Hewlett-Packard (France)

The first part of this paper proposes an adaptive, data-driven threshold for image denoising via wavelet soft-thresholding. The threshold is derived in a Bayesian framework, and the prior used on the wavelet coefficients is the generalized Gaussian distribution (GGD) widely used in image processing applications. The proposed threshold is simple and closed-form, and it is adaptive to each subband because it depends on data-driven estimates of the parameters. Experimental results show that the proposed method, called BayesShrink, is typically within 5% of the MSE of the best soft-thresholding benchmark with the image assumed known. It also outperforms SureShrink (Donoho and Johnstone 1994, 1995; Donoho 1995) most of the time. The second part of the paper attempts to further validate claims that lossy compression can be used for denoising. The BayesShrink threshold can aid in the parameter selection of a coder designed with the intention of denoising, and thus achieving simultaneous denoising and compression. Specifically, the zero-zone in the quantization step of compression is analogous to the threshold value in the thresholding function. The remaining coder design parameters are chosen based on a criterion derived from Rissanen's minimum description length (MDL) principle. Experiments show that this compression method does indeed remove noise significantly, especially for large noise power. However, it introduces quantization noise and should be used only if bitrate were an additional concern to denoising.

The method of wavelet thresholding for removing noise, or denoising, has been researched extensively due to its effectiveness and simplicity. Much of the literature has focused on developing the best uniform threshold or best basis selection. However, not much has been done to make the threshold values adaptive to the spatially changing statistics of images. Such adaptivity can improve the wavelet thresholding performance because it allows additional local information of the image (such as the identification of smooth or edge regions) to be incorporated into the algorithm. This work proposes a spatially adaptive wavelet thresholding method based on context modeling, a common technique used in image compression to adapt the coder to changing image characteristics. Each wavelet coefficient is modeled as a random variable of a generalized Gaussian distribution with an unknown parameter. Context modeling is used to estimate the parameter for each coefficient, which is then used to adapt the thresholding strategy. This spatially adaptive thresholding is extended to the overcomplete wavelet expansion, which yields better results than the orthogonal transform. Experimental results show that spatially adaptive wavelet thresholding yields significantly superior image quality and lower MSE than the best uniform thresholding with the original image assumed known.

It is our great pleasure to present you the technical programme of WWW 2012. The call for papers attracted a breath-taking number of 885 full paper submissions. 521 PC members and 235 supporting reviewers evaluated these papers. Based on 3247 reviews and meta-reviews as well as many discussions held online, the 27 track chairs and deputy chairs met with us for two full days in order to discuss and decide upon final acceptance of full papers. In the end, 108 papers -- only 12% of the submissions -- could be accommodated in the technical programme. These papers represent a well-balanced mix over the 13 tracks listed in the call for papers. Though the different tracks received very different numbers of submissions, our principal selection criterion was quality; hence, we neither enforced a proportional share of acceptances among the tracks nor did we favor tracks with lower numbers of submissions.

The generalized use of physical methods, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) decisively improved urinary stone analysis by allowing to accurately identify the chemical nature, crystalline phases and relative proportions of stone constituents. Such compositional analysis is sufficient to identify stone diseases involving a single specific component such as cystine, 2,8-dihydroxyadenine (DHA), struvite, uric acid, ammonium hydrogen urate or a drug. However, for common calcium nephrolithiasis, which represents by far the largest part of urinary stones throughout the world, the simple identification of calcium oxalate (CaOx) and/or calcium phosphate (CaP) as constituents provides incomplete etiologic information because a same elemental stone composition may result from different lithogenic processes. A more comprehensive method combining careful morphologic examination of the surface and the section of stones with detailed FTIR analysis of the nature, location, crystalline phases and a respective proportion of stone constituents, therefore termed ‘morpho-constitutional’ analysis, as used in our laboratory for four decades provides more complete etiologic information. In common idiopathic CaOx nephrolithiasis, the predominance of the monohydrate form (COM) was shown to be associated with elevated urine Ox concentration, whereas the dihydrate form (COD) was associated with hypercalciuria, thus orienting dietary and/or pharmacological intervention. A major contribution of the method is to immediately orient the diagnosis of rare, but severe, diseases leading to a loss of renal function, when stone analysis reveals a peculiar morphology of common constituents. The most salient examples are the type Ic morphology of COM stones, pathognomonic of primary hyperoxaluria, type Ie morphology, which is highly suggestive of absorptive hyperoxaluria as seen in inflammatory bowel diseases and pathologies inducing steatorrhea, type IIId morphology of ammonium urate stones, which orientates towards chronic diarrhea with dietary imbalance and loss of electrolytes, and type IVa2 morphology of carbapatite, specific of distal renal tubular acidosis of congenital or acquired origin, and distinctive aspect of 2,8-DHA stones. In conclusion, the proposed morpho-constitutional method should be recommended for routine stone analysis, inasmuch as it is simple, rapid, reliable, clinically relevant and cost-effective.

