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Researchers have extensively explored indoor localization in recent years. Robotic applications often require precise positioning, which is difficult when access to a GPS is limited or compromised. Many of the existing approaches require either prior knowledge of the local environment and fixed landmarks or complex and expensive hardware to achieve the necessary degree of accuracy. In this article, we examine the use of the HTC virtual reality hardware along with our novel approach, VIVEPOSE, to perform indoor robotic localization. We then compare the accuracy of our proposed indoor localization system to current approaches that use traditional odometry sensor-based localization. Finally, we present and demonstrate a leader-follower approach using VIVEPOSE and show how the HTC Vive tracker can be successful for indoor localization for a robotics application.

Background Gut-directed hypnosis (GDH) is a complimentary therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), that can be learnt by patients to practice self-hypnosis. GDH in IBD has augmented remission and improved inflammation. GDH has a history of successful use for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In IBD it may also improve IBS-like symptoms in remission and recovery from surgery. GDH is suitable for youth and adult IBD patients. In hypnosis, a relaxed state is inducted then suggestions to subconscious mind processes are made. In IBD, the mechanism of action of GDH is unknown but may influence the disease stress response. Aims Aims are the development of a GDH self-hypnosis protocol for IBD, with appropriate target symptoms. Patients first learn to practice with a clinician, then as complimentary psychotherapy for remission augmentation, IBS-like symptoms, and surgery recovery. Methods GDH is practiced first with a clinician, and then by patients as self-hypnosis (table 1). Patients receive psycho-education on GDH for IBD. Next, appropriate treatment goals are made, based on target symptoms. Relaxation techniques induce patient to a deeply relaxed state. Therapeutic suggestions specific to patient goals are given: verbal suggestions, visualizations, and post-hypnotic suggestions. Suggestions can focus on having a healthy digestive system, inflammation and symptoms reduction, and achievement and sustainment of remission. Patients emerge from hypnosis, are debriefed, and encouraged to practice ongoing self-hypnosis. Results In IBD, GDH self-hypnosis can be learnt from clinicians and practiced by patients as a complimentary therapy. Patients’ achievement and sustainment of remission, with clinical markers of inflammation can be monitored. Patients can monitor subjective improvement of IBS-like symptoms and post surgery, recovery progress can be monitored. Conclusions GDH has a history of use for IBS. In IBD, it has been shown to modulate remission, and may improve IBS-like symptoms, and in surgery recovery. The mechanism of action of GDH in IBD may influence the disease stress response. Clinicians trained in GDH are limited currently. Patients may learn GDH self-hypnosis as a complimentary psychotherapy. Funding Agencies None

To meet new needs and to respond to changes in the energy market, Hydro-Quebec Trans Energie (HQT) under-´ takes an important research project, named PRIAD, to improve existing tools for asset management and modelling system. The aim of this project is to assess the impact of the unavailability of equipment, such as breakers, sectionalizers, physical buses, power transformers, etc., on the performance of the Hydro-Quebec (HQ) network. Power system node-breaker (PSNB) models are of common use in operation, while bus-branch models are usually used in planning studies. PRIAD relies on a transmission system reliability simulator named PRISME. PRISME is HQ’s first planning application that requires a PSNB model. To this end, we have developed an algorithm to convert the traditional bus-branch network model to a detailed node-breaker representation. To generate the node-breaker model (PSS/E format), we used the state estimator file in IEEE format, the Energy Management System (EMS) network connectivity model (CIM format), and the state of switches from the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) file.

Hydro-Quebec TransEnergie (HQT) has been employing predictive modelling methods to manage its assets for over a decade. To meet new needs and to respond to changes in the energy market, HQT undertakes an important research project in order to improve existing tools for asset management and modelling system. In this paper, we present a quick review of the global asset management model at HQT. Furthermore, we introduce a Contingency Analysis (CA) approach which will be integrated in the reliability simulator module of the HQT global asset management model. To this end, we augment the traditional bus-branch data model to provide a detailed node-breaker representation that contains detailed nodes, breakers and other switching devices. Then, we analyze the impact of the equipment unavailability on the network behaviour using a detailed CA approach. This contingency analysis approach not only informs the asset management engineers in case of violations, but also suggests several remedial actions to eliminate the violation.

