LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Significance-linked connected component analysis for wavelet image coding

Recent success in wavelet image coding is mainly attributed to a recognition of the importance of data organization and representation. There have been several very competitive wavelet coders developed, namely, Shapiro's (1993) embedded zerotree wavelets (EZW), Servetto et al.'s (1995) morphological representation of wavelet data (MRWD), and Said and Pearlman's (see IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol.6, p.245-50, 1996) set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT). We develop a novel wavelet image coder called significance-linked connected component analysis (SLCCA) of wavelet coefficients that extends MRWD by exploiting both within-subband clustering of significant coefficients and cross-subband dependency in significant fields. Extensive computer experiments on both natural and texture images show convincingly that the proposed SLCCA outperforms EZW, MRWD, and SPIHT. For example, for the Barbara image, at 0.25 b/pixel, SLCCA outperforms EZW, MRWD, and SPIHT by 1.41 dB, 0.32 dB, and 0.60 dB in PSNR, respectively. It is also observed that SLCCA works extremely well for images with a large portion of texture. For eight typical 256x256 grayscale texture images compressed at 0.40 b/pixel, SLCCA outperforms SPIHT by 0.16 dB-0.63 dB in PSNR. This performance is achieved without using any optimal bit allocation procedure. Thus both the encoding and decoding procedures are fast.
Medical and Home Automation Sensor Networks for Senior Citizens Telehomecare

This paper presents a home Tele-healthcare system for the senior citizens. The system uses home automation sensors to detect activity level of the persons. It is equipped also with other technologies to monitor them and detect any abnormal state in their health situation, like as bed and chair sensors, a mini PC connected to a TV, medical sensors, a wireless camera network. The system detects health abnormalities at an early stage through the frequent monitoring of physiological data. The system is designed for the elderly patients who wish to spend their old age in their own home, because of its potentials to increase independence and quality of life for seniors who prefer to live in their own homes and to realize cost savings for the health care system. By using this system MEDeTIC, a non-profit organization proposes a new concept of building smart homes is proposed at
Design of Mixed Synchronous/Asynchronous Systems with Multiple Clocks

Today's distributed systems are commonly equipped with both synchronous and asynchronous components controlled with multiple clocks. The key challenges in designing such systems are (1) how to model multi-clocked local synchronous component, local asynchronous component, and asynchronous communication among components in a single framework. (2) how to ensure the correctness of model, and keep consistency between the model and the implementation of real system. In this paper, we propose a novel computation model named GalsBlock for the design of multi-clocked embedded system with both synchronous and asynchronous components. The computation model consists of several hierarchical compound and atom blocks communicating with data port connections. Each atom block can be refined as parallel mealy automata. The synchronous component can be captured in an atom block with the corresponding local control clock while the asynchronous component in an atom block without clock, and the asynchronous communications can be captured in the data port connections among blocks. The unified operational semantics and formal semantics are defined, which can be used for simulation and verification, respectively. Then, we can generate efficient VHDL code from the validated model, which can be synthesized into the FPGA processor for execution directly. We have developed the graphical modeling, simulation, verification, and code generation toolkit to support the computation model, and applied it in the design of a sub-system used in the real train communication control.
Instructional planning in an intelligent tutoring system: combining global lesson plans with local discourse control

ii iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply grateful to my thesis advisor, Dr. Martha Evens, for her intellectual support, endless encouragement, understanding and patience throughout the course of this study. I feel extremely fortunate to have her as my advisor. Thank you Martha. I also would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Allen Rovick and Dr. Joel Michael of Rush Medical College for their expert advice and guidance during this work. thank you for the attention and suggestions you gave on my thesis. I would like to say thanks to my colleagues in the project group for their invaluable contributions, comments, and cooperations. Thank you all. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their love, inspiration, and support that they have provided. I will be eternally grateful. To my fiancee, SungEun, I would like to express deepest affection and love for her understanding and confidence in me.
Compiling Little Languages in Python

“Little languages” such as configuration files or HTML documents are commonplace in computing. This paper divides the work of implementing a little language into four parts, and presents a framework which can be used to easily conquer the implementation of each. The pieces of the framework have the unusual property that they may be extended through normal object-oriented means, allowing features to be added to a little language simply by subclassing parts of its compiler.
Optimal power flow management strategies of MicroGrid, using Petri Nets and fuzzy logic approaches

This paper aimed to optimal power management strategies for real time operation of an hybrid ac/dc microgrid. The main objective of this work is to design, and implement supervision systems to schedule the power delivery of proposed microgrid. Two approaches are performed, the first based on petri nets (PN) formalism, and the second using fuzzy logic system. A comparative study of the performance of each management system is performed taking into account operating cost optimization, meeting energy needs and grid supply limitation. The results show that the fuzzy logic approach ensures optimal operating system with considerably minimization in unsatisfied power and operating cost.
Energy-efficient design of battery-powered embedded systems

Energy-efficient design of battery-powered embedded systems demands optimizations in both hardware and software. In this work we leverage cycle-accurate energy consumption models to explore compiler and source code optimizations aimed at reducing energy consumption. In addition, we extend cycle-accurate architectural power simulation with battery models that provide battery lifetime estmates. The enhanced simulator and software optimizations are used to study and optimize the power dissipation of SmartBadge, a wearable system based on the ARM microprocessor developed by HP Laboratories. We found that standart compiler optimizations give less than 1% energy savings. Source code optimizations are capable of up to 90% energy savings. In addition, our analysis of battery lifetime for the MPEG decoder implemented on the SmartBadge shows that battery efficiency varies greatly with discharge currents on cycle-by-cycle basis and can cause up to 16% reduction in battery lifetime.
The Technology Acceptance Model: A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Findings

The technology acceptance model proposes that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness predict the acceptance of information technology. Since its inception, the model has been tested with various applications in tens of studies and has become a most widely applied model of user acceptance and usage. Nevertheless, the reported findings on the model are mixed in terms of statistical significance, direction, and magnitude. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis based on 26 selected empirical studies in order to synthesize the empirical evidence. The results suggest that both the correlation between usefulness and acceptance and between usefulness and ease of use are somewhat strong. However, the relationship between ease of use and acceptance is weak, and its significance does not pass the fail-safe test. IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING This chapter appears in the book, Advanced Topics in End User Computing, vol. 4 edited by M. Adam Mahmood © 2005, Idea Group Inc. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB11300
Intelligent Robot Obstacle Avoidance System Based on Fuzzy Control

Autonomous obstacle avoidance technology is the best way to embody the feature of robot strong intelligence in intelligent robot navigation system. In order to solve the problem of autonomous obstacle avoidance of mobile robot, an intelligent model is used in this paper. Adopting multi-sensor data fusion technology and obstacle avoidance algorithm based on fuzzy control, a design of intelligent mobile robot obstacle avoidance system based on S3C2410X is described. Its perceptual system is composed of nine ultrasonic sensors to detect the surrounding environment from different angles, enhancing the reliability of the system on the based of redundant data between sensors, and expanding the performance of individual sensors with its complementary data. The S3C2410X processor receives information from perceptual system to calculate the exact location of obstructions to plan a better obstacle avoidance path by rational fuzzy control reasoning and defuzzification method. The paper focused on the analysis of the difference between the simulation results and the actual effects. The analysis shows that: the robot can avoid obstacles with a better security path to solve the problems of mobile robot intelligent obstacle avoidance. Through the comparison results, we can also find that the design of mobile avoidance obstacle system has a good navigation effect s because of its advanced characteristics of adaptability, stability and robustness.
Researchers’ and Clinicians’ Perceptions of Recruiting Participants to Clinical Research: A Thematic Meta-Synthesis

BACKGROUND
Recruiting the desired number of research participants is frequently problematic with resulting financial and clinical implications. The views of individuals responsible for participant recruitment have not been previously reviewed. This systematic review and thematic meta-synthesis explores researchers' and clinicians' experiences and perceptions of recruiting participants to clinical research, with the aim of informing improved recruitment systems and strategies.


METHODS
Studies published between January 1995 and May 2013 were identified from: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid PSYCHINFO, ASSIA, British Nursing Index, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL and PubMed. Included studies were original peer reviewed research, with qualitative methodologies and an aim of exploring the views of clinicians and/or researchers on recruitment to clinical research. Studies discussing the recruitment of patients unable to give informed consent were excluded. The findings sections of the relevant studies were free coded to identify key concepts which were grouped into hierarchical themes. The quality of the identified studies was assessed and the relative contribution of each paper was checked to ensure individual studies did not dominate in any theme.


RESULTS
Eighteen relevant papers were identified which examined the views of researchers and clinicians in 10 clinical specialties. Five main themes emerged: building a research community, securing resources, the nature of research, professional identities and recruitment strategies. The views of researchers and clinicians were similar, although the role of 'researcher' was inconsistently defined.


