Robust Adaptive Median Binary Pattern for noisy texture classification and retrieval

Texture is an important cue for different computer vision tasks and applications. Local Binary Pattern (LBP) is considered one of the best yet efficient texture descriptors. However, LBP has some notable limitations, mostly the sensitivity to noise. In this paper, we address these criteria by introducing a novel texture descriptor, Robust Adaptive Median Binary Pattern (RAMBP). RAMBP based on classification process of noisy pixels, adaptive analysis window, scale analysis and image regions median comparison. The proposed method handles images with high noisy textures, and increases the discriminative properties by capturing microstructure and macrostructure texture information. The proposed method has been evaluated on popular texture datasets for classification and retrieval tasks, and under different high noise conditions. Without any train or prior knowledge of noise type, RAMBP achieved the best classification compared to state-of-the-art techniques. It scored more than $90\%$ under $50\%$ impulse noise densities, more than $95\%$ under Gaussian noised textures with standard deviation $\sigma = 5$, and more than $99\%$ under Gaussian blurred textures with standard deviation $\sigma = 1.25$. The proposed method yielded competitive results and high performance as one of the best descriptors in noise-free texture classification. Furthermore, RAMBP showed also high performance for the problem of noisy texture retrieval providing high scores of recall and precision measures for textures with high levels of noise

Sediment reactivity and its impact on dissolved organic matter fluxes and nitrogen isotope dynamics during early sedimentary diagenesis in the St. Lawrence estuary and gulf