Background IBD patients have a heightened risk for mental health illness, but general psychotherapy has shown mixed results. This psychotherapy protocol specialized for IBD patients uses recommended mental health therapies to treat specific chronic mental health illness. Therapy focuses on practicing CBT, clinical hypnosis, and emotion regulation healthy coping skills to self-manage chronic mental health symptoms. Standard therapies for acute mental illness, e.g. anxiety, depression, and suicidality, should be used as appropriate. Aims Aims of psychotherapy in IBD include improvement of mental health, symptoms management, quality of life (QOL), and adherence to medical treatments. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) changes maladaptive coping behaviours and thinking. Clinical hypnosis improves somatic symptoms, e.g. chronic pain, nausea, and cramping. Emotion regulation improves ability to process stressful emotions, and has been shown to be affected by chronic diseases, including moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. Methods Patients learn to self-manage chronic mental health symptoms with healthy coping skills. CBT allows patients to identify maladaptive coping behaviours and thinking. Healthy coping behaviours and thinking patterns are chosen, supported, and adapted to. Clinical hypnosis uses relaxation techniques, e.g. progressive muscle relaxation, visualizations, and positive suggestions as a complimentary therapy for somatic symptoms. Emotion regulation develops tolerance and healthy processing of stressors. Results Therapy effectiveness is evaluated by improvements in patients’ mental health, symptoms management, QOL, and adherence to medical treatments. Mental health improvement, QOL, and emotion regulation are monitored by patient self-report, e.g. questionnaires. Maladaptive coping behaviours and thinking changed using CBT are individual to each patient. Somatic symptoms improved using clinical hypnosis are determined by monitoring or patient self-report. Adherence to medical treatments, as appropriate, is monitored. Conclusions This IBD psychotherapy protocol uses gut-directed CBT, clinical hypnosis, and emotion regulation therapies, designed to improve mental health, symptoms management, QOL, and adherence to medical treatments. Healthy coping skills treat maladaptive coping behaviours and thinking, somatic symptoms, and emotion dysregulation. Chronic mental health illness associated with IBD, is treated using this specialized psychotherapy. Funding Agencies None

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are currently among the most commonly used machine learning methods in content understanding such as computer vision and natural language understanding (NLU). One of the best characteristics of these methods is their modular design – the ability to change the connectivity patterns of layers, try different activation functions, inject different statistical approaches such as normalization and dropout in the network, and many other actions – in every aspect of deep learning networks. While the majority of deep learning applications simply use cross-entropy, L 1 , and L 2 losses, subjective loss function can actually result in impressive performance improvement. In addition, architecting the last layer of DNNs – referred to as the prediction layer – according to the needs of the application increases the discriminative power of the DNNs. This paper aims to investigate how particular choices of loss functions and prediction layer architecture affect deep neural networks and their learning dynamics, as well as the robustness of various effects. Furthermore a real-life application to measure customer loyalty called Deep Net Promoter Score (DeepNPS) from online product reviews is also proposed. The results are promising for learning more latent features and matching the customer feedback with the NPS score.

Background: Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) has well documented systemic and local immunosuppressive mechanisms to escape immune surveillance and grow. GBM tumor cells as well as the microglia within it have a high incidence of PD-L1 surface expression which makes it more susceptible to anti-PD-L1 antagonism and ADCC through avelumab therapy. Methods: This is a single center, phase 2, open label, add-on, single dose study of 156 weeks duration in patients receiving standard therapy for newly diagnosed GBM. In total 30 patients will be entered into the study within 3 weeks of finishing their last day of combined radiotherapy/temozolomide. The following are the results of the first interim analysis completed when the first eight patients completed 52 weeks or an end of study visit. Results: 24 patients have so far started therapy. There as been no unexpected treatment emergent adverse event (TEAE). Two patients transiently withheld therapy because of immune related TEAE’s and none permanently. The objective response rate at week 52 for the first eight patients was 50% with 2 (25%) having a complete response and 1 (12.5%) a partial response. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that the addition of avelumab to standard therapy in patients with GBM is safe. Efficacy trends look promising.

