Rotation and Scale Invariant Texture Classification

Texture classification is very important in image analysis. Content based image retrieval, inspection of surfaces, object recognition by texture, document segmentation are few examples where texture classification plays a major role. Classification of texture images, especially those with different orientation and scale changes, is a challenging and important problem in image analysis and classification. This thesis proposes an effective scheme for rotation and scale invariant texture classification. The rotation and scale invariant feature extraction for a given image involves applying a log-polar transform to eliminate the rotation and scale effects, but at same time produce a row shifted log-polar image, which is then passed to an adaptive row shift invariant wavelet packet transform to eliminate the row shift effects. So, the output wavelet coefficients are rotation and scale invariant. The adaptive row shift invariant wavelet packet transform is quite efficient with only O (n*log n) complexity. The experimental results, based on different testing data sets for images from Brodatz album with different orientations and scales, show that the implemented classification scheme outperforms other texture classification methods, its overall accuracy rate for joint rotation and scale invariance being 87.09 percent

GESTURE RECOGNITION SYSTEM

In this paper, the hand gesture of a person is recognised and it identifies which hand of the person is raised. The skin colour is taken to recognise hands and face and the dark background is taken so that the skin detection may become easier. The hands and face are differentiated on the basis of area and centroid. Camera is the only input device used in this algorithm. No other input device is used to differentiate hands from the remaining body. This algorithm can be used both on the captured images and real time images

GESTURE RECOGNITION SYSTEM

Abstract: In this paper, the hand gesture of a person is recognised and it identifies which hand of the person is raised. The skin colour is taken to recognise hands and face and the dark background is taken so that the skin detection may become easier. The hands and face are differentiated on the basis of area and centroid. Camera is the only input device used in this algorithm. No other input device is used to differentiate hands from the remaining body. This algorithm can be used both on the captured images and real time images

Indirect costs of adult pneumococcal disease and the productivity-based rate of return to the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for adults in Turkey

Productivity benefits of health technologies are ignored in typical economic evaluations from a health payer’s perspective, risking undervaluation. We conduct a productivity-based cost-benefit analysis from a societal perspective and estimate indirect costs of adult pneumococcal disease, vaccination benefits from the adult 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13 Adult), and rates of return to PCV13 Adult for a range of hypothetical vaccination costs. Our context is Turkey’s funding PCV13 for the elderly and for non-elderly adults with select comorbidities within the Ministry of Health’s National Immunization Program. We use a Markov model with one-year cycles. Indirect costs from death or disability equal the expected present discounted value of lifetime losses in the infected individual’s paid and unpaid work and in caregivers’ paid work. Vaccination benefits comprise averted indirect costs. Rates of return equal vaccination benefits divided by vaccination costs, minus one. Input parameters are from public data sources. We model comorbidities’ effects by scalar multiplication of the parameters of the general population. Indirect costs per treatment episode of inpatient community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), bacteremia, and meningitis - but not for outpatient CAP - approach or exceed Turkish per capita gross domestic product. Vaccination benefits equal $207.02 per vaccination in 2017 US dollars. The rate of return is positive for all hypothetical costs below this. Results are sensitive to herd effects from pediatric vaccination and vaccine efficacy rates. For a wide range of hypothetical vaccination costs, the rate of return compares favorably with those of other global development interventions with well-established strong investment cases

Bridging the Gap: Analyzing Methods to Improve Temporal Generalizability of Large Language Models

Especially with the advent of publicly available, interactive Large Language Models like ChatGPT, the ability of massive pretrained networks to mimic, assist, or even replace human communication has become widely recognized. However, the fact that these representations encode information once, at training time, has been noted as a key issue for improving these models. The single instance of training means these models often struggle to represent text some time away from when the model was created, or to maintain an understanding of malleable factual information. With these issues in mind, we consider dynamic evaluation and k-nearest-neighbor language modeling as potential methods to improve temporal generalization, testing them with the same model on identical tasks in order to facilitate comparison. We then propose some novel model structures that apply these modifications in conjunction to further improve performance. We observe improvements to language-modeling perplexity in scientific and news datasets through all of our modifications. The continuous dynamic evaluation model can improve perplexity by more than 10% in a testing period four years from training time, reducing or even reversing the rate of temporal decay. We observe similar performance benefits in a k-Nearest-Neighbor Language model, as well as in our novel model formulations

