Multi-Stage-Based Siamese Neural Network for Seal Image Recognition

Seal authentication is an important task for verifying the authenticity of stamped seals used in various domains to protect legal documents from tampering and counterfeiting.Stamped seal inspection is commonly audited manually to ensure document authenticity.However,manual assessment of seal images is tedious and laborintensive due to human errors,inconsistent placement,and completeness of the seal.Traditional image recognition systems are inadequate enough to identify seal types accurately,necessitating a neural network-based method for seal image recognition.However,neural network-based classification algorithms,such as Residual Networks(ResNet)andVisualGeometryGroup with 16 layers(VGG16)yield suboptimal recognition rates on stamp datasets.Additionally,the fixed training data categories make handling new categories to be a challenging task.This paper proposes amulti-stage seal recognition algorithmbased on Siamese network to overcome these limitations.Firstly,the seal image is pre-processed by applying an image rotation correction module based on Histogram of Oriented Gradients(HOG).Secondly,the similarity between input seal image pairs is measured by utilizing a similarity comparison module based on the Siamese network.Finally,we compare the results with the pre-stored standard seal template images in the database to obtain the seal type.To evaluate the performance of the proposed method,we further create a new seal image dataset that contains two subsets with 210,000 valid labeled pairs in total.The proposed work has a practical significance in industries where automatic seal authentication is essential as in legal,financial,and governmental sectors,where automatic seal recognition can enhance document security and streamline validation processes.Furthermore,the experimental results show that the proposed multi-stage method for seal image recognition outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the two established datasets.

Dynamic Multi-Graph Spatio-Temporal Graph Traffic Flow Prediction in Bangkok:An Application of a Continuous Convolutional Neural Network

The ability to accurately predict urban traffic flows is crucial for optimising city operations.Consequently,various methods for forecasting urban traffic have been developed,focusing on analysing historical data to understand complex mobility patterns.Deep learning techniques,such as graph neural networks(GNNs),are popular for their ability to capture spatio-temporal dependencies.However,these models often become overly complex due to the large number of hyper-parameters involved.In this study,we introduce Dynamic Multi-Graph Spatial-Temporal Graph Neural Ordinary Differential Equation Networks(DMST-GNODE),a framework based on ordinary differential equations(ODEs)that autonomously discovers effective spatial-temporal graph neural network(STGNN)architectures for traffic prediction tasks.The comparative analysis of DMST-GNODE and baseline models indicates that DMST-GNODE model demonstrates superior performance across multiple datasets,consistently achieving the lowest Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)and Mean Absolute Error(MAE)values,alongside the highest accuracy.On the BKK(Bangkok)dataset,it outperformed other models with an RMSE of 3.3165 and an accuracy of 0.9367 for a 20-min interval,maintaining this trend across 40 and 60 min.Similarly,on the PeMS08 dataset,DMST-GNODE achieved the best performance with an RMSE of 19.4863 and an accuracy of 0.9377 at 20 min,demonstrating its effectiveness over longer periods.The Los_Loop dataset results further emphasise this model’s advantage,with an RMSE of 3.3422 and an accuracy of 0.7643 at 20 min,consistently maintaining superiority across all time intervals.These numerical highlights indicate that DMST-GNODE not only outperforms baseline models but also achieves higher accuracy and lower errors across different time intervals and datasets.

Modeling and Comprehensive Review of Signaling Storms in 3GPP-Based Mobile Broadband Networks:Causes,Solutions,and Countermeasures

Control signaling is mandatory for the operation and management of all types of communication networks,including the Third Generation Partnership Project(3GPP)mobile broadband networks.However,they consume important and scarce network resources such as bandwidth and processing power.There have been several reports of these control signaling turning into signaling storms halting network operations and causing the respective Telecom companies big financial losses.This paper draws its motivation from such real network disaster incidents attributed to signaling storms.In this paper,we present a thorough survey of the causes,of the signaling storm problems in 3GPP-based mobile broadband networks and discuss in detail their possible solutions and countermeasures.We provide relevant analytical models to help quantify the effect of the potential causes and benefits of their corresponding solutions.Another important contribution of this paper is the comparison of the possible causes and solutions/countermeasures,concerning their effect on several important network aspects such as architecture,additional signaling,fidelity,etc.,in the form of a table.This paper presents an update and an extension of our earlier conference publication.To our knowledge,no similar survey study exists on the subject.