Modern mobile devices are resource limited. We can utilize cloud computing to ensure optimum utilization of mobile device resources. Energy consumption and device latency can be reduced significantly by computation offloading. To ensure optimum utilization of mobile device resources and environment resources such as bandwidth and latency, computation offloading must be done in a strategic way. We have extended our work on a previous paper by proposing a dynamic algorithm based on machine learning which considers network topologies and device resources and makes a decision to offload computation to the cloud. The algorithm adopts with changes in environment and device parameters at run-time. We have designed a framework that resides both in the device, and in the cloud. The device framework monitors device and network parameters and based on user activity decides whether or not to offload computation to the cloud. When the device and network parameters crosses a certain threshold then it sends data to the cloud server using python sockets. The cloud framework receives the data and runs the app in the cloud. After executing the app in the cloud, the framework retrieves the output and sends it back to the local device. The device framework then gives the data to the app and the app completes its execution. We have performed a simulation of the system in a cloud server, and showed that energy can be saved by computation offloading. We also present a financial estimation to calculate the cost of computation offloading.

The cyberspace dimension adds to the four dimensions traditionally associated with United States defense. Threats to cyberspace connote real threats to U.S. security interests. The nation's electric grid is one of the nation's critical infrastructures that is subject to cyber threats. The authors explore what institutional efforts have been taken to address these threats and conclude that a practice of information sharing would help normalize cyberwar toward a more traditional deterrence. In the twenty-first century, bits and bytes are as threatening as bullets and bombs… - William J. Lynn 1

In this paper, a novel centralized robotic swarm of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles consisting of autonomous surface vehicles and micro-aerial vehicles is presented. The swarm robots operate in an outdoor environment and are equipped with cameras and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Manipulations of the swarm demonstrate how aspects of individual robotic platforms can be controlled cooperatively to accomplish a group task in an efficient manner. We demonstrate the use of air-based robots to build a map of important features of the local environment, such as the locations of targets. The map is then sent to a cloud-based cluster on a remote network. The cloud performs clustering algorithms using the map to calculate optimal clusters of the targets. The cloud then performs an auctioning algorithm to assign the clusters to the surface-based robots based on several factors such as relative position and capacities. The surface-robots then travel to their assigned clusters to complete the allocated tasks. Lastly, we present the results of simulating our cooperative swarm in both software and hardware, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.

High performance computing (HPC) means the aggregation of computational power to increase the ability of processing large problems in science, engineering, and business. HPC on the cloud allows performing on demand HPC tasks by high performance clusters in a cloud environment. The connection structure of the nodes in HPC clusters should provide fast internode communication. It is important that scalability is preserved as well. This paper proposes a hypercube topology for connecting the nodes in an HPC cluster that facilitates fast communications between nodes. In addition, the proposed hypercube topology provides the ability to scale, which is needed for high performance computing on the cloud.

The growing diversity of energy sources and an emerging and clearly established set of national security threats to the grid make its safekeeping a national imperative. Nationalizing the transmission grid cures the capital planning paralysis that plagues the new technology and infrastructure investments required to keep pace with the increasing demand and the evolving threats to the electrical grid.

A novel linear-dendritic block copolymer has been synthesized and evaluated for targeted delivery. The use of the dendron as the micellar exterior block in this architecture allows the presentation of a relatively small quantity of ligands in clusters for enhanced targeting, thus maintaining a long circulation time of these “patchy” micelles. The polypeptide linear hydrophobic block drives formation of micelles that carry core-loaded drugs, and their unique design gives them extremely high stability in vivo. We have found that these systems lead to extended time periods of increased accumulation in the tumor (up to 5 days) compared with nontargeted vehicles. We also demonstrate a fourfold increase in efficacy of paclitaxel when delivered in the targeted nanoparticle systems, while significantly decreasing in vivo toxicity of the chemotherapy treatment., National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.), National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (R01EB008082-01A2)

