Component-based Segmentation of words from handwritten Arabic text

Efficient preprocessing is very essential for automatic recognition of handwritten documents. In this paper, techniques on segmenting words in handwritten Arabic text are presented. Firstly, connected components (ccs) are extracted, and distances among different components are analyzed. The statistical distribution of this distance is then obtained to determine an optimal threshold for words segmentation. Meanwhile, an improved projection based method is also employed for baseline detection. The proposed method has been successfully tested on IFN/ENIT database consisting of 26459 Arabic words handwritten by 411 different writers, and the results were promising and very encouraging in more accurate detection of the baseline and segmentation of words for further recognition

Context-Free Path Queries on RDF Graphs

Navigational graph queries are an important class of queries that canextract implicit binary relations over the nodes of input graphs. Most of the navigational query languages used in the RDF community, e.g. property paths in W3C SPARQL 1.1 and nested regular expressions in nSPARQL, are based on the regular expressions. It is known that regular expressions have limited expressivity; for instance, some natural queries, like same generation-queries, are not expressible with regular expressions. To overcome this limitation, in this paper, we present cfSPARQL, an extension of SPARQL query language equipped with context-free grammars. The cfSPARQL language is strictly more expressive than property paths and nested expressions. The additional expressivity can be used for modelling graph similarities, graph summarization and ontology alignment. Despite the increasing expressivity, we show that cfSPARQL still enjoys a low computational complexity and can be evaluated efficiently.Comment: 25 page

Vertical gingival display changes associated with upper premolars extraction orthodontic treatment : a prospective clinical trial

Extraction of upper bicuspids have been anecdotally blamed to increase the vertical gingival display (VGD) anteriorly. However, the extraction may be needed in some cases in order to correct the underlying orthodontic problem. Objectives: To investigate and compare vertical gingival display (VGD) changes associated with upper (first vs second) premolars extraction during orthodontic treatment. Design: A prospective clinical trial. Setting: Postgraduate dental teaching clinics at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST). Sample population: Sixty orthodontic patients were included in the study. They were treated with upper first or second premolars extraction according to the underlying problem and the individualized treatment plan of each patient. Records (radiographs, study casts and clinical photographs) were taken for all subjects pre- and post- orthodontic treatment. Outcome measures: Pre- and post-treatment VGD, lip length in static and dynamic positions and the amount of upper teeth retractions were recorded. The paired and the independent t- test were used to detect differences within/between groups. Factors affecting VGD were investigated using backward stepwise linear regression analysis. In both static and dynamic captures, VGD increased after orthodontic treatment in both premolars extraction groups. Pre- and post-treatment variables differed significantly in groups 1 and 2. VGD changes were similar in both treatment groups. A significant association was found between VGD change during orthodontic treatment and upper canine retraction (P<0.001), pre-treatment ANB angle (P<0.01) and upper incisor retraction(P<0.05). The amount of anterior VGD increases after upper premolars extraction. The increase in VGD after first and second premolars extractions was comparable. The increase in VGD after orthodontic treatment is associated with the amount of canine retraction, pre-treatment ANB and the amount of incisor retraction

Millimeter Wave Communications

Millimeter wave (mmWave) technologies promise to revolutionize wireless networks by enabling multi-gigabit data rates. However, they suffer from high attenuation, and hence have to use highly directional antennas to focus their power on the receiver. Existing radios have to scan the space to find the best alignment between the transmitter’s and receiver’s beams, a process that takes up to a few seconds. This delay is problematic in a network setting where the base station needs to quickly switch between users and accommodate mobile clients. We present Agile-Link, the first mmWave beam steering system that is demonstrated to find the correct beam alignment without scanning the space. Instead of scanning, Agile- Link hashes the beam directions using a few carefully chosen hash functions. It then identifies the correct alignment by tracking how the energy changes across different hash functions. Our results show that Agile-Link reduces beam steering delay by orders of magnitude.National Science Foundation (U.S.

The potential impact of the microwave treatment on the biotechnological aspects of dairy products

The research work was partly supported by RFBR grant 18-29-12129mk

Co-administration of Vitamins E and C protects against stress-induced hepatorenal oxidative damage and effectively improves lipid profile at both low and high altitude

