Boosting Handwriting Text Recognition in Small Databases with Transfer Learning

In this paper we deal with the offline handwriting text recognition (HTR) problem with reduced training datasets. Recent HTR solutions based on artificial neural networks exhibit remarkable solutions in referenced databases. These deep learning neural networks are composed of both convolutional (CNN) and long short-term memory recurrent units (LSTM). In addition, connectionist temporal classification (CTC) is the key to avoid segmentation at character level, greatly facilitating the labeling task. One of the main drawbacks of the CNNLSTM-CTC (CLC) solutions is that they need a considerable part of the text to be transcribed for every type of calligraphy, typically in the order of a few thousands of lines. Furthermore, in some scenarios the text to transcribe is not that long, e.g. in the Washington database. The CLC typically overfits for this reduced number of training samples. Our proposal is based on the transfer learning (TL) from the parameters learned with a bigger database. We first investigate, for a reduced and fixed number of training samples, 350 lines, how the learning from a large database, the IAM, can be transferred to the learning of the CLC of a reduced database, Washington. We focus on which layers of the network could be not re-trained. We conclude that the best solution is to re-train the whole CLC parameters initialized to the values obtained after the training of the CLC from the larger database. We also investigate results when the training size is further reduced. The differences in the CER are more remarkable when training with just 350 lines, a CER of 3.3% is achieved with TL while we have a CER of 18.2% when training from scratch. As a byproduct, the learning times are quite reduced. Similar good results are obtained from the Parzival database when trained with this reduced number of lines and this new approach.Comment: ICFHR 2018 Conferenc

Tree-structure Expectation Propagation for Decoding LDPC codes over Binary Erasure Channels

Expectation Propagation is a generalization to Belief Propagation (BP) in two ways. First, it can be used with any exponential family distribution over the cliques in the graph. Second, it can impose additional constraints on the marginal distributions. We use this second property to impose pair-wise marginal distribution constraints in some check nodes of the LDPC Tanner graph. These additional constraints allow decoding the received codeword when the BP decoder gets stuck. In this paper, we first present the new decoding algorithm, whose complexity is identical to the BP decoder, and we then prove that it is able to decode codewords with a larger fraction of erasures, as the block size tends to infinity. The proposed algorithm can be also understood as a simplification of the Maxwell decoder, but without its computational complexity. We also illustrate that the new algorithm outperforms the BP decoder for finite block-siz

Hipolito Unanue and thePeruvian epidemiology discourse building process

El siguiente ensayo establece una primera aproximación al estudio de la influencia del pensamiento de Hipólito Unanue en la construcción del discurso epidemiológico peruano. Luego de describir los aspectos más generales de las ideas de Unanue sobre los procesos de propagación de enfermedades, se discute cómo, a principios del siglo XX, en medio del debate sobre los problemas de población y las diversas posibilidades de desarrollo del país, diversos autores retoman las ideas de Unanue, erigido como héroe cultural de la colectividad médica. Se analiza su influencia en la obra de intelectuales, como Paz Soldán, Olaechea y Lastres analizando las diversas particularidades del proceso de decodificación de su pensamiento y como este permitió el desarrollo de un proceso de identidad asociado a la formación de una ‘conciencia peruana’, es decir, de una forma particular de mirar y transformar el mundo. Esta forma sistémica de abordar la complejidad del Perú es una de las características del desarrollo inicial de la epidemiología peruana, donde confluyen la Historia, la Geografía, la Sociología, la Antropología y la Eugenia para trazar explicaciones propias a los procesos de propagación de las enfermedades en el Perú.This essay is a first approximation to the study of Hipolito Unanue’s thinking influence on the Peruvian epidemiology discourse construction. After describing general aspects of Unanue’s thought on the processes of disease propagation, we discuss how at the beginning of the XX century, in middle of the debate on the community problems and the various possibilities of the nation’s development, different authors retake Unanue’s ideas, who had already been raised up as a cultural hero of the medical community. We analyze his influence in the work of intellectuals like Paz Soldan, Olaechea and Lastres analyzing the diverse particularities of their thinking decodifying process and how this allowed the development of an identity process linked to the making of a ‘Peruvian conscience’, that is, of a particular way of seeing and transforming the world. This systemic way of approaching Peru’s complexity is one of the characteristics of the initial development of Peruvian epidemiology, where History, Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, and Eugenics converge to outline explanations proper to the diseases propagation processes in Peru

