A Gaussian Sum Approach to Phase and Frequency Estimation

In this paper, a theory of optimal nonlinear estimation from sampled data signals where the a posteriori probability densities are approximated by Gaussian sums is adapted for application to phase and frequency estimation in high noise. The nonlinear estimators (demodulators) require parallel processing of the received signal. In the limit as the number of parallel processors becomes infinite the FM demodulators become optimum in a minimum mean square error sense and the PM demodulators become optimum in some well defined sense. For the clearly suboptimal case of one processor, the demodulators can be readily simplified to the familiar phase-locked loop. On the other hand, for the intermediate case, significant extension of the phaselocked loop threshold is achieved where (say) six parallel processors are involved.     

4-methyl-5-amino-1-formylisoquinoline thiosemicarbazone, a second-generation antineoplastic agent of the alpha-(N)-heterocyclic carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone series

4-Methyl-5-amino-1-formylisoquinoline thiosemicarbazone (MAIQ-1) was studied to determine its potential for clinical trail as a second-generation antineoplastic agent of the alpha-(N)-heterocyclic carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone class. MAIQ-1 was shown to be among the most potent known inhibitors of the major target for the expression of antineoplastic activity by this class of agents, the enzyme ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase, requiring only 0.06 micronM for 50% inhibition. This potency at the enzymatic level was consistent with its antineoplastic activity against the murine neoplasms Sarcoma 180, Leukemia L1210, Leukemia P388, and the B16 melanoma. The acetylation of the 5-amino group of the model substrate 5-amino-1,4-dimethylisoquinoline was lower than that of 5-amino-1-methylisoquinoline when incubated with acetyl-coenzyme A and rat liver homogenate. This finding suggests that the presence of the 4-methyl function offers steric hinderance to enzymatic substitution of the adjacent 5-amino group. In vivo metabolism of MAIQ-1 in mice, studied with [3'-14C]MAIQ-1 showed that relatively slow excretion of this agent occurred, since the cumulative urinary excretion of radioactivity was only 35% in 48 HR. About 51% of excreted urinary radioactivity was present in chromatograms in an area corresponding to the iron chelate of MAIQ-1, and only a minor quantity of material migrating like acetylated MAIQ-1 was present in urine, a finding consistent with enzymatic data with liver homogenates. The results indicate that MAIQ-1 has the antineoplastic activity, enzyme inhibitory potency, and relative resistance to metabolic inactivation required of an agent of this class for clinical trials.     

Acute renal failure following copper sulphate intoxication

Eleven out of a series of twenty-nine patients (37-9%) with acute copper sulphate poisoning developed acute renal failure. Intravascular haemolysis appeared to be the chief factor responsible for renal lesions in these patients. Histological lesions observed in the kidney varied from those of mild shock to well established acute tubular necrosis. In one case, granulomatous lesions were seen in response to tubulorrhexis. Renal failure was the chief indication for dialysis in ten patients, whereas one patient was dialysed primarily for removal of copper. Notwithstanding the adequate control of uraemia by dialysis, only six of the eleven patients recovered. Septicaemia was responsible for death in three, hepatic failure in one and methaemoglobinaemia in another. It is postulated that release of copper from haemolysed red cells during acute haemolytic episodes may initiate, or contribute to, the development of renal damage.     

Efficient frequent connected subgraph mining in graphs of bounded tree-width

The frequent connected subgraph mining problem, i.e., the problem of listing all connected graphs that are subgraph isomorphic to at least a certain number of transaction graphs of a database, cannot be solved in output polynomial time in the general case. If, however, the transaction graphs are restricted to forests then the problem becomes tractable. In this paper we generalize the positive result on forests to graphs of bounded tree-width. In particular, we show that for this class of transaction graphs, frequent connected subgraphs can be listed in incremental polynomial time. Since subgraph isomorphism remains NP-complete for bounded tree-width graphs, the positive complexity result of this paper shows that efficient frequent pattern mining is possible even for computationally hard pattern matching operators.     

