A Data Fusion Perspective on Human Motion Analysis Including Multiple Camera Applications

Proceedings of: 5th International Work-Conference on the Interplay Between Natural and Artificial Computation, (IWINAC 2013). Mallorca, Spain, June 10-14.Human motion analysis methods have received increasing attention during the last two decades. In parallel, data fusion technologies have emerged as a powerful tool for the estimation of properties of objects in the real world. This papers presents a view of human motion analysis from the viewpoint of data fusion. JDL process model and Dasarathy's input-output hierarchy are employed to categorize the works in the area. A survey of the literature in human motion analysis from multiple cameras is included. Future research directions in the area are identified after this review.Publicad

Exploring the characteristics and most bothersome symptoms in MECP2 duplication syndrome to pave the path toward developing parent-oriented outcome measures

BACKGROUND: MECP2 Duplication Syndrome (MDS), resulting from the duplication of Xq28 region, including MECP2, is a rare disorder with a nascent understanding in clinical features and severity. Studies using antisense oligonucleotides revealed a broad phenotypic rescue in transgenic mice. With human clinical trials on the horizon, there is a need to develop clinical outcome measures for MDS. METHODS: We surveyed caregivers of MDS individuals to explore the frequency and severity of MDS clinical features, and identify the most meaningful symptoms/domains that need to be included in the outcome measure scales. RESULTS: A total of 101 responses were eligible for the survey. The top six most meaningful symptoms to caregivers in descending order included epilepsy, gross motor, fine motor, communication, infection, and constipation problems. Epilepsy was present in 58.4% of the subjects and 75% were drug‐resistant, Furthermore, ~12% required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Infections were present in 55% of the subjects, and one‐fourth of them required ICU admission. Constipation was present in ~85% of the subjects and one‐third required enemas/suppositories. CONCLUSION: Our study is one of the largest cohorts conducted on MDS individuals characterizing the frequency and severity of MDS symptoms. Additionally, these study results will contribute to establishing a foundation to develop parent‐reported outcomes in MDS

Tool flank wear prediction using high-frequency machine data from industrial edge device

Tool flank wear monitoring can minimize machining downtime costs while increasing productivity and product quality. In some industrial applications, only a limited level of tool wear is allowed to attain necessary tolerances. It may become challenging to monitor a limited level of tool wear in the data collected from the machine due to the other components, such as the flexible vibrations of the machine, dominating the measurement signals. In this study, a tool wear monitoring technique to predict limited levels of tool wear from the spindle motor current and dynamometer measurements is presented. High-frequency spindle motor current data is collected with an industrial edge device while the cutting forces and torque are measured with a rotary dynamometer in drilling tests for a selected number of holes. Feature engineering is conducted to identify the statistical features of the measurement signals that are most sensitive to small changes in tool wear. A neural network based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture is developed to predict tool flank wear from the measured spindle motor current and dynamometer signals. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique predicts tool flank wear with good accuracy and high computational efficiency. The proposed technique can easily be implemented in an industrial edge device as a real-time predictive maintenance application to minimize the costs due to manufacturing downtime and tool underuse or overuse.Comment: The first four authors have equal contributio

Stylistic document retrieval for Turkish

In information retrieval (IR) systems, there are a query and a collection of documents compared with this query and ranked according to a particular similarity measure. Since texts with the same content can be written by different authors, the writing styles of the documents change as well accordingly. This observation brings the idea of investigating text by means of style. In this paper, we analyze text documents in terms of stylistic features of the written text and measure effectiveness of these features in an IR system. Our main focus is on Turkish text documents. Although there are many studies about broadening IR systems with style based enhancement, there is no similar application for Turkish which performs retrieval depending purely on style. © 2009 IEEE

Functional biology of the Steel syndrome founder allele and evidence for clan genomics derivation of COL27A1 pathogenic alleles worldwide

