Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recognition of Greek Polytonic on Historical Degraded Texts Using HMMs

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of ancient Greek polytonic scripts is a challenging task due to the large number of character classes, resulting from variations of diacritical marks on the vowel letters. Classical OCR systems require a character segmentation phase, which in the case of Greek polytonic scripts is the main source of errors that finally affects the overall OCR performance. This paper suggests a character segmentation free HMM-based recognition system and compares its performance with other commercial, open source, and state-of-the art OCR systems. The evaluation has been carried out on a challenging novel dataset of Greek polytonic degraded texts and has shown that HMM-based OCR yields character and word level error rates of 8.61% and 25.30% respectively, which outperforms most of the available OCR systems and it is comparable with the performance of the state-of-the-art system based on LSTM Networks proposed recently.
Temporal Difference Based Actor Critic Learning - Convergence and Neural Implementation

Actor-critic algorithms for reinforcement learning are achieving renewed popularity due to their good convergence properties in situations where other approaches often fail (e.g., when function approximation is involved). Interestingly, there is growing evidence that actor-critic approaches based on phasic dopamine signals play a key role in biological learning through cortical and basal ganglia loops. We derive a temporal difference based actor critic learning algorithm, for which convergence can be proved without assuming widely separated time scales for the actor and the critic. The approach is demonstrated by applying it to networks of spiking neurons. The established relation between phasic dopamine and the temporal difference signal lends support to the biological relevance of such algorithms.
Flexible Adaptive-Modulation-and-Coding Tables for a Wireless Network

This paper proposes to use flexible adaptive- modulation-and-coding (AMC) tables in a wireless network. To support the flexibility of AMC tables, a low-complexity AMC table optimization algorithm is also proposed. The proposed algorithm iteratively optimizes the switching levels of an AMC table according to channel environments, and has fast convergence speed. Computer simulation results show that the proposed algorithm optimizes AMC tables according to different cell characteristics, and that using flexible AMC tables for a wireless network achieves near-optimal average spectral efficiency even with a small feedback load.
Functional Antagonism between Sas3 and Gcn5 Acetyltransferases and ISWI Chromatin Remodelers

Chromatin-modifying enzymes and ATP-dependent remodeling complexes have been intensely studied individually, yet how these activities are coordinated to ensure essential cell functions such as transcription, replication, and repair of damage is not well understood. In this study, we show that the critical loss of Sas3 and Gcn5 acetyltransferases in yeast can be functionally rescued by inactivation of ISWI remodelers. This genetic interaction depends on the ATPase activities of Isw1 and Isw2, suggesting that it involves chromatin remodeling activities driven by the enzymes. Genetic dissection of the Isw1 complexes reveals that the antagonistic effects are mediated specifically by the Isw1a complex. Loss of Sas3 and Gcn5 correlates with defective RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) occupancy at actively transcribed genes, as well as a significant loss of H3K14 acetylation. Inactivation of the Isw1a complex in the acetyltransferase mutants restores RNAPII recruitment at active genes, indicating that transcriptional regulation may be the mechanism underlying suppression. Dosage studies and further genetic dissection reveal that the Isw1b complex may act in suppression through down-regulation of Isw1a. These studies highlight the importance of balanced chromatin modifying and remodeling activities for optimal transcription and cell growth.
Parameters for a Super-Flavor-Factory

A Super Flavor Factory, an asymmetric energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider with a luminosity of order 10{sup 36} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, can provide a sensitive probe of new physics in the flavor sector of the Standard Model. The success of the PEP-II and KEKB asymmetric colliders in producing unprecedented luminosity above 10{sup 34} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} has taught us about the accelerator physics of asymmetric e{sup +}e{sup -} collider in a new parameter regime. Furthermore, the success of the SLAC Linear Collider and the subsequent work on the International Linear Collider allow a new Super-Flavor collider to also incorporate linear collider techniques. This note describes the parameters of an asymmetric Flavor-Factory collider at a luminosity of order 10{sup 36} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} at the Y(4S) resonance and about 10{sup 35} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} at the {tau} production threshold. Such a collider would produce an integrated luminosity of about 10,000 fb{sup -1} (10 ab{sup -1}) in a running year (10{sup 7} sec) at the Y(4S) resonance. In the following note only the parameters relative to the Y(4S) resonance will be shown, the ones relative to the lower energy operations are still under study.
Dead-time effects in voltage source inverter fed multi-phase AC motor drives and their compensation

