Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extraction of Blood Vessels from Retinal Image using Adaptive Morphology

In this paper a new algorithm is proposed for segmentation of the retinal blood vessels in the ophthalmoscopic images using Mathematical Morphology based technique named as Adaptive Line Structuring Element (ALSE). The ALSE is rotated to adjust with the curvature of the blood vessels which ensure that each part of the vessel components remains connected and followed by changing the size of the line structuring element that adaptively discards non-vessel like objects in a fundus image. This forms a Scale-Space that extracts the blood vessels structure in retina successfully from finer scales to coarser scale without much loss of data. For the purpose of evaluating performance of proposed algorithm two well-known criterion function namely Structural Similarity (SSIM) index and Figure of Merit (FOM) index are used for comparing the results. The average value of SSIM and FOM indicates better performance of the proposed algorithm than other recent methods.
A simple method of determining confidence intervals for population attributable risk from complex surveys

Methods to assess uncertainty in the estimated population attributable risk (PAR) by calculating 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs) are not readily available in software for complex sample surveys. Using the Bonferroni inequality, a simple method to obtain CIs for the PAR is developed. The method is demonstrated using a simulation in a (2 × 2) table as well as a cohort study to calculate CIs for PAR of coronary heart disease death (using proportional hazards regression). This article demonstrates a straightforward, theoretically valid method of determining CIs for the PAR. Using this method, researchers analysing complex surveys can routinely provide a population perspective and a valid measure of the uncertainty for these estimates. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Role of the fusogenic peptide sequence in syncytium induction and infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 2

Syncytium induction is a characteristic feature of infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vitro. The hydrophobic amino terminus of the transmembrane glycoprotein of HIV type 1 is an essential determinant of virus entry into the target cell population and the formation of syncytia in cell culture. To define the role of the HIV type 2 fusion peptide during infection and syncytium formation, we introduced 8 amino acid substitutions into the hydrophobic amino terminus of gp41, changing either the hydrophobicity, the charge, or the polarity of the amino acid. Viruses containing the envelope mutations were analyzed for their syncytium-inducing capacities, levels of infectivity, and envelope processing and expression. Mutations that increased the hydrophobic nature of the fusion peptide increased syncytium formation, whereas mutations which increased the charge and the polarity and/or decreased the hydrophobicity of the fusion domain severely reduced the capacity of the virus to induce syncytia. However, viruses severely compromised for syncytium formation exhibit only slightly lower levels of infectivity.
Exploring content popularity in Information-Centric networks

Information-Centric Networking (ICN), an alternative architecture to the current Internet infrastructure, focuses on the distribution and retrieval of content by employing caches in a network to reduce network traffic. The employment of caches may be accomplished using graph-based and content-based criteria such as the position of a node in a network and content popularity. The contribution of this paper lies on the characterization of content popularity for on-path in-network caching. To this end, four dynamic approaches for identifying content popularity are evaluated via simulations. Content popularity may be determined per chunk or per object, calculated by the number of requests for a content against the sum of requests or the maximum number of requests. Based on the results, chunk-based approaches provide 23% more accurate content popularity calculations than object-based approaches. In addition, approaches that are based on the comparison of a content against the maximum number of requests have been shown to be more accurate than the alternatives.
Metadata of the chapter that will be visualized in SpringerLink