Introduction: With a Canadian aging population, the prevalence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among elderly is increasing and the age criterion of the Canadian CT head rule (CCHR) is challenged by many emergency physicians. We evaluated if increasing the age criterion of the CCHR would maintain its validity. Methods: We conducted an historical cohort study using the medical charts of all patients 65 years old or more who consulted at a Level One Trauma Centre emergency department (ED) for a mTBI between 2010 and 2014. The main outcome measures were clinically important brain injury (CIBI) on Computed Tomography (CT) and the presence of the CCHR criteria. The clinical and radiological data collection was standardized. Univariate analysis was performed to measure the predictive capacities of modified age cut-offs at 70 and 75 years old. Results: Out of the 104 confirmed mTBI in this study, 32 (30,8%) had CIBI on CT scan. Sensitivity and specificity [C.I. 95%] of the CCHR were 100% [89.1 - 100] and 0% [0.0 5.0] for an age criterion of 65 years old and above; 100% [89.1 - 100] and 4,2% [0.9 11.7] for a modified criterion of 70 years old; 100% [89.1 - 100] and 13,9% [6.9 24.1] for 75 years old. Furthermore, for an age criterion of 80 and 85 years old, sensitivity was respectively 90,6% [75.0 98.0] and 75,0% [56.6 88.5]. Conclusion: In our cohort, increasing the age criterion of the CCHR for minor head injury to 75 years old would benefit ED by further reducing CT scans without missing CIBI. A larger prospective study is indicated to confirm the proposed modification.

This paper uses State Estimation (SE) methods to validate transmission line parameters with Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) at its ends. This exercise was needed prior to the commissioning of a new network voltage control strategy. Equations for the specific Hydro-Quebec's measurements scheme are developed. Good behaviour of the algorithm is proven with simulations. The method is applied on a real line with real measurements. A bad data measurement is identified and eliminated. The system under study is then declared coherent.

Errors in power system topology are difficult to handle with classical methods based on state estimation. This paper proposes a pre-processing method for detecting and identifying topology errors and bad measurements before a state estimator solution. Two algorithms are described. These are used at the substation level or at the substation voltage level. The first algorithm is more suited to systems (substations) where no switch flow measurements are available. Therefore, it does not require any additional measurements other than the ones currently used by the state estimator. The topology error detection uses a bus-branch model. The model relies on the connectivity information and on the impedance values of the non-zero impedance branches. The second algorithm is more suited to systems (substations) where some switch flow measurements are available. Even if these are not required by the algorithm, using them add redundancy and provides a more reliable solution. The topology error detection uses a bus section—switch device model. The model uses only branch connectivity. The first algorithm provides better results when no switch flow measurements are available. The second one is superior when some switch flow measurements are available. These algorithms complement each other and they can be use together to cover a much broader scope of the topology error detection and identification problem.

Resume Objectifs Etudier les caracteristiques des patients faisant une demande d’acces au dossier medical, les motifs de ces demandes d’acces, la satisfaction des demandeurs. Methodes Etude prospective de toutes les demandes d’acces au dossier medical dans 2 etablissements volontaires. Recueil de donnees aupres de l’etablissement lors de la demande d’acces puis aupres du demandeur apres l’acces au dossier medical. Resultats Au total, 94 demandes d’acces au dossier medical ont ete incluses. Le delai d’obtention du dossier etait superieur a celui preconise par la loi dans plus de 3 cas sur 4. La plupart des demandes etaient liees soit a la continuite des soins, soit a un defaut d’information du patient lors de la prise en charge dans l’etablissement, soit a une exigence d’un tiers. La modalite de mise a disposition du dossier etait dans plus de 90 % des cas l’envoi par courrier. Plus d’un tiers des demandeurs etaient mecontents de leur experience d’acces au dossier medical. Les difficultes principales concernaient le delai d’obtention trop long, la complexite de la procedure, des frais d’acces juges trop eleves, l’absence de choix concernant les differentes modalites d’acces, le manque d’exhaustivite des documents transmis et la difficulte de comprehension des informations en l’absence d’un accompagnement medical. Conclusion Des actions d’amelioration doivent etre mises en place pour diminuer le nombre de demandes d’acces au dossier medical et ameliorer la satisfaction des demandeurs. En lien avec l’arrete du 5 mars 2004, des axes d’amelioration a adapter a chaque etablissement de sante sont proposes.