The IEEE 754 standard for floating-point (FP) arithmetic is widely used for real numbers. Recently, a variant called posit was proposed to improve the precision around 1 and −1. Since FP ...multiplication requires high computational complexity, various algorithmic approaches and hardware accelerator solutions have been explored. In this context, this article proposes a novel area-efficient logarithmic multiplier architecture for different real number formats, which also provides a significant and useful accuracy/latency tradeoff at runtime. To reduce the logic area in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), this article offers two innovations: applying logarithm to only a single operand and mitigating the accuracy drop caused by this modification with advanced error converging and operand selection schemes. Our multiplier design for single-precision FP (SPFP) numbers uses 58% fewer hardware resources than the iterative Mitchell's multiplier (IMM) design of Babić et al. extended for SPFP numbers. The error falls within 0.5% when the number of iterations reaches 5. In JPEG, our SPFP multiplier with four iterations produces nearly identical image quality results to the conventional exact multiplier. We further show how to merge two SPFP multipliers for double-precision FP (DPFP) multiplication. This DPFP multiplier design reduces the hardware resources of the IMM design extended for DPFP numbers by 60%. Finally, we demonstrate how our SPFP multiplier design can be slightly modified for 32-bit posit multiplication. It achieves a significantly higher accuracy by increasing the number of iterations compared to state-of-the-art approximate posit multiplier designs.
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date, radio pulsations have been ...detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs, we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. This survey discovered two isolated MSPs, one of which is the only known rotation-powered MSP to remain undetected in radio observations. These gamma-ray MSPs were discovered in completely blind searches without prior constraints from other observations, raising hopes for detecting MSPs from a predicted Galactic bulge population.
Different Dads Harrison, Jill; Henderson, Matthew; Leonard, Rob
2007, 2007-03-15
eBook
Fathers of disabled children can feel overlooked when the focus of much parenting support is aimed at mothers. Different Dads is a collection of inspiring personal testimonies written by fathers of ...children with a disability who reflect on their own experiences and offer advice to others on the challenges of raising a child with a disability.
We present an incremental version (4FGL-DR3, for Data Release 3) of the fourth Fermi-LAT catalog of gamma-ray sources. Based on the first twelve years of science data in the energy range from 50 MeV ...to 1 TeV, it contains 6658 sources. The analysis improves on that used for the 4FGL catalog over eight years of data: more sources are fit with curved spectra, we introduce a more robust spectral parameterization for pulsars, and we extend the spectral points to 1 TeV. The spectral parameters, spectral energy distributions, and associations are updated for all sources. Light curves are rebuilt for all sources with 1 yr intervals (not 2 month intervals). Among the 5064 original 4FGL sources, 16 were deleted, 112 are formally below the detection threshold over 12 yr (but are kept in the list), while 74 are newly associated, 10 have an improved association, and seven associations were withdrawn. Pulsars are split explicitly between young and millisecond pulsars. Pulsars and binaries newly detected in LAT sources, as well as more than 100 newly classified blazars, are reported. We add three extended sources and 1607 new point sources, mostly just above the detection threshold, among which eight are considered identified, and 699 have a plausible counterpart at other wavelengths. We discuss degree-scale residuals to the global sky model and clusters of soft unassociated point sources close to the Galactic plane, which are possibly related to limitations of the interstellar emission model and missing extended sources.
Buildings are typically equipped with smart meters to measure electricity demand at regular intervals. Smart meter data for a single building have many uses, such as forecasting and assessing overall ...building performance. However, when data are available from multiple buildings, there are additional applications that are rarely explored. For instance, we can explore how different building characteristics influence energy demand. If each building is treated as a random effect and building characteristics are handled as fixed effects, a mixed‐effects model can be used to estimate how characteristics affect energy usage. In this paper, we demonstrate that producing 1‐day‐ahead demand predictions for 123 commercial office buildings using mixed models can improve forecasting accuracy. We experiment with random intercept, random intercept and slope and non‐linear mixed models. The predictive performance of the mixed‐effects models are tested against naive, linear and non‐linear benchmark models fitted to each building separately. This research justifies using mixed models to improve forecasting accuracy and to quantify changes in energy consumption under different building configuration scenarios.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) manifests as alterations in complex human behaviors including social communication and stereotypies. In addition to genetic risks, the gut microbiome differs between ...typically developing (TD) and ASD individuals, though it remains unclear whether the microbiome contributes to symptoms. We transplanted gut microbiota from human donors with ASD or TD controls into germ-free mice and reveal that colonization with ASD microbiota is sufficient to induce hallmark autistic behaviors. The brains of mice colonized with ASD microbiota display alternative splicing of ASD-relevant genes. Microbiome and metabolome profiles of mice harboring human microbiota predict that specific bacterial taxa and their metabolites modulate ASD behaviors. Indeed, treatment of an ASD mouse model with candidate microbial metabolites improves behavioral abnormalities and modulates neuronal excitability in the brain. We propose that the gut microbiota regulates behaviors in mice via production of neuroactive metabolites, suggesting that gut-brain connections contribute to the pathophysiology of ASD.