Efficient visual code localization with neural networks

The use of computer-readable visual codes became common in our everyday life both in industrial environments and for private use. The reading process of visual codes consists of two steps, namely, localization and data decoding. In this paper we examine the localization step of visual codes using conventional and deep rectifier neural networks. They are also evaluated in the discrete cosine transform domain and shown to be efficient, which makes full decompression unnecessary for setups involving JPEG images. This approach is also efficient from a storage viewpoint and computation cost viewpoint, since camera hardware can provide a JPEG stream as output in many cases. The use of neural networks implemented on graphics processing unit allows real-time automatic code object localization. In our earlier studies, the proposed approach was evaluated on the most popular code type, quick response code, and some other 2D codes as well. Here, we also prove that deep rectifier networks are also suitable for 1D barcode localization and present extensive evaluation and comparison to state-of-the-art approaches.     

Applied ontologies and standards for service robots

Service robotics is an emerging application area for human-centered technologies. The rise of household and personal assistance robots forecasts a human–robot collaborative society. One of the robotics community’s major task is to streamline development trends, work on the harmonization of taxonomies and ontologies, along with the standardization of terms, interfaces and technologies. It is important to keep the scientific progress and public understanding synchronous, through efficient outreach and education. These efforts support the collaboration among research groups, and lead to widely accepted standards, beneficial for both manufacturers and users. This article describes the necessity of developing robotics ontologies and standards focusing on the past and current research efforts. In addition, the paper proposes a roadmap for service robotics ontology development. The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society is sponsoring the working group Ontologies for Robotics and Automation. The efforts of the Working group are presented here, aiming to connect the cutting edge technology with the users of these services—the general public.     

Augmented immersion: video cutout and gesture-guided embedding for gaming applications

This paper introduces a novel framework, Gesture and Appearance Cutout Embedding (GACE), that supports real-time integration of human appearance and gesture-guided control within a game. It aims to enhance immersion since it allows game users to see their personal appearance in a real-time manner. In addition, we exploit the gesture-based control to allow user interaction with other in-game characters. With the goal to make implementation easier, we address the challenges in the whole pipeline of video processing, gesture recognition, and communication. The system is successfully integrated into both entertainment and serious games. Extensive experiments show that the proposed system runs reliably and comfortably with a commodity setting. Meanwhile, the user impression study indicates our system is favored by end users.     

A Set of Successive Job Allocation Models in Distributed Computing Infrastructures

The growing number of scientific computation-intensive applications calls for an efficient utilization of large-scale, potentially interoperable distributed infrastructures. Parameter sweep applications represent a large body of workflows. While the principle of workflows is easy to conceive, their execution is very complex and no universally accepted solution exists. In this paper we focus on the resource allocation challenges of parameter study jobs in distributed computing infrastructures. To cope with this NP-hard problem and the high uncertainty present in these systems, we propose a series of job allocation models that helps refining and simplifying the problem complexity. In this way we present some special cases that are polynomial and show how more complex scenarios can be reduced to these models. It is known from practice that a small number of job sizes improves the result of job allocation, therefore we state a hypothesis relying on this fact in one of our models. Unfortunately, the reduction of the general problem (using K-means clustering) did not help, and thus the hypothesis has proved to be false. In the future, we shall look for clustering techniques which fit this goal better.     

The relative role of "A" level chemistry, physics and biology in the medical course

The performance of 209 students in the 2nd MBBS, first clinical year and final MBBS examinations has been compared retrospectively with their grades in chemistry, physics and biology at "A" level. The mean grade has also been determined for students from different social classes and secondary education. Significant differences in marks for biology were found between successful and not so successful students, especially in the pre-clinical part of the course. Significnat differences in marks and significant correlations were also found for physics but not to any great extent for chemistry. The relative role of these three basic sciences in the medical course is discussed. The suggestion is made that there is a need for a re-appraisal of the privleged position of chemistry and an unquestioned science requirement for entry to medical school.