In recent years, computer-aided automatic polyp segmentation and neoplasm detection have been an emerging topic in medical image analysis, providing valuable support to colonoscopy procedures. ...Attentions have been paid to improving the accuracy of polyp detection and segmentation. However, not much focus has been given to latency and throughput for performing these tasks on dedicated devices, which can be crucial for practical applications. This paper introduces a novel deep neural network architecture called BlazeNeo, for the task of polyp segmentation and neoplasm detection with an emphasis on compactness and speed while maintaining high accuracy. The model leverages the highly efficient HarDNet backbone alongside lightweight Receptive Field Blocks and a feature aggregation mechanism for computational efficiency. An auxiliary training strategy is proposed to take full advantage of the training data for the segmentation quality. Our experiments on a challenging dataset show that BlazeNeo achieves improvements in latency and model size while maintaining comparable accuracy against state-of-the-art methods. We obtain over 155 fps while outperforming all compared models in terms of accuracy in INT8 precision when deploying on a dedicated edge device with a conventional configuration.
Social Marketing Truong, V. Dao
Social marketing quarterly,
03/2014, Letnik:
20, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article examines the development of social marketing research from 1998 to 2012. Drawing upon journal and database searches, 867 articles were retrieved and then analyzed in the light of the ...content analysis method. The article indicates that social marketing has captured increasing research attention, as evidenced by the growing number of articles published. U.S.- and U.K.-based researchers and institutions have contributed significantly to shaping knowledge in the field. Public health has predominantly been the research topic and hence more articles have been published in health-related journals than in marketing-related journals. Substantial research has focused on downstream social marketing, while the upstream and critical dimension has been given limited attention. Behavior change theories underlying social marketing studies were not always reported, leading to difficulties in identifying common factors in effective interventions. Social marketing research has been dominated by qualitative methods, although both quantitative and mixed methods are gaining prominence. Limitations to the article are discussed and gaps for further research indicated.
This paper examines the perceptions and experiences of poor people in Sapa, Vietnam, regarding tourism as a means of poverty alleviation. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were ...conducted with local people and key informants. The paper indicates that local people perceive poverty as a lack of rice and/or income and attribute it to both internal and external causes. The local tourism sector has primarily benefited the non-poor and tour operators, resulting in conflicts of interest among community members. However, more local people consider tourism a contributor to poverty alleviation than those who do not. All interviewees wish to become homestay owners or tourist guides. The most important barrier to the former is the lack of capital, while foreign language proficiency is the main hindrance to the latter. It is concluded that while an appropriate approach is required to involve local people in tourism, alternative livelihoods other than tourism are also needed. The study suggests that poor people's interpretation of poverty may be substantially different from that of academics and policy-makers. It argues that by valuing the perspectives of those experiencing poverty we can establish more meaningful approaches to alleviating poverty through tourism that are more likely to succeed.
Although social marketing is regarded as an effective consumer-oriented approach to promoting behavioral change and improved well-being for individuals and communities, its potential for generating ...societal change is still under-researched. This article examines government-led macro-social marketing in Vietnam, a country where the national government is interested in using social marketing to engender societal change. Using a search strategy, we identify four macro-social marketing programs that target smoking cessation, helmet use, drunk driving prevention, and nutrition. These programs have achieved meaningful outcomes but are facing some critical challenges. We argue that policy change can become an important component of social marketing intervention but that it may not be sufficient to create societal change in Vietnam. Measures are required so that policies are implemented. Furthermore, social marketers need to consider the social and cultural environment that enables societal change to occur.
Enhanced levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been associated with different disease states. Most attempts to validate and exploit these associations by chronic antioxidant therapies have ...provided disappointing results. Hence, the clinical relevance of ROS is still largely unclear.
We are now beginning to understand the reasons for these failures, which reside in the many important physiological roles of ROS in cell signaling. To exploit ROS therapeutically, it would be essential to define and treat the disease-relevant ROS at the right moment and leave physiological ROS formation intact. This breakthrough seems now within reach.
Rather than antioxidants, a new generation of protein targets for classical pharmacological agents includes ROS-forming or toxifying enzymes or proteins that are oxidatively damaged and can be functionally repaired.
Linking these target proteins in future to specific disease states and providing in each case proof of principle will be essential for translating the oxidative stress concept into the clinic.
Our research study investigates how expressions and acts of kindness are leveraged through non-monetary value exchange practices to improve individual and community well-being when money was scarce. ...A qualitative netnographic study was conducted to examine the non-monetary value exchange practices amongst members of the Barter for Better Fiji platform. Data were collected through online observation and participation, conversational interviews, and archival and netnographic methods. The interpretation of the data revealed that Barter for Better Fiji members leveraged an ‘economy of kindness’ through three non-monetary value exchange practices (i.e. bartering, near-money exchange and donating) to improve individual and community well-being. The marketing theory and practice implications of leveraging expressions and acts of kindness through value exchange practices are discussed.