Application of virtual reality technology improves the functionality of brain networks in individuals experiencing pain

Medical procedures are inherently invasive and carry the risk of inducing pain to the mind and body.Recently,efforts have been made to alleviate the discomfort associated with invasive medical procedures through the use of virtual reality(VR)technology.VR has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for pain associated with medical procedures,as well as for chronic pain conditions for which no effective treatment has been established.The precise mechanism by which the diversion from reality facilitated by VR contributes to the diminution of pain and anxiety has yet to be elucidated.However,the provision of positive images through VR-based visual stimulation may enhance the functionality of brain networks.The salience network is diminished,while the default mode network is enhanced.Additionally,the medial prefrontal cortex may establish a stronger connection with the default mode network,which could result in a reduction of pain and anxiety.Further research into the potential of VR technology to alleviate pain could lead to a reduction in the number of individuals who overdose on painkillers and contribute to positive change in the medical field.

Biodiversity metrics on ecological networks: Demonstrated with animal gastrointestinal microbiomes

Biodiversity has become a terminology familiar to virtually every citizen in modern societies.It is said that ecology studies the economy of nature,and economy studies the ecology of humans;then measuring biodiversity should be similar with measuring national wealth.Indeed,there have been many parallels between ecology and economics,actually beyond analogies.For example,arguably the second most widely used biodiversity metric,Simpson(1949)’s diversity index,is a function of familiar Gini-index in economics.One of the biggest challenges has been the high“diversity”of diversity indexes due to their excessive“speciation”-there are so many indexes,similar to each country’s sovereign currency-leaving confused diversity practitioners in dilemma.In 1973,Hill introduced the concept of“numbers equivalent”,which is based on Renyi entropy and originated in economics,but possibly due to his abstruse interpretation of the concept,his message was not widely received by ecologists until nearly four decades later.What Hill suggested was similar to link the US dollar to gold at the rate of$35 per ounce under the Bretton Woods system.The Hill numbers now are considered most appropriate biodiversity metrics system,unifying Shannon,Simpson and other diversity indexes.Here,we approach to another paradigmatic shift-measuring biodiversity on ecological networks-demonstrated with animal gastrointestinal microbiomes representing four major invertebrate classes and all six vertebrate classes.The network diversity can reveal the diversity of species interactions,which is a necessary step for understanding the spatial and temporal structures and dynamics of biodiversity across environmental gradients.

Network pharmacology:Changes the treatment mode of"one disease-one target"in cancer treatment

The article concluded that network pharmacology provides new ideas and insights into the molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)treatment of cancer.TCM is a new choice and hot spot in the field of cancer treatment.We have also previously published studies on TCM and network pharmacology.In this letter,we summarize the new paradigm of network pharmacology in cancer treatment mechanisms.

Global Piecewise Analysis of HIV Model with Bi-Infectious Categories under Ordinary Derivative and Non-Singular Operator with Neural Network Approach

This study directs the discussion of HIV disease with a novel kind of complex dynamical generalized and piecewise operator in the sense of classical and Atangana Baleanu(AB)derivatives having arbitrary order.The HIV infection model has a susceptible class,a recovered class,along with a case of infection divided into three sub-different levels or categories and the recovered class.The total time interval is converted into two,which are further investigated for ordinary and fractional order operators of the AB derivative,respectively.The proposed model is tested separately for unique solutions and existence on bi intervals.The numerical solution of the proposed model is treated by the piece-wise numerical iterative scheme of Newtons Polynomial.The proposed method is established for piece-wise derivatives under natural order and non-singular Mittag-Leffler Law.The cross-over or bending characteristics in the dynamical system of HIV are easily examined by the aspect of this research having a memory effect for controlling the said disease.This study uses the neural network(NN)technique to obtain a better set of weights with low residual errors,and the epochs number is considered 1000.The obtained figures represent the approximate solution and absolute error which are tested with NN to train the data accurately.

