Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic discrimination of text and non-text natural images

With the rapid growth of image and video data, there comes an interesting yet challenging problem: How to organize and utilize such large volume of data? Textual content in images and videos is an important source of information, which can be of great usefulness and assistance. Therefore, we investigate in this paper the problem of text image discrimination, which aims at distinguishing natural images with text from those without text. To tackle this problem, we propose a method that combines three mature techniques in this area, namely: MSER, CNN and BoW. To better evaluate the proposed algorithm, we also construct a large benchmark for text image discrimination, which includes natural images in a variety of scenarios. This algorithm has proven to be both effective and efficient, thus it can serve as a tool for mining valuable textual information from huge amount of image and video data.
The Concept and Implementation of Perceptual Regions as Hierarchical Spatial Units for Evaluating Environmental Sensitivity

Studies of human spatial behavior and life spaces are useful because they allow a better understanding of the relationship between people and environment. In an era when there is growing public pressure to understand this relationship, studies of life spaces may provide insight into the environmental sensitivity of different groups of people. In this article, we propose a method for characterizing life spaces based on perceptual factors and show how the method can be used to explore the sensitivity of humans to environmental quality and to study human spatial behavior in the form of residential choice. In particular, the perceptual regions that we introduce constitute new hierarchical spatial units of analysis that join location to activities, the two key concepts of life spaces. The structural and environmental differences of the perceptual regions in relation to the sociological characteristics of urban and suburban behaviors are explored for two districts within the city of Québec (Canada). The approach offers the potential for developing some interesting applications in urban planning: the means to be more sensitive to the wishes of individual households in decisions concerning urban spaces, and a tool to assist persons evaluating different residential locations. It is noted that the analyses performed may be largely automated.
Significance of tree structures for zerotree-based wavelet video codecs

In this paper we investigate the significance of tree structures on the performance of zerotree based wavelet video codecs. Since zerotree approach is based on aggregation of insignificant coefficients in trees, therefore design of a tree structure is the key issue for a better performance. We have considered four different tree structures with characteristics varying from a simple to relatively complex and composite tree structures to code the luminance-chrominance components of a video sequence. We observe that in general more complex and longer trees do not necessarily improve the coding efficiency. Further, the simulation results show that by designing an efficient tree structure, depending on the picture content, the performance of the video coder can be improved by up to 2.0 dB.
A randomized clinical trial comparing breakfast, dinner, or bedtime administration of insulin glargine in patients with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE Insulin glargine (Lantus), a long-acting human insulin analog, provides effective glycemic control when administered at bedtime. This open-label, randomized, parallel group, multicenter study investigated whether insulin glargine is equally effective if administered before breakfast, before dinner, or at bedtime. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Patients with type 1 diabetes on basal-bolus therapy (n = 378, 18-68 years, HbA(1c) 5.5-9.8%) were treated with once-daily individually titrated insulin glargine in combination with prandial insulin lispro for 24 weeks. RESULTS Baseline characteristics were similar in the three groups (overall age 40.9 +/- 11.9 years, diabetes duration 17.3 +/- 11.5 years). Median total daily insulin dose was similar at baseline (0.65, 0.65, and 0.66 IU/kg for breakfast, dinner, and bedtime, respectively) and remained relatively constant over the study period; however, the insulin glargine-to-total insulin dose ratio increased more in the breakfast group than in the dinner and bedtime groups. A similar reduction of adjusted mean HbA(1c) from baseline to end point occurred in all patients (7.6-7.4, 7.6-7.5, and 7.6-7.5% for breakfast, dinner, and bedtime, respectively), and a similar percentage achieved HbA(1c) <7.0% at end point in all groups (29.5, 29.8, and 25.8%, respectively). The 24-h blood glucose profiles in relation to injection time were similar in all groups. The incidences of total symptomatic and severe hypoglycemia did not differ between the three treatment groups; however, nocturnal hypoglycemia occurred in significantly fewer patients in the breakfast group (59.5%) compared with the dinner (71.9%) and bedtime (77.5%) groups (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that insulin glargine, in combination with insulin lispro, is safe and effective when administered before breakfast, before dinner, or at bedtime.
Should We Use PPAR Agonists to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk?

Trials of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonists have shown mixed results for cardiovascular prevention. Fibrates are PPAR-α agonists that act primarily to improve dyslipidemia. Based on low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL and HDL) effects, gemfibrozil may be of greater cardiovascular benefit than expected, fenofibrate performed about as expected, and bezafibrate performed worse than expected. Increases in both cardiovascular and noncardiovascular serious adverse events have been observed with some fibrates. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are PPAR-γ agonists used to improve impaired glucose metabolism but also influence lipids. Pioglitazone reduces atherosclerotic events in diabetic subjects, but has no net cardiovascular benefit due to increased congestive heart failure risk. Rosiglitazone may increase the risk of atherosclerotic events, and has a net harmful effect on the cardiovascular system when congestive heart failure is included. The primary benefit of TZDs appears to be the prevention of diabetic microvascular complications. Dual PPAR-α/γ agonists have had unacceptable adverse effects but more selective agents are in development. PPAR-δ and pan-agonists are also in development. It will be imperative to prove that future PPAR agonists not only prevent atherosclerotic events but also result in a net reduction on total cardiovascular events without significant noncardiovascular adverse effects with long-term use.
Deducting Lifestyle Patterns by Ontologies' SWRL Rules

The volume of biomedical spatial information available on line increases day by day, which need to be exploited and shared by users in different knowledge areas. NCDs kill 36 million people each year and considering the seriousness of the problem globally, there are already underway government strategies to reduce risk factors and early detection and timely treatment. In this article, it's discussed the problem of the NCDs using Semantic Web tools. The proposed system consists of six ontologies which formalize concepts related to people, physical activity, NCDs, nutrition, geographic regions and symptoms. Furthermore, the system will facilitate the integration of data from different domains by using SWRL rules for decision making about lifestyle transformation.
Hospital-acquired infections before and after healthcare reorganization in a tertiary university hospital in Norway.

BACKGROUND To evaluate hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in somatic (all admissions other than psychiatric) and psychiatric patients admitted to a tertiary university hospital in Oslo, before and after reorganization of the Norwegian healthcare system in 2002. METHODS Point prevalence studies were conducted four times per annum and over the period from 1995 to 2007. RESULTS A total of 57,360 patients were studied over the whole time period: 80.5% in somatic wards and 19.5% in psychiatric wards. The HAI rate was 6.9%, of which 8.1% were somatic and 1.9% psychiatric. 13.4% of operated patients had HAI, including 6.2% due to surgical wound infections. In somatic wards, 0.6-1% were re-admitted with HAI, 15.2-23% had infections and 18-23% used antibiotics. There was a reduction in HAI until 2002. From 2003 on, HAI increased (P = 0.010) in somatic wards (P = 0.002), in non-operated patients (P = 0.024) and in extra costs. In 2002, the Norwegian healthcare system was reorganized. This reorganization led to a 30% increase in somatic patients treated from 2003 to 2007 (P = 0.054), 27% increase in the total workload per work position (P = 0.024) and 23.5% decrease in internal service work. CONCLUSION A declining trend of HAI was observed from 1995 to 2002 at the tertiary university hospital in Norway. In 2002, the Norwegian healthcare system was reorganized. From 2003 to 2007, HAI increased significantly as did the number of somatic patients and workload at our hospital.
New frontiers in quantum cascade lasers: high performance room temperature terahertz sources

In the last decade quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have become the most widely used source of mid-infrared radiation, finding large scale applications because of their wide tunability and overall high performance. However far-infrared (terahertz) QCLs have lagged behind in terms of performance and impact due to the inability so far of achieving room temperature operation. Here we review recent research that has led to a new class of QCL light sources that has overcome these limitations leading to room temperature operation in the terahertz spectral range, with nearly 2 mW of optical power and significant tunability, opening up also this region of the spectrum to a wide range of applications.
Exploiting the wireless RF fading for human activity recognition

This paper presents a new approach to include fading effects due to human in a wireless link and exploit it for activity recognition. It is proposed as a low-cost, low complexity solution for detecting human activity by considering fading characteristics of received signal strength (RSS) at 2.4 GHz frequency on commercial IEEE 802.11 devices. The RSS mean and the fluctuation analysis (FA) are two features extracted and used for developing a recognition procedure. To evaluate accuracy performance, RSS measurements from four human activity scenarios are performed at three different environments. Collected RSS data are used for the supervise-based activity recognition scheme proposed in this paper. From the experiment, this approach can achieve on average of 90% accuracy or higher in classifying four selected human activities at separation distance of 5 m between a transmitter and a receiver. Recognition accuracy values at other environments/settings are slightly dropped due to the growth of possible unblocked multipaths, but the accuracy performance is still attained within acceptable level. The histograms or RSS distribution obtained from different human activity scenarios are also considered and analysed. Finally, the proposed approach provides decent accuracy outcomes and it demonstrates pertinence to be adopted in the future intelligent pervasive system.
Applying the correlated gamma statistics in channel capacity evaluation for dual-branch MRC diversity over correlated-fading channels

