Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On-line counting of pests in a greenhouse using computer vision

This article is concerned with the on-line counting of some harmful insects in videos in the framework of in situ video-surveillance that aims at the early detection of pest attacks in greenhouse crops. The challenges mainly concern the tiny resolution and color contrast of the insects of interest in the videos, the outdoor issues and the quasi-real time constraints. Thus, we propose a complete video-processing chain that can cope with such challenges quite satisfactorily while yielding an acceptable performance. The system has been validated off-line against many recorded videos for the whiteflie species (one potential harmful pest species).
Anatomizing application performance differences on smartphones

The use of cellular data networks is increasingly popular due to the widespread deployment of 3G technologies and the rapid adoption of smartphones, such as iPhone and GPhone. Besides email and web browsing, a variety of network applications are now available, rendering smartphones potentially useful substitutes for their desktop counterparts. Nevertheless, the performance of smartphone applications in the wild is still poorly understood due to a lack of systematic measurement methodology. We identify and study important factors that impact user-perceived performance of network applications on smartphones. We develop a systematic methodology for comparing this performance along several key dimensions such as carrier networks, device capabilities, and server configurations. To ensure a fair and representative comparison, we conduct controlled experiments, informed by data collected through 3GTest, a cross-platform measurement tool we designed, executed by more than 30,000 users from all over the world. Our work is an essential step towards understanding the performance of smartphone applications from the perspective of users, application developers, cellular network operators, and smartphone vendors. Our analysis culminates with a set of recommendations that can lead to better application design and infrastructure support for smartphone users.
Multi-viewpoint visibility coverage estimation for 3D environment perception volumetric representation as a gateway to high resolution data

Estimation of visibility is a crucial element of coverage estimation of large, complex environments. This non-probabilistic problem is often tackled in a 2D context. We present an algorithm that can estimate the visibility of a high resolution scene from a low resolution 3D representation. An octree based voxel representation provides a dataset that is easy to process. Voxel occupancy properties ensure a good approximation of visibility at high resolution. Our system is capable of producing a reasonable solution to the viewpoint placement issue of the Art gallery problem.
Educational Intervention on Health Related Lifestyle Changes Among Iranian Adolescents

Background: Healthy lifestyle habits during adolescence can prevent many of the diseases and disabilities in adulthood and later. The aim of the study was to examine the role of education in improving lifestyles among Iranian adolescents. Methods: This group randomized controlled trial was conducted during October 2010 until January 2011 in Tehran. Participants for this study were selected through a random sampling method and divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a six session course on healthy lifestyles and the control group received no intervention. The Adolescent Lifestyle Questionnaire (ALQ) was used for collecting data. Data were collected before the intervention, at a two week after participation time point, and a three month follow-up was conducted. Results: Overall, 365 (male: 173, female: 192) adolescents participated in the study. There were significant differences between boys and girls in terms of physical activity and social support (P<0.001). The boys had higher levels of physical activity than girls. Girls received more social support than boys. There were significant differences in the lifestyle scores between the intervention and control groups at follow-up (P<0.001). The educational intervention indicated an improved total lifestyle score (from 123.7(SD.16.1) at baseline to 131.8 (SD.16.7) at two weeks and to 130.5(16.5) at 3 months after education) among the intervention group. Conclusions: Adolescents’ behaviors may be different in some dimensions among boys and girls. Unhealthy lifestyle habits are prevalent among adolescents. Therefore sex-specified lifestyle education can bring promising results. Further research in the field can reveal the importance of lifestyle intervention programs.
Faster Algorithms for the Quickest Transshipment Problem

A transshipment problem with demands that exceed network capacity can be solved by sending flow in several waves. How can this be done in the minimum number of waves? This is the question tackled in the quickest transshipment problem. Hoppe and Tardos [ Math. Oper. Res., 25 (2000), pp. 36--62] describe the only known polynomial time algorithm to solve this problem. They actually solve the significantly harder problem in which it takes a prespecified amount of time for flow to travel from one end of an arc to the other. Their algorithm repeatedly calls an oracle for submodular function minimization. We present an algorithm that finds a quickest transshipment with a polynomial number of maximum flow computations, and a faster algorithm that also uses minimum cost flow computations. When there is only one sink, we show how the algorithm can be sped up to return a solution using O(k) maximum flow computations, where k is the number of sources. Hajek and Ogier [Networks, 14 (1984), pp. 457--487] describe an algorithm that finds a fractional solution to the single sink quickest transshipment problem on a network with n nodes and m arcs using O(n) maximum flow computations. They actually solve the universally quickest transshipment---a flow over time that minimizes the amount of supply left in the network at every moment of time. In this paper, we show how to solve the universally quickest transshipment in O(mnlog(n2/m)) time, the same asymptotic time as a push-relabel maximum flow computation.
Indirect three dimensional printing of Apatite-Wollastonite structures for biomedical applications