© 2020, The Author(s). Previously we reported the identification of a homozygous COL27A1 (c.2089G\u3eC; p.Gly697Arg) missense variant and proposed it as a founder allele in Puerto Rico segregating with Steel syndrome (STLS, MIM #615155); a rare osteochondrodysplasia characterized by short stature, congenital bilateral hip dysplasia, carpal coalitions, and scoliosis. We now report segregation of this variant in five probands from the initial clinical report defining the syndrome and an additional family of Puerto Rican descent with multiple affected adult individuals. We modeled the orthologous variant in murine Col27a1 and found it recapitulates some of the major Steel syndrome associated skeletal features including reduced body length, scoliosis, and a more rounded skull shape. Characterization of the in vivo murine model shows abnormal collagen deposition in the extracellular matrix and disorganization of the proliferative zone of the growth plate. We report additional COL27A1 pathogenic variant alleles identified in unrelated consanguineous Turkish kindreds suggesting Clan Genomics and identity-by-descent homozygosity contributing to disease in this population. The hypothesis that carrier states for this autosomal recessive osteochondrodysplasia may contribute to common complex traits is further explored in a large clinical population cohort. Our findings auNorthwell Healthnt our understanding of COL27A1 biology and its role in skeletal development; and expand the functional allelic architecture in this gene underlying both rare and common disease phenotypes

The neutrino signal at HALO: learning about the primary supernova neutrino fluxes and neutrino properties

Core-collapse supernova neutrinos undergo a variety of phenomena when they travel from the high neutrino density region and large matter densities to the Earth. We perform analytical calculations of the supernova neutrino fluxes including collective effects due to the neutrino-neutrino interactions, the Mikheev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect due to the neutrino interactions with the background matter and decoherence of the wave packets as they propagate in space. We predict the numbers of one- and two-neutron charged and neutral-current electron-neutrino scattering on lead events. We show that, due to the energy thresholds, the ratios of one- to two-neutron events are sensitive to the pinching parameters of neutrino fluxes at the neutrinosphere, almost independently of the presently unknown neutrino properties. Besides, such events have an interesting sensitivity to the spectral split features that depend upon the presence/absence of energy equipartition among neutrino flavors. Our calculations show that a lead-based observatory like the Helium And Lead Observatory (HALO) has the potential to pin down important characteristics of the neutrino fluxes at the neutrinosphere, and provide us with information on the neutrino transport in the supernova core.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables, minor correction

Analytical Benchmark Problems for Multifidelity Optimization Methods

The paper presents a collection of analytical benchmark problems specifically selected to provide a set of stress tests for the assessment of multifidelity optimization methods. In addition, the paper discusses a comprehensive ensemble of metrics and criteria recommended for the rigorous and meaningful assessment of the performance of multifidelity strategies and algorithms

Geotechnical Field Reconnaissance: Gorkha (Nepal) Earthquake of April 25, 2015 and Related Shaking Sequence

