We investigate the maximum generating rate of the variable-length nonuniform i.i.d. random number. Our results are generalizations of Han's results (see IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol.46, p.2108-16, Sept. 2000) on the variable-length intrinsic randomness.
To minimize damage during disasters, the rapid collection and delivery of accurate information are essential. Because of this, the potentiality of Twitter in disaster response efforts has received significant attention worldwide. Location information, such as geotags (longitude and latitude data) and street addresses in posted tweets have the potential to provide useful information during disasters, however, few tweets currently include geotags, and it may be difficult for users to accurately insert the addresses of their current position in their tweets. With these points in mind, our previous study discussed the implementation of a Twitter-based disaster-related information-sharing system that adds geo-information to tweets. That system was launched around the middle of Feb. 2015 and has been in continuous operation since that time. However, since we consider it to be desirable for disaster-information systems to be as simple as possible, in this paper we will report on the implementation of a new real-time disaster-related information-sharing system that is more user-friendly than the previous system.
We studied the relationship between quantity of microbubble retained in the left heart and neuropsychologic alterations after surgery in 21 patients undergoing cardiac surgery including cardiopulmonary bypass. The neuropsychologic change was evaluated by three kinds of psychological test, which mainly analyzed memory and cognition. The microbubble was continuously monitored by the long axis view of the descending aorta of transesophageal echocardiography and then quantitatively analyzed and graded by the on-line computer. More microbubbles were detected in the valve surgery requiring the intracardiac procedure than in coronary artery bypass grafting and neuropsychologic deterioration, although the relationship did not reach statistical significance. Since most of the microbubbles were detected during the unclamping of aorta and the weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, a technical improvement of the surgical procedures could reduce them. We think that transesophageal echocardiography is useful for monitoring microbubbles during operation.
In case of a disaster, it is important to notify information on disasters and evacuation to residents quickly and accurately to encourage evacuation. In this paper, we propose a disaster evacuation support system considering users situation based on open data. When a disaster occurs, the system detects whether the user’s location is in a dangerous area or not, the user is approaching the dangerous area or not. Then the system notifies and provides evacuation direction to the user. Moreover, the system also supports a rescue function to share rescue information to neighborhood people automatically. We conducted a verification experiment, and the results of the experiment verify the usefulness of the proposed system.
Users of smartphones and/or tablet terminals browse and download confidential document files routinely. Therefore, a higher security level is needed for smartphones and tablet terminals than conventional mobile phones. From this kind of background, Takahashi and Uchida proposed an image-based user authentication method for touch screen devices by using the latest image shot by the user as the pass-image. The proposed authentication method is resistant to smudge attacks, one of the most serious threats for touch screen devices. However, the security strength of the method is low. Therefore, in this paper, we propose SWIPASS, an image-based user authentication method for touch screen devices that has higher security strength, by improving on the method proposed by Takahashi and Uchida. This improves the security strength without any change in either the resistance to smudge attacks or the users' burden of memorizing. Although Takahashi and Uchida implemented their method only as a prototype system in their study, we implement SWIPASS as a real Android application in this study. Moreover, we also examined the usability and the resistance of SWIPASS against observation attacks by conducting several experiments in this paper.
Generally, oral immunotherapy (OIT) aims for daily administration. Recently, the efficacy of treatment with OIT at a low dose has been reported. However, the optimal dose and the evaluation of dose-dependent OIT outcome have not been described.A multicenter, parallel, open-labeled, prospective, non-placebo controlled, randomized study enrolled 101 Japanese patients for treatment with OIT. We hypothesized that target dose OIT would induce short-term unresponsiveness (StU) earlier than reduced dose OIT. StU was defined as no response to 6200 mg whole egg, 3400 mg milk, and 2600 mg wheat protein, as evaluated by oral food challenge after 2-week ingestion cessation. To compare the two doses of OIT efficacy, the maximum ingestion doses during the maintenance phase of OIT were divided into 100%-dose or 25%-dose groups against their target StU dose, respectively. A total of 51 patients were assigned to the 100%-dose group [hen's egg (HE) = 26, cow's milk (CM) = 13, wheat = 12] and 50 to the 25%-dose group (HE = 25, CM = 13, wheat = 12). Primary outcome was established by comparing StU at 1 year. Secondary outcome was StU at 2 years and established by comparing allergic symptoms and immunological changes.The year 1 StU rates (%) for the 100%- and 25%-dose groups were 26.9 vs. 20.0 (HE), 7.7 vs. 15.4 (CM), and 50.0 vs. 16.7 (wheat), respectively. The year 2 StU rates were 30.8 vs. 36.0 (HE), 7.7 vs. 23.1 (CM), and 58.3 vs. 58.3 (wheat), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in StU between years 1 and 2. The total allergic symptom rate in the 25%-dose group was lower than that in the 100%-dose group for egg, milk, and wheat. Antigen-specific IgE levels for egg-white, milk, and wheat decreased at 12 months.Reduced maintenance dose of egg OIT showed similar therapeutic efficacy to the target dose. However, we were not able to clearly demonstrate the efficacy, particularly for milk and wheat. Reducing the maintenance dose for eggs, milk, and wheat may effectively lower the symptoms associated with their consumption compared to the target OIT dose. Furthermore, aggressive reduction of the maintenance dose might be important for milk and wheat, compared to the 25%-dose OIT.UMIN000009373, Multicenter Oral Immunotherapy for Hen's Egg, Cow's Milk, and Wheat-Allergic Children at Outpatient Clinic.
Patients with large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the lung are considered to have poor prognosis. However, the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for these patients has not been established. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of perioperative chemotherapy for patients with completely resected LCNEC in a single-center setting. From 1999 through 2007, 45 patients with surgically resected LCNEC or mixed LCNEC containing at least one portion of the neuroendocrine differentiation or morphology in non-small cell lung carcinoma were enrolled as participants of this study. Survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences between survival curves were computed with the log-rank test. For multivariate analysis, the Cox's proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate variables that were significant predictors of survival. Of 1397 patients undergoing surgical resection for primary lung cancer from 1999 to 2007, 45 (3.2%) were classified as LCNEC. Thirty-six (80%) patients were men, and nine (20%) were women. Twenty-four (92%) of 26 patients were present or past smokers. Twenty-three (41%) of 45 patients received perioperative chemotherapy, including seven induction chemotherapies and 16 adjuvant chemotherapies. Survival of patients who underwent perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly higher than that of those who received surgery alone (P = 0.04). The 5-year survival rate of patients who underwent perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy was 87.5%, whereas that of patients who underwent surgery alone was 58.5%. Even in stage I cases, perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy still favors survival compared with surgery alone. In the Cox proportional hazard multivariate analysis, surgery with or without chemotherapy showed an independent prognostic influence on overall survival (P = 0.0457). Patients who received surgery alone were 9.5 times more likely to die than patients who underwent surgery plus chemotherapy. In conclusion, perioperative chemotherapy will be needed to improve survival in patients with LCNEC. As the population of LCNEC is small, it has been difficult to conduct randomized controlled trials to show the survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy. This should be, therefore, evaluated further in prospective multi-institutional phase II trials.