Des conditions d'hypoxie sont couramment rencontrées dans les eaux profondes de l'estuaire du Saint-Laurent, dû à une forte dégradation de matière organique particulaire (MOP) hautement réactive de même qu'à une eutrophisation généralisée de l'estuaire au cours des dernières décennies. On en connaît par contre peu sur la distribution et la composition de la MOP retrouvée dans les sédiments, ainsi que sur les facteurs qui gouvernent sa réactivité dans les différentes zones de l'estuaire. Les nutriments azotés, incluant l'azote organique dissous (AOD), sont un facteur limitant courant pour la productivité primaire estuarienne, et pourtant, l'AOD est presque systématiquement absent des budgets de nutriments estuariens et marins. Dans le Saint-Laurent, les sources et les puits de l'AOD ne sont pas bien définis, et les facteurs qui régulent le relargage benthique de l'AOD, en particulier, sont incertains. La mesure de la composition isotopique des différentes espèces d'azote est utile pour comprendre et quantifier les différents processus liés au cycle de l'azote, dans les sédiments et dans la colonne d'eau (incluant les processus qui affectent l'AOD), mais l'effet de la composition isotopique sur les dits processus, en contrepartie, doivent être éclaircis. En ce moment, aucune étude n'a documenté les liens existant entre la composition isotopique des différentes espèces d'azote et les échanges de nutriments entre les milieux benthique et pélagique estuariens et marins. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif général de cette thèse est de déterminer la composition et la réactivité de la matière organique (MO) dans l'estuaire du Saint-Laurent, d'évaluer son impact sur les flux et les budgets d'azote, puis d'évaluer comment les propriétés isotopiques des espèces d'azote échangées lors des différents flux affecteront le pool d'azote dans la colonne d'eau. Les objectifs spécifiques sont donc, dans un premier temps, de déterminer la distribution de la MOP réactive au long de l'estuaire et du golfe du Saint-Laurent, ainsi que d'explorer les facteurs qui contrôlent cette distribution, tels que les sources de MOP, l'oxygène dissous et les régimes de déposition. Dans un deuxième temps, j'explore ici la distribution et les flux d'azote et de carbone organique dissous (AOD; COD) dans l'eau interstitielle entre les sédiments et la colonne d'eau, ainsi que les différences stœchiométriques qui en découlent, lesquelles sont probablement régulées par la réactivité de la MOP et les conditions environnementales. Le dernier objectif est de suivre la transformation des différentes espèces d'azote organique et inorganique dissous (AOD+AID) dans les eaux interstitielles, puis de déterminer l'effet qu'aura la séquence de reminéralisation-nitrification-dénitrification de l'azote sur le contenu en 15N du pool réactif d'azote dans la colonne d'eau. Pour répondre à ces objectifs, des échantillons provenant de l'eau et des sédiments de l'estuaire du Saint-Laurent ont été collectés lors de deux campagnes au long d'un gradient depuis l'estuaire vers l'océan. La composition en isotopes stables (N et C), le carbone organique total, l'azote total, les acides aminés et le contenu en chlore ont été mesuré dans les sédiments. Ces analyses sont à la base des calculs d'indices de réactivité de la matière organique, de l'indice de dégradation (ID) et de l'indice de chlore (IC) des sédiments. De plus, les nitrates (et nitrites), l'ammonium, le carbone organique dissous (COD) et l'AOD seront mesurés dans les eaux interstitielles des sédiments. Ces variables seront ensuite utilisées pour estimer les flux diffusifs à l'interface eaux-sédiments. Finalement, les compositions isotopiques des NO3- et de l'azote total dissous (ATD) ont été déterminées, et l'effet isotopique associé à leurs flux à l'interface eau-sédiment a été calculé. Les résultats de ce présent travail montrent clairement un gradient de la réactivité de MOP des sédiments et un début d'altération diagénétique au long de l'estuaire du golfe du Saint-Laurent, avec plus de MO réactive dans la partie peu profonde de l'estuaire moyen et dans la zone hypoxique et très productive de l'estuaire maritime. Les analyses de stéréo-isomères des acides aminés ont révélé un couplage entre l'ampleur de la diagénèse et l'accumulation et la préservation sélective de la matière dérivée des membranes de cellules bactériennes dans les sédiments. Le temps d'exposition à l'oxygène des sédiments semble déterminer fortement la réactivité de MO des sédiments dans l'estuaire du Saint-Laurent, plutôt que la source de la MOP. Dans l'ensemble de la zone d'étude, les sédiments représentent une source d'AOD dans la colonne d'eau (de 0,11 à 0,43 mmol m-2 j-1). Les flux d'AOD comptent pour 30 à 64% de la dénitrification benthique totale, et étaient significativement positivement corrélés avec la réactivité de la MO et négativement corrélés avec l'oxygène dissous des eaux recouvrant les sédiments. Les flux de COD étaient relativement constants (2,1 ± 0,1 mmol m-2 j-1) et n'ont pas démontré de patron de variation au long du gradient estuaire-océan, impliquant une partition des éléments prononcée et contrôlée par l'environnement durant l'hydrolyse et la reminéralisation de la MOP durant la diagénèse hâtive des sédiments. L'azote réduit dissous (ARD) des eaux interstitielles et les nitrates étaient tous les deux significativement enrichis en 15N dans les sédiments. Comme dans les autres environnements marins, le fractionnement isotopique biologique de la perte nette d'N fixé due à la dénitrification était à peine exprimé à l'échelle des échanges entre les sédiments et l'eau. Intégrer, pour la première fois, les flux d'ARD (AOD + NH4+) dans les calculs de l'effet isotopique de l'N total des sédiments génère des effets isotopique d'N légèrement plus élevé (4,6 ± 2 %o), qui semblent être contrôlés par la réactivité et la profondeur de pénétration de l'oxygène dans les sédiments. Les valeurs des effets isotopiques de l'N total des sédiments reportés ici sont plus élevés que les valeurs présumées, et occasionnent des incohérences dans le cycle global des isotopes d'N, car ils impliquent un plus grand ratio de dénitrification entre les sédiments et la colonne d'eau et, ainsi un plus grand débalancement du budget global de l'N qu'il n'est actuellement considéré. En résumé, cette étude souligne les liens étroits existant entre le régime de condition de préservation et de sédimentation, la composition et la réactivité de la MO et le remaniement bactérien, ainsi que les échanges de solutés à l'interface eau/sédiment, avec des implications à grand échelle pour l'effet des processus benthiques sur les éléments et le budget isotopique de l'N dans la colonne d'eau des estuaires marins.\ud _____________________________________________________________________________