Inverter dead-time effects have been investigated in detail in the past for three-phase drives supplied from a three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI). A similar study has never been conducted in conjunction with multi-phase (more than three phases) drives, supplied from multi-phase VSIs. Regardless of the type of ac machine and its number of phases, the power supply of the drive is typically a two-level VSI, which requires a method of PWM for its operation. If a multi-phase machine is with sinusoidal field distribution, the PWM technique must generate sinusoidal harmonic-free output voltages in order to avoid appearance of low-order stator current harmonics. Recently a great deal of research has concentrated on PWM methods suitable for multi-phase VSIs. All of these PWM methods theoretically produce sinusoidal output voltages with no low order harmonics. As a consequence, rotor flux oriented control of multi-phase ac machines with sinusoidal MMF distribution can be theoretically realised by using only two current controllers in the synchronous reference frame. The paper shows that despite using a PWM method that does not produce low-order harmonics, in practice they do appear in the output voltage, and consequently currents, of the multi-phase VSI. Simulation studies show that low-order harmonics are generated as a result of inverter dead-time and that the effect of such harmonics on a five-phase ac machine can be significant due to the low machine impedance presented to these harmonics. Experimental results collected from a five-phase induction motor drive laboratory prototype are presented which reinforce this hypothesis. The paper further suggests a modified current control scheme that is able to fully compensate inverter dead-time effect and thus provide practically perfect sinusoidal currents. The proposed current control scheme is validated via simulation and experimentally.
A computationally inexpensive empirical model of IEEE 802.11p radio shadowing in urban environments

We present a realistic, yet computationally inexpensive simulation model for IEEE 802.11p radio shadowing in urban environments. Based on real world measurements using IEEE 802.11p/DSRC devices, we estimated the effect that buildings and other obstacles have on the radio communication between vehicles. Especially for evaluating safety applications in the field of Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), stochastic models are not sufficient for evaluating the radio communication in simulation. Motivated by similar work on WiFi measurements, we therefore created an empirical model for modeling buildings and their properties to accurately simulate the signal propagation. We validated our model using real world measurements in a city scenario for different types of obstacles. Our simulation results show a very high accuracy when compared with the measurement results, while only requiring a marginal overhead in terms of computational complexity.
An Optimization Approach to Improving Collections of Shape Maps

Finding an informative, structure-preserving map between two shapes has been a long-standing problem in geometry processing, involving a variety of solution approaches and applications. However, in many cases, we are given not only two related shapes, but a collection of them, and considering each pairwise map independently does not take full advantage of all existing information. For example, a notorious problem with computing shape maps is the ambiguity introduced by the symmetry problem — for two similar shapes which have reflectional symmetry there exist two maps which are equally favorable, and no intrinsic mapping algorithm can distinguish between them based on these two shapes alone. Another prominent issue with shape mapping algorithms is their relative sensitivity to how “similar” two shapes are — good maps are much easier to obtain when shapes are very similar. Given the context of additional shape maps connecting our collection, we propose to add the constraint of global map consistency, requiring that any composition of maps between two shapes should be independent of the path chosen in the network. This requirement can help us choose among the equally good symmetric alternatives, or help us replace a “bad” pairwise map with the composition of a few “good” maps between shapes that in some sense interpolate the original ones. We show how, given a collection of pairwise shape maps, to define an optimization problem whose output is a set of alternative maps, compositions of those given, which are consistent, and individually at times much better than the original. Our method is general, and can work on any collection of shapes, as long as a seed set of good pairwise maps is provided. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method for improving maps generated by state-of-the-art mapping methods on various shape databases.
Aalborg Universitet Secondary control for voltage unbalance compensation in an islanded microgrid

In this paper, the concept of secondary control is applied for voltage unbalance compensation in an islanded microgrid. The aim of the proposed control approach is to enhance the voltage quality at the point of common coupling (PCC). Unbalance compensation is achieved by proper control of distributed generators (DGs). The DGs control structure mainly consists of active and reactive power controllers, virtual impedance loop and voltage and current proportional-resonant controllers. Simulation results are presented for different cases. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in the compensation of voltage unbalance. Keywords-distributed generation; microgrid; secondary control; voltage unbalance compensation
European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) jointly developed European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ESTC) aimed at providing European Union (EU)-tailored standards for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis (TB). The International Standards for TB Care (ISTC) were developed in the global context and are not always adapted to the EU setting and practices. The majority of EU countries have the resources and capacity to implement higher standards to further secure quality TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention. On this basis, the ESTC were developed as standards specifically tailored to the EU setting. A panel of 30 international experts, led by a writing group and the ERS and ECDC, identified and developed the 21 ESTC in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, HIV and comorbid conditions, and public health and prevention. The ISTCs formed the basis for the 21 standards, upon which additional EU adaptations and supplements were developed. These patient-centred standards are targeted to clinicians and public health workers, providing an easy-to-use resource, guiding through all required activities to ensure optimal diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB. These will support EU health programmes to identify and develop optimal procedures for TB care, control and elimination.
Measuring the added high frequency energy in compressed video

