esta publicación genera preguntas ineludibles. Si el joven Ricur se interesó por la aplicación del método de la filosofía reflexiva al problema de Dios ¿por qué justo este primer texto permaneció inédito?, ¿no fue publicado por contradecir la marca de la totalidad de su obra? El objetivo del presente estudio es esclarecer este origen que parece extraño a su descripción filosófica. Se examinarán tres puntos centrales de su memoria: 1) el credo filosófico establecido en el inicio de su trabajo, 2) las decisiones asumidas en su desarrollo, y 3) la estructura de una conclusión imposible con la que finaliza.
Abstract
Background
The best medical treatment (BMT) for most patients with early stage of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) is often limited to gait training and pharmacological therapy ...besides endovascular surgery. The application of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) has been described as a promising experimental strategy for the improvement of therapeutic outcome in cardiovascular disease but has not proven beneficial effects in clinical practice and treatment of PAOD yet.
Methods
Here we describe a prospective, randomized trial for the evaluation of possible effects of repeated application of RIC in patients with PAOD. This monocentric study will enrol 200 participants distributed to an intervention group receiving RIC + BMT and a control group only receiving BMT for four weeks. Patients are at least 18 years of age and have diagnosed PAOD Fontaine stage II b. Pain-free and total walking distance will be measured via treadmill test (primary endpoints). In addition, ankle-brachial index (ABI) and quality of life (QoL) will be assessed using the SF-36 and VascuQoL-6 questionnaire. Moreover, evaluation of markers for atherosclerosis, angiogenic profiling and mononuclear cell characterization will be performed using biochemical assays, proteome profiling arrays and flow cytometry (secondary endpoints).
Discussion
Our prospective, randomized monocentric trial is the first of its kind to analyse the effects of chronic and repetitive treatment with RIC in patients with PAOD and might provide important novel information on the molecular mechanisms associated with RIC in PAOD patients.
Trial registration:
Prospectively registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (Deutsche Register Klinischer Studien) Registration number: DRKS00025735; Date of registration: 01.07.2021.
In the past two decades, robotics in construction (RiC) has become an interdisciplinary research field that integrates a large number of urgent technologies (e.g., additive manufacturing, deep ...learning, building information modelling (BIM)), resulting in the related literature being both fragmented and vast. This paper has explored the advances in RiC in the past two decades using a mixed quantitative-qualitative review method. Initially, 940 related articles (170 journal articles and 770 conference papers) were identified by keyword-searching in Scopus and then fed into a bibliometric analysis to build science maps. Following this, a qualitative discussion highlights recent achievements in RiC across three dimensions: tasks, algorithms, and collaborations. Moreover, four future research directions are proposed: 1) in-depth integration of BIM and robotics; 2) near-site robotic fabrication; 3) deep reinforcement learning for flexible environment adaption; and 4) high-level robot-to-robot collaboration. The contributions of this research are twofold: 1) identifying the latest research topics and trends concerning robotic technologies in construction; and 2) providing in-depth insights into the future direction of RiC. The findings from this research can serve both academia and industry in terms of promoting robotic algorithms, hardware, and applications in construction industry.
Display omitted
•A mixed-method review of literature of robotics in construction since 21 century.•A bibliometric analysis was used to conduct publication cluster and research cluster analysis.•A qualitative analysis was performed to present the hot topics in the research areas.•Four potential research directions are proposed for robotics in construction.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is gaining attention as a salvage therapy for recurrent esophageal cancer after chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The incidence of post-PDT scar stenosis, one of the associated ...adverse events, is relatively high. It occurs in about 30% of the patients in our hospital and requires attention because it significantly reduces the patient’s quality of life. In most cases, endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) is successful in improving stenosis. However, refractory or severe stenosis is possible in patients undergoing extensive laser irradiation or multiple PDT for recurrent esophageal cancer, and the endoscopic balloon dilation alone may not be sufficient to sustain the opening of the stenosis. Radial incision and cutting (RIC) have been proposed as a new stenosis-reversal technique for such cases. RIC is highly satisfactory for patients because it reliably removes scar tissue and dramatically improves the passage. However, the restenosis rate after RIC is high, and the need for repeated prophylactic balloon dilatations and steroid administration has been reported. In this case report, we describe a case of pinhole-like stenosis that was difficult to treat with balloon dilation or RIC alone. In these cases, we also report the effective treatment approach implemented with a combination of incision using a needle knife, EBD, and RIC. this treatment resulted in a good improvement in quality of life.
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