Using remote vision: The effects of video image frame rate on visual object recognition performance

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.The process of using remote vision was simulated in order to determine the effects of video image frame rate on the performance in visual recognition of stationary environmental hazards in the dynamic video footage of the pedestrian travel environment. The recognition performance was assessed against two different video image frame rate variations: 25 and 2 fps. The assessment included a range of objective and subjective criteria. The obtained results show that the effects of the frame rate variations on the performance are statistically insignificant. This paper belongs to the process of development of a novel system for navigation of visually impaired pedestrians. The navigation system includes a remote vision facility, and the visual recognition of the environmental hazards by the sighted human guide is a basic activity in aiding the visually impaired user of the system in mobility

Cellular Effects of Cystatins

The exact cellular functions of cystatins are still unknown, and the molecular mechanism leading to their internalization into cells is not yet fully understood. Commonly the cystatins are known to inhibit human lysosomal cysteine proteases (cysteine cathepsins) and it is supposed that this is their primary physiological role. The cystatins are traditionally believed to mediate regulation of cysteine cathepsins sometimes leaking out from damaged lysosomes of apoptotic cells and, also, to defend against invading microbial pathogens utilizing cysteine proteases. The balance between cysteine cathepsins and their inhibitors of the cystatin family is apparently pivotal in maintaining a healthy state (cell homeostasis). In several diseases such as atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and neoplasia this balance is perturbed, with either higher or lower expression levels of the inhibitors or increased or decreased activity of the enzymes. Historically, the concept of cellular internalization of cystatins was indicated from a few studies using chicken egg-white cystatin, which seemed to have intracellular activity when externally added to cell cultures; it inhibited the replication of polio virus. Later, a biologically active human cystatin C was produced in Escherichia coli, which was shown to inhibit the replication of herpes simplex- and corona-viruses following its external addition to trans-infected cells. Furthermore, when human recombinant cystatin C was injected intraperitoneally into cystatin C-deficient mice, it was detected within cells in many tissues and organs containing endogenous cystatin C in normal mice.In this thesis project, we aimed to study the cellular effects of secreted cystatins on cancer cell growth and death, and whether their function to inhibit cysteine cathepsins is associated with these effects. Our studies were focused on the cellular effects of externally added cystatins C and D on viable cell number, cell death, and proliferation under several oxidative stress conditions. A dose-dependent decrease in the viable cell number was observed in leukemic (Jurkat, U937, and HL-60) and epithelial (A375, MCF-7, and PC-3) cancer cells cultured with cystatin C or D. Internalized cystatin D augmented caspase-3-like activity in U937 cells when the intrinsic pathway of the apoptotic cascade was induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In contrast, none of the cystatins showed consistent effects on the extrinsic apoptotic pathway induced by anti-Fas in these cells. Cathepsin C activity was high in U937 cells cultured under normoxia and hypoxia and was significantly inhibited by internalized cystatin D. Induction of lysosomal damage using the cathepsin C substrate, Gly-Phe-β-naphtylamide (GPN), leads to galectin puncta formation, which was used to provide an evidence for the inhibition of cathepsin C by internalized cystatin D within lysosomes. A partial co-localization of cystatin D and galectin was seen using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Inhibition of cathepsin C activity was seen in lysates of U937 cells cultured in the presence of cystatin D or C, which paralleled an observed decrease in cell numbers. This provided complimentary, although circumstantial, evidence that internalized cystatins decrease cell proliferation by a mechanism involving cathepsin C inhibition. To be able to study the effects of cystatins on the proliferation of individual cells over time, digital holographic microscopy was used for live time-lapse assessment of growth rate and doubling time in A375 melanoma cell cultures. A prolonged doubling time for cells cultured with cystatin C compared to untreated control cells was observed. Tracking of individual cells in holographic images showed that cells incubated with cystatin C underwent fewer mitoses than control cells, which was observable already the first 12 h. The results from incubation of the cells with the two inhibitor variants W106F- and (R24A,R25A)-cystatin C with altered internalization properties supported that internalization is a prerequisite for the cellular effects of cystatins. Preliminary findings showed that externally added cystatin D is as effective as cystatin C in downregulating the growth of A375 melanoma cells.In all, the results of this thesis demonstrate that 1) Cystatins C and D can reduce the proliferation of cultured cancer cell lines by themselves, in addition to enhancing apoptosis induced by oxidative stress, indicating downregulation of intracellular cysteine proteases; 2) In leukemic cells (U937), internalized cystatin D co-localizes with and targets lysosomal cathepsin C activity, implicating that cathepsin C may be a key enzyme that is involved in the mechanism(s) leading to cystatins’ anti-proliferative effects on cancer cells and, possibly also, promoting cell death; 3) Externally added cystatin C and D could prolong the cell cycle and division time of melanoma cells leading to reduced proliferation. These effects on cancer cells were paralleled by the cellular uptake of cystatins, indicating that internalization is a prerequisite for all