CONCLUSIONS
The general experience of recruiting participants to clinical research was one of competition and compromise. Competition arose over funding, staffing and participants, and between clinical and research responsibilities. Compromise was needed to create study designs that were acceptable to patients, clinicians and researchers. Forging relationships between clinical and research teams featured extensively, however the involvement of patients and the public within the research community was rarely discussed.
Knowing we know before we know: ERP correlates of initial feeling-of-knowing

Subjects performed a rapid feeling-of-knowing task developed by (Reder, L. M., & Ritter, F. (1992). What determines initial feeling of knowing? Familiarity with question terms, not with the answer. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 435-451), while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to identify the time course of "feeling-of-knowing" signals. Subjects were shown a series of math problems, some of which were repeated multiple times during the course of the experiment, and subjects had to rapidly decide whether the answer to a given problem could be quickly retrieved from memory (retrieval trials) or had to be calculated on scrap paper (calculate trials). Behavioral results replicated the 1992 study, showing that subjects can estimate whether the answer is known much faster than the answer can be retrieved. ERPs time-locked to the onset of the math problem showed that accurate retrieval trials were associated with greater positivity for an early frontal P2 component (epoched from 180 to 280ms) and a frontal-central P3 component (epoched from 300 to 550ms). Moreover, this feeling-of-knowing signal was not found for subjects who never obtained a successful on-time retrieval. We interpret these findings as suggesting that initial feeling-of-knowing relies on a rapid assessment of the "perceptual fluency" with which the stimulus is processed. If a stimulus is deemed sufficiently familiar, the activation level of an internal problem representation is used to arrive at a decision of whether to search for the answer or to calculate it.
An Open Smart City IoT Test Bed: Street Light Poles as Smart City Spines: Poster Abstract

Street light poles will be a key enabler for a smart city's hardware infrastructure, thanks to their ubiquity throughout the city as well as access to power. We propose an IoT test bed around light poles for the city, with a modular hardware and software architecture to enable experimentation with various technologies.
Nonlinear model & controller design for magnetic levitation system

This paper aims at development of non linear dynamic model for Magnetic Levitation System and proposed linear and nonlinear state space controllers. The linear controller was designed by linearizing the model around equilibrium point, while nonlinear controller was based on feedback linearization where a nonlinear state-space transformation is used to linearize the system exactly. Relative degree of the system was determined and conditions were found that ensure relative degree be well defined. Magnetic Levitation system considered in this study is taken as a ferromagnetic ball suspended in a voltage controlled magnetic field. Dynamic behaviour of the system was modeled by the study of electromagnetic and mechanical subsystems. State space model was derived from the system equations. Linear full state feedback controller along with linear observer was designed and was compared with nonlinear full state feedback with nonlinear observer. Both linear and nonlinear controllers were simulated using matlab and results are presented. Key-Words: Magnetic Levitation System; Nonlinear Model; Exact Linearization; Electromagnet; unstable
Reassessing Melanonychia Striata in Phototypes IV, V, and VI Patients.

BACKGROUND
Racial melanonychia striata is a nail plate dyschromia described as a gray coloration of the background in dermatoscopy and hypermelanosis in histology. However, many cases with brown or black coloration of the background in the dermatoscopic examination have been followed.


OBJECTIVE
Evaluate racial melanonychia striata dermatoscopical patterns and histological diagnosis in Fitzpatrick skin Types IV, V, or VI population.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
482 Fitzpatrick skin Types IV, V, or VI patients, between 19 and 72 years of age, were clinically evaluated and underwent nail plate dermatoscopic examination. Fifty-eight patients presenting melanonychia striata and dermatoscopic patterns with brown or black coloration of the background were submitted to a nail matrix biopsy. When occurring in more than 1 digit, biopsy was performed in the lesion with the darkest coloration presented in dermatoscopy.


RESULTS
All skin Types IV, V, or VI patients who had melanonychia striata, with brown or black coloration of the background in the dermatoscopic examination, revealed histopathological analysis compatible with hypermelanosis.


CONCLUSION
Racial melanonychia in skin Types IV, V, or VI patients, resulting from hypermelanosis, may present brown or black coloration of the background in the dermatoscopic examination.
Reflective Middleware: From Your Desk to Your Hand