Historical change information at the building level in urban areas is crucial for policy and resource management, especially in countries with densely population and quick building construction. In this paper we present a multi-level building change detection framework using large-scale historical vector and address-based data. This approach is fundamentally different to the traditionally ones which purely use remotely sensed images and are often limited in identifying functional characteristics. Ordnance Survey’s (OS) MasterMap in the UK has been taken as an example of the large-scale vector data. The buildings features are extracted for two years and are compared to identify modified, demolished, and un-changed ones. To quantify buildings’ functional changes, an earlier developed classification methodology was used by extracting cartomteric and spatial properties of buildings and linking contextual information from address-based data. The case study in Manchester, UK shows that the proposed approach can successfully identify building changes at multiple levels. The change detection framework presented here closely addresses how to use large-scale and existing data sources to create a historical land use database. Moreover, this framework is computationally robust and is applicable to other areas without losing its integrity within and outside the UK, where large-scale structured data sets are available.
Disturbances of blood pressure and spectral heart rate variability during orthostatic stress in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Background : Orthostatic hypotension in diabetes patients is a sign of autonomic dysfunction. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is one of the methods for cardiac autonomic neuropathy assessment. The aim of this study was to assess blood pressure and HRV during 5 minute upright tilting in patients with type 1 diabetes. Methods : We studied 48 normotensive diabetes patients aged 18-28 years, with diabetes lasting 9-23 years. Matched control group consisted of 32 healthy persons. We performed 24 h Holter ECG monitoring (SUPRIMA 12, DMS, USA) and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (Spacelab 90207, Datex-Ohmeda, USA). Manual measurements were initialized every minute during 5 minute standing, preceded by 15 min rest in supine position. Spectral HRV parameters were analyzed: total power (TP), very low frequency (VLF), low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) -in 5-min periods in supine and standing position. Results : Systolic blood pressure fall was noted in 19% of diabetes patients and 3% of the controls (p = 0.001) and DBP fall in 23% of diabetes patients and 0% of the controls (p = 0.001). During rest diabetes patients with orthostatic hypotension showed significantly lower TP and VLF spectra (p = 0.001). After tilting lower TP, VLF, LF and HF in diabetes patients with orthostatic hypotension was observed (p = 0.001). In standing position LF (NU, normalized units) decreased in diabetes patients in contrast to healthy people, in which LF spectrum increased. Conclusions : Diabetes patients with orthostatic hypotension have more advanced autonomic dysfunction than diabetes patients without orthostatic hypotension, which manifests as lower spectral HRV components during tilting. Diabetes patients show pathological fall of LF (NU) component during orthostatic stress.
Cross Validation of the b Test in a Large Known Groups Sample

The b Test (Boone, Lu, & Herzberg, 2002a) is a measure of cognitive performance validity originally validated on 91 non-credible participants and 7 credible clinical comparison groups (total n = 161). The purpose of the current study was to provide cross-validation data for the b Test on a known groups sample of non-credible participants (n = 212) and credible heterogeneous neuropsychological clinic patients (n = 103). The new data showed that while the original E-score cut-off of ≥155 achieved excellent specificity (99%), it was associated with relatively poor sensitivity (41%). However, the cut-off could be substantially lowered to ≥82, while still maintaining adequate specificity (≥90%) and raising sensitivity to 68%. Examination of non-credible subgroups revealed that b Test sensitivity in feigned mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) was 58%, whereas in non-credible patients claiming depression and psychosis, cut-off sensitivity was 76% and 67%, respectively. These data suggest that the b Test may have a particular role in detection of non-credible cognitive symptoms associated with feigned psychiatric symptoms, and that fabricated deficits in processing speed and vigilance/visual scanning, detected by the b Test, are more prominent in feigned psychiatric presentations than in feigned mTBI. Further, b Test failures in patients with somatoform disorders were common, indicating that the b Test may have a specific use in detection of non-consciously created cognitive dysfunction associated with somatoform conditions.
Multilevel Inverter Topologies for Stand-Alone PV Systems

This paper shows that versatile stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems still demand on at least one battery inverter with improved characteristics of robustness and efficiency, which can be achieved using multilevel topologies. A compilation of the most common topologies of multilevel converters is presented, and it shows which ones are best suitable to implement inverters for stand-alone applications in the range of a few kilowatts. As an example, a prototype of 3 kVA was implemented, and peak efficiency of 96.0% was achieved.
Systematic Review of the Quality of Prognosis Studies in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Prognosis studies examine outcomes and/or seek to identify predictors or factors associated with outcomes. Many prognostic factors have been identified in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but few have been consistently found across studies. We hypothesized that this is due to a lack of rigor of study designs. This study aimed to systematically assess the methodologic quality of prognosis studies in SLE.
Classification of forest stand considering shapes and sizes of tree crown calculated from high spatial resolution satellite image

Forests play important role as environment for living things. There are many types of forest stand and the identification of forest type is available to conserve and to improve the forest. The field investigation on forest area is a hard work and needs many cost. The field investigation on wide area is almost impossible. The remote-sensing is useful for investigation of wide area of forest, especially on mountain area where field investigations are usually laborious. The spectral characteristics are different by the species. Many classifications of forest type based on spatial characteristics are operated. But, some kinds of forest types are difficult to be classified by using only spatial characteristics. Each type of forest stand has a spatial characteristic depending on the shape of trees. By using not only spatial characteristics but also tree shapes, number of classified types of forest can be increased. We developed the method for the delineation of tree crown with image processing using satellite images with high spatial resolution and aerial photographs. In this method, tree crowns that have similar color are delineated with circles. Densities, size and numbers of trees are different by species, and these information are available to classify the type of forest stand. In this study, forest stands were classified with not only spatial information but also the number and densities of trees. Multi-spectral images and pan image of IKONOS were used in this study. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) was calculated from red and near-infrared images. Densities and numbers of trees on a forest stand were calculated using pan images with high spatial resolution by using the method for crown delineation with circler expression. The types of forest stand were classified using thresholds of NDVI and numbers of trees. A forest classification method using spatial information, densities and numbers of trees increased the number of classified type of forests than using only spatial information.
Space Vector Modulation control of a seven-level hybrid converter

