Class-Weighted Convolutional Features for Visual Instance Search

Image retrieval in realistic scenarios targets large dynamic datasets of unlabeled images. In these cases, training or fine-tuning a model every time new images are added to the database is neither efficient nor scalable. Convolutional neural networks trained for image classification over large datasets have been proven effective feature extractors for image retrieval. The most successful approaches are based on encoding the activations of convolutional layers, as they convey the image spatial information. In this paper, we go beyond this spatial information and propose a local-aware encoding of convolutional features based on semantic information predicted in the target image. To this end, we obtain the most discriminative regions of an image using Class Activation Maps (CAMs). CAMs are based on the knowledge contained in the network and therefore, our approach, has the additional advantage of not requiring external information. In addition, we use CAMs to generate object proposals during an unsupervised re-ranking stage after a first fast search. Our experiments on two public available datasets for instance retrieval, Oxford5k and Paris6k, demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach outperforming the current state-of-the-art when using off-the-shelf models trained on ImageNet. The source code and model used in this paper are publicly available at http://imatge-upc.github.io/retrieval-2017-cam/.Comment: To appear in the British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC), September 201

Teacher Evaluation and Reliability: Additional Insights Gathered from Inter-rater Reliability Analyses

Using a newly-created teacher evaluation instrument, Inter-rater Reliability (IRR) analyses were conducted on four teacher videos as a means to establish instrument reliability. Raters included 42 principals and assistant principals in a southern US school district. The videos used spanned the teacher quality spectrum and the IRR findings across these levels varied. Key findings suggest that while the overall IRR coefficient may be adequate to assess the validity of a classroom observation instrument, the overall coefficient may be unstable across the various teacher performance levels. Findings also strongly suggest that raters are much more likely to agree when they see high-quality teaching when compared to levels of agreement regarding low-quality teaching

Inference of contractility evolution on planar worm locomotion

Postprint (published version

mTORC2 sustains thermogenesis via Akt-induced glucose uptake and glycolysis in brown adipose tissue

Activation of non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) in brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been proposed as an anti-obesity treatment. Moreover, cold-induced glucose uptake could normalize blood glucose levels in insulin-resistant patients. It is therefore important to identify novel regulators of NST and cold-induced glucose uptake. Mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) mediates insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in metabolic tissues, but its role in NST is unknown. We show that mTORC2 is activated in brown adipocytes upon β-adrenergic stimulation. Furthermore, mice lacking mTORC2 specifically in adipose tissue (AdRiKO mice) are hypothermic, display increased sensitivity to cold, and show impaired cold-induced glucose uptake and glycolysis. Restoration of glucose uptake in BAT by overexpression of hexokinase II or activated Akt2 was sufficient to increase body temperature and improve cold tolerance in AdRiKO mice. Thus, mTORC2 in BAT mediates temperature homeostasis via regulation of cold-induced glucose uptake. Our findings demonstrate the importance of glucose metabolism in temperature regulation

Physico-chemical characterization of some beta blockers and anti-diabetic drugs - potentiometric and spectrophotometric pKa determination in different co-solvents

In the present study we have determined the fundamental physico-chemical properties such as, ionization constant (pKa) and lipophilicity (log P) of some b-blockers and anti-diabetic drugs. The apparent ionization constant (psKa) of selected drugs were determined using potentiometric titration in various co solvent-water mixtures (methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile and dioxane) at different temperatures (25 to 45 °C) and ionic strengths (0.15 to 0.5 M). Effect of temperature, ionic strength and dielectric constant on dissociation constant has been compared. The aqueous pKa values were then obtained by Yasuda-Shedlovsky extrapolation. In the case of water-soluble drugs (Amiloride hydrochloride, metoprolol tartrate and propranolol hydrochloride), the extrapolated results were in good agreement with that of pKa values measured in aqueous solutions under the same experimental conditions, while for the water insoluble drugs (atenolol, amlodipine besylate, gliclazide, glipizide, glibenclamide and pioglitazone), the extrapolated results were in good agreement with the literature values. For few of the selected drugs, the psKa was determined spectrophotometrically and the results were compared with that of potentiometry in various co solvent mixtures. The measured log P values of selected drugs showed acceptable range to that of literature values

