Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Faster Mobile Image Retrieval Using Android Smartphones

: Image retrieval is a growing field in the image processing domain and it has covered so much more areas including the smartphones. As the days pass by great technologies are introduced every day, smartphones have become more and more important in our lives. So, many tasks can be done using a smartphone. It is almost like carrying your personal desktop with you. Images can be taken and shared instantly, messages can be recorded and sent overseas, office work can be delayed and saved and so much more can be done with smartphones. All these can be done quickly as it’s just a click away. In this paper, an approach for image retrieval is discussedusing an Android smartphone by creating an application to enable faster retrieval of images on the phone. The approach proposes a method to retrieve images based on the query image and how relevant its features are to improve the retrieval process. Moreover this new approach has been discovered to reduce the amount of time for retrieving images in less time i.e. by ≤ 5% which is better than the existing systems. We show that our approach can also be integrated to improve its retrieval accuracy.
COLOR TEXTURE CLASSIFICATION USING LOCAL & GLOBAL METHOD FEATURE EXTRACTION

This Paper proposes a new approach to extract the features of a color texture image for the purpose of texture classification by using global and local feature set. Four feature sets are involved. Dominant Neighbourhood Structure (DNS) is the new feature set that has been used for color texture image classification. In this feature a global map is generated which represents measured intensity similarity between a given image pixel and its surrounding neighbours within a certain window. Addition to the above generated feature set, features obtained from DWT, LBP or Gabor are added together with DNS to obtain an efficient texture classification. Also the proposed feature sets are compared with that of Gabor wavelet, LBP and DWT. The texture classification process is carried out with the KNN classifier. The experimental results on the CUReT database shows that the classification rate of DNS gets improved by combining Local & Global features
A Hybrid Complex Method for Optimization of Rigidly Jointed Plane Frames

An efficient and reliable procedure is presented for the minimum weight design of moment-resisting plane steel frames subjected to the stress constraints of the AISC-LRFD specifications. The cross-section of a typical member consists of a symmetrical I-section whose web and flange dimensions are considered as design variables. In order to achieve computational economy the problem is decomposed into two sets of variables. The more sensitive variables are found by modified Complex Method of Box and the less sensitive variables are determined by fully-stressed design procedure. To evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm two numerical problems are solved. 1 Faculty member, Department. of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Peshawar 25120,Pakistan. 2 Professor, School Engineering and Applied Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.
Simulating the Multiple Time-Period Arrival in Yield Management

Yield management is such type of problem that depends a lot on time i.e. time of selling is very important. Therefore instead of selling the inventories at one go, it should be divided in some time periods to maximize revenue. This paper aims at capacity allocation during multiple time periods to obtain optimum revenue. The implementation has been done using two techniques i.e. LPP simulator and genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm has been implemented using Matlab while LPP simulator has been implemented using C. Results in both cases are on expected lines. KeywordsGenetic Algorithm, LPP Simulator, Multiple TimePeriod, Yield Management
A New Technique for Face Matching after Plastic Surgery in Forensics

A new problem in face matching is plastic surgery. Popularity of plastic surgery has increased over the past few years and its keeps growing. This work proposes a facial feature based system to determine the original image from a post-surgery image. The system generates facial components from three different feature extraction techniques. Uniform LBP serves as the classifier Dimensionality reduction techniques such as LDA and PCA are also used. The normalized values are compared and score fusion rule is applied to retrieve the results. On the plastic surgery image portraits, the proposed system yields high recognition accuracy.
PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYHYDROXYALKANOATES (PHA) BY BACILLUS MEGATERIUM STRAIN JHA USING INEXPENSIVE AGRO-INDUSTRIAL WASTES

The use of biopolymer as a substitute for synthetic plastic has been gaining importance since the last two decades. One of the challenges associated with biopolymer production is the cost involved in production which can be reduced by use of alternative carbon sources like agro-industrial waste. Bacillus megaterium strain JHA isolated from oil contaminated soil was analysed for its potential to accumulate PHA using glucose. The organism was screened to check for PHA accumulation using agro-industrial wastes like molasses, kakvi, baggase, banana peel, potato peel, mango peel, muskmelon peel, lychee seed, jackfruit seed, textile effluent waste, waste oil, neera, nirmalaya and protein powder. All the substrates were utilized by Bacillus megaterium strain JHA for PHA biosynthesis. Among the agro-industrial waste screened, molasses showed maximum PHA accumulation. On optimization of media, E2 medium (pH 8) devoid of nitrogen with 20 g% molasses showed maximum PHA accumulation of 19.52 g/l after incubation at 72 hrs at 30°C. The ability of the organism to accumulate PHA was confirmed using Nile blue A plate assay and Confocal Microscopy. The bioplastic layer formed was further characterized by HPTLC, FTIR, NMR, DSC, TGA and GPC which was confirmed to be a type of polyhydroxyalkanoate.
DETERMINING OF DEPENDENCY BETWEEN EXCHANGE RATES THROUGH COPULA – GARCH MODEL