Making the transition to a new architecture is never easy. Users want to keep running their favorite applications as they normally would, without stopping to adapt them to a different platform. For some legacy applications the problem is more severe. Without all the source code, it is well-nigh impossible to recompile the application to a new platform. Binary translation helps this transition process because it automatically converts the binary code from one instruction set to another without the need for high-level source code. However, different choices force different trade-offs between some form of interpretation (or emulation) and static translation. Interpretation requires no user intervention, but its performance is slow. Static translation, on the other hand, requires user intervention but provides much better performance. To help PA-RISC (precision architecture-reduced instruction set computing) users migrate to its upcoming IA-64 systems, Hewlett-Packard has developed the Aries software emulator, combining fast interpretation. The article describes how the system works and outlines its performance characteristics and quality.

The fault mode effects and criticality analyses (FMECA) describe the impact of identified faults. They form an important category of knowledge gathered during the design phase of a satellite and are used also for diagnosis activities. This paper proposes their extension, allowing a finer representation of the available knowledge, at approximately the same cost, through the introduction of an appropriate representation of uncertainty and incompleteness based on Zadeh's possibility theory and fuzzy sets. The main benefit of the approach is to provide a qualitative treatment of uncertainty where we can for instance distinguish manifestations which are more or less certainly present (or absent) and manifestations which are more or less possibly present (or absent) when a given fault is present. In a second step, the proposed approach is extended to handle fault impacts expressed as event chronologies. Efficient, real-time compatible discrimination techniques exploiting uncertain observations are introduced, and an example of satellite fault diagnosis illustrates the method. A brief rationale for the choice of possibility theory and fuzzy sets is provided.

Members of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC) family are potent inducers of mitochondrial biogenesis. We have tested the potential effect of increased mitochondrial biogenesis in cells derived from patients harboring oxidative phosphorylation defects due to either nuclear or mitochondrial DNA mutations. We found that the PGC-1alpha and/or PGC-1beta expression improved mitochondrial respiration in cells harboring a complex III or IV deficiency as well as in transmitochondrial cybrids harboring mitochondrial encephalomyopathy lactic acidosis and stroke A3243G tRNA((Leu)UUR) gene mutation. The respiratory function improvement was found to be associated with increased levels of mitochondrial components per cell, although this increase was not homogeneous. These results reinforce the concept that increased mitochondrial biogenesis is a promising venue for the treatment of mitochondrial diseases.

BACKGROUND: The unequal use of mental health care is a great issue, even in countries with universal health coverage. Better knowledge of the factors that have an impact on the pathway to mental health care may be a great help for designing education campaigns and for best organizing health care delivery. The objective of this study is to explore the determinants of help-seeking intentions for mental health problems and which factors influence treatment opinions and the reliance on and compliance with health professionals' advice. METHODS: 441 adults aged 18 to 70 were randomly selected from the general population of two suburban districts near Paris and agreed to participate in the study (response rate = 60.4%). The 412 respondents with no mental health problems based on the CIDI-SF and the CAGE, who had not consulted for a mental health problem in the previous year, were asked in detail about their intentions to seek help in case of a psychological disorder and about their opinion of mental health treatments. The links between the respondents' characteristics and intentions and opinions were explored. RESULTS: More than half of the sample (57.8%) would see their general practitioner (GP) first and 46.6% would continue with their GP for follow-up. Mental health professionals were mentioned far less than GPs. People who would choose their GP first were older and less educated, whereas those who would favor mental health specialists had lower social support. For psychotherapy, respondents were split equally between seeing a GP, a psychiatrist or a psychologist. People were reluctant to take psychotropic drugs, but looked favorably on psychotherapy. CONCLUSION: GPs are often the point of entry into the mental health care system and need to be supported. Public information campaigns about mental health care options and treatments are needed to educate the public, eliminate the stigma of mental illness and eliminate prejudices.

Hewlett-Packard has many millions of technical support documents in a variety of collections. As part of content management, such collections are periodically merged and groomed. In the process, it becomes important to identify and weed out support documents that are largely duplicates of newer versions. Doing so improves the quality of the collection, eliminates chaff from search results, and improves customer satisfaction.The technical challenge is that through workflow and human processes, the knowledge of which documents are related is often lost. We required a method that could identify similar documents based on their content alone, without relying on metadata, which may be corrupt or missing.We present an approach for finding similar files that scales up to large document repositories. It is based on chunking the byte stream to find unique signatures that may be shared in multiple files. An analysis of the file-chunk graph yields clusters of related files. An optional bipartite graph partitioning algorithm can be applied to greatly increase scalability.

Clinical interest for the identification of the crystalline phase of CaOx, either monohydrate (COM) or dihydrate (COD), in crystalluria analysis is debated. In the present study, we simultaneously determined calcium and oxalate concentration and identified the two crystalline phases of CaOx crystals in 1288 first morning urine samples from 407 CaOx stone formers with crystalluria. The mean concentration of oxalate ions was higher in urine samples containing COM than in those containing COD crystals, and conversely the mean concentration of calcium ions was markedly higher in urine samples containing COD than in those containing COM crystals. COM crystals were predominant (93%) in urine samples with a Ca/Ox molar ratio <5 (i.e. with relative hyperoxaluria) whereas COD crystals were largely predominant (98%) in urine samples with a Ca/Ox ratio >14 (i.e. markedly hypercalciuric). In the intermediate Ca/Ox values, mixed COD and COM crystals were present. Logistic regression analysis showed that increasing the concentration of calcium resulted in a higher risk of COD than of COM crystal formation, whereas increasing oxalate concentration was associated with a greater COM than COD crystal formation. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the calcium-dependence of COD and the oxalate-dependence of COM crystal formation. Thus, a crystalluria mainly composed of COD suggests a search for conditions associated with hypercalciuria whereas an abundant crystalluria made of COM crystals should prompt a search for heavy hyperoxaluria and noteworthy primary hyperoxaluria.

Recent advances in AI technologies have notably expanded device intelligence, fostering federation and cooperation among distributed AI agents. These advancements impose new requirements on future 6G mobile network architectures. To meet these demands, it is essential to transcend classical boundaries and integrate communication, computation, control, and intelligence. This paper presents the 6G-GOALS approach to goal-oriented and semantic communications for AI-Native 6G Networks. The proposed approach incorporates semantic, pragmatic, and goal-oriented communication into AI-native technologies, aiming to facilitate information exchange between intelligent agents in a more relevant, effective, and timely manner, thereby optimizing bandwidth, latency, energy, and electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation. The focus is on distilling data to its most relevant form and terse representation, aligning with the source’s intent or the destination’s objectives and context, or serving a specific goal. 6G-GOALS builds on three fundamental pillars: i) AI-enhanced semantic data representation, sensing, compression, and communication, ii) foundational AI reasoning and causal semantic data representation, contextual relevance, and value for goal-oriented effectiveness, and iii) sustainability enabled by more efficient wireless services. Finally, we illustrate two proof-of-concepts implementing semantic, goal-oriented, and pragmatic communication principles in near-future use cases. Our study covers the project’s vision, methodologies, and potential impact.