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of co- administration of vitamins E and C on exhaustive exercise induced-stress in regards to hepatorenal function in rats native to low altitude (LA) and high altitude (HA). In both LA and HA areas, native wistar rats of each area were divided into three groups of 6 rats each, which include stress-free control, forced swimming-induced experimental stress and experimental stress plus vitamins E and C treatment. Lipid profile and Liver and kidney functions were assessed in both groups. HA and LA rats exhibit similar baseline levels of liver and kidney function as well as lipid metabolism profiles. However, HA rats showed decreased levels of antioxidant markers with an increased level of lipid peroxidation. Exhaustive swimming exercise induced a significant increase in the liver and kidney function of rats at both altitudes accompanied with a decrease in antioxidants levels. However, the magnitude of change observed in HA rats was more profound. Also at LA, forced swimming exercise resulted in a significant increase in serum total cholesterol (TChol), triacylglycerides (TAG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL). However, in HA rats, forced swimming exercise caused a significant decrease in serum TChol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), except for HDL levels which were significantly elevated. Pre- and co-administration of vitamins E and C counteracted the induction of liver and/or kidney function by exhaustive exercise, and lowered TChol and LDL levels in rats at either altitude. In conclusion, at native high altitude: kidney and liver function essentially remained stable; response to stress included more profound oxidative damage to liver and kidney tissues as well as augmented deterioration in lipid metabolism compared to low altitude; and combined administration of vitamins E and C protected against observed oxidative stress damage to liver and kidney tissues and preserved lipid metabolism. At low altitude, combined administration of vitamin E and C protected against stress-induced oxidative damage to the liver and kidney and did preserve normal lipid metabolism, except for HDL. These novel findings reveal the pathophysiological changes in the liver function, kidney function and lipid metabolism occurring at high altitude specifically under stress, and demonstrate the efficacy of combined supplementation of vitamins E and C to normalize these changes.Key words: Exercise, oxidative stress, vitamin E, vitamin C, altitude, rats

The Outcome of Withholding Pharmacologic Treatment in Children with Acute ITP

Background: ITP is a nonthreatening disorder disturbing children at any age but mostly below 5 years. Objective: To evaluate the outcome of children with acute ITP who were not specified with any pharmacologic action and linked with those who were treated. Patients and Methods: A prospective case- control   study was done between Jan.2002 to May 2016 at Mukalla children and Maternity Hospital and University Hospital for Children and Mother Health in Mukalla/ Hadhramout /Yemen,  where 20 children with acute ITP. the control group was 18 children given the conventional therapy. The identification and grouping of ITP were made according to the 2009 International Working Group criteria. Results: In group A there were 11( 55%) boys and 9(45%) girls, while control group B there were 18 children 10 (55.5%) boys and 8 (44.5%) girls.   the ages were from 2 to 12 years. The mean age is 4.7 years with the median age at identification was 4r years. There was no statistical significant difference between both groups regarding outcome. Conclusion: The recovery percentage has some relation with age at appearance and preliminary platelet count where younger children and those with platelet amount of <20000 /µL have better recovery percentage. There was no statistical significant difference between both groups regarding outcome

Taking SPARQL 1.1 extensions into account in the SWIP system

International audienceThe SWIP system aims at hiding the complexity of expressing a query in a graph query language such as SPARQL. We propose a mechanism by which a query expressed in natural language is translated into a SPARQL query. Our system analyses the sentence in order to exhibit concepts, instances and relations. Then it generates a query in an internal format called the pivot language. Finally, it selects pre-written query patterns and instantiates them with regard to the keywords of the initial query. These queries are presented by means of explicative natural language sentences among which the user can select the query he/she is actually interested in. We are currently focusing on new kinds of queries which are handled by the new version of our system, which is now based on the 1.1 version of SPARQL

Assessing the exposure-response relationship of sleep disturbance and vibration in field and laboratory settings

Exposure to nocturnal freight train vibrations may impact sleep, but exposure-response relationships are lacking. The European project CargoVibes evaluated sleep disturbance both in the field and in the laboratory and provides unique data, as measures of response and exposure metrics are comparable. This paper therefore provides data on exposure-response relationships of vibration and sleep disturbance and compares the relationships evaluated in the laboratory and the field. Two field studies (one in Poland and one in the Netherlands) with 233 valid respondents in total, and three laboratory studies in Sweden with a total of 59 subjects over 350 person-nights were performed. The odds ratios (OR) of sleep disturbance were analyzed in relation to nighttime vibration exposure by ordinal logit regression, adjusting for moderating factors common for the studies. Outcome specific fractions were calculated for eleven sleep outcomes and supported comparability between the field and laboratory settings. Vibration exposure was significantly associated to sleep disturbance, OR = 3.51 (95% confidence interval 2.6–4.73) denoting a three and a half times increased odds of sleep disturbance with one unit increased 8 h nighttime log10 Root Mean Square vibration. The results suggest no significant difference between field and laboratory settings OR = 1.37 (0.59–3.19). However, odds of sleep disturbance were higher in the Netherlands as compared to Sweden, indicating unexplained differences between study populations or countries, possibly related to cultural and contextual differences and uncertainties in exposure assessments. Future studies should be carefully designed to record explanatory factors in the field and enhance ecological validity in the laboratory. Nevertheless, the presented combined data set provides a first set of exposure response relationships for vibration-induced sleep disturbance, which are useful when considering public health outcomes among exposed populations

THE USE OF MICROWAVE RADIATION FOR CHILDREN'S FERMENTED MILK PRODUCTS

The possibility of using the microwave method for heating kefir for feeding children has been studied. It has been established that the microwave oven does not adversely affect the organoleptic and physico-chemical parameters of yogurt. Microbiological analysis of yogurt samples was carried out