Copula is one of crucial methods used in modelling dependency between financial assets. In financial investigations, techniques based on multivariate normality are often utilized. However, it is difficult to hold this assumption in actual data sets. Since satisfying multivariate normality for copula is not necessary, it has been widely used as effective tool in modelling dependency recently. Copula provides rather flexibility for modelling dependency due to the fact that both it has a whole range of models and it allows for modelling different dependency measures such as tail dependency. Copula that coordinates with univariate GARCH model outperforms other techniques in modelling the relation among variables. In this paper dynamic dependency between six exchange rates against U.S. dollar which have the most traded in world market is desired to deal with. Modelling of dependence structure between exchange rates is rather significant in terms of leading investors to right investments. For this purpose, Copula-GARCH model is used to model dependency between exchange rates. Challenges such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticiy confronted in financial returns are handled by AR-GARCH (Autocorrelation – Generalized Autocorrelation Conditional Heteroscedasticity) model. Then by obtaining inputs for copula, parameter estimation is performed by means of ML (Maximum Likelihood) and the best fitted copula is determined by way of information criterion such as AIC and BIC. It is found out that the parameters of copula changes over time and it is determined that time varying Student’s t copula models better dynamic dependency between returns of exchange rates. In consequence of the study it is understood that copula can model dynamic dependency between financial assets without being satisfied heavy assumptions which are necessary in classical methods and estimation of dependency between exchange rates can be performed through this method.
UWB Power Divider using Tapered Transmission Line and Loaded Structure

An Ultra-wideband (UWB) power divider with tapered line and loaded structure is presented in this paper UWB applications. The power divider is designed and simulated with a loaded structure to enhance the bandwidth and for size miniaturization. From the simulation and measurement results, it shows that the power divider working frequency is from 2-14 GHz. The phase for port 2 and port 3 of the designed power divider is in phase can be useful to radiate the two port UWB devices.
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Modification and Applications. Nanomed Nanotechnol 2018, 3(2): 000136

Considerable technological success has been recently achieved in nanomedicine. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are one of the most versatile and successful particles for biomedical applications. The large surface area, the aspect ratio between pore size and porosity, and tunability of these characteristics give MSNs advantages over other nanoparticles in the biomedical space. In this review, we outline the conventional synthesis methods for MSNs. In addition, the biocompatibility of MSNs is discussed with respect to the size, shape and surface properties. Emphasis has been placed on physical and chemical modifications that are utilized to enhance the biocompatibility and extend the biomedical applications of MSNs. Layer by layer self-assembly and chemical surface functionalization have been entirely discussed. Lastly, we demonstrate the potential of silica nanoparticles in biomedical applications including drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and bioimaging. The development of multifunctional MSNs able to exert the optimal therapeutic and/or diagnostic actions constitutes a significant challenge in nanomedicine. Recent advanced MSN-based platforms open new avenues in the application of nanoparticles in nanomedicine.
Ontology-based intelligent multi-agent for diet food recommendation

— A healthy diet and lifestyle are the most effective approaches to prevent disease. When a person eats too much or too little on a continual basis, the risk of disease will increase. Therefore, developing healthy and balanced eating habits is essential to disease prevention. This study proposes an intelligent diet food recommendation multi-agent (IDFRMA), including a personal profile agent, a nutrition facts analysis agent, a knowledge analysis agent, a discovery agent, a fuzzy inference agent, and a semantic generation agent for healthy diet planning. The IDFRMA provides a semantic analysis of healthy diet status for people based on the preconstructed ontology by domains experts and results of fuzzy inference. With the generated semantic analysis, people can get healthy information about what they eat and make it easier to eat a balanced and healthy diet. The experimental platform has been constructed to test the performance of the IDFRMA. The results indicate that the IDFRMA can effectively work for healthy diet planning.
EFFECT OF PRE-TREATMENTS ON SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING VIGOR OF EMBLICAOFFICINALISGAERTN

Emblica officinalis Gaertn. is an important medicinal plant, which is well known in bringing better socio-economic conditions worldwide, so also in north-east India. Improvement of germination rate and percentage may enable commercial propagation of this plant from seed instead of cuttings. However, the seeds of E. officinalis do not germinate easily thereby necessitating pre-treatments to overcome dormancy.This study investigates the effect of different pretreatments viz., tap water for 24 hours, thiourea (2%) for24 hours, GA3 500ppm for 12 hours, GA3 500ppm for 24 hours, Stratification at 5 o C for 10days, Acid (conc. HCl) scarification for 30 seconds and Control on the germination of Emblica seeds. Chemical treatment of Emblicaofficinalis seed exposed to GA3500ppm for 24hous resulted better germination than other treatments. Imbibition percent increased in treated seeds upto 90 % in contrast to 70% in nontreated seeds (control). The study shows treatment of seeds with GA3 500ppm and thiourea were effective in breaking seed coat dormancy in the present study.
Microstrip Antenna using EBG Substrate