It is widely understood that most system downtime is accounted for by programming errors and administration time. However, a growing body of work has indicated an increasing cause of downtime may stem from transient errors in computer system hardware due to external factors, such as cosmic rays. This work indicates that moving to denser semiconductor technologies at lower voltages has the potential to increase these transient errors. In this paper, we investigate the susceptibility of commodity operating systems and applications on commodity PC processors to these soft-errors and we introduce ideas regarding the improved recovery from these transient errors in software. Our results indicate that, for the Linux kernel and a Java virtual machine running sample workloads, many errors are not activated, mostly due to overwriting. In addition, given current and upcoming microprocessor support, our results indicate that those errors activated, which would normally lead to system reboot, need not be fatal to the system if software knowledge is used for simple software recovery. Together, they indicate the benefits of simple memory soft error recovery handling in commodity processors and software.

Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a key step associated with ischemic stroke and its increased permeability causes extravasation of plasma proteins and circulating leukocytes. Polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) proteases may participate in BBB breakdown. We investigated the role of PMNs in ischemic conditions by testing their effects on a model of BBB in vitro, under oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) to mimic ischemia, supplemented or not with high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) to assess their potential protective effects. Human cerebral endothelial cells cultured on transwells were incubated for 4 hours under OGD conditions with or without PMNs and supplemented or not with HDLs or alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT, an elastase inhibitor). The integrity of the BBB was then assessed and the effect of HDLs on PMN-induced proteolysis of extracellular matrix proteins was evaluated. The release of myeloperoxidase and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) by PMNs was quantified. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils significantly increased BBB permeability under OGD conditions via proteolysis of extracellular matrix proteins. This was associated with PMN degranulation. Addition of HDLs or AAT limited the proteolysis and associated increased permeability by inhibiting PMN activation. Our results suggest a deleterious, elastase-mediated role of activated PMNs under OGD conditions leading to BBB disruption that could be inhibited by HDLs.

<b>Objective:</b> To compare ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 and ¹⁸F-fluorocholine PET/CT for localization of prostate cancer (PCa) biochemical recurrence. <b>Methods:</b> This prospective, open-label, randomized, cross-over, multicenter study, included prostate cancer patients with prior definitive therapy and suspicion of PCa recurrence. All men underwent both ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 and ¹⁸F-fluorocholine PET/CT (102 received ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 first and 88 received ¹⁸F-fluorocholine PET/CT first). All images were assessed independently by three readers blinded to all clinical information using a 3-point qualitative scale (0-no-recurrence; 1-undetermined; 2-recurrence). Patients were followed for approximately 6 months. An independent panel with a urologist, radiologist, and nuclear physician reviewed all clinical data, including imaging and response to therapy but blinded to PET/CT information, and acting in consensus, determined a patient-based and region-based composite standard of truth for PCa lesions. The “correct detection rate” of PCa lesions on a patient-basis for each radiopharmaceutical was compared for the three readers individually and for the average reader. Secondary objectives included determining if PET/CT findings impact diagnostic thinking (impact of a test result on post-test versus pre-test probability of a correct diagnosis), therapeutic decision making (description and quantification of impact of diagnostic information gained with both radiopharmaceuticals on patient management), and adequacy of management changes. <b>Results:</b> A total of 190 patients were included. The primary endpoint was met. Overall correct detection rate of ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 was 0.82 vs 0.65 for ¹⁸F-fluorocholine (p&lt;0.0001) when considering undetermined findings as positive for malignancy, and 0.77 vs 0.57 respectively (p&lt;0.0001) when considering undetermined findings as negative for malignancy. A change in diagnostic thinking due to PET/CT was reported in 149 patients among whom ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 contributed more than ¹⁸F-fluorocholine in 93. In 122 patients, PET/CT led to an adequate diagnosis which benefited the patient, among whom ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 contributed more than ¹⁸F-fluorocholine in 88 patients. <b>Conclusion:</b>¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT is superior to ¹⁸F-fluorocholine PET/CT in localization of PCa recurrence. Decision making was more adequate when based on ¹⁸F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT results.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify US female and male Olympic athletes' longevity and the years of life lost or saved due to multiple causes of death as compared with the US general population. METHODS: Former US athletes who had participated in the summer or winter Olympic Games at least once between 1912 and 2012 were included. Olympians' date of birth, death and the underlying causes of death were certified by the National Death Index. The Olympians' overall and cause-specific mortality were compared with the US general population based on the US life tables, adjusted by sex, period and age. Mortality differences between the populations were quantified using the years lost/years saved (YS) method. RESULTS: 8124 US Olympians (2301 women and 5823 men) lived 5.1 years longer (YS 95% CI 4.3 to 6.0) than the general population, based on 2309 deaths observed (225 women, 2084 men). Different causes of death contributed to longevity for Olympians as follows: 2.2 years were saved (1.9 to 2.5) from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); cancer, 1.5 years (1.3 to 1.8); respiratory diseases (eg, influenza, pneumonia), 0.8 years (0.7 to 0.9); external causes (eg, accidents, homicides), 0.5 years (0.4 to 0.6); endocrine and metabolic diseases (eg, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia), 0.4 years (0.2 to 0.5) and digestive system diseases (eg, cirrhosis, hepatic failure), 0.3 years (0.2 to 0.4). Mortality rates due to nervous system disorders (eg, Alzheimer's and Parkinsons's diseases) and mental illness (eg, dementia, schizophrenia) were not different from the general population. CONCLUSION: US Olympians lived longer than the general population, an advantage mainly conferred by lower risks of CVD and cancer. Nervous system disorders and mental illness did not differ between US Olympians and the general population.