Motor satisfaction and its relationship to quality of life among elderly physically active women

This study aimed to identify the relationship between the level of motor satisfaction and quality of life among elderly women who practice physical activities. The study sample consisted of (25) women practicing physical activities in Al-Hussein Sports City, their average age was (63.1) years, The descriptive approach was used, motor scale of satisfaction (Allawi, 1998) was used at the study, also quality of life (QOL) scale (WHOQOL-BREF) World Health Organization Quality of life (1998), The results of the study indicated that there was a positive statistically significant relationship at the level α ≤ 0.05 between motor satisfaction and dimension of quality of life for elderly women who practice physical activities, and the researcher recommended, edification and encouraging elderly women to participate in various physical activities to maintain an appropriate level of physical, psychological, social and environmental quality of life through satellite channels and various social media

Client-server-based LBS architecture: A novel positioning module for improved positioning performance

Permission to distribute obtained from publisher.This work presents a new efficient positioning module that operates over client-server LBS architectures. The aim of the proposed module is to fulfil the position information requirements for LBS pedestrian applications by ensuring the availability of reliable, highly accurate and precise position solutions based on GPS single frequency (L1) positioning service. The positioning module operates at both LBS architecture sides; the client (mobile device), and the server (positioning server). At the server side, the positioning module is responsible for correcting user’s location information based on WADGPS corrections. In addition, at the mobile side, the positioning module is continually in charge for monitoring the integrity and available of the position solutions as well as managing the communication with the server. The integrity monitoring was based on EGNOS integrity methods. A prototype of the proposed module was developed and used in experimental trials to evaluate the efficiency of the module in terms of the achieved positioning performance. The positioning module was capable of achieving a horizontal accuracy of less than 2 meters with a 95% confidence level with integrity improvement of more than 30% from existing GPS/EGNOS services

Flexural Ductility Behavior of Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Steel and CFRP Plates

Reinforced concrete beams are commonly retrofitted using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) plates as the technique is both inexpensive and unobtrusive. However, tests have shown that CFRP plates tend to debond at low strains, which can severely limit the ductility. Structural strengthening of beams subjected to flexure can be achieved using different retrofitting materials. The mostly used other retrofitting materials are; high strength galvanized steel plates (HSGS plates) and normal strength steel plates (NSS plates). This paper reports the behavior of retrofitted beams with each of these three materials. The experimental results of this study suggest that (HSGS plates) can be used to increase the strength of reinforced concrete structures with little, if any, loss of ductility

