Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multiple expert algorithm for the binarization of Korean Identity card images

We propose three thresholding methods for binarizing the address region of Korean Identity card images. The first one is a global method which uses a k-means algorithm whose k value is 3, and the second one is a local method which modifies Wellnerpsilas method known as a moving average algorithm. The last one is a multiple expert system which combines three methods selected among a variety of global and local methods including the above two algorithms. A gray pixel in the input image is determined to be black when more than two algorithms out of the three report it as a black. Performance of the proposed algorithms have been evaluated by using a commercial OCR software ARMI 6.0, and we have proved that the results of the proposed algorithms are superior to those of conventional methods.
Use of random amplified polymorphic DNA as a typing method for Candida albicans in epidemiological surveillance of a burn unit

Burn patients are particularly exposed to deep-seated nosocomial infections caused by Candida species. Superficial carriage of C. albicans is a potential source of infection and dissemination, and typing methods could be useful to trace the different isolates. We report the use of random amplified polymorphic DNA to type isolates of C. albicans in the Hôpital Cochin burn unit. This molecular typing method, which is based on PCR with arbitrary short primers, was evaluated on a panel of 32 C. albicans strains isolated from various anatomical sites of unrelated patients, and the strains showed 22 different patterns. Random amplified polymorphic DNA was then used in the epidemiological surveillance of the patients in the burn unit over a 9-month period. Seven patterns were identified among 84 isolates from 18 patients. One pattern (pattern A) corresponding to isolates from 7 of the 18 patients (68% of isolates) predominated throughout the 9-month study, while some strains with other profiles were isolated only once. Some profiles appeared to show a particular geographic pattern within the unit, suggesting transmission from room to room. These results underline the importance of fungal surveillance in such patients and the need to inform nursing staff of measures to prevent the spread of Candida spp. from patient to patient.
A noise masking method with adaptive thresholds based on CASA

In this paper, we propose a novel noise masking method based on Computational Auditory Scene Analysis by using an adaptive factor. Although it has succeeded in the field of speech separation and speech enhancement to some extent, the usage of fixed thresholds used for segregation and labeling heavily affects the processing performance. Focusing on this issue, the proposed method utilizes the Normalized Cross-Correlation Coefficients between the power spectra of noisy speech and pure noise to find an adaptive threshold, so that the pitch contour and Time-Frequency units can be obtained more accurately. Then, a revised algorithm is used to smooth the current binary mask value by checking the Time-Frequency units within adjacent frames and neighbor channels around the current Time-Frequency unit in order to remove the erroneous local masks. Two kinds of Signal to Noise Ratio test results show that the performance of the proposed method outperforms conventional spectral subtractive, Wiener Filtering and Computational Auditory Scene Analysis methods.
MetaProx: the database of metagenomic proximons

MetaProx is the database of metagenomic proximons: a searchable repository of proximon objects conceived with two specific goals. The first objective is to accelerate research involving metagenomic functional interactions by providing a database of metagenomic operon candidates. Proximons represent a special subset of directons (series of contiguous co-directional genes) where each member gene is in close proximity to its neighbours with respect to intergenic distance. As a result, proximons represent significant operon candidates where some subset of proximons is the set of true metagenomic operons. Proximons are well suited for the inference of metagenomic functional networks because predicted functional linkages do not rely on homology-dependent information that is frequently unavailable in metagenomic scenarios. The second objective is to explore representations for semistructured biological data that can offer an alternative to the traditional relational database approach. In particular, we use a serialized object implementation and advocate a Data as Data policy where the same serialized objects can be used at all levels (database, search tool and saved user file) without conversion or the use of human-readable markups. MetaProx currently includes 4 210 818 proximons consisting of 8 926 993 total member genes. Database URL: http://metaprox.uwaterloo. ca
An LC–MS/MS method for the determination of salidroside and its metabolite p-tyrosol in rat liver tissues

