Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recognition of Humboldt's Handwriting in Complex Surroundings

In the Botanic Museum of Berlin in Germany exist about 3.5 million dried plants on paper sheets. They were collected in the last two hundred years by many collectors among those was the famous researcher “Alexander von Humboldt”. because e every collector left his handwriting on the sheet the question came up if it is possible to find out automatically which sheet belongs to Humboldt’s collection. To solve the problem many challenging sub problems have to be solved before. First text regions have to be localized and extracted. Then printing is to be distinguished from handwriting. For the latter an off-line writer recognition procedure had to be developed in order to determine the writer of the handwriting. Often two or more writers can be found on one sheet. To make sure that the suspect writer is correct an interactive method is applied which transforms the static character into a dynamic form. Different mathematical procedures are used such as the reproduction of the write line of individual characters by Legendre polynomials. All methods were proved on the international IAM-database [3]. 93 writers with at least 5 samples were chosen from the IAM-database. By combining multiple characters (up to thirteen), the recognition rate rises considerably and reaches 98.7%. A global statistical approach using the whole handwritten text results in a similar recognition rate of more than 98%. By combining the methods by a ranking method a recognition rate of 99.5% is achieved.
Combing Polarization coherence tomography and PoLInSAR segmentation for forest above ground biomass estimation

The objective of this study is to estimate forest above ground biomass (AGB) of the whole areas covered with forest basing on Polarization coherence tomography (PCT) and polarimetric interferometric segmentation. Two scenes of DLR E-SAR L band quad-polarization images were acquired in Traunstein test site. Results show that there is no saturation using this method even when the biomass ups to 500tons/ha and parameters extracted from PCT is easier to implement in practice.
Efficient implementation of channel coding and interleaver for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T2) on FPGA

This paper presents the implementation of a single FPGA intellectual property (IP) core for channel coding and interleaving used in Digital Video Broadcasting, second generation (DVB-T2). DVB-T2 is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, and is devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television. The higher offered bit rate, with respect to its predecessor DVB-T, makes it a suited system for carrying high definition TV (HDTV) signals on the terrestrial TV channel. In this paper we specifically target the version suitable for China Multimedia Mobile Broadcast (CMMB) standard that works on the 2,635 to 2,660 MHz frequency band to provide 25 video and 30 audio channels. The main contribution is the design and development of forward error correction (FEC) part for mobile multimedia broadcast system, its estimation of power dissipation and optimization. The FEC part includes Reed Solomon (RS) encoder and byte interleaver, low density parity check (LDPC) encoder and bit interleaver. All these sub-modules have been implemented and integrated for the target device Stratix III E (EP3SE50F780C4N). The design has been coded in verilog-HDL and synthesized using Quartus II 8.1 software tool. PowerPlay Power Analyzer tool provided by Altera with Quartus II software has been used for the estimation of power dissipation. Stratix III logic array block level programmable power technology and clock gating technique has been used for power optimization.
Is it Who You Are, Where You Work, or With Whom You Work? Reassessing the Relationship Between Skill Segregation and Wage Inequality

In a recent paper, Kremer & Maskin (QJE, forthcoming) develop an assignment model in which increases in the dispersion and mean of the skill distribution can lead simultaneously to increases in wage inequality and skill segregation. They then present evidence that, concurrent with rising wage inequality, wage segregation increased for production workers in the United States between 1975 and 1986. My paper argues that relying on wages as a proxy for skill may be problematic. Using a newly developed longitudinal dataset linking virtually the entire universe of workers in the state of Illinois to their employers, I decompose wages into components due, not only to person and firm heterogeneity, but also to the characteristics of their co-workers. Such "co-worker effects" capture the impact of a weighted sum of the characteristics of all workers in a firm on each individual employee’s wage. While rising wage segregation can result from greater skill segregation, it may also be due to changes in the variance of co-worker effects in the economy, or to changes in the covariance between the person, firm, and co-worker components of wages. Due to the limited availability of demographic information on workers, I rely on the person specific component of wages to proxy for co-worker "skills. " Because these person effects are unknown ex ante, I implement an iterative estimation approach where they are first obtained from a preliminary regression that excludes any role for co-workers. Because virtually all person and firm effects are identified, the approach yields consistent estimates of the co-worker parameters. My estimates imply that a one standard deviation increase in both a firm’s average person effect and experience level is associated, on average, with wage increases of 3% to 5%. Firms that increase the wage premia they pay workers appear to do so in conjunction with upgrading worker quality. Interestingly, the average effect masks considerable variation in the relative importance of co-workers across industries. After allowing the co-worker parameters to vary across 2 digit industries, I find that industry average co-worker effects explain 26% of observed inter-industry wage differentials. Finally, I decompose the overall distribution of wages into components due to persons, firms, and coworkers. While co-worker effects do indeed serve to exacerbate wage inequality, the tendency for high and low skilled workers to sort non-randomly into firms plays a considerably more prominent role.
Fog-Empowered Anomaly Detection in IoT Using Hyperellipsoidal Clustering