A spectroscopic and imaging investigation of sporopollenin-metal interactions

The main objective has been the determination of the nature of the interaction of metal complexes and salts with the surface of sporopollenin exine capsules (SEC) and other naturally occurring spore exines. These natural materials derived from plant pollen and spores can interact with the inorganic compounds via the formation of coordination bonds and can impart unusual properties. This makes them ideal materials for investigation as they can be used in a wide variety of applications including catalysis, metal remediation, imaging and biological delivery. Although there have been many studies using brown SECs, the focus of this work has been on bleached SECs as the paler colour enables the use of a wider variety of spectroscopic techniques. The first row transition metals copper, iron, nickel, and zinc were used and a selection of spectroscopic techniques (IR, Raman, ICP-OES, UV-Vis, NMR, EPR, Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopy) were employed to characterise the complexes formed between the metals and the brown and white SECs. Metal loadings of 0.5 to 10 wt% were observed for all the metals and both the brown and bleached SECs. The higher loadings were observed for complexes derived from acetate salts for copper, nickel and zinc. IR spectroscopy of the SECs revealed the presence of aliphatic chains and hydroxyls, aliphatic carbons, carbonyls, unsaturation, ester and ether groups. For the copper, nickel and zinc complexes the IR spectra showed the presence of νCO modes indicating the mode of coordination, and in the acetate complexes there were a significant difference in the spectrum indicating the presence of bound acetate. The IR spectra of the iron complexes were different indicating the presence of a different structural motif. The UV-vis spectra displayed the characteristic features of metal(II) for copper, nickel and zinc, with the spectra of the complexes prepared from chloride and nitrate solutions being essentially identical, but different to that from the acetate solution. There were slight differences between all the spectra of the iron-BL-SEC complexes, with the complex derived from SEC and solution of (NH4)Fe(SO4)2 presenting the highest intensity peak. The 13C NMR solid state spectra of the brown and bleached SECs, as well as those of the zinc complexes showed peaks characteristic of aliphatic, olefinic and aromatic carbon, C-O, carboxylic acid and ester groups. For the zinc acetate with BL-SECs was different in the 35 – 10 ppm aliphatic region compared to that of zinc nitrate and zinc chloride with BL-SEC. However, the spectra were similar for all zinc salts with BR-SECs. The metal K-edge EXAFS data from the nickel and zinc complexes were more similar to the copper data rather than the iron data, indicating the presence of mononuclear octahedral metal complexes for nickel and zinc. For copper, the EXAFS data indicated the presence of a Jahn-Teller distortion for copper, which was confirmed by EPR spectroscopy. In the case of iron the EXAFS data indicated the formation of small oxide or oxyhydroxide particles. The metal K-edge XANES data confirmed the presence of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II), but indicated that in the case of iron, this was present as Fe(III), which was also consistent with the 57Fe Mössbauer data. XRF imaging data using synchrotron radiation has shown that the metal distribution in the copper, nickel and zinc complexes is very closely associated with the underlying physical structure of the SEC. The conclusion from all the spectroscopic data is that the most likely source of coordination of the copper, nickel and zinc metals are the carboxylate groups in the sporopollenin structure resulting in monomeric complexes on the sporopollenin surface. The structures of the chloride and nitrate complexes are very similar, but in the case of acetate there is evidence for the presence of acetate ligands in the coordination environment. The higher metal loadings observed for the acetate complexes can be explained by this as the metal does not require so many ligand groups in close proximity on the SEC surface. In the case of iron, the structures appear to be different, and are based on very small clusters of iron oxide or oxyhydroxide particles attached to the SEC surface

The Role of Media in the Arab Revolutions: Jordan

The media has assumed a central role in shaping public opinion particularly with the rise in protest activity during the recent uprisings in the region. The influx of news caused an information revolution that played an important role in undermining the state monopoly on knowledge and information. During the Arab Spring, the media transformed and worked to disseminate information faster and to a more diverse range of people. Thus, the media has become more involved in the Arab Spring and expanded its role from previous revolutions. The media began a competition between political actors and changed the manner in which these actors responded to political and ideological conflicts. This research is important because it sheds light on how the media influences Jordanians’ views on the Arab Spring. However, this study was limited because it accounted only for the opinions of Jordanians, and hence does not necessarily reflect the opinions of citizens in other Arab nations.To fully understand the impact of the media on the Arab Spring, we examined the results of a survey done by the Center for Strategic Studies and analyzed them along with other statistics on the rise of social media. Through our analysis, we found that Jordanians believe that the news is biased and has a hidden agenda. This led us to question whether Jordanians were using sources other than traditional media for their information on the protests. From this, we have created the following hypothesis: social media’s role in the Arab Spring as a news agent was largely due to dissatisfaction with the current and conventional news agencies’ manner of reporting.