i Abstract The main goal of the current study was to investigate the capabilities of the indirect three-dimensional printing (3DP) process when used in combination with bioceramic Apatite-Wollastonite (A-W) powders and to evaluate the mechanical properties of the printed parts. A-W glass ceramic is a bioactive material that is used clinically for bone substitutes due to its suitable mechanical properties. Additive manufacturing approaches, especially 3DP, have been shown to produce 3D complex structures via computer aided design. A-W with weight % of 4.6 MgO, 44.7 CaO, 34 SiO2, 16.2 P2O5 and 0.5 CaF2 was used in the present study. The approach taken to indirect 3DP was: (i) blending of the A-W with maltodextrin (MD) powder; (ii) using a Z Corp Z310plus 3D printer to selectively print binder into sequentially deposited thin layers of the blended powders in order to build up a 3D structure; (iii) heat treating the 3D printed parts to 1150°C to burn off the MD and sinter the A-W to create a consolidated 3D structure. Phosphate glass infiltration was used to fill the porosities and increase the mechanical strength of the sintered parts. Bioactive phosphate glass with weight % of 6.22 Na2O, 71.29 P2O5, and 22.49 CaO was used because it can dissolve faster than A-W. The flexural strength, Young’s modulus, porosity and shrinkage were measured on various samples printed from the seven powder blends (PBs). PBs with 30% MD and zb®60 binder were required for the parts to develop sufficient strength. PBs 1, 4, and 5 develop the highest strength after sintering. PB1 contains A-W particle sizes in the range of 53-90 μm, PB4 contains A-W particle sizes in the range of 0-53 μm and PB5 contains mixed particle size ranges (78.5% in the range of 53-90 μm with 21.5% in the range of 0-53 μm). Average flexural strengths of 23.65 MPa, 35.64 MPa, and 25.68 MPa were achieved for PB1, PB4, and PB5, respectively. The average strength of PB5 increased to 31.34 MPa after glass infiltration. In all cases, the increase in strength is a result of the increased consolidation during sintering, as indicated by the observed reduced porosity. Indirect 3D printing of A-W structures can be used to create strong, highly porous structures, but care must be taken to appropriately select binder and processing parameters. Moreover, this is a promising approach for fabrication in bone tissue engineering.
Diphone Synthesis Using a Neural Network

A neural network is used to produce formant data for the Holmes parallel formant speech synthesizer [2] from an allophonic transcription of plain english text. This paper presents results obtained from training a back propagation neural network using speech generated by a conventional speech synthesizer. The network is able to learn to reproduce the basic form of formant transitions between allophones. Use of formant data obtained from natural speech is planned.
Sensorless active damping strategy for parallel interleaved voltage source power converters with LCL filter

Grid-connected pulse-width modulation converters with LCL filters are widely extended as an interface for renewable energy generating systems. Those filters arise stability issues due to the filter resonance, which, must be damped, preferably by active damping methods, to avoid additional power losses. In some applications, such as offshore wind energy conversion systems, where high power converters are connected to low voltage networks, the commutation frequency is limited to low values to reduce the power losses and the resulting filter components are bulky. For this reason, in addition to its higher current handling capabilities, the use of power converters in parallel with the application of advanced modulation strategies, such as interleaving, is gaining importance. In this structure the filter components can be reduced, setting the filter resonance frequency at a higher value. As a consequence, the filter resonance frequency is close to the Nyquist frequency, complicating the implementation of some of the existing active damping solutions. In this work, an active damping approach based on a third order digital filter is proposed to stabilize the system. The robustness of the solution is investigated against grid inductance variations and the grid current harmonic content will be tested to comply with the most demanding grid codes. The proposed active damping strategy does not require extra sensors and can be easily designed by examining the open loop Bode plots. It is suitable to stabilize the LCL filter with a resonance frequency close to the Nyquist frequency, where some of the existing active damping approaches are unable to damp the system. The proposed method can be also an appropriate solution for existing grid connected power converters with stability issues due to changes in the effective grid impedance at which they are connected.
Changing pattern of Crohn's disease in Northern Ireland

Une observation d'endocardite recidivante sur une prothese valvulaire, due a Propionibacterium acnes, bacterie Gram-positive anaerobie, dont le role est connu dans l'acne mais qui provoque rarement des infections autres, sauf en presence de protheses
National Economic Development and Disparities in Body Mass Index: A Cross-Sectional Study of Data from 38 Countries

Background Increases in body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of overweight in low- and middle income countries (LMICs) are often ascribed to changes in global trade patterns or increases in national income. These changes are likely to affect populations within LMICs differently based on their place of residence or socioeconomic status (SES). Objective Using nationally representative survey data from 38 countries and national economic indicators from the World Bank and other international organizations, we estimated ecological and multilevel models to assess the association between national levels of gross domestic product (GDP), foreign direct investment (FDI), and mean tariffs and BMI. Design We used linear regression to estimate the ecological association between average annual change in economic indicators and BMI, and multilevel linear or ordered multinomial models to estimate associations between national economic indicators and individual BMI or over- and underweight. We also included cross-level interaction terms to highlight differences in the association of BMI with national economic indicators by type of residence or socioeconomic status (SES). Results There was a positive but non-significant association of GDP and mean BMI. This positive association of GDP and BMI was greater among rural residents and the poor. There were no significant ecological associations between measures of trade openness and mean BMI, but FDI was positively associated with BMI among the poorest respondents and in rural areas and tariff levels were negatively associated with BMI among poor and rural respondents. Conclusion Measures of national income and trade openness have different associations with the BMI across populations within developing countries. These divergent findings underscore the complexity of the effects of development on health and the importance of considering how the health effects of “globalizing” economic and cultural trends are modified by individual-level wealth and residence.
Plasmodium berghei calcium-dependent protein kinase 3 is required for ookinete gliding motility and mosquito midgut invasion

Apicomplexan parasites critically depend on a unique form of gliding motility to colonize their hosts and to invade cells. Gliding requires different stage and species‐specific transmembrane adhesins, which interact with an intracellular motor complex shared across parasite stages and species. How gliding is regulated by extracellular factors and intracellular signalling mechanisms is largely unknown, but current evidence suggests an important role for cytosolic calcium as a second messenger. Studying a Plasmodium berghei gene deletion mutant, we here provide evidence that a calcium‐dependent protein kinase, CDPK3, has an important function in regulating motility of the ookinete in the mosquito midgut. We show that a cdpk3– parasite clone produces morphologically normal ookinetes, which fail to engage the midgut epithelium, due to a marked reduction in their ability to glide productively, resulting in marked reduction in malaria transmission to the mosquito. The mutant was successfully complemented with an episomally maintained cdpk3 gene, restoring mosquito transmission to wild‐type level. cdpk3– ookinetes maintain their full genetic differentiation potential when microinjected into the mosquito haemocoel and cdpk3– sporozoites produced in this way are motile and infectious, suggesting an ookinete‐limited essential function for CDPK3.
Preparation and Anti-Flame Capability of Expandable Graphite

Subscript textFeasible conditions to get flame retardant expandable graphite (EG) with low initiation expansion temperature and high dilatability were obtained through orthogonal test and single factor experiment. EG with initiation expansion temperature of 148 ±2 °C and expansion volume of 550 mL/g can be prepared according to the mass ratio of C : KMnO4 : 98% H2SO4 : Na4P2O7 = 1.0 : 0.4 : 5.0 : 0.6 (H2SO4 should be diluted to thSubscript texte mass concentration of 80% before intercalation reaction), the reaction time is 40 min at 40 °C. Addition of 30% of the prepared EG to Liner Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) can improve its limiting oxygen index LOI from 17.5% to 29.4%, and the synergistic anti-flame LOI of 20% EG with 10 polyphosphate (APP II) can reach to 31.2%. TG and DTA analysis was completed to discuss the anti-flame mechanism.
Processing aggregate relational queries with hard time constraints

We consider those database environments in which queries have strict timing constraints, and develop a time-constrained query evaluation methodology. For aggregate relational algebra queries, we describe a time constrained query evaluation algorithm. The algorithm, which is implemented in our prototype DBMS, iteratively samples from input relations, and evaluates the associated estimators developed in our previous work, until a stopping criterion (e.g., a time quota or a desired error range) is satisfied. To determine sample sizes at each stage of the iteration (so that the time quota will not be overspent) we need to have (a) accurate sample selectivity estimations of the RA operators in the query, (b) precise time cost formulas, and (c) good time-control strategies. To estimate the sample selectivities of RA operators, we use a runtime sample selectivity estimation and improvement approach which is flexible. For query time estimations, we use time-cost formulas which are adaptive and precise. To use the time quota efficiently, we propose statistical and heuristic time-control strategies to control the risk of overspending the time quota. Preliminary evaluation of the implemented prototype is also presented.
Model-based segmentation and tracking of head-and-shoulder video objects for real time multimedia services

A statistical model-based video segmentation algorithm is presented for head-and-shoulder type video. This algorithm uses domain knowledge by abstracting the head-and-shoulder object with a blob-based statistical region model and a shape model. The object segmentation problem is then converted into a model detection and tracking problem. At the system level, a hierarchical structure is designed and spatial and temporal filters are used to improve segmentation quality. This algorithm runs in real time over a QCIF size video, and segments it into background, head and shoulder three video objects on average Pentium PC platforms. Due to its real time feature, this algorithm is appropriate for real time multimedia services such as videophone and web chat. Simulation results are offered to compare MPEG-4 performance with H.263 on segmented video objects with respects to compression efficiency, bit rate adaptation and functionality.
Finding the Largest Low-Rank Clusters With Ky Fan 2-k-Norm and ℓ1-Norm

We propose a convex optimization formulation with the Ky Fan $2$-$k$-norm and $\ell_1$-norm to find $k$ largest approximately rank-one submatrix blocks of a given nonnegative matrix that has low-rank block diagonal structure with noise. We analyze low-rank and sparsity structures of the optimal solutions using properties of these two matrix norms. We show that, under certain hypotheses, with high probability, the approach can recover rank-one submatrix blocks even when they are corrupted with random noise and inserted into a much larger matrix with other random noise blocks.
Safety Climate and Use of Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Medical Devices among Home Care and Hospice Nurses

Abstract: Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety medical devices is mandated for healthcare workers to reduce the risk of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from exposure to patients’ blood. Research has shown that a strong safety climate may promote increased use of PPE. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the association between safety climate and use of PPE among homecare/hospice nurses in North Carolina. To this end, a mail survey was conducted in 2006. The response rate, adjusted on the assumption that the proportion of eligible nurses from among those who did not return the questionnaire or could not be contacted was similar to the proportion among those who did return the questionnaire, was 69% (n=833 eligibles). The percentage of nurses who used the specified PPE was two to three times greater among nurses who had a strong safety climate. Safety climate was only weakly associated with using safety devices. These results suggest that improving safety climate may be a powerful tool for increasing use of PPE.
A Novel Bicriteria Scheduling Heuristics Providing a Guaranteed Global System Failure Rate

We propose a new framework for the (length and reliability) bicriteria static multiprocessor scheduling problem. Our first criterion remains the schedule's length, which is crucial to assess the system's real-time property. For our second criterion, we consider the global system failure rate, seen as if the whole system were a single task scheduled onto a single processor, instead of the usual reliability, because it does not depend on the schedule length like the reliability does (due to its computation in the classical exponential distribution model). Therefore, we control better the replication factor of each individual task of the dependency task graph given as a specification, with respect to the desired failure rate. To solve this bicriteria optimization problem, we take the failure rate as a constraint, and we minimize the schedule length. We are thus able to produce, for a given dependency task graph and multiprocessor architecture, a Pareto curve of nondominated solutions, among which the user can choose the compromise that fits his or her requirements best. Compared to the other bicriteria (length and reliability) scheduling algorithms found in the literature, the algorithm we present here is the first able to improve significantly the reliability, by several orders of magnitude, making it suitable to safety-critical systems.
Deconstructing Complex Search Tasks: a Bayesian Nonparametric Approach for Extracting Sub-tasks

Search tasks, comprising a series of search queries serving a common informational need, have steadily emerged as accurate units for developing the next generation of task-aware web search systems. Most prior research in this area has focused on segmenting chronologically ordered search queries into higher level tasks. A more naturalistic viewpoint would involve treating query logs as convoluted structures of tasks-subtasks, with complex search tasks being decomposed into more focused sub-tasks. In this work, we focus on extracting sub-tasks from a given collection of on-task search queries. We jointly leverage insights from Bayesian nonparametrics and word embeddings to identify and extract sub-tasks from a given collection of ontask queries. Our proposed model can inform the design of the next generation of task-based search systems that leverage user’s task behavior for better support and personalization.
Non-Blocking Concurrent FIFO Queues with Single Word Synchronization Primitives

We present 2 efficient and practical non-blocking implementations of a concurrent array-based FIFO queue that are suitable for both multiprocessor as well as preemptive multithreaded systems. It is well known that concurrent FIFO queues relying on mutual exclusion cause blocking, which have several drawbacks and degrade overall system performance. Link-based non-blocking queue algorithms have a memory management problem whereby a removed node from the queue can neither be freed nor reused because other threads may still be accessing the node. Existing solutions to this problem introduce a fair amount of overhead and, when the number of threads that can access the FIFO queue is moderate to high, are shown to be less efficient compared to array-based algorithms, which inherently do not suffer from this problem. In addition to being independent on advance knowledge of the number of threads that can access the queue, our new algorithms improve on previously proposed algorithms in that they do not require any special instruction other than a load-linked/store-conditional or a compare-and-swap atomic instruction both operating on pointer-wide number of bits. Our new algorithms are thus portable to a broader range of architectures.