Agent-based framework for person re-identification

In computer based human object re-identification, a detected human is recognised to a level sufficient to re-identify a tracked person in either a different camera capturing the same individual, often at a different angle, or the same camera at a different time and/or the person approaching the camera at a different angle. Instead of relying on face recognition technology such systems study the clothing of the individuals being monitored and/or objects being carried to establish correspondence and hence re-identify the human object. Unfortunately present human-object re-identification systems consider the entire human object as one connected region in making the decisions about similarity of two objects being matched. This assumption has a major drawback in that when a person is partially occluded, a part of the occluding foreground will be picked up and used in matching. Our research revealed that when a human observer carries out a manual human-object re-identification task, the attention is often taken over by some parts of the human figure/body, more than the others, e.g. face, brightly colour shirt, presence of texture patterns in clothing etc., and occluding parts are ignored. In this thesis, a novel multi-agent based framework is proposed for the design of a human object re-identification system. Initially a HOG based feature extraction is used in a SVM based classification of a human object as a human of a full-body or of half body nature. Subsequently the relative visual significance of the top and the bottom parts of the human, in re-identification is quantified by the analysis of Gray Level Co-occurrence based texture features and colour histograms obtained in the HSV colour space. Accordingly different weights are assigned to the top and bottom of the human body using a novel probabilistic approach. The weights are then used to modify the Hybrid Spatiogram and Covariance Descriptor (HSCD) feature based re-identification algorithm adopted. A significant novelty of the human object re-identification systems proposed in this thesis is the agent based design procedure adopted that separates the use of computer vision algorithms for feature extraction, comparison etc., from the decision making process of re-identification. Multiple agents are assigned to execute different algorithmic tasks and the agents communicate to make the required logical decisions. Detailed experimental results are provided to prove that the proposed multi agent based framework for human object re-identification performs significantly better than the state of-the-art algorithms. Further it is shown that the design flexibilities and scalabilities of the proposed system allows it to be effectively utilised in more complex computer vision based video analytic/forensic tasks often conducted within distributed, multi-camera systems

Steam reforming of biomass tar over tyre char for hydrogen production

Carbonaceous materials have been proven to have a high activity for tar removal. The simultaneous gasification of pyrolysis gases and char has a significant role in increasing the gas yield and decreasing the tar in the product syngas. This study investigates the use of tyre char as a catalyst for hydrogen production and tar reduction during the pyrolysis/reforming of biomass using a two stage fixed bed reactor. The biomass sample was pyrolysed under nitrogen at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 deg;C. The evolved pyrolysis volatiles were passed to a second stage with steam and the gases were reformed at a temperature of 900 deg;C with the presence of tyre char as catalyst. The influence of catalyst bed temperature, steam flow rate, reaction time and addition of metals were investigated. Char was characterized using BET surface analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Raising the steam injection rate and reforming temperature resulted in an increase in hydrogen production as steam reforming and gasification of char increased. Over the ranges of operating conditions examined, the maximum hydrogen content reached 52% and the ratio of H 2 /CO varied between 1.3 to 2. The presence of steam promotes the char conversion, however, increasing the amount of steam from 6.64 g/h to 8.64 g/h doesn't contribute to decrease the char yield and the obtained hydrogen yield was almost the same at about 51 vol. %. The results indicate that the char bed exhibited a higher tar reduction than the thermal cracking conditions

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: A six-years’ experience and the current evidence in literature

Objective: This study aims to retrospectively describe the clinicopathological pattern and management experience of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis in women attending care at royal hospital, a tertiary care center at sultanate of Oman. Then to compare our experience with the current literature trends. Methods: The data of patient were retrospective reviewed from 1st of January 2012 to 31st of December 2017, after receiving ethical approval from the center of studies and research. Results: Sixty-four patients were conformed to have idiopathic granulomatous mastitis. All of our patients were in the premenopausal phase with only one being nulliparous. Mastitis was the most common clinical diagnosis and half of them had a palpable mass. Most of our patient had received antibiotics during their treatment span. Drainage procedure was done in 73% of the patient, whereas excisional procedure was done for 38.7%. Only 52.4% of our patient were able to achieve complete clinical resolution within 6 months of follow-up. Conclusion: There is no standardized management algorithm, due to the paucity of high-level evidence comparing different modalities. However, Steroids, Methotrexate and surgery are all considered to be effective and acceptable treatments. Moreover, current literature tends towards multi-modality treatments planned tailed case-to-case based on the clinical context and patient’s preference. Keywords: Granulomatous; Mastitis; Chronic breast infection

Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans Mimicking Primary Breast Neoplasm: A case report and literature review

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, slow-growing mesenchymal neoplasm of the dermis and subcutaneous tissues that has a low- to intermediate-grade malignancy. DFSP commonly involves the trunk and extremities, and very rarely the breast skin, mimicking a primary breast neoplasm with few reported cases in the literature. We report a 35-year old female patient who was referred to the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman in 2017, with a two-year history of a slow growing left breast lump. Assessment of the breasts with mammography revealed a lobulated lesion in the left-upper-inner quadrant with neither microcalcification nor architectural distortion, mimicking a benign lesion. However, on ultrasound, the lesion had suspicious features with increased vascularity and hence, it was categorised as breast imaging reporting and data system (BIRAD) IV. The patient underwent left breast wide local excision and the histopathological diagnosis was dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.Keywords: Breast; Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans; Ultrasonography; Oman

EXTRACTION AND CHARACETRIZATION OF FURFURAL FROM WASTE OMANI DATE SEEDS

Purpose: Furfural (C5H4O2), is an economic and business product in European countries such as America and Australia.  Previous years have seen a remarkable increase in the number of palm trees in the Arabian region. The percentage of furfural present in dates seed is around 30%. This paper outline the extraction of furfural from waste Omani date seeds.Methodology: Date seeds were washed, sun dried, heated at 1000C, ground, powdered, and mixed with solvent n-hexane for one day.  Then filtered and the filtrate was subjected to simple distillation at 600C in round bottom flask. Furfural was recovered in round-bottom flask and solvent was recovered in another beaker. This hexane was reused for furfural extraction from other batches. Findings: Extracted product was characterized by Carbon NMR and Proton NMR. The Carbon NMR result the experiments were carried out in Bruker Avance III HD 700 MHz spectrometer equipped with 5mm TCI H/C/N cryoprobe. The proton NMR experiment was run using zg30 pulse program operating at 700.13 MHz. The occurrence of C-NMR peaks at 127, 131, 173 ppm confirms the presence of carbon atoms in furfural ring. And the presence of H-NMR peaks between 4 to 8 ppm confirms the presence of furfural protons.  Social Implications: Furfural substance is used in some of the important chemical industries such as nylon, plastic, ratings that protect the metals from corrosion, solvents, adhesive, medicines, and plastics and is used in the industry of insecticides, fungicides, anti-microbe, and antiseptics. Therefore, it is widely used in the petrol refinery laboratories to treat the bad Carbon and different Sulfuric combinations existing in the lube oils and it is used in the operations of refining some types of fuel as well, such as diesel.  Originality/Novelty: This study is done on Omani date seeds at Caledonian College of Engineering in Chemical Analysis Lab. Extraction product was characterized in Central Analytical and Applied Research Unit at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat.  

Use of Noninvasive Ventilation and High-Flow Nasal Cannulae Therapy for Infants and Children with Acute Respiratory Distress Outside of Paediatric Intensive Care: A review article

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and high-flow nasal cannulae therapy (HFNCT) are first-line methods of treatment for children presenting with acute respiratory distress, with paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) providing an ideal environment for subsequent treatment monitoring. However, the availability of step-down units, where NIV and HFNCT can be safely utilised, has reduced the need for such patients to be admitted to PICUs, thereby leading to the better overall utilisation of critical care resources. In addition, NIV and HFNCT can also be used during transport instead of invasive ventilation, thus avoiding the complications associated with the latter approach. This review article examines the safety and applicability of these respiratory support approaches outside of paediatric intensive care as well as various factors associated with treatment success or failure.Keywords: Critical Care; Children; Pediatric Intensive Care Units; Noninvasive Ventilation; Nasal Cannulae; Transportation of Patients