Sliding-window random linear network coding (RLNC) is a good fit for achieving low in-order delivery delay in future-generation networks characterized by lossy links. In high bandwidth-delay product ...networks, however, the issue of integrating RLNC with transmission control protocol (TCP) flow and congestion control poses a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose an innovative reinforcement learning framework that addresses this issue by decoupling the RLNC sliding window from TCP and dynamically adjusting it to enhance network performance in terms of goodput, in-order delivery delay, and decoding complexity. By employing reinforcement learning, we enable autonomous decision-making for adjusting the sliding window of RLNC, which operates independently of TCP. This decoupling allows RLNC to adapt dynamically to the varying conditions of the network, without prior knowledge of its characteristics. By leveraging the benefits of RLNC and TCP separately, we achieve more efficient and effective utilization of network resources. The results highlight significant improvements in goodput, in-order delivery delay, and decoding complexity. Goodput is improved by up to 11 %, the in-order delivery delay is reduced by a factor of 9 %, and coding complexity shows an improvement of up to 45% compared to the state-of-the-art.
In this work, we determine appropriate background driving processes for the 3-component superposed Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model by analyzing the fractal characteristics of the data sets using the ...rescaled range analysis (R/S), the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), and the diffusion entropy analysis (DEA).
See also https://ejde.math.txstate.edu/special/02/m1/abstr.html
Inhaled corticosteroids are the mainstay in the management of lung inflammation associated to chronic lung diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Nonetheless, ...available inhalation products are mostly short-acting formulations that require frequent administrations and do not always produce the desired anti-inflammatory effects. In this work, the production of inhalable beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) dry powders based on polymeric particles was attempted. As starting material, the PHEA-g-RhB-g-PLA-g-PEG copolymer was chosen, obtained by grafting 0.6, 2.4 and 3.0 mol%, respectively, of rhodamine (RhB), polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene glycol 5000 (PEG) on alpha,beta-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)DL-aspartamide (PHEA). The drug was loaded into the polymeric particles (MP) as an inclusion complex (CI) with hydroxypropyl-cyclodextrin (HP-β-Cyd) (at a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1) or as free form. The spray-drying (SD) process to produce MPs was optimized by keeping the polymer concentration (0.6 wt/vol%) constant in the liquid feed and by varying other parameters such as the drug concentration. The theoretical aerodynamic diameter (d
) values among the MPs are comparable and potentially suitable for inhalation, as confirmed also through evaluation of the experimental mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD
). BDP shows a controlled release profile from MPs that is significantly higher (more than tripled) than from Clenil
. In vitro tests on bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE) and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549) showed that all the MP samples (empty or drug-loaded) were highly biocompatible. None of the systems used induced apoptosis or necrosis. Moreover, the BDP loaded into the particles (BDP-Micro and CI-Micro) was more efficient than free BDP to counteract the effects of cigarette smoke and LPS on release of IL-6 and IL-8.
QUIC has drawn extensive attention in supporting low latency and secure Internet of Things (IoT) communications due to its efficient handshake and default end-to-end encryption. However, in Wi-Fi ...enabled IoT communications with contentions for shared media, QUIC's inherent acknowledgment (ACK) policy may induce non-negligible control overhead and limited data throughput. To address the problem, this paper designs and implements an ACK frequency optimization scheme for QUIC by exploiting the tailored bandwidth-delay product (BDP) at the receiver, named QUIC-BDP. To accurately estimate real-time BDP, we design an "ACK-PING" strategy to compensate for the accuracy of round-trip timing estimation and utilize exponential averaging and sliding window filtering for stable bandwidth estimation. Experiments results show that our proposed QUIC-BDP balances between the robustness and throughput performance while maintaining stable performance in lossy cases, with a reduced energy cost. Particularly, QUIC-BDP achieves up to a 67% gain in goodput compared to the original QUIC, and it improves goodput by up to 38% and 28% compared to existing solutions MSQUIC and QUIC-1:10, respectively. In addition, QUIC-BDP reduces energy cost by up to 50% compared to the original QUIC.
