Multi-Floor Indoor Pedestrian Dead Reckoning with a Backtracking Particle Filter and Viterbi-Based Floor Number Detection

We present a smartphone-based indoor localisation system, able to track pedestrians over multiple floors. The system uses Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR), which exploits data from the smartphone’s inertial measurement unit to estimate the trajectory. The PDR output is matched to a scaled floor plan and fused with model-based WiFi received signal strength fingerprinting by a Backtracking Particle Filter (BPF). We proposed a new Viterbi-based floor detection algorithm, which fuses data from the smartphone’s accelerometer, barometer and WiFi RSS measurements to detect stairs and elevator usage and to estimate the correct floor number. We also proposed a clustering algorithm on top of the BPF to solve multimodality, a known problem with particle filters. The proposed system relies on only a few pre-existing access points, whereas most systems assume or require the presence of a dedicated localisation infrastructure. In most public buildings and offices, access points are often available at smaller densities than used for localisation. Our system was extensively tested in a real office environment with seven 41 m × 27 m floors, each of which had two WiFi access points. Our system was evaluated in real-time and batch mode, since the system was able to correct past states. The clustering algorithm reduced the median position error by 17% in real-time and 13% in batch mode, while the floor detection algorithm achieved a 99.1% and 99.7% floor number accuracy in real-time and batch mode, respectively.

Computer-assisted contralateral side comparison of the ankle joint using flat panel technology

Purpose Reduction and osteosynthesis of ankle fractures is a challenging surgical procedure when it comes to the verification of the reduction result. Evaluation is conducted using intra-operative imaging of the injured ankle and depends on the expertise of the surgeon. Studies suggest that intra-individual variance of the ankle bone shape and pose is considerably lower than the inter-individual variance. It stands to reason that the information gain from the healthy contralateral side can help to improve the evaluation. Method In this paper, an assistance system is proposed that provides a side-to-side view of the two ankle joints for visual comparison and instant evaluation using only one 3D C-arm image. Two convolutional neural networks (CNN) are employed to extract the relevant image regions and pose information of each ankle so that they can be aligned with each other. A first U-Net uses a sliding window to predict the location of each ankle. The standard plane estimation is formulated as segmentation problem so that a second U-Net predicts the three viewing planes for alignment. Results Experiments were conducted to assess the accuracy of the individual steps on 218 unilateral ankle datasets as well as the overall performance on 7 bilateral ankle datasets. The experiments on unilateral ankles yield a median position-to-plane error of $$0.73\pm 1.36$$ 0.73 ± 1.36 mm and a median angular error between 2.98$$^\circ $$ ∘ and 3.71$$^\circ $$ ∘ for the plane normals. Conclusion Standard plane estimation via segmentation outperforms direct pose regression. Furthermore, the complete pipeline was evaluated including ankle detection and subsequent plane estimation on bilateral datasets. The proposed pipeline enables a direct contralateral side comparison without additional radiation. This has the potential to ease and improve the intra-operative evaluation for the surgeons in the future and reduce the need for revision surgery.

Manifestation of the Factor of Regional Median Position

The article summarises theoretical approaches to determining the median regions, their place and rolein the territorial structure of the country and its socio-economic development. The basis of the approach proposedis multiple descriptions of a set of attributes, connections, and relationships, a holistic view of the region as arelatively stable part of the socio-economic space. To conduct an empirical study in Russia, 32 regions wereselected, attributed to the category of the median regions by their geographical position. According to theapproach, the list of verifiable median characteristics of the regions includes transit, polystructurality, scale,resource availability, gravity, population concentration, the role in ensuring national security, budget donation,the “pilot” character, the concentration of intellectual potential, low risks, high investment and innovationpotential, high contact with neighbouring territories, and clustering. The results of the study suggest that thecumulative effect of the regional median position has a significant differentiation. Therefore, the authors candistinguish such types of median regions as integrators of the economic space, sustainable median regions, anddeveloping median regions. Based on the topological attributes of median regions, the mission of median regionsis justified. It is substantiated that the factor of the medianness of the region can be of key importance in regionalpolicy only if this resource is used correctly in program activities, regional development strategies and regionalpolicy of the state.