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•Mice harboring human ASD, but not TD, microbiomes exhibit ASD-like behaviors•ASD and TD microbiota produce differential metabolome profiles in mice•Extensive alternative splicing of risk genes in brains of mice with ASD microbiota•BTBR mice treated with 5AV or taurine improved repetitive and social behaviors
Repetitive and social behavioral abnormalities in mice with microbiomes from patients with autism spectrum disorder can be corrected by the administration of specific metabolites.
IntroductionPrevious systematic reviews have found consistent evidence of a positive association between exposure to point-of-sale (POS) tobacco promotion and increased smoking and smoking ...susceptibility among children and adolescents. No meta-analysis has been conducted on these studies to date.MethodsSystematic literature searches were carried out to identify all quantitative observational studies that examined the relationship between POS tobacco promotion and individual-level smoking and smoking-related cognitions among children and adolescents, published between January 1990 and June 2014. Random-effects meta-analyses were used. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to extent of tobacco POS advertising environment in the study environment. Sensitivity analyses were performed according to study size and quality.Results13 studies met the inclusion criteria; 11 reported data for behavioural outcomes, 6 for cognitive outcomes (each of these assessed smoking susceptibility). The studies were cross-sectional, with the exception of 2 cohort studies. For the behavioural outcomes, the pooled OR was 1.61 (95% CI 1.33 to 1.96) and for smoking susceptibility the pooled OR was 1.32 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.61).ConclusionsChildren and adolescents more frequently exposed to POS tobacco promotion have around 1.6 times higher odds of having tried smoking and around 1.3 times higher odds of being susceptible to future smoking, compared with those less frequently exposed. Together with the available evaluations of POS display bans, the results strongly indicate that legislation banning tobacco POS promotion will effectively reduce smoking among young people.
To determine if COVID-19 State of Emergency (SOE) restrictions were associated with a reduction in presentations to two urban EDs in Melbourne, Victoria.
This retrospective observational study ...included adult patients presenting to The Alfred and Sandringham Hospital EDs during the first month of stage 2 and 3 SOE restrictions (26 March-25 April 2020). Patients transferred from other hospitals or diagnosed with COVID-19 were excluded. The primary outcome was the average number of presentations per day. Secondary outcomes included the average daily number of presentations for pre-specified subgroups defined by triage category and diagnosis. The independent impact of SOE restrictions, adjusted for underlying trends in attendance, was determined using negative binomial regression and reported as an incident rate ratio (IRR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI).
Average daily attendance during the exposure period was 174.7. In the absence of SOE restrictions, 278.8 presentations per day were predicted, a reduction of 37.3% (IRR 0.63, 95% CI 0.59-0.67). Attendance was lower than anticipated for all triage categories (especially category 5 IRR 0.51, 95% CI 0.44-0.59) and diagnostic groups (including circulatory problems IRR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50-0.76 and injury IRR 0.58, 95% CI 0.53-0.63). There were fewer than predicted presentations for several sentinel diagnoses, including gastroenteritis (IRR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17-0.42) and renal colic (IRR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33-0.92).
SOE restrictions were associated with a significant reduction in ED presentations across a range of triage categories and diagnoses. Public health messaging should emphasise the importance of timely ED attendance for acute illness and injury.
Future medical and financial planning is important for persons with dementia given the impact of the disease on capacity for decision making.
To explore from the perspective of carers of persons with ...dementia: (1) Participation in future medical and financial planning by the person they care for, including when planning was undertaken and the characteristics associated with having an advance care directive completed; (2) The type of healthcare providers who discussed advance care planning following diagnosis; and (3) Preferences for timing of discussions about advance care planning following diagnosis.
Recruitment and data collection took place between July 2018 and June 2020. Carers of persons with dementia aged 18 years and older were mailed a survey. Participants completed questions regarding completion of various future planning documents by the person they support, including time of completion and who discussed advance care planning following diagnosis. Participants were presented with information about the benefits and consequences of early and late discussions of advance care planning and asked when discussions about advance care planning were best initiated.
198 carers participated. Most participants were female (74%) and had been a carer for more than 2 years (82%). Most participants reported that the person with dementia they support had made a Will (97%) and appointed an Enduring Guardian (93%) and Enduring Power of Attorney (89%). Only 47% had completed an advance care directive. No significant associations were found between characteristics of persons with dementia and completion of an advance care directive. Geriatricians (53%) and GPs (51%) most often discussed advance care planning following diagnosis. Most carers thought that discussions about advance care planning should occur in the first few weeks or months following diagnosis (32%), at the healthcare provider's discretion (31%), or at the time of diagnosis (25%).
More than half of persons with dementia do not have an advance care directive. There is variability in preferences for timing of discussions following dementia diagnosis.
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