A major focus of video quality assessment research has been to quantify the amount of blocking, blurring, and ringing impairments. However, little attention has been paid to another impairment common in motion-compensated video compression systems: the addition of high frequency (HF) energy as motion compensation moves blocking artifacts off block boundaries. In this paper, we employ an energy-based approach to measure this motion-compensated edge artifact (MCEA) impairment, using both compressed bitstream information and decoded pixels. Experimental results show that we can accurately estimate the percentage of this energy in compressed video.
Antineoplastic Effects of Gamma Linolenic Acid on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Lines

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and the mechanism of gamma linolenic acid (GLA) treatment on human hepatocellular (HCC) cell lines. The human HCC cell line HuH7 was exposed to GLA. Cell proliferation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation including lipid peroxidation and apoptosis were compared. We then used a cDNA microarray analysis to investigate the molecular changes induced by GLA. GLA treatment significantly reduced cell proliferation, generated ROS, and induced apoptosis. After 24 h exposure of Huh7 cells to GLA, we identified several genes encoding the antioxidant proteins to be upregulated: heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), aldo-keto reductase 1 family C1 (AKR1C1), C4 (AKR1C4), and thioredoxin (Trx). The HO-1 protein levels were overexpressed in Huh7 cells after GLA exposure using a Western blot analysis. Furthermore, chromium mesoporphyrin (CrMP), an inhibitor of HO activity, significantly potentiated GLA cytotoxicity. GLA treatment has induced cell growth inhibition, ROS generation including lipid peroxidation, and HO-1 production for antioxidant protection against oxidative stress caused by GLA in Huh7 cells. GLA treatment should be considered as a therapeutic modality in patients with advanced HCC.
Oscillation ring based interconnect test scheme for SoC

We propose a novel oscillation ring (OR) test architecture for testing interconnects in SoC. In addition to stuck-at and open faults, this scheme can detect delay faults and crosstalk glitches. IEEE P1500 wrapper cells are modified. An efficient ring-generation algorithm is proposed to construct ORs based on a graph model. Experimental results on MCNC benchmark circuits show the feasibility of the scheme and the effectiveness of the algorithm. Our method achieves 100% fault coverage with a small number of tests.
fMRI of visual system activation in the conscious rabbit

A conscious rabbit preparation developed for fMRI, and the results from visual stimulation studies at a 4.7T magnetic field are described. The rabbit is ideal for these experiments because of its natural tolerance for restraint. High spatial and temporal resolution magnetic resonance images, without movement artifacts, were obtained during long periods of restraint. Functional activation in primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) were reproducibly observed in response to light stimulus. In comparison to existing anesthetized animal models, a functional response free of the anesthetic modulation can be recorded with the new approach. The conscious animal model can be applied to functional studies of sensory systems, learning and memory, and drug‐induced cerebral activation. Magn Reson Med 44:474–478, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Optimal delayed Wi-Fi offloading

Wi-Fi offloading can help the mobile operator to obtain immediate capacity relief when facing the explosive growth of mobile data traffic. In this paper, we study the Wi-Fi offloading problem with delay tolerant applications. We formulate it as a finite-horizon sequential decision problem, where the objective is to minimize the total cellular usage plus the potential penalty for deadline violation. We solve the problem optimally using dynamic programming, and propose a general optimal delayed Wi-Fi offloading (ODWO) algorithm. For the special case with a convex penalty function and fixed location-independent data rates, we show that the optimal policy exhibits a threshold structure. A monotone ODWO algorithm with a lower complexity can be used in this case. Simulation results show that the ODWO scheme achieves both the minimal total cost and the highest file transfer efficiency as compared with two heuristic schemes.
Flexible Polymeric Substrates for Electronic Applications