To solve this problem, recent research in reflective middleware8 uses techniques derived from previous work in computational reflection to add flexibility to middleware. Reflective middleware exploits Gregory Kiczales' meta-object protocol, combining the ideas of computational reflection and object orientation.9 His model distinguishes between base-level objects (concerning the systems' functional aspects) and metalevel objects (concerning aspects such as policies, mechanisms, or strategies). The base level of reflective middleware addresses the application program's functionality, while the metalevel designates collections of components that form the internal architecture of the middleware platform. Reflection allows the inspection and modification of these objects, enabling changes in the middleware's behavior.
Histone deacetylase inhibitor induces DNA damage, which normal but not transformed cells can repair.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) developed as anti-cancer agents have a high degree of selectivity for killing cancer cells. HDACi induce acetylation of histones and nonhistone proteins, which affect gene expression, cell cycle progression, cell migration, and cell death. The mechanism of the tumor selective action of HDACi is unclear. Here, we show that the HDACi, vorinostat (Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, SAHA), induces DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in normal (HFS) and cancer (LNCaP, A549) cells. Normal cells in contrast to cancer cells repair the DSBs despite continued culture with vorinostat. In transformed cells, phosphorylated H2AX (gammaH2AX), a marker of DNA DSBs, levels increased with continued culture with vorinostat, whereas in normal cells, this marker decreased with time. Vorinostat induced the accumulation of acetylated histones within 30 min, which could alter chromatin structure-exposing DNA to damage. After a 24-h culture of cells with vorinostat, and reculture without the HDACi, gammaH2AX was undetectable by 2 h in normal cells, while persisting in transformed cells for the duration of culture. Further, we found that vorinostat suppressed DNA DSB repair proteins, e.g., RAD50, MRE11, in cancer but not normal cells. Thus, the HDACi, vorinostat, induces DNA damage which normal but not cancer cells can repair. This DNA damage is associated with cancer cell death. These findings can explain, in part, the selectivity of vorinostat in causing cancer cell death at concentrations that cause little or no normal cell death.
Depression and androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer: a prospective controlled study.

OBJECTIVE
The main goal of this controlled study was to compare the presence of depressive symptoms and disorders in men receiving a combination of androgen deprivation therapy and radiation therapy (ADT-RTH) to men receiving RTH only.


METHOD
A total of 60 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer formed two groups: (a) ADT-RTH (n = 28) and (b) RTH only (n = 32). The ADT-RTH group was further subdivided between men who received long-term ADT (n = 17) and short-term ADT (n = 11). All participants were assessed prior to ADT initiation, and at seven additional times over a period of 16 months using semistructured interviews and self-report scales.


RESULTS
The prevalence of depressive disorders ranged from 5.5% to 23.0% over the study period. The introduction of ADT was associated with increases in depressive symptoms for some measures but these differences were not significant. Likewise, withdrawal of ADT was associated with consistent decreases in depressive symptoms, but none of these differences was significant. The small sample size may have limited the statistical power to detect those differences. However, calculations of effect sizes revealed that most of them were of a small magnitude.


CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first controlled study that investigated the possible role of ADT in the development of depression using prostate cancer patients who were not receiving ADT as controls. Overall, it appears that ADT does not represent a major risk factor for depression. This is good news for patients receiving this treatment who already have to adapt to many of its other side effects.
A randomized clinical trial of 5% topical minoxidil versus 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in men.

BACKGROUND
Topical minoxidil solution 2% stimulates new hair growth and helps stop the loss of hair in individuals with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Results can be variable, and historical experience suggests that higher concentrations of topical minoxidil may enhance efficacy.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this 48-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter trial was to compare 5% topical minoxidil with 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in the treatment of men with AGA.


METHODS
A total of 393 men (18-49 years old) with AGA applied 5% topical minoxidil solution (n = 157), 2% topical minoxidil solution (n = 158), or placebo (vehicle for 5% solution; n = 78) twice daily. Efficacy was evaluated by scalp target area hair counts and patient and investigator assessments of change in scalp coverage and benefit of treatment.


RESULTS
After 48 weeks of therapy, 5% topical minoxidil was significantly superior to 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in terms of change from baseline in nonvellus hair count, patient rating of scalp coverage and treatment benefit, and investigator rating of scalp coverage. Hair count data indicate that response to treatment occurred earlier with 5% compared with 2% topical minoxidil. Additionally, data from a patient questionnaire on quality of life, global benefit, hair growth, and hair styling demonstrated that 5% topical minoxidil helped improve patients' psychosocial perceptions of hair loss. An increased occurrence of pruritus and local irritation was observed with 5% topical minoxidil compared with 2% topical minoxidil.


CONCLUSION
In men with AGA, 5% topical minoxidil was clearly superior to 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in increasing hair regrowth, and the magnitude of its effect was marked (45% more hair regrowth than 2% topical minoxidil at week 48). Men who used 5% topical minoxidil also had an earlier response to treatment than those who used 2% topical minoxidil. Psychosocial perceptions of hair loss in men with AGA were also improved. Topical minoxidil (5% and 2%) was well tolerated by the men in this trial without evidence of systemic effects.