nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Continuous Cuffless Blood Pressure Estimation Using Pulse Transit Time and Photoplethysmogram Intensity Ratio
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering

Pulse transit time (PTT) has attracted much interest for cuffless blood pressure (BP) measurement. However, its limited accuracy is one of the main problems preventing its widespread acceptance. Arterial BP oscillates mainly at high frequency (HF) because of respiratory activity, and at low frequency (LF) because of vasomotor tone. Prior studies suggested that PTT can track BP variation in HF range, but was inadequate to follow the LF variation, which is probably the main reason for its unsatisfactory accuracy. This paper presents a new indicator, the photoplethysmogram intensity ratio (PIR) which can be affected by changes in the arterial diameter, and, thus, trace the LF variation of BP. Spectral analysis of BP, PTT, PIR, and respiratory signal confirmed that PTT was related to BP in HF at the respiratory frequency, while PIR was associated with BP in LF range. We, therefore, develop a novel BP estimation algorithm by using both PTT and PIR. The proposed algorithm was validated on 27 healthy subjects with continuous Finapres BP as reference. The results showed that the mean standard deviation (SD) for the estimated systolic, diastolic, and mean BP with the proposed method against reference were 0.37 5.21, 0.08 4.06, 0.18 4.13 mmHg, and mean absolute difference (MAD) were 4.09, 3.18, 3.18 mmHg, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed method outperformed the two most cited PTT algorithms for about 2 mmHg in SD and MAD. These results demonstrated that the proposed BP model using PIR and PTT can estimate continuous BP with improved accuracy.
A new modeling methodology for continuous cuffless blood pressure measurement
Venue: 2016 IEEE EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI)

Continuous blood pressure (BP) monitoring in a noninvasive and unobtrusive way can significantly improve the awareness, control and treatment rate of prevalent hypertension. Pulse transit time (PTT) has become increasingly popular in recent years for continuous BP measurement without a cuff. However, the accuracy issue of PTT based method remains to be solved for clinical application. Some previous studies have attempted to estimate BP with only PTT by using linear regression, which is susceptible to arterial regulation and may not reflect the actual relationship between PTT and BP. Furthermore, PTT does not contain all the information of BP variation, thereby resulting in unsatisfactory accuracy. In this paper we establish a cuffless BP estimation model from a physiological perspective by utilizing PTT and photoplethysmogram (PPG) intensity ratio (PIR) an indicator we have recently proposed for evaluation of the change in arterial diameter and the low frequency variation of BP, with the consideration that PIR can track changes in mean BP (MBP) and arterial diameter change. The performance of the proposed BP model was evaluated by comparing the estimated BP with Finapres BP as reference on 10 healthy subjects. The results showed that the mean standard deviation (SD) of the estimation error for systolic and diastolic BP were 0.41 5.15 and 0.84 4.05 mmHg, and mean absolute difference (MAD) were 4.18 and 3.43 mmHg, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed modeling method was superior to one contrast PTT based method, demonstrating the proposed model would be promising for reliable continuous cuffless BP measurement.
Different Flour Microbial Communities Drive to Sourdoughs Characterized by Diverse Bacterial Strains and Free Amino Acid Profiles
Venue: Front. Microbiol.

This work aimed to investigate whether different microbial assemblies in flour may influence the microbiological and biochemical characteristics of traditional sourdough. To reach this purpose, members of lactic acid bacteria, enterobacteria, and yeasts were isolated from durum wheat flour. Secondly, the isolated microorganisms (Pediococcus pentosaceus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pantoea agglomerans, and Escherichia hermannii) were inoculated in doughs prepared with irradiated flour (gamma rays at 10 kGy) so that eight different microbial assemblies were obtained. Two non inoculated controls were prepared, one of which (C IF) using irradiated flour and the other (C) using non irradiated flour. As shown by plate counts, irradiation of flour caused total inactivation of yeasts and a decrease of all the other microbial populations. However, acidification occurred also in the dough C IF, due to metabolic activity of P. pentosaceus that had survived irradiation. After six fermentations, P. pentosaceus was the dominant lactic acid bacterium species in all the sourdoughs produced with irradiated flour (IF) Yet, IF based sourdoughs broadly differed from each other in terms of strains of P. pentosaceus, probably due to the different microorganisms initially inoculated. Quantitative and qualitative differences of free amino acids concentration were found among the sourdoughs, possibly because of different microbial communities. In addition, as shown by culture independent analysis (16S metagenetics) irradiation of flour lowered and modified microbial diversity of sourdough ecosystem.
An improved parameter estimation scheme for image modification detection based on DCT coefficient analysis.
Venue: Forensic science international

Most of the existing image modification detection methods which are based on DCT coefficient analysis model the distribution of DCT coefficients as a mixture of a modified and an unchanged component. To separate the two components, two parameters, which are the primary quantization step, Q1, and the portion of the modified region, a, have to be estimated, and more accurate estimations of a and Q1 lead to better detection and localization results. Existing methods estimate a and Q1 in a completely blind manner, without considering the characteristics of the mixture model and the constraints to which a should conform. In this paper, we propose a more effective scheme for estimating a and Q1, based on the observations that, the curves on the surface of the likelihood function corresponding to the mixture model is largely smooth, and a can take values only in a discrete set. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the proposed method, and the experimental results confirm the efficacy of our method.
Digital image modification detection using color information and its histograms.
Venue: Forensic science international

The rapid development of many open source and commercial image editing software makes the authenticity of the digital images questionable. Copy move forgery is one of the most widely used tampering techniques to create desirable objects or conceal undesirable objects in a scene. Existing techniques reported in the literature to detect such tampering aim to improve the robustness of these methods against the use of JPEG compression, blurring, noise, or other types of post processing operations. These post processing operations are frequently used with the intention to conceal tampering and reduce tampering clues. A robust method based on the color moments and other five image descriptors is proposed in this paper. The method divides the image into fixed size overlapping blocks. Clustering operation divides entire search space into smaller pieces with similar color distribution. Blocks from the tampered regions will reside within the same cluster since both copied and moved regions have similar color distributions. Five image descriptors are used to extract block features, which makes the method more robust to post processing operations. An ensemble of deep compositional pattern producing neural networks are trained with these extracted features. Similarity among feature vectors in clusters indicates possible forged regions. Experimental results show that the proposed method can detect copy move forgery even if an image was distorted by gamma correction, addictive white Gaussian noise, JPEG compression, or blurring.
KEPERLUAN MODUL BAHASA ARAB UNTUK TUJUAN HAJI DAN UMRAH: SATU ANALISIS KAJIAN

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menganalisis keperluan jemaah Haji dan Umrah terhadap modul bahasa Arab untuk tujuan Haji dan Umrah. Kajian ini telah dilakukan ke atas 300 orang responden dalam kalangan jemaah yang pernah menunaikan Haji dan Umrah. Tujuan borang soal selidik adalah untuk mendapat maklum balas tentang keperluan suatu modul untuk membantu mereka menjalankan ibadah Haji dan Umrah dengan lebih sempurna melalui penghayatan Bahasa Arab yang juga sebagai medium ibadah dalam Islam. Hasil dapatan daripada kajian ini secara umumnya menunjukkan bahawa majoriti jemaah Haji dan Umrah menginginkan satu modul khas untuk membantu mereka dalam menunaikan Haji dan Umrah. Oleh itu, pengkaji bertekad untuk meneruskan hasrat yang murni ini dengan tujuan membantu para jemaah mengejar kesempurnaan ibadah Haji dan Umrah. Hasil dapatan daripada kajian keperluan ini akan membantu pengkaji dalam merangka dan membina "Modul bahasa Arab untuk tujuan Haji dan Umrah"
Segment Based Terrain Filtering Technique for Elevation Based Building Detection in VHR Remote Sensing Images

Building detection in very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images is crucial for many urban planning and management applications. Since buildings are elevated objects, the incorporation of elevation data provides a mean to reliable detection. However, almost all existing methods of elevation based building detection must first generate a normalized Digital Surface Model (nDSM) This model is generated by processes of extracting and subtracting terrain elevations from the DSM data. The generation of accurate nDSM is still a challenging task to some extent. This paper introduces a segment based terrain filtering (SegTF) technique to filter out the terrain elevations directly using DSM elevations. This technique has four steps: elevation co registration, image segmentation, slope calculation, and building detection. These steps of the developed technique were applied to a dataset that consisted of a VHR image and a corresponding DSM for detecting buildings. The result of the building detection was evaluated and found to be 100% correct with an overall detection quality of 93% These values indicate a highly reliable and promising technique for mapping buildings in VHR images.
Fusion of dorsal palm vein and palm print modalities for higher security applications
Venue: 2016 Conference on Advances in Signal Processing (CASP)

Biometrics is extensively used for person identification for various security applications. However existing systems using single biometric modality do not provide required level of accuracy and robustness. Combining various biometric modalities has proved to be more efficient in terms of enhancing accuracy. Verification using palm print modality has definitely achieved a great success as a unique and reliable biometric characteristic. Still the demand of robust and highly accurate biometric system can not be fulfilled using only palm print modality. The combined use of palm print and palm vein modality can substantially increase the robustness, anti spoof capability and accuracy of the system. This paper presents a multimodal biometric identification system based on the fusion of Palm print and Palm vein modalities of the human hand. Here in the first module, the hand image is first preprocessed and its palm print features are extracted using wavelet decomposition technique. Palm vein features are extracted using matched filter technique. For every modality, separate matcher is used for recognition. Decisions obtained by both the matchers are logically ANDed together to recognize the person. Module 1 gives 96% accuracy with zero FAR. In the second module, a rough to fine hierarchical feature matching is done for efficient hand recognition. Module 2 gives 97.25% accuracy with very low FAR.
Effect of bee pollen and propolis (bee glue) on growth performance and biomarkers of heat stress in broiler chickens reared under high ambient temperature

In tropical and subtropical regions, heat stress (HS) is considered as a critical problem in the poultry industry. High ambient temperatures not only cause heavy economic losses in this industry by reducing feed consumption and increasing mortality rate but have negative influence on meat quality (Chiang et al. 2008) too. Also, HS has been associated with an increased number of heterophils and decreased number of lymphocytes. In addition, HS increases heat shock proteins expression in skeletal and cardiac muscles, which may enhance the tolerance to stress and increase the survival rate of stressed cells (Kamboh et al. 2013) Recent studies showed that supplementation of natural antioxidants is a suitable strategy to minimize the deleterious effects of heat stress in broiler chickens. Propolis (bee glue; BG) which exhibits a strong antioxidant properties, was reported to improve the growth performance and egg quality in birds reared under high ambient temperatures (Seven, 2008) BG is a resinous and balsamic material collected by worker honeybees (Apis mellifera L. from tree buds, sap ABSTRACT. This study investigated the supplemental effects of bee pollen (BP) and propolis (bee glue; BG) on broiler performance, intestinal morphometry, haematological profile and biomarkers of heat stress in broilers reared under high ambient temperature. Two hundred and forty one day old male broiler chickens were divided into 4 treatment groups: control; BP supplemented with 20 g of BP kg 1 of feed; BG supplemented with 3 g of BG kg 1 of feed; and BP BG supplemented with 20 g of BP kg 1 3 g of BG kg 1. It was estimated that dietary BP and BG improved average daily gain and average daily feed intake of broilers particularly during the starter period (P 0.05) The relative weights of spleen and bursa of Fabricius were higher in groups fed supplemented diets when compared to the control group (P 0.05) Biomarkers of heat stress including the circulating heterophil lymphocyte ratio, creatine kinase level and mRNA expression of 70 kD heat shock protein (HSP70) levels in breast muscle were decreased in supplemented birds. In birds fed diets with BP and BG addition, crypts were deeper and villus crypt ratios were higher in the jejunum segment (P 0.05) The obtained results suggest that the dietary use of both BP and BG as a feed additive may offer a practical nutritional strategy in high temperature environment to prevail the harmful effects of heat stress in broiler.  17 March 2015  24  7 March 2016
Pragmatic Use of LOD a Modular Approach

The concept of Level of Development (LOD) is a simple approach to specifying the requirements for the content of object oriented models in a Building Information Modelling process. The concept has been implemented in many national and organization specific variations and, in recent years, several solutions have been proposed to address the challenge of the LOD concept being either too simple to fully describe the requirements for BIM deliverables or too complex to be operational in practice. This study reviews several existing LOD concepts and concludes that addressing the completeness and reliability of deliveries along with use case specific information requirements provides a pragmatic approach for a LOD concept. The proposed solution combines LOD requirement definitions with Information Delivery Manualbased use case requirements to match the specific needs identified for a LOD framework. This framework can act as a basis for future LOD solutions to harmonize the conceptual understanding of LOD definitions.
The benefits of anti corruption programming: implications for low to lower middle income countries