Dynamic Metric OSPF-Based Routing Protocol for Software Defined Networks

[EN] Routing protocols are needed in networking to find the optimal path to reach the destination. However, networks are changing both their use finality and their technology. Paradigms like Software Defined Networks (SDNs) introduce the possibility and the necessity to improve the routing protocols. In this paper, a modification of the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol is proposed in order to allow the protocol to change the metric calculation dynamically according to the network requirements. Experiments, which compare our proposal against the OSPF protocol, are performed in five different scenarios. In these scenarios, the performance of the multimedia traffic has been increased 33% in terms of bandwidth utilization, 80% of loss rate reduction and delay reduction on VoIP communications.This work has been partially supported by the "Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte", through the "Ayudas para contratos predoctorales de Formacion del Profesorado Universitario FPU (Convocatoria 2015)". Grant No. FPU15/06837, by the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad", through the "Convocatoria 2014. Proyectos I+D - Programa Estatal de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnica de Excelencia" in the "Subprograma Estatal de Generacion de Conocimiento", project TIN2014-57991-C3-1-P, through the "Convocatoria 2016 - Proyectos I+D+I - Programa Estatal De Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion Orientada a los retos de la sociedad" (Project TEC2016-76795-C6-4-R) and through the "Convocatoria 2017 - Proyectos I+D+I - Programa Estatal de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion, convocatoria excelencia" (Project TIN2017-84802-C2-1-P).Rego Mañez, A.; Sendra, S.; Jimenez, JM.; Lloret, J. (2019). Dynamic Metric OSPF-Based Routing Protocol for Software Defined Networks. Cluster Computing. 22(3):705-720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-018-2875-7S705720223Coltun, R., Ferguson, D., Moy, J.: OSPF for IPv6, RFC 5340. https://doi.org/10.17487/rfc5340 , July 2008. https://rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5340.txtSoftware-Defined Networking (SDN) Definition. https://www.opennetworking.org/sdn-definition/ . Accessed 15 Dec 2017Jimenez, J.M., Romero, O., Rego, A., Dilendra, A., Lloret, J.: Study of multimedia delivery over software defined networks. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 7(4), 37–62 (2015). https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v7i4.8794Egea, S., Rego, A., Carro, B., Sanchez-Esguevillas, A., Lloret, J.: Intelligent IoT traffic classification using novel search strategy for fast based-correlation feature selection in industrial environments. IEEE Internet Things J. 5(3), 1616–1624 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2017.2787959Rego, A., Sendra, S., Jimenez, J.M., Lloret J.: OSPF routing protocol performance in software defined networks. In: Fourth International Conference on Software Defined Systems (SDS 2017), 8–11 May 2017, Valencia, Spain, https://doi.org/10.1109/SDS.2017.7939153Sendra, S., Fernández, P.A., Quilez, M.A., Lloret, J.: Study and performance of interior gateway IP routing protocols. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 2(4), 88–117 (2010). https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v2i4.547Rakheja, P., Kaour, P., Gupta, A., Sharma, A.: Performance analysis of RIP, OSPF, IGRP and EIGRP routing protocols in a network. Int. J. Comput. Appl. 48(18), 6–11 (2012). https://doi.org/10.5120/7446-0401Sendra, S., Rego, A., Lloret, J., Jimenez, J.M., Romero, O.: Including artificial intelligence in a routing protocol using software defined networks. In: IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops 2017), 21–25 May 2017, Paris, France. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCW.2017.7962735Barbancho, J., León, C., Molina, J., Barbancho, A., SIR: a new wireless sensor network routing protocol based on artificial intelligence. In: Advanced Web and Network Technologies, and Applications. APWeb 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), vol. 3842, pp. 271–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/11610496_35Barbancho, J., León, C., Molina, F.J., Barbancho, A.: Using artificial intelligence in wireless sensor routing protocols. In: Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems. (KES 2006). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 4251, pp. 475–482. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/11892960_58Arabshahi, P., Gary, A., Kassabalidis, I., Das, A., Narayanan, S., Sharkawi, M.E., Marks, R.J.: Adaptive routing in wireless communication networks using swarm intelligence. In: AIAA 19th Annual Satellite Communications System Conference, Toulouse, France, April 17, 2001Gunes, M., Sorges, U., Bouazizi I.: ARA-the ant-colony based routing algorithm for MANETs. In: International Conference on Parallel Processing Workshops, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 21–21 Aug 2002. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICPPW.2002.1039715Ducatelle, F., Di Caro, G.A., Gambardella, L.M.: Principles and applications of swarm intelligence for adaptive routing in telecommunications networks. Swarm Intell. 4(3), 173–198 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11721-010-0040-xRajagopalan, S., Shen, C.: ANSI: a swarm intelligence-based unicast routing protocol for hybrid ad hoc networks. J. Syst. Archit. 52(8–9), 485–504 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sysarc.2006.02.006RFC 3561 Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing, July 2003. https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3561 . Accessed 08 may 2018Zungeru, A.M., Ang, L., Seng, K.P.: Classical and swarm intelligence based routing protocols for wireless sensor networks: a survey and comparison. J. Netw. Comput. Appl. 35(5), 1508–1536 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2012.03.004Karaboga, D., Okdem, S., Ozturk, C.: Cluster based wireless sensor network routing using artificial bee colony algorithm. Wirel. Netw. 18(7), 847–860 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-012-0438-zGinsberg, L., Litkowski, S., Previdi, S.: IS-IS route preference for extended IP and IPv6 reachability, RFC 7775. https://doi.org/10.17487/rfc7775 , February 2016. https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7775.txtRekhter, Y., Li, T., Hares, S.: A border gateway protocol 4 (BGP-4), RFC 4271. https://doi.org/10.17487/rfc4271 . Jan 2006. https://rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4271.txtCaria, M., Das, T., Jukan, A.: Divide and conquer: partitioning OSPF networks with SDN. In: IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management (IM 2015), 11–15 May, Ottawa (ON), Canada, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/INM.2015.7140324Rothenberg, C.E., Nascimento, M.R., Salvador, M.R., Corrêa, C.N.A., Cunha de Lucena, S., Raszuk, R.: Revisiting routing control platforms with the eyes and muscles of software-defined networking. In: HotSDN ‘12 Proceedings of the first workshop on Hot topics in software defined networks, August 13–17 (2012), Helsinki (Finland), pp. 13–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/2342441.2342445Zhu, M., Cao, J., Pang, D., He, Z., Xu, M.: SDN-based routing for efficient message propagation in VANET, In: Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications (WASA 2015), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 9204, pp. 788–797. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21837-3_77Ye, T., Hema, T.K., Kalyanaraman, S., Vastola, K.S, Yadav S.: Minimizing packet loss by optimizing OSPF weights using online simulation. Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer Telecommunications Systems, 2003. MASCOTS 2003. In: 11th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on, Orlando, FL, USA, 27 Oct 2003. https://doi.org/10.1109/MASCOT.2003.1240645O’Halloran, C.: Dynamic adaptation of OSPF interface metrics based on network load. In: 26th Irish Signals and Systems Conference (ISSC), Ireland, Jun 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSC.2015.7163767Şimşek, M., Doğan, N., Akcayol, M.A.: A new packet scheduling algorithm for real-time multimedia streaming. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 9(1–2), 28–47 (2017). https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v9i1-2.12410Sanchez-Iborra, R., Cano, M.D., Garcia-Haro, J.: Revisiting VoIP QoE assessment methods: are they suitable for VoLTE? Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 8(2), 39–57 (2016). https://doi.org/10.5296/npa.v8i2.912