In this paper a novel seven-level hybrid converter topology is introduced which is based on the active neutral-point-clamped multilevel converter concept and is suitable for high-power applications. The paper also proposes a space vector modulation (SVM)-based switching strategy that takes advantage of redundant switching vectors of the SVM method to counteract the voltage drift phenomenon of the proposed converter topology. The limit to the range of operation of the seven-level converter based on the proposed SVM strategy is also presented. It is shown that the ability to stabilize the DC-link capacitor voltages and the floating capacitors is a function of the converter operating indices, i.e. the load power factor and modulation index. Performance of a converter under various operating conditions, based on time-domain simulation studies in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, is evaluated.
Design of a New Propulsion Mechanism of Imitating Duck’s Webbed-feet

With the wide application of the underwater vehicle in ocean exploration, bionics propulsion aroused intensive interest among researchers. Bionic locomotion of aquatic animals has the advantages of highly maneuver, power-efﬁcient endurance and so on. In the paper the mechanism of duck’s swimming is studied and a novel bionics propulsion mechanism is designed and analyzed. The mechanics of underwater vehicle is investigated by ADAMS. Dynamics response of the system is analyzed by using numerical method. The simulation results suggest that the designed propulsion mechanism can imitate the movement modes of the duck’s webbed feet, and implement the motion of vehicle in fluid environment. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i8. 3133
2-Azaniumylcarba-closo-dodecaborate ethanol monosolvate

Two formula units of the title compound, 2-H3N-closo-1-CB11H11·CH3CH2OH or CH14B11N·C2H5OH, form a ring motif of R 4 2(8) type in the solid state that surrounds a crystallographic center of symmetry. The ring motif is a result of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In contrast to many structures of {closo-1-CB11} clusters, the assignment of the position of the cluster C atom in the structure of the title compound is unambigious. The relatively long B—N bond length [1.5396 (10) Å] documents the absence of any B—N π-interaction in the title compound although this was observed for a related 2-aminocarba-closo-dodecaborate.
Bioinformatics Unraveling Transcriptional Control in Arabidopsis Using cis-Regulatory Elements and Coexpression Networks 1 [ C ] [ W ]

Analysis of gene expression data generated by high-throughput microarray transcript profiling experiments has demonstrated that genes with an overall similar expression pattern are often enriched for similar functions. This guilt-by-association principle can be applied to define modular gene programs, identify cis-regulatory elements, or predict gene functions for unknown genes based on their coexpression neighborhood. We evaluated the potential to use Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of a gene’s coexpression neighborhood as a tool to predict its function but found overall low sensitivity scores (13%–34%). This indicates that for many functional categories, coexpression alone performs poorly to infer known biological gene functions. However, integration of cis-regulatory elements shows that 46% of the gene coexpression neighborhoods are enriched for one or more motifs, providing a valuable complementary source to functionally annotate genes. Through the integration of coexpression data, GO annotations, and a set of known cis-regulatory elements combined with a novel set of evolutionarily conserved plant motifs, we could link many genes and motifs to specific biological functions. Application of our coexpression framework extended with cis-regulatory element analysis on transcriptome data from the cell cycle-related transcription factor OBP1 yielded several coexpressed modules associated with specific cis-regulatory elements. Moreover, our analysis strongly suggests a feed-forward regulatory interaction between OBP1 and the E2F pathway. The ATCOECIS resource (http:// bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/ATCOECIS/) makes it possible to query coexpression data and GO and cis-regulatory element annotations and to submit user-defined gene sets for motif analysis, providing an access point to unravel the regulatory code underlying transcriptional control in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana).
Understanding The ERP Project Champion Role And Its Criticality

Existence of an adequate project champion role has been identified as a critical success factor in ERP implementation projects. However, the figure of the project champion is not yet quite well understood. Some authors relate it with the project sponsor figure while others relate it with the project manager figure. This paper tries to clarify these concepts. Our research framework has been based upon an extensive ERP literature review and a web survey. The findings of this survey show that the adequate project champion role is that of the project sponsor; respondents also think that both project manager and project sponsor are critical to the success of an ERP implementation project and not merely the project champion figure. We also show the interdependence between project sponsor role, project manager role and ERP project success, for which we present an interdependence model.
Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Disk