The Performance of a microstrip antenna integrated with an electromagnetic band gap substrate is described. Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) substrate is used as antenna structure to improve the performance of the patch antenna. The antenna structure is made from common FR-4 substrate and operates at the 2.486 GHz wireless band. The design of the microstrip patch antenna, band gap substrate, and their integration is presented. The band gap array consists of 7x7 elements and improves the antenna gain. In this paper the antenna performance in terms of resonance frequency, return loss, radiation pattern, antenna gain, directivity, bandwidth and efficiency is observed. KeywordsMicrostrip Patch Antenna, Resonance frequency, Electromagnetic band gap (EBG) substrate, Gain, Return loss, Directivity. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________
Evaluation of Liver Iron Concentrations in Children with Beta Thalassemia Infected with Hepatitis C Virus Before and After Spirulina Therapy by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment of liver iron concentration (LIC) is necessary for the quantitative staging of iron overload in children with β-Thalassemia. There is no enough evidence about the effect of spirulina therapy on LIC. Aim of the work: To assess LIC by MRI in multitransfused β-Thalassemic children infected with HCV before and after Spirulina Therapy. Patients and methods: Thirty multi-transfused β-thalassemic children infected with HCV, were subjected to clinical evaluation, appropriate laboratory investigations and assessment of LIC by MRI. They were classified according to LIC into mild (group 1) and moderate to severe group (group 2). In addition to standard packed red cell transfusion, Spirulina therapy was given orally for 3 months, after which re-evaluation of these children was performed by repeating the same investigations. Results: There were significant increases in LIC associated with significant changes in other MRI parameters (significant decrease in T2* and significant increase in R2*) in patients with β-Thalassemia of moderate to severe group as compared to those of the mild group before treatment. The mean values of serum ferritin (SF) were insignificantly higher among patients of mild group. There was no correlation between different MRI parameters and SF level. There were negative correlations between LIC and T2* and positive correlation between LIC and R2*. There was a significant decrease in values of LIC accompanied with significant improvements in SF after spirulina therapy as compared to their pretreatment values in patients of the moderate to severe group. Conclusion: Spirulina therapy may have favorable effects on lowering the values of LIC in children with β-Thalassemia infected with HCV.
Addressing cultural diversity in Australian health services

Issue addressed: Recent changes in the model of health service delivery in Australia have resulted in the attrition of ethnic specific health services and the expectation that patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds will present to mainstream health services for all health problems. Providers are often ill equipped to provide appropriate care and have expressed concerns with addressing the needs of people from increasingly diverse communities. Meanwhile, community groups and anthropologists have expressed their frustration with the stereotypic and essentialising tone of many of the guides and fact-files developed for use in clinical settings. Methods: Applied anthropological approaches were used to negotiate the style and content of a set of resource materials for health providers in community health and hospital settings. Results: Extensive consultation ensured that the resources met providers' needs and were acceptable to communities. Conclusion: The result provides a guide to best practice of clinical care, regardless of cultural or linguistic background. So what: Health services would be assisted by materials on ethnic cultural factors that avoided stereotyping and emphasised asking questions. (author abstract)
Air Quality Monitoring System based on Arduino Microcontroller

: The level of pollution has increased with times by lot of factors like the increase in population, increased vehicle use, industrialization and urbanization which results in harmful effects on human wellbeing by directly affecting health of population exposed to it. In order to monitor quality of air, a Wireless sensor network (WSN) based new framework is proposed which is based on data acquisition and transmission. The parameters of the environment to be monitored are chosen as temperature, humidity, volume of CO, volume of CO2, detection of leakage of any gas - smoke, alcohol, LPG. The values of these parameters are transmitted by using Zigbee Pro (S-2) to a base stationwhere they are being monitored. The value of temperature and humidity are transmitted over Bluetooth also so that every person in the range of the system can check it over their smart phones and laptops as these parameters hold importance to everyone. CO, a dangerous parameter is monitored with an extra precaution. A text message is sent to the base station through GSM module whenever its volume exceeds a particular safe limit intended for a particular application.
Efficacy of Gabapentin on combined spinal epidural anesthesia for lower limb orthopedic surgeries