The influence of the culture of society on the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures of the state

The study aims to analyze the impact of different types of national cultures on the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures implemented by the states, expressed in the change in the Corruption Perceptions Index for the period from 2016 to 2020. The methodological basis was such scientific methods as dialectical, logical, prognostic, and systems analysis. The methods of statistics were also used to achieve the research objectives. The study attempts to analyze the relationship between the cultural area of the country and its place in the international rating, compiled annually based on the results of the research conducted by the international organization Transparency International. The result of the study was the conclusion regarding the predominance of the countries of the Western European cultural area in the leaders of the rating as the countries with the lowest corruption perceptions index, the countries of the African cultural area as the countries predominating in the composition of the states with the highest corruption perceptions index and proportional representation of the countries of the Eastern European, South Asian and Latin American cultural area in the median values of the rating. The novelty of the work lies in the division of the countries existing in the modern world into eight cultural areas based on the value attitudes, traditions, and beliefs formed in them, which enabled to analyze the representation of countries of a particular area in a certain group of ratings – the countries with a low corruption perceptions index, the countries – with a high corruption perceptions index and the countries, in the corresponding analyzed period, occupying the median position in the rating.

Transperineal bilateral sacrospineous colpofixation for the treatment of female genital prolapse – 5-year results

Objective: Female genital prolapse is observed with increasing frequency in the era of large aging populations. Various surgical techniques have been established, varying in performance, difficulty and outcome, specifically complications. In order to optimize both aspects, we have developed a refined transperineal bilateral sacrospineous colpofixation technique (TPBCF) and given a detailed, step-by-step description of the technique. Materials and Methods: In a study of 162 patients with vaginal prolapse surgical and functional outcomes of TPBCF have been evaluated with 5-year follow-up. Results: No rectal injury was observed re-intervention for any complications was limited to three erosions with only one requiring resection of 2 cm of tape in the median position followed by successful re-closure. Prolapse correction was found at 5 years to be 61% POPQ 0 and 39% POPQ1. Conclusion: These results were stable when compared with follow-up data at 6 months postoperatively. The authors conclude, that TPBCF is an efficient minimally invasive technique for the treatment of female genital prolapse with a favourable effect/complication ratio.

Seed position and influences on Caesalpinia pulcherrima germination and reserve proteins

Caesalpinia pulcherrima has diverse uses in the world, including ornamental and landscape characteristics, but there is a great disparity of germination during the time of seedlings production, being this factor attributed to the position of the seeds in fruits. This study aimed to evaluate some germinative aspects and concentration of reserve proteins in C. pulcherrima seeds in the function of its position in fruits. The work was carried out in greenhouse, in a completely random experimental design, with five seed position in the pod, based on the distance from seed to the peduncle (P1 - distal, P2 - distal/median, P3 - median, P4 -proximal/ median, P5 - proximal). Eight replicates with eight seeds each, were sowed to germinate for 21 days in expanded polystyrene trays filled with substrate. The percentage, speed index, average germination time and 50% germination time of the plantlets were evaluated. The reserve proteins (albumin, globulin, prolamin and glutelin) contents were also determined. There was influence of the position of the seed in the fruit on germination and reserve proteins contents. The proximal/median position showed excellent results, having correlations of albumin, globulin and glutelin concentrations with some germinative parameters. Therefore, the use of proximal/median position of the seeds is recommended for C. pulcherrima propagation.

