Adaptive two-pass rank order filter to remove impulse noise in highly corrupted images

This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. © 2004 IEEE.In this paper, we present an adaptive two-pass rank order filter to remove impulse noise in highly corrupted images. When the noise ratio is high, rank order filters, such as the median filter for example, can produce unsatisfactory results. Better results can be obtained by applying the filter twice, which we call two-pass filtering. To further improve the performance, we develop an adaptive two-pass rank order filter. Between the passes of filtering, an adaptive process is used to detect irregularities in the spatial distribution of the estimated impulse noise. The adaptive process then selectively replaces some pixels changed by the first pass of filtering with their original observed pixel values. These pixels are then kept unchanged during the second filtering. In combination, the adaptive process and the sec ond filter eliminate more impulse noise and restore some pixels that are mistakenly altered by the first filtering. As a final result, the reconstructed image maintains a higher degree of fidelity and has a smaller amount of noise. The idea of adaptive two-pass processing can be applied to many rank order filters, such as a center-weighted median filter (CWMF), adaptive CWMF, lower-upper-middle filter, and soft-decision rank-order-mean filter. Results from computer simulations are used to demonstrate the performance of this type of adaptation using a number of basic rank order filters.This work was supported in part by CenSSIS, the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, under the Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award EEC-9986821, by an ARO MURI on Demining under Grant DAAG55-97-1-0013, and by the NSF under Award 0208548

Modulation of touch sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Sensory perception adapts to diverse environment. Although studies in the last few decades have started to address the question of how sensory systems transduce signals, how these systems cross-modulated is largely unknown. In this thesis, I study mechanosensation in the C. elegans touch receptor neurons (TRNs) to understand how sensory systems are modulated and adapt to the environment. I find that the touch sensitivity in the TRNs is modulated by both mechanical and non-mechanical factors. The mechanical factors are transduced directly by a secondary mechanosensory system in the TRNs, and the non-mechanical factors are detected by other neurons and relayed to the TRNs by neuropeptides. Both pathways converge through a common mechanism to regulate the surface expression of the MEC-4 mechanotransduction channels, which are needed for sensing touch. I then explore the consequences of modulation, and show that modulation by mechanical and non-mechanical factors adjusts the balance between the sensitivity to strong mechanical stimuli that predict dangers and sensitivity to weak stimuli that are usually not associated with danger. Such a balance maintains sensitivity to biologically-relevant mechanical stimuli while reducing unnecessary responses to weak stimuli, thus increasing the ability to survive under different conditions. I used neuronal-enhanced RNAi and mosaic analysis to discover two convergent signaling pathways, the integrin/focal adhesion signaling and insulin signaling, that modulate anterior touch sensitivity. Additional genes and pathways are also needed for optimal touch sensitivity in the TRNs, including the RAS/MAPK pathway, Rho-GTPases, cytoskeleton genes, and 43 other genes that cause lethality when mutated. The integrins/focal adhesion proteins act cell-autonomously in the TRNs to detect the mechanical environment. The focal adhesion proteins modulate force sensitivity and subsequent calcium signaling, and they are needed for long-term sensitization of touch sensitivity in response to sustained background vibration. Such sensitization maintains normal touch sensitivity under background vibration by partially counteracting the effect of habituation. This sensitization does not require the MEC-4/MEC-10 transduction channel, suggesting that the integrins may act as secondary force sensors. Insulin signaling, however, responds to non-mechanical signals that reduce touch sensitivity by decreasing the expression of insulin-like neuromodulators, including INS-10 and INS-22. The reduced touch sensitivity facilitates the completion of other tasks such as chemotaxis under background mechanical stimuli, thus increasing the chance of survival by escaping stressful conditions. Both insulin signaling and integrin signaling converge on AKT-1 and DAF-16, which modulate touch sensitivity by regulating the transcription of mfb-1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase expressed in the TRNs. MFB-1 regulates the amount of MEC-4 channel on the plasma membrane, thus modulating touch sensitivity. Together, these results describe an integrated pathway that transduces both mechanical and non-mechanical signals to modulate touch sensitivity through a common mechanism. These modulation mechanisms maintain optimal sensitivity to mechanical stimuli while avoiding unnecessary responses

Ekonometrická analýza interakcí čínského akciového trhu s asijskými a vyspělými světovými trhy

This thesis is focused on econometric analysis of interactions of Chinese stock market with Asian and developed global markets during 2003-2015 years. For the purpose of this thesis, there are utilized daily closing prices of stock indexes of Shang Hai, Shen Zhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japanese, European and U.S. stock markets. The methods used in this thesis are correlation analysis, cointegration analysis, VAR model, Granger causality testing and variance decomposition.Předložená diplomová práce je zaměřena na empirickou analýzu interakcí čínského akciového trhu s Asijskými a rozvinutými globálními akciovými trhy během let 2003-2015. Pro účely této práce jsou využity denní uzavírací ceny hlavních akciových indexů na trzích v Šanghaji, Shenzhenu, Hongkongu, Singapuru, Japonsku, Evropě a USA. V této diplomové práci jsou aplikovány metody korelační analýzy, kointegrační analýzy, VAR model, testována Grangerova kauzalita a dekompozice rozptylu.154 - Katedra financívýborn