Purpose To explore and describe the roles, activities and strategies of French human resource development professionals. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based primarily on exploratory and descriptive research. A range of secondary sources on European and French human resource development is critically reviewed to generate a number of research questions designed to identify the corporate perspective on human resource development by means of cases drawn from six organizations located in Eastern France. Findings These confirm the lack of a clear understanding of human resource development on the part of French companies; the wide range of activities that is considered to fall within human resource development; an emerging interest in management development, career development and skills forecasting, but a neglect of training evaluation; the similarity of human resource development practitioner roles to those elsewhere in Europe; growing evidence of the involvement of line managers in human resource development activity, and a strong commitment to the strategic significance of human resource development. Research limitations/implications The study was based on an opportunity sample of just six companies in Eastern France, and may therefore not be representative, but it does provide findings that expand upon and also qualify earlier research. Practical implications This study provides new knowledge and understanding of the context and practice of human resource development in France and makes a number of suggestions for further research. Originality/value This paper provides original research based on recent cases of corporate human resource development practice, and should be of interest to scholars of international human resource development.

The search for crystalluria and morphologic analysis of urinary crystals is of interest in the diagnostic evaluation and assessment of efficacy of therapeutic strategies in stone formers. In common calcium oxalate (CaOx) nephrolithiasis, identification of the monohydrate or dihydrate form of CaOx orients toward hyperoxaluria or hypercalciuria as the main lithogenic mechanism, respectively. An unusual high abundance of crystals exclusively made of CaOx monohydrate is highly suggestive of primary hyperoxaluria, the most severe of all types of renal stone diseases. The identification of crystal species such as struvite, cystine, 2,8-dihydroxyadenine, which are not found in normal urine, is indicative of specific pathological conditions, namely, infection stones and hereditary diseases such as cystinuria and dihydroxyadeninuria. Such diseases expose to progressive loss of renal function unless they are prevented by specific therapeutic measures. The presence of crystals made of drugs may entail the risk of kidney dysfunction because of crystallization of the drug or its metabolites. Serial determination of crystalluria, which reflects the activity of stone disease and its response to therapeutic measures, is of major interest in the follow-up of patients suffering from nephrolithiasis. It should be more largely used in clinical practice in most stone formers, still more for the surveillance of patients affected by severe, hereditary renal stone diseases such as primary hyperoxaluria, cystinuria, and dihydroxyadeninuria, where determination of the global crystal volume allows assessing the efficacy of therapeutic measures and optimizing the medical management of the patients.