Background: Orthopedic patients can be particularly challenging for anesthesiologists. Many orthopedic procedures are well suited for regional anesthetic techniques. Epidural analgesia is the one method which can be performed easily, can provide intra-operative and postoperative analgesia better than other methods with better patient comfort. Aim: To study the efficacy of Gabapentin on combined spinal epidural anesthesia for lower limb orthopedic surgeries with respect to postoperative epidural analgesic requirements. Materials and methods: This study involved, using Gabapentin and the effects of it on combined spinal epidural anesthesia in respective of postoperative epidural analgesic requirements. 60 patients of ASA I, II undergoing lower limb surgeries were randomly assigned into two groups Group G, and Group P. Surgery was done under combined spinal epidural anesthesia. The patients’ in-group G received three Gabapentin capsules (1200 mg). In-group P, three placebo capsules were given. Subarachnoid block was performed with 0.5% Bupivacaine 3 ml (Hyper baric). Epidural analgesia was given by 0.125%bupivacaine with Fentanyl 2 μg/ml (8 ml volume). Results: The parameters observed were the mean time to regress by two segments from higher level of blockade (90.7 ± 4.7 minutes (G) VS 85.8 ± 3.5 minutes (P), p <0.05), the time to require first epidural analgesic supplementation (228.5 ± 19.96 minutes (G) VS 195.5 ±13.3minutes (P), p <0.05), the time interval between the epidural analgesic supplementations (8.25 ±1.5 hours (G) VS 4.8± 0.5 hours (P), p <0.05), the total number of epidural requirements in first 24 hours (2 ± 0.2 (G) VS 2.93 ± 0.2(P), p<0.05) , and in the next 24 hours (3 (G) VS 4 (P) , p<0.05). K.M. Lakshmana Rajan, D.S. Sudhakar, T. Thirunavukarasu. Efficacy of Gabapentin on combined spinal epidural anesthesia for lower limb orthopedic surgeries. IAIM, 2016; 3(8): 170-178. Page 171 Conclusion: This provides an evidence of the Gabapentin before surgery significantly prolongs twosegment regression time and duration of analgesia in subarachnoid blockade and it significantly reduces the postoperative epidural analgesia requirements.
Title: Impaired Function of Regulatory T cells in Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Authors: M. Girard, E. Israël-Assayag, and Y. Cormier. Affiliation: Centre de Recherche de lInstitut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is characterized by a lung lymphocytosis. Most individuals exposed to HP antigens remain asymptomatic. The mechanisms involved in the impaired immune tolerance leading to HP are unclear. Normally, T regulatory cells (Treg) control the immune response. Could Treg suppressive function deficiency explain the uncontrolled inflammation in HP? Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and blood samples were obtained from normal subjects, asymptomatic individuals, and HP patients. BAL and blood Treg were isolated. The ability of Treg to suppress T cell proliferation and the role of IL-17 was verified. BAL and blood Treg cells from normal subjects suppressed the proliferative response of activated T cells by 47.1% and 42% respectively. BAL and blood Treg cells from asymptomatic subjects had a slightly decreased activity and suppressed proliferation by 29.4% and 31.8% respectively. BAL and blood Treg from HP patients were totally non functional and unable to suppress proliferation. Low levels of IL-17 were detected in sera and BAL from both normal and asymptomatic individuals whereas measurable levels were found in patients. Treg may be involved in the antigen tolerance in asymptomatic subjects. A defective Treg function, potentially because of increased IL-17 production, could account for the exacerbated immune response characteristic of HP.
Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Distress Tolerance Skills, Mindfulness, and Regulation of Emotion) on Achievement Anxiety among High School Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy intervention, with the help of three skills of distress tolerance, the mindfulness, and regulation of emotion on the reduction of test anxiety symptoms among high school girls. This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest and a control group. Among 412 high school girls out of five educational districts of Tabriz were sampled and 66 of them with high anxiety symptoms were put in two groups of experiment and control group (each group including 33). Eight sessions of group counseling based on dialectical behavior therapy (distress tolerance skills, mindfulness, regulation of emotions) were performed once a week for experiment group. Demographic characteristics questionnaires and test anxiety inventory (TAI) were used for data collection. Analysis of covariance using SPSS software was implemented to the results of experimental group and the control group for data analysis. The findings of the study showed that the intervention of dialectical behavior therapy (distress tolerance skills, mindfulness and regulation of emotions), was effective in reducing the level of test anxiety. According to the results, this study can be found useful in preventive programs, empowering youth and therapeutic interventions.
A NEW METHOD FOR SELF-ADAPTATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHMS OPERATORS

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) plays a vital role in finding the optimal correct solution of different problems. Some factors and operators it depends on are: population size, selection, mutation and crossover. Many researchers were engaged in the process of determining these operators. In this paper, we will introduce a new mechanism for self-adaptions of Steady State Genetic Algorithms (SSGAs) operators. Applying the suggested method to the problem of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) proved to be more successful in comparison to other traditional methods.