A quantitative analysis of systematic differences in the positions and proper motions of Gaia DR2 with respect to VLBI

ABSTRACT We have analysed the differences in positions of 9081 matched sources between the Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) catalogues. The median position uncertainty of matched sources in the VLBI catalogue is a factor of two larger than the median position uncertainty in Gaia DR2. There are 9 per cent matched sources with statistically significant offsets between both catalogues. We found that the reported positional errors should be rescaled by a factor of 1.3 for VLBI and 1.06 for Gaia and, in addition, the Gaia errors should be multiplied by the square root of chi squared per degree of freedom in order to best fit the normalized position differences to the Rayleigh distribution. We have established that the major contributor to statistically significant position offsets is the presence of optical jets. Among the sources for which the jet direction was determined, the position offsets are parallel to the jet directions for 62 per cent of the outliers. Among the matched sources with significant proper motion, the fraction of objects with proper motion directions parallel to jets is a factor of three greater than on average. Such sources have systematically higher chi squared per degree of freedom. We explain these proper motions as a manifestation of the source position jitter caused by flares, which we predicted earlier. Therefore, the assumption that quasars are fixed points, and thus that differential proper motions determined with respect to quasar photocentres can be regarded as absolute proper motions, should be treated with great caution.

Propagação vegetativa de romã com material vegetal de diferentes origens sob tipos de substratos

<p>Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho verificar a influência de diferentes procedências do material vegetal e substratos na propagação vegetativa de romã (<em>Punica granatum</em> L.). Foi usado o delineamento estatístico inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial 2x3, sendo duas origens do material vegetal (Barreiras, CE e Mossoró, RN) e três substratos (Tropstrato^®, Fibra de coco e Solo), constituindo 6 tratamentos em quatro repetições de cinco estacas. As estacas foram preparadas com o auxilio de uma tesoura de poda, coletadas na posição mediana do ramo, padronizadas para o diâmetro de 2 a 4 mm. Aos 45 dias foram avaliados o número de brotos por estaca, comprimento do maior broto, número de folhas por estacas, comprimento da maior raiz, percentagem de estacas enraizadas, número de raízes por estaca, massa seca da brotação e massa seca do sistema radicular. A propagação por estaquia de romã é influenciada pela origem do material vegetal e o melhor material é de Barreiras, CE. Recomenda-se o substrato Tropstrato^® para a produção de mudas de romã por estaquia.</p><p align="center"><strong><em>Vegetative propagation of pomegranate with vegetal material of different origins under types of substrates</em></strong></p><p><strong>Abstract</strong><strong>: </strong>The objective of this study to investigate the influence of different sources of plant material and substrates in the vegetative propagation of pomegranate (<em>Punica granatum </em>L<em>.</em>). The statistical design was completely randomized in a 2x3 factorial, with two origins of the plant material collected (Barreiras, CE and Mossoró, RN) and three substrates (Tropstrato^®, Coconut fiber and soil), constituting six treatments and four replications. Each replication consisted of five cuttings. Cuttings were prepared with the aid of a pruning shears collected in the median position of the branch for the standardized diameter of 2 to 4 mm. At 45 days, we assessed the number of shoots per cutting, length of the longest shoot, number of leaves per cutting, length of roots, rooting percentage, number of roots per cutting, dry weight and dry weight of sprouting root system. The propagation by cutting of pomegranate is influenced by the origin of the vegetal material and the best material is of Barreiras, CE. The Tropstrato® substrates are recommended for the production of pomegranate seedlings by cuttings.</p>

How Experts Can, and Can’t, Change Policy: Economics, Antitrust, and the Linked Evolution of the Academic and Policy Fields

During the 1970s, U.S. antitrust policy shifted dramatically from a high-enforcement position to a laissez-faire¬ one, where it has largely remained. At the same time, economics displaced law as the dominant form of antitrust expertise. While these developments are related, the former cannot be reduced to the latter: the median position in economics itself shifted from high-enforcement to low-enforcement during this period, and by its end was moving back toward more enforcement. To understand the relationship between these changes, this paper conceptualizes academic economics and antitrust policy as linked fields with relative autonomy. Though economics came to play a key role in antitrust policy, its influence was in some ways limited. The academic field was itself shaped, though not determined, by outside political interests. In addition, not all academically influential ideas translated equally well into policy. A wide range of economists shared a commitment to efficiency as the main purpose of antitrust, however, which delegitimized other historical goals of antitrust policy and constrained political possibilities in lasting ways.