A Novel Self-Supervised Learning Network for Binocular Disparity Estimation

Two-dimensional endoscopic images are susceptible to interferences such as specular reflections and monotonous texture illumination,hindering accurate three-dimensional lesion reconstruction by surgical robots.This study proposes a novel end-to-end disparity estimation model to address these challenges.Our approach combines a Pseudo-Siamese neural network architecture with pyramid dilated convolutions,integrating multi-scale image information to enhance robustness against lighting interferences.This study introduces a Pseudo-Siamese structure-based disparity regression model that simplifies left-right image comparison,improving accuracy and efficiency.The model was evaluated using a dataset of stereo endoscopic videos captured by the Da Vinci surgical robot,comprising simulated silicone heart sequences and real heart video data.Experimental results demonstrate significant improvement in the network’s resistance to lighting interference without substantially increasing parameters.Moreover,the model exhibited faster convergence during training,contributing to overall performance enhancement.This study advances endoscopic image processing accuracy and has potential implications for surgical robot applications in complex environments.

Unraveling the mechanism of action of Shangxia Liangji formula for treating insomnia:a metabolomics and network pharmacology approach

Background:Insomnia is a prevalent clinical condition and Shangxia Liangji formula(SXLJF)is a well-established method of treatment.Nevertheless,the specific mechanism of action of SXLJF remains unclear.Methods:The mouse model of insomnia was established by intraperitoneal injection of para-chlorophenylalanine.Forty-two mice were randomly divided into a negative control group,model group,SXLJF group(18.72 g/kg/day),and positive control group(diazepam,2 mg/kg)and treated with the corresponding drugs for 7 consecutive days.The open field test and pentobarbital-induced sleeping test were conducted.LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics and network pharmacology were applied to explore the potential targets of SXLJF for treating insomnia.Finally,key targets were validated using RT-qPCR.Results:Behavioral tests demonstrated that SXLJF reduced the total distance,average velocity,central distance,and sleep latency,and prolonged sleep duration.Metabolomics and network pharmacology revealed potential targets,signaling pathways,metabolic pathways,and metabolites associated with the anti-insomnia effects of SXLJF.Specifically,tyrosine hydroxylase(TH)and tyrosine metabolism emerged as crucial metabolic pathways and targets,respectively.RT-qPCR results supported the role of TH in the mechanism of SXLJF in treating insomnia.Conclusion:In conclusion,TH and tyrosine metabolism may represent significant targets and pathways for SXLJF in treating insomnia.

Resting-state brain network remodeling after different nerve reconstruction surgeries:a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in brachial plexus injury rats

Distinct brain remodeling has been found after different nerve reconstruction strategies,including motor representation of the affected limb.However,differences among reconstruction strategies at the brain network level have not been elucidated.This study aimed to explore intranetwork changes related to altered peripheral neural pathways after different nerve reconstruction surgeries,including nerve repair,endto-end nerve transfer,and end-to-side nerve transfer.Sprague–Dawley rats underwent complete left brachial plexus transection and were divided into four equal groups of eight:no nerve repair,grafted nerve repair,phrenic nerve end-to-end transfer,and end-to-side transfer with a graft sutured to the anterior upper trunk.Resting-state brain functional magnetic resonance imaging was obtained 7 months after surgery.The independent component analysis algorithm was utilized to identify group-level network components of interest and extract resting-state functional connectivity values of each voxel within the component.Alterations in intra-network resting-state functional connectivity were compared among the groups.Target muscle reinnervation was assessed by behavioral observation(elbow flexion)and electromyography.The results showed that alterations in the sensorimotor and interoception networks were mostly related to changes in the peripheral neural pathway.Nerve repair was related to enhanced connectivity within the sensorimotor network,while end-to-side nerve transfer might be more beneficial for restoring control over the affected limb by the original motor representation.The thalamic-cortical pathway was enhanced within the interoception network after nerve repair and end-to-end nerve transfer.Brain areas related to cognition and emotion were enhanced after end-to-side nerve transfer.Our study revealed important brain networks related to different nerve reconstructions.These networks may be potential targets for enhancing motor recovery.

