Pedestrian dead reckoning employing simultaneous activity recognition cues

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We consider the human localization problem using body-worn inertial/magnetic sensor units. Inertial sensors are characterized by a drift error caused by the integration of their rate output to obtain position information. Because of this drift, the position and orientation data obtained from inertial sensors are reliable over only short periods of time. Therefore, position updates from externally referenced sensors are essential. However, if the map of the environment is known, the activity context of the user can provide information about his position. In particular, the switches in the activity context correspond to discrete locations on the map. By performing localization simultaneously with activity recognition, we detect the activity context switches and use the corresponding position information as position updates in a localization filter. The localization filter also involves a smoother that combines the two estimates obtained by running the zero-velocity update algorithm both forward and backward in time. We performed experiments with eight subjects in indoor and outdoor environments involving walking, turning and standing activities. Using a spatial error criterion, we show that the position errors can be decreased by about 85% on the average. We also present the results of two 3D experiments performed in realistic indoor environments and demonstrate that it is possible to achieve over 90% error reduction in position by performing localization simultaneously with activity recognition

Identification and distribution of anaerobic bacteria isolated from clinical specimens in a University Hospital: 4 years’ experience

Anaerobes, which are components of microbiota, can cause life-threatening infections. Because of their fastidious nature, they are difficult to isolate and are often overlooked. The goal of this study was to identify the anaerobic bacteria isolated from clinical specimens at the Central Laboratory of Hacettepe University Hospital in 2015-2018 and to evaluate the distribution of the isolated bacterial species among the different specimen types. The anaerobic bacteria isolated from the specimens were identified by the conventional methods and MALDI-TOF MS.Overall, 15,300 anaerobic cultures were studied. Of these, 14,434 (94.3%) were blood samples and 866 (5.7%) were other clinical specimens. A total of 138 anaerobic bacteria were isolated: 62 (44.9%) were isolated from blood samples and 76 (55.1%) from other specimens. The most isolated anaerobes from blood cultures were Bacteroides spp. (41.9%), followed by Cutibacterium acnes (25.8%) and Clostridium spp. (9.7%). The most isolated anaerobes from the other specimens were Gram-negative bacilli, including Bacteroides spp. (15.8%), Fusobacterium spp. (14.5%), Prevotella spp. (14.5%), and Porphyromonas spp. (2.6%). Anaerobic Finegoldia magna represented the major species among the isolated Gram-positive bacteria (10.5%). Anaerobic growth was observed in 0.4% of all the blood cultures and in 5.8% of the positive blood cultures. The results of our study showed that the incidence of anaerobic bacteremia was stable during the 2015-2018 period.Anaerobes, which are components of microbiota, can cause life-threatening infections. Because of their fastidious nature, they are difficult to isolate and are often overlooked. The goal of this study was to identify the anaerobic bacteria isolated from clinical specimens at the Central Laboratory of Hacettepe University Hospital in 2015-2018 and to evaluate the distribution of the isolated bacterial species among the different specimen types. The anaerobic bacteria isolated from the specimens were identified by the conventional methods and MALDI-TOF MS.Overall, 15,300 anaerobic cultures were studied. Of these, 14,434 (94.3%) were blood samples and 866 (5.7%) were other clinical specimens. A total of 138 anaerobic bacteria were isolated: 62 (44.9%) were isolated from blood samples and 76 (55.1%) from other specimens. The most isolated anaerobes from blood cultures were Bacteroides spp. (41.9%), followed by Cutibacterium acnes (25.8%) and Clostridium spp. (9.7%). The most isolated anaerobes from the other specimens were Gram-negative bacilli, including Bacteroides spp. (15.8%), Fusobacterium spp. (14.5%), Prevotella spp. (14.5%), and Porphyromonas spp. (2.6%). Anaerobic Finegoldia magna represented the major species among the isolated Gram-positive bacteria (10.5%). Anaerobic growth was observed in 0.4% of all the blood cultures and in 5.8% of the positive blood cultures. The results of our study showed that the incidence of anaerobic bacteremia was stable during the 2015-2018 period

Employing active contours and artificial neural networks in representing ultrasonic range data

Active snake contours and Kohonen's self-organizing feature maps (SOM) are considered for efficient representation and evaluation of the maps of an environment obtained with different ultrasonic arc map (UAM) processing techniques. The mapping results are compared with a reference map acquired with a very accurate laser system. Both approaches are convenient ways of representing and comparing the map points obtained with different techniques among themselves, as well as with an absolute reference. Snake curve fitting results in more accurate maps than SOM since it is more robust to outliers. The two methods are sufficiently general that they can be applied to discrete point maps acquired with other mapping techniques and other sensing modalities as well. copyright by EURASIP

Human activity recognition using inertial/magnetic sensor units

This paper provides a comparative study on the different techniques of classifying human activities that are performed using body-worn miniature inertial and magnetic sensors. The classification techniques implemented and compared in this study are: Bayesian decision making (BDM), the least-squares method (LSM), the k-nearest neighbor algorithm (k-NN), dynamic time warping (DTW), support vector machines (SVM), and artificial neural networks (ANN). Daily and sports activities are classified using five sensor units worn by eight subjects on the chest, the arms, and the legs. Each sensor unit comprises a triaxial gyroscope, a triaxial accelerometer, and a triaxial magnetometer. Principal component analysis (PCA) and sequential forward feature selection (SFFS) methods are employed for feature reduction. For a small number of features, SFFS demonstrates better performance and should be preferable especially in real-time applications. The classifiers are validated using different cross-validation techniques. Among the different classifiers we have considered, BDM results in the highest correct classification rate with relatively small computational cost. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Performance evaluation of ultrasonic arc map processing techniques by active snake contours