We analyze the diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in the first Galactic quadrant from ℓ = 18 ° to 40° using radio recombination line (RRL) data from the Green Bank Telescope. These data allow us to distinguish DIG emission from H ii region emission and thus study the diffuse gas essentially unaffected by confusion from discrete sources. We find that the DIG has two dominant velocity components, one centered around 100 km s − 1 associated with the luminous H ii region W43, and the other centered around 45 km s − 1 not associated with any large H ii region. Our analysis suggests that the two velocity components near W43 may be caused by noncircular streaming motions originating near the end of the Galactic bar. At lower Galactic longitudes, the two velocities may instead arise from gas at two distinct distances from the Sun, with the most likely distances being ∼6 kpc for the 100 km s − 1 component and ∼12 kpc for the 45 km s − 1 component. We show that the intensity of diffuse Spitzer GLIMPSE 8.0 μm emission caused by excitation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is correlated with both the locations of discrete H ii regions and the intensity of the RRL emission from the DIG. This implies that the soft ultraviolet photons responsible for creating the infrared emission have a similar origin as the harder ultraviolet photons required for the RRL emission. The 8.0 μm emission increases with RRL intensity but flattens out for directions with the most intense RRL emission, suggesting that PAHs are partially destroyed by the energetic radiation field at these locations.
Incidence of optic canal fracture in the traumatic optic neuropathy and its effect on the visual outcome

Objective To correlate the intraoperative endoscopic findings with high-resolution CT (HRCT) for the diagnosis of optic canal fractures (OCF). To compare the visual outcome of patients with different types of OCF and without. Design A retrospective, comparative case series. Participants 1275 consecutive patients (1275 eyes) with indirect traumatic optic neuropathy (TON). Methods Altogether, 1275 patients who underwent endoscopic transethmoid optic canal decompression (ETOCD) for unilateral indirect TON were reviewed from 1 October 2006 to 30 September 2014. HRCT performed prior to surgery were compared with findings during surgery. The visual outcomes before and after surgery were also compared. Main outcome measures The presence and type of OCF detected by HRCT and during surgery; visual acuity prior to surgery and at 3 months after surgery. Results A total of 1275 patients (1275 eyes) were included, with 708 patients that had OCF visible on HRCT image. During surgery, an additional 187 (20.9%) patients with OCF were noticed. Among these, 136 had undisplaced fractures, most of which were linear intracanalicular fractures. The initial visual acuity of patients with OCF was worse than that of patients without OCF (p<0.01). However, no statistical difference existed in the final visual acuity at 3 months after surgery (>0.05). Significant statistical difference of surgical efficacy existed between all the patients with OCF and without OCF (p<0.001). Conclusions Among patients with OCF, 20.9% were not detected by HRCT. Patients with OCF had a worse initial visual acuity than those without OCF. There was no significant difference in final visual acuity after ETOCD.
An effective channel estimation method for transmit diversity systems

This paper presents a simple yet effective channel estimation method for transmit diversity systems. We propose to use the Alamoutipsilas space-time encoding scheme to create pilot symbols and insert into the transmit data symbol streams from the transmit antennas. The orthogonality of the pilot symbols from the two transmit antennas allows to eliminate the interference among transmit antennas. The proposed pilot symbol assisted (PSA) method thus does not require pilot symbol expansion as in the previous methods. We also propose to use a simple temporal average operation to process channel decision statistics to replace temporal filters or interpolators. For a 16 pilot symbols in a 100 data symbol frame transmitted using the Alamoutipsilas space-time block coding, the performance degradation of the estimated symbols is less than 0.2 dB compared with the case of perfect channel estimation.
The exact rate-memory tradeoff for caching with uncoded prefetching

We consider a cache network, where a single server is connected to multiple users via a shared bottleneck link. The server has a set of files, which can be cached by each user in a prefetching phase. In a following delivery phase, each user requests a file and the server delivers user demands as efficiently as possible by taking into account their cache contents. We focus on an important and commonly used class of prefetching schemes, where the caches are filled with uncoded data. We provide the exact characterization of rate-memory tradeoff for this problem, by deriving both the minimum average rate (for a uniform file popularity) and the minimum peak rate required on the bottleneck link for a given cache size available at each user. We propose a novel caching scheme, which strictly improves the state of the art by exploiting commonality among user demands. We then demonstrate the exact optimality of our proposed scheme through a matching converse, by dividing the set of all demands into types, and showing that the placement phase in the proposed caching scheme is universally optimal for all types. Using these techniques, we can also fully characterize the rate-memory tradeoff for a decentralized setting, in which users fill out their cache content without coordination.