Finanční analýza společnosti Chinese Railways

Import 22/07/2015This thesis is focus on financial analysis of the Chinese railway company, financial analysis is a method simply to analysis situation of a company.during some data,we can know the situation of a company is wally or not. According to some data and chart,the shareholder of a company will know the situation of the company,then they will know how to prove the company. In this thesis ,we will select 6 years as a period to analysis the company,and we will divide into 5 part.the first one and last one are introduction and conclusion,the second part is statement of financial analysis of the Chinese railway company,the third part is current and perspective situation of the Chinese railway company.the fourth one is financial analysis of the company. In second part, we will introduce the methodology of financial statement,common-size analysis, financial ratios analysis and pyramidal decomposition. In financial statement ,we will introduce the situation of balance sheet,income statement and cash flow statement. In common-size analysis.we will introduce two method, horizon common-size analysis and vertical common-size analysis. In financial ratios analysis we will introduce methodology of profitability ratio,liquidity ratio,solvency ratio and activity ratio. In pyramidal decomposition, we will introduce three method, gradual changes method,logarithmic decomposition method and function decomposition method. In third part, we will introduce the Chinese railway company, the basic introduction,the development process and future situation of the company. In fourth part.we will introduce the financial analysis of Chinese railway company.we will use some table and data of common-size analysis,financial ratios analysis and pyramidal decomposition to analysis the company.This thesis is focus on financial analysis of the Chinese railway company, financial analysis is a method simply to analysis situation of a company.during some data,we can know the situation of a company is wally or not. According to some data and chart,the shareholder of a company will know the situation of the company,then they will know how to prove the company. In this thesis ,we will select 6 years as a period to analysis the company,and we will divide into 5 part.the first one and last one are introduction and conclusion,the second part is statement of financial analysis of the Chinese railway company,the third part is current and perspective situation of the Chinese railway company.the fourth one is financial analysis of the company. In second part, we will introduce the methodology of financial statement,common-size analysis, financial ratios analysis and pyramidal decomposition. In financial statement ,we will introduce the situation of balance sheet,income statement and cash flow statement. In common-size analysis.we will introduce two method, horizon common-size analysis and vertical common-size analysis. In financial ratios analysis we will introduce methodology of profitability ratio,liquidity ratio,solvency ratio and activity ratio. In pyramidal decomposition, we will introduce three method, gradual changes method,logarithmic decomposition method and function decomposition method. In third part, we will introduce the Chinese railway company, the basic introduction,the development process and future situation of the company. In fourth part.we will introduce the financial analysis of Chinese railway company.we will use some table and data of common-size analysis,financial ratios analysis and pyramidal decomposition to analysis the company.154 - Katedra financívýborn

Baicalin Downregulates RLRs Signaling Pathway to Control Influenza A Virus Infection and Improve the Prognosis

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of baicalin on controlling the pulmonary infection and improving the prognosis in influenza A virus (IAV) infection. PCR and western blot were used to measure the changes of some key factors in RLRs signaling pathway. MSD electrochemiluminescence was used to measure the expression of pulmonary inflammatory cytokines including IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, and KC/GRO. Flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg. The results showed that IAV infection led to low body weight and high viral load and high expression of RIG-I, IRF3, IRF7, and NF-κB mRNA, as well as RIG-I and NF-κB p65 protein. However, baicalin reduced the rate of body weight loss, inhibited virus replication, and downregulated the key factors of the RLRs signaling pathway. Besides, baicalin reduced the high expression inflammatory cytokines in lung and decreased the ratios of Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg to arouse a brief but not overviolent inflammatory response. Therefore, baicalin activated a balanced host inflammatory response to limit immunopathologic injury, which was helpful to the improvement of clinical and survival outcomes

BARcode DEmixing through Non-negative Spatial Regression (BarDensr).

Modern spatial transcriptomics methods can target thousands of different types of RNA transcripts in a single slice of tissue. Many biological applications demand a high spatial density of transcripts relative to the imaging resolution, leading to partial mixing of transcript rolonies in many voxels; unfortunately, current analysis methods do not perform robustly in this highly-mixed setting. Here we develop a new analysis approach, BARcode DEmixing through Non-negative Spatial Regression (BarDensr): we start with a generative model of the physical process that leads to the observed image data and then apply sparse convex optimization methods to estimate the underlying (demixed) rolony densities. We apply BarDensr to simulated and real data and find that it achieves state of the art signal recovery, particularly in densely-labeled regions or data with low spatial resolution. Finally, BarDensr is fast and parallelizable. We provide open-source code as well as an implementation for the 'NeuroCAAS' cloud platform

Comparison of T Helper Cell Patterns in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma and Normal-Pressure Glaucoma

Background: HSP60-related immunological activities are found in normal-pressure glaucoma (NPG) patients, in whom an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) found in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is not observed. HSP60 was found in POAG and NPG patients, while anti-HSP60 level was mainly found to be higher in NPG patients. The purpose of this study was to compare the percentages of Th cells and levels of related cytokines, attempting to provide evidence to explain this discrepancy. Material/Methods Blood samples from POAG, NPG, and normal control (NC) groups were collected and peripheral blood monocytes were isolated and cultured with or without the stimulation of HSP60. Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were used to assess the percentages of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg cells, as well as HSP60 antibody levels and related cytokine levels, before and after culture. Results: Significantly higher titers of anti-HSP60 were observed only in NPG patients. Comparable Th1 and Th2 cell frequencies, IL-4 level, and IFN-γ level were found in POAG and NPG patients, while higher Treg cell frequency was only found in POAG patients. After culturing with HSP60, increased Th2 frequencies and decreased Th1 frequencies were observed in the POAG, NPG, and NC groups, while increased Treg frequency was only identified in the POAG and NC groups. Conclusions: Different Th cell patterns were observed among POAG, NPG, and NC groups. Lack of induction of Treg cells and imbalance of the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response patterns of Th cells exist in some NPG patients