Artificial intelligent system for multimedia services in smart home environments

[EN] Internet of Things (IoT) has introduced new applications and environments. Smart Home provides new ways of communication and service consumption. In addition, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep learning have improved different services and tasks by automatizing them. In this field, reinforcement learning (RL) provides an unsupervised way to learn from the environment. In this paper, a new intelligent system based on RL and deep learning is proposed for Smart Home environments to guarantee good levels of QoE, focused on multimedia services. This system is aimed to reduce the impact on user experience when the classifying system achieves a low accuracy. The experiments performed show that the deep learning model proposed achieves better accuracy than the KNN algorithm and that the RL system increases the QoE of the user up to 3.8 on a scale of 10.This work has been partially supported by the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" in the "Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnica de Excelencia, Subprograma Estatal de Generacion de Conocimiento" within the project under Grant TIN2017-84802-C2-1-P. This work has also been partially founded by the Universitat Polite`cnica de Vale`ncia through the postdoctoral PAID-10-20 program.Rego Mañez, A.; Gonzalez Ramirez, PL.; Jimenez, JM.; Lloret, J. (2022). Artificial intelligent system for multimedia services in smart home environments. Cluster Computing. 25(3):2085-2105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-021-03350-zS2085210525

Polarization lidar: An extended three-signal calibration approach

We present a new formalism to calibrate a threesignal polarization lidar and to measure highly accurate height profiles of the volume linear depolarization ratios under realistic experimental conditions. The methodology considers elliptically polarized laser light, angular misalignment of the receiver unit with respect to the main polarization plane of the laser pulses, and cross talk among the receiver channels. A case study of a liquid-water cloud observation demonstrates the potential of the new technique. Long-term observations of the calibration parameters corroborate the robustness of the method and the long-term stability of the three-signal polarization lidar. A comparison with a second polarization lidar shows excellent agreement regarding the derived volume linear polarization ratios in different scenarios: A biomass burning smoke event throughout the troposphere and the lower stratosphere up to 16 km in height, a dust case, and also a cirrus cloud case. © Author(s) 2019

The dual-field-of-view polarization lidar technique: a new concept in monitoring aerosol effects in liquid-water clouds – theoretical framework

In a series of two articles, a novel, robust, and practicable lidar approach is presented that allows us to derive microphysical properties of liquid-water clouds (cloud extinction coefficient, droplet effective radius, liquid-water content, cloud droplet number concentration) at a height of 50–100 m above the cloud base. The temporal resolution of the observations is on the order of 30–120 s. Together with the aerosol information (aerosol extinction coefficients, cloud condensation nucleus concentration) below the cloud layer, obtained with the same lidar, in-depth aerosol–cloud interaction studies can be performed. The theoretical background and the methodology of the new cloud lidar technique is outlined in this article (Part 1), and measurement applications are presented in a companion publication (Part 2) (Jimenez et al., 2020a). The novel cloud retrieval technique is based on lidar observations of the volume linear depolarization ratio at two different receiver fields of view (FOVs). Extensive simulations of lidar returns in the multiple scattering regime were conducted to investigate the capabilities of a dual-FOV polarization lidar to measure cloud properties and to quantify the information content in the measured depolarization features regarding the basic retrieval parameters (cloud extinction coefficient, droplet effective radius). Key simulation results and the overall data analysis scheme developed to obtain the aerosol and cloud products are presented

Combustion-derived nanoparticles: A review of their toxicology following inhalation exposure

This review considers the molecular toxicology of combustion-derived nanoparticles (CDNP) following inhalation exposure. CDNP originate from a number of sources and in this review we consider diesel soot, welding fume, carbon black and coal fly ash. A substantial literature demonstrates that these pose a hazard to the lungs through their potential to cause oxidative stress, inflammation and cancer; they also have the potential to redistribute to other organs following pulmonary deposition. These different CDNP show considerable heterogeneity in composition and solubility, meaning that oxidative stress may originate from different components depending on the particle under consideration. Key CDNP-associated properties of large surface area and the presence of metals and organics all have the potential to produce oxidative stress. CDNP may also exert genotoxic effects, depending on their composition. CDNP and their components also have the potential to translocate to the brain and also the blood, and thereby reach other targets such as the cardiovascular system, spleen and liver. CDNP therefore can be seen as a group of particulate toxins unified by a common mechanism of injury and properties of translocation which have the potential to mediate a range of adverse effects in the lungs and other organs and warrant further research