Search Results (7)

This paper presents a new matrix representation of ant colony optimization (ACO) for solving parametric problems. This representation allows us to perform calculations using matrix processors and single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) calculators. To solve the problem of stagnation of the method without a priori information about the system, a new probabilistic formula for choosing the parameter value is proposed, based on the additive convolution of the number of pheromone weights and the number of visits to the vertex. The method can be performed as parallel calculations, which accelerates the process of determining the solution. However, the high speed of determining the solution should be correlated with the high speed of calculating the objective function, which can be difficult when using complex analytical and simulation models. Software has been developed in Python 3.12 and C/C++ 20 to study the proposed changes to the method. With parallel calculations, it is possible to separate the matrix modification of the method into SIMD and multiple-instruction multiple-data (MIMD) components and perform calculations on the appropriate equipment. According to the results of this research, when solving the problem of optimizing benchmark functions of various dimensions, it was possible to accelerate the method by more than 12 times on matrix SIMD central processing unit (CPU) accelerators. When calculating on the graphics processing unit (GPU), the acceleration was about six times due to the difficulties of implementing a pseudo-random number stream. The developed modifications were used to determine the optimal values of the SARIMA parameters when forecasting the volume of transportation by airlines of the Russian Federation. Mathematical dependencies of the acceleration factors on the algorithm parameters and the number of components were also determined, which allows us to estimate the possibilities of accelerating the algorithm by using a reconfigurable heterogeneous computer. Full article

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have been widely adopted in several advanced artificial intelligence applications due to their competitive accuracy to the human brain. Nevertheless, the superior accuracy of a DNN is achieved at the expense of intensive computations and storage complexity, requiring custom expandable hardware, i.e., graphics processing units (GPUs). Interestingly, leveraging the synergy of parallelism and edge computing can significantly improve CPU-based hardware platforms. Therefore, this manuscript explores levels of parallelism techniques along with edge computation offloading to develop an innovative hardware platform that improves the efficacy of deep learning computing architectures. Furthermore, the multitask learning (MTL) approach is employed to construct a parallel multi-task classification network. These tasks include face detection and recognition, age estimation, gender recognition, smile detection, and hair color and style classification. Additionally, both pipeline and parallel processing techniques are utilized to expedite complicated computations, boosting the overall performance of the presented deep face analysis architecture. A computation offloading approach, on the other hand, is leveraged to distribute computation-intensive tasks to the server edge, whereas lightweight computations are offloaded to edge devices, i.e., Raspberry Pi 4. To train the proposed deep face analysis network architecture, two custom datasets (HDDB and FRAED) were created for head detection and face-age recognition. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed pipeline-parallel architecture in terms of execution time. It requires 8.2 s to provide detailed face detection and analysis for an individual and 23.59 s for an inference containing 10 individuals. Moreover, a speedup of 62.48% is achieved compared to the sequential-based edge computing architecture. Meanwhile, 25.96% speed performance acceleration is realized when implementing the proposed pipeline-parallel architecture only on the server edge compared to the sever sequential implementation. Considering classification efficiency, the proposed classification modules achieve an accuracy of 88.55% for hair color and style classification and a remarkable prediction outcome of 100% for face recognition and age estimation. To summarize, the proposed approach can assist in reducing the required execution time and memory capacity by processing all facial tasks simultaneously on a single deep neural network rather than building a CNN model for each task. Therefore, the presented pipeline-parallel architecture can be a cost-effective framework for real-time computer vision applications implemented on resource-limited devices. Full article

