Sparse variational regularization for visual motion estimation

The computation of visual motion is a key component in numerous computer vision tasks such as object detection, visual object tracking and activity recognition. Despite exten- sive research effort, efficient handling of motion discontinuities, occlusions and illumina- tion changes still remains elusive in visual motion estimation. The work presented in this thesis utilizes variational methods to handle the aforementioned problems because these methods allow the integration of various mathematical concepts into a single en- ergy minimization framework. This thesis applies the concepts from signal sparsity to the variational regularization for visual motion estimation. The regularization is designed in such a way that it handles motion discontinuities and can detect object occlusions

Molecular Analyses of Phenylketonuria in The Intellectually Disabled Children from Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT Background and Objective: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder, caused by mutations in the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). It is a treatable disorder if diagnosed earlier in life. The objective was to identify PKU patient(s) amongst the intellectually disabled children. Methods: Blood samples (n=100) were collected from intellectually disabled children from Faisalabad, Pakistan. Screening was performed on plasma samples through High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and DNA samples were examined for mutation analysis of PAH through direct PCR and SSCP analyses. Results: In the current study, 85% consanguinity rate was observed, with the average BMI (16.15 kg/m2) and head circumference(50.21 cm) was observed and the age range of the patients were 8-14 years. Moreover, through biochemical and genetic analyses, not a single PKU patient was identified. Conclusion: Based on just one previous report and our small dataset it is concluded that either mutations are not common in the hotspot regions or chances of occurrence of PKU might be rare in Pakistan. Moreover, there is a need of more research on large scale to find the incidence of PKU in Pakistan

Clinical laboratory : journal for laboratory medicine, transfusion medicine and cell therapy

Modern variational motion estimation techniques use total variation regularization along with the L1 norm in constant brightness data term. An algorithm based on such homogeneous regularization is unable to preserve sharp edges and leads to increased estimation errors. A better solution is to modify regularizer along strong intensity variations and occluded areas. In addition, using neighborhood information with data constraint can better identify correspondence between image pairs than using only a pointwise data constraint. In this work, we present a novel motion estimation method that uses neighborhood dependent data constraint to better characterize local image structure. The method also uses structure adaptive regularization to handle occlusions. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated on Middlebury’s benchmark image sequence dataset and compared to state-of-the-art algorithms. Experiments show that proposed method can give better performance under noisy conditions

South African journal of agricultural extension

This paper introduces a sparsity based optical flow estimation method in digital video sequences. The method stems from the key observation that the gradient field of optical flow, in digital video sequences, is usually structured and sparse in spatial domain, provided there is a small number of multiple motions in the scene. The gradient field of motion vectors is formed by the pixels forming the edges of moving objects. We utilize this fact and formulate the optical flow estimation problem in sparse representation framework. We then use a minimization algorithm over ℓ1 norm of the gradient flow field to find the solution to this problem. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated on Middlebury\u27s benchmark video sequence database

Need and challenges in establishing newborn screening programs for inherited metabolic disorders in developing countries

Even in this post genomic era, no national level newborn screening (NBS) programs for inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) are yet available in several developing countries including Pakistan. Through NBS, various IEMs can be screened using minute quantities of biofluids. Targeted metabolomics and genomic techniques are the main approaches used for NBS. However, lack of technical expertise and such high-end omics based analytical facilities, and meager funding for healthcare in developing countries are the major reasons for unavailability of NBS programs. As it is reflected by only a handful reports about IEMs from Pakistan with population of ≈220 million and consanguinity rate of about 70%, which suggests an unmet need for an NBS program owing to reasonably high prevalence of inherited diseases. Around 200 IEMs are potentially treatable if diagnosed at an earlier stage through biochemical marker and genetic screening, so such patients can get benefit from the NBS program. This overview will help to persuade the stakeholders to setup NBS programs in developing countries including Pakistan, due to multitude of benefits for IEMs; timely diagnosis and early treatment can help the patients to live a nearly healthy life, reduced suffering of the family and minimal burden on society or national healthcare syste

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROCESS REACTION: A STUDY OF TELECOM SECTOR EMPLOYEES OF ISLAMABAD: Shaza Mahar, Dr. Muhammad Wasim Akram, Dr. Zeshan Anwar, Dr. Muhammad Shahid Nawaz

The present study scrutinizes the relationship among organizational context (job resource adequacy, co-worker relationship and organizational communication) and performance evaluation process reaction through moderation of procedural justice in the telecom sector of Islamabad, Pakistan. The cross-sectional survey is conducted through adaptation of structured questionnaire as a primary source of data collection. A structured questionnaire was floated among 192 employees working in telecom sector. The study expands on applicable research in this region and stretches out the research in the Pakistani context. To test the hypotheses, multivariate analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation, factor analysis and linear regression is used to analyze the impact, Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to identify multiple relationship effects. The structural model was assessed by using Smart PLS 2.0. The study reveals that reactions to performance evaluation process are positively and significant associated with the independent variables, job resource adequacy, organizational communication and co-worker relationship

Development of low-cost in-house tetra-ARMS-PCR assay for the screening of five CBS mutations found in Pakistani homocystinuria patients

Background: Classical homocystinuria is an inborn amino acid metabolism disorder resulting from mutations in the Cystathionine-β-Synthase (CBS) gene. These mutations lead to elevated homocysteine and methionine levels and reduced cysteine levels in the blood. Typically, diagnosis occurs after patients display symptoms, and various lab methods confirm it. DNA sequencing is the best option for early detection of genetic variants in asymptomatic suspected individuals. Unfortunately, its high cost can hinder its use, especially in low-income countries like PakistanObjective: Aim of this study was to devise a robust low-cost diagnostic/screening assay based on Tetra-ARMS-PCR for five prevalent genetic variants found in Pakistani classical homocystinuria patients.Materials and methods: In the current study, T-ARMS-PCR assays were developed for five mutations (c.975G \u3e C, c.770C \u3e T, c.752T \u3e C, c.1039 + 1G \u3e T, c.451 + 1GG \u3e TA), which were characterized previously in classical homocystinuria patients. These low-cost T-ARMS-PCR assays were then used to screen the affected individuals and their family members to identify their genotypes for pathogenic variations in the asymptomatic patients and carriers in their respective families.Results: The outcomes were entirely consistent with those obtained from Sanger DNA sequencing, confirming the sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of the T-ARMS-PCR assay for detecting CBS mutations.Conclusion: T-ARMS-PCR has wide applications for low-income countries for the screening and early diagnosis of asymptomatic patients and carriers in the homocystinuria affected families as well as other inherited diseases

Heat Transfer in Nanomaterial Suspension (CuO and Al2O3) Using KKL Model

Novel nonlinear power-law flux models were utilized to model the heat transport phe-nomenon in nano-micropolar fluid over a flexible surface. The nonlinear conservation laws (mass, momentum, energy, mass transport and angular momentum) and KKL cor-relations for nanomaterial under novel flux model were solved numerically. Computed results were used to study the shear-thinning and shear-thickening nature of nano pol-ymer suspension by considering n-diffusion theory. Normalized velocity, temperature and micro-rotation profiles were investigated under the variation of physical parame-ters. Shear stresses at the wall for nanoparticles (CuO and Al2O3) were recorded and dis-played in the table. Error analyses for different physical parameters were prepared for various parameters to validate the obtained results