Abstract Medulloblastoma arising from the cerebellum is the most common pediatric brain malignancy, with leptomeningeal metastases often present at diagnosis and recurrence associated with poor clinical outcome. In this study, we used mouse medulloblastoma models to explore the relationship of tumor pathophysiology and dysregulated expression of the NOTCH pathway transcription factor ATOH1, which is present in aggressive medulloblastoma subtypes driven by aberrant Sonic Hedgehog/Patched (SHH/PTCH) signaling. In experiments with conditional ATOH1 mouse mutants crossed to Ptch1+/− mice, which develop SHH-driven medulloblastoma, animals with Atoh1 transgene expression developed highly penetrant medulloblastoma at a young age with extensive leptomeningeal disease and metastasis to the spinal cord and brain, resembling xenografts of human SHH medulloblastoma. Metastatic tumors retained abnormal SHH signaling like tumor xenografts. Conversely, ATOH1 expression was detected consistently in recurrent and metastatic SHH medulloblastoma. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing and gene expression profiling identified candidate ATOH1 targets in tumor cells involved in development and tumorigenesis. Among these targets specific to metastatic tumors, there was an enrichment in those implicated in extracellular matrix remodeling activity, cytoskeletal network and interaction with microenvironment, indicating a shift in transcriptomic and epigenomic landscapes during metastasis. Treatment with bone morphogenetic protein or SHH pathway inhibitors decreased tumor cell proliferation and suppressed metastatic tumor growth, respectively. Our work reveals a dynamic ATOH1-driven molecular cascade underlying medulloblastoma metastasis that offers possible therapeutic opportunities. Cancer Res; 77(14); 3766–77. ©2017 AACR.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and severity of postoperative pain in patients undergoing operations in various surgery clinics in the Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and to evaluate management of pain during the 24 hours following surgery. METHODS: Data from surgical and anesthesia observation sheets and from patient complaints collected in a one-day external audit were obtained for 96 surgery clinics in the AP-HP. RESULTS: At the time of surgery, most patients were receiving opioids, especially fentanyl: low dose ( < 1 microgram/kg/h) was given in 17.1% of the patients and regional anesthesia was used in 13%. In 95% of the cases, postoperative orders were written by anesthesiologists. Initial orders were modified according to patient response in 11.8% of the cases. "On demand" prescriptions were used in 10% of the orders. Patient controlled analgesia and regional analgesia were not routine techniques (2 and 0% respectively). Finally, 37.8% of the patients were given a single prescription of a step-1 drug (e.g. propacetamol i.v.), 25.9% a step-2 drug either alone or in combination with a step-1 drug, and 28.9% of the patients were given strong opioids at least once. CONCLUSIONS: For all types of drugs, dosage level was considered as correct in 86.5% of the cases. For approximately 10% of the opioid prescriptions, an ineffective dose was used. The interval between doses was too long in 54.1% of the prescriptions for at least one drug (e.g. for peripheral analgesia with propacetamol). The incidence of severe pain was 46.4%, especially after abdominal, high urologic and back surgery.

ABSTRACT Various studies have been carried out on wheat flour to understand protein and starch changes when subjected to mixing and temperature constraints, but structural changes of proteins and starch at the typical moisture levels of a dough system are not fully understood. The aim of this research was to improve our understanding of (micro)structural changes at the mesoscopic level, through empirical rheology, microscopy (light and scanning electron microscopy), sequential protein extractions, and glutenin macropolymer wet weight along the mixing, heating, and cooling stages of the Mixolab assay. Studies were performed on three wheat flours with different protein contents. The rheological analysis allowed identifying the role of the proteins and the relationship between the protein content and different primary and secondary parameters obtained from the recorded curves. The progressive heating and mixing stages during the Mixolab assay resulted in a dynamic de‐ and restructuring of proteins involving interactions between the flour proteins from water soluble to SDS soluble to SDS insoluble and vice versa. The microstructure analysis with light, polarized, and scanning electron microscopy revealed the changes that proteins and starch molecules underwent during mixing, heating, and cooling. Qualitatively, the starch structural changes, swelling, and gelatinization observed by microscopic techniques showed some parallels with protein (and glutenin) content of the respective flour. Nevertheless, this tentative finding needs further confirmation by studying flour samples with large differences in glutenin content.