Correlation of Sagittal Abdominal Diameter and Other Anthropometric Parameters with Serum Leptin Levels in Young Adults- A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Leptin is secreted in concentrations proportional to body fat mass. The anthropometric parameter among Sagittal Abdominal Diameter (SAD), Body Mass Index (BMI), Hip Circumference (HC), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR), and Waist-Height Ratio (WHtR) that correlates maximally with serum leptin levels could be used preferably to assess adiposity. Aim: The present study aims to correlate serum leptin levels with SAD, BMI, HC, WC, WHR and WHtR in young and healthy North Indian adults. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted jointly in the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry at the King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India from September 2015 to August 2016 and it included apparently healthy individuals, aged 18-25 years, native to North India, after obtaining an informed consent. A convenient sample size of 100 was taken. One investigator took all anthropometric measurements. (SAD, BMI, HC, WC, WHR and WHtR) RayBio human leptin ELISA kit was used for the estimation of leptin level. For statistical analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study involved 55 males and 45 aged 21.4±1.5 years with BMI 22.7±2.7 kg/m2, HC 91.5±6.9 cm, WC 81.9±7.9 cm, WHR 0.9±0.1, WHtR 0.50±0.04, SAD 20.8±3.1 cm and serum leptin level 389.6±102.7 pg. Serum leptin level correlated significantly with HC (r=0.23, p=0.02), WC (r=0.29, p=0.003), WHtR (r=0.36, p<0.001), and SAD (r=0.56, p<0.001). A non significant correlation was obtained with BMI (r=0.15, p=0.12) and WHR (r=0.11, p=0.26). Conclusion: SAD is a better predictor of body fat and hence, cardiometabolic health than other anthropometric parameters in the present study, as it correlated most strongly with serum leptin levels

Recurrent costs in primary health care in Ethiopia: facility and disease specific unit costs and their components in government primary hospitals and health centers

Abstract Background Continued investment, especially from domestic financing, is needed for Ethiopia to achieve universal health coverage and a sustainable health system over time. Understanding costs of providing health services will assist the government to mobilize adequate resources for health, and to understand future costs of changes in quality of care, service provision scope, and potential decline in external resources. This study assessed costs per unit of service output, “unit costs”, for government primary hospitals and health centers, and disease-specific services within each facility. Methods Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 25 primary hospitals and 47 health centers across eight of the eleven regions of Ethiopia for 2013/14, and 2014/15 and 2015/16 but only for primary hospitals, and supplemented by other related health and financial institutions records. A top-down costing approach was used to estimate unit costs for each facility by department – inpatient, outpatient, maternal and child health, and delivery. A mixed-method approach was used for the disease-specific unit costs exempt from fees. Results Health center median unit cost was 146 Ethiopian birr (ETB) (17 PPP$, 2012), the Delivery department had the highest median unit cost (647 ETB; 76 PPP$, 2012) and Outpatient department (OPD) had the lowest (124 ETB; 14 PPP$, 2012). Primary hospital median unit cost was 339 ETB (40 PPP$, 2012), with Inpatient department having the highest median unit cost (1288 ETB; 151 PPP$, 2012), while OPD was the lowest (252 ETB; 29 PPP$, 2012). Drugs and pharmaceutical supplies accounted for most of the costs for both facilities. Among the exempted services offered, tuberculosis and antiretroviral treatment are the costliest with median unit costs from 1091 to 1536 ETB (128–180 PPP$, 2012), with drugs and supplies accounting for almost 90% of the costs. Conclusions High unit costs of service provision could be indicative of underutilization of the primary health care system, coupled with inefficiencies associated with organization and delivery of health services. Data from this study are being used to assess efficiency and productivity among primary care facilities, facilitate premium setting for health insurance, and improve budgeting and allocating health resources for a more sustainable and effective primary health care system.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCPopulation and Public Health (SPPH), School ofReviewedFacult