Abstract Context: Salidroside and its metabolite p-tyrosol are two major phenols in the genus Rhodiola L. (Crassulaceae). They have been confirmed to possess various pharmacological properties and are used for the prophylaxis and therapeutics of many diseases. Several analytical methods have been developed for the determination of the two compounds in plant materials and biological plasma matrices. However, these methods are not optimal for biological samples containing complex organic interferences, such as liver and brain tissues. Objective: This study aimed to further develop and validate a simple and specific LC–MS/MS method for the determination of salidroside and its metabolite p-tyrosol in rat liver tissues using paracetamol as the internal standard (IS). Materials and methods: Salidroside and p-tyrosol with the IS paracetamol and liver tissues were used as model compounds and biological samples. Samples were processed by protein precipitation (PP) with methanol, the supernatant was dried under nitrogen and the residue was reconstituted in a mobile phase that consisted of a mixture of acetonitrile and water (1:9, v/v). Salidroside and p-tyrosol were detected in negative mode under multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) by a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer coupled with electrospray ionization. Results: Standard curves were linear over the concentration range of 50–2000 ng/mL with correlation coefficients of 0.995 or better for both salidroside and p-tyrosol. The intra- and inter-day accuracy for salidroside ranged between 104.90 and 112.73% with a precision of 3.51–14.27%. For p-tyrosol, the intra- and inter-day accuracy was between 92.38 and 100.59%, and the precision was 8.54% or less. The stability data showed that no significant degradation occurred under the experimental conditions. The recoveries were 111.44, 108.10, and 102.00% for salidroside at concentrations of 50, 500 and 2000 ng/mL, respectively, and were 105.44, 105.50, and 113.04% for tyrosol at concentrations of 50, 500 and 2000 ng/mL, respectively. The matrix effects were 83.85–92.45% for salidroside and 85.61–92.49% for p-tyrosol at three QC levels. This method was successfully applied to a liver tissue distribution study of salidroside and its metabolite p-tyrosol in rats. Discussion and conclusion: This newly established method is validated as simple, reliable and accurate. It can be used as a valid analytical method for the intrinsic quality control of biological matrices, especially tissue samples.
Qualitative Models of the Human Heart: A Survey

Cardiovascular disorders are among the pathologies that affects the largest number of people all over the world, far and away from other diseases like AIDS or diabetes. Over the years, the interest of the scientific community in the study of the human heart has been constantly high, and it will probably never going to decrease. This is undoubtedly due to the central importance that this organ has for human life and for the impact that any successful research aimed towards it could have on the health of the population of the entire world. One important tool to help in the study of the behavior of the heart is modeling. Thru an accurate modeling of the human heart, computers can help physicians, students of medicine, and medical researchers to understand the behavior of certain pathologies without the need for in vivo experimentation. This article reviews the main characteristics and properties of three well known qualitative models of the human heart, comparing their different implementations as well as their advantages and disadvantages.
Atomistic simulations of octacyclopentyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane polyethylene nanocomposites

As the scientific community develops the ability to create composites which incorporate nanoscopic filler particles, the detailed atomic arrangement and atomic interactions become significant in determining the composite properties. Nanoscopic fillers such as carbon nanotubes, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), and layered silicates have already been successfully used to improve the thermal and mechanical properties of polymers. On this length scale, details describing particle organization, interaction between particles, and interactions between particle and matrix are needed to understand the behavior of the composite. In this thesis, we use atomistic simulations to investigate the detailed behavior of a blended octacyclopentyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (CpPOSS) / polyethylene (PE) nanocomposite. The model potential employed to describe the atomic interactions in these systems is capable of reproducing the experimental vibrational and crystal structures for the POSS well. The mechanical properties of an infinite crystal were calculated. They are anisotropic with a Reuss average isotropic elastic modulus of 11.78 GPa. Simulations of CpPOSS/PE composites revealed that the POSS had a stiffening effect on the polymer. Simulations revealed that both PE and POSS dynamics as measured by translational and rotational diffusivities decreased, the glass transition temperature increased, and both the density and modulus increased with increasing POSS content. Micromechanical models were fit to the composite modulus which allowed effective mechanical particle sizes to be determined. The POSS was found to aggregate into small necklace structures which have internal ordering similar to the crystal phase. The formation of crystallites was found to be energetically favorable in this system. A coarse grained potential which accounts for both the attraction and orientation between particles was developed to aid the further study of aggregation and crystallization in these composites. The interface between the POSS and the polymer is found to consist of polymer chains aligned tangentially to the POSS cage. This layer has increased mobility tangential to the surface of the particle and decreased mobility in the radial direction. Though it is very thin, consisting of only 1 or 2 monolayers of polymer, due to the small size of the POSS particle, the weight fraction of polymer in the interfacial region is as high as 43 % in the 25 weight percent CpPOSS/PE composite. These simulations reveal the formation of structure on both the angstrom length scale in the polymer near the interface and the mesoscopic length scale between the POSS particles. ii Acknowledgements I have been extremely fortunate to work …
Correlation of Neurosurgical Subspecialization with Outcomes in Children with Malignant Brain Tumors

OBJECTIVEThis study was performed to evaluate the association between the type of neurosurgeon (general or pediatric) and either the extent of tumor removal or the frequency of complications in children undergoing malignant brain tumor resections. METHODSData were analyzed from three recent Children’s Cancer Group studies: two on medulloblastomas/primitive neuroectodermal tumors and one on malignant gliomas. Neurosurgeons were classified as general neurosurgeons, as designated pediatric neurosurgeons in their institutions, or as members of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons (ASPN), which requires pediatric neurosurgical experience and practice standards. RESULTSData forms from 732 children were analyzed; 485 were from children with medulloblastomas/primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and 247 were from children with malignant gliomas. Operations were performed by 269 neurosurgeons, including 213 general neurosurgeons, 29 designated pediatric neurosurgeons, and 27 ASPN members. The mean number of operations per surgeon was 1.8, 4.9, and 7.6 for general neurosurgeons, designated pediatric neurosurgeons, and ASPN members, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the extent of tumor resection or the amount of residual tumor and the type of neurosurgeon. Designated pediatric neurosurgeons and ASPN members were more likely to remove more than 90% of the tumor and to leave less than 1.5 cc of residual tumor than were general neurosurgeons (P < 0.05). In these studies, the probability of extensive tumor removal correlated with the number of operations the neurosurgeon performed (P < 0.01). Neurological complications occurred in the following proportion of cases: general neurosurgeons, 23%; designated pediatric neurosurgeons, 32%; and ASPN members, 18%. CONCLUSIONPediatric neurosurgeons are more likely than general neurosurgeons to extensively remove malignant pediatric brain tumors. In these tumors, extent of removal has been demonstrated to influence survival.
Weighted Branching Systems : Behavioural Equivalence , Metric Structure , and their Characterisations Mathias Claus Jensen ?

In this report, we extend the notion of branching bisimulation to weighted systems, more speci cally weighted Kripke structures. We show that a version weighted CTL that excludes the next-operator characterises this weighted branching bisimulation. Due to the restrictive nature of exact quantitative behavioural equivalences, we introduce a notion of expanding our bisimulation by allowing transitions to be matched by runs that accumulate a weight within an expanded interval. Intuitively, we allow a transition s w −→ s′ to be matched by a run that accumulates a weight within the expanded interval [wε−1, wε] were ε is the factor of expansion. We extend this expansion to our logic and show that for a particular class of formulae our expanded formulae characterise our expanded bisimulations. From our notion of expanding our bisimulation, we derive a behavioural pseudometric and prove that states that are close together are guaranteed to satisfy similar formulae. Lastly, we show that speci c formulae can be considered closed in the open-ball topology induced by our distance and de ne a distance between these closed formulae.
Training Support Vector Machines Using Adaptive Clustering

Training support vector machines involves a huge optimization problem and many specially designed algorithms have been proposed. In this paper, we proposed an algorithm called ClusterSVM that accelerates the training process by exploiting the distributional properties of the training data, that is, the natural clustering of the training data and the overall layout of these clusters relative to the decision boundary of support vector machines. The proposed algorithm first partitions the training data into several pair-wise disjoint clusters. Then, the representatives of these clusters are used to train an initial support vector machine, based on which we can approximately identify the support vectors and non-support vectors. After replacing the cluster containing only non-support vectors with its representative, the number of training data can be significantly reduced, thereby speeding up the training process. The proposed ClusterSVM has been tested against the popular training algorithm SMO on both the artificial data and the real data, and a significant speedup was observed. The complexity of ClusterSVM scales with the square of the number of support vectors and, after a further improvement, it is expected that it will scale with square of the number of non-boundary support vectors.
Model-Based Reinforcement Learning in Differential Graphical Games

This paper seeks to combine differential game theory with the actor-critic-identifier architecture to determine forward-in-time, approximate optimal controllers for formation tracking in multiagent systems, where the agents have uncertain heterogeneous nonlinear dynamics. A continuous control strategy is proposed, using communication feedback from extended neighbors on a communication topology that has a spanning tree. A model-based reinforcement learning technique is developed to cooperatively control a group of agents to track a trajectory in a desired formation. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the developed technique.
The Role of Performance on the Choice of MCS in SMEs : The Integration of Resource Dependence Theory in the Conventional Contingency-Based Framework