Voice Identification Using MFCC and Vector Quantization

يعد التعرف على المتحدث أحد المشكلات الأساسية في معالجة الكلام ونمذجة الصوت. تتضمن تطبيقات التعرف على المتحدث المصادقة في أنظمة الأمان ودقة الاختيار. تشكل تطبيقات التعرف على الصوت تحديًا كبيرًا على نطاق واسع حيث يتطلب البحث السريع في قاعدة بيانات الاصوات تقنيات حديثة سريعة وتعتمد على الذكاء الاصطناعي لتحقيق النتائج المرجوة من النظام. تم بذل العديد من الجهود لتحقيق ذلك من خلال إنشاء أنظمة قائمة على المتغيرات وتطوير منهجيات جديدة لتحديد المتحدثين. التعرف على المتحدث هو عملية التعرف على من يتحدث باستخدام الخصائص المستخرجة من موجات الكلام الخاصة به مثل درجة الصوت والنغمة والتردد ويتم إنشاء نماذج المتكلم وحفظها في بيئة النظام وتستخدم لاحقا للتحقق من الهوية المطلوبة من قبل الأشخاص الذين يصلون إلى النظام، والذي يسمح بالوصول إلى الخدمات المختلفة التي يتم التحكم بها عن طريق الصوت، ويشمل تحديد المتحدث جزأين رئيسيين: الجزء الأول هو استخراج الميزات الصوتية أما الجزء الثاني فهو مطابقة ومقارنة هذه الميزات.The speaker identification is one of the fundamental problems in speech processing and voice modeling. The speaker identification applications include authentication in critical security systems and the accuracy of the selection. Large-scale voice recognition applications are a major challenge. Quick search in the speaker database requires fast, modern techniques and relies on artificial intelligence to achieve the desired results from the system. Many efforts are made to achieve this through the establishment of variable-based systems and the development of new methodologies for speaker identification. Speaker identification is the process of recognizing who is speaking using the characteristics extracted from the speech's waves like pitch, tone, and frequency. The speaker's models are created and saved in the system environment and used to verify the identity required by people accessing the systems, which allows access to various services that are controlled by voice, speaker identification involves two main parts: the first part is the feature extraction and the second part is the feature matching

Analysis of Research in Healthcare Data Analytics

The main aim of this paper is to provide a deep analysis on the research field of healthcare data analytics., as well as highlighting some of guidelines and gaps in previous studies. This study has focused on searching relevant papers about healthcare analytics by searching in seven popular databases such as google scholar and springer using specific keywords, in order to understand the healthcare topic and conduct our literature review. The paper has listed some data analytics tools and techniques that have been used to improve healthcare performance in many areas such as: medical operations, reports, decision making, and prediction and prevention system. Moreover, the systematic review has showed an interesting demographic of fields of publication, research approaches, as well as outlined some of the possible reasons and issues associated with healthcare data analytics, based on geographical distribution theme

University-Industry Partnership in the Arab Word: Case of Jordan

This study aims to identify the actual partnership level between the Jordanian public universities and the industrial sector. To achieve this objective, a sequential exploratory design was used: First, a qualitative exploratory study included in-depth interviews with both higher education and industry experts were conducted. The outcomes of these interviews were used to develop two questionnaires. Second: The study sample consists of administrative academics and executive directors of the public universities and industrial companies under investigation. Findings show that, academics and industrialists differently evaluate the level of partnership. Mani factors that affect this partnership are level of interest and confidence, communication channels, organizational structure, corporate characteristics, incentive system, level of conflict, and previous experiences. Most forms of partnership were limited to training, participation in joint-conferences and workshops, and developing entrepreneurial ideas. Moreover, the limited expenditure on scientific research, high bureaucracy, cultural differences, and conflicts of goals, have negative impact over the level of partnership. Finally, several recommendations have been suggested