Anomaly detection is important for time-critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications, such as healthcare and emergency management. The recent introduction of Fog computing architecture provides an efficient platform for delay sensitive IoT applications. Exploiting the advantages of Fog computing for anomaly detection provides the ability to detect abnormal patterns in an accurate and timely manner. Use of Centralized and Distributed anomaly detection methods suffer from significant latency and energy consumption issues. Hence, we propose a novel anomaly detection method, called Fog-Empowered anomaly detection, by harnessing the processing power of the Fog computing platform and using an efficient hyperellipsoidal clustering algorithm. The end nodes in the Fog computing architecture do not perform any processing or clustering on the data. The Fog layer and the Cloud layer nodes perform the clustering and anomaly detection process, thus helping to achieve anomaly detection in a timely manner. The evaluation using synthetic and real datasets demonstrates that our proposed approach achieves a significant reduction in latency and energy consumption compared to the Distributed and Centralized schemes, while achieving a comparable detection accuracy compared to a Centralized scheme.
Falls and injuries resulting from falls among patients with Parkinson's disease and other parkinsonian syndromes

We sought to ascertain frequency, type, risk factors of falling, and resulting injuries among parkinsonian patients. A survey was mailed to all patients treated at our center between 1/1/2000 and 4/30/2002 (N = 1,417). Information was collected on falls within the past 2 years, related injuries, and use of health care services. A total of 1,131 responses (response rate, 79.8%) were received. After the exclusion of nonparkinsonian disorders, statistics for the remaining group (n = 1,092) and predictive statistics for those diagnosed before 1/1/2000 (n = 1,013) were calculated. Outcomes included falls, fractures, injuries, surgery, and related use of health care services. Explanatory variables included sex, age, age at diagnosis, disease duration, atypical parkinsonism, and dementia. Most patients (55.9%) were men; 12.2% had atypical parkinsonism; 12.5% had dementia; median age was 74.7 years; median disease duration was 7 years; 55.9% had at least one fall in the past 2 years; 65.0% of them sustained an injury; 33.0% sustained a fracture; 75.5% of injuries required health care services; 40.6% of fractures required surgery. Older age, atypical parkinsonism, longer disease duration, and dementia were risk factors for falling; female sex and older age were predictors of fractures. Need for health care services after an injury was higher among older patients. Further prospective studies will be necessary to elucidate the specific prognostic outcomes of injuries due to falls among parkinsonian patients, and the impact of these injuries on disease progression and quality of life. © 2004 Movement Disorder Society
Chimeric analysis of T (Brachyury) gene function.

To investigate T(Brachyury) gene function, a chimeric analysis of midgestation (9.5-11.5 days post coitum) embryos has been performed. Embryonic stem (ES) cell lines homozygous or heterozygous for the T gene have been introduced into wild-type host embryos by blastocyst injection, and the resulting chimeras scored for morphological abnormality and extent of colonization by T/T cells. As observed previously in earlier stage chimeras (Rashbass, P., Cooke, L. A., Herrmann, B. G. and Beddington, R. S. P. (1991) Nature 353, 348-350), 9.5-11.5 dpc T/T<==>+/+ chimeras exhibit many morphological features of intact T/T mutants. In addition, a dramatic bias of T/T cells towards caudal regions (such as tail and allantois) was observed in all chimeras tested. This is likely to result from accumulation of nascent T/T mesoderm cells with time near the primitive streak, possibly because of altered migration or adhesion properties. T/+ cells colonized rostral regions efficiently, but a slight bias towards the distal end of the tail was still evident. No such bias was observed in control chimeras. The presence of T/T cells in the allantois resulted in its failure to form a correct placental connection and thus arrested later development. In contrast, chimeras in which T/T cells were present predominantly in the tail developed normally but exhibited severe tail abnormalities such as foreshortening, branching and haemorrhagic cavities. Moreover, in these embryos, much higher levels of chimerism were present in the distal end of the tail than in younger (9.5 dpc) embryos. Later in gestation, such abnormal tails probably degenerated, giving rise to neonates with absent or severely abnormal tails but no evidence of chimerism. In situ analysis of T expression in the tail reveals that normally T is expressed highly in the tailbud (the growing portion of the tail) during its elongation between 9.5 and 11.5 dpc. Thus, evidence both from chimeras and from T expression in the tail suggest that T may play a role in the correct deployment of cells emerging from the tailbud.
Office-Based Esophagoscopy: A Preliminary Report

OBJECTIVE: Preliminary study that describes unsedated, transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE) in an office setting. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: TNE was prospectively performed on 14 consecutive out-patients with dysphagia whose initial oropharyngeal dysphagia evaluation was insufficient to reveal the cause of their swallowing problem. TNE was carried out without conscious sedation while the patients were sitting in an examining chair. Ease of endoscope insertion, optical quality of images, and examination findings were assessed. Heart rate before and after the procedure and incidence of epistaxis and airway compromise was also determined. Patients were asked to rate the level of discomfort of TNE on a validated 10-point scale (1 representing none/well tolerated and 10 severe/poorly tolerated). RESULTS: All patients completed TNE with the esophagus readily intubated and esophageal mucosa clearly visualized. Findings included esophageal stricture, patulous upper esophageal sphincter, and Zenker's diverticulum. There were no incidences of epistaxis or airway compromise and no significant changes in heart rate. Overall tolerance of TNE was rated by the patients as 2.0 (SD, 1.2). CONCLUSIONS: TNE is well tolerated and can be safely performed in patients with dysphagia in an office setting. TNE may have a role in the comprehensive evaluation of the dysphagic patient in the office.
Actin-Modulating Protein Cofilin Is Involved in the Formation of Measles Virus Ribonucleoprotein Complex at the Perinuclear Region

ABSTRACT In measles virus (MV)-infected cells, the ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex, comprised of the viral genome and the nucleocapsid (N) protein, phosphoprotein (P protein), and large protein, assembles at the perinuclear region and synthesizes viral RNAs. The cellular proteins involved in the formation of the RNP complex are largely unknown. In this report, we show that cofilin, an actin-modulating host protein, interacts with the MV N protein and aids in the formation of the RNP complex. Knockdown of cofilin using the short hairpin RNA reduces the formation of the RNP complex after MV infection and that of the RNP complex-like structure after plasmid-mediated expression of MV N and P proteins. A lower level of formation of the RNP complex results in the reduction of viral RNA synthesis. Cofilin phosphorylation on the serine residue at position 3, an enzymatically inactive form, is increased after MV infection and the phosphorylated form of cofilin is preferentially included in the complex. These results indicate that cofilin plays an important role in MV replication by increasing formation of the RNP complex and viral RNA synthesis. IMPORTANCE Many RNA viruses induce within infected cells the structure called the ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex in which viral RNA synthesis occurs. It is comprised of the viral genome and proteins that include the viral RNA polymerase. The cellular proteins involved in the formation of the RNP complex are largely unknown. In this report, we show that cofilin, an actin-modulating host protein, binds to the measles virus (MV) nucleocapsid protein and plays an important role in the formation of the MV RNP complex and MV RNA synthesis. The level of the phosphorylated form of cofilin, enzymatically inactive, is increased after MV infection, and the phosphorylated form is preferentially associated with the RNP complex. Our findings determined with cofilin will help us better understand the mechanism by which the RNP complex is formed in virus-infected cells and develop new antiviral drugs targeting the RNP complex.
Guanylate Binding Protein 1–Mediated Interaction of T Cell Antigen Receptor Signaling with the Cytoskeleton

GTPases act as important switches in many signaling events in cells. Although small and heterotrimeric G proteins are subjects of intensive studies, little is known about the large IFN-inducible GTPases. In this article, we show that the IFN-γ–inducible guanylate binding protein 1 (GBP-1) is a regulator of T cell activation. Silencing of GBP-1 leads to enhanced activation of early T cell Ag receptor/CD3 signaling molecules, including Lck, that is translated to higher IL-2 production. Mass spectrometry analyses showed that regulatory cytoskeletal proteins, like plastin-2 that bundles actin fibers and spectrin β-chain, brain 1 that links the plasma membrane to the actin cytoskeleton, are binding partners of GBP-1. The spectrin cytoskeleton influences cell spreading and surface expression of TCR/CD3 and the leukocyte phosphatase CD45. We found higher cell spreading and enhanced surface expression of TCR/CD3 and CD45 in GBP-1 silenced T cells that explain their enhanced TCR/CD3 signaling. We conclude that GBP-1 is a downstream processor of IFN-γ via which T cells regulate cytoskeleton-dependent cell functions.
High-throughput intermittent-contact scanning probe microscopy

Large arrays of micro-cantilevers operating in parallel are essential for achieving high throughput in such applications as life sciences, nanofabrication and semiconductor metrology. A novel intermittent-contact mode operation is presented that is suitable for such applications. The cantilevers are electrostatically actuated. The oscillation amplitude is kept small to enable high-frequency operation and to reduce the tip–sample interaction force, and thus the tip and sample wear. Input shaping of the actuation signal is employed for high-speed reliable operation in the presence of the tip–sample adhesion forces. The deflection signal is sampled once per oscillation cycle to enable high-speed imaging. Experimental results are shown which demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme. In particular, during continuous high-speed imaging, the tip diameter is maintained over a remarkable 140 m of tip travel.
Ion Beam Assisted Deposition of Thin Epitaxial GaN Films