The channel capacity of dual-branch MRC (maximal ratio combining) diversity system over correlated waveform intensity, which is characterized as correlated-Nakagami-m fading (the power is modeled as the correlated-Gamma statistics), is evaluated in this paper. The formulas of channel capacity performance are provided with a pdf (probability density function)-based approach. The pdf of sum of Gamma variates based on the representation of the Moschopoulos single gamma series is adopted in the report. The corresponding expressions for Rayleigh fading are obtained as a special case of Nakagami-m fading. Finally, the numerical examples are presented for illustrating the purpose of the validation of the channel capacity equations derived in this paper.
uPAR-induced cell adhesion and migration: vitronectin provides the key

Expression of the membrane receptor uPAR induces profound changes in cell morphology and migration, and its expression correlates with the malignant phenotype of cancers. To identify the molecular interactions essential for uPAR function in these processes, we carried out a complete functional alanine scan of uPAR in HEK293 cells. Of the 255 mutant receptors characterized, 34 failed to induce changes in cell morphology. Remarkably, the molecular defect of all of these mutants was a specific reduction in integrin-independent cell binding to vitronectin. A membrane-tethered plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, which has the same binding site in vitronectin as uPAR, replicated uPAR-induced changes. A direct uPAR–vitronectin interaction is thus both required and sufficient to initiate downstream changes in cell morphology, migration, and signal transduction. Collectively these data demonstrate a novel mechanism by which a cell adhesion molecule lacking inherent signaling capability evokes complex cellular responses by modulating the contact between the cell and the matrix without the requirement for direct lateral protein–protein interactions.
Research Accomplishments

My research focuses on numerical methods for partial differential equations (PDEs) and scientific computing. I have been working on several areas including new Eulerian techniques to approximate high frequency asymptotic solutions to wave phenomena and their related inverse problems, numerical methods for interracial motions, variational and statistical methods for image processing, and Eulerian method for nonlinear dynamical systems visualization. Results from these projects are useful in many applications. For example, accurate methods for interface motions are important for modeling multi-phase or spiral crystal growth; efficient algorithms in those inverse problems can benefit seismic imaging, underwater acoustics and oil exploration; efficient numerical techniques in visualizing a dynamical system will help identify special structure in the flow; new image processing techniques can advance the technologies in medical imaging. In the following sections, I will briefly describe my accomplishments in each of these projects.
STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING AGROBACTERIUM MEDIATED GENE TRANSFORMATION IN TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM MILL.) CV. RIOGRANDE USING RICE CHITINASE (CHT-3) GENE

The factors affecting the Agrobacterium mediated gene transformation of tomato cv. Riogrande are reported in detail. Shoot tips (explants) were transformed with pBI333 carrying rice chitinase (cht-3) gene. Approximately 49% transformation frequency was achieved. The optimum conditions for successful transformation were: infecting the explants with the Agrobacterium suspension for two minutes, co-cultivation period for two days, 50 µM of acetosyringone in the cocultivation medium, pre- selection for seven days and 500 mg/l cefaxine in the pre- selection. The transgenic plants were selected on the medium containing 50 mg/l hygromycin. The presence of hygromycin and chitinase gene in the hygromycin resistant (T0) transgenic plants was evaluated by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis. A fragment of 500bp size for the hygromycin gene was amplified from the 100% hyg resistant plants while 250 bp long fragment for the cht-3 gene was amplified from the 88% of the transgenic plants only.
GRB Remnants

The realization that GRBs are narrowly beamed implied that the actual rate of GRBs is much larger than the observed one. There are 500 unobserved GRBs for each observed one. The lack of a clear trigger makes it hard to detect these unobserved GRBs as orphan afterglows. At late time, hundreds or thousands of years after a GRB, we expect to observe a GRB remnant (GRBR). These remnants could be distinguished from the more frequent SNRs using their different morphology. While SNRs are spherical, GRBRs that arise from a highly collimated ﬂow, are expected to be initially nonspehrical. We ask the question for how long can we identify a GRBR among the more common SNRs? Using SPH simulations we follow the evolution of a GRBR and calculate the image of the remnant produced by bremsstrahlung and by synchrotron emission. We ﬁnd that the GRBR becomes spherical after ∼ 3000yr ( E 51 / n ) 1 / 3 at R ∼ 12pc ( E 51 / n ) 1 / 3 , where E 51 is the initial energy in units of 10 51 erg and n is the surrounding ISM number density in cm − 3 . We expect 0 . 5 ( E 51 / n ) 1 / 3 non-spherical GRBs per galaxy. Namely, we expect ∼ 20 non spherical GRBRs with angular sizes ∼ µ arcsec within a distance of 10Mpc. These results are modiﬁed if there is an underlying spherical supernova. In this case the GRBR will remain spherical only for ∼ 150yr ( E 51 / n ) 1 / 3 and the number of non-spherical GRBRs is smaller by a factor of 10 and their size is smaller by a factor of 3.
Information-based trade 1

We study the possibility of trade for purely informational reasons. We depart from previous analyses (notably Grossman and Stiglitz 1980 and Milgrom and Stokey 1982) by allowing the final payoff of the object being traded to depend on an action taken by its eventual owner. A leading example is the trade of a controlling stake in a corporation. We characterize conditions under which equilibria with trade exist. We discuss implications for when trade occurs, the correlation of actions with trade, and the efficiency of equilibrium actions.
Important Factors for the Development of the Asian–Northwest Pacific Summer Monsoon*

The Asian and northwest (NW) Pacific summer monsoons exhibit stepwise transitions with rapid changes in precipitation at intervals of roughly 1 month from mid-May through mid-July. A new method is developed to evaluate the effects of sea surface temperature (SST) and other changes on these rapid monsoon transitions. The latter changes include solar radiation, land memory, and atmospheric transient (SLAT) effects. The method compares two sets of atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) simulations, forced with observed seasonally varying and piecewise constant SST, respectively. The results indicate that the SLAT effects dominate all of the major transitions, except during mid-June when the SST cooling induced by the strong monsoon westerlies is a significant negative feedback resisting the intensification and northward advance of monsoon convection. The final regional onset of the monsoon system takes place in mid-July over the subtropical NW Pacific characterized by the abrupt enhancement of deep convection there. Despite a weak SST effect from the GCM assessment herein, major changes in convection and circulation are confined to the ocean east of the Philippines during the mid-July transition, suggesting the importance of transient atmospheric adjustments. Intense convection over other regions induces subsidence over the subtropical northwest Pacific during June, contributing to the delayed onset there. Satellite observations reveal a slow buildup of free-tropospheric moisture over the NW Pacific, leading to an abrupt intensification of convective precipitation in mid-July, suggesting a possibility that the gradual tropospheric moistening eventually triggers a threshold transition.
Modelling Uncertainty in Forecasting International Reserves

Being able to accurately predict international reserves is an extremely important task for pegged exchange rate economies. Barbados’ 1992 experience with vanishing reserves has left its mark on the economy, being brought to mind most recently when reserve levels began to slide sharply in 2013. However, forecasting remains an approximate science and it has become increasingly important to recognize and capture the uncertainties involved in model-based forecasting. This paper attempts to capture parameter uncertainty, model selection uncertainty, and future uncertainty by employing a combination of regression ensembles, randomized model selection, linear opinion pooling and equal or RMSE weights. The importance of density forecasting in predicting international reserves is displayed by using the 2013 unexpected and unexplained decline in net international reserves as the out-of-sample test. This paper agrees with the proposal that density forecasting should be employed to provide policy makers with greater information describing the various uncertainties in economic forecasting. Notably, being able to understand the uncertainty of forecasting international reserves would have provided policymakers with a head start in dealing with declining reserves in 2013.
Brain Training with Fractal Optical Stimulation to Improve the Performance of Table Tennis Athletes

We hypothesized that in healthy individuals the low-intensity stimulation with fractal optical stimuli, whose structure are close to the activity of a healthy brain may be helpful method of brain training and promote favorable psychophysiological changes through the mechanism of brainwave entrainment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of short-term training of the brain using fractal optical stimulation on the performance of table tennis athletes. 12 students with a basic level of training in table tennis were tested before and after a 10-minute break. In the main group, in the time of break, the training was performed using ten minutes fractal photo-stimulation. The fractal dimension of the complex-structured signal specified by the computer program was 1.4. Fractal structure of stimuli has been created based on Weier strass functions. Psychophysiological tests included assessment of a simple visual motor reaction, contact tremorometry, investigation of the critical flicker frequency, pulsometry, and motor tests with targets. As a result of this pilot study, we first presented the evidence of the positive influence of low-intensity stimulation with fractal optical stimuli on psychophysiological parameters characterizing the physical and mental performance of the table tennis athletes. The short-term training of the brain by fractal photo-stimulation improves the psychophysiological parameters characterizing the physical and cognitive performance of table tennis players.
Coherent control of nanoscale localization of ultrafast optical excitation in nanosystems

We predict and theoretically investigate the unique possibility to control distribution of ultrafast local optical fields in nanosystems in space with nanometer resolution and in time on the femtosecond scale. While the spatial degrees of freedom of the optical radiation do not allow focusing of the light on nanoscale, the phase of the excitation light constitute a functional degree of freedom that permits one to coherently control the distribution of the energy of local fields, concentrating it at a desired location at certain times. We study both a specially designed V-shaped nanostructure and a random planar nanocomposite. Several types of exciting pulses are investigated, which has allowed us to distinguish effects of phase modulation and spectral composition of the excitation pulse. Possible applications of this effect include energy supply and control of ultrafast optical computations in nanostructures, local optical probing of nanosystems, including nanosensors of chemical and biological agents, and nanomodification of surfaces (nanolithography).