Solution composition alters the dynamics of beclomethasone diproprionate (BDP) particle formation from droplets emitted by pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs). The hypothesis that differences ...in inhaler solutions result in different solid particle physical chemistry was tested using a suite of complementary calorimetric techniques. The atomisation of BDP-ethanol solutions from commercial HFA-pMDI produced aerodynamically-equivalent solid particle aerosols. However, differences in particle physico-chemistry (morphology and solvate/clathrate formation) were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and supported by hot stage microscopy (HSM). Increasing the ethanol content of the formulation from 8 to 12% (w/w), which retards the evaporation of propellant and slows the increase in droplet surface viscosity, enhanced the likelihood of particles drying with a smooth surface. The dissolution rate of BDP from the 12% (w/w) ethanol formulation-derived particles (63% dissolved over 120min) was reduced compared to the 8% (w/w) ethanol formulation-derived particles (86% dissolved over 120min). The addition of 0.01% (w/w) formoterol fumarate or 1.3% (w/w) glycerol to the inhaler solution modified the particles and reduced the BDP dissolution rate further to 34% and 16% dissolved in 120min, respectively. These data provide evidence that therapeutic aerosols from apparently similar inhaler products, including those with similar aerodynamic performance, may behave non-equivalently after deposition in the lungs.
This article introduces an original dataset on debates in the Turkish Grand Assembly before, during, and after the 2013 Gezi Protests, the biggest wave of demonstrations in Turkey's history. The ...dataset contains 3478 coded interventions from a total of 230 days in parliament, between May 2012 and February 2014, and provides a unique insight into how political elites responded to the events, as well as the extent to which they addressed the main demands. The article describes the merits of this approach, and the practical steps to create such a dataset in Turkey and other Mediterranean countries. The article suggests that parliamentary debates are very useful for identifying and analysing political discussions and decision-making, as they reveal a level of nuance that alternative data sources do not provide, and track changes over time with a high degree of sensitivity.
This study evaluated the lung deposition and the distribution pattern in the airways of a fixed combination of beclometasone dipropionate (BDP) and formoterol fumarate (FF) (100/6 μg) delivered as an ...extrafine dry powder formulation (mass median aerodynamic diameter, MMAD (μm) BDP = 1.5; FF = 1.4) through the NEXThaler
device in healthy subjects, asthmatics, and patients with COPD.
Healthy subjects (n = 10), asthmatic patients (n = 9; 30%≤FEV
< 80%), and COPD patients (n = 9; FEV
/FVC ≤70%, 30%≤FEV
< 50%) completed this open-label, single administration (inhalation of four actuations) parallel group study. After inhalation of
Tc-radiolabeled BDP/FF combination (radiolabeled BDP + unlabeled FF), the drug deposition was assessed using a gamma-scintigraphy technique. Patients' lung function was assessed.
No significant difference in drug deposition was observed between the three study groups. Mean lung deposition, extrathoracic deposition, and amount exhaled ranged, respectively, between 54.9% and 56.2%, between 41.8% and 43.2%, and between 1.6% and 3.3% of BDP emitted dose (71.7 ± 2.5 μg) for the three study groups. The central to peripheral ratio (reflecting the lung distribution pattern) ranged between 1.23 and 2.02 for the three study groups, indicating a distribution of the drug throughout the airways, including periphery. The study treatment produced a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV
) increase over time, reaching a maximum improvement generally within 1-4 hours.
The fixed extrafine dry powder combination BDP/FF (100/6 μg) administered through the DPI NEXThaler
achieved similar intrapulmonary deposition in healthy subjects, in asthmatic patients, and COPD patients (approximately 55% of emitted dose) irrespective of the underlying lung disease with a negligible amount of exhaled particles. The study showed high reliability of the device, reproducible dosing, and distribution throughout the lungs. The results supported the concept of efficient delivery of the combination to the target pulmonary regions, thanks to the extrafine formulation. FEV
profile confirmed a relevant pharmacodynamic effect of the product.