ABSTRACT The miniaturization of electronics has been following Moore's Law for decades and has resulted in the development of sequentially evolutionized multifunctional nanoengineered devices. The conventional electronic devices are processed over planar hierarchically nanopatterned substrates having mechanical rigidity and stiffness which limit the degree of utility due to its inability to interface with soft curvilinear morphology, brittle nature, and inferior optical transparency. However, flexible substrates assembled over polymeric framework would, therefore, play a key role by offering light weighted thin film architecture, wearability, improved optical transparency, and morphological configuration to curvilinearity. The flexibility of substrate is defined when the material is processed such that individual component complies to a comparable degree of bending without deterioration of electronic/optoelectronic performance. Since the fabricated structure is pliable, the mechanical integrity of the structure governs the electromechanical performance of flexible electronic devices. The structure may undergo delamination, which occurs due to the stress field gradient developed due to the coefficient of thermal expansion, thereby generating a built-in strain potentially capable of breaking the adhering bonds. This article provides a consolidated review of numerous processing techniques to fabricate flexible electronics ranging from printing, sol-gel, chemical vapor deposition to chemical synthesis route, etc. and their applications in thin-film transistors, solar cells, sensors, health monitoring e-skins, optical devices, etc. along with a theoretical mechanical two layer film substrate model.
An Efficient Multiple-Parity Generator Design for On-Line Testing on FPGA

We propose a method to efficiently design a "parity generator", which is a stand-alone block producing multiple parity bits of a given circuit. The parity generator is designed by duplicating the original circuit, XOR-ing given groups of its outputs and resynthesizing the whole circuit. The resulting circuitry is mostly smaller than the original circuit. The major task to be solved is to properly select the groups of outputs to be XORed to obtain multiple parity bits and maximally reduce the generator size. A method based on principles of the FC-Min minimizer is proposed in this paper. The parity generator is exploited in on line diagnostics, to design self-checking circuits based on a modified duplex system.
Open Access Research

article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons At-tribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Research Analysis of clinical and dosimetric factors associated with severe acute radiation pneumonitis in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with concurrent chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy Abstract Background: To evaluate the association between the clinical, dosimetric factors and severe acute radiation pneumonitis (SARP) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LANSCLC) treated with concurrent chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Methods: We analyzed 94 LANSCLC patients treated with concurrent chemotherapy and IMRT between May 2005 and September 2006. SARP was defined as greater than or equal 3 side effects and graded according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 3.0. The clinical and dosimetric factors were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between clinical, dosimetric factors and SARP. Results: Median follow-up was 10.5 months (range 6.5-24). Of 94 patients, 11 (11.7%) developed SARP. Univariate analyses showed that the normal tissue complication probability (NTCP), mean lung dose (MLD), relative volumes of lung receiving more than a threshold dose of 5-60 Gy at increments of 5 Gy (V5-V60), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second (FEV1) were associated with SARP (p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, NTCP value (p = 0.001) and V10 (p = 0.015) were the most significant factors associated with SARP. Conclusions: NTCP value and V10 are the useful indicators for predicting SARP in NSCLC patients treated with concurrent chemotherapy and IMRT. Background Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the urban areas of China, accounting for approximately 600,000 deaths per year [1]. Radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of lung cancer, especially in
Parametric estimation of multi-dimensional affine transformations in the presence of noise: a linear solution

We consider the general framework of planar object registration and recognition based on a set of known templates. While the set of templates is known, the tremendous set of possible affine transformations that may relate the template and the observed signature, makes any detection and recognition problem ill-defined unless this variability is taken into account. Given a noisy observation on one of the known objects, subject to an unknown affine transformation of it, our goal is to estimate the deformation that transforms some pre-chosen representation of this object (template) into the current observation. We propose a method that employs a set of nonlinear operators to replace the original high dimensional and non-linear problem by an equivalent linear least-squares problem, expressed in terms of the unknown affine transformation parameters. The proposed solution is unique and is applicable to any affine transformation regardless of the magnitude of the deformation
Improved Head Direction Command Classification using an Optimised Bayesian Neural Network

Assistive technologies have recently emerged to improve the quality of life of severely disabled people by enhancing their independence in daily activities. Since many of those individuals have limited or non-existing control from the neck downward, alternative hands-free input modalities have become very important for these people to access assistive devices. In hands-free control, head movement has been proved to be a very effective user interface as it can provide a comfortable, reliable and natural way to access the device. Recently, neural networks have been shown to be useful not only for real-time pattern recognition but also for creating user-adaptive models. Since multi-layer perceptron neural networks trained using standard back-propagation may cause poor generalisation, the Bayesian technique has been proposed to improve the generalisation and robustness of these networks. This paper describes the use of Bayesian neural networks in developing a hands-free wheelchair control system. The experimental results show that with the optimised architecture, classification Bayesian neural networks can detect head commands of wheelchair users accurately irrespective to their levels of injuries