A Hybrid Deep Learning Approach for Texture Analysis

Texture classification is a problem that has various applications such as remote sensing and forest species recognition. Solutions tend to be custom fit to the dataset used but fails to generalize. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in combination with Support Vector Machine (SVM) form a robust selection between powerful invariant feature extractor and accurate classifier. The fusion of experts provides stability in classification rates among different datasets

When the dust settles : reflecting on the politics of reconstruction and reconciliation in the MENA region

Definitive solutions for war-torn Syria, Iraq and Libya are still on a distant horizon, but the scale and intensity of violence seem to be ebbing in 2018. With the forceful reclamation of Mosul, Aleppo and Raqqa, as well as the repossession of Sirte and the end of fighting in Benghazi, the greatest battles appear to be over. The civil war in Syria is increasingly localised into pockets of conflict in the South and the North, which are not likely to change the overall course of events. Iraqi central government and the Syrian regime have gained the upper hand in the last two years thanks to undeniable economic and military support from regional and international allies. ISIS, as a territorialised terrorist organisation, has almost been completely wiped out in all three war-torn countries, even though its activities are bound to persist. The military situation in Libya has been relatively stagnant since late 2015, with the exception of localised conflicts

Good Code Sets from Complementary Pairs via Discrete Frequency Chips

It is shown that replacing the sinusoidal chip in Golay complementary code pairs by special classes of waveforms that satisfy two conditions, symmetry/anti-symmetry and quazi-orthogonality in the convolution sense, renders the complementary codes immune to frequency selective fading and also allows for concatenating them in time using one frequency band/channel. This results in a zero-sidelobe region around the mainlobe and an adjacent region of small cross-correlation sidelobes. The symmetry/anti-symmetry property results in the zero-sidelobe region on either side of the mainlobe, while quasi-orthogonality of the two chips keeps the adjacent region of cross-correlations small. Such codes are constructed using discrete frequency-coding waveforms (DFCW) based on linear frequency modulation (LFM) and piecewise LFM (PLFM) waveforms as chips for the complementary code pair, as they satisfy both the symmetry/anti-symmetry and quasi-orthogonality conditions. It is also shown that changing the slopes/chirp rates of the DFCW waveforms (based on LFM and PLFM waveforms) used as chips with the same complementary code pair results in good code sets with a zero-sidelobe region. It is also shown that a second good code set with a zero-sidelobe region could be constructed from the mates of the complementary code pair, while using the same DFCW waveforms as their chips. The cross-correlation between the two sets is shown to contain a zero-sidelobe region and an adjacent region of small cross-correlation sidelobes. Thus, the two sets are quasi-orthogonal and could be combined to form a good code set with twice the number of codes without affecting their cross-correlation properties. Or a better good code set with the same number codes could be constructed by choosing the best candidates form the two sets. Such code sets find utility in multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) radar applications

Local nonsmooth Lyapunov pairs for first-order evolution differential inclusions

The general theory of Lyapunov's stability of first-order differential inclusions in Hilbert spaces has been studied by the authors in a previous work. This new contribution focuses on the natural case when the maximally monotone operator governing the given inclusion has a domain with nonempty interior. This setting permits to have nonincreasing Lyapunov functions on the whole trajectory of the solution to the given differential inclusion. It also allows some more explicit criteria for Lyapunov's pairs. Some consequences to the viability of closed sets are given, as well as some useful cases relying on the continuity or/and convexity of the involved functions. Our analysis makes use of standard tools from convex and variational analysis

Molecular Characterization, Plasmid Profiling and Antibiotic Sensitivity of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus from Shellfish, Hospital Wastewater and Human Stools in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a gram-negative marine bacterium, is an important food borne pathogen causing gastroenteritis, particularly in areas with high seafood consumption. A total of 29 human stools, 20 hospital wastewater and 120 shellfish samples from Padang area in Sumatera, Indonesia were examined in this study. Purple coloured colonies presumptive of V. parahaemolyticus from preliminary screening process on CHROMagarTM Vibrio were selected and confirmed as V. parahaemolyticus using polymerase chain reaction by the amplification of the toxR fragment at 368 bp. Of the 169 samples, 42 (24.8%) from shellfish (13 from B. violacae; 20 from C. moltkiana; 9 from F. ater), 13 (7.7%) from hospital wastewater and 12 (7.1%) from human stool samples were found to be contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus. The presence of virulence genes (tdh and trh) of all toxR positive isolates were carried out using PCR. None of the isolates possesed the trh gene. However, 18 isolates from the human stools, hospital wastewater and shellfish (raw B. violacae and cooked C. moltkiana) samples harboured the tdh gene. A total of 97 V. parahaemolyticus isolates from human stools, hospital wastewater and shellfish samples were examined for their resistance to 15 antibiotics. Majority of the isolates (70%) were resistant to more than nine antibiotics in this study. The general, a V. parahaemolyticus isolates are resistant to sulfamethoxazole (100%), rifampin (95%) and tetracycline (75%) and sensitive to norfloxacin (96%). None of the isolates from human stools were resistant to ampicillin. Overall, all isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol and floroquinolones (ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin agents). Eighty three isolates were examined for the existence of plasmids. A total of 61 (74.7%) V. parahaemolyticus isolates were plasmid-free. Nine isolates (11.8%) harboured the 9.4 kb plasmid. All of the remaining isolates carried plasmid DNA with sizes ranging from 2.3 kb to >23 kb. A large plasmid of 23 kb was evident in the plasmid harboring strains and appeared as the only plasmid in three isolates. RAPD profiling with three primers (OPAR3, OPAR4 and OPAR8) produced four major clusters (R1, R2, R3 and R4) and 7 minor clusters (I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII). ERIC PCR using primer 1R and 2R produced two major clusters (E1 and E2) and ten minor clusters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J). All the dendrograms were being constructed utilizing the RAPDistance software package based on the data retrieved from the presence or absence of banding pattern. Both the molecular techniques of RAPD and ERIC genotyping showed most strains (? % and ?% respectively) from different samples and different locations revealed very high genetic variability in the microbial population studied. Combining the results of RAPD with ERIC apparently provides a degree of discrimination that should be adequate for identifying possible origins of V. parahaemolyticus contamination and for establishing relationships between isolates. Both methods showed a great diversity among the isolates of this species and could represent useful tools for the epidemiological typing of V. parahaemolyticus from Indonesia. Hence, the problem of the contamination of foods by V. parahaemolyticus, like many other food safety issues in diverse society, reflects the challenges of larger public health systems of care. Addressing this problem will require a combined approach including improved access, legislation, education, and culturally relevant patient-provider interactions