Oxidation of fine chemicals by iron based and metal-free catalysis

The catalytic oxidation by using transition metal complexes offers attractive opportunities for industrial applications following environmentally benign manufacturing processes. However, the number of such catalytic methods has substantially decreased. In this thesis, we developed and utilized three iron based catalysts (FeIII/thymine-1-acetic acid, FeIII/Phenanthroline, and FeII/Nmethylimidazole) and one organic catalysts (1,2-Di(1-naphthyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (NEDA)). The iron/THA catalyst (iron/thymine-1-acetic acid) is efficiently capable of oxidizing both primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols into their corresponding carbonyl compounds, acids and ketones. The system can also oxidize alkanes with different steric and electronic environment. We also presented a new method for the oxidation of benzylic and aliphatic primary and secondary alcohols using iron-based catalyst, which is [Fe(phen)2Cl2]NO3 (iron/Phenanthroline), with hydrogen peroxide as a terminal oxidant. The easily accessible catalyst (iron/N-methylimidazole) was developed to form dehydrogenative coupling reaction between benzaldehydes and styrenes. The CH activation to produce α,β unsaturated ketones has been also developed. The organic (metal-free) catalyst (1,2-Di(1-naphthyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (NEDA)) has shown to be an efficient catalyst for the oxidation of secondary alcohols with t-BuOOH as a terminal oxidant. Under mild reaction conditions, a secondary alcohol is converted into its corresponding ketone.Katalyysi on tärkeä kemian ala ja sitä hyödynnetään laajasti muun muassa teollisuudessa sekä ympäristö- ja biotieteissä. Erityisesti katalyyttistä hapetusta käytetään hyväksi ratkaistaessa lääketeollisuuden ja kemikaalien tuotannon taloudellisia ja ympäristöllisiä ongelmia. Tämä tapahtuu kehittämällä tehokkaita, selektiivisiä ja ympäristöllisesti kestäviä synteesiprosesseja. Näissä prosesseissa käytetyt katalyytit voivat kuitenkin olla kalliita tai myrkyllisiä. Tässä väitöskirjatyössä kehitettiin kolme rautayhdisteisiin perustuvaa hapetuskatalyyttiä sekä metalliton katalyysimenetelmä, joita on mahdollista hyödyntää hienokemikaalien valmistuksessa

Investigating Social Media Management, Adoption and Challenges - The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Social media and innovative Web Services and solutions are offering new possibilities for innovative use in different aspects our lives. Being apart from getting involved in using social media would add more challenges to our daily activities, as we are becoming more reliable on their use. Social media platforms are offering its users new means of communications, where users who post, share and comment on online published information have the potential of reaching a large mass of people in a very short time when compared with traditional use of media. Such use of social media platforms makes it very useful and important to be adequately consider as means for better preparing and responding to a critical event and may offer many benefits in terms of protection and rescue for agencies dealing with civil protection, as they provide wider opportunities for people to engage in warning and informing others in a response to crisis events. This study is part of a wider research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it will focus on discussing the current views of governmental officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to the use of social media in the field of protection and rescue activities. The findings are presented in order to pinpoint challenges that will be used as a roadmap for any future solutions in this regard. Keywords: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Flood Crisis, Situation Awareness, Natural Disaster, Social Media, Civil protection

Effect of Welding on Lateral-Torsional Buckling Resistance of I-Shaped Built-up Steel

An experimental investigation was made of the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling of built-up steel I-beams. All beams were carefully fabricated with controlled levels of initial crookedness. Nineteen beams were tested in five groups under same loading conditions with two points load applied at the top flange. The results confirmed that built-up beams of intermediate slenderness with fillet welds on one side of the web are sometimes stronger than their counterpart beams with fillet welds on both sides of the web. It was found that design loads predicted by the Australian Standard provided good lower bounds estimates to failure loads of the tested beams

Social media platforms and its applications in natural disaster and crisis events – the case of Bosnia & Herzegovina

Social media platforms are providing opportunities for people to easily engage in warning and informing others in response to natural disaster and crisis events. They are considered more effective and faster to spread among people than traditional media do, and as such make them very important for governments’ civil protection authorities to consider using social media in a framework that will help people to better prepare and response to threats. The importance of this study is that it brings attention to the case of crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and it enriches the literature with current status and trends of effective using of SM to early prepare for and mitigate the consequences of disaster impact. This paper discusses some of the major challenges identified during the May 2014 flood in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the public use of social media that enabled the exploitation of new opportunities for facing flood threats and mitigate its effects. Keywords: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Flood Crisis, Flood Challenges, Natural Disaster, Social Medi