UTJECAJ FINANCIJSKE POLITIKE NA GOSPODARSKI RAST U JORDANU (2000-2017): ARDL PRISTUP

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of financial policy on rate of economic growth in Jordan for the period of (2000-2017) taking into the considerations the fluctuations of taxation system. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach has been utilized in order to analyze the long term relationship between study variable which are; money supply (M2), domestic credit provided by banks (DCBS) and real Gross Domestic Product GDP. The results shows that, money (M2) and domestic credit provided by banks (DCBS) can effects on GDP in Jordan for the study period. The taxation system in Jordan has been fluctuated many times during 2017 and 2018, which made the data partly not available. This led the researchers to spend long time to find an accurate data in order to finalize this study. This study will add good practical evidence on the impact of changing the taxation system positively or negatively on the economic growth.Cilj ovog rada je ispitati utjecaj financijske politike na stopu gospodarskog rasta u Jordanu za razdoblje 2000–2017, uzimajući u obzir fluktuacije u poreznom sustavu. Pristup temeljem na autoregresivnim modelima s distributivnim vremenskim pomakom (ARDL) korišten je kako bi se analizirala dugoročna veza između varijabli ispitivanja koje su: novčana masa (M2), domaći kredit banaka (DCBS) i realni bruto domaći proizvod (BDP). Rezultati pokazuju da novac (M2) i domaći kredit banaka (DCBS) mogu utjecati na BDP u Jordanu u promatranom razdoblju. Sustav oporezivanja u Jordanu mnogo je puta oscilirao tijekom 2017. i 2018., zbog čega podaci djelomično nisu dostupni. To je uzrokovalo da istraživači provode dugo vremena kako bi pronašli točne podatke kako bi dovršili ovu studiju. Ova studija će dodati dobre praktične dokaze o utjecaju pozitivne ili negativne promjene poreznog sustava na gospodarski rast

Adjustment models for multivariate geodetic time series with vector-autoregressive errors

In this contribution, a vector-autoregressive (VAR) process with multivariate t-distributed random deviations is incorporated into the Gauss-Helmert model (GHM), resulting in an innovative adjustment model. This model is versatile since it allows for a wide range of functional models, unknown forms of auto- and cross-correlations, and outlier patterns. Subsequently, a computationally convenient iteratively reweighted least squares method based on an expectation maximization algorithm is derived in order to estimate the parameters of the functional model, the unknown coefficients of the VAR process, the cofactor matrix, and the degree of freedom of the t-distribution. The proposed method is validated in terms of its estimation bias and convergence behavior by means of a Monte Carlo simulation based on a GHM of a circle in two dimensions. The methodology is applied in two different fields of application within engineering geodesy: In the first scenario, the offset and linear drift of a noisy accelerometer are estimated based on a Gauss-Markov model with VAR and multivariate t-distributed errors, as a special case of the proposed GHM. In the second scenario real laser tracker measurements with outliers are adjusted to estimate the parameters of a sphere employing the proposed GHM with VAR and multivariate t-distributed errors. For both scenarios the estimated parameters of the fitted VAR model and multivariate t-distribution are analyzed for evidence of auto- or cross-correlations and deviation from a normal distribution regarding the measurement noise

A Validated RP HPLC-PAD Method for the Determination of Hederacoside C in Ivy-Thyme Cough Syrup

A simple reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method coupled with a photodiode array detector (PAD) has been developed and validated for the analysis of hederacoside C, the marker of ivy plant, in Ivy-Thyme cough syrup. Separation of hederacoside C was achieved using a Phenomenex-Gemini C18 column isothermally at 40°C. A mobile phase system constituted of solvent A (water: acetonitrile: orthophosphoric acid (85%), 860 : 140 : 2 v/v) and solvent B (acetonitrile: orthophosphoric acid (85%), 998 : 2 v/v) was used, at gradient conditions, at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. Analysis was performed using UV-detection (205 nm). The method was linear over the range (0.03–0.15) mg/mL of hederacoside C (r = 0.9992). Repeatability and intermediate precision were acceptable (RSD <2%). Limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) were 0.011 and 0.032 mg/mL, respectively. Percentage recovery was found to lie between 99.69% and 100.90% (RSD <2%). The method was also proved to be specific (peak-purity coefficient = 0.996)