Firm performance has usually been treated in studies grounded in the contingency framework on MCS choice as an outcome variable. These efficiency-fit studies, which relate MCS choice to its effectiveness given a certain context have produced mixed results so far. In the earlier years of contingency research some authors (Otley, 1978; Merchant, 1985) have found evidence that performance might in fact be an independent variable in determining the choice of MCS. This was confirmed by a few other authors later on (Macintosh and Williams, 1992; Van der Stede, 2000; Reid and Smith, 2000). With this paper we want to build upon these observations and investigate further the possible independent role of performance in the choice of MCS by adopting a multi-paradigm research lens. This multi-paradigm research framework is a response to the plea of Chenhall (2003) to integrate insights from other theories into conventional contingency thinking to enhance insights into the choice of MSC. Taking into account the findings of resource dependence theory that states that organizational behaviour can be understood by knowing something about the problems an organization faces for obtaining resources, we integrate these insights from resource dependence theory into the conventional contingency framework. To determine whether this multi-paradigm approach has more explanatory power than the traditional contingency models, two models investigating the drivers of MCS choice are developed, empirically tested and compared. The first model is grounded in conventional contingency theory, which is based on rational economic decision-making, and explains MCS design and use in function of the contextual variables PEU and strategy. The second model combines the results of contingency based research with insights from resource dependence theory. This model explains MCS design and use not only in function of economic reasons (PEU and strategy), but also in function of pressures created as a result of resource dependence. Both models are tested with survey-based data and SEM is used as method of analysis. The statistical tests provide evidence that the integrated model has a better fit to the data than the conventional contingency model. The research results indicate that the design of MCS is not only influenced by economic reasons, but also by pressures of financial resource providers particularly in situations of financial stress. These situations of financial stress occur when the performance of the firm drops below the average industry performance. The results further indicate that the use of MCS, however, is only affected by economic reasons. _
Recent Advances in Fog Radio Access Networks: Performance Analysis and Radio Resource Allocation

As a promising paradigm for the fifth generation wireless communication (5G) system, the fog radio access network (F-RAN) has been proposed as an advanced socially aware mobile networking architecture to provide high spectral efficiency (SE) while maintaining high energy efficiency (EE) and low latency. Recent advents are advocated to the performance analysis and radio resource allocation, both of which are fundamental issues to make F-RANs successfully rollout. This paper comprehensively summarizes the recent advances of the performance analysis and radio resource allocation in F-RANs. In particular, the advanced edge cache and adaptive model selection schemes are presented to improve SE and EE under maintaining a low latency level. The radio resource allocation strategies to optimize SE and EE in F-RANs are, respectively, proposed. A few open issues in terms of the F-RAN-based 5G architecture and the social-awareness technique are identified as well.
All Pairs Shortest Path Formulation for Multiple Object Tracking with Application to Tennis Video Analysis

In previous work, we developed a novel data association algorithm with graph-theoretic formulation, and used it to track a tennis ball in broadcast tennis video. However, the track initiation/termination was not automatic, and it could not deal with situations in which more than one ball appeared in the scene. In this paper, we extend our previous work to track multiple tennis balls fully automatically. The algorithm presented in this paper requires the set of all-pairs shortest paths in a directed and edge-weighted graph. We also propose an efficient All-Pairs Shortest Path algorithm by exploiting a special topological property of the graph. Comparative experiments show that the proposed data association algorithm performs well both in terms of efficiency and tracking accuracy.
SmartPowerchair: Characterization and Usability of a Pervasive System of Systems

A characterization of a pervasive system of systems (SoS) called the SmartPowerchair is presented, integrating pervasive technologies into a standard powered wheelchair (powerchair). The SmartPowerchair can be characterized as a SoS due to focusing on selection of the correct combination of independent and interoperable systems that are networked for a period of time to achieve the specific overall goal of enhancing the quality of life for people with disability. A high-level 2-D SoS model for the SmartPowerchair is developed to illustrate the different SoS lifecycle stages and levels. The results from a requirements elicitation study consisting of a survey targeting powerchair users were the input to a hierarchical task analysis defining the supported tasks of the SmartPowerchair. The system architecture of one constituent system (SmartATRS) is described as well as the results of a usability evaluation containing workload measurements. The establishment of the SmartAbility framework was the outcome of the evaluation results that concluded range of movement (ROM) was the determinant of suitable technologies for people with disability. The framework illustrates how a SoS approach can be applied to disability to recommend interaction mediums, technologies, and tasks depending on the disability, impairments, and ROM of the user. The approach, therefore, creates a “recommender system” by viewing disability type, impairments, ROM, interaction medium, technologies, and tasks as constituent systems that interact together in a SoS.