Advancing treatment strategies:Insights from network meta-analysis of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

This study examines the pivotal findings of the network meta-analysis of Zhou et al,which evaluated the efficacy of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy and combination therapies for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).This meta-analysis suggests that therapeutic combinations have greater efficacy than do standard treatments.The article highlights the key insights that have the potential to shift current clinical practice and enhance outcomes for patients with advanced HCC.Additionally,this article discusses further research that can be conducted to optimize these treatments and achieve personalized care for patients with HCC.

Unlocking the future:Mitochondrial genes and neural networks in predicting ovarian cancer prognosis and immunotherapy response

BACKGROUND Mitochondrial genes are involved in tumor metabolism in ovarian cancer(OC)and affect immune cell infiltration and treatment responses.AIM To predict prognosis and immunotherapy response in patients diagnosed with OC using mitochondrial genes and neural networks.METHODS Prognosis,immunotherapy efficacy,and next-generation sequencing data of patients with OC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus.Mitochondrial genes were sourced from the MitoCarta3.0 database.The discovery cohort for model construction was created from 70% of the patients,whereas the remaining 30% constituted the validation cohort.Using the expression of mitochondrial genes as the predictor variable and based on neural network algorithm,the overall survival time and immunotherapy efficacy(complete or partial response)of patients were predicted.RESULTS In total,375 patients with OC were included to construct the prognostic model,and 26 patients were included to construct the immune efficacy model.The average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the prognostic model was 0.7268[95% confidence interval(CI):0.7258-0.7278]in the discovery cohort and 0.6475(95%CI:0.6466-0.6484)in the validation cohort.The average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the immunotherapy efficacy model was 0.9444(95%CI:0.8333-1.0000)in the discovery cohort and 0.9167(95%CI:0.6667-1.0000)in the validation cohort.CONCLUSION The application of mitochondrial genes and neural networks has the potential to predict prognosis and immunotherapy response in patients with OC,providing valuable insights into personalized treatment strategies.

Caching Strategies in NDN Based Wireless Ad Hoc Network:A Survey

Wireless Ad Hoc Networks consist of devices that are wirelessly connected.Mobile Ad Hoc Networks(MANETs),Internet of Things(IoT),and Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks(VANETs)are the main domains of wireless ad hoc network.Internet is used in wireless ad hoc network.Internet is based on Transmission Control Protocol(TCP)/Internet Protocol(IP)network where clients and servers interact with each other with the help of IP in a pre-defined environment.Internet fetches data from a fixed location.Data redundancy,mobility,and location dependency are the main issues of the IP network paradigm.All these factors result in poor performance of wireless ad hoc networks.The main disadvantage of IP is that,it does not provide in-network caching.Therefore,there is a need to move towards a new network that overcomes these limitations.Named Data Network(NDN)is a network that overcomes these limitations.NDN is a project of Information-centric Network(ICN).NDN provides in-network caching which helps in fast response to user queries.Implementing NDN in wireless ad hoc network provides many benefits such as caching,mobility,scalability,security,and privacy.By considering the certainty,in this survey paper,we present a comprehensive survey on Caching Strategies in NDN-based Wireless AdHocNetwork.Various cachingmechanism-based results are also described.In the last,we also shed light on the challenges and future directions of this promising field to provide a clear understanding of what caching-related problems exist in NDN-based wireless ad hoc networks.

Security Monitoring and Management for the Network Services in the Orchestration of SDN-NFV Environment Using Machine Learning Techniques