The current methods for diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have significant limitations. Many previous studies used 2D Transformers to analyze individual brain slices independently, potentially losing critical 3D contextual information. Region of interest-based models often focus on only a few brain regions despite Alzheimer’s affecting multiple areas. Additionally, most classification models rely on a single test, whereas diagnosing Alzheimer’s requires a multifaceted approach integrating diverse data sources for a more accurate assessment. This study introduces a novel methodology called the Multiple Inputs and Mixed Data 3D Vision Transformer (MIMD-3DVT). This method processes consecutive slices together to capture the feature dimensions and spatial information, fuses multiple 3D ROI imaging data inputs, and integrates mixed data from demographic factors, cognitive assessments, and brain imaging. The proposed methodology was experimentally evaluated using a combined dataset that included the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the Australian Imaging, Biomarker, and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL), and the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS). Our MIMD-3DVT, utilizing single or multiple ROIs, achieved an accuracy of 97.14%, outperforming the state-of-the-art methods in distinguishing between Normal Cognition and Alzheimer’s Disease. Full article

Distributed supercomputing is becoming common in different companies and academia. Most of the parallel computing researchers focused on harnessing the power of commodity processors and even internet computers to aggregate their computation powers to solve computationally complex problems. Using flexible commodity cluster computers for supercomputing workloads over a dedicated supercomputer and expensive high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure is cost-effective. Its scalable nature can make it better employed to the available organizational resources, which can benefit researchers who aim to conduct numerous repetitive calculations on small to large volumes of data to obtain valid results in a reasonable time. In this paper, we design and implement an HPC-based supercomputing facility from commodity computers at an organizational level to provide two separate implementations for cluster-based supercomputing using Hadoop and Spark-based HPC clusters, primarily for data-intensive jobs and Torque-based clusters for Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) workloads. The performance of these clusters is measured through extensive experimentation. With the implementation of the message passing interface, the performance of the Spark and Torque clusters is increased by 16.6% for repetitive applications and by 73.68% for computation-intensive applications with a speedup of 1.79 and 2.47 respectively on the HPDA cluster. We conclude that the specific application or job could be chosen to run based on the computation parameters on the implemented clusters. Full article

Advances in the intratumor measurement of drug responses have included a pioneering biomedical microdevice for high throughput drug screening in vivo, which was further advanced by integrating a graded-index lens based two-dimensional fluorescence micro-endoscope to monitor tissue responses in situ across time. While the previous system provided a bulk measurement of both drug delivery and tissue response from a given region of the tumor, it was incapable of visualizing drug distribution and tissue responses in a three-dimensional (3D) way, thus missing the critical relationship between drug concentration and effect. Here we demonstrate a next-generation system that couples multiplexed intratumor drug release with continuous 3D spatial imaging of the tumor microenvironment via the integration of a miniaturized two-photon micro-endoscope. This enables optical sectioning within the live tissue microenvironment to effectively profile the entire tumor region adjacent to the microdevice across time. Using this novel microimaging-microdevice (MI-MD) system, we successfully demonstrated the four-dimensional imaging (3 spatial dimensions plus time) of local drug delivery in tissue phantom and tumors. Future studies include the use of the MI-MD system for monitoring of localized intra-tissue drug release and concurrent measurement of tissue responses in live organisms, with applications to study drug resistance due to nonuniform drug distribution in tumors, or immune cell responses to anti-cancer agents. Full article

Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) encompasses a set of disorders involving the masticatory muscles, the temporomandibular joint and associated structures. It is a complex biopsychosocial disorder with several triggering, predisposing and perpetuating factors. In the etiology of TMD, oral parafunctions, namely bruxism, play a relevant role. The study of bruxism is complicated by some taxonomic and diagnostic aspects that have prevented achieving an acceptable standardization of diagnosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders and bruxism in a Portuguese sample. Full article

This paper presents a solution to implement neutral argon plasma (NAP) in minimally invasive medical devices (MIMD) for therapy in endoscopy. The NAP system is composed by compressed inert gas (argon), two electrodes and a high-voltage source to ionize the argon. The miniaturization of an argon reservoir is required. The finite element method simulation of a small reservoir of 304 L stainless steel with 0.2 mm thick at 7 atm of pressure was performed. The results show maximum total deformation of 40 μm and maximum equivalent stress of 160 MPa, with no permanent deformation of argon reservoir. Full article