•The technology of processing intensive data flows on supercomputers is proposed.•The technology is based on direct upload of data into the memory of a computing node.•The protocol and software is ...developed for processing intensive data flows.•Parallel data transfer increases the real capacity of the system.•The LACP features in switches can significantly affect the capacity of the system.
Modern experimental setups generate prolonged and intense data streams. For example, non-contact measurement techniques PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry), based on continuous image processing, are widely used in the experimental aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. These experimental stereo or volumetric velocimetry 3D PIV setups are able to generate long-lasting and intensive flows of images by using two or more cameras. High computational complexity of the image processing algorithms is the main limiting factor in the conditions of the low computational performance of PIV setups itself. Removal of these limitations by moving image processing tasks on a remote supercomputer by using our proposed technology “Distributed PIV”, which will allow users to apply their new high-precision parallel algorithms in a real-time and implement feedback to the experimental setup. This paper describes the innovative technology for high-performance processing of the intensive flows of the structured data generated by an experimental setup and delivered through a high-speed DWDM backbone directly into computing nodes of a remote supercomputer. A high BDP (Bandwidth-Delay Product) problem case in the design of protocols such as TCP in respect of performance tuning to achieve maximum network throughput is solved by designed middleware.
The available bandwidth, round trip time (RTT) and packet loss rate can vary over many orders of magnitude, which characterizes the heterogeneity of the Internet. To cope with the heterogeneity in ...Internet congestion control, we propose a new TCP protocol known as INVS that contains three key components: (1) INVS employs an exponential-function-based growth function of the congestion window, which is more efficient than the cubic function in CUBIC; (2) INVS introduces an adaptive increase factor into the growth function to ensure that the window growth rate matches the path condition, and this increase factor measures the path condition using a custom function of the available bandwidth and minimum RTT; (3) INVS adopts an adaptive queue threshold in the loss classification scheme to improve the performance of TCP over lossy links. In addition, INVS requires modification only on the TCP sender and traces the path capacity to enable quick convergence of the congestion window. The performance analysis and evaluation show that INVS achieves good throughput, fairness, RTT-fairness and utilization in heterogeneous networks.
Background:
The transfer of flexor-to-extensor is widely used to correct lesser toe deformity and joint instability. The flexor digitorum longus tendon (FDLT) is percutaneously transected at the ...distal end and then routed dorsally to the proximal phalanx. The transected tendon must have enough mobility and length for the transfer. The purpose of this study was to dissect the distal end of FDLT and identify the optimal technique to percutaneously release FDLT.
Methods:
Eight fresh adult forefoot specimens were dissected to describe the relationship between the tendon and the neurovascular bundle and measure the width and length of the distal end of FDLT. Another 7 specimens were used to create the percutaneous release model and test the strength required to pull out FDLT proximally. The tendons were randomly released at the base of the distal phalanx (BDP), the space of the distal interphalangeal joint (SDIP), and the neck of the middle phalanx (NMP).
Results:
At the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint, the neurovascular bundle begins to migrate toward the center of the toe and branches off toward the center of the toe belly. The distal end of FDLT can be divided into 3 parts: the distal phalanx part (DPP), the capsule part (CP), and the middle phalanx part (MPP). There was a significant difference in width and length among the 3 parts. The strength required to pull out FDLT proximally was about 168, 96, and 20 N, respectively, for BDP, SDIP, and NMP.
Conclusion:
The distal end of FDLT can be anatomically described at 3 locations: DPP, CP, and MPP. The tight vinculum brevis and the distal capsule are strong enough to resist proximal retraction. Percutaneous release at NMP can be performed safely and effectively.
Clinical Relevance:
Percutaneous release at NMP can be performed safely and effectively during flexor-to-extensor transfer.
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