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This paper presents an innovative auto batching scheme designed to optimize Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) inference on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platforms. Existing block batching methods face challenges with LSTM models that have large hidden sizes due to insufficient on-chip memory, which impedes prefetching and leads to repeated evictions and reloads, significantly reducing processing utilization. Our approach extends block batching with weight stationary block batching (WSBB), allowing computation without stalls regardless of prefetch availability.Additionally, bypass-enabled block batching (BEBB) ensures that even when on-chip memory is insufficient, it prevents contamination on-chip while fully leveraging off-chip memory bandwidth. Experimental results from both synthetic benchmarks (Deepbench suite) and real-world applications (RNN-T) validate the superior performance and efficiency of the proposed method. Our auto batching scheme demonstrates up to 3.7 times speedup over previous block batching while maintaining high computational efficiency, even with limited on-chip memory. Furthermore, the FPGA-based implementation of our scheme achieves a 5 times speedup over the CPU and 4.3 times higher energy efficiency (GFLOP/s/W) compared to the GPU.

This study seeks to understand how environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) affects business performance and the diversification effect of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by examining 129 events on cross-border M&A in the Korean Stock Price Index (KOSPI) market representing emerging capital markets between 2012 and 2018 in 38 target countries. The findings indicate that better ESG engagement has a positive effect on the business performance of cross-border M&A, supporting stakeholder theory and confirming that ESG can serve as a strategy for boosting business efficiency in cross-border M&A. The findings also confirm that diversification in cross-border M&A leads to a diversification discount on business performance, negatively affecting acquiring firms, but that ESG engagement can mitigate the diversification discount as a friendly channel. The study's main contribution is providing empirical evidence that ESG can serve as a friendly channel through which to address the diversification discount issue.

A study is conducted to demonstrate that glutathione (GSH) serves as an effective trigger to release a payload (dye molecules) from nanoparticle surfaces both in vitro and in cell cultures. It is noted that the GSH-mediated release, combined with the controlled interactions of biomolecules with surface functionalised nano-particle scaffolds, can be further utilized to realize delivery of proteins and enhance transfection of genetic materials.

Purpose: To determine clinical and radiographic results of iliac bone grafting with Kirschner wire fixation for treatment of scaphoid nonunions. Methods: A total of 13 patients who had scaphoid nonunion treated with iliac bone grafting and Kirschner wire fixation between October 2007 and January 2016 were enrolled as subjects of this study. Their clinical results were evaluated, including range of motion of the wrist joint and modified Mayo wrist score. Radiographic results including lateral intrascaphoid angle and scapholunate angle were also assessed. Results: Bony union was achieved in 11 (84.6%) of 13 cases. Modified Mayo wrist score was improved from 64.0 preoperatively to 87.5 postoperatively. Average intrascaphoid angle was improved from 39.5° preoperatively to 27.2° postoperatively while scapholunate angle was improved from 66.0° preoperatively to 55.1° postoperatively. Conclusion: Iliac bone graft with Kirschner wire fixation provided good clinical and radiographic results. Therefore, iliac bone graft with Kirschner wire fixation can be considered as a good treatment option for scaphoid nonunion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carried out the first simulation on multi-stage continuous high cell density culture (MSC-HCDC) to show that the MSC-HCDC can achieve batch/fed-batch product titer with much higher productivity to the fed-batch productivity using published fermentation kinetics of lactic acid, penicillin and ethanol. The system under consideration consists of n-serially connected continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs) with either hollow fiber cell recycling or cell immobilization for high cell-density culture. In each CSTR substrate supply and product removal are possible. Penicillin production is severely limited by glucose metabolite repression that requires multi-CSTR glucose feeding. An 8-stage C-HCDC lactic acid fermentation resulted in 212.9 g/L of titer and 10.6 g/L/h of productivity, corresponding to 101 and 429% of the comparable lactic acid fed-batch, respectively. The penicillin production model predicted 149% (0.085 g/L/h) of productivity in 8-stage C-HCDC with 40 g/L of cell density and 289% of productivity (0.165 g/L/h) in 7-stage C-HCDC with 60 g/L of cell density compared with referring batch cultivations. A 2-stage C-HCDC ethanol experimental run showed 107% titer and 257% productivity of the batch system having 88.8 g/L of titer and 3.7 g/L/h of productivity. MSC-HCDC can give much higher productivity than batch/fed-batch system, and yield a several percentage higher titer as well. The productivity ratio of MSC-HCDC over batch/fed-batch system is given as a multiplication of system dilution rate of MSC-HCDC and cycle time of batch/fed-batch system. We suggest MSC-HCDC as a new production platform for various fermentation products including monoclonal antibody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the role of nutrient deprivation in creating apoptotic and quiescent cell populations in tumor cylindroids in mouse using acridine orange (AO) staining and flow cytometry. Quiescent cells have less ribonucleic acid (RNA) levels than viable cells because the former are less metabolically active. Change in cell populations in cylindroids was found to be relative to position, such as the presence of cycling and quiescent cells in nuclei in region 1. Quiescent cells and cellular activity increased from region 1 and 2.