The April 25, 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) Earthquake and its related aftershocks had a devastating impact on Nepal. The earthquake sequence resulted in nearly 9,000 deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, and has left hundreds of thousands of inhabitants homeless. With economic losses estimated at several billion US dollars, the financial impact to Nepal is severe and the rebuilding phase will likely span many years. The Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association assembled a reconnaissance team under the leadership of D. Scott Kieffer, Binod Tiwari and Youssef M.A. Hashash to evaluate geotechnical impacts of the April 25, 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and its related aftershocks. The focus of the reconnaissance was on time-sensitive (perishable) data, and the GEER team included a large group of experts in the areas of Geology, Engineering Geology, Seismology, Tectonics, Geotechnical Engineering, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. The GEER team worked in close collaboration with local and international organizations to document earthquake damage and identify targets for detailed follow up investigations. The overall distribution of damage relative to the April 25, 2015 epicenter indicates significant ground motion directivity, with pronounced damage to the east and comparatively little damage to the west. In the Kathmandu Basin, characteristics of recorded strong ground motion data suggest that a combination of directivity and deep basin effects resulted in significant amplification at a period of approximately five seconds. Along the margins of Kathmandu Basin structural damage and ground failures are more pronounced than in the basin interior, indicating possible basin edge motion amplification. Although modern buildings constructed within the basin generally performed well, local occurrences of heavy damage and collapse of reinforced concrete structures were observed. Ground failures in the basin included cyclic failure of silty clay, lateral spreading and liquefaction. Significant landsliding was triggered over a broad area, with concentrated activity east of the April 25, 2015 epicenter and between Kathmandu and the Nepal-China border. The distribution of concentrated landsliding partially reflects directivity in the ground motion. Several landslides have dammed rivers and many of these features have already been breached. Hydropower is a primary source of electric power in Nepal, and several facilities were damaged due to earthquake-induced landsliding. Powerhouses and penstocks experienced significant damage, and an intake structure currently under construction experienced significant dynamic settlement during the earthquake. Damage to roadways, bridges and retaining structures was also primarily related to landsliding. The greater concentration of infrastructure damage along steep hillsides, ridges and mountain peaks offers a proxy for the occurrence of topographic amplification. The lack of available strong motion records has severely limited the GEER team’s ability to understand how strong motions were distributed and how they correlate to distributions of landsliding, ground failure and infrastructure damage. It is imperative that the engineering and scientific community continues to install strong motion stations so that such data is available for future earthquake events. Such information will benefit the people of Nepal through improved approaches to earthquake resilient design

Technology-assisted stroke rehabilitation in Mexico: a pilot randomized trial comparing traditional therapy to circuit training in a Robot/technology-assisted therapy gym

Background Stroke rehabilitation in low- and middle-income countries, such as Mexico, is often hampered by lack of clinical resources and funding. To provide a cost-effective solution for comprehensive post-stroke rehabilitation that can alleviate the need for one-on-one physical or occupational therapy, in lower and upper extremities, we proposed and implemented a technology-assisted rehabilitation gymnasium in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Gymnasium for Robotic Rehabilitation (Robot Gym) consisted of low- and high-tech systems for upper and lower limb rehabilitation. Our hypothesis is that the Robot Gym can provide a cost- and labor-efficient alternative for post-stroke rehabilitation, while being more or as effective as traditional physical and occupational therapy approaches. Methods A typical group of stroke patients was randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 10) or a control group (n = 10). The intervention group received rehabilitation using the devices in the Robot Gym, whereas the control group (n = 10) received time-matched standard care. All of the study subjects were subjected to 24 two-hour therapy sessions over a period of 6 to 8 weeks. Several clinical assessments tests for upper and lower extremities were used to evaluate motor function pre- and post-intervention. A cost analysis was done to compare the cost effectiveness for both therapies. Results No significant differences were observed when comparing the results of the pre-intervention Mini-mental, Brunnstrom Test, and Geriatric Depression Scale Test, showing that both groups were functionally similar prior to the intervention. Although, both training groups were functionally equivalent, they had a significant age difference. The results of all of the upper extremity tests showed an improvement in function in both groups with no statistically significant differences between the groups. The Fugl-Meyer and the 10 Meters Walk lower extremity tests showed greater improvement in the intervention group compared to the control group. On the Time Up and Go Test, no statistically significant differences were observed pre- and post-intervention when comparing the control and the intervention groups. For the 6 Minute Walk Test, both groups presented a statistically significant difference pre- and post-intervention, showing progress in their performance. The robot gym therapy was more cost-effective than the traditional one-to-one therapy used during this study in that it enabled therapist to train up to 1.5 to 6 times more patients for the approximately same cost in the long term. Conclusions The results of this study showed that the patients that received therapy using the Robot Gym had enhanced functionality in the upper extremity tests similar to patients in the control group. In the lower extremity tests, the intervention patients showed more improvement than those subjected to traditional therapy. These results support that the Robot Gym can be as effective as traditional therapy for stroke patients, presenting a more cost- and labor-efficient option for countries with scarce clinical resources and funding. Trial registration ISRCTN98578807