The assistance of thin film deposition with low-energy ion bombardment influences their final properties significantly. Especially, the application of so-called hyperthermal ions (energy <100 eV) is capable to modify the characteristics of the growing film without generating a large number of irradiation induced defects. The nitrogen ion beam assisted molecular beam epitaxy (ion energy <25 eV) is used to deposit GaN thin films on (0001)-oriented 6H-SiC substrates at 700 °C. The films are studied in situ by reflection high energy electron diffraction, ex situ by X-ray diffraction, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is demonstrated that the film growth mode can be controlled by varying the ion to atom ratio, where 2D films are characterized by a smooth topography, a high crystalline quality, low biaxial stress, and low defect density. Typical structural defects in the GaN thin films were identified as basal plane stacking faults, low-angle grain boundaries forming between w-GaN and z-GaN and twin boundaries. The misfit strain between the GaN thin films and substrates is relieved by the generation of edge dislocations in the first and second monolayers of GaN thin films and of misfit interfacial dislocations. It can be demonstrated that the low-energy nitrogen ion assisted molecular beam epitaxy is a technique to produce thin GaN films of high crystalline quality.
Managing neuropathic pain with Sativex®: a review of its pros and cons

Background: Although not new, the use of cannabis-based drugs for treating chronic pain patients is becoming a hot topic for pain physicians and other specialists due to the constant flow of medical information regarding this pharmacological therapy. Its indication is becoming more clearly targeted towards pain syndromes arising from nerve damage. The number of cases reported, clinical trials and reviews published on this subject exponentially increase year by year. A possible explanation for this may be the fact that neuropathic pain is a highly disabling symptom and, consequently, there is a demand from patients and health professionals for a definitive remedy to treat this pain. Methods: Parallel to the number of articles on the effectiveness, recent articles describing the tolerability of cannabis-based drugs along with a more accurate characterisation of its side-effect profile and/or lack of effectiveness have been published, and they are placing a cautious stop for a more precise prescription of these medications. Conclusion: This article reviews the current knowledge on the use of Sativex® for treating neuropathic pains of different origin, and analyses the balance between the advantages and drawbacks of this therapy.
Interplay between phagocytosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in macrophages

Macrophages are able to recognize, bind and internalize pathogens through two types of phagocytic receptors; the Fc receptors (FcγR) and the complement receptors (CR). FcγRs have prevailed to be more pro-inflammatory than CRs in the literature. Our lab wanted to revisit this paradigm and elucidate the signalling mechanism responsible for upregulating cytokine production when opsonic receptors are activated. In this thesis, we show that CR-mediated phagocytosis leads to higher mRNA levels of TNF, IL-1β, IL-6, MMP9 and iNOS than FcγRmediated phagocytosis. Further investigation into the signaling mechanism showed that there is higher NF-κB activation in CR-mediated phagocytosis than FcγR-mediated phagocytosis. We investigated the role of calpain during phagocytosis and our qPCR data shows that the addition of PD 150606, a calpain inhibitor, reduces cytokine expression levels in CR-mediated phagocytosis. Our findings suggests that the upregulation of pro-inflammatory mediators during CR-mediated phagocytosis, in macrophages, maybe dependent upon calpain-mediated activation
A Flexible Dual-Band Antenna With Large Frequency Ratio and Different Radiation Properties Over the Two Bands

The coexistence of microwave and millimeter-wave technologies becomes the inexorable trend of future wireless communication systems. The corresponding components of the system are required to cover these two frequency bands simultaneously. However, it is difficult for the existing dual-band antenna configurations to achieve a frequency ratio larger than 3. In this paper, a novel topology is proposed to solve this problem. For the desired dual-band operation, a signal routing approach is proposed to guide the microwave/millimeter signals to the specific elements, respectively. The classical aperture coupling mechanism is deliberately utilized to block the millimeter-wave signal from feeding to the microwave antenna element and route the millimeter-wave signal into the millimeter-wave antenna element. Meanwhile, the substrate- integrated waveguide (SIW)-based millimeter-wave antenna element has the high-pass nature to reject the microwave signal. Therefore, the antenna elements for microwave and millimeter-wave bands can be designed separately with a high flexibility. First, a dual-band antenna was implemented to support 5.8 and 30 GHz simultaneously by integrating an annular-ring antenna element and an SIW slot antenna element. Furthermore, different radiation properties at the two bands can be easily realized owing to the high flexibility of the proposed approach. For validation, these two antennas were fabricated and measured.