KACST Arabic Text Classification Project: Overview and Preliminary Results

Electronically formatted Arabic free-texts can be found in abundance these days on the World Wide Web, often linked to commercial enterprises and/or government organizations. Vast tracts of knowledge and relations lie hidden within these texts, knowledge that can be exploited once the correct intelligent tools have been identified and applied. For example, text mining may help with text classification and categorization. Text classification aims to automatically assign text to a predefined category based on identifiable linguistic features. Such a process has different useful applications including, but not restricted to, E-Mail spam detection, web pages content filtering, and automatic message routing. In this paper an overview of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Arabic Text Classification Project will be illustrated along with some preliminary results. This project will contribute to the better understanding and elaboration of Arabic text classification techniques

FOXO1 Deletion Reverses the Effect of Diabetic-Induced Impaired Fracture Healing

Objectives: Abstract Diabetes impairs fracture healing. Our laboratory previously suggested that a dominant mechanism was the premature loss of cartilage during endochondral bone formation. Based on these results we tested the hypothesis that chondrocytes regulate osteoclast formation in diabetes-impaired fracture healing and that it is controlled by the transcription factor FOXO1. Methods: Closed fracture of the femur was induced in mice with lineage-specific FOXO1 deletion in chondrocytes Col2α1Cre+/FOXO1L/L and Col2α1Cre-/ FOXO1L/L as control mice that had FOXO1 gene present. Mice were rendered diabetic by multiple streptozotocin injections. The normoglycemic group received vehicle alone. Specimens were collected at 10 days (cartilage formed), 16 days (transition from cartilage to bone formation) and 22 days (primary bone formed). The cartilage area was measured using safranin-O/fast green staining. Osteoclasts were counted as TRAP positive cells. The expression of cathepsin K and RANKL were determined by quantitative immunostaining with specific antibodies compared to control IgG. Micro CT was used to measure the callus volume and the mineralized bone. Statistical analysis was done using a one-way ANOVA test. Results with p iv Results: All the groups showed similar cartilage areas at day 10. At day16 the diabetic group had 77% less cartilage area than the normal (P Conclusion: Our data indicates that FOXO1 drives RANKL expression in chondrocytes and resorption of cartilage. FOXO1 deletion reverses diabetes-enhanced osteoclast formation and prevents the premature loss of cartilage, which results in a better bone healing

Alkali Activated Slag Characterization by Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis

Blast furnace slag is a non-metallic byproduct generated by the production of iron and steel in a blast furnace at temperatures in the range of 1400°-1600° C. The alkali activation of blast furnace slag has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of cementitious materials and to be applied in geographic zones where weather is a factor that negatively affects performance of materials based on Ordinary Portland Cement. Alkali-activated blast furnace slag cements have been studied since the 1930s due to its high compressive strength; they can exceed 100 MPa in 28 days. The low Ca/Si ratio in slag improves its resistance to aggressive chemical materials such as acids, chlorides and sulphates. Blast furnace slag is a highly heterogeneous material. It is well known that its chemical composition affects the physical properties of the alkali activated material, however there is little work on how these inhomogeneities affect the microstructure and pore formation. In this study we characterize slag cement activated with KOH using several methods: x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray microanalysis (EDS), and quantitative element mapping. Attention is focused on delineating the phases induced by the alkali activation, as these phases are important in determining the mechanical properties of the material. For the alkaline activated slag, we found four phases. One phase was the particles carried over from the unactivated slag, but with significant changes in the chemical composition. In addition, three other phases were found -- one is rich in hydrotalcite and two phases were calcium aluminum silicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) is predominant

Relationship between Vestibular System, Vision, Anxiety, and Chronic Motion Sensitivity

BACKGROUND: Chronic motion sensitivity (CMS) has been defined as a feeling of un-wellness elicited by either actual or perceived motion. CMS is a common condition and is more prevalent in females than in males. In addition to a variety of symptoms, young adults with CMS have less postural stability than those without CMS. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether vestibular system integrity, dependence on visual cues for postural stability, and the anxiety level are different between young adults with and without CMS, and whether it differs by gender within each group. METHODS: Sixty young adults (30 females and 30 males) were assigned to one of two groups (CMS or non-CMS) using the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire-Short Form (MSSQ-SF). Postural stability was measured for all participants using the Bertec Balance Advantage–Computerized Dynamic Posturography with Immersion Virtual Reality (CDP-IVR). State and trait anxiety inventory (STAI) used to measure the presence and severity of current state and general trait of anxiety. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in mean postural stability during eyes closed and unstable platform between the CMS and non-CMS groups (p=0.57). However, A significant difference was found in mean postural stability scores during immersion virtual reality (IVR) between the CMS and non-CMS groups (p Keywords: motion sensitivity, vestibular system integrity, visual input, Anxiety, postural stabilit

Fast Video Stabilization Algorithms

A fast and robust electronic video stabilization algorithm is presented in this thesis. It is based on a two-dimensional feature-based motion estimation technique. The method tracks a small set of features and estimates the movement of the camera between consecutive frames. It is used to characterize the motions accurately including camera rotations between two imaging instants. An affine motion model is utilized to determine the parameters of translation and rotation between images. The determined affine transformation is then exploited to compensate for the abrupt temporal discontinuities of input image sequences. Also, a frequency domain approach is developed to estimate translations between two consecutive frames in a video sequence. Finally, a jitter detection technique to isolate vibration affected subsequence of an image sequence is presented. The experimental results of using both simulated and real images have revealed the applicability of the proposed techniques. In particular, the emphasis has been to develop real time implementable algorithms, suitable for unmanned vehicles with severe payload constraints

Backbending phenomena in light nuclei at A~60 mass region

Recent studies of the backbending phenomenon in medium light weight nuclei near A~60 expanded greatly our interest about how the single particle orbits are nonlinearly affected by the collective motion. As a consequence we have applied a modi…ed version of the exponential model with the inclusion of paring correlation to describe the energy spectra of the ground state bands and/or the backbending phenomenon in mass region at A~60. A firm conclusion is obtained concerning the successful validity of the proposed modified model in describing the backbending phenomenon in this region. Comparison with different theoretical descriptions is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure