Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analysis of ground truth binarized image variability of palm leaf manuscripts

As a very valuable cultural heritage, palm leaf manuscripts offer a new challenge in document analysis system due to the specific characteristics on physical support of the manuscript. With the aim of finding an optimal binarization method for palm leaf manuscript images, creating a new ground truth binarized image is a necessary step in document analysis of palm leaf manuscript. But, regarding to the human intervention in ground truthing process, an important remark about the subjectivity effect on the construction of ground truth binarized image has been analysed and reported. In this paper, we present an experiment in a real condition to analyse the existance of human subjectivity on the construction of ground truth binarized image of palm leaf manuscript images and to measure quantitatively the ground truth variability with several binarization evaluation metrics.
A Matrix model for plane partitions and TASEP

We construct a matrix model equivalent (exactly, not asymptotically), to the random plane partition model, with almost arbitrary boundary conditions. Equivalently, it is also a random matrix model for a (T)ASEP with arbitrary boundary conditions. Using the known solution of matrix models, this method allows to find the large size asymptotic expansion of plane partitions, to ALL orders. It also allows to describe several universal regimes. On the algebraic geometry point of view, this gives the Gromov-Witten invariants of C with branes, i.e. the topological vertex, in terms of the symplectic invariants of the mirror’s spectral curve.
Fast transverse-RLS algorithm based power system harmonic estimation

The increasing use of power electronic devices during the last decades contribute to change the characteristics of voltage and current waveforms from ideal sinusoidal to non sinusoidal in power systems. Thus destroying the power quality completely that generates harmonics in the signal. Under these conditions advanced signal processing techniques are required for accurate estimation of harmonic parameters such as amplitude, phase and frequency. Thus accurate computation of these parameters is also a challenging problem in power system. Many algorithms have been proposed for harmonic estimation to improve the power quality performance but till today it is still a challenge for accurate estimation. In this paper an adaptive filtering algorithm called Fast Transverse Recursive Least Square (FT-RLS) is applied for the first time for estimating harmonic parameters. The algorithm has been considered to estimate the amplitudes and phases in case of time varying power signals containing harmonics in the presence of White Gaussian Noise in MATLAB simulating environment. Also comparison results with a recently proposed algorithm such as Recursive Least Square (RLS) are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed FT-RLS algorithm.
Vascular Cognitive Impairment: Perspective and Review

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a construct that has received considerable interest in the last 15 years. One variant of MCI is Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI), a relatively new idea with considerable importance. VCI is a reflection of cerebral vascular disease and is a prodrome of Vascular dementia. It is both prevalent and represents a marker that can be addressed and even prevented. Its presence suggests further decline, as well as current problems. In this article we address this heterogeneous condition and present a context. We discuss both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, and consider the many variables related to vascular problems. We then consider MCI itself, with a focus on the relatively unstudied concept of mild vascular cognitive impairment. We address the cognitive features of this disease process and its implications for adjustment and potential problems. To illustrate these concepts, we will present a case, ways to assess it, and implications for treatment. We conclude by considering assessment and the issue of competence specific to VCI.
RUNNING WITH THE PACK : AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF INFORMATION CASCADES IN THE ADOPTION OF NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES

This work presents offers an empirical test of information cascades in the adoption of novel information technologies. An information cascade occurs when an individual discounts his or her own private signal about the value of a technology and relies, instead, upon the observed actions of others. This can lead to serious problems if the observed actions in question are based on still other observed actions rather than private signals. The present research provides an operational model to assess information cascade theory and empirically tests the model in the context of the adoption of electronic commerce technologies. The results suggest that information cascade theory offers greater explanatory power than network externalities or temporal trends in the valuation of electronic commerce technologies.
Effects of reactive oxygen species action on gastric mucosa in various models of mucosal injury.