The oral microbiome has the potential to provide an important symbiotic function in human blood pressure physiology by contributing to the generation of nitric oxide (NO), an essential cardiovascular ...signaling molecule. NO is produced by the human body via conversion of arginine to NO by endogenous nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) but eNOS activity varies by subject. Oral microbial communities are proposed to supplement host NO production by reducing dietary nitrate to nitrite via bacterial nitrate reductases. Unreduced dietary nitrate is delivered to the oral cavity in saliva, a physiological process termed the enterosalivary circulation of nitrate. Previous studies demonstrated that disruption of enterosalivary circulation via use of oral antiseptics resulted in increases in systolic blood pressure. These previous studies did not include detailed information on the oral health of enrolled subjects. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and analysis, we determined whether introduction of chlorhexidine antiseptic mouthwash for 1 week was associated with changes in tongue bacterial communities and resting systolic blood pressure in healthy normotensive individuals with documented oral hygiene behaviors and free of oral disease. Tongue cleaning frequency was a predictor of chlorhexidine-induced changes in systolic blood pressure and tongue microbiome composition. Twice-daily chlorhexidine usage was associated with a significant increase in systolic blood pressure after 1 week of use and recovery from use resulted in an enrichment in nitrate-reducing bacteria on the tongue. Individuals with relatively high levels of bacterial nitrite reductases had lower resting systolic blood pressure. These results further support the concept of a symbiotic oral microbiome contributing to human health via the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. These data suggest that management of the tongue microbiome by regular cleaning together with adequate dietary intake of nitrate provide an opportunity for the improvement of resting systolic blood pressure.
The design of ultra-low power advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption cores for emerging wireless networks and Internet of things systems by combining optimised architectures, a simple clock ...gating technique and an advanced 65 nm silicon on thin buried oxide (SOTB) CMOS process is presented. The implementation results show that the proposed 2-Sbox AES encryption core requires the smallest number of clock cycles and achieves the lowest power consumption of 0.4 µW/MHz which is 3.3× lower than that of the best previous presented AES encryption core, with a very small area overhead. Moreover, the proposed 1-Sbox AES encryption core consumes very low hardware resources of 2.4 kgates gate equivalent.
The ISIS is an ultra-fast image sensor with in-pixel storage. The evolution of the ISIS in the past and in the near future is reviewed and forecasted. To cover the storage area with a light shield, ...the conventional frontside illuminated ISIS has a limited fill factor. To achieve higher sensitivity, a BSI ISIS was developed. To avoid direct intrusion of light and migration of signal electrons to the storage area on the frontside, a cross-sectional sensor structure with thick pnpn layers was developed, and named "Tetratified structure". By folding and looping in-pixel storage CCDs, an image signal accumulation sensor, ISAS, is proposed. The ISAS has a new function, the in-pixel signal accumulation, in addition to the ultra-high-speed imaging. To achieve much higher frame rate, a multi-collection-gate (MCG) BSI image sensor architecture is proposed. The photoreceptive area forms a honeycomb-like shape. Performance of a hexagonal CCD-type MCG BSI sensor is examined by simulations. The highest frame rate is theoretically more than 1Gfps. For the near future, a stacked hybrid CCD/CMOS MCG image sensor seems most promising. The associated problems are discussed. A fine TSV process is the key technology to realize the structure.
Oxidative stress is suggested to be a disease mechanism common to a wide range of disorders affecting human health. However, so far, the pharmacotherapeutic exploitation of this, for example, based ...on chemical scavenging of pro-oxidant molecules, has been unsuccessful.
An alternative emerging approach is to target the enzymatic sources of disease-relevant oxidative stress. Several such enzymes and isoforms have been identified and linked to different pathologies. For some targets, the respective pharmacology is quite advanced, that is, up to late-stage clinical development or even on the market; for others, drugs are already in clinical use, although not for indications based on oxidative stress, and repurposing seems to be a viable option.
For all other targets, reliable preclinical validation and drug ability are key factors for any translation into the clinic. In this study, specific pharmacological agents with optimal pharmacokinetic profiles are still lacking. Moreover, these enzymes also serve largely unknown physiological functions and their inhibition may lead to unwanted side effects.
The current promising data based on new targets, drugs, and drug repurposing are mainly a result of academic efforts. With the availability of optimized compounds and coordinated efforts from academia and industry scientists, unambiguous validation and translation into proof-of-principle studies seem achievable in the very near future, possibly leading towards a new era of redox medicine.
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