Perfusion cultures of recombinant Chinese hamster ovary cells, producing recombinant antibody against the S surface antigen of Hepatitis B virus, were carried out in continuous and intermittent mode using a Centritech Lab II Centrifuge. In the continuous perfusion process, despite the absence of shear stress from the pump head, long-term operation was not possible because of continuously repeated exposure to oxygen limitation and low temperature, as well as shear stress from centrifugal force. In the intermittent perfusion processes, the frequency of cell-passage through the centrifuge was substantially reduced, compared with the continuous perfusion mode; however, the degree of reduction could not guarantee stable long-term operation. Although various operating parameters were applied in the intermittent perfusion cultures, high cell densities could not be maintained stably. In a single bioreactor culture system, a specific cell that is returned from the centrifuge to the bioreactor could be transferred from the bioreactor to the centrifuge again in the next cycle. These repetitive damages, caused by shear stress from the pump head and centrifugal force, as well as exposure to suboptimal conditions such as oxygen limitation and low temperature below 37°C, were more serious at higher perfusion rates. Subsequently, damaged cells and dead cells were continuously accumulated in the bioreactor. Culture temperature shift from 37 to 33°C increased antibody concentrations but showed inhibitory effects on cell growth. The negative effects of lowering culture temperature on cell growth overwhelmed the positive effects on antibody production. To protect cells from shear stress, Pluronic F-68 was 2-fold concentrated in the culture medium; nevertheless, a significantly higher concentration of Pluronic F-68 (2 g/L) may have inhibitory effects on cell growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the results of scale-down intermittent perfusion processes, a cell-once-through (COT) perfusion concept was applied to a dual bioreactor system coupled to a Centritech Lab II centrifuge for culture of recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (rCHO) cells for monoclonal antibody production. In this new culture mode, i.e., the COT perfusion process, total spent medium was transferred to the centrifuge and a fixed percentage was removed. Approximately 99% of the viable cells are transferred to another bioreactor filled with fresh medium by single operation of the Centritech Lab II centrifuge system for about 30 min. Accordingly, a significant reduction of the cell-passage frequency to the centrifuge led to minimization of cell damage caused by mechanical shear stress, oxygen limitation, nutrient limitation, and low temperature outside the bioreactor. The effects of culture temperature shift and fortified medium on cell growth and recombinant antibody production in the COT perfusion process were investigated. Although the suppressive effects of low culture temperature on cell growth led to a loss of stability in a long-term COT perfusion culture system, the average antibody concentration at 33 °C was 157.8 mg/L, approximately 2.4-fold higher than that at 37 °C. By the use of a fortified medium at 37 °C, rCHO cells were maintained at high density above 1.2 × 107cells/mL, and antibody was produced continuously in a range of 260−280 mg/L in a stable long-term COT perfusion culture. The proposed new culture mode, the COT perfusion approach, guarantees the recovery of rCHO cells damaged by lowered temperature or high lactate and ammonium concentration. It will be an attractive choice for minimization of cell damage and stable long-term antibody production with high cell density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The imputation of missing values is necessary for the efficient use of DNA microarray data, because many clustering algorithms and some statistical analysis require a complete data set. A few imputation methods for DNA microarray data have been introduced, but the efficiency of the methods was low and the validity of imputed values in these methods had not been fully checked. Results: We developed a new cluster-based imputation method called sequential K-nearest neighbor (SKNN) method. This imputes the missing values sequentially from the gene having least missing values, and uses the imputed values for the later imputation. Although it uses the imputed values, the efficiency of this new method is greatly improved in its accuracy and computational complexity over the conventional KNN-based method and other methods based on maximum likelihood estimation. The performance of SKNN was in particular higher than other imputation methods for the data with high missing rates and large number of experiments. Application of Expectation Maximization (EM) to the SKNN method improved the accuracy, but increased computational time proportional to the number of iterations. The Multiple Imputation (MI) method, which is well known but not applied previously to microarray data, showed a similarly high accuracy as the SKNN method, with slightly higher dependency on the types of data sets. Conclusions: Sequential reuse of imputed data in KNN-based imputation greatly increases the efficiency of imputation. The SKNN method should be practically useful to save the data of some microarray experiments which have high amounts of missing entries. The SKNN method generates reliable imputed values which can be used for further cluster-based analysis of microarray data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choristoma is a benign tumour defined as normal tissue in an ectopic location. Osseous choristoma, one subtype of this entity, occurring within the orbit has rarely been reported in the world literature. We report a 6-year-old girl with bilateral ocular osseous choristomas who presented with palpable nodules protruding from both upper lids. The radiological and clinical findings are described and previous reports are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]