El índice de densidad del Estado como una categoría para el análisis de la mortalidad infantil en el Perú. Un análisis exploratorio

Infant mortality is one of the most sensitive indicators for assessing the living conditions and well-being of populations. It is also a valuable indicator for analyzing the deployment of interventions in the territory linked to public health. The study proposes to explore the extent to which the State density index is useful to understand the deployment of infant mortality in the territory and to contextualize its associated factors. For the data and the study period analyzed and in reference to the values of the 2007 Census, we highlight there is a limited relation of the State density index as a variable associated with infant mortality. Its usefulness as a criterion for the analysis of groups is emphasized, allowing a finer discrimination of the inequities and of the differential characteristics associated with the infant mortality at the provincial level.La mortalidad infantil es uno de los indicadores más sensibles para evaluar las condiciones de vida y bienestar de las poblaciones. Asimismo, es un indicador valioso para analizar el despliegue de las intervenciones en el territorio vinculadas a la salud pública. El estudio propone explorar en qué medida el índice de densidad del Estado es útil para entender el despliegue de la mortalidad infantil en el territorio y contextualizar sus factores asociados. Se destaca que para los datos analizados, en referencia a los valores del Censo del 2007, se observa una limitada relación del índice de densidad del Estado, como variable asociada a la mortalidad infantil, para el periodo de estudio analizado. Se destaca su utilidad como criterio para el análisis de grupos, permitiendo una discriminación más fina de las inequidades y de las características diferenciales asociadas a la mortalidad infantil a nivel provincial

Construcción de competencias interculturales para el desarrollo de una propuesta de experiencias de aprendizaje para alumnos de primer año de medicina

This paper aims to present the conceptual and methodological basis that allowed the design of a set of content and learning experiences aimed to achieve basic intercultural competences in first year students of Medical School, Faculty of Medicine San Fernando, for the study period 2010-2013. It describes the development of a set of learning experiences aimed at what we call ‘Otherness Management’ designed to introduce a general basis for intercultural competences. Advantages and limitations of the proposal are analyzed within the cultural and institutional context, and elements for future development of these competencies in the medical curriculum are proposed.El presente ensayo tiene como objetivo plantear las bases conceptuales y metodológicas que permitieron el diseño de un conjunto de contenidos y experiencias de aprendizaje orientadas al logro de competencias interculturales de base en la formación del estudiante del primer año de estudios en la Escuela de Medicina de la Facultad de Medicina de San Fernando, para el periodo de estudios 2010-2013. Se describe el desarrollo de un conjunto de experiencias de aprendizaje orientadas a lo que denominamos ‘Gestión de la Otredad orientadas a introducir una base general de competencias interculturales. Se analizan las posibilidades y limitaciones de la propuesta en el marco del contexto cultural e institucional actualmente existente y se plantean elementos para un desarrollo futuro de estas competencias en el plan de estudios de medicina

Fortalecimiento de la oferta de servicios tecnológicos en el Centro de Automatización Industrial, cumpliendo con los lineamientos de la norma ISO 9001-2015, para las empresas y emprendedores de la región.

Se describen los servicios ofertados desde el taller CAM de Servicios Tecnológicos como apoyo a la industria y emprendedores de la región respaldo en términos de desarrollo y producción. En este se generan oportunidades para la viabilización de ideas de emprendimiento, respaldo para volúmenes de producción a pequeños empresarios, y procesos de diseño e ingeniería, por medio del uso de máquinas como el Torno con motorizada CNC, Centro de Mecanizado con 4to eje o el Brazo Faro.na3 página

Towards a Subject-Oriented Model-Driven Framework

AbstractModel-Driven Architecture is an approach which tackles such problems as: the high availability that a software product requires to be ready for use, the high degree of evolution that a software system has nowadays, etc. However, in the development of large complex systems, the benefits of that approach have been diminished due to the size and complexity of models that describe these kinds of systems. At this point Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) appears to improve the understanding, reusability and adaptation of the software artefacts. Its mechanism is based on modularization of crosscutting concerns in well-identified isolated entities called aspects. For this reason we propose to use together AOSD and MDA in the hope of reducing the shortcomings of the latter. Thus, aspects like security, replication, real-time constraints, etc., will be modelled by specialist modellers independently throughout the MDA framework. Our proposal exploits a tool for checking the consistency between different models (aspects) at the same level of abstraction; supporting the traceability of UML elements, requirements, and concerns; and controlling the impact of changes throughout the MDA framework