BACKGROUND The exposure of gastric mucosa to damaging factors, such as ethanol, water restraint stress, or ischemia followed by reperfusion, produces pathological changes: inflammatory process, hemorrhagic erosions, even acute ulcers. The base of these changes is a disturbance of protective mechanisms and disrupture of gastric mucosal barrier. Previous studies pointed out the role of disturbances of gastric blood flow, mucus secretion and involvement of prostaglandins and nitric oxide formation in the pathomechanism of gastric mucosa lesions. The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in these processes has been little studied. AIM The purpose of our present investigations is to explain the participation of ROS in acute gastric mucosal damage by various irritants. MATERIAL AND METHODS Experiments were carrying out on 80 male Wistar rats. To assess gastric blood flow (GBF) laser Doppler flowmeter was used. The area of gastric lesions was established by planimetry. The levels of proinflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA technique. The colorimetric assays were used to determine of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. RESULTS We demonstrated that 3.5 h of water immersion and restraint stress (WRS), 30 min of gastric ischemia followed by 60 min of reperfusion or intragastric administration of 100% ethanol, all resulted in appearance of acute gastric mucosal lesions accompanied by a significant decrease of gastric blood flow. These lesions are also accompanied by the significant increase of proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) plasma level. Biological effects of ROS were estimated by measuring tissue level of MDA and 4-HNE, the products of lipid peroxydation by ROS, as well as the activity of SOD, the scavanger of ROS. It was established that 3.5 h of WRS, ischemia-reperfusion and 100% ethanol lead to significant increase of MDA and 4-HNE mucosal level, accompanied by a decrease of SOD activity (significant in WRS and ethanol application). CONCLUSIONS The pathogenesis of experimental mucosal damage in rat stomach includes the generation of ROS that seem to play an important role, namely due to generation of lipid peroxides, accompanied by impairment of antioxidative enzyme activity of cells.
How Predictable is El Niño

Abstract Nobody anticipated that El Nino would be weak and prolonged in 1992, but brief and intense in 1997/98. Why are various El Nino episodes so different, and so difficult to predict? The answer involves the important role played by random atmospheric disturbances (such as westerly wind bursts) in sustaining the weakly damped Southern Oscillation, whose complementary warm and cold phases are, respectively, El Nino and La Nina. As in the case of a damped pendulum sustained by modest blows at random times, so the predictability of El Nino is limited, not by the amplification of errors in initial conditions as in the case of weather, but mainly by atmospheric disturbances interacting with the Southern Oscillation. Given the statistics of the wind fluctuations, the probability distribution function of future sea surface temperature fluctuations in the eastern equatorial Pacific can be determined by means of an ensemble of calculations with a coupled ocean–atmosphere model. Each member of the ensemble star.
A restful interface to annotations on the web

Annotation data is stored and manipulated in various formats and there have been a number of efforts to build generalised models of annotation to support sharing of data between tools. This work has shown that it is possible to store annotations from many different tools in a single canonical format and allow transformation into other formats as needed. However, moving data between formats is often a matter of importing or exporting from one tool to another. This paper describes a web-based interface to annotation data that makes use of an abstract model of annotation in its internal store but is able to deliver a variety of annotation formats to clients over the web.
Two-Step Aprroach for Coarse Time Synchronization and Frequency Offset Estimation for IEEE 802.16D Systems

Targeting IEEE 802.16d systems, this paper presents a new approach for coarse time synchronization and carrier frequency offset estimation. In contrast to the previous architecture that usually computes both of them jointly within a unified auto-correlator, the proposed one performs them separately to achieve more reliable frequency synchronization and to reduce the overall hardware complexity by optimizing them individually. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture leads to better frequency synchronization compared to the previous joint estimation, and is more efficient in both respects of silicon area and power consumption.
Characterization of the voltage and electric field stresses in multi-cell solid-state transformers

Solid-State Transformers (SSTs) are a promising technology since they enable a reduction in weight and volume of transformers while integrating new functionalities and services in the grid. However, a new kind of electric stress for the insulation occurs in this type of power converter, given that low-frequency medium-voltage stresses are mixed with high-frequency stresses generated by the converter's switching actions. This paper analyzes, in time and frequency domains, the voltage stresses appearing in cascaded converters, employing converter cells based on two-level or three-level bridge legs. The highest electric fields occur in the medium-frequency transformers of the converter cells' DC-DC converters, which provide galvanic isolation within the SST. Numerical simulations of the electric field distributions in these transformers are presented for the different frequency components and the impact of the converter topology on the insulation stress is highlighted. Furthermore, it is shown that the dielectric losses of the transformer can be neglected despite the presence of high-frequency harmonics. Finally, a transformer insulation concept based on semiconducting tape is proposed.
Patients with type 1 diabetes in the context of social and psychological support – analysis of own research results

Introduction. Social and psychological support are important therapeutic factors that should be considered in the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes. In the age of global computerization, modern communication methods should also be taken into account. Aim. To assess the need and having social and psychological support in patients with type 1 diabetes. Material and methods. The study involved 100 patients with type 1 diabetes hospitalized in the Department of Internal Diseases and Nephrodiabetology in Łódź. The personal questionnaire and psychological questionnaires – STAI, GSES and COPE were used for the study. Results. In the study population, 61% reported the need for psychological support. In addition, 92% of the respondents confirmed having social support. There was also a correlation between the need for psychological support and the intensity of anxiety – the respondents who assessed the intensity of anxiety were more likely to report the need for support. Excessive anxiety and self-efficacy had a direct impact on the quality of life of patients. Respondents who showed greater anxiety and lower subjective self-efficacy were more likely to choose strategies for coping with emotional stressors and emotional stress. Conclusions. Social and psychological support should be an indispensable component of the therapeutic process of a patient with chronic disease, e.g. type 1 diabetes, and the psychologist should be included in the healing team. Evaluation of quality of life, including anxiety and self-efficacy, should be performed on a regular basis during diabetologist visits, and the results should be taken into account when possible modification of therapy. Keywords
Hippocampus Segmentation and Classification in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Applied on MR Images

The brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) is an important imaging biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as the cerebral atrophy has been shown to strongly associate with cognitive symptoms. The decrease of volume estimates in different structures of the medial temporal lobe related to memory correlates with the decline of cognitive functions in neurodegenerative diseases. During the past decades several methods have been developed for quantifying the disease related atrophy of hippocampus from MRI. Special effort has been dedicated to separate AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) related modifications from normal aging for the purpose of early detection and prediction. We trained a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) with probabilistic outputs on a sample (n = 58) of 20 normal controls (NC), 19 individuals with MCI, and 19 individuals with AD. The model was then applied to the cross-validation of same data set which no labels were known and the predictions. This study presents data on the association between MRI quantitative parameters of hippocampus and its quantitative structural changes examination use on the classification of the diseases.
Variance Reduction in Simulations of Loss Models

We propose a new estimator of steady-state blocking probabilities for simulations of stochastic loss models that can be much more efficient than the natural estimator (ratio of losses to arrivals). The proposed estimator is a convex combination of the natural estimator and an indirect estimator based on the average number of customers in service, obtained from Little's law ( L = λ W ). It exploits the known offered load (product of the arrival rate and the mean service time). The variance reduction is dramatic when the blocking probability is high and the service times are highly variable. The advantage of the combination estimator in this regime is partly due to the indirect estimator, which itself is much more efficient than the natural estimator in this regime, and partly due to strong correlation (most often negative) between the natural and indirect estimators. In general, when the variances of two component estimators are very different, the variance reduction from the optimal convex combination is about 1 − ρ 2 , where ρ is the correlation between the component estimators. For loss models, the variances of the natural and indirect estimators are very different under both light and heavy loads. The combination estimator is effective for estimating multiple blocking probabilities in loss networks with multiple traffic classes, some of which are in normal loading while others are in light and heavy loading, because the combination estimator does at least as well as either component estimator, and it provides improvement as well.
Why Central Banks Should Not Burst Bubbles

Central banks should not be in the business of trying to prick asset price bubbles. Bubbles generally arise out of some combination of irrational exuberance, technological jumps, and financial deregulation (with more of the second in equity price bubbles and more of the third in real estate booms). Accordingly, the connection between monetary conditions and the rise of bubbles is rather tenuous, and anything short of inducing a recession by tightening credit conditions prohibitively is unlikely to stem their rise. Even if a central bank were willing to take that one-in-three or less shot at cutting off a bubble, the cost-benefit analysis hardly justifies such preemptive action. The macroeconomic harm from a bubble bursting is generally a function of the financial system's structure and stability—in modern economies with satisfactory bank supervision, the transmission of a negative shock from an asset price bust is relatively limited, as was seen in the United States in 2002. However, where financial fragility does exist, as in Japan in the 1990s, the costs of inducing a recession go up significantly, so the relative disadvantages of monetary preemption over letting the bubble run its course mount. In the end, there is no monetary substitute for financial stability, and no market substitute for monetary ease during severe credit crunch. These two realities imply that the central bank should not take asset prices directly into account in monetary policymaking but should be anything but laissez-faire in responding to sharp movements in inflation and output, even if asset price swings are their source.
Process and Deviation Exploration with Inductive Visual Miner

Process mining aims to extract information from recorded process data, which can be used to gain insights into the process. This requires applying a discovery algorithm and settings its parameters, after which the discovered process model should be evaluated. Both steps may need to be repeated several times until a satisfying model is found; we refer to this as process exploration. Existing commercial tools usually do not provide models having executable semantics, thereby disallowing for accurate map evaluation, while most academic tools lack features and by the repetitive nature of process exploration, their use is tedious. In this paper, we describe a novel process exploration tool: the Inductive visual Miner. It aims to bridge this gap between commercial and academic tools, by combining the executable semantics of academic tools with the exploration support of commercial tools. It also adds animation and deviation visualisation capabilities. Copyright © 2014 for this paper by its authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes.
Scale and Scope as Drivers of the European Research Area Final Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this study was to assess empirically whether economies of scale and scope exist at the research project level. The assumption underlying European Union research policy appears to be that such economies exist, hence the emphasis placed on the 'critical mass' of research and development (R&D) projects. Overall, the results of this analysis do not support a simple assumption that 'bigger is better' in the context of the European Framework Programmes (FPs). Consequently, some of the basic assumptions underlying the change in the general orientation of the FPs towards larger projects should be reconsidered. There are many factors that must be taken into account when determining the relation between scale, scope and performance of individual participants. Three sets of factors mediate the relation between project scale and performance: (a) the pool of available resources; (b) the learning process (absorptive capacity); and (c) transaction costs. Three additional sets of factors moderate the relation between project scale and the mediating factors above: (a) partner contribution to the project; (b) project characteristics (such as scope); and (c) project management. Finally, the industry and market environment(s) relevant to the research project under question are important. Performance of individual participants was measured along eight dimensions:  Goal achievement – the degree to which the project achieved its scientific, technical and commercial objectives  Knowledge outputs – publications, doctoral dissertations, etc.  Technological outputs – tools and techniques, models, simulations, prototypes, etc.  Network outputs – building relationships with other organisations  Research capacity impacts – effects on the capacity of the partner to undertake research such as research staff, technological skills, critical mass  Commercial outputs – increased turnover, profitability, competitiveness  Product innovation – new or improved products or services  Process innovation – new or improved production processes The data for the multi-layered descriptive and econometric analysis came from three sources: (i) the 'InnoImpact' survey (a survey carried out to identify the innovation performance of FP projects); (ii) a follow-up survey; and (iii) the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS). The final sample consisted of responses from 1,172 organisations participating in a total of 676 research projects funded by the Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes for Research. The descriptive analysis did not indicate any absolute advantage of project size, when measured by the number of partners, on performance. On the contrary, larger projects appeared to add significantly to …
Teaching ELF as a motivation source for learners: An action research study

The purpose of this study was to explore if teaching ELF would help students change their beliefs about language and language learning. Firstly, students were interviewed in person, and they were found to have a lack of motivation and negative attitudes towards learning English with standard norms. It was also noticed that the students are not familiar with varieties of English spoken worldwide. Then, according to students’ responses, a two-week ELF-based teaching was planned and applied based on Jenkins’ and Seidlhoffer’s suggestions on ELF core and teaching. The lessons were based on intelligibility of natural spontaneous communication, and students were guaranteed not to be judged by their mistakes. Hence, friendly classroom atmosphere was sustained utmost for two weeks. At the end of two-week period, the students were interviewed once more to get insight into their beliefs about language learning. The results revealed that students’ perception changed to some extent, and they were observed to develop more affirmative attitudes towards English language learning. It was found that ELF teaching can be used as a starting point to engage students to learn a language by abandoning Standard English norms imposed by course books and teachers.
The Arabidopsis thaliana Nuclear Factor Y Transcription Factors

Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is an evolutionarily conserved trimeric transcription factor complex present in nearly all eukaryotes. The heterotrimeric NF-Y complex consists of three subunits, NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC, and binds to the CCAAT box in the promoter regions of its target genes to regulate their expression. Yeast and mammal genomes generally have single genes with multiple splicing isoforms that encode each NF-Y subunit. By contrast, plant genomes generally have multi-gene families encoding each subunit and these genes are differentially expressed in various tissues or stages. Therefore, different subunit combinations can lead to a wide variety of NF-Y complexes in various tissues, stages, and growth conditions, indicating the potentially diverse functions of this complex in plants. Indeed, many recent studies have proved that the NF-Y complex plays multiple essential roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. In this review, we highlight recent progress on NF-Y in Arabidopsis thaliana, including NF-Y protein structure, heterotrimeric complex formation, and the molecular mechanism by which NF-Y regulates downstream target gene expression. We then focus on its biological functions and underlying molecular mechanisms. Finally, possible directions for future research on NF-Y are also presented.