Software Defined Network(SDN)and Network Function Virtualization(NFV)technology promote several benefits to network operators,including reduced maintenance costs,increased network operational performance,simplified network lifecycle,and policies management.Network vulnerabilities try to modify services provided by Network Function Virtualization MANagement and Orchestration(NFV MANO),and malicious attacks in different scenarios disrupt the NFV Orchestrator(NFVO)and Virtualized Infrastructure Manager(VIM)lifecycle management related to network services or individual Virtualized Network Function(VNF).This paper proposes an anomaly detection mechanism that monitors threats in NFV MANO and manages promptly and adaptively to implement and handle security functions in order to enhance the quality of experience for end users.An anomaly detector investigates these identified risks and provides secure network services.It enables virtual network security functions and identifies anomalies in Kubernetes(a cloud-based platform).For training and testing purpose of the proposed approach,an intrusion-containing dataset is used that hold multiple malicious activities like a Smurf,Neptune,Teardrop,Pod,Land,IPsweep,etc.,categorized as Probing(Prob),Denial of Service(DoS),User to Root(U2R),and Remote to User(R2L)attacks.An anomaly detector is anticipated with the capabilities of a Machine Learning(ML)technique,making use of supervised learning techniques like Logistic Regression(LR),Support Vector Machine(SVM),Random Forest(RF),Naïve Bayes(NB),and Extreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost).The proposed framework has been evaluated by deploying the identified ML algorithm on a Jupyter notebook in Kubeflow to simulate Kubernetes for validation purposes.RF classifier has shown better outcomes(99.90%accuracy)than other classifiers in detecting anomalies/intrusions in the containerized environment.

Design of an Interconnection Architecture and Sizing of Two (2) EPC Core Networks: The Case of Orange-Guinea

With the arrival of the 4G and 5G,the telecommunications networks have experienced a large expansion of these networks.That enabled the integration of many services and adequate flow,thus enabling the operators to respond to the growing demand of users.This rapid evolution has given the operators to adapt,their methods to the new technologies that increase.This complexity becomes more important,when these networks include several technologies to access different from the heterogeneous network like in the 4G network.The dimensional new challenges tell the application and the considerable increase in demand for services and the compatibility with existing networks,the management of mobility intercellular of users and it offers a better quality of services.Thus,the proposed solution to meet these new requirements is the sizing of the EPC(Evolved Packet Core)core network to support the 5G access network.For the case of Orange Guinea,this involves setting up an architecture for interconnecting the core networks of Sonfonia and Camayenne.The objectives of our work are of two orders:(1)to propose these solutions and recommendations for the heart network EPC sizing and the deployment to be adopted;(2)supply and architectural interconnection in the heart network EPC and an existing heart network.In our work,the model of traffic in communication that we use to calculate the traffic generated with each technology has link in the network of the heart.

Complex-valued universal linear transformations and image encryption using spatially incoherent diffractive networks

As an optical processor,a diffractive deep neural network(D2NN)utilizes engineered diffractive surfaces designed through machine learning to perform all-optical information processing,completing its tasks at the speed of light propagation through thin optical layers.With sufficient degrees of freedom,D2NNs can perform arbitrary complex-valued linear transformations using spatially coherent light.Similarly,D2NNs can also perform arbitrary linear intensity transformations with spatially incoherent illumination;however,under spatially incoherent light,these transformations are nonnegative,acting on diffraction-limited optical intensity patterns at the input field of view.Here,we expand the use of spatially incoherent D2NNs to complex-valued information processing for executing arbitrary complex-valued linear transformations using spatially incoherent light.Through simulations,we show that as the number of optimized diffractive features increases beyond a threshold dictated by the multiplication of the input and output space-bandwidth products,a spatially incoherent diffractive visual processor can approximate any complex-valued linear transformation and be used for all-optical image encryption using incoherent illumination.The findings are important for the all-optical processing of information under natural light using various forms of diffractive surface-based optical processors.

A multilayer network diffusion-based model for reviewer recommendation

With the rapid growth of manuscript submissions,finding eligible reviewers for every submission has become a heavy task.Recommender systems are powerful tools developed in computer science and information science to deal with this problem.However,most existing approaches resort to text mining techniques to match manuscripts with potential reviewers,which require high-quality textual information to perform well.In this paper,we propose a reviewer recommendation algorithm based on a network diffusion process on a scholar-paper multilayer network,with no requirement for textual information.The network incorporates the relationship of scholar-paper pairs,the collaboration among scholars,and the bibliographic coupling among papers.Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms other state-of-the-art recommendation methods that use graph random walk and matrix factorization and methods that use machine learning and natural language processing,with improvements of over 7.62%in recall,5.66%in hit rate,and 47.53%in ranking score.Our work sheds light on the effectiveness of multilayer network diffusion-based methods in the reviewer recommendation problem,which will help to facilitate the peer-review process and promote information retrieval research in other practical scenes.