Active snake contours are considered for representing the maps of an environment obtained by different ultrasonic arc map (UAM) processing techniques efficiently. The mapping results are compared with the actual map of the room obtained with a very accurate laser system. This technique is a convenient way to represent and compare the map points obtained with different techniques among themselves, as well as with an absolute reference. It is also applicable to map points obtained with other mapping techniques. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Representing and evaluating ultrasonic maps using active snake contours and Kohonen's self-organizing feature maps

Active snake contours and Kohonen's self-organizing feature maps (SOMs) are employed for representing and evaluating discrete point maps of indoor environments efficiently and compactly. A generic error criterion is developed for comparing two different sets of points based on the Euclidean distance measure. The point sets can be chosen as (i) two different sets of map points acquired with different mapping techniques or different sensing modalities, (ii) two sets of fitted curve points to maps extracted by different mapping techniques or sensing modalities, or (iii) a set of extracted map points and a set of fitted curve points. The error criterion makes it possible to compare the accuracy of maps obtained with different techniques among themselves, as well as with an absolute reference. Guidelines for selecting and optimizing the parameters of active snake contours and SOMs are provided using uniform sampling of the parameter space and particle swarm optimization (PSO A demonstrative example from ultrasonic mapping is given based on experimental data and compared with a very accurate laser map, considered an absolute reference. Both techniques can fill the erroneous gaps in discrete point maps. Snake curve fitting results in more accurate maps than SOMs because it is more robust to outliers. The two methods and the error criterion are sufficiently general that they can also be applied to discrete point maps acquired with other mapping techniques and other sensing modalities. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Representing ultrasonic maps using active snake contours

[No abstract available

Evaluation of localisation of mandibular foramen in patients with mandibular third molar teeth using cone-beam computed tomography

Background: It is important to know the correct anatomical location of the mandibular foramen to obtain successful anaesthesia of inferior alveolar nerve and to prevent injury to the mandibular vessels and nerve, during a variety of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures. The aim of this study is to evaluate localisation of the mandibular foramen in patients with the third molars using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and methods: Cone-beam computed tomography was used to determine the location of the mandibular foramen in 67 patients (totally 99 sides) with unilateral or bilateral impacted mandibular third molars. Results: The distance from the posterior border of the mandibular ramus to mandibular foramen did not differ significantly among the other angulations. But the difference between vertical and horizontal angulation of the impactedmandibular third molars according to ‘fd’ values (the shortest distance between mandibular foramen and the posterior border of mandibular ramus) was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The present study provides new information to the literature concerning relationship between the location of the mandibular foramen and the mandibular third molars

Detection of ubiquitin–proteasome enzymatic activities in cells: Application of activity-based probes to inhibitor development

AbstractBackground: Synthetic probes that mimic natural substrates can enable the detection of enzymatic activities in a cellular environment. One area where such activity-based probes have been applied is the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, which is emerging as an important therapeutic target. A family of reagents has been developed that specifically label deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) and facilitate characterization of their inhibitors. Scope of review: Here we focus on the application of probes for intracellular DUBs, a group of specific proteases involved in the ubiquitin proteasome system. In particular, the functional characterization of the active subunits of this family of proteases that specifically recognize ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins will be discussed. In addition we present the potential and design of activity-based probes targeting kinases and phosphatases to study phosphorylation. Major conclusions: Synthetic molecular probes have increased our understanding of the functional role of DUBs in living cells. In addition to the detection of enzymatic activities of known members, activity-based probes have contributed to a number of functional assignments of previously uncharacterized enzymes. This method enables cellular validation of the specificity of small molecule DUB inhibitors. General significance: Molecular probes combined with mass spectrometry-based proteomics and cellular assays represent a powerful approach for discovery and functional validation, a concept that can be expanded to other enzyme classes. This addresses a need for more informative cell-based assays that are required to accelerate the drug development process. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Ubiquitin Drug Discovery and Diagnostics

Label-free quantitative proteomics reveals regulation of interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 3 (IFIT3) and 5'-3'-exoribonuclease 2 (XRN2) during respiratory syncytial virus infection

A large quantitative study was carried out to compare the proteome of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infected versus uninfected cells in order to determine novel pathways regulated during viral infection. RSV infected and mock-infected HEp2 cells were lysed and proteins separated by preparative isoelectric focussing using offgel fractionation. Following tryptic digestion, purified peptides were characterized using label-free quantitative expression profiling by nano-ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry with collision energy ramping for all-ion fragmentation (UPLC-MSE). A total of 1352 unique cellular proteins were identified and their abundance compared between infected and non-infected cells. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed regulation of several central cellular metabolic and signalling pathways during infection. Selected proteins that were found regulated in RSV infected cells were screened by quantitative real-time PCR for their regulation on the transcriptional level. Synthesis of interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 3 (IFIT3) and 5'-3'-exoribonuclease 2 (XRN2) mRNAs were found to be highly induced upon RSV infection in a time dependent manner. Accordingly, IFIT3 protein levels accumulated during the time course of infection. In contrast, little variation was observed in XRN2 protein levels, but different forms were present in infected versus non-infected cells. This suggests a role of these proteins in viral infection, and analysis of their function will shed further light on mechanisms of RNA virus replication and the host cell defence machinery