The consequences of corruption are typically examined in terms of the economic costs that they impose on a society. This study suggests that as good an argument can be made for the inverse relationship: significant benefits can be accrued by countries that effectively implement anti corruption programming. Together, a powerful cost benefit analysis can serve to motivate practical anti corruption policy planning and action. An advantage of the "benefits" approach is greater data reliability. The study finds that strong implementation of anti corruption initiatives is more important to achieving social, political, economic and human development benefits for society than merely establishing a good legal institutional framework to fight corruption. Raising public expectations without strong delivery of visible anti corruption programming is especially detrimental. Most interestingly, the study finds that a country's level of development and wealth has little to do with its level of anti corruption programming. Thus, it is not a good excuse for Vietnam or other developing countries to point to their level of development or wealth as a reason for why they are not doing as much as they can to implement anti corruption reforms effectively. A country's wealth is not a predictor of progress or success in this area.
Jeremiah: Fortified City, Bronze Walls, and Iron Pillar against the Whole Land

In Jer 1:18a, God promises to make Jeremiah "a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land." In the prevailing scholarly opinion, these metaphors were meant to encourage and reassure the prophet, offering him divine protection from persecution by "the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people" (1:18b) whom his mission was likely to antagonize. Examining the references to walls, fortified cities, pillars, bronze, and iron in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Near Eastern literature, the present article argues that at least two of the metaphors in question, "fortified city" and "bronze walls," primarily describe the militant character of Jeremiah's ministry. In a world torn by war, the prophet was called to wage a warfare of his own, battling for the people's minds. Any encouragement conveyed by these expressions is secondary, having to do with the prophet's invincibility in the face of violent opposition to his rhetorical onslaught. However, the connotations of the third metaphor, "iron pillar," seem to be completely different and it may even clash with the other two.
[Nurse Led Care Models in the Context of Community Elders With Chronic Disease Management: A Systematic Review]
Venue: Hu li za zhi The journal of nursing

Longer average life expectancies have caused the rapid growth of the elderly as a percentage of Taiwan's population and, as a result of the number of elders with chronic diseases and disability. Providing continuing care services in community settings for elderly with multiple chronic conditions has become an urgent need.  To review the nurse led care models that are currently practiced among elders with chronic disease in the community and to further examine the effectiveness and essential components of these models using a systematic review method.  Twelve original articles on chronic disease care planning for the elderly or on nurse led care management interventions that were published between 2000 and 2015 in any of five electronic databases: MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Plus with Full Text, Cochrane Library, and CEPS (Chinese Electronic Periodicals Service)were selected and analyzed systematically.  Four types of nurse led community care models, including primary healthcare, secondary prevention care, cross boundary models, and case management, were identified. Chronic disease care planning, case management, and disease self management were found to be the essential components of the services that were provided. The care models used systematic processes to conduct assessment, planning, implementation, coordination, and follow up activities as well as to deliver services and to evaluate disease status. The results revealed that providing continuing care services through the nurse led community chronic disease care model and cross boundary model enhanced the ability of the elderly to self manage their chronic diseases, improved healthcare referrals, provided holistic care, and maximized resource utilization efficacy.  The present study cross referenced all reviewed articles in terms of target clients, content, intervention, measurements, and outcome indicators. Study results may be referenced in future implementations of nurse led community care models as well as in future research.
The 2015 Revised American Thyroid Association guidelines for the management of medullary thyroid carcinoma: the "evidence based" refusal to endorse them by EANM due to the "not evidence based" marginalization of the role of Nuclear Medicine
Venue: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

In 2007, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) assembled a group of expert clinicians and basic scientists to evaluate published papers and to develop evidence based guidelines for the diagnosis and management of patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) The first ATA guidelines on the management of patients with MTC were published in 2009  In 2015, ATA released the first revised version of these guidelines [2] in order to assist clinicians of all specialties in the management of these patients. The ATA Board of Directors selected the Task Force members for elaborating these revised guidelines based on published scientific data in the management of MTC, and included international scientists from the fields of endocrinology, ethics, genetics, medical oncology, molecular biology, nuclear medicine, pathology, paediatrics, radiation oncology, and surgery  Task Force members reviewed relevant articles on MTC by searching MEDLINE/PubMed from January 1980 to April 2014 using specific MTC related search terms. Task Force members also provided additional relevant articles, book chapters, and other materials. Recommendations were graded using criteria adapted from the United States Preventive Services Task Force Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as were used in the previous MTC guidelines [1, 2] After revisions and critical reviews of a series of drafts, the Task Force developed a final document, and the ATA Board of Directors approved the revised set of guidelines [2] Compared to the earlier version  the 2015 revised ATA guidelines on the management of patients with MTC (now consisting of 67 recommendations and related explanatory