Mission-oriented capability evaluation for combat network based on operation loops OA

With continuous growth in scale,topology complexity,mission phases,and mission diversity,challenges have been placed for efficient capability evaluation of modern combat systems.Aiming at the problems of insufficient mission consideration and single evaluation dimension in the existing evaluation approaches,this study proposes a mission-oriented capability evaluation method for combat systems based on operation loop.Firstly,a combat network model is given that takes into account the capability properties of combat nodes.Then,based on the transition matrix between combat nodes,an efficient algorithm for operation loop identification is proposed based on the Breadth-First Search.Given the mission-capability satisfaction of nodes,the effectiveness evaluation indexes for operation loops and combat network are proposed,followed by node importance measure.Through a case study of the combat scenario involving space-based support against surface ships under different strategies,the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.The results indicated that the ROI-priority attack method has a notable impact on reducing the overall efficiency of the network,whereas the O-L betweenness-priority attack is more effective in obstructing the successful execution of enemy attack missions.

Influencer identification of dynamical networks based on an information entropy dimension reduction method

Identifying critical nodes or sets in large-scale networks is a fundamental scientific problem and one of the key research directions in the fields of data mining and network science when implementing network attacks, defense, repair and control.Traditional methods usually begin from the centrality, node location or the impact on the largest connected component after node destruction, mainly based on the network structure.However, these algorithms do not consider network state changes.We applied a model that combines a random connectivity matrix and minimal low-dimensional structures to represent network connectivity.By using mean field theory and information entropy to calculate node activity,we calculated the overlap between the random parts and fixed low-dimensional parts to quantify the influence of node impact on network state changes and ranked them by importance.We applied this algorithm and the proposed importance algorithm to the overall analysis and stratified analysis of the C.elegans neural network.We observed a change in the critical entropy of the network state and by utilizing the proposed method we can calculate the nodes that indirectly affect muscle cells through neural layers.

Citation and bibliographic coupling between authors in the field of social network analysis

Purpose:We analyzed the structure of a community of authors working in the field of social network analysis(SNA)based on citation indicators:direct citation and bibliographic coupling metrics.We observed patterns at the micro,meso,and macro levels of analysis.Design/methodology/approach:We used bibliometric network analysis,including the“temporal quantities”approach proposed to study temporal networks.Using a two-mode network linking publications with authors and a one-mode network of citations between the works,we constructed and analyzed the networks of citation and bibliographic coupling among authors.We used an iterated saturation data collection approach.Findings:At the macro-level,we observed the global structural features of citations between authors,showing that 80%of authors have not more than 15 citations from other works.At the meso-level,we extracted the groups of authors citing each other and similar to each other according to their citation patterns.We have seen a division of authors in SNA into groups of social scientists and physicists,as well as into other groups of authors from different disciplines.We found some examples of brokerage between different groups that maintained the common identity of the field.At the micro-level,we extracted authors with extremely high values of received citations,who can be considered as the most prominent authors in the field.We examined the temporal properties of the most popular authors.Research limitations:The main challenge in this approach is the resolution of the author’s name(synonyms and homonyms).We faced the author disambiguation,or“multiple personalities”(Harzing,2015)problem.To remain consistent and comparable with our previously published articles,we used the same SNA data collected up to 2018.The analysis and conclusions on the activity,productivity,and visibility of the authors are relative only to the field of SNA.Practical implications:The proposed approach can be utilized for similar objectives and identifying key structures and characteristics in other disciplines.This may potentially inspire the application of network approaches in other research areas,creating more authors collaborating in the field of SNA.Originality/value:We identified and applied an innovative approach and methods to study the structure of scientific communities,which allowed us to get the findings going beyond those obtained with other methods.We used a new approach to temporal network analysis,which is an important addition to the analysis as it provides detailed information on different measures for the authors and pairs of authors over time.