Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LPEDAP: Localized Power Efficient Data Aggregation Tree Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

I. Introduction The design of wireless sensor networks depends on the application requirements. Environmental monitoring is an application where a region is sensed by sensor nodes and the sensed data are gathered at a base station (a sink) where further processing can be performed. The sensor nodes for such applications are usually designed to work in conditions where it may not be possible to recharge or replace the batteries of the nodes. This means that energy is a very precious resource for sensor nodes, and communication overhead is to be minimized. In order to reduce the communication overhead and energy consumption of sensors while gathering, the received data can be combined to reduce message size. A simple way of doing that is aggregating the data. An important problem studied here is finding an energyefficient routing scheme for gathering all data at the sinkperiodically so that the lifetime of the network is prolonged as much as possible. The lifetime can be expressed in terms of rounds where a round is the time period between two sensing activities of sensor nodes. There are several requirements for a routing scheme to be designed for this scenario. First, the algorithm should be distributed since it is extremely energy consuming to calculate the optimum paths in a dynamic network and inform others about the computed paths in a centralized manner. The algorithm must also be scalable. The message and time complexity of computing the routing paths must scale well with increasing number of nodes. Another desirable property is robustness, which means that the routing scheme should be resilient to node and link failures. The scheme should also support new node additions to the network, since not all nodes fail at the same time, and some nodes may need to be replaced. In other words, the routing scheme should be self-healing. The final and possibly the most important requirement for a routing scheme for wireless sensor networks is energy efficiency.
Clinical profile and lipid abnormalities in subclinical and overt primary hypothyroidism

Background: Overt and subclinical hypothyroidism, affects metabolism of lipids particularly that of cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglyceride. Hypercholesterolemia predisposes to atherosclerosis and thereby increases cardiovascular risks.Methods: Hundred patients of primary hypothyroidism of age more than 15 yrs were included. Five milliliters of venous blood was drawn in fasting state and serum obtained; thyroid function test (TFT) and fasting lipid profile were performed. Based on the TFT, patients were categorized as sub clinical or overt hypothyroidism. Clinical data, thyroid and lipid profiles obtained were analyzed and compared using statistical methods.Results: Seventy patients were females and thirty were males in the ratio of 2.3:1. Most common age group was 51-60years followed by 41-50years. Most common symptom was generalised weakness followed by weight gain, cold intolerance, constipation, hair loss, paraesthesia’s. Most common signs were myxoedema, delayed ankle reflex relaxation, dry and coarse skin, bradycardia, non-pitting peripheral edema, madarosis, pallor, goiter. Patients with Overt hypothyroidism had significantly higher serum levels of total cholesterol(249.1±31.7 mg/dl), Triglycerides (191.5±68.5 mg/dl) and LDL cholesterol(167.7±31 mg/dl) than the Subclinical hypothyroidism with total cholesterol(202±19.8),triglycerides(155.6±35) and LDL cholesterol(129±21.1) but HDL cholesterol level remains normal in both overt (44.0±4.7) and subclinical (43.1±4.4)hypothyroidism respectively.Conclusions: Patients with Overt hypothyroidism had significantly higher levels of Total cholesterol, Triglycerides (TG) and LDL cholesterol than the Subclinical hypothyroidism but HDL cholesterol level remains normal in both. So, concomitant estimation of lipid profile in hypothyroidism patients is needed for early intervention and prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
An image-classification leveraged object detector

Currently, the state-of-the-art image classification algorithms outperform the best available object detector by a big margin in terms of average precision. We therefore propose a simple yet principled approach to leverage object detection through image classification on supporting regions specified by a preliminary object detector. Using a simple bag-of-words model based image classification algorithm, we leverage the performance of the deformable model objector by 5% in average precision, leading to a best known results on the standard PASCAL 2007 dataset.
A rare case of bacterial infective endocarditis caused by Streptococcus alactolyticus

Background: Streptococcus alactolyticus is a rarely isolated bacterium, which classified under DNA cluster IV of the S. Bovis/S. equinus complex. Infections, especially infective endocarditis, caused by Strep. alactolyticus are very rare in humans. Case Report: We describe a case of Strepotoccocus alactolyticus bacteriemia complicated by infective endocarditis. A 64-year-old male with a previous history of coronary artery bypass grafting applied to our cardiology outpatient clinic with complaints of dyspnea, fever, confusion and an apical holosystolic murmur. He was admitted to the intensive care unit. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography showed the presence vegetation on the aortic valve. S. alactolyticus was detected on serial blood cultures. The patient was first treated with intensive antimicrobial therapy, and then underwent mitral and aortic valve replacements with uneventful follow-up. Conclusion: Streptococcus alactolyticus infective endocarditis has only been reported previously in one patient. More information is certainly needed for diagnosis and treatment of patients infected with Streptococcus alactolyticus. Key words: Streptococcus alactolyticus, endocarditis
DIC in obstetrics: Diagnostic score, highlights in management, and international registry‐communication from the DIC and Women's Health SSCs of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis

1Thrombosis and Hemostasis Unit, Hematology Institute, Soroka University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel 2Katharine Dormandy Haemophilia and Thrombosis Centre and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Royal Free NHS Foundation Hospital, London, UK 3University College, London, UK 4Department of Hematology, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK 5Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan 6Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 7School of Baccalaureate Nursing, St. Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 8Maternity Department, University Soroka, Gynecology and Obstetrics Division, Soroka University Medical Center, School of Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Elimination of artifacts in encrypted binary images by modified digital halftoning techniques

An anti-counterfeiting feature, latent image, has been widely applied for banknotes and security documents. The hidden pattern of denomination by intaglio printing process can be observed by viewing the bill at certain angles of elevation. While designing the latent image, a continuous-tone cover image and a binary figurative pattern are used. The continuous tone image is halftoned by horizontal and vertical line screen, respectively. The binary figurative pattern then serves as a mask to render the corresponding area of horizontal and vertical line screen on the figurative region and background region, respectively. These procedures can be done by many available commercial softwares. However, there are various artifacts such as gaps in the junctions of horizontal and vertical screen lines, discontinuous screen lines and the white or black artifacts on the edges of the latent image. The retouching of the resulting latent image needs to be carefully and skillfully handled. In this research, we developed an automatic process to generate the artifact-free latent image inside a cover image by modified digital halftoning techniques. The methods we applied include: (1) To design new 8x8 threshold matrices in order to make a perfect joint of the horizontal and vertical screen lines. (2) To use the linear scaling adjustment to enhance the cover image not resulting discontinuous line. (3) To register the 8x8-based figurative pattern to the 8x8 threshold matrix and to avoid the visual artifacts. For latent image detection, a frequency domain treatment by FFT (Fast Fourier Transformation) and inverse-FFT is used to extract the encrypted image. This is especially useful for machine-readable applications. The results show that the developed process in this research does have the ability to automatically generate the desired latent image without any artifact. It also saves the costly retouching in the existing process. A frequency domain detection method is applied to extract latent images. The proposed techniques in this research also have great potential to proceed security printing in a digital way.
A Review on Feature Descriptors for Remote Sensing Image Retrieval

This paper presents the review on results ofapplication of feature descriptors for remote sensing image retrieval. The circular covariance histogram and the rotation-invariant point triplets potential are explored here as a multi-scale texture descriptors. In remote sensing images, the availability of images containing a significantly higher amount of spatial and spectral details has Cover (a piece of ground) with flat stones or bricks; the way for new applications (e.g., hyper spectral target detection, compound object recognition, etc.) and new commercial products and it has enabled the use of a wider range of image analysis methods. On the other hand, the rapid accumulation of gigabytes worth of remote sensing data on a daily basis has provide robust and automated tools, which was designed for their management, search, and retrieval, as essential for their effective exploitation.
Automatic Speech and Speaker Recognition: Large Margin and Kernel Methods

This book discusses large margin and kernel methods for speech and speaker recognitionSpeech and Speaker Recognition: Large Margin and Kernel Methods is a collation of research in the recent advances in large margin and kernel methods, as applied to the field of speech and speaker recognition. It presents theoretical and practical foundations of these methods, from support vector machines to large margin methods for structured learning. It also provides examples of large margin based acoustic modelling for continuous speech recognizers, where the grounds for practical large margin sequence learning are set. Large margin methods for discriminative language modelling and text independent speaker verification are also addressed in this book.Key Features:Provides an up-to-date snapshot of the current state of research in this field Covers important aspects of extending the binary support vector machine to speech and speaker recognition applications Discusses large margin and kernel method algorithms for sequence prediction required for acoustic modeling Reviews past and present work on discriminative training of language models, and describes different large margin algorithms for the application of part-of-speech tagging Surveys recent work on the use of kernel approaches to text-independent speaker verification, and introduces the main concepts and algorithms Surveys recent work on kernel approaches to learning a similarity matrix from data This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, engineers, and scientists in speech processing and machine learning fields.
Throughput of DS/SS unslotted ALOHA system with channel load sensing

Throughput analysis of direct-sequence spread spectrum multiple access (DS/SSMA) unslotted ALOHA with fixed packet length is presented. As the levels of multiuser interference fluctuate during the packet transmission, we calculate the packet error probability and the throughput by considering not only the number of overlapped packets but also the amount of time overlap. On the assumption that packet generation is Poisson, the system can be thought as the M/D//spl infin/ queue. With a Gaussian approximation of multiuser interference, we obtain the throughput as a function of the number of chips in a bit, the packet length and the offered load of the system. We also analyze the channel load sensing protocol (CLSP), and obtain the optimum threshold of the CLSP. As a result, we indicate the relation of the /spl beta/-channel model with the optimum threshold.
Transport protocol performance for multi-hop transmission in wireless sensor network (WSN)

The need for reliable data delivery at the transport layer for video transmission over IEEE 802.15. 4 Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has attracted great attention from the research community due to the applicability of multimedia transmission for many applications. The IEEE 802.15. 4 standard is designed to transmit data within a network at a low rate and a short distance. However, the characteristics of WSNs such as dense deployment, limited processing ability, memory, and power supply provide unique challenges to transport protocol designers. Additionally, multimedia applications add further challenges such as requiring large bandwidth, large memory, and high data rate. This chapter discusses the challenges and evaluates the feasibility of transmitting data over an IEEE 802.15. 4 network for different transport protocols. The analysis result highlights the comparison of standard transport protocols, namely User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Transport Control Protocol (TCP), and Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). The performance metrics are analyzed in terms of the packet delivery ratio, energy consumption, and end-to-end delay. Based on the study and analysis that has been done, the standard transport protocol can be modified and improved for multimedia data transmission in WSN. As a conclusion, SCTP shows significant improvement up to 18.635% and 40.19% for delivery ratio compared to TCP and UDP, respectively.
Microbiological Profile of Childhood Pneumonias in Hyderabad, India

Pneumonia is a form of acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection that affects the lungs and has being the single largest cause of death in children. Worldwide, 35-40% mortality among children aged less than 5 years is attributed to respiratory tract infections accounting for 2.04 million deaths/year. In India, more than 4 lakh deaths every year are due to pneumonia accounting for 13%-16% of all deaths in the pediatric hospital admissions (2, 3).
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) with first-line durvalumab (D) ± tremelimumab (T) versus chemotherapy (CT) in metastatic NSCLC: Results from MYSTIC.

9048 Background: MYSTIC, an open-label, Phase 3 trial of first-line D (anti-PD-L1) ± T (anti-CTLA-4) vs platinum CT in mNSCLC, showed an improvement in overall survival (OS) with D vs CT in pts with tumor cell PD-L1 expression ≥25% (TC ≥25% [primary analysis population]; D vs CT, HR 0.76 [97.54% CI 0.56–1.02], p = 0.036; D+T vs CT, HR 0.85 [98.77% CI 0.61–1.17], p = 0.202). Here we summarize PROs from MYSTIC. Methods: Immunotherapy/CT-naïve mNSCLC pts were randomized (1:1:1) to D, D+T, or CT. Symptoms, function, and global health status/quality of life (QoL) were assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 v3 questionnaire and its lung cancer module, QLQ-LC13. A change in score from baseline ≥10 points was predefined as clinically meaningful (CM). Mean changes from baseline (over 12 mos) for prespecified symptoms were analyzed using a mixed model for repeated measures (MMRM). Time from randomization to the first CM deterioration (TTD) was analyzed. Results: Among pts with PD-L1 TC ≥25% (n = 488), there were no differences between arms in symptoms, function, or global health status/QoL at baseline. Compliance with completing the questionnaires was ≥60% to wk 120 in the D±T arms, and to wk 40 (C30) and wk 44 (LC13) in the CT arm. MMRM analysis showed significant between-arm differences in changes from baseline in favor of D for fatigue (difference vs CT −9.5) and appetite loss (−11.9; CM), and D+T for fatigue (−11.7; CM). Significantly longer TTD (median, mos) was seen with D and D+T vs CT for appetite loss (12.8 and 5.6 vs 4.5), constipation (14.6 and 9.0 vs 5.5), nausea/vomiting (16.7 and 9.7 vs 4.5), and dyspnea (10.6 and 7.4 vs 5.6); D vs CT for diarrhea (16.3 vs 9.0), insomnia (9.3 vs 6.2), and hemoptysis (not reached vs 10.3); and D+T vs CT for fatigue (5.6 vs 2.0). Significantly longer TTD (median, mos) was also seen with D and D+T vs CT for function (cognitive [9.1 and 6.6 vs 5.2], physical [9.0 and 7.4 vs 4.2], role [D vs CT only; 7.3 vs 3.7], social [12.9 and 5.4 vs 5.2]), and global health status/QoL (5.9 and 6.8 vs 5.5). Conclusions: Pts with PD-L1 TC ≥25% treated with D±T had a reduced symptom burden over time and longer TTD for symptoms, function, and global health status/QoL compared to pts receiving CT. Clinical trial information: NCT02453282.
Foreground/background video coding using H.261

This research addresses the use of face segmentation to improve the subjective quality of videophone sequence encoded by the H.261-compliant coder. In this approach, each frame of the input video sequence is first segmented into two regions, namely, foreground and background. These regions are then encoded using the same coder but with different rate control and quantization level. In this way, the image quality of the more important foreground region can be improved by encoding it with more bits at the expense of background image quality. In this paper, we present a summary of the face segmentation technique required by this approach and then describe the implementation of this foreground/background (FB) coding scheme on the H.261 framework. The discriminatory quantization process and a new rate control strategy for the FB regions are also discussed. In addition, the performance of the FB coding scheme was evaluated by some experimental result carried out on the typical videophone sequences.
Physical therapy for patients in the Intensive Care Unit : Towards safe and purposeful physical therapy practice for critically ill patients

Along with improving medical treatment, the survival rate of patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) rises, leading to an increasing number of patients with long term physical and psychological impairments. Many ICU survivors develop muscle weakness and reduced exercise tolerance. Early rehabilitation for ICU patients has been advocated to prevent physical deterioration. Ideally, in order to improve physical functioning, the training load of physical therapy should be sufficient. At the same time, exercise sessions should be safe and physiological overload should be avoided. However, knowledge on safe and effective physical therapy in ICU patients is lacking. The aim of this thesis was to contribute to the gaps in knowledge about physiological changes and muscle activity in ICU patients during exercise, and to develop a clinical guideline for safe and effective physical therapy in the ICU. Based on the studies in this thesis, we developed evidence based recommendations for physical therapy for patients in the ICU. These include safety criteria to guide physical therapy, guidance for the use of applicable and valid instruments to measure physical impairments in order to determine the goalsetting and interventions of physical therapy. The studies about physiological changes during incremental exercise testing, and muscle activity using surface electromyography EMG (sEMG) during bed cycling, found that a physiological response and muscle activity could be measured safely. Finally, a new method of early rehabilitation, ambulation training with a body weight supporting treadmill, was investigated and proved to be feasible, safe and potentially effective.
Cornell product is an ECG marker of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Objective ECG markers of heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are lacking. We hypothesised that the Cornell product (CP) is a risk marker of HFpEF and has prognostic utility in HFpEF. Methods CP =[(amplitude of R wave in aVL+depth of S wave in V3)×QRS] was measured on baseline 12-lead ECG in a prospective Asian population-based study of 606 healthy controls (aged 55±10 years, 45% men), 221 hypertensive controls (62±9 years, 58% men) and 242 HFpEF (68±12 years, 49% men); all with EF ≥50% and followed for 2 years for all-cause mortality and HF hospitalisations. Results CP increased across groups from healthy controls to hypertensive controls to HFpEF, and distinguished between HFpEF and hypertension with an optimal cut-off of ≥1800 mm*ms (sensitivity 40%, specificity 85%). Age, male sex, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate were independent predictors of CP ≥1800 mm*ms, and CP was associated with echocardiographic E/e′ (r=0.27, p<0.01) and left ventricular mass index (r=0.46, p<0.01). Adjusting for clinical and echocardiographic variables and log N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), CP ≥1800 mm*ms was significantly associated with HFpEF (adjusted OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.0 to 7.0). At 2-year follow-up, there were 29 deaths and 61 HF hospitalisations, all within the HFpEF group. Even after adjusting for log NT-proBNP, clinical and echocardiographic variables, CP ≥1800 mm*ms remained strongly associated with a higher composite endpoint of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalisations (adjusted HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.5). Conclusion The Cornell product is an easily applicable ECG marker of HFpEF and predicts poor prognosis by reflecting the severity of diastolic dysfunction and LV hypertrophy.
Knowledge, attitude and practices of intestinal helminths and protozoa infection among parents of school children in peripheral school and urban school area in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Intestinal helminths and intestinal protozoa infections are one of the leading causes of diseases among young people and adults in the world today. Ascaris lumbricoides (A. lumbricoides) and Trichuris trichiura (T. trichiura) are the most common intestinal helminths infected people especially among children. Various types of intestinal protozoa are affecting people, such as Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum and Blastocystis hominis which then pass out through faeces of the infected person. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. The survey was collected from parents of school children in urban and peripheral area in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. A total of 136 parents of school children were selected randomly from the primary schools at urban and peripheral for the study. Sixty-eight respondents from the urban primary school or UPS or “Sekolah Kebangsaan U” represent the parents of school children in urban area and sixty-eight respondents from the primary school or PPS or “Sekolah Kebangsaan P” represent the parents of school children in peripheral area. No significant difference was observed on knowledge, attitudes and practices of intestinal helminths and protozoa infection among parents from both areas. There was no significant difference in terms knowledge, attitudes and practices between parents from low income and high income. Awareness to the public regarding the intestinal parasites and good hygiene behavior were needed